CANDDi Salestravaganza

The sales team is the lifeblood of every business. They are the engine that keeps the company going. They are at the frontline fighting the battle. And the struggle is real. But salespeople are lazy, right? They are indulged and spoilt. When it comes to it, anybody can do sales… Right?

Today we have decided to put that theory to test. We thought we’d run a little experiment at CANDDi HQ and have everyone in the business give telesales a go, regardless of what they normally do. Even the CEO got involved. Although, after a few calls he ‘had a meeting to go to’ and conveniently did not come back until the experiment was done. The only people who did not participate in this little test were our developers. After all, it required communication.

So why did we do this? Sales isn’t just about taking money off prospects. Everyone in business needs to be able to sell. Whether it is selling an idea to a colleague, or calming down a client - selling is an essential skill for everyone regardless of the role.

Needless to say, it was an emotional rollercoaster and we thought we’d share what we learnt!

1. Sales is hard! - for one of our team members, it took 60 calls that led nowhere to booking a demonstration on the 61st dial; all of us experienced success after we put in some groundwork and the run for the most demos booked was a close one.
2. Consequently, it’s a numbers game. - As Hubspot says, it takes on average 18 calls to connect with a buyer and we sure experienced those on a multiplied scale.
3. You need to not give a crap. - The 17 times you don’t connect? You’re faced with rejection so a salesperson needs to grow a thick skin and adopt the ‘water off the duck’s back’ attitude.

But in order to make this exercise a reality, we needed to put our heads together to cover the basics. Nobody wanted any hiccups (unless caused by the celebratory champagne). So read on if you want to test the capabilities of your team too whilst doing some emotional rollercoaster team bonding!

###The prep session

Like any large project, it required a prep that involved the whole team to lay out some steps before we could throw ourselves in head first. Here is what we’ve done beforehand:

The script

Since we were including a lot of people from various sides of the business who have never tried sales before, or have done so aeons ago, we needed to put together a quick script for them to follow. Something easy to follow but engaging as well. At the end of the day, we did not want to do the experiment with robots, but humans. Our sales star Jen took the time to put together a quick document with most asked questions, competitor comparison as well as the script for our half day salespeople. It was grand. It was sweet. And it bore results!




Hourly reviews

On the day, we did hour sprints with quick breaks catch ups. It gave us a chance to review the good, the bad and the ugly, pat our colleagues on the shoulder and then shoo them back to the phone. It’s a numbers game! And them phones are not going to dial themselves.

Either way, it wasn’t just about the numbers and call time, but for the sales team to hear a different perspective on the process, the objections and anything else that they would miss in their day to day dedication to the job. A fresh pair of eyes on the matter.

Prizes

Because we’re that generous! And we needed to convince some people to take the plunge. Prizes were for most dials, most talk time, most demos booked and more. Just to give everyone an incentive to punch the numbers in and get something out of it. And here are our winners!

And at the end?

Some of us are still recovering from the day, from the personal discoveries to consequent hangovers. We have to say, some went into this with confidence, others with wobbly knees, all of us made it to the finish line. The bottom line? Sales is hard but teamwork makes the dream work!