Marissa Is At The Top Of Her Game. So How Does She Do It?

I met Marissa last month at an event I was asked to speak at. She was 27 years old and, while attractive, she didn’t turn heads when she walked in the room.

And, she was assertive, but in a serene, comfortable way.

As high achievers usually do, she approached me after my speech and wanted to ask me a few questions about my topic-“How To Be A High Sales Achiever In An Ultra-Competitive Market.”

She asked the question, and scribbled down some of my input. But I could tell something was different about her. So, I asked her how she had climbed to be the top ranked sales person at her software company (a company that has over 100 sales people.)

Here was her formula of how she rose to the top:

1. “I have a web page that offers a free download of a checklist I wrote about how you know if you’re ready for software.” She maintained this was THE thing that was the difference maker. Now, when she’s networking, all she does is meet people, collect their card, and send them a nice email that links to her web page.

NOTE: She spent her own money on the site, the email software behind it, and paid to have the checklist written. This total cost was about $500/year, a pittance when you see her earnings.

2. “I cold call no one unless they have downloaded the checklist.” And then, it is a very warm email (she read it to me…and I was taking notes now) asking them if they’d like to invite her in to speak about their issues. If they say ‘yes’, she moves to step 3.

NOTE: Her email was very relaxed. No pressure. “If you want to invite me in, great. If you don’t, just tell me that as well.”

3. “I send an Agenda prior to the meeting.” The agenda lays out how the meeting will work. She emphasizes that this first meeting is focused on their needs, their problems, their dreams. She says in the note that she’ll be happy to share her observations of companies who invest in this type of solution, but that isn’t the essence of meeting #1.

NOTE: She told me she has a very thorough series of questions that she ALWAYS asks. She never deviates from that list. She shared the list and the questions were deep and intentional.

3. “I create a long follow up email.” In that email she lays out what she understands to be the issues they’re struggling with. She told me takes at least one hour to craft the email. In the email, she uses her personality to build rapport. I read it, and it seems more like a letter to a friend than a corporate letter.

4. “In that email I propose another meeting with others inside their company.”  If they can’t find a way to involve others inside their company to offer their perspective on the situation, then she politely drops out. She knows that it’s never one person that decides on something of the magnitude she’s selling.

5. “If they choose to go the next step, I create a short video where I lay out the issues I heard, and how I would approach solving it.” She then sends it to the person so they can send it on to every person who will be in meeting #2. Brilliant. I saw one of these and it’s quite simple…shot with an iPhone camera, and hosted on her own site. (Think about what that does to position her with other unknowns inside the prospect company!!)

NOTE: This is a personalized video…not a canned one. She showed me one example and she is very gracious at being invited in to help them.

6 “I start the second meeting with an upfront understanding that if they want to go to the next step after this meeting, that is the proposal stage.”  This is how she controls the process. If they say, they aren’t ready to make a decision, then she politely backs out, saying that if it’s not the right time, then there is no good reason to go to the next step.

7. “I always bring a technical person to that meeting, because I don’t know all the tech issues, and that’s what I’m selling.”  She is using a much ignored resource, the technical folks. She told me she coaches them prior to the meeting…NO SELLING…NO CONVINCING….ONLY UNDERSTANDING.

8. “Then I set the meeting for the proposal, if there is to be a next meeting.” She wants everyone who is in the process to be at that next meeting.

NOTE: If the prospect resists this approach, she backs out immediately.

9. “Then, I do another video recapping what I heard and reiterating the agreement.”  By this time, they aren’t going anywhere. They feel taken care of. They feel listened to. They never feel sold to. She said, if they call back and back off, she drops out. (A recurring theme, isn’t it?)

10. “Then when I go back for the proposal stage, I reiterate that I will need a decision within one week of the proposal meeting.”  She told me she doesn’t ask them to sign an agreement then because people sometimes are reluctant to do that. That’s OK with her.

Hard worker, huh? 

Do you work that hard for a sale? You might start when you hear her numbers.

1. A. She closes 70% of people who make to the proposal stage.
2. She’s been working this process for a year, and finds that about 20% who say “no” often come back to do business.
3. She never feels pressure. She remains detached all the way through the process. Total freedom.
4. She told me she never, ever worries about targets and goals. She has a system. And if she works the system, the numbers always take care of themselves.
5. She is the #1 sales person at a company that has over 100 sales people.
6. She earned over $300,000 in 2014 using this approach.
7. She says not one other sales person in her company has asked (I would be pleading) her how she does it. That’s a case of ego getting their way, isn’t it?

My takeaway is something I’ve been preaching in this blog and my podcasts: Get a system. Make sure it’s a wow system (it is with the thorough diagnosis and the video approach.”)  And just focus on putting people in the front end of the pipeline.

And, don’t forget the “attitude” that MUST go along with your system: If they resist, I back away.

What did you learn from Marissa? Anything? Did you take notes? Did you make a copy of this and tell your sales leader to get more information? Did you implement anything that makes her a super-high achiever?

I would love to here from you.