There are a lot of articles from a manager’s perspective when it comes to coaching & training. What if you wanted to take initiative yourself to further your skill set? We can’t always have an expert over our shoulder 24/7 critiquing what we’re doing right or wrong. Here are a handful of tips to help you become the best lead generation specialist at your company.
1. Find a Mentor
Take note of the best performers on your sales team. What about their approach yields consistent results? You don’t have to pull them away from their job for the day, just be a fly on the wall and observe.
How do they prepare? Sit next to your mentor and you’ll begin to understand why they’re so good at overcoming objections and specific conversational transitions that keep the prospect engaged. After listening for a while you’ll begin finding ways to implement these techniques into your own strategy.
2. Listen To Your Recordings
This was something I picked up in my college public speaking and sales classes. We’d had to record ourselves giving speeches or mock negotiations/sales calls and re-watch them. It’s amazing all the quirks you might not necessarily notice in the moment. Once you can see yourself on film or hear through a recording you’ll begin to pick up on a lot of these things. All the “um’s”, fidgeting, or bad eye contact tendencies are brought to light & can be adjusted accordingly.
3. Write Down Every Objection
Don’t be caught off guard. Make a running list of all possible objections you can think of as well as corresponding rebuttals. Just like anything else, being smooth takes practice. By having a bank of every reason anyone has ever said no to you it will lessen the learning curve of the project you’re working on. The next time you’re in that same situation you’ll know how to handle it immediately.
4. Conduct Mock Calls
In most instances, I’m sure your manager would be happy to help you out with this one. Sit down face to face and have them play the role of the prospect while you go through your cadence or script. They’ll throw different scenarios at you in a no pressure environment and this will help you adapt to unexpected dialogue on the fly.
5. Identify Industry Thought Leaders
Start learning who the industry thought leaders in your field are and follow them on social media. YouTube especially is a gold mine for short 1-2 minute training videos. Don’t be afraid to engage back, either. Others are watching those videos for the same exact reason you are so it makes for excellent learning & networking opportunities as well.