7 Dress Tips to Set Sales Reps Apart

Sean Huckstep

As sales reps, you’re front and center with prospects, making the first time they see you a big indicator of how the discussion will go. As a professional salesperson, you’re the first thing that customers interact with, oftentimes even before your product or service is introduced. You have to make this count. You have just 7 seconds to make a good first impression so here are 7 tips to make those seconds count.

7 Dress Tips to Set Sales Reps Apart

      #1 Learn your style

      There are some main outfit types sales reps typically wear:

      • Suits: Business suits, white shirt, and dress shoes
      • Casual: Shorts, white t-shirts, and tennis shoes
      • Company Uniform: Company collared shirt, shorts or jeans, and casual shoes
      • Neutrals: “Everyday” wear khakis, collared shirts, and casual shoes

      Your company might decide which of these styles is required, but if you have the option, go for what suits your personality and daily life. If you’re knocking doors in the heat, casual or neutrals might be for you or if you deal with large corporate accounts in offices, suits are more expected attire.

      #2 Practice proper hygiene

      This tip is pretty self-explanatory. Washing your skin, hands, and teeth, and brushing your hair is expected behavior. A failure to meet these standards can potentially cause the customer to focus on that instead of your pitch (they won’t want to talk with you if you have stinky breath). Following basic proper hygiene will present you as a clean, healthy, and trustworthy rep.

      #3 Wear clothes that suit your body

      It’s apparent that not everyone has the same body type, knowing this you should identify yours and dress accordingly. For men, there are 5 options and women have 4 body shapes. Once you know your body type, this will guide your style choices, but as a universal rule of thumb, avoiding baggy clothes or overly tight clothes is best.

      salesman outfit

      #4 Go for a clean, simple look

      No matter the style you choose or the shape of your body, aiming for a clean and simple look is the best way to go. This can be done with any of the 4 styles or body types. A clean and simple outfit means that you coordinate your colors, wash your clothes, and don’t wear dirty pants or shoes. 

      #5 Maintain visible hair

      If you have facial hair and it’s not maintained, it can be off-putting to customers. This includes: beards, eyebrows, nose hair, and hair on your scalp. This can fit under the hygiene category but it’s extremely important that what visible hair you have is kept trimmed otherwise you might catch the prospect staring at it instead of listening to your pitch.

      #6 Don’t dress to impress

      Occasionally reps think the most expensive clothes they have, the better, but this isn’t always the case. Hardcore Closer shares an experience of when “dressing too nice can cost you a sale.” This isn’t to say that you have to wear cheap clothes when you own nicer ones, but wearing overly expensive and flashy clothes draw away from the pitch to your customer and can make you seem arrogant. So don’t dress to impress, dress to make a good impression.

      #7 Don’t break typical fashion rules

      That said, never break the rules too much. Black brogues or dress boots instead of oxford shoes are fine, but canvas sneakers or light brown leather saddle shoes with a suit is not. It’s best to pick a style option and stick with that consistently so you don’t draw negative attention to your clothes.

      sales outfit

      What Dress Tips Do You Have?

      These are some of the big dress tips for sales reps, but what tips do you have? If you’re looking for more tips on sales culture, check out our blog or learn more about SalesRabbit.

      Write Cold Sales Emails That Deliver Results

      Sean Huckstep

      Contacting a lead cold might be a salesperson’s least favorite thing to do, but it doesn’t have to be such a pain. Typically, salespeople hate cold contact because it doesn’t always provide great results, but that’s not always the case. According to Clearbit: “For marketers and salespeople who do cold email the right way, I’ve seen response rates as high as 15% to 20%.” So cold emailing isn’t a lost cause, it just isn’t always done correctly. If you want to get better email responses, use these tips.

      What is Cold Emailing?

      If you’re not familiar, cold emailing is a subset of email marketing where a sales rep sends unsolicited emails to prospects without having previously contacted them. It’s essentially the email equivalent of traditional cold calling. A lot of companies use cold emails but many don’t approach it the right way so it gives little return on investment (ROI).

