B2B Tech Sales Flashcards
Rules for Linked In:
Have profile, professional headshot, have connections and referrals (can have 100 per week; 500+ will optimize)
Rules for Course:
- Read through it, learn the material
- Don’t jump through things too quickly and out of order; content is foundational
- Seek help; learn what questions to ask, and do some research on your own whenever not sure about something; take advantage of coaching and networking with other students
4 Read the books
What books to read?
Spin Selling and Fanatical Prospecting - Mandatory;
How to win Friends & Influence people highly recommended (need alternatives)
Other sales and communication based books are also a great addition
Alternatives to How to win friends & Influence People that will be more effective
- Practice communicating for real in person - (on-campus events, class, get another job, networking events, invest in hobbies
- Coaching - Healthygamer/Course Careers
- Online communication - YouTube / record myself, LinkedIN, IG
- More effective books - storytelling, social selling, how to talk to anyone, never split the difference
Steps in a Sales Process:
- Prospect
- Preapproach
- Approach
- Present
- Close
- Follow-up
Why is it important to learn the structure of the organization?
Important to impress the interviewer, makes you more attractive and likely to work within a large/complex company
Why do I want to work in tech sales? What is my goal? Reason?
Need to improve my life overall - start my career strong, build good foundation of social skills, and make money to start exploring and making decisions in my life; seeking to become a sales engineer and build my channel and blog for extra income and to help others (don’t care about corporate leadership; wish to branch out and be independent, with way more opportunity and variety outside of sales)
Also want to pivot, and work in engineering and science later on
How to make positive social impact on new people
- Introduce yourself, greet the other person, ask for their name; thank for the conversation afterward if formal/promise to speak later if casual, ask questions and provide feedback
- Let them speak for an ample amount of the conversation; 60 - 80% of the time
- Show attentiveness and that you are listening to them throughout (use their name, give verbal and body language confirmation, and reference what the other person said, perhaps in question form)
- Engage emotionally with the other person, find common interest
- Avoid debate, learn to negotiate, see their point of view, eliminate tension and bring ease
- Bring a story or idea into the conversation that sparks interest or emotion in the other person (Avoid the conversation landmine of rationally delving into topics that only concern you)
- Initiate to end successful conversations; ask to meet again to discuss deal, hangout, or get contact information
How to cultivate respect with other people
- Acknowledged them for their time/attention
- Respect boundaries and don’t push, prevent objections by speaking clearly and answer questions
- Show “Social proof” (Having a network/reputation, showing signs of trustworthiness)
What is the ideal customer profile (ICP)? Why is it important?
the type of company you are selling to, their characteristics, the business model, what it aims for in order to be successful.
Important to know which companies to target, and will be more likely to have faster, more successful, and more lucrative sales with less wasted time. The more ideal the customer profile, the better the opportunity.
Some companies sell to multiple markets
What to look for in an ICP?
- Company size (large, small, mid)
- Revenue (What is the budget? deal size? employee size?)
- Industry (match what you’re selling to to needs, do you have better knowledge how that company works)
- Geography (remote or in person, do you travel)
- Technology (are they up to date with current trends? if not, can solve that problem)
- Attributes (give surveys, hiring sales interns, industrial engineers, nurses)
- Desires (Do they want to collect data from general public, make their manufacturing more efficient, design products, help people to have operations, etc.)
Buyer persona?
generalized personalized representation of the ideal customer for your business. Includes demographics, motivators, goals, and challenges. Companies create it based on market research and data about existing customers
Key about the most valuable buyer persona?
There are multiple in B2B sales; the most important one at a company is the one who influences the decision to purchase the product/service, and who benefits most from it (contact them)
What does knowing the buyer persona allow you to do?
target the right buyer and qualify leads more quickly.
Account
contains all the records of customer interactions, including
contact information, preferred services, and transactions with your business.
Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR)
The amount of money a customer pays you every year on a subscription model.
Annual Contract Value(ACV)
average annualized revenue per customer contract.
What is the Annual Contract Value compared to and why?
customer lifetime value; to see how long it takes to pay back the cost of acquiring a customer
Account-Based Selling
strategy where the entire company (all departments) work together to pursue high-value accounts.
What departments are typically involved the most with Account-based selling?
sales, marketing, and customer success
Business Unit
group of people representing a specific department or product within
a company such as accounting or manufacturing.
Buying signal
verbal or nonverbal cues that show a customer is ready to make a purchase
Examples of buying signals that are important to identify
signing up for free trial, asking about contract specifics and more information
How can a BDR/SDR have more efficient and productive sales processes?
automating and accelerating workflow with software, generating the right leads, and identifying buying signals upon interviewing leads
C-Level / C-Suite
Executive level (CEO, CFO, COO, CMO, CIO, etc)
Champion
prospect within a company that wants to purchase your product or
service and is willing to do everything they can to help convince the others in the
company to make the purchase.
Channel Partner
person or company that offers services or products on behalf of
another company.
Channel Sales
Focusing on different sales channels, such as an in-house sales team, retailers, referrals, dealers etc
Churn
percentage of clients that leave or stop using your services or products
within a certain time period.
Closing Ratio
the number of deals closed compared to the number of engaged prospects.
What is the Closing Ratio used to do?
evaluate the performance of an
individual sales rep and forecast sales.
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) –
Cost of acquiring new paying clients
Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
total lifetime value of one client in terms of the revenue they’ll bring before they churn
Customer Relationship Management/CRM
– A software or Internet-based service
that helps business owners and sales professionals manage their sales pipeline; track prospects and related activities throughout the sales cycle
Customer Success
– A strategy and a proactive mindset that helps reduce churn
rates, increase customer satisfaction with a service/product, and the predictability of
recurring revenue.
Gatekeeper
person who answers the phone that lets you speak to the decision maker or not
How do you get past the gatekeeper?
Leave message, contact info, notify them you sent the prospect in question an email, and your business. Be grateful & courteous, thank for time; If that doesn’t work, use the number of extensions or get the number of the sales department
Inbound sales
Sales that happen as a result of customers directly approaching and engaging with the brand/company; comes IN
Lead Generation
The activities that are completed in order to generate interest around what the product or service you are selling
Methods of lead generation?
content marketing, PPC, referrals, outbound marketing, partnerships
Lead Nurturing
Engaging and building a long-term relationship with existing
prospects.
lead Qualification
process of qualifying if a lead is a good fit to purchase your product or service.
Lead Scoring
Assigning value to every lead based on predefined criteria, to rank in terms of engaging priority (buying signals help)
Marketing Qualified Lead?
Will most likely become a paying client, based on pages visited, action taken on the company website,
and other digital footprint info.
Monthly Recurring Revenue
amount of regular and predictable income a company expects to receive every month.
Onboarding
set of actions or a process of introducing a new client with a service or product. Setting up an account and introducing the client with their point of contact at the company.
Outbound Sales
Cold calling, cold emailing and social selling, with the goal of initiating contact with a prospective client and ultimately closing the deal. Not in the pipeline yet
Point of Contact
A person or a department within a company that the client can
reach out to with questions or specific requests.
Profit Margin
ratio of profitability that reveals how much money a company actually makes. It is the amount by which revenue from sales exceeds costs.
Formula for Profit Margin (hint: %)
Gross Profit (Revenue - cost of goods sold)/Revenue
Revenue
Amount of money a business generates in a specific time period
Sales Acceleration
Speeding up the sales process using different tools and technologies to boost productivity and efficiency.
Sales Automation
process of automating sales workflow by using a software or an online tool. It can help simplify, speed up and streamline the sales process.
Sales Cadence
determined sequence of sales activities and the frequency at which
the sales team interacts with leads.
Sales Cycle
Predictable sequences and stages that a company goes through as they
sell their product or service.
Sales Enablement
Providing sales professionals with necessary tools, technology,
training, and other resources in order for them to have better performance at customer engagement
Sales Funnel
visual representation of sales processes with defined stages, that every potential client goes through as they are let towards a final decision – buying a
product or service.
Sales Pipeline
visual representation of a sales process and stages of each individual prospect.
Sales Qualified Lead
potential client that already met all the necessary criteria, and is forwarded to Account Executive to close the deal.
Scrapping Data
Extraction of large amounts of data from websites.
Segmentation
process of dividing a large market or a contact list into smaller segments based on different criteria – location, company size, revenue etc.
Social Selling
sales tactic that involves using social media as a sales channel.
SDRs engage and create relationships with prospects by probing their needs and
providing relevant and valuable insight.
Top of the funnel
refers to the top of the sales or marketing funnel, where all prospects go through a qualification process, both from inbound and outbound efforts.
Vertical
A specific segment of the market where a business targets only a specific
industry, sector or niche
SDR, BDR, B2B, B2C, SaaS
Sales Development Representative, Business Development Representative, business to business, business to consumer, software as a service
What does an Account Executive/AE/Closer do?
in charge of closing deals by converting qualified leads into paying customers.
What does a business development representative do?
sales specialist focused on finding new prospects, establishing foundational
relationships, and updating the sales pipeline with new leads (what I’m taking the course to have as my job title)
What does an Account Manager/Am/Farmer do?
in charge of managing and
up-selling existing clients and accounts.
Clients
Closed opportunities, paying clients and people that your account managers
should take care of (account managers only existing clients)
Closers
Account Executives, they are focused on closing deals and they only
prospect a small number of strategic accounts. (AE’s responsible for new, potential customers only; opening accounts)
Cold Call
outbound engagement with a prospect you don’t have a relationship with via phone
Cold Email
outbound attempt to reach prospects you don’t have a relationship with yet via email containing a sales proposal
Decision Maker
person in charge of making a purchasing decision at a company; vital to research who that person is
Fortune 500
List of the 500 larges companies in the US based on revenue
Influencer
Someone who has a strong influence over the purchase of a product or
service, but isn’t the final decision-maker.
Opportunites
qualified lead that is a good fit for your solution. An SDR has qualified this person as someone who has the need and ability to purchase.
Prospects
List of names & contact info in a list, database, or CRM
Referral
Method of generating new sales leads, where someone refers a potential client to you