One day, Stanislas Niox-Château, CEO and co-founder of Doctolib, said to me:

"Through the door, or through the window".

He probably doesn't know it, but it's left a lasting impression on me.

So much so that it has become Modjo's DNA.

Recently, I came across a quote by 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.

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When you start your job as a salesperson, you quickly realise that your prospects also have goals, priorities and things to do.

They don't sit quietly behind their screens waiting for your e-mail.

They have a thousand things to do.

Your product may be great, but if you don't create intensity, you'll be forgotten.

"I'm sorry, but we have new priority topics, so we'll have to postpone our exchanges with you."

" Let's call back in 6 months if you like?"

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 add enough intensity so 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 the space (politely)

Be present, keep moving without being oppressive.

A top performer has on average 5x more interactions with his prospect than a less trained salesperson.

Please note that intensity is not simply a matter of harassing your prospects by sending them 5 e-mails 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 soccer against the FC Barcelona of the 2010s: tell yourself you're up against one of the best soccer teams of all time.

Don't tackle all over the place in the hope of getting the ball, or you'll be exposed.

At some point, you have to make the perfect tackle, go up the field and score.

The least trained of salespeople rely on the fact that there's a "next step", a next stage. They have this annoying tendency to wait for things to happen.

Be proactive.

The best performers force fate and succeed in creating 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 (customer name), and he'd be delighted to share with you how they've been feeling since they started using our solution.

If it's good for you, I'll email you an introduction later this afternoon."

Intensity means finding ways to stay "Top of mind".

It means finding good reasons to justify a point of contact.

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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.

"Hi [X],

I saw you were working with [X], who I'm meeting 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 the chance to meet one of their customers, so that they can give their 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 appointment

With time and experience, we tend to prepare less. We rest on our laurels.

"Don't worry, I've been doing this daily for 2 years now, so I'm starting to get the hang of it..."

Roger Federer has played over 1,500 top-level tennis matches, yet he continues to prepare, devoting over 50% of his time to it.

No excuses.

In sales, preparation is the key to success. Practice and prepare your presentation carefully.

Even for a follow-up or "follow up" call.‍

"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 best players align the planets themselves, by force of arms.

They carefully prepare the course of the conversation.

At the start of a call, they systematically present the agenda.

"I suggest that for this conversation, we tackle [topic] first, then [other topic], and finally [last topic]."

They're never afraid to have a frank conversation.

This is what enables them to be a credible interlocutor and gain their prospect's trust.

No response

We're going to contradict a lot of Sales Coaches here (sorry) but the data doesn't lie: top performers give up 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 don't give up: they put an end to an opportunity they know will never come to fruition.

They take this time to focus on those with real potential.

In this way, they avoid wasting time and energy on hopeless battles.

Sales resources hang on. They waste their time trying to get a response from prospects who aren't interested.

A salesperson's time is his or her most important resource. Invest it in opportunities with 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 don't waste their time with prospects who have no interest in their product or service.

On the contrary, they put intensity into those that need it to win.‍

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A comment, an idea, a question? Contact Paul, our CEO, by sending an e-mail to : paul.berloty@modjo.ai‍

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