Select your preferred player below to subscribe now:
Subscribe Now:
About This Episode
So many of us in sales have said these words: “Anything but sales.”
What is it that draws us in?
We love a challenge.
That’s what I had the chance to talk about with Mataya Frizell, Inside Sales Manager at World Manager. Once she set her mind to conquer sales, she didn’t just win, she crushed it.
“What finally got me to say yes to sales was I recognized this fear of the unknown,” Mataya said. “I had such a good time trying new things at school that I was like, Okay, let’s just see how it goes.”
From sales to sales manager in 10 months
Mataya’s sales journey isn’t typical, to say the least. She shared with me some of the things she did in her first year to earn recognition and her promotion.
Authenticity
During her interviews, she was transparent about not knowing whether sales was for her. She explained her hunger to compete and all of her reservations — to help set expectations.
“It wasn’t really about competing with anyone else. It was just something that I really wanted for myself,” she said.
On interview day, come prepared with good questions and lead with authenticity.
Personalization
In her first 30 days, Mataya reworked every template she was given to be shorter and to sound like herself. “I am constantly reading up on stuff on LinkedIn, so anything I see, I’m still applying to my templates today. It helps me keep the job refreshed,” she explained.
She paid close attention to what was and wasn’t working for her, which helped her hit commission on her first month on the job. After that, she could set bigger goals and start to share her templates and processes (which led to her being offered a sales manager role).
In your first month, front load your learning and be willing to experiment with the script.
Tactical tips for the first year
I asked Mataya what advice she’d give herself a year ago.
- Goal setting.
When you’re trying to hit for commission, break down the activities you have to do each week and categorize those.
Mataya sets her goals weekly, and makes each week incrementally higher than the last. “I start out every Monday with a fresh set of goals to complete Friday,” she said.
- Personalize.
“My activities are lower than most people in my company, but my conversion rate is higher. I try to personalize every single stage of my sales process,” she said.
So, 30 minutes is too long to personalize an email, but 5 to 10 isn’t. In the beginning, she spent a lot more time on this than now, when she’s established her process and style.
- Persistence.
Granted, there’s a balance between being respectful and just harassing someone, but if you do it right, you’ll get a response on the 6th email, starting with an apology for not getting back to you sooner.
Mataya said it’s okay to give yourself a day off of calling to work on organizational stuff or emails… as long as you follow it up with a day focused on calls.
- Intuition.
Start developing this by matching or mirroring someone’s tonality on the phone in order to learn when to push.
“Just because someone is kind of short, it doesn’t mean they’re not interested,” she said. “Don’t waste their time, and very quickly try to paint a real world situation that might resonate with them.”
Once you win over the personality type A’s, they’re often your best champions.
Mataya’s 3 takeaways
- Personalization is key.
- Run towards your fear.
- Be willing to change the process.
Bonus: Offer to help others around you. It can be fun to foster healthy competition.
Connect with Mataya on LinkedIn.
For more engaging sales conversations, subscribe to The Sales Engagement Podcast on Apple Podcasts, on Spotify, or on our website.
About The Podcast
The Sales Engagement podcast is the #1 podcast focused on engaging your customers and prospects in the modern sales era. This show features real-life stories and best practices from revenue leaders doing the job day in and day out, in a casual, radio-like talk show.
Each episode features modern tactics, strategies, hacks, and tips to get the most out of your sales engagement strategy and help you navigate the next generation of sales. You’ll find energetic talks that will provide you with real actionable value around building meaningful connections and creating a better selling experience through authentic conversations that you can measure.
The Sales Engagement podcast is here to help B2B sales leaders, customer success leaders, and marketing leaders innovate and usher in the next era of modern sales by building pipeline, up-selling customers, and ultimately generating more revenue with more efficiency.
Hosted by Joe Vignolo, Senior Content Managing Editor at Outreach, and Mark Kosoglow, Vice President of Sales at Outreach.
