Avatar Evolution: Let’s Wrap This Sh!t Up

We have had quite the ride this fall exploring the many angles of avatars. I admit that avatars are much more useful than I had initially realized. In fact, I didn’t even fully understand how often I was using this concept in my own work. And now, I’m more excited than ever to keep integrating this tool into my sales processes to close more deals and help more people get what they need to succeed. 

But it has been a while since we began this journey, so perhaps, as we bring this series to a close, a little retrospective is in order. 

We began by utilizing avatars to close more deals with three simple steps: 

1. Research

2. Understanding Jobs to be Done

3. Keep the Conversation Going

By doing a bit of research beforehand, it’s much easier to book that meeting since you already understand the clients’ needs. Then, once in your initial meeting, it’s essential to use your time to understand the specific and unique problems that the client faces. Time to gather quantitative data! Finally, it’s key to keep the conversation going if you want to close the deal. Deals aren’t closed in a day folks -- keep the ball rolling and the conversation flowing. 

But research is such a broad topic. We then needed to explore a few surefire roads to research so we can use our time as efficiently as possible. The four methods we explored were simple but effective: 

1. Google it

2. Linked In

3. Industry Rags (like CIO Magazine and CFO Magazine)

4. Pay-to-Play (like DiscoverOrg and Linked In Sales Navigator) 

These four categories of research can maximize your meeting minutes by getting the grunt work done ahead of time. Don’t waste your precious face-to-face time with a client to ask obvious questions you should already know the answers to. Research is your friend!

Living Avatars

Throughout this process we’ve been discussing the idea of a living avatar. Which simply means that avatars are not stagnant. This isn’t a one and done situation where you write out a few trite things about an imaginary person then leave it on the corner of your desk to gather dust. 

No, for a sales professional, the avatar tool is alive, evolving. Unlike a marketing avatar, the sales avatar changes as you get to know your client better and better. There are certain things you can learn through research and an initial meeting (in fact, we explored 9 essential questions to ask in that first meeting in our most recent post) but it’s crucial to keep track of your avatar’s specifics so you can adjust the details along the way. 

And what’s the best way to do that? By using Helmsman Lab’s Living Avatar spreadsheet. We’ve been offering this spectacular freebie throughout the series, but it’s time to go a little more in depth about what it can do for you. 

This free spreadsheet will set you up for sales success by providing you with not only a spectacular example, but a clean sheet for you to implement it on your own time. 

If you’ve enjoyed our exploration of sales avatars this fall, make sure you snag this free resource so you can integrate the practice into your sales routine. It’s one thing to read about how avatars can help you close more deals and increase your commission, but it’s another to put this knowledge into action. Don’t leave this advice on the blog, take it home to make it work for you!

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Keywords

Sales | Sales Professional | Sales Skills | Sales Hacks | Avatar | Close Deals | Research | Organization | Sales Habits

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