Accelerate 2021 is a 2-day virtual summit that features 15 speakers, including some of the most respected leaders from the sales tech industry and the most loved sales coaches we have all admired and learned from. Accelerate is on Dec 14th and 15th. Click here to register

This is a blog series where we examine speakers from Accelerate. Today’s featured speaker is Jason Bay, known as the ‘Outbound sales coach’ who's the Chief Prospecting Officer at Blissful Prospecting.

Jason Bay, also famously known as JBay, gives his all in to help sales folks level up their sales skills and help them land more meetings through effective outreach. He’s also a reputed member of ‘Modern Sales Pros’ - the world’s largest community for leaders in sales.

Here’s an interview with Jason where he speaks about the future of sales, advice for the people starting out in sales, and a lot more.

 

Q. How do you think sales has changed over the past 5 years? What do you predict will happen in the next 5 years? 

Well, the obvious change has been a shift towards a virtual selling environment. Inside salespeople are used to this. But your prospects are not. They're much more comfortable meeting online, using videos, and so, the bar is much higher. Other than that, the same principles still apply and will continue to apply for the next five years as well. Be laser-focused in the companies you're going after, know your personas inside and out, use customer-centric messaging, go for multi-channel outreach, and be able to handle your top 3-5 objections. This is never going out of style. 

 

Q. What is the one piece of advice you'd like to give to people who are just starting out in sales? 

Soak up every ounce of knowledge you can about who you're selling to. Get very granular and pay close attention to the typical goals/priorities of your prospects. And then towards the problems that get in their way. Take detailed notes during sales calls, record them, and listen to your AE's calls as well. You should have a library full of notes about the patterns you notice across similar prospects. This kind of information will help you scale your sales process. 

 

Q. Can you tell us a bit about your greatest win in sales, something that still motivates you to date? 

My biggest win was landing my first big enterprise client, Zoom! 

 

Q. Okay, let’s pretend this is a cold call, what’s your go-to cold calling opener? :) 

"Hey ______, this is Jason with Blissful Prospecting. I know I probably caught you in the middle of something. But do you have a minute for me to tell you why I'm calling? And then you can let me know if you want to keep chatting?"

This works nearly every time. 

 

Q. While writing an outbound sequence, what do you think a sales rep should avoid talking about? 

Your product! Do not talk about specific features of your product. The prospect does not care because they don't speak the language of your product. You should start the conversation in their world first: i.e. talking about their priorities/goals and the problems that get in their way. Oh, and stop talking about how awesome your company is. 

 

Q. What will you be talking about at Accelerate 2021? 

So, at Accelerate, I’ll be speaking on ‘Why outbound is a game of odds and how to dramatically improve them’ 

 

Q. A book that you recently read and would recommend to others? 

‘Thinking In Bets’ by Annie Duke. Not a sales book, but a great approach that gets you to think about sales. 

 

Jason Bay is all geared up for Accelerate - an event featuring some of the best sales leaders and coaches. Tune in on the 14th to hear Jason give some actionable advice and tips. If you still haven’t registered, now’s your chance: Save my seat!