Just to preface, I was an Account Executive at Yelp before transitioning into an Account Strategy role at Google. 99% of my sales tenure involves some sort of advertising (digital, media, local, mid-market, list goes on), and 100% of my tenure involves the SMB- space. Okay. In short, I was a cold- calling machine. This article is not about my take on cold-calls, it’s rather my take on some of the lessons I’ve learned while working at Google and Yelp.
1) Accept Change. Accept Change. Accept Change, again.
It was the end of our 0-60 sales academy at Yelp. Came out as one of the top sales teams in the org. High off the energy and success of our team, I was expecting to continue the winning streak with the team that I had started with. I was wrong.
All I can remember from the breaking of the news that our team would ultimately be split up, were the words, “Change is good.” At the time, I was furious.
It wasn’t until several months later when I realized how amazing change was. I made new friends. I learned sales strategies and different sales language from some of the best sales reps in the company. I learned more about my shortcomings and ultimately received a different perspective in the areas where I lacked. Change had placed me out of my comfort zone and thus was able to push me to take ownership of my own development… which leads to Lesson #2.
2) Take Ownership of your OWN Development
Working at Google and Yelp taught me that we aren’t babies, nor are we children. Don’t wait for someone to come hold your hand (I am guilty of this, too). To be frank, I probably wasted 30-40% of my daily time and mental energy complaining about anything and everything instead of trying to fix it…scratch that. I mean, fix myself. This is valuable time that I will never get back.
Don’t expect someone to deploy your parachute for you once you’ve jumped out of the plane.
Once you’ve taken the first step in taking on a new job/career, it’s entirely up to you to decide what you get out of it. No one else can do this for you. If you feel a knowledge gap, grab coffee with a tenured rep who’s been in your same shoes. Feeling lost?, ask questions. If you feel like you’re not having quality conversations, record your call and listen to them or shadow someone who does have quality conversations. (As strange as it is, these are easy fixes, but so commonly overlooked.) Again, I’m guilty of this too.
A close mentor of mine told me that, “only you can control the reigns of your own success.” This phrase could not be more true.
3) Control the Controllable
Common Scenarios of a Sales Rep:
a) “My territory sucks. That’s why I’m not performing.”
b) “Ugh, I hate cold calling!”
c) “I am so sick of X business, I’m never calling them again.”
These complaints are natural. If you’ve never had these thoughts, a serious round of applause to you. But if you’re like me, these thoughts have probably come across once, twice, or 100 times in your sales career. But, it’s about how to shift your focus instead of placing focus on the things that are out of your control.
It’s important as sales reps to control those things that are in our control. Why? Because as sales reps, there are SO many things that are OUT of our control. If we can’t control the ones that are in our control, we become unhappy, jaded, and ultimately, we just give up.
Referring to the scenarios above. We can’t control the territories we are given. We can’t control the hardships of cold-calling. We can’t control the outcome of X business owner. But here’s what we can control. We can control our attitudes. We can controlhow we perceive our territory. We can control how we handle rejection. We can control how we engage each call– not as a sales call, but as a conversation.
Remember.. “Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.”
4) Be Comfortable Being Uncomfortable
I joined Google about 2 months ago. One thing that I love about being a Noogler thus far is how almost nothing is constant… in a good way. Things are always changing and it definitely pushes me out of my comfort zone. Simply put, I realized that in order to succeed, I have to be comfortable with things changing and adapt to different environments on any given notice.
If you’re a “just-starting-his/her-career-in-sales” person reading this, you’re probably going to go through a phase when you’ll realize that you actually don’t know everything. For some, not knowing everything is super uncomfortable… Myself included. But, let me be the first to tell you that, it’s OKAY. It’s okay to not know every little detail about the product you’re selling before you begin selling. It’s okay to not know every detail about the customer you’re meeting with in the next hour. It’s okay to not have memorized the sales script before attempting your first cold call. It’s OKAY.
Sure it’s “good practice” to have all of those things ready. But, you’ll really never know everything. Good news though, as time passes and you begin to become comfortable in your role, the things that seemed so uncomfortable, will become natural.
5) Set Realistic Goals
I sucked at this. I remember working at Google and Yelp thinking, “heck, in the next month, I will be the best sales rep this company has ever seen!”
For some this is possible, but for me, this was unrealistic. I had no prior sales experience and had no idea what advertising was even about. In short… I was attempting to run before I had even learned to walk.
As a sales rep, setting realistic short term goals is my lifeline. I noticed that some of the best reps were those who set daily goals that were easily achievable. One of my mentors told me to set a goal of “making 3 business owners laugh on the phone.” As simple as this may sound, it’s the small wins that matter. If you can get yourself to be happy with the small goals that you set day-to-day, you’ll be a much more successful rep.
Now, I’m not saying it’s not good to set large goals. I’m a huge believer in dreaming big and reaching for the stars. But, if you don’t set smaller goals in your journey to the stars, you’ll eventually run out of gas and end up back at earth, or in this case, square 1.
6) Invest in Relationships, Not Networks
Networks are good to have, but relationships are must-haves. The friendships I have made by working at Google and Yelp keep me grounded in not only my work life, but my social life as well. I am fortunate to have friends at work who naturally became friends outside of work. Investing in relationships will take you much further in your career than a random “connection” on LinkedIn that you call as part of your “network.” These are the people that you can call when you are going through a break-up, or financial troubles, or maybe you just want to ping someone about the hardships you’re having at work. Speaking of ping. Find people that you can play Ping Pong with. Trust me. These folks become your best friends very quickly.
7) Lastly, Figure Sh*t Out
This one is easy. Working at Google and Yelp taught me to just figure it out. If you are always asking someone to do it for you, you’ll never learn for yourself. It’s great to ask questions. But ask yourself before you ask that question, did I try answering this question on my own? Did I look through resources that were given to me to try figuring this out? Try exhausting all resources before seeking help. Trust me, it feels great when you figure sh*t out on your own.
“FSO, otherwise known as “Figure Sh*t Out”, is a running phrase that I will never forget. Thank you, Yelp.”
For more career advice visit Corporate Minority career insights.
Author,
Richard Pyo
Agency Account Manager at Google
