Getting into that new job role can be exciting when you are a fresher. New campus, amenities, colleagues can all be so much fun, except it will also involve a wild ride when you are joining the sales development representative’s role.
Researching, contacting new leads, lead generation, and many other responsibilities are a part of the job role for a sales development representative. As per research, involving sales development reps enable companies to manage upto 22% more closures.
While a fresher sales development rep does not close sales deals, their job role involves much leg work. Finding potential customers and capturing their interest can be challenging when you are a newbie in sales.
With no experience and network, it can be a scary role to pursue. While a sales development role is challenging for a fresher, a few tips and tricks up your sleeve can open a few doors that you didn’t think existed.
How to be a Good Sales Development Rep?
Tons of experience, fantastic network coupled with excellent communication, adaptability, and listening skills contribute to a good sales development rep.
However, with little to no experience and a nonexistent network, it can be intimidating to start from scratch in any field with only theoretical knowledge for support.
Staying focused on the goal, regular follow-up with the existing list of potential leads, capability for storytelling, keen observation, staying abreast with the technology, and improved engagement with the new and existing leads can pave for a successful career in the world of Sales.
Expectations from the Sales development role
Loads of research, reading up on the latest sales techniques, blog posts, success stories of fellow team members, and a bit of cold email works best as a first step towards building a successful career in sales development.
1. Guidance
A little bit of self-confidence goes a long way. Believing in yourself, your potential, strengths, and asking for advice when required can make a lot of difference. When you are a fresher, seeking wise words from managers and experienced coworkers works best to steer you in the right direction.
When in doubt and taking advantage of the available resources, asking questions is vital to achieving success when you are a fresher.
2. Networking
Building your connections with other sales professionals, whether physically or virtually (through LinkedIn), will inspire you to learn from the experts. Learning the ropes from the experts can be fun and also lets you forge into some uncharted spaces.
Age-old processes and techniques mixed with modern technology and sources of information can improve your success rate.
3. Sell to the right people
Choosing the right audience is crucial when you are selling any product/ service. Just like talking about car accessories to a customer who does not own a car is futile. Empathizing with your customer and catering to their needs is the first step towards converting a potential customer.
Conduct thorough research, identify the right leads and convert a potential lead.
4. Do not measure your success by your coworkers’ success.
Numbers are great to measure the success of a sales team. Healthy competition is fun.
However, comparing your success with a coworker might lead to burnout, leaving you tired, frustrated, and depressed.
The constant comparison creates a barrier between team members and leads to a rift. It drains energy and leads to personal conflicts. Staying positive and comparing your success rate of yesterday/ last week, and finding better ways to improve your performance is the key.
a . On the job training
Any amount of research you do and blogs you read, nothing teaches better than observing your seniors. Shadowing your coworkers and learning the ropes from then enables you to brush up your skills and look polished in the form of a potential customer instead of sounding like a newbie.
Learning the email etiquettes, handling a call with a potential lead, and following the communication terms of a coworker gives a lot of ideas on the kind of things to say to the potential lead and how to guide the conversation towards a successful conversion along with a clear idea of understanding rejections.
b. Handling rejection
Rejections are a part of the life of a sales development rep. However, rejections in the beginning when you are a fresher can be even more frustrating. Many freshers get demotivated in the first few months due to heaps of rejection that they receive week after week.
It is better to accept the reality and move on rather than get stuck in the rut of rejection. However, learning the do’s and dont’s and getting advice from a coworker about a lead rejection, and understanding the top few reasons for rejection will enable a new sales development rep to do their best and succeed.
A strong selling pitch with no connection and understanding of the customer needs can be a few reasons for rejection.
5. Focus and time management
Planning and managing a good schedule helps keep you focused on your goals, reduces work stress, and stays productive. One plan does not fit all. Simultaneously, some of us are morning persons; a few others may enjoy working towards the closing hours. Schedule your day as per your convenience and complete your targets accordingly.
6. Build a personal development plan
Identifying your limitations and developing a plan to improve the shortcomings helps to improve and paves the way to success in the long term.
Enrolling in an online course, attending training, learning a required skill, reading blogs, and learning from the top performers in the team help improve your skills and enable you to network and build a good rapport with the team members.
7. Empathize
Communicating with your prospect based on their perspective enables you to improve the way you mention the call to action. Thinking about how you would react to a particular sales pitch approach from the customer’s point of view will enable you to strategize more carefully.
A little bit of understanding and attentive listening can go a long way.
8. Identify the challenges
No product or service is perfect. There are always advantages and limitations for each one of them. It would be best to understand the strong selling points of a product/ service and the areas that could trigger rejection(pricing of a product) from the potential leads.
While a few things are uncontrollable, it is vital to accept and get ready with data points to tackle challenges/ rejections.
Conclusion
Whether a fresher or not, sales development can be challenging and time-consuming; if you are not well prepared for the role, it can lead to burnout. Statistics show that an average of 34% of sales development representatives leaves their sales roles/careers voluntarily, and the involuntary turnover amounts to over 20%.
Sales development is a challenging role and involves tons of hard work. Managing a sales development role involves learning, reading, networking, and building relationships both internally and externally. The right attitude, skills, and confidence are crucial to success in sales development.
