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02/05/2025
Advice to New Sales Reps
Source: Bill Farquharson, The Sales Vault, February 3, 2025
I have the pleasure of working with a lot of new salespeople (and believe me it really is a pleasure). It gives me the chance to share some information I wish someone had shared with me when I first started out. When I got into sales at age 21, I was lucky considering I had a mentor in the form of an older brother and he was able to set my expectations. Looking back, those conversations he had with me were invaluable and played a key part to my eventual success.
Eventual…success.
As the saying goes, no one drops you off at the top of the mountain. Like many of the new salespeople in the Sales Vault community, I was uncertain and overly confident when I should have been humble and frankly, scared to death.
And that is one of the first things I tell a new sales Rep: This is really, really hard and if you are terrified, that’s normal. If you have a new sales Rep or if you are one yourself, it’s important to understand this.
The second thing I would say is to suggest they emulate the Tasmanian devil. Be that cartoon character who is nothing but raw energy. Make sales calls on everyone and say anything. You need to find your market and your message and no one can do that for you but you.
My third piece of advice is to over communicate with your boss. Make sure they know how hard you are working to be successful. You might be putting in the time and making the calls but they can’t see that because they’re busy doing other things. Perhaps you could send them a weekly e-mail update.
To the managers of these new salespeople, I say this: Ask the question, “What did you learn today?” This is far better than the usual, “Did you sell anything today?”
And to the rest of you who are neither new salespeople nor their managers but rather salespeople on the same team, I implore you to be encouraging and remember how hard it was for you when you got started. Say something you wish you had known when you were just starting out. And if you can’t think of anything, put these 4 words on a piece of paper and stick it on their desk:
“I believe in you.”
The Sales Vault, created by Bill Farquharson, is a subscription-based resource and sales community featuring a calendar packed with live workshops, on-demand sales courses, peer-to-peer discussion groups, and 35+ years of sales training content all searchable by sales challenge. Think of it as a sales conference where the seminars and workshops, full of instantly applicable ideas, are ongoing and more programs are added constantly.
The Sales Vault is available on a monthly subscription basis, normally at a no-brainer monthly price of $45/participant, but… GMA members can take advantage of an exclusive offer: FREE membership for 30 days followed by a discounted monthly subscription price of just $40/participant.
Bill has been a friend of GMA for many years and is, no doubt, known to our members as a top sales trainer and content creator for the graphic arts.
Other Vault resources:
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