Welcome back to the From Vendorship → Partnership podcast, Season 2: Seller’s Journey!
This season, we’re talking to B2B sales leaders about their experience building winning processes, coaching & scaling teams, and partnering with customers.
Our guest this week is Trent Dressel, Senior Account Executive at Qualtrics!
Trent started in software sales as an SDR, put in over 50,000 cold calls, and over the past 4+ years has moved up the ranks to his current role. He’s passionate about B2B sales and providing helpful resources to other sellers. In this episode, Trent chats with Ross about his biggest lessons learned, advice for building strong buyer relationships, and his thoughts on the future of B2B sales.
Listen to the episode here, and get the key takeaways from our conversation below!
🙅 What do most people get wrong about B2B sales?
“The biggest mistake I’ve personally made is underestimating the amount of activity required to achieve my goals,” Trent says.
Top sellers run their quota like their own business – working backwards from the end goal to figure out how many opps they need to create, how many leads will get them to those opps, and how much (and what kinds) of activities will help them get there.
Truly understanding the numbers and what gets you from point A to point B requires more work up-front, Trent says, but allows you to predict and plan better (and sleep better at night!)
🤝 What’s your advice for building strong partnerships with your buyers?
“In sales, we need to give, give, give and offer as much value to our buyers as possible,” Trent says. “If you provide enough value first, you lay the foundation for a strong partnership – and buyers will reciprocate by giving you their time.”
This exchange of value is critical in B2B sales – just trying to sell your solution doesn’t work.
Trent’s tips for starting your buyer relationships on the right foot and setting expectations:
- Share a helpful resource or something of value before your initial call with the buyer – this sets the tone and shows you’re thinking about their problems
- Set an agenda and get an agreement from your buyer up front about the conversation – “I want to learn more about you, and I’ll share more about us. If we agree there’s alignment, I’d like to continue the conversation; if not, we can part ways. Sound good?”
- Always have a scheduled next step (meeting, action item, etc) that both sides are in alignment on
Another great question to ask your buyer: what happens if you do nothing / continue with the status quo?
What would happen if they didn’t solve the problem they’re coming to you about? The better you’re able to understand the dynamic of what that would mean for them individually and for their company overall, the more value you’ll be able to provide.
⚡ Lightning Round: Trent’s Fast Sales Insights
- Your favorite sales app or software? ZoomInfo.
- A helpful book or resource? The 10x Rule.
- The hardest part of developing your skills as a seller? Patience!
About Trent
Trent Dressel is a Senior Account Executive at Qualtrics. He started in software sales as an SDR, put in over 50,000 cold calls, and over the past 4+ years has moved up the ranks to his current role. He’s passionate about B2B sales and provides content and resources to other sellers via his LinkedIn, YouTube, website, and other social channels.
