Categories
Tactical Selling

Have you thought of working for yourself?

Have you thought of working for yourself?

In today’s newsletter, I’m going to do something a bit different. If you’ve been a long time subscriber of Tactical Selling, you know I mostly share tactical prospecting tips to help you start more conversations, and book more meetings.

I’ve been working for myself for 6 years, and every time I meet someone who would like to do the same (quite common these days), they have tons of questions on how I did the transition to working for myself.

I’ve recently started having more conversations with experienced remote salespeople, and almost all of them have the same observations about working for themselves.

1) Almost everyone I talk to would like to work for themselves, but they don’t know how to get started

Around 60% of people I surveyed on my website would like to work for themselves. All my friends working in sales keep telling me how tired they are to be working for their bosses, and many are playing with the idea of working for themselves.

But almost all of them don’t know how to get started. They don’t think someone would pay for their skills, they don’t know how to land their first contract, structure an offer, or manage a side gig while working a full-time job.

2) They don’t think they have anything to offer

Salespeople I spoke to are convinced no one would pay them for a short-term contract. They think they need to build a business, become a creator, or do stuff they don’t want to do in order to get paid.

3) They have golden handcuffs

Let’s be honest. If you work as an experienced remote salesperson, your life is often pretty amazing. You can work from home, you have a great salary, you skip the dreaded daily commute.

But you’re dependent on one employer, and when things stop working (they always do, eventually), you risk losing these work conditions, and you may even end up in an office job to pay the bills.

4) They know this won’t last forever

Despite having great work conditions, almost everyone I surveyed shared that they feared these benefits wouldn’t last forever. With return to the office policies, and shift in power from employees to employers, remote salespeople feel the pressure on their lifestyle.

5) Those who want to work for themselves want to do it within a year

Around 82% of people who said they wanted to work for themselves want to do it within a year. They have a strong urge to become independent, and to diversify their income streams.

They often have good ideas, but they don’t have a structured approach to validating and marketing them.

That’s where I want to help…

It’s becoming clear that experienced remote salespeople want something more than just a job. They want a say in when, where, and how they work.

That’s why I am creating a system to help these people go from being remote employees with a single source of income to highly sought-after portfolio professionals.

If this sounds like you, I have created a waitlist to share my findings as I’m building this system in public.

When you join the waitlist I’ll show you how to market your experience, without having to launch a business (or create content), so you can build your work around your life, not the other way around.

Hope to see you in there.

Cheers,

Thibaut Souyris

PS: Don’t worry, I’ll keep sharing tactical prospecting tips. I’m just going to expand on other ways you can use this skill to become more independent.

P.S. When you’re ready, here are 3 ways I can help you:

→ (NEW) Join the waitlist to build your portfolio career

→ Enroll in The Prospecting Engine

Need to train your team or invite me as a speaker? Book a call here

Subscribe to the Newsletter

Get my free, 4 min weekly newsletter. Used by 5.900+ salespeople to book more meetings and work when, where, and how they want.

Subscribe to the Newsletter

Get my free, 4 min weekly newsletter. Used by 5.900+ salespeople to book more meetings and work when, where, and how they want.

Categories
Tactical Selling

If you’re a remote salesperson, you need to read this

If you’re a remote salesperson, you need to read this

In today’s issue, I’ll share what I’m working on to help experienced remote salespeople go from being employed to highly paid professionals, so they can choose when, where, and how to work.

If you’ve been thinking of quitting your sales job to work on something more meaningful, but never did it because you had bills to pay, this guide will give you a clear next step.

Let’s dive in:

The problem

I’ve been lucky enough to meet people from all over the world in my sales career. A lot of them are now friends, and, except for a few, they are all working in sales. Most of them have comfortable remote jobs, where they can work from home, go on staycations, and organize their day as they want.

But, as the years pass, a lot of them are tired to of having no professional boundaries, tired to work for crazy tech founders, tired to waste hundreds of hours in useless Zoom meetings every year.

But they are stuck. Why would they leave a comfortable job, as meaningless as it sounds, when they can skip commuting, office politics, and crappy colleague holiday stories altogether?

There has to be a better way.

A different approach: A Portfolio Career

A Portfolio Career is the perfect combination for experienced salespeople who want to:

  • find contracts that are interesting, well paid, and flexible
  • work from anywhere, without having to become an entrepreneur
  • build a diversified income, while working when and where they want to

Instead of looking for a job with the perfect working conditions, a great product-market fit, a founder with human values, and all these impossible attributes to find in a single organization, you focus on building a system to find multiple short-term contracts.