      Tips on Writing Cold Emails

      Cold emails are something everyone has to experiment with, but here are some tried and true tips that have helped us and others reach out to potential customers:

      1. Start with a brief introduction.
      2. Explain why they should listen to you.
      3. Elaborate on a common pain point they have. This comes with industry knowledge and an understanding of your target audience.
      4. Provide supported claims of why your solution works.
      5. Simple call to action (CTA) with a reply or button function for quick replies.
      6. A/B test subject lines and content to keep it fresh and see what actually works.

      Use this free template from SalesHacker:

      “Hi <name>, 

      [Your name] here, the [title] with [your company]. I noticed you downloaded [your company]’s ebook, [title of the ebook]. I was wondering if you’ve had a chance to look at it yet, and if so, whether you have any questions. 

      We recently published a checklist for implementing the solution we shared in that ebook. What we’ve discovered is that most people who struggle with [pain point] don’t realize how pervasive it is, nor how easy it is to solve. 
      Our checklist has made a big difference in getting [end result/solution]. In fact, for one client, it generated [result] in just [time period]! 

      I’d love to send you the checklist, or if you prefer, get on a call to walk you through it. Just hit reply and let me know you’re interested, and I’ll send it your way.

      Looking forward to hearing from you,   
      [signature]”

      What’ll Be Your Next Cold Email?

      With these tips and a standard template to get you started, what cold emails will you write? Remember to test out a few different emails, follow the tips above and see what works specifically for your target audience. Comment down below any suggestions you have for others!

      Crazy Sales Stories to Share With Your Team

      Diana May-Jennings

      3 Crazy Sales Stories to Share with Your Team From Real Reps

      We decided to change up our giveaway for the February Rabbit Report. We asked real sales people their craziest door-to-door stories of all time and the winner received a SalesRabbit branded swag box and a shout out here on the blog. Our team loved reading all the entries and thought you and your team would too! Let us know which one is your favorite.  

      Craziest Sales Story Winner:

      Story #1

      “We often encounter women home alone during the day. During one of these routine cleanings, the lady decided she wanted to buy. Our equipment is the only machine that deep clean mattresses. The husband came home while we were both in the bedroom and him being the jealous type immediately thought his wife was having an affair and ran for me. I took the Kirby, turned on the dry foam shampoo gun and shot it in the air as he was coming toward me. Like a 5 year old seeing bubbles for the first time he stopped dead in his tracts and while explaining the whole thing I filled his room with 5 inches of dry foam bubbles. It looked like a rave. (dry foam is less than 1% water it doesn’t leave carpets wet if done correctly)”

      -Jesse Brocato

      Honorable Mentions:

      Story #2

      “One customer was a female professional dominatrix with live slaves. During the visit, her slaves did all my work while i helped her with a giant cauldron of CBD for her dispensary in Mass. My work was with Kirby so generally, we showed off the equipment while cleaning their house free of any charge. The men cleaned the entire house from the 9 foot tall wooden crucifix to dusting the whips.”

      Story #3

      “Two of us went out together one day. We knocked on the door, this man answered & was fuming hot that we were bothering him, he screamed & cursed at us for about a minute then slammed the door on our faces. I said to my partner follow my lead, OK?

      I then walked around the house to the back door & knocked on it. The same guy answered the door & he was flabbergasted & just staring at us.  I smiled, stuck out my hand & said – whissiuu thank g*d you answered this door, because some total a**hole answered the front door!!! This guy looked at us in disbelief & shock & then started to laugh & said boy you guys have some balls of steel!!! We talked for a minute then left with no sale & the best story of all time.”

      Thanks to all who entered!

      Thank you to everyone who entered our February Rabbit Report giveaway and congratulations to Jesse on winning our swag box! If you didn’t get the chance to enter, don’t worry, we do giveaways all the time. What do you think of these stories? Let us know below in the comments!

      What is Sales Cycle Length and How to Measure it

      Tyson Parsons

      Everything you need to know about Sales Cycle Length

      Have you heard of sales cycle length? If you aren’t familiar with this part of the sales process and how it will help your team, we’re going to tell you what a sales cycle is, why it’s important, and how to calculate it quickly to get analytical insights into your business.

      What is a Sales Cycle?

      A sales cycle is the repeatable and tactical process salespeople follow to turn a lead into a customer. With a sales cycle in place, you always know your next move and where each lead is within the cycle. It can also help you repeat your success or determine how to improve.

