In this exclusive interview with Marcus A. Chan, sales coach & author, he shares tips on how to keep a sales team motivated, common sales mistakes reps make and how to overcome them, sales training techniques, how to tailor coaching for different types of teams, qualities that set top-performers apart, the biggest mistake he's made in his career, and more.
Interview highlights & key takeaways
How to motivate sales reps to boost performance
Uncover what intrinsically motivates each person.
Sit your reps down and do a deep dive to really understand what intrinsically drives them, and what their extrinsic motivators are.
For example, if a rep has a personal goal income of 250k, and that income means they get to send their kid to a private school, which means it's an opportunity to give them a better life that they never had, now you have something deeper to lead them toward instead of just hitting quota for the sake of hitting quota.
And when you lead someone toward something that's actually important to them personally, you'll get better performance across the board.
Common sales mistakes reps make & how to overcome them
The most common mistakes are tied to how discovery calls are run.
When you miss things in the discovery process, it impacts you on the rest of the process from how you demo to objection handling to negotiating.
Follow this simple POWERFUL Framework by Marcus to have a successful discovery process and learn how to handle sales objections:
[P]ain level: Did you uncover the level of pain they're in that can make them take action fast?
[O]pportunity costs: What is the cost of inaction?
[W]ants: What are their wants, needs, and desires? What do they intrinsically and extrinsically want and how does it align with the initiatives and goals of the company?
[E]xecutive level influence: Understand how they make decisions, their buying process, etc.
[R]esources: Do they have access to funds/capital? This is different than budget.
[F]ear of failure: If things don't change in the coming year, do they fear that things will fall apart and there will be major issues?
[U]nequivocal trust: Trust in you, in the solution, in the leadership, the company, etc.
[L]ittle things: The specific actions that you need to know to put together a proposal, pricing, etc.
| Related post: 46 Sales Discovery Questions That Help You Win Deals |
How to tailor coaching for diff sales teams
One of the best sales coaching tips Marcus shared is to understand what is the #1 constraint that team is running into. Once you figure that out, come up with a solution that doesn't just solve it in the short term, but in the long term.
It all comes down to being able to build sustainable, long-term habits instead of generic trainings that people will forget about.
Qualities that set top-performing reps apart
The top 1% of reps have these qualities:
- Hyper goal-oriented
- Ability to persevere
- Creative
- High emotional intelligence
- Self-starter
- Growth-minded
- Compassionate and genuine
- Passionate
- Curious
- Organized
- Ownership mentality
- Highly coachable & open to feedback
Related post: Interview with Alexine Mudawar, CEO of Women in Sales |
Biggest mistake Marcus has made in his career
"My biggest mistake was having an ego," said Marcus.
He started off as an intern in a large B2C company where he excelled. When he moved on and got a job at a B2B company, he thought he knew it all, which negatively impacted his work.
"I graduated and got into a B2B sales role. And I remember having this level of confidence and attitude and ego, thinking that I work hard, I'm smart enough, I crushed it as an intern... I'm gonna crush it in this B2B role. Now, I also learned pretty quickly that B2B is different than B2C. So when I went into the B2B role, I was the worst rep."
Lesson learned: "When you think you know it all, you don't know anything."
A habit that's motivational throughout the workday
"As I've gotten older, I've learned it's really the habits that have helped me the most because you develop a rhythm. And there are rhythms for everything in life."
Watch the full interview to hear what those habits are ⬆️
