Learn to Control What You Can

When you’re working in IT sales, there are countless factors outside your control. This is why it’s imperative to do whatever you can to guide successful conversations with new clients that result in you understanding their needs and problems. Because we know that’s what closes deals. 

Most IT sales professionals focus on sales. While this seems like an obvious thing to do—it isn’t the most direct path to closing a deal. 

Salespeople that lead with empathy, curiosity, and the desire to solve problems are undoubtedly the most successful. And while many IT salespeople become successful without these skills–through charisma and sheer dumb luck–having the ability to meet a client where they are, understand their daily frustrations, and discover ways to solve their problems that make their lives easier immediately sets you apart from salespeople who are all flash and no substance. In the long run, you’ll create a more stable career by building a foundation of more than personality, charm, and luck. 

This is why, at This Sales Life, we’re spending the better part of this spring 2023 focusing on what Advanced Account Analysis (aka Triple A!) can bring our clients, ourselves, and our careers. 

Today we’ll dive into the necessity of researching specific industries, how to get started, and why taking this extra time is worth it. Remember the fable of the lumberjack: There are two ways to chop more wood. Work longer hours each day or spend a few hours a week sharpening the axe.

Let’s sharpen that axe! 

Industry Trends: Where to Begin

The excellent news about discovering industry trends is that people are already working full-time to do that for you. You don’t have to start from scratch–hooray! You just have to find the already interpreted data and digest it yourself. 

The two places I always begin are the big boys: Gartner and Forrester. 

Both companies spend their energy gathering and interpreting relevant data in various industries so folks like you and me can dip in, grab the knowledge we need, and hit the road. Of course, there’s a ton of information behind a paywall. But, luckily for us in IT sales, a lot of it is available for free. So this isn’t about paying for another membership or allocating more funds to research. 

Not long ago, I was assigned a green client in the retail industry. It’s not my usual area of expertise, so I felt a little over my head. But I knew exactly where to begin because I’d been here before. I’ve got a system, y’all, and it does not fail. 

First, I had to know what challenges the retail industry faced in a post-pandemic world that was dipping into a recession. Gaining this knowledge allows me to focus on helping my retail client instead of selling them IT products they may or may not need. 

Because IT sales professionals are asking similar questions in our industry. How do we keep our cash flow high and still close deals with the market down and recession upon us? The answer is precisely why we’re here. We double down; we research; we analyze. And ultimately, we solve problems by meeting the client where they’re at. 

Approach IT Sales with Curiosity

There are a few ways to approach research. You can set a timer, dive into a rabbit hole, and see what you discover. You can list the exact questions you have about the industry in question. You can start with a simple Google search and see where it leads you. 

Honestly, there’s no wrong way to begin as long as you approach your new industry with curiosity. 

In my retail research, I learned they’re regularly facing challenges with supply chains and customers shifting to digital—online shopping is much bigger than just a few years ago. This tiny bit of info—that took me 15 minutes to gather—gives me the perfect conversation starter.  

Because I’ve spent time getting to know the client’s industry, I’m armed with this relevant knowledge when I finally approach them. 

Knowing about industry trends gives us an automatic in when starting a conversation. We can drop these topics into client emails and ask directly about how these trends affect them instead of asking the boring and open-ended question, “So, what’s important to you?” 

When you approach a potential client from a place of knowledge and understanding, it’s a much easier pivot to a conversation about how your IT products can assist in helping the client gain a competitive edge in their industry. 

Translate Analysis into Action

With my retail client, I turned my research into the following questions: 

• What are you doing to address the digital revolution with your customers? 

• What products are in place to make that a reality for you and gain a competitive edge? 

Notice that I don’t come in saying, “What do you want to buy?” Instead, I come in and say, “I understand these are a few problems in your industry. Which of these are relevant to you?” 

This is a much easier email for someone to reply to. It doesn’t require them to educate me on their needs. It just asks a simple question about what they’re already facing. This way, I enter into a conversation that’s already happening instead of starting from square one. 

What’s Next?

While you’re anxiously awaiting the next installment of our Triple-A Series—Advanced Account Analysis, that is—a perfect next step is to join a community of tech sales professionals who are building a better world through empathetic selling and problem-solving. 

Lissen, I know that everyone doesn’t have the budget for another monthly membership—although this Patreon is pure gold, so you may wanna give it some thought—so y’all know I’ve always got a freebie or two ready for instant download, and implementation. 

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