Why in the hell are calls in the afternoon the worst? This is a question I ask myself a lot. When I am fresh in the morning, the calls seem easier, the demos flow better, and I am overall a more cheery person (considering I have had my daily 400mg of caffeine). So why is it that the after lunch slump seems to be so hard to chat with prospects and push deals forward? Well maybe it is the wrong time... and that is the point. Managing our energy is one of the most important things we can do as sales reps. If we don't learn this necessary skill, we wind up like that overcaffeinated man child that works at the Verizon store you avoid eye contact with because you can smell the sales on him. Pseudo energy created by stimulants and motivational videos will not carry you through for long. In fact, these sources of energy typically backfire after a few weeks leaving you burnt out and depressed. This is not effective energy management. Rather, managing your energy is about adequate rest, focused single-task work, and scheduling your day around your ENERGY (geez I sound like a yoga instructor). What does it look like to schedule your day to work with your energy? For me, after I have timeblocked my schedule, I try and spend 15-20 minutes on a creative project like a prospect slide deck or putting together a demo for a client. This starts my day in control and gets me thinking creatively. I have the most creative energy in the mornings before I have dived into all the fire of email and slack. After this, I hit the phones or jump on my scheduled demos. I am great talking with people in the morning and I actually can engage with their problems and creatively problem solve. After a morning full of communicating on calls and demos, I typically crave an outdoor walk and lunch with 1 or two people. After talking so much, I personally find it hard to connect in a larger group as it takes more energy. After lunch is admin time. I have learned that I NEED some downtime from talking to people to actually process my notes, send email recaps, update the CRM, and just unwind with some less mentally taxing tasks. Since I start early, 2pm is the last hour of my day. I find that after about an hour of admin work I can take one or two calls and feel pretty energized for them. I typically try and not schedule BIG demos during this block, but more discovery type calls.

Maintaining a winning mindset is what sets apart top performers from the rest.... (somedays I feel more like the "rest" fyi) A winning mindset is a belief that you can and will win against internal and external adversity. How do you continue to believe in your abilities and skills as a salesperson when times are slow? How do you press on preparing for your next big win when you have nothing on the books? Where does the energy to motivate yourself come from when you have had 3 no-shows in a row? These are all REAL questions I ask myself almost once a quarter when the pipe has dried up and I can't seem to find traction. Mindset is a muscle that can be trained, stretched, and grown like any other. How you think will determine how quickly you come back from a setback and continue on winning. To be completely transparent, I have REALLY struggled in this area over my career in sales. In sales, it is so easy to get our identity wrapped up in our work. If we are not careful, a couple of lost deals can wreak havoc on our mental state and self worth. When your self-confidence is low, maintaining a wining mindset is damn near impossible. In fact, we start to have quite the opposite... a losing mindset. When this mindset sets in, you start too see failure everywhere in your life and career (many times before it even happens so you just go ahead and fulfill the prophesy). Once sunk in a losing mindset, it can take a lot of work to dig your way back out. Let's not get there. Here are a few things that have helped me maintain a winning mindset and keep some semblance of self confidence in the midst of adversity. First of all, you have to detach your identity from your job. This is MUCH easier said than done. In order to bring the lows up, you also need to bring down the highs. About 2 years into my career, I was a obsessed with comparing myself to other reps. When a big deal would close and I heard the cheering down the hall, I would immediately feel my skin flush and a cold sweat would form on my palms. I would also get a weird feeling that I needed to call every prospect in my active pipeline and force one them to close. After a while, comparison negatively impacted my relationships in the office and my own peace of mind. I knew I had to face this thing head on and I started talking with my coworkers how I was feeling. By opening up, I learned something interesting... EVERYONE felt the same way. Comparison was killing our team and it was due to our identities being attached to our success. If you start to feel yourself habitually comparing yourself to others and losing your peace of mind, that is a red flag that you need to look at how much weight you put into your identity as a salesperson. Do the work and detach your self worth from your job... it will pay you back.

