Becoming Difficult to Ignore, with James Buckley from JB Sales

Welcome to the Secret Sauce, a series by the Crystal team where we have deep-dive conversations with fast-rising sales leaders to learn about the most unique, potent ingredient to their success.

James Buckley is Chief Evangelist at JB Sales, where he has joined with some of the best minds in business today to educate millions of salespeople throughout their journey. JB Sales events and memberships has driven exceptional results for companies such as SalesLoft, Gong, and ZoomInfo, helping sellers become the best sales professionals they can be. Through dynamic on-demand sales training programs, JB Sales equips salespeople with skills and techniques that can help them achieve goals consistently and grow both personally and professionally– because they believe that the front lines of sales have never been more valuable.

There is a fine line between being a helpful salesperson that is always top-of-mind, and being an obnoxious salesperson that just wants prospects to sign on the dotted line. James has developed his own “Secret Sauce” formula to train reps to tread that line effectively and ultimately earn more credibility, build stronger relationships, and improve conversion rates.

“In all my outreach, no matter what channel I am using, I am courteous, I am professional, I am persistent, and I am patient. And because I am all those things, it’s very difficult to ignore me.”

The variables in his formula– courteous, professional, persistent, and patient– create a recipe for success. Although these variables may appear self-explanatory, sales reps often make mistakes when implementing them into their outreach. Here are James’s suggestions on how to effectively embody these qualities in your sales efforts:

“When [prospects] read that opening sentence of ‘I’ve reached out a few times…’ it’s like a subconscious chemical reaction in the brain that signals, ‘Oh, I’ve been ignoring you? I’m just going to keep doing that’.”

Because this process takes consistency and time, the real measurement is closed opportunities sourced by using this approach. For James, the average number of touches (across all platforms) that it takes to have a meaningful conversation is around 6-8. His average is about 50% less than the industry standard average of 16-20 touches (as reported by Gong). By limiting the number of touches it takes to generate a meaningful conversation with prospects, he has essentially doubled the speed by which he’s built his sales pipeline. This formula helps fill your pipeline faster because it follows a human-based track and eventually leads to more success. Try implementing James' secret formula for success, and see how it changes the speed at which you can build meaningful relationships in your sales outreach. 

“Don’t be an obnoxious salesperson, but be difficult to ignore.”