One day, Stanislas Niox-Château, the CEO and co-founder of Doctolib said to me:
"Through the door, or through the window'.
He probably doesn't know it, but it has left a lasting impression on me.
So much so that it has become Modjo's DNA.
Recently I came across a quote from the legendary Bernard Tapie "in life, there are those who would like to, there are those who would like to and there are those who absolutely want to".
There are no coincidences in life. To succeed, you have to really want it.
What you really want in a sales job is intensity.
When you start your job as a salesperson, you quickly realise that your prospects also have goals, priorities and things to do.
They are not waiting nicely behind their screen for your email.
They have a thousand things to do.
Your product may be great, but if you don't create intensity you will be forgotten.
"Sorry but we have new priority issues so we have to postpone our discussions with you."
"Let's call back in 6 months if you want?"
Worse still:
"We finally decided to work with one of your competitors"
"but your product is really great"
A salesman's nightmare.
If you regularly hear this kind of phrase, let yourself be tempted by what follows.
The best of us know how to put enough intensity into our work that our prospects never put off a meeting.
They put in enough intensity to stay "Top of Mind". Top of the pile.
The market is saturated. Stand out from your competitors by putting intensity into your marketing.
Occupy (politely) the space
Be present, keep moving without being oppressive.
A top performer has on average 5x more interactions with his prospect than a less trained salesperson.
Beware, the intensity is not simply to harass your prospects by sending them 5 emails a day and calling them every 30 minutes.
But rather to do more and to be precise in your actions.
Each one counts.
Provide value, expertise.
It's like playing football against Barcelona in the 2010s: Tell yourself that you are facing one of the best football teams of all time.
Don't tackle all over the place in the hope of getting the ball - you'll be exposed.
At some point, you have to make the perfect tackle, go up the field and score.
The less trained salespeople rely on the fact that there is a "next step". They have this annoying tendency to wait for it to happen.
Be proactive.
The top performers force fate and manage to create contact between two stages.
There is always a good reason to make contact.
Between the 1st discovery call and your demo: By email, linkedin, phone :
"Hello [X],
Bastien from Modjo we spoke the day before yesterday.
So we can get to the point at our meeting the day after tomorrow, do you think there's anyone who would feel left out if they didn't join us?"
I've just got off the phone with (client name), he'd love to be able to share with you how they feel since using our solution.
If good for you, I'll email you an introduction later this afternoon."
Building intensity means finding ways to stay "top of mind".
It is finding good reasons to justify a point of contact.
Ask yourself the right questions.
If you were to close your sale, who would be the potential people involved in the decision or who would use your product or service?
Add them on LinkedIn and send them a message. One of them could become your champion and give you valuable information.
"Hello [X],
I saw you were working with [X] who I'm meeting with for a demo of our tool, Modjo.
Would you like to know more about what we do?"
Immediately after a discovery call or demo, the best salespeople offer their prospects a chance to meet with one of their customers so they can give them feedback.
They are proactive. They don't wait to be asked.
Introducing your prospect to a customer can have an extremely positive effect on your sales.
Very often, we let our prospect ask us when it should be systematic.
It should be part of your sales cycle.
Choose a contact person from a company similar to your prospect's, this will speak to them even more.
Prepare your appointments
With time and experience, we tend to prepare less. We rest on our laurels.
"Don't worry, I've been doing this every day for two years, I'm getting to know it..."
Roger Federer has played more than 1,500 matches at the highest level of tennis and yet he continues to prepare, devoting more than 50% of his time to it.
We have no excuse.
In sales, preparation is the key to success. Practice, prepare your pitch carefully.
Even for a follow-up call or "follow up".
"we'll see, I hope they'll say yes..."
Repeat the steps of the appointment.
Replay the 4 most important moments of your last meeting with your prospect.
The top performers align the planets themselves, by force of arms.
They carefully prepare the course of the conversation.
At the beginning of a call, they systematically present the agenda.
"I propose that for this conversation we first address [topic], then [other topic], then [last topic]".
They are never afraid to have a frank conversation.
This is what allows them to be a credible interlocutor and to gain the trust of their prospect.
No response
We're going to contradict a lot of Sales Coaches here (sorry) but the data doesn't lie: top performers quit faster than average salespeople.
They know the difference between the hopeless cases and the golden opportunities.
That's why they never waste their time.
In concrete terms, they do not give up: they end an opportunity that they know will not succeed.
They take this time to put intensity on those that have real potential.
This way they avoid wasting time and energy on losing battles.
The average sales person hangs on. They waste their time trying to get a response from prospects who are not interested.
A salesperson's time is their most important resource. Invest it in opportunities that have potential.
Conclusion
The best salespeople invest their time in high-potential opportunities: the contract is substantial and the prospect's interest is there.
They instinctively recognise the most promising ones.
They make radical choices about which opportunities deserve their attention.
They do not waste their time with prospects who have no interest in their product or service.
On the contrary, they put intensity in those that need it to win.
A comment, an idea, a question? Contact Paul, our CEO by sending an email to : paul.berloty@modjo.ai
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