For example, if you have an extensive experience selling low 5-figure deals for a SaaS company, you can approach 5 to 10 SaaS companies trying to hire an Account Executive, and propose to start with a part-time, 6 months contract.

Some organizations won’t be comfortable doing that, but many will find the flexibility and initiative worth exploring.

Tying it back to you

I understand the concrete steps you need to take may not be clear. And that’s where I want to help.

I have spent the last 6 years figuring out how to make more money than I spend, and I still have a roof over my head, food in the fridge, and a ton of time to spend with my son.

I have trained, coached, and helped thousands of salespeople to get more commission with less work, and I have discovered a way to market your skills, so you can diversify your income.

So if you are:

  • a remote salesperson with 5+ years of experience
  • tired or your job taking most of your awake time
  • trying to building a life in your own terms

Then join the waitlist to discover what I’m building.

I’ll show you how to market your experience, without having to launch a business (or create content), so you can build your work around your life, not the other way around.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Thibaut Souyris

P.S. When you’re ready, here are 3 ways I can help you:

→ (NEW) Join the waitlist to build your portfolio career

→ Enroll in The Prospecting Engine

Need to train your team or invite me as a speaker? Book a call here

Subscribe to the Newsletter

Get my free, 4 min weekly newsletter. Used by 5.900+ salespeople to book more meetings and work when, where, and how they want.

Subscribe to the Newsletter

Get my free, 4 min weekly newsletter. Used by 5.900+ salespeople to book more meetings and work when, where, and how they want.

Categories
Tactical Selling

3 simple questions to ask to close a deal

3 simple questions to ask to close a deal

In today’s issue, I’ll share 3 simple questions to ask if you want to close a deal. These questions are part of ProActive Selling, a sales methodology developed by Skip Miller.

If you’re struggling to qualify your opportunities, these will help you test the energy of your deals, disqualify tire-kickers, and understand where to invest your time.

But first, here’s a short story:

Question 1: What’s causing you to have a conversation with me?

This is one of the first questions you need to ask as you’re starting your first conversation with a prospect. Instead of asking them why they are here, ask them “What’s causing you to have a conversation with me?”

This will help prospects open up and share the real reasons they are in the meeting with you. Some may just be curious (don’t waste your time with them), some may have a specific initiative they are working on (dig deeper).

Question 2: What outcomes do you expect from this conversation?

Second question will help you understand your prospect’s initiatives. By focusing on asking what outcomes they expect, you get them to share the agenda and goals they have for the conversation.

This will help you dig deeper, and disqualify prospects who may not have a compelling event. For example, if they answer that they are just checking or making a benchmark, you’ll know you can disqualify them and end the conversation as soon as possible.

Question 3: When can you make a decision?

Final question, and my favorite of all three. By asking prospects when they can make a decision, you do two things:

  • you test the energy of your deal
  • you understand their buying process

Most prospects won’t be able to give you a straight answer. This indicates they’ll have to involve other people in the buying process, and you can ask them additional questions about the steps required to close the deal.

And these are 3 simple questions you can ask to test the energy of your deals, and close the ones that are qualified faster.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Thibaut Souyris

P.S. When you’re ready, here are 3 ways I can help you:

→ Enroll in The Prospecting Engine

Need to train your team or invite me as a speaker? Book a call here

→ Sponsor my content & get 45K+ eyeballs on your ad

Subscribe to the Newsletter

Get my free, 4 min weekly newsletter. Used by 5.900+ salespeople to book more meetings and work when, where, and how they want.

Subscribe to the Newsletter

Get my free, 4 min weekly newsletter. Used by 5.900+ salespeople to book more meetings and work when, where, and how they want.

Categories
Tactical Selling

5 sales tools I can’t live without

5 sales tools I can’t live without

In today’s issue, I’ll share 5 sales tools I can’t live without. I’ve tried hundreds of tools in my sales career, and most of them weren’t really helpful.

Sales tools are often great to automate repetitive parts of our job, but they often include a ton of useless features (all the AI email writers, icebreakers, etc.) and they end up wasting everyone’s time.

There are over 5.529 sales tools, in 25 sub-categories, and here are 5 I can’t live without.

AmpleMarket

AmpleMarket is the ultimate, all-in-one sales engagement platform. I use it everyday to grab LinkedIn profiles, put prospects into sequences, and make sure that I’m actually reaching out to them on a structured and direct way.

You can use my link if you want to give it a try (and get a 10% discount if you decide to go for it).

Kaspr.io

Kaspr is an amazing Chrome extension you can install to discover phone numbers and emails from prospects. It’s really useful if you’re not using an all-in-one platform, and if you’re looking for hard to find prospect data, especially in EMEA.