      Why are Sales Cycles Important?

      Sales cycles are a vital part of any sales process. Using the simple calculation mentioned below you will be able to:

      • Identify areas of improvement.
      • Plan for future goals.
      • Gather data and metrics more efficiently.

      Among other benefits, calculating a sales cycle is a must for your team and we’re about to show you how to do it.

      How to Measure Sales Cycle Length

      To calculate your sales length cycle, you add up the total number of days it took to close every sale, then, divide that sum by the total number of deals. So, for example: 40+30+60+70 = 200 days total. You would then divide the total number of days (200) by the total number of deals (4) to get the average length in days. 200 / 4 = 50 days With this metric, you can now estimate that similar deals in the future will take around 50 days to close.

      Looking at your sales pipeline, you can now evaluate your high probability customers and anticipate when the revenue from those pending sales will hit. This forecasting guides you in your business strategies.

      Do you Calculate Your Sales Cycles?

      What do you think of sales cycle length and how to calculate it? If you aren’t making an effort to gather these metrics now, you’re ignoring ways to better your sales process. Chat with us today to see how your team and sales process can be improved. 

      How to Write a 30-60-90 Day Sales Plan

      Sean Huckstep

      3 Stages of writing a 30-60-90 day plan and why it matters

      30-60-90 day sales plans have been used as a way to ensure success for new sales team members with clearly outlined actions and goals. If you haven’t heard of or used this plan before, now is a great time to start for your next job interview, new sales job, or even for your personal life. See below what a 30-60-90 day plan is, the elements of it that you should consider, when to write one, and why it’s important.

      What is a 30-60-90 Day Plan?

      The 30-60-90 day plan is a three-month strategy for successfully training new sales team members or selling in new territories. It clearly lays out all the actions and goals that will help salespeople get to know their new company or region and learn how to best reach their highest (and healthiest) level of productivity. With a robust 30-60-90 day sales plan, businesses are much more likely to make the most of new territories, reps, and managers.

      Why Write a Sales Plan?

      Coming into a job interview or new sales job with a detailed 30-60-90 day sales plan will show the manager:

      • You know what you’re doing
      • You’re confident in your abilities
      • That you’ve carefully thought out crucial elements to ensure success
      • You’ll hit the ground running if hired

      We all know to be prepared when starting a new job or interviewing for one, but having a plan like this laid out will take you to another level above other candidates.

      3 Stages to Writing Your Plan

      Like we’ve discussed, having a 30-60-90 day sales plan prepared is going to set you apart from less-prepared sales reps. If you’re unsure of where to start, the first steps are to:

      1. Aligning the current teams goals
      2. Identify your own priorities

      Writing a sales plan is not just about you, the sales team also needs to be considered. In the interview process, ask the current sales reps what their goals are and what they’re being pushed to. After finding out where the current reps are, identify your own success. Here are some examples of goals you can use and measure at the end of 90 days:

      • Have the ability to demo the product at a high level.
      • Become known, liked and trusted with all current customers.
      • Have a list of 100 potential customers to prospect over the next 12 months.

      It’s important to answer these questions before writing your plan to provide direction. Now let’s get to writing your sales plan.

      Stage 1: 30 Days

      When applying for a job, success in the first 30 days is likely completing your onboarding and training process successfully. In addition, you can also add the following criteria if you want to be more specific:

      • Understanding corporate priorities, new roles and responsibilities
      • Intermediate knowledge of key products and services
      • Knowing the product’s position in the market vs. the competition
      • Developing key connections within the organization with customer support, sales leadership, team members etc
      • Going through previous rep’s sales CRM data and outlining a few key accounts to target

      The 30-day section of your sales plan should define your success goals and briefly explain how you plan on achieving them. It should also share how you‘ll know you’ve been successful in meeting these goals.

      Stage 2: 60 Days

      With the first 30 days up, you have to amp up your sales efforts in the second month. Here are some pointers to include in the 60-day section of your sales plan. Notice how some of them are mandatory, while others are more flexible depending on your role, experience, and onboarding process.

