Preparation Is A Sales Superpower (4 Step Plan to Increase H2 Sales Attainment) THH #001

Welcome to The Hidden Habits #001. A weekly newsletter that share the habits and frameworks of elite sales professionals for you to improve your sales performance. 

 

What is special about July for you?

If your working in sales, then its an opportunity to regroup and strategise for the second half of the year. 

Today we will discuss what it takes to have a killer H2, even if H1 has been slow. 

The mechanism to achieve this success? preparation. 

But first, let's understand why preparation matters.

 

Why is preparation a sales superpower?

Preparation allows you to relax, thrive and be confident. If you prepare, you are more likely to succeed.

It gives freedom to work on high value outcomes for you, your clients and stakeholders. 

Confidence from preparation makes clients lean in. Conversations run deeper, exposing higher value problems to solve. 

Higher value problems are more lucrative to solve.

A lack of preparation for sales meetings makes conversation dull. It disengages people and its hard to get past surface level problems.

Solving surface level problems doesn't pay well. 

 

Why is preparation a prospecting superpower too?

Prospecting means you are trying to contact new clients.

Prospecting isn't building lists, crafting messages or pondering the best opening line for cold calls. This is preparing to prospect.

Its critical not to confuse preparing to prospect with prospecting.

We've all been there. We get ready to prospect and then we waste the time:

• picking prospects
• researching them & their business
• looking for contact details
• crafting messages
• thinking about what to say on a cold call

 

The Big Problem

Before we know it, we've sent 3 emails and made 1 call...

Our prospecting session becomes wasted time that you never get back.

Preparation for Prospecting works because you have:

• a list of people to target
• perspective on their desired outcomes
• contact details in your CRM

You prospect at speed, get into flow state and maximise your chances of creating leads.

 

Most people rarely prospect properly 5 days in a row...

Imagine what you could achieve if you prepare to prospect fast everyday!

Day after day, week after week, month after month quarter after quarter and year after year.

Prepared prospecting alone will transform your future self into an unrecognisable sales machine. 

Prepared prospecting alone will transform your future self into an unrecognisable sales machine.

— Paul M. Caffrey (@PaulMCaffrey) July 11, 2023

Although a contrarian twist on an old Bill Gates quote, its sentiment rings true. Most salespeople overestimate what they can do in one prospecting session and underestimate what they can do if they prospect everyday for one year.

Who is more likely to succeed, the motivated prospector or the prepared prospector? Its very easy to say this, very, very difficult to do. 

 

How does preparation advance your career? 

Apart from better sales performance, which brings more opportunity.

There is also a strategic level of preparation to leverage.

Imagine a recruiter contacts an Account Executive for a sales leader position. If thats a long term goal for you, then you'll be "lucky" and get hired!

But remember, luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.

Dig a little deeper and you'll uncover strategic preparation behind the success.

 

The "Lucky" Account Executive vs "Unlucky" Account Executive 

The "Lucky" Account Executive PROBABLY has:

• A career coach.
• Some mentors. 
• An understanding of their skill & experience gaps.
• Completed a leadership course.
• Shadowed leaders to gain exposure to relevant skills e.g. the hiring process. A skill individual contributors don't get an opportunity to develop.

The "unlucky" Account Executive who didn't get hired PROBABLY felt ready for the role. There is oceans of difference between feeling ready and strategically preparing.

Imagine the difference in interviews between the prepared and unprepared candidates.

Both lack "Experience" but one has shown commitment and preparation in spades. Its an easy decision to make.

For elite sales professionals, preparation is non-negotiable. They never don't do this work. 

Its often so deeply engrained in their being, they don't see it and struggle to explain it.

Most salespeople don't have enough hours in the day to do all the tasks required to be successful in the role. So what gets bumped off the list? Preparation.

 

Some Gain Preparation by Chance

The good news is even a little preparation is still more than what your competitors are doing. An insight from Codie Sanchez got 2 million views on social media. It was research conducted into 11 companies across 58,000 hours of work. It found people sitting within 25ft of elite performers, performed 15% better. It also found that people sitting within 25ft of under performers, performed 30% lower. People tend to mimic the behaviours they witness around them. If you work with a top performer, then you might pickup their preparation habits. If not, its on you to take on preparation to perform at an elite level yourself.

Success doesn't just happen, its the culmination preparation and execution.

So what "luck" will are you prepared to take advantage of in H2?

What will make H2 the best H2 of your career?

What Stops Salespeople Preparing for H2?

This is where most salespeople stop. They think about what went well and what didn't. Sometimes they even make a mental plan, but they don't stick to it.

 

Too busy...

The problem is salespeople are too busy to slow down (prepare), even if that means they will speed up (sell more). 

Then the next lead, next customer call, next all hands comes along and we are back in the blurriness of the day to day.

