Before coming to StorySlab, Account Executive Brian Hamor sold pharmaceuticals, co-founded a B2B marketplace for event spaces called Playeasy, and was even a pro basketball player in Spain. We asked him what his diverse background has taught him about sales and each role had the same takeaway: it’s about people.

How did you handle cold calls when you worked in pharmaceuticals?

I’ve always worked at small companies without a huge brand. If people know who you are, they’re gonna want to see your products. But if you’re at a smaller company that’s just breaking into the market, it takes more for people to listen and give you their time.

A big thing in the pharmaceutical industry is access. A doctor’s time is valuable. They want to see the reps they know and the brands they trust. At smaller offices that may not get as much attention, you might get more time with the doctor. 

You also have to figure out who the gatekeeper is. In a doctor’s office, that’s the receptionist. If you don’t win them over, you’ll never even speak to your customer. In pharmaceuticals, everyone cares more about the doctor so I focused more on the staff and how to relate to them. So most people got in for 2 minutes and I could talk to the doctor for a half hour.

You co-founded a startup. How do you sell something that’s brand new?

Validate you’re solving a problem. You have assumptions in mind with who has the problem, what they’re currently doing, and how you can make it better, but you need a sample size to validate it or adjust your assumptions. From there, take an interview approach and ask a ton of questions. Once you get those answers, you can find out buyer motivation.

How did your startup have to pivot when Covid hit?

Sports is recession-proof, but it’s apparently not pandemic-proof. When Covid-19 happened, we knew we were in trouble being in the event space so we reverse-engineered the problem and ultimately changed our target buyer. 

You always have to be ready to pivot and start over. You don’t really have a choice. You can wait it out and put your company at risk of failing or you can change your strategy. 

How did playing pro basketball in Europe help you sell today?

It taught me the importance of body language. People didn’t speak English so we had to form relationships based on body language alone. Are they smiling? Receptive? Looking you in the eye? It’s easy to tell when someone is listening and when they don’t care. And now that more people are doing video calls and may not even meet in person, body language is that much more important.

How do you get time on a prospect’s schedule?

People are busy and reps are asking for 15 minutes. It doesn’t sound like a lot of time, but you have to deserve that time. You have to understand their world and get them curious. People buy with emotion and justify with logic. During your outreach and discovery, you need to focus on emotion and then move to logic during the demo and the close to justify how you made them feel.

How do you gain a prospect’s trust?

Learn as much as you can before you start selling. Don’t just walk in and start talking about your product. Discover what their problems are and how their business operates.

No one likes talking to salespeople. You have to prove yourself and be respectful. You have to know what they care about and where they’re coming from. Whether it’s B2B or B2C, at the end of the day, it’s always person to person.