Salespeople are often faced with the dilemma of making as many calls as possible. They are so focused on their sales numbers that they lose sight of the bigger picture. This approach usually leads to a lot of wasted time and resources. While the number and quality of sales calls are equally important in a sales process, there are steps that sales reps can take to improve their conversion rate and increase their bottom line.
In today’s episode of The Sales Prescription Podcast, Rusty and Ron talk about the numbers game fallacy, why sales reps fail, and how organization is the key to some of the science of selling.
How salespeople can stop playing the numbers game:
- A good amount of effort
- Focus on organization
Rusty Jensen is the VP of Revenue Generation for Direct and Indirect Channels at NICE CXone, a worldwide leader in AI-powered contact center software. Rusty is responsible for all pipeline generation activities and oversees the channel and sales development organizations for all of North America.
Ronald Halbert is the Sr. Director Global Sales Development at Conga, a global leader in commercial operations transformation and helps businesses simplify and automate their approach to the essential quotes, contracts, and documents that drive commerce. Ron is responsible for overseeing direct pipeline generation globally.
Enjoy!
In This Episode
00:52 - Why economics is important in sales
1:52 - The numbers game fallacy
2:57 - Why sales reps fail, even when they have the skill
7:14 - The formula for generating a steady flow of leads
10:12 - Rusty Jensen as a young sales developer
11:51 - What Rusty and Ron learned from Dana Coates
15:42 - Rusty's advice for sales leaders
17:54 - What sales leaders can do to help their reps
21:21 - Breaking the cliché: work smarter, not harder
24:59 - How the balance between work, family, and personal time is the key to a happy life
Favorite Quotes
00:01 - "You can find success in all aspects of your life. But I will tell you this, if you are not organized, you will have to work a hundred hours a week to hit the same amount of output as someone that is organized working 40. So there is 'work smarter and work harder’.” - Ron Halbert
1:22 - "When you talk about Math, when you talk about Science, and when you talk about the dynamics of sales, it's not just the actual numbers. It's also the art associated with it. It incorporates human behavior. And human behavior is a huge aspect that you have to consider and that's what economics does." - Rusty Jensen
6:47 - "When you're trying to reach out to someone and you're trying to get hold of them, they have to see you everywhere. You have to establish a presence. It's not just like a random chance you connect to someone." - Rusty Jensen
15:18 - "You can't get analysis paralysis.There are people that focus so much on making a clean list that they never make a phone call. You do need to have a combination of both. You can make a lot of phone calls in a day, but make sure that you're calling that same person multiple times, leaving multiple voicemails, multiple emails, and it's the right person to talk to." - Ron Halbert
17:54 - From a leadership perspective, when it comes to organization, you need to be able to be a doctor. You need to be able to diagnose exactly where your rep is breaking down." - Ron Halbert
22:55 - "When you become good and you start figuring out how to become effective at your job, don't back down. Don't burn yourself up, but don't back down. Take that time to learn new skills. Take that time to learn the next job. Take that time to earn more money." - Rusty Jensen
24:29 - "You don't need to work a hundred hours a week. You need to work 40 hours a week very hard, that's it. Then make an amazing family life. Have an amazing outside of work life. That's what true work-life balance is. It's putting your best foot forward in the office and then putting your best foot forward at home." - Ron Halbert
Connect with our Hosts
Rusty Jensen on LinkedIn
Ron Halbert on LinkedIn
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