 

Make the same mistakes...

What happens? We repeat our performance, the same mistake and get marginally better through experience.

Most salespeople don't review their sales performance. 

Most salespeople make the same mistakes quarter after quarter. 

A lack of preparation doesn't prevent you selling.

A lack of preparation prevents you to sell at an elite level consistently.

What happens when you don't prepare?

 

Don't let mediocrity rub off on you..

You don't see future gaps in pipeline. You don't plan to hit your numbers when on PTO.

Your consistent attainment and commission suffer.

Got a holiday booked? Whats your plan to close deals that month? or is there one? How can you still deliver a number if your working just two of the four weeks in the month?

Preparation gives you the means to plan to achieve this. But, lets face it...you can justify missing target that month to yourself. If other people think the same way, you'll take solace in that.

 

Decision time...

However, if your around a top performer and you witness them hit numbers despite being off. Then you are more likely to prepare a plan, rather than prepare an excuse.

But...can you take this a step further? Why don't you be the high performer in the room? Why don't you prepare and become the elite performers others look towards?

It doesn't just happen, you have to make the decision to become an elite performer. Then you have to consistently work on yourself to get better. Could H2, 2023 be the turning point for you?

 

Change your Inputs to Change Your Outputs 

Crafting a plan to perform at an elite level is the beginning. Its a big step, a step that you will thank yourself for later.

Building a preparation plan is one way to improve.

Another is to consume new information that will inspire and give you great ideas. An easy way to start is to follow leading sales performance experts to social media. Subscribe to relevant podcasts and youtube channels.

The biggest one for me? LISTENING. I listen to books all the time, when I come across a good one I buy the physical copy. Then I study and add certain ideas to my skillset.

 

Imagine how much better at sales you will be if you do this for 5 years?

Of course, if you have access to elite performers then make time to speak with them. Make time to shadow them. Do what they do. Not everything they do will work for you, but thats the game. You've got to find out what they do that you can replicate to improve your sales skills.

This new information will reframe and refocus how you sell, if you let it. Are you open to improving?

 

Building your H2 Plan

Let's imagine your fiscal year ends in January, 2024. How can you prepare for the best H2 of your career? Despite this economy.

 

What is your current situation?

The first thing to do is look at your numbers.  

Your Prospecting numbers

• How many prospects and accounts do you have?
• How many opportunities did these prospects and accounts generate in H1?
• What pipeline generation activity was successful, what wasn't?
• Truthfully, how much did you prospect yourself?
• If you had to score the qualify of your prospecting messages out of 10, what would you give yourself?

 

Lets dig into the numbers for the last 6 months:

• How many cold calls did you make?
• How many cold emails/Inmails did you send?
• How many people and companies did you contact?
• How many people did you contact 21+ times? (Industry Ave to get a response) 

 

Fun Exercise: Guess these numbers off the top of your head. Then look at the hard data e.g. call records, emails sent and people/companies contacted

We tend to believe we do a-lot more outreach than we do. The numbers don't lie. What was the difference between your guess and your actual prospecting numbers?

Don't stress or spend too much time on this, do it quickly so you get a benchmark.

 

Your Sales Numbers 

From a sales perspective, what's your attainment so far? 10%, 20% will you reach the magic 40%+ for H1?

Anything above 20% gives you a chance of doing your annual number.

Over the last 6 months:

• How many opportunities did you work?
• What was your close rate?
• What was your average deal size?
• What was your average deal cycle length?
• What was the source of your leads? (self generated, inbound, demo request ect)
• What type of opportunities were you working? e.g. new logo, upsell, cross sell e.c.t.

Get the high levels numbers from the CRM.

 

Did your H1 sales performance exceed your potential?

Are you happy with your attainment? Did you prospect enough? This is what you are most likely to produce over the next 6 months. You might get a gentle seasonal bump for end of year...but thats it.

Are you happy with this level of performance?

If nothing changes, you don't incorporate preparation. You will continue to get these results year after year. You will spend the same time working, and you will get the same results.

Allocate your time better, you can radically improve your performance. Or in other terms, the time you spend selling will be the same. The return you get for that time will be much higher...if.

And its a big if.

If you prepare a plan for the next 6 months. If you prepare to prospect and prepare to sell. If you hold yourself accountable for preparation and execution of activities. If you improve skills for your next role..

If...

Then you will perform at a higher level. Then you will increase your pipe generation and close rates. Then you will increase your earnings. Then you will open the doors to more valuable opportunities.

 

Its time to make a decision...

Will you start using the power of professional preparation...or will you continue on the path your on. Getting the same results year after year.

 

Your H2 Preparation Plan

• What are you looking to achieve?
• What will be the best possible outcome for you?
• What will make this H2 the best in your career?

