Those Who Learn More, Earn More

Some deny it. Others embrace it: The eagerness of continuous learning. For Sales, knowledge is the new value to trade, and it will affect your income. As Jeb Blount says in his book Inked:

In Sales, when you out-learn, you out-earn.

Jeb Blount

Despite being exposed to daily motivators like Sales Managers, Sales Trainers, and articles on social media trying to convince sales reps to spend more time on learning, there is an enormous knowledge gap, according to the Buyers.

But what better way to convince you to spend more time on continuous reading, listening and systematically enhancing your knowledge than using the Selling with the Buyer’s Perspective approach? Here we go:

Why (should You) Change?

Buyers tell us that salespeople do not bring enough knowledge to the table. From their perspective:

• 82% of B2B decision-makers think sales reps are unprepared. [Blender]
• 58 percent of buyers report that sales reps are unable to answer their questions effectively
• 85% of prospects and customers are dissatisfied with their on-the-phone experience.

Seeing that in context with the complex world we live in, buyers are hungry for insights. An they expect you to contribute.

For even more motivation to dive into books and articles, also look at the research done on high performing Salespeople versus average performers:

• High performers understand local market context better (58% vs. 39%)
• They provide insights into key moments when meeting with Customers and Prospects (60% vs. 42%)
• 78% of sales reps engaged in social selling outsell peers who aren’t. [Sprout Social]
• And the following statement may be a surprise: According to a Linkedin study, The more you learn, the happier you become.

Evidently, Salespeople equipped with more knowledge about their customers, their situations, and their challenges outperform their peers in income and happiness.

Change to What?

To catapult yourself to a top-performing level, hit your sales targets and earn more commissions…what needs to change? Often, this requires stopping a range of habits and starting new ones:

• 60% of a day muddling around email is a great way to miss your sales targets.
• 79% of high-performing reps say they’ve had to adapt quickly to new ways of selling
• Improve your ability to build quicker situational awareness.
• Be more resourceful in coming up with business ideas to kick-start the buying process for your Customers.
• Top performers are nearly 3 x more likely to use AI for research and insights.
• Once you find insightful information, be more strategic about how you can help your Customer grow their business.
• Buyers listen more carefully to what you have to say when you supersede your business acumen over sales acumen.
• 75% of sales leaders said coachability is a characteristic of every top-performing sales rep.

Change to Who?

Now you know what to change, how do you do that?

• Challenge yourself to find more time so that you don’t have to wing your meetings. The better you are prepared for meetings, the more effective you will be.
• Make time for reading blogs, news articles and books. It’s your choice what you do with time. Focus on extracting valuable insights relevant to your customers’ situations.
• Find similar customers within or outside your territory and reflect on how you or your sales colleagues have helped them grow their business; turn these into effective stories.
• Challenge your ability to think like a CEO because business is the language of the new way of selling.
• Be optimistic about the future and how you can help. Optimistic sales pros outperform pessimists by 57%. That’s even true when pessimists have better selling skill sets. (Forbes, Seligman)
• Ask your local Finance Manager to conduct a Business Finance 101 session with your sales team.
• Be more others-oriented; Successful reps are 10x more likely to use collaborative words like “us,” “we,” and “our” and avoid words like “I” and “me.” (Chorus)
• Embrace AI to become smarter and sell more.
• Discuss and decide with your manager and colleagues what the most insightful online magazines are per industry, and start reading these every week.

These are my favourite readings:

Books:

• Jeb Blount: Fanatical Prospecting and Inked
• Anthony Iannarino: Eat Their Lunch and The Lost Art of Closing
• Mike Weinberg: New Sales Simplified
• Tiffani Bova: Growth IQ
• Kate Raworth: Doughnut Economics

Blogs:

• thesalesblog.com
• salesgravy.com/blog
• thesalesadvice.com
• Brent’s Breakdown (YouTube)

Commit to Change

In summary, Buyers want you to come up with ideas and help them grow their businesses. And top performers, earning more than their peers, are doing exactly that. To achieve that, you now have a better understanding of what you should stop doing and what skills you should turn into new habits. Following the practical advice above will get you on the way.

On a scale from 1 to 10, how committed are you to start this change and continue every day?

The Learning Curve is the Earning Curve: Those who learn more earn more.