I think I might be too easy to find by prospects... Let me explain. Over the last week, I have been working a deal that has involved a lot of back and forth texting with our champion (a deal champion is not the main decision maker, but the stakeholder rooting for your product/service within the organization). Whenever a text would come in, I would try and answer within 5-10 minuntes to remain reachable and stay top of mind wit the prospect. Over the last few days, I have begun to wonder if I am actually damaging the deal by being too accessible. I have been taught through sales gurus, books, and blogs that active communication is core to being a top performer in sales. You want a proposal, BAM you got a proposal. Quick question about our functionality, BOOM response with links and examples. You want a discou... I mean you want our pricing structure to match your budget... KABLAM custom pricing. I have prided myself on having a quick draw in responding and staying reachable to prospects, but there is one glaring problem in all of this that can undermine exactly what I am trying to accomplish if I am not careful... sales reps that are in high demand are not IMMEDIATELY reachable. How a prospect perceives your status play a large role in closing large deals. Being easily accessible to a prospect communicates that they are the highest priority to you and that you are willing to do almost anything to make them happy. Our goal is not to make them happy. Our goal is to solve their problem. The million dollar question is, how do I stay on top of deals while keeping an in-demand status in the eyes of my prospects? Here are a few things to try: 1. Take time... even when you don't need to What I am not saying is to intentionally stall deals for the sake of wasting time. If a deal clearly needs a quick response to move forward or save the deal, then by all means save it. After a call or a demo, however, set a reminder for the end of the day to get them a recap email rather than right after the call. The content will still be fresh enough to not lose momentum, but it will set a precedent for the prospect that you are both busy and responsible to follow through with your commitments.

Way to go @Jordan Dalrymple for reaching level 2🙌

As humans, we are wired to find patterns. These patterns teach us about our world and make our lives easier because we can avoid making the same mistakes over and over (although I still break some of these rules and pay the consequences). Five patterns or RULES I found in sales are: 1. Don't assume deals are closed... until they actually are 2. Always have a next step 3. Momentum can be created 4. Prospecting can never stop 5. Not all activities are equal 1. Don't assume deals are closed... until they actually are I have lost many deals by assumptively closing them in my mind. Whether the DM (Decision Maker) gave me a verbal "YES" or the key stakeholders were zoned in on our last meeting, NO DEAL is truly closed until they sign the dotted line. As top performing sales reps, it is our job to stay on top of the deals until they cross the finish line. As soon as you let off the gas, the deal can (and most times will) start to stall. Push through with communication, proposals, and negotiations until the very end. 2. Always have a next step I was not great at this early in my sales career. I would have a great call or demo and my prospect would play the "we just want to chat about it and we will get back to you to schedule a call" card. Rather than pushing through that objection and booking a follow up, I would accept their brush off and just wait by the phone for them to call. This is what desperate teenagers do that don't know they just got broken up with. Don't fall into this trap. Always book a meeting from a meeting and have a CLEAR next step on the calendar. This will ensure that the deal is not lost in your CRM and loses all the momentum you worked for. Before the next meeting, make sure you follow up and REQUIRE something from the prospect. Honestly, it doesn't matter what you ask for, it only matters that the prospect puts some skin in the game. 3. Momentum can be created I wrote about this last month, but I am a firm believer that building momentum is a discipline. When your pipeline feels drier than the Mohave, you just lost a huge deal you thought was in the bag, and your kids are keeping you up all night... you can still build momentum. One good cold call, a prospect responding to your email, or a Linkedin request accepted is all it takes to pour more gas on the fire and get to work building on that momentum. Find the little sparks and turn them into a bonfire. For me, when things are slow and it feels like nothing is happening, the quickest way to build momentu, is to start ripping dials until someone picks up. There are few things that get me moving faster than finding a new prospect. You can create your own momentum, it just takes discipline and knowing where to look. We are speedboats, not sailboats.