The Top 3 Takeaways From our Discussion With Chris Weir

Chris Weir is the Customer Development Director at Mariner Solutions. Native to Saint John, New Brunswick, Chris has benefited from his family’s fishing and farming roots to learn entrepreneurial skills that have stayed with him his whole life. He wakes up each morning excited to help enable success in others through sales excellence, education, teamwork, and resiliency so that he leaves the world a little better than when he found it.

Chris spoke to our cohort about marketing compared and contrasted to sales; here are three key takeaways from Chris Weir’s discussion:

1. Pay. 

Not all salespeople are the same. Some salespeople aren’t necessarily doing the work for money, but rather they’re doing the work because it's part of who they are and aligns with what they believe in. If you hire correctly, you will get individuals who love new ideas, who chase new things, and who are excited by meeting new people. These salespeople are the ones who will demonstrate the behaviour you want, but not because you want it, rather because they want to do it. The most powerful motivators are intrinsic.

This begs the question; why do you have to pay for that behaviour if they’re going to do it anyway? You need to pay well to attract talent, but there comes a point where paying well will show diminishing returns.

2. Partnership.

Sales and marketing are two important and interconnected dials that drive revenue for a company.

In most cases, marketing tends to lead the buying process by generating attention, interest, and gathering leads. That is then sent to the sales team where they help buyers make a decision and take action. Sales is like a secret weapon to marketing. The sales department excels at building relationships, making it more likely that customers will become brand advocates. Marketers are the starters and salespeople are the closers.

3. Purpose: Understand Your Why.

In sales, you need to begin with the customer in mind; salespeople should strive to make the customer believe that they’re (salespeople) in it for them (the customer) first and foremost. The best salespeople have a better purpose than money; they operate loosely through the idea that you can make the world a better place by helping your customers do better.

The best work is derived from a commitment to do something for something other than money - these are the people you should hire.