Businesses across the world face a form of mass extinction with inbound marketing, content marketing, and social media reinventing how we attract prospective customers. Many companies now consider the traditional sales team (with outbound calls and manual follow-up) to be an endangered species. But this mentality leads to ruin. If you assume inbound marketing will make traditional sales go the way of the dinosaur, then it’s time to pick up New Sales. Simplified. by Mike Weinberg.
Stop Waiting for the Meteor
The hype around the “end of traditional sales” is very familiar to us at The Newsletter Pro. As a print newsletter company, we regularly hear that print is dead, online is the only way to go, and the sky is falling. Yet, much like traditional sales, we’re still thriving!
Even HubSpot, inbound marketing’s most vocal advocate, knows a business can’t succeed without a traditional sales strategy. The celebrated “King of Inbound Marketing” has a large outbound sales team. They even make cold calls!
HubSpot also recommends strong sales strategies to their partners. This includes lessons by Mike Weinberg in his book, New Sales. Simplified.: The Essential Handbook for Prospecting and New Business Development.
Not convinced? Weinberg has even been featured on The Marketing Book Podcast to talk about his sales book! Meanwhile, New Sales. Simplified. sits at #3 on HubSpot’s “The 23 Most Highly-Rated Sales Books of All Time.”
Why Your Plan for Your Sales Team Fails (Hint: It’s You)
“If sales is so relevant,” you may ask, “then why do my sales efforts all lead to ruin?”
I hate to break it to you, but sales plans fail for one reason — your plan was terrible. But don’t take it from me! In a book that doesn’t pull any punches, Weinberg utilizes blunt honesty and sharp humor to explain why your sales plans fail.
“A lot of salespeople think they’re not responsible for creating their own demand anymore,” Weinberg explains in his book. “Salespeople fail at new business development because they spend very little time trying to sell or pick up new business. Instead of hunting for new customers, they babysit existing customers … no one defaults to prospecting mode.”
Customer retention is vital, but it’s a job for the customer retention team, not the sales team.
Weinberg speaks from experience. As a #1 producer in 3 different companies before he started his own consulting firm, Weinberg’s lessons come with the salt of having made these mistakes for himself.
Basically, when he says something like, “I feel obligated to warn that the worst myth being perpetrated by the 2.0 crowd is that we no longer need to make proactive telephone calls to prospects,” it’s wisdom worth taking to heart.
Your Handbook to Sales Success
There are plenty of other reasons why your sales plans keep crumbling. Fifteen of them, in fact! Weinberg covers each one, holding up a mirror to reveal the unflattering truth about your mistakes. However, he’s not in the business of kicking you when you’re down. In addition to showing what companies are doing wrong, Weinberg outlines what your business must do to get sales right!
Take Chapter 7, where Weinberg highlights the value of creating a compelling sales story in your sales arsenal. He isn’t referring to the art of storytelling. Sales reps must organize their elevator pitch to:
- Address client issues
- Explain the offer
- Show what your differentiators are
The order of these points is non-negotiable. Your sales team should first address the client’s interests in every interaction. As Weinberg points out, “Prospective customers are not interested in what you do. They are only interested in what you can do for them.”
Inbound marketing, social media, permission marketing, and the like are all useful, but they should not be the only tool in your toolbox. In New Sales. Simplified., Weinberg gives sales teams in every industry the tools they need to rediscover their role, realign their goals, and rework their entire approach to get results.
It’s a resource you simply can’t do without.
