How to Become a #Playmaker @Dreamforce 2017

Ready for Dreamforce? I am. We’re launching #PLAYMAKERS at WWW.PLAYMAKERS.IO

I AM A #PLAYMAKER

A few months back, I was chatting with our Senior Marketing Manager, Mike Taylor, and we were trying to determine: What is our tribe? Who are we? Who are the people that join us? We started throwing different ideas around that we thought people could identify with.

We came across this quote from Steve Jobs:

Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.

“That’s it!” We thought…what is the name for people like that in sales though?

Mike was the first one to say it and it caught on like fire. Playmakers! Playmakers make plays and they use Playbooks to achieve greatness in sales. #BOOM. We created a shirt, renamed, the XANT podcast and started running.

The Playmaker Manifesto

A Playmaker is a new type of salesperson. Playmakers wage war against traditional sales and win. A Playmaker is someone who consistently hits quota because they use science and technology while traditional reps use gut and intuition.

Playmakers are deliberate and targeted while traditional reps are untargeted, untimely, uncontrolled, and frankly still spamming everybody with #unwantedoutreach.

Playmakers ask for forgiveness rather than permission. They don’t oversell and under deliver, they undersell and over deliver, and their middle name is value.

Playmakers are doers not talkers. They are real people who have overcome real problems to achieve greatness.

You Are Always One Play Away. . .

My first sales job was the GAP. That’s right, it was the GAP. I needed something to help pay my way through college and the GAP seemed liked a logical place to start. I remember my interview and how bad it was. The interviewing manager asked me some questions and for some reason I just wasn’t on my ‘A’ game.

At the end of the interview, the hiring manager asked me to sell him some clothes. We both felt like the exercise wasn’t necessary but, since it was required, we both proceeded. As I walked around looking at the different clothes I thought, “what’s the one thing I could do that would rescue me here?”

Luckily, another employee saw me and without even stopping said, “If you really want this job, you’ll sell him a GAP credit card.” Wow, that was a brilliant idea. I grabbed some clothes and the pamphlet for a the GAP card and went over to the hiring manager, gave him my pitch, and told him the GAP card was a must. He laughed and offered me the job.

I was just one moment away from not getting that job. As I reflect on my career, there have been 100’s of moments like that. Those make or break situations that define who you are and whether you succeed or fail. Like when Dave Elkington, current CEO of XANT told me in 2005 after a month of me being on the sales team that I wasn’t going to make it so I should probably start looking for another job. Thankfully, shortly after that conversation I closed my first big deal at XANT and the rest is history.

Those moments I now call PLAYS and the slogan of Playmakers is “One Play Away…”

I was ‘one play away’ from not being hired at the GAP then I was ‘one play away’ from being fired at XANT. You might be ‘one play away’ from hitting quota, closing a HUGE deal, or becoming financially free. Whatever your goal is or whatever future you want, that’s what we work towards as #PLAYMAKERS.

Playmakers Make Plays

Playmakers make plays. A play can encompass a lot but the basics of play is a strategic prospecting initiative. It’s a system to sell more. It’s not a cadence or a sequence of random activities, it’s more than that. Think of it like this . . .

P – Plays have a purpose or a goal. Playmakers don’t shoot from the hip

L – Plays target lists or leads. Playmakers target a specific who, they don’t spray and pray.

A – Plays give value first. Playmakers don’t expect to ‘get’ until they’ve ‘given’.

Y – Plays yield results. Playmakers measure to improve everything they do, they don’t wing it every time.

S – Plays have a sequence that educates with activities, Playmakers don’t spam with #unwantedoutreach.

Playmakers At Dreamforce

At Dreamforce #DF17 we have some cool things we’ll be doing to officially kick-off #PLAYMAKERS. Check it out and join the AI Sales Revolution @ www.playmakers.io

  • Join the Playmaker Community

We’ve created an exclusive #PLAYMAKERS group. This is a place for sales professionals all over the world to connect, ask questions, share stories, and expand their skill sets.

Action: Join the group here

  • 3 Plays #Playmakers Use to Double Their Pipeline – Webinar

Gabe Larsen will discuss “3 Plays #Playmakers Use to Double Their Pipeline” live on Facebook from the Dreamforce floor.

Action: Register for the webinar here

  • Playmaker Community Prizes

We’re giving away five of our best sales plays for new members of our Playmaker community

Action:Join the group here

  • Dreamforce Booth Presentation

The Dreamforce floor presentation will feature Predictive Playbooks. The title of the presentation is, “How to be a #Playmaker.” Through that narrative, we’ll communicate that Playmakers use an AI System of Growth & Predictive Playbooks to run their plays. There are so many sales reps sending untargeted, uncontrolled and unwanted outreach, but Playmakers use the power of AI to be targeted and strategic in building their pipeline.

Action: Come visit us at booth #1501

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