Sometimes when you’re giving a demo to a prospect, it gets awkward – they call you out! But even though it can be uncomfortable, that’s also a good sign you’ve encouraged an open and honest conversation. And that’s how you win more deals. In a recent episode of the Demo Diaries podcast, I talked to Morgan J. Ingram, Director of Sales Execution and Evolution at JBarrows.
Meet Morgan
He originally wanted to be a sports agent – he played basketball growing up and was interested in business. So he majored in sports management and finance at the University of Georgia. At the end of his senior year, he realized it wasn’t the career path for him and had to make a decision. He cold-called the VP of sales at Terminus because he’d heard of the company at a networking event, and got himself hired as an SDR.
But the first three months of that role were really hard for Morgan. Sales didn’t click right away, which is true for many people. He had to learn skill sets like how to prospect and break into accounts.
Once it did start to click and he began to see results, he started a Youtube channel on the journey to becoming a better sales pro. He was creating content frequently, and it caught the eye of the legendary John Barrows. John asked if he was interested in training, Morgan said yes, and he got into sales training from there and has been there for 3.5 years.
Morgan’s also a 3x LinkedIn Top Sales Voice and Host of Muffins with Morgan.
The Aha Moment
Morgan had three big aha moments in the beginning of his sales career that helped him get where he is today. First, he realized he didn’t organize his time – he just showed up and was like, I guess I’ll do this now. He learned he needed to timeblock everything, not just as SDR but in all roles. And he still timeblocks everything.
Second, he wasn’t asking other reps for feedback on things they did really well. He learned how to write well from great writers on the team, and got better at conversion. Third, he initially wasn’t willing to get on the phone that much but realized the need to do things often to get better at them.
His biggest takeaway was that it really clicks when you’re doing challenging things consistently – then one day it just makes sense. You need to strive for that all the time and it will eventually happen.
Demo and Discovery
Morgan is a big advocate for doing discovery before a demo. Don’t just show them a demo on the first call without any discovery. Go discovery on the first call, and do the demo on the second. Everyone is different and so is your sales cycle, but if you focus on understanding the buyer’s use case, it’s an applicable demo. Uncover more in a 30-minute discovery call so you can close.
Before the Demo
Before the demo, tell prospects to feel free to stop if they have questions so it’s an open dialogue. Morgan would rather get called out for misunderstanding than have people stay silent and give the wrong demo. Calling out and questioning shows engagement and interaction, but you need to let people know they can do that ahead of time or they’ll just be in passive listening mode.
Using Linkedin Navigator
Morgan is a Linkedin master. Here’s how he uses Linkedin Navigator. Go and look at the leads that follow your company. You can build saved searches from that as well, which is absolutely critical – it gives you updates on who’s new to each saved search.
There are so many lists you can make as well, like who follows your business, people you’ve sent videos to, and people you’ve done business with before so you can follow them when they change roles and companies. This helps you build your pipeline and keep in touch with people who have moved.
Also look at how the accounts of your leads are growing, if they’re increasing headcount, etc. It means their goals are getting bigger and maybe you can help them get there.
Want to connect with Morgan? Follow him @morganjingrahm on Instagram to connect because he’s hit his Linkedin Connections limit (told you he was a social media master!).
Watch the full episode:
