If you’ve ever been at a blackjack table the moment it starts heating up, you can feel it. The rush of your adrenaline, the pride in your streak, and the underlying fear that the moment might pass before you close the deal. And if you’re a sales rep, then you’ve no doubt felt those same emotions; albeit instead of a dealer, you’re sitting across the phone lines of a prospect you’re converting into an opportunity.
The gamification of sales can easily be compared to the mindfulness of chess, the strategy of billiards, or even the luck of roulette at times, but you can always argue that skill of knowing how to play to your odds in blackjack are the same as those used to close a deal. Converting prospects is a delicate dance, and if you know how to play your cards right, you’ll hang up the phone with everyone in the sales pit looking at you like Rain Man.
Salesloft Team Lead Jordan Arogeti is here to share her favorite comparisons of blackjack to the game of sales, and how she’s learned to work the deck in her favor. Check out today’s episode of Sales Tips to learn more about converting prospects while the table is hot:
Jordan’s Tips for Converting Prospects Like a Blackjack Pro:
Hey, everyone. Jordan Arogeti here. I’m a Team Lead at Salesloft. Today we’re going to talk about the SDR role in terms of blackjack. It’s a fun analogy that I’ve found a lot of similarities between the two roles, and I want to dive into that a little bit today to tell you how I’ve used that to my success.
The first similarity is stick to the rules. In both sales development and blackjack, you’re playing a game of odds, so it’s really important that you follow the book, or in this case, the process.
This means that when the dealer’s showing ten and you have sixteen, you always have to hit. Just as in the SDR role, whether you have a good lead or a bad lead, you know you’re going to have to run that process out at least six to eight attempts before you move on. That’s the best chance you’re going to have to play to your odds.
The second is to know the table. I can’t tell you the amount of times where I’ve found that I’m finally connecting and converting my prospects into opportunities. It’s really exciting, but that just means the table is hot. Now is the time for me to really maximize my time and really take advantage of those call steps.
On the flip side, when I’ve had a few tough conversations, that’s when I want to take a break, go for a walk, because I want to come back to my desk with a renewed sense of energy and a different perspective.
The third tip is to be resilient. The reality is even if you do everything right, the dealer still may have that sneaky five under sixteen. In other words, you may not get the meeting. The most important thing is that you actually believe in the process and you stay resilient and positive throughout the day.
The fourth tip is to know when to ask for help. There’s plenty of times at the table where I look at my card and I have absolutely no idea what to do. That’s the time to ask the dealer or ask the people around you, “Hey, what should I do in this situation?” It’s the same way as an SDR.
Whenever I’m in a situation where I’m not quite sure what the next move is, I ask my colleagues, I talk to my manager. They’re the people that are there to support you and put you in a winning situation.
Thanks for joining me today. Hopefully this was a fun way to look at the SDR role. As always, we encourage you to check out our website, our content, and especially our new ebook. Thanks again, and happy lofting.
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In the beginning stages of analytics, it may seem as if sales metrics are placing value on quantity above quality, but that’s not necessarily the case. If your sales reps are performing repeatable and predictable behaviors — ones that are continually optimized based on performance sales metrics — quantity and quality can finally go hand in hand.
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