      • Started developing at least five new leads — Mandatory 
      • Have shadowed the top two performing sales reps in the company — Mandatory 
      • High-level understanding of key products — Mandatory 
      • Completed role-playing sessions with other sales professionals in the team
      • Have contributed to a sales meeting by adding value to the conversation
      • Completed all formal sales onboarding or training that needs to be done

      Stage 3: 90 days

      Your 31-90 day plan sets out what you’re planning on doing for the rest of the time in the specific sales role. At the 90-day meeting with your sales manager, discuss any 3-4 points from the following success criteria:

      • Clear and optimized prospecting list in use — Mandatory
      • Daily schedule established for prospecting, following up and staying on top of everything else — Mandatory
      • Become a solid member of the team — Mandatory
      • Had at least one round of feedback on performance from the sales manager
      • Closed at least a couple of deals without too much babysitting from others
      • Foot in the door with a couple of exciting key accounts

      Let’s Talk About it

      Your success as a sales rep rests largely on how prepared you are with goals and objectives for success. If you want to chat about it more and how we can get you set up with tools for you and your team, schedule a free demo now! Comment down below if you have a 30-60-90 day sales plan or will be making one now.

      5 Ways to Manage Underperforming Sales Reps

      Zac Kerr

      Manage, motivate, and help underperforming reps with these 5 tips

      If you have certain reps that go through patches of underperforming or you feel like you’re not doing your best work as a rep, there are solutions. Everyone has times where they feel unmotivated which usually reflects in their sales stats. If this describes you right now or someone on your team, here are 5 ways to help.

      5 Ways to Help Underperforming Reps

      1. Be empathetic and avoid harsh judgment before knowing the entire story.
      2. Help your reps self-evaluate as often as necessary.
      3. Identify the root of the problem and offer ways to solve it.
      4. Clarify expectations and plan ways to achieve it together.
      5. Have an open door policy.

      *Bonus Tip: Don’t forget to have fun with sales contests!

      #1 Be empathetic and avoid harsh judgment before knowing the entire story.

      When a rep is underperforming they can rush to anxiety and worry over what their manager will say, so it’s important to approach the situation first with empathy then solutions. Times have changed during Covid and employees’ mental health has reflected that. Did you know:

      • One survey found that 55% of workers say a mental health issue has affected them since the pandemic began.
      • 41% of workers admit they feel burnt out, drained, or exhausted from their work.

      #2 Help your reps self-evaluate as often as necessary.

      How often you evaluate your reps can depend on the need but generally going over their performance on at least a quarterly basis is necessary. Meeting with employees often accomplishes two things:

      1. They feel more comfortable with you as a manager and can see that you actually care about their performance.
      2. Reps will never have to guess what expectations you have of them. They’ll always know what goals you’re looking for and how they can accomplish them.

      #3 Identify the root of the problem and offer ways to solve it.

      After identifying which of your reps is struggling, sitting down with them to identify the reason why is crucial. Here are some common causes for rep underperformance:

      There are several common root causes:

      • The sales representative is experiencing a problem outside of work that is impacting their performance.
      • The sales rep struggles with organization and time management skills, which is negatively impacting their ability to complete deals.
      • They lack one or more basic skills that are necessary in sales.
      • They’re disinterested in learning the skills needed to succeed as a salesperson.
      • They might mistakenly believe that they already have the skills to succeed.

      #4 Clarify expectations and plan ways to achieve it together.

      After understanding the root cause of your reps problem, it’s time to offer solutions. Setting achievable sales goals, providing incentives, and simple advice are all ways to help your rep feel like they have ways to get out of the hole they’re in. Their temporary struggle shouldn’t continue when they know you’re in their corner fighting for their success. 

      #5 Have an open door policy.

      Whether a rep is thriving or underperforming, they’ll at some point need guidance. This is where an open door policy can be really helpful. Many reps will benefit from extra-training and they will appreciate having the option to meet with their manager individually. This can vary depending on the schedules you run or what is doable for your team, but giving your reps extra opportunities to come to you for help is guaranteed to improve how they view you as a manager.

      What are some tips you have?

      We love to share knowledge to help your sales team, if you have any additional tips that could help someone else succeed please share them down below! And if you’re interested in increasing the productivity of your sales team, feel free to schedule a free demo with us today and we can show you how.

      Access Our in-App Lead Communication Tool

      Mike Hilverda

      Use SalesRabbit’s in-app lead communication tool on iOS and Android

      Have you struggled developing a streamlined communication line between reps and customers? Well this article details how you can reach out to a lead, straight from the SalesRabbit app in both iOS and Android. The Lead Communication Tools allow you to contact your leads via email, text, or phone. To utilize these features you must have the contact information filled out for the lead. To add/edit this information, select the lead and then select the pencil icon to open the Lead Details. Follow the guide below for details.

      iOS Steps

      Step 1. Navigate to Your Leads

      In order to communicate with a lead, we will need to pick which lead we want to interact with. To get to leads, we will want to open the SalesHub tab.

      Step 2. Select Your Desired Lead

      In the SalesHub view, you can click on a lead status from the map (or select one from the leads list). A white preview ribbon will appear on the bottom of the page. 

      That ribbon will show the lead’s name and address along with 4 contact icons. These icons enable you to interact with the lead: Email, Text, Call, or get Directions. If the contact information for a certain category is missing, it will appear transparent on the preview ribbon and you will not enable you to use it. (ex. dotted box in the bottom left of the picture below).

      **If necessary, you can add or edit the information for this lead by selecting the pencil icon.**

      Step 3. Add/Edit Lead Contact Information

      Clicking on the pencil icon will open a Lead’s Details. You can click on any field that you would like to alter, and adjust the information accordingly. 

      Now that we have ensured the contact information of a lead, on the “Lead Details” page we are now able to use the associated contact features. 

      Continuing from our previous example from above, you can see that after we added in the email address, we can now select the email interaction option.

      This article details how you can reach out to a lead, straight from the SalesRabbit app. The Lead Communication Tools allow you to contact your leads via email, text, or phone. 

      Note: To utilize these features you must have the contact information filled out for the lead. To add/edit this information, select the lead and then select the pencil icon to open the Lead Details. 

      Android Steps

      Step 1. Navigate to Your Leads

      In order to communicate with a lead, we will need to pick which lead we want to interact with. To get to leads, we will want to open the SalesHub tab.

      Click on the navigation drawer in the upper left hand corner. Then select “SalesHub”.

      Step 2. Select Your Desired Lead

      In the SalesHub view, you can click on a lead status from the map (or select one from the leads list). A white preview ribbon will appear on the bottom of the page. 

      That ribbon will show the lead’s name and address along with contact icons. These icons enable you to interact with the lead: Email, Text, Call, or Navigate. If the contact information for a certain category is missing, it will not appear on the preview ribbon. 

      For example, the following lead (Customer) was just barely placed on the map. The only information it has is the address. As such only the navigation option appears (dotted box).

      **If necessary, you can add or edit the information for this lead by selecting the pencil icon.**

      Step 3. Add/Edit Lead Contact Information

      Clicking on the pencil icon will open a Lead’s Details. You can click on any field that you would like to alter, and adjust the information accordingly. Continuing our previous example from above, we will want to add a phone number and an email so that we have all the options. 

      Now that we have added/edited our contact information of the lead, we are now able to use the associated contact features. 

      When we view our example lead, we can now see that it has all 4 of the contact options in its white preview ribbon: Email, Call, Message, and Navigate.

      Get More Help Center Articles

      If you liked this article and want to see what other guides we have, login to our Help Center and get unlimited SalesRabbit resources. Or to learn more about what we can do for you and your sales process, schedule a demo for free or contact our support team at (801) 418-9009 or email them at support@salesrabbit.com for assistance on an existing account.

      2 Steps to Adjust Sales Area Settings

      Brady Anderson

      Adjust your sales area settings in 2 steps

      Learn here how to easily adjust your sales area settings and limitations in your SalesRabbit account. From here you can change the amount of active areas that can be assigned to a rep, at any one given time, and how long inactive areas will remain in the system before automatically being deleted. 

      Note: ***The ability to access settings is only available to roles who have the permission enabled***

      Step 1. Navigate to Your Sales Area Settings

      1. To adjust the number of months sales areas are able to remain in an area while inactive you will need to go to “Settings.”
      2. Then click on “Areas” under the Sales section. 