It is a tough environment we're operating in, but deals will still close. Some "lucky" people will still get promoted. Some sales professionals will look at 2023 as a great year.

What amount of commission makes you go "wow". What would that look like in your bank account?

What revenue number are you aspiring to hit? How much pipeline coverage do you need? (2-3x ave)

 

The rubber meets the road... 

• How much pipeline have you got for H2?
• What revenue target are you aiming at?
• How much pipeline (2-3x coverage) are you short?
• What is the typical sales cycle? What can you do to speed up your sales cycle?
• By what month do you need your pipeline to close this year created by?
• How many people and companies will you prospect on a weekly basis?
• How many hours per day can you block off to prospect? When will you block more time to research and build prospecting lists?

 

Preparation for prospecting and the act of prospecting will be key. I met a Regional Vice President of Sales from a global Saas software leader. The topic of prospecting came up with the topic of being offline for email, slack and internal comms.

"I'd accept someone offline from Slack if they were prospecting."

Regional Vice President of Sales

 

Step 1: Block Time in Your Calendar

If your an account executive and you don't create pipeline or progress deals on a given day..that is a bad day.

Everyone is quick to spend your time, but its your time to spend. Rather than spend it, invest it in strategic activities. You will waste time, try not to waste it all and ignore the core focus for success:

• Can you schedule 1-2 hours per day for prospecting?
• Can you schedule 1-2 hours per day for pipeline progression?
• Can you block an hour a week to build your skills for your next position?

 

Add these to your calendar as recurring daily time blocks.

Will customer calls clash? Will mandatory all hands clash? Will other meetings clash? Unfortunately the answer is yes.

You have two options, move your block to another time in the day. Or say no to a meeting that you feel you can miss.

Account Executives lose 25%+ of their time on internal meeting and other commitments. Thats fine. We know this.

Its up to you to protect your time to actually do the Account Executive work that matters.

If you have a meeting clash, you can always reschedule your prospecting or sales activity.

 

Pro Tip: If you need to leave your calendar open or "available" to take client meetings. Keep the block in your calendar as "Free".

 

Step 2: Prepare for prospecting

If your prospecting, set extra time aside to research & build a list of people to contact in-advance.

Set goals for each of your prospecting blockers. List the 5 target people of accounts you will message in the session.

Have a list of phone numbers to call, those you contacting and prospects in your sequences.

You can make prospecting sessions a mix of outreach and calls or split the sessions. e.g. mon wed & fri can be reaching out to people via email with custom messages and Tues & Thurs can be cold calling. Or split each prospecting session 50:50.

 

Step 3: Prepare for pipe progression

Most people react to deals and their prospects or competitors dictate timelines. Being proactive will change your world in sales.

What's needed to bring your deals to the next stage? What is the best practise sales process? What have you missed?

Daily pipe progression gives you the chance to think deeply about what you can do to win the business. Consider the risks to the deal and take action to mitigate them.

A good barometer for deals is if its closing this quarter, there should be weekly progress. If its closing this month, there should be daily progress.

The time you block for sales is simple, what action can you take on deals to progress them today?

Elite performers leave nothing to chance. Have a demo coming up? What are the possible questions you will get? Are you tight on demo delivery? Have you done a dry run?

It could be an opportunity to consider if your multi threaded into the opportunity. You could prepare an exec or peer to send an email to their counterpart. This opens up another line of communication. As Gong shared recently over 10,000 call, deals with 3+ people involved had a 60% higher close rate.

Progressing deals is where elite Account Executives thrive. Put time aside daily and take calculated, prepared action. It pays off.

Bad Account Executives are reactive and chase prospects to "touch base" and "check in". This is not the year for reactive chasing, its hard enough already. 

 

Step 4: Prepare to improve

What is one area of your ability as an Account Executive that you could improve? What is the next position that your looking to promote into?

Make a list of the skills required to improve your current performance.

Make a list of the skills required for your future position. Also its worth considering what experience your lacking too. You can make a plan to collect some of that experience along the way.

What are your gaps? What podcasts or books can you consume on the topic? (Audiobooks on audible is an amazing place to start)

Turning your commute, gym session or other tasks into opportunities to get better.

 

Thats it for today. We've covered a-lot.

I'm looking forward to helping you prospect better, sell more and get promoted faster in future newsletters.

Have a great weekend

- Paul M. Caffrey

 

Whenever you're ready, there are 3 ways I can help you: 

1.  I expand on prospecting in greater depth in my book: The Work Before the Work: The Hidden Habits Elite Sales Professionals Use to Outperform the Competition GET MY BOOK HERE. 
2.  Sell more & get promoted faster with 1:1 Coaching here. 
3.  Lead a sales team or org? Let's explore me training your team. Book a call here