LinkedIn Native Videos

LinkedIn Native Videos are videos recorded within the LinkedIn app. They are incredibly powerful to stand out, as most salespeople don’t even know they exist (you can only record them with the app). I wrote a detailed guide to help you use them in 2024.

Prospecting Template Swipe File

The Prospecting Template Swipe File is a collection of killer prospecting message templates from top sales creators and influencers. I have collected over 25 cold emails, LinkedIn, and cold call templates you can use to start more conversations with prospects. It’s regularly updated.

It even includes prompts to help you make these templates yours.

Sales Process Calculator

Finally, my Sales Process Calculator is a resource I use every day to understand how many prospects I need to add to my sequence in order to reach my targets. It’s a simple formula to turn my revenue targets into daily activity.

And these are 5 tools I can’t live without. This shortlist is the result of years of trial and error, and they help me to:

  • build lead lists
  • find prospect data
  • put them into sequences
  • reach out in a structured way

Hope this list was helpful. If you know of another tool I should try, just reply to this email.

Cheers,

Thibaut Souyris

P.S. When you’re ready, here are 3 ways I can help you:

→ Enroll in The Prospecting Engine

Need to train your team or invite me as a speaker? Book a call here

→ Sponsor my content & get 45K+ eyeballs on your ad

Subscribe to the Newsletter

Get my free, 4 min weekly newsletter. Used by 5.900+ salespeople to book more meetings and work when, where, and how they want.

Subscribe to the Newsletter

Get my free, 4 min weekly newsletter. Used by 5.900+ salespeople to book more meetings and work when, where, and how they want.

Categories
Tactical Selling

My 2024 guide to video prospecting

My 2024 guide to video prospecting

In today’s issue, I’ll share my 2024 guide to video prospecting. Video prospecting has been around for quite some time, and it was really hot during COVID.

In 2024, many salespeople seem to have forgotten how to use video to prospect, which is a great opportunity to use this media to catch the attention of your prospects, and start more conversations.

Here’s how, step-by-step:

Step 1: Use LinkedIn native video

The first step is to use LinkedIn native videos. Native videos are videos that are recorded using the LinkedIn mobile app. Here’s a quick video where I show you how it’s done:

There’s a good reason to use that feature over a video prospecting tool. As it’s only available on the mobile LinkedIn app, most salespeople won’t use it because they prospect with LinkedIn on their computer. You will mathematically stand out by using native videos, just like LinkedIn voice notes.

Step 2: Write a simple script

Next, write a simple script. You really need to avoid blabbering for five minutes because no one’s going to actually watch this video. It needs to be direct, concrete, and last 30 seconds or less. You can use this simple template:

  • Trigger: Your excuse for reaching out
  • Problem: A problem faced by many of your customers
  • Teaser: A teaser of a resource to solve that problem
  • CTA: A simple ask

Example:

  • Trigger: “Ara, saw you also liked Josh’s post about SDRs being too inconsistent.”
  • Problem: “I speak with a lot of VPs of Sales who are struggling to keep their SDRs prospecting consistently.”
  • Teaser: “If you’re interested, I have a quick checklist to help your team start their day with a prospecting block, and get closer to prospecting every single day.”
  • CTA: “Should I send it over?”

Step 3: Record your video

You have your script ready, now make sure to practice before recording your video, because you’ll be stressed. After a few tries, you’ll get better, I promise. Here’s an example with the script from above:

Step 4: Repeat

Now that you have sent your first prospecting video, you need to keep sending more. If you send one and stop, you may get lucky and get a reply, but there’s more chances this one prospect will ignore you.

You have to integrate video prospecting into your daily prospecting routine and do it every day for a few weeks to really measure the results this can bring. If you stick to your script, keep your videos short, and send a few every day, you’ll start seeing replies, you’ll get more conversations going, and you’ll book more meetings.

So remember:

  1. Use LinkedIn native videos
  2. Write a simple script
  3. Record your video
  4. Repeat

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Thibaut Souyris

P.S. When you’re ready, here are 3 ways I can help you:

→ Enroll in The Prospecting Engine

Need to train your team or invite me as a speaker? Book a call here

→ Sponsor my content & get 45K+ eyeballs on your ad

Subscribe to the Newsletter

Get my free, 4 min weekly newsletter. Used by 5.900+ salespeople to book more meetings and work when, where, and how they want.

Subscribe to the Newsletter

Get my free, 4 min weekly newsletter. Used by 5.900+ salespeople to book more meetings and work when, where, and how they want.