      Step 2. Adjust the Sales Area Settings

      On the Sales Area Settings page you can see the options for:

      User Sales Areas Allowed (per department): Users are allowed to have up to 10 active areas at one time.

      Automatic Sales Area Deletion: Here you can adjust how long an inactive area will remain on your system before being automatically deleted. The maximum time limit is 36 months.

      Once you have made your adjustments, click “Save” in the upper right hand corner.

      Pro Tips

      • For data optimization purposes, for those reps in the field, we recommend keeping the “User Sales Areas Allowed” between 1-5 areas. 
      • Plan ahead: draw out Areas that are left unassigned, ready to be assigned to the appropriate rep

      Set Area Limitations

      • We recommend 3 Areas per user for accounts with DataGrid.
      • You may have as many unassigned Areas as needed on the map.
      • Automatic Sales Areas Deletion” will only delete unassigned Areas from the map.

      More Help Center Articles

      If you liked this article and want to see what other guides we have, login to our Help Center and get unlimited SalesRabbit resources. Or to learn more about what we can do for you and your sales process, schedule a demo for free or contact our support team at (801) 418-9009 or email them at support@salesrabbit.com for assistance on an existing account.

      Make People Love You in Sales with Kenny Brooks

      Sean Huckstep

      Kenny Brooks and Sam Taggart discuss how to use your personality in sales

      Funny Sales Man, Kenny Brooks, and D2DCon founder, Sam Taggart, are among the most well-known faces in door to door sales. They sat down together to discuss what it means to use your personality in sales and how you can get prospects to love you and in turn give you their business. This is a great tool for any sales rep looking to up their game in 2022. Check out these tips straight from Kenny Brooks and the full video here.

      Kenny Brooks Personality Tips for Sales:

      • Keep a positive attitude in the face of rejection.
      • Practice your approach, body language, etc., in the mirror before knocking.
      • Play a mind game with yourself, manifest what you want to happen before you reach the door.
      • Act like you’ve sold everybody no matter what. This will give you confidence to have a fresh start at every door.
      • Don’t pretend to be something you’re not. Sell like yourself and master your own craft. If you prefer a more serious approach, don’t force jokes, or vice versa if you have an easy going personality, use that.
      • Always remember that people buy personality before they buy merchandise. You have to sell yourself and your personality to get the customer interested.
      • 4 steps to a sale: approach, introduction, demonstrate service or product, then close. Don’t immediately try to demonstrate a product or service before introducing yourself and providing value.
      • Be conscious of your body language and the body language of your customer. Take a step or two back when a prospect opens their door, don’t be too in their face. If a customer is leaning in the doorway, it’s a good sign they’re comfortable talking to you.

      Check out the full video here!

       

      What do you think about these tips?

      How to Set up your Enerflo Integration

      Sam Dearing

      Enerflo Integration Overview

      Enerflo is a sales process management software that optimizes the in-home sales experience. Built by in-home sales and software experts, it increases your efficiency by creating a custom-fit process to match your culture and goals. See how Enerflo’s software has integrated with SalesRabbit to further enhance your sales data process.

      What does this integration do?

      • Send your SalesRabbit data into Enerflo to create custom proposals with data and photos.
      • Eliminate duplicate entry issues by syncing data.
      • Export lost deals into SalesRabbit for followup

      What data is transferred into Enerflo?

      • First Name
      • Last Name
      • Phone
      • Email
      • Street Address
      • City
      • State
      • Postal Code
      • Custom Fields

      3 Steps to use this Integration

      Step 1.

      Generating your new API Token:

      Access the SalesRabbit web app (app.salesrabbit.com) and go to Integrations > API.

      Click on the “API Token” button.

      Step 2.

      Renaming your token:

      You will want to rename your created token to keep track of what it connects to. Click on your newly created token and rename it. (ex. Enerflo API Token) 

      Step 3.

      Configuring the Integration with the API:

      After creating and renaming your token, please reach out to Enerflo directly. They will help facilitate the remainder of the configuration for this integration. 

      Set Up More Integrations

      If you’re interested in using any of these powerful integrations, any and all of these integrations can be set up through our Help Center portal, the Integration Marketplace or by reaching out to your account CSM or support team at support@salesrabbit.com 801-418-9009.