Geoffrey James at BNET/Sales Machine and I had an ongoing conversation about his top 10 lists of lies people tell and we came up with a new list of the “Top 10 Dumb Lies Sales Reps Tell Managers” – some of them funny and some cliché. If you have worked as a rep and managed sales teams, these will all be familiar to you. And yes, our view is that many sales people unfortunately, lie, but sales *professionals* don’t – top performers achieve superior results through integrity and professionalism.
Here’s the list we came up with:
- LIE #10: Budget is not an issue with this customer. Truth: budget is always an issue.
- LIE #9: These are all qualified opportunities. Truth: Some must be more qualified than others.
- LIE #8: It’s a qualified lead, but they have no money. Truth: No money means they’re not qualified.
- LIE #7: I have all the important customer notes in my head. Truth: I’m too lazy to write them down.
- LIE #6: I entered all the details in our CRM system. Truth: You entered the minimum required.
- LIE #5: I am working from home this morning. Truth: Yeah, right.
- LIE #4: I made 100 cold calls today. Truth: You made some calls, but probably not THAT many.
- LIE #3: I don’t cold call because it is not a good way to generate new business. Truth: You don’t cold call because you hate cold calling.
- LIE #2: These new leads just advanced right before this funnel review meeting, so I don’t have all the details. Truth: You’re not on top of your accounts.
- LIE #1: I expect to hit my quota, but as luck would have it, most of my customers will be making a decision in the last week of the quarter. Truth: You’re praying that something will close by then.
See the rest of Geoffrey’s post..https://blogs.bnet.com/salesmachine/?p=1607
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Eliot Burdett
Eliot received his B. Comm. from Carleton University and has been honored as a Top 40 Under 40 Award winner.
He co-authored Sales Recruiting 2.0, How to Find Top Performing Sales People, Fast and provides regular insights on sales team management and hiring on the Peak Sales Recruiting Blog.
Latest posts by Eliot Burdett (see all)
- 20 Of Our Favorite Books About Sales Management and Sales Leadership – October 20, 2023
- How To Make Progress On Your Sales Goal Without A Sales Leader – September 15, 2021
- Augment Your Recruiting Strategy During “The Great Resignation” – July 26, 2021
