by Dustin | Jan 11, 2019 | Mindset, Motivation
In my last post, I stated goals in terms of what I wanted to accomplish. 20 deals, and around 150k in commissions. I recently restated my goals in a LinkedIn post and found it much more inspiring. The difference is I stated them in impact I would make. Let me demonstrate: If a client signs up with me, I expect them to financially benefit by at least 50k whether that be through savings by reducing current costs or additional profit we can help generate. So if I’m able to properly quantify that on each deal, then helping 20 clients will save them a collective $1M dollars, which will benefit my community and local economy. Thinking that Im working on improving my local economy by $1M dollars excites me as much, if not more, than taking home an extra 150k. If I focus on the results and the impact, the money will follow. After all, your compensation is a direct reflection of the impact you make. Your homework is to define your goals in terms of the impact you will make. I look forward to seeing...
by Dustin | Jan 2, 2019 | Mindset
The New Year is upon us! Its time to implement goals you have set for your sales achievements for the year. Well, I haven’t set SMART goals for my business yet. So I sill use this blog post as an opportunity to do so. Lets start with what I have achieved last year: sold 11 Accounts for total annual recurring revenue of $15,289,366.48 ($393,340 in margin / profit)Made $28679 in up front commissions, added $821 in monthly recurring residual commissions. Sources of my sold accounts were: 4 company leads, 1 cold call, 5 clients adding or restructuring, and 1 internal partnership.Total opportunities were: 65 prospects / discovery meetings, 33 RFPs (51% conversion rate), 11 sold (17% conversion from prospect, 33% conversion from RFP). I am happy with these stats as they are much higher than company averages (38% discovery to RFP, 13% conversion from prospect, and 33% conversion from RFP). I fell way short of my goals that I set for myself this time last year. However, I aimed so high, I still exceeded 100% of my quota and am on pace to finish in the top 15% of our sales force and earning our annual incentive trip. My goals were 120 prospects (met 54% of goal), 60 RFPs (55% of goal), 20 deals (55% of goal), 150k in commissions (25% of goal). So to analyze all of this, I was dead on in my expectations of conversion stats EXCEPT for the most important metric, $ in my pocket. If a couple of deals went the right way, The commission $ would have rose significantly, and probably would have...
by Dustin | Dec 18, 2014 | Book Report
Review of the Book: The Go Giver This book is not a true story or full of tactics like most sales books / personal development books you find, but its a very enjoyable parable that is easy to read. Its a book of five lessons that everyone should learn that will help you transform from a go getter to a go giver, someone who builds the kinds of relationships where people can’t help but want to help you. Im trying to make my phone ring rather than dialing out and really need to implement some of these principles! I read this at a pivotal time in my sales career. Ive spent nearly a decade being a go-getter and burning the candle at both ends to try to make a commission and my number. But no one cares about your commission. They are in for whats in it for them, and if you add value, you will be rewarded. One of the great lessons of this book is that one’s compensation is tied directly to the amount of value they add to the world. Pick it up, its worth the...
by Dustin | Nov 26, 2014 | tales from the field, Wins
I’m in an industry where the end of year is go-time. A majority of our clients like to start with us on 1/1 so there has been a lot of closing activity around the office! Its motivating and nerve racking. And for the second time in two weeks, I made a sale! so let me break it on down: This one was another unusual one, Im beginning to think none of them fit the mold they have you role play in the training videos! As Ive said before we are a premium service provider, and when the customer let me in the door to be competitive, I was happy for the opportunity and the activity, but not very optimistic for the sale. This is a prospect I found canvassing, driving around my territory and working up the courage to go holla at the receptionist. Not my favorite activity but beats dialing for dollars on a nice day. There wasn’t a receptionist but it seemed like a decent sized company so I looked it up back in the office. Turns out they were a former client of ours who left for a primary competitor 6 years ago when they were able to save them $100k. After a few attempts, I got ahold of the listed contact the CFO, and he brushed me off but said I could keep in touch. I didn’t do anything fancy to build value, just pinged him quarterly to see when I could catch him interested. This time, when I reached out to him in August, he was ready to let us “re-compete” for the business....
by Dustin | Nov 26, 2014 | tales from the field, Wins
Validation! I made a sale today! Well, actually, its taking me almost a week to write this post, but the idea came to me the day I got the ink! It felt phenomenal. Please note that the business Im in is very difficult, and the most successful reps make 15 – 20 sales a year. In fact, just 12 sales in a year (with certain minimum values) guarantees you the annual trip. Just one sale a month, doable right? Sure it is, but I got a long way to go to figure it out. Including this new client, I have made 4 sales in the nearly two years I’ve been with my current employer. Thats a lot of faith I have had to maintain to believe that my time is being well spent! So let me break down the components of the deal so that I can learn from (and relish) the win. Intro: I actually got thrown a bone on this one, it was a corporate lead assigned to me. My company doesn’t have a formal process of assuring equal distribution of leads, they are given to the managers who then assign them to the team. My best guess is its a combination of recognition, favoritism, and luck. Anyway, I was fortunate to receive this one! At the beginning it seemed like a long-shot, an industry we are not favorable in, a brand new business, and an insistence on a phone call not an in person meeting. A senior, more busy rep would have punted, but I was happy to take what I could get! Process: I felt...
