How Sales Rebels Decisively Land New Roles (You Can Do This Too)

When I think about my success as a salesperson, there’s no single greatest reason behind it. Instead, it’s an accumulation of many things.

But before I share all the little bits and pieces that played a part in my success, and show you how you can apply them to land a new sales role, let’s take a quick ride to a small village far away from modern civilization.

The Village Without Water

In a village hidden deep in the jungle there was not a single drop of rain for a long time, so two men were given the task to fetch water from the river a couple miles away.

The first man impulsively did exactly as he was told and did what everybody else would do. He grabbed two buckets and started his walk down to the faraway river.

The second man however, grabbed a shovel and started digging into the ground. The entire village was confused by what he was doing.

Days passed and he didn’t come anywhere near hitting his water quota. In fact, his “weird” digging didn’t produce a single drop of water. But he stayed the course, completely ignoring everyone, slowly digging through the ground in silence, one day at a time.

The problem is, there was a shortage of workforce to fetch the water so people started getting angry with the man for not doing his job. They threatened to banish him from the village, and swore to badmouth him around the continent so no other village would ever welcome him.

But the man calmly asked for just a little more time. He worked hard 2 days and 2 nights in a row and on the third morning revealed his creation.

Turns out the man had been digging a canal to redirect the river and installed improvised taps in front of every villager’s home. From then on, no one ever had to walk to the river to fetch water again.

If the man did as he was told, sure, the village would have enough water to get by. But he was not interested in grabbing two buckets every day to chase quick wins and just “finish the work” like everybody else did. He chose beyond mediocrity and was audacious enough to believe in his cause and achieve a legendary outcome for the village.

Think of the salesperson who commits to the minimum standard just to get it over with and move on to the next. They run out of water, rush to get their buckets filled up and quickly appease you without a permanent fix, just a short term guarantee.

The difference between a regular (boring) salesperson and a Sales Rebel is we’re willing to play the long game and commit to excellence beyond the “sale.”

How I Would Land a Sales Role Today

If I were to go back and try to land a role at a sales organization, here’s how I would do it.

1. Locate your prospects

First, find the roles of people in charge and all the C-level officers of the organization through their website, LinkedIn, or any other medium available.

2. Research

Get to know their ICP so you can put together a start-to-finish prospecting and nurturing plan.

Here comes the Rebellious part: do research on them personally so you can create very familiar moments and showcase that you know how to find out about a person, their likes, their experiences, on an elite level.

3. Create a use case

When you get to know who you’re reaching out to, it’s a smart idea to create a use case for the product or service around what it would fix for your prospect and how you’d present it to them.

4. Outreach

After the preparation is complete, it’s outreach time. I’d reach out to all the researched folks with phone calls, video messages on LinkedIn and other Rebellious concepts.

And I’d also use direct mail to showcase all of the above by sending them my outlines and giving them an experience through my way of thinking and creativity.

Bonus

One thing that’ll stand you out from the rest is to stay away from submitting your resume. Instead, send them the Rebel Resume, a very different and unique approach to the standard resume that presents your willingness to go the extra mile.

And lastly, if I could give you only one tip, I’d tell you to be patient. It’s not wasted time if you’re playing the long game like you should. This is why your strategy AND heart are both important factors in your overall success.