Today’s guest is Nelson Leitao and he’s going to share important lessons learned about perseverance during a 10-year climb up the customer ladder. In this episode we’ll discuss what that means. 

The art of selling

• Nelson loves his job for two particular reasons: Interacting with people and getting the chance to improve patient experience. 
• For Nelson, being in the medical sales field, he isn’t only dealing with devices, he is helping people through his products. 
• Their company’s vision is A day without passion in healthcare is a lost day. 
• Nelson worked for his company for 25 years already but he’s only been working in sales for 10 of those years. 
• One hard lesson came from offering the same solution to three different companies. He focused on the sale more than unique customer needs and it cost him two of the three prospects.
• What Nelson didn’t acknowledge was that there were three different customers, three different processes, and three different needs. Instead of customizing the offer to each company, he mistakenly thought giving them the same solution would solve everything. 
• Nelson is now quicker to subscribe to his company’s vision to listen more than he talks.
• Nelson had to reframe his mindset and though it was a huge challenge, he was able to pull through.

Climbing the customer ladder 

• It’s similar to marriage in that it has its ups and downs and there may be challenges you have to overcome everyday.
• Climbing the customer ladder is about how you improve your relationship with your customer. It’s dynamic because your customers all have different needs. Climbing the customer ladder means climbing their trust.  
• First, you need to be present and customers need to feel that focus everyday. They want to know they can ask for your help and you’re there even when you don’t have all the answers. 
• Be committed to helping people and opening doors for the customers. 
• The motivation is knowing you will win with them, you will gain more experience and learn the process, and you will understand their needs. 

Looking outside the box

• Being in the healthcare sector, most people focus on technology and clinical solutions but there’s more to it. 
• The technology and the devices are good but they also need to implement a good workflow. 
• With Nelson managing accounts for financially depressed countries, he is prompted to think of the financial implications for his customers. 
• It is important to be creative and to show something different to separate you from other companies. 
•  Help the customers bring out the solutions the best they can.

“Motivation: Important Lessons I Learned About Perseverance During My 10-Year Climb Up the Customer Ladder” episode resources 

Connect with Nelson Leitao on LinkedIn. You can also send him an email at nelson.leitao@siemenshealthineers.com.

Speak with Donald directly for more sales talks. Reach him via these channels: LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook about any sales concerns. 

Try Pipedrive today for FREE! As a TSE listener, PipeDrive is offering you an EXTEND trial beyond the typical 30 days + 25% off your first three months after trial. Try it today at  → https://pipedrive.live/tse use your code: pipedrivetse. 

This episode is also partly brought to you by Wingman. Wingman uses AI-software to empower remote sales teams with conversation intelligence, actionable insights on successful playbooks, and delivers real-time coaching.

This course is brought to you in part by TSE Certified Sales Training Program. It’s a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. It will help them elevate their sales game. Sign up now and get the first two modules free! You can go and visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals also call us at (561) 570-5077. "We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our 2 mins survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey

We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes so tune in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings to every episode you listen to. 

You can also read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore this huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day free trial. 

Audio provided by Free SFX. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Failures can be crippling if we allow them to be, but when we have the proper guidance, we can learn how to turn failure into success. Airica Kraehmer of Gracious Care Recovery shares her own story here and reminds us that we can turn our weaknesses into our strengths.

MENTAL TOUGHNESS

Airica’s story doesn’t directly involve sales, but it does involve difficulty and mental toughness.

She started working as a model in the fashion industry and she had a dream to succeed there. She realized that the fashion industry demands that you be your own product and that you bring your A-game all the time. She called it cut-throat.

As a result, there’s room for exploitation. Airica found herself the victim of human trafficking because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

She wrote down her story, and when she finished her book, she looked for outlets that would help her share it. She figured telling her story would help her move beyond the struggle.

She became an international best-selling author, and it taught her that she could rise above the low points in life.

SEEKING A CHALLENGE

After she moved to Florida, Airica realized that the state was number two in the country in terms of human trafficking, tied with Houston. After the upcoming Super Bowl, Florida is projected to move into the number one spot due to the large influx of people.

Hearing stories of other victims made her realize that she was part of something bigger. She realized that the process would repeat if she didn’t do something to help.

She reminded herself that there were as many good people in the world as there were bad people.

REJECTION

Nobody wanted to talk about trafficking, so she kept encountering closed doors. She compares it to cold calling for sellers. [07:23]

Though people cared about it, they didn’t feel like they could speak out about it.

She kept knocking on doors, and eventually, she found Gracious Care Recovery. There were survivors there who recognized the need for people to speak out.

Her message to sellers, then, is to keep knocking on doors. Despite the fact that she was addressing an impossibly hard topic, she found people who would engage.

Get in the other person’s mindset. We each have different experiences, and we’re each traveling a different journey. That means we each have different ideas.

That can be a powerful tool as long as we remember that the effort isn’t all about us. It’s about who we can help and who we can serve.

Keep in mind that the prospect isn’t rejecting you. It simply isn’t the right time for your prospect.

PERSISTENCE

If you’re a sales manager who is motivating a team to overcome rejection, teach your team members to practice persistence.

Be persistent, but be kind. Be willing to invest the time to build trust.

Sales is a numbers game to some degree, and you have to keep reaching out in order to achieve results. Especially now that we find ourselves at the beginning of a new year, you have to keep knocking in order to hit your targets.

OVERCOMING FAILURE

Airica compares her personal experience to bankruptcy. It was the ultimate low. She had nothing left. And she knew it would take years to recover.

She learned that you have to leave behind the things that don’t serve you well and that you shouldn’t focus too much on the why. It’s ok, for example, to ask why something happened, but refuse to stay focused on it.

Instead, look to the future and ask yourself what you can do to address what happened.

Ask yourself the following questions:

• Who am I serving?
• What is my purpose?
• What’s my goal?

Once you’ve identified those things, align your morals and values with your goals.

Tackle one goal at a time. Small goals will accumulate quickly and result in large accomplishments.

“HOW TO TURN FAILURE INTO SUCCESS” EPISODE RESOURCES

You can connect with Airica at airica@graciouscarerecovery.com and grab a copy of her book, Models Stop Traffic: How to Dodge Enslavement in Pursuit of Your Dream to Become the Next Top Model.

This episode is brought to you in part by prospect.io, a powerful sales automation platform that allows you to build highly personalized, cold email campaigns. To learn more, go to prospect.io/tse. It will help you with your outbound to expand your outreach. It allows you to set it and forget it. Your prospecting will never ever be the same.

Previously known as TSE Hustler’s League, our TSE Certified Sales Program offers modules that you can engage on your own schedule as well as opportunities to engage with other sellers in other industries.

This episode is brought to you in part by mailtag.io, a Chrome browser extension for Gmail that allows you to track and schedule your emails. It’s super easy, it’s helpful, and I recommend that you try it out.

You’ll receive real-time alerts anyone opens an email or clicks a link.

I hope you enjoyed the show today as much as I did. If so, please consider leaving us a rating on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or wherever you consume this content and share it with someone else who might benefit from our message. It helps others find our message and improves our visibility.

If you haven’t already done so, subscribe to the podcast so you won’t miss a single episode, and share with your friends!

Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound.

So often, as sales reps, we neglect to realize that the customer journey starts with the prospect experience.

Sean McDade, PhD, is the founder and CEO of PeopleMetrics; a software and services company that helps organizations measure and create a better customer experience by listening to their customers and prospects.  Sean is also the author of “Listen or Die: 40 Lessons that turn Customer Feedback into Gold,” a book about how to listen to your customers, clients and prospects in order to create a better experience for them.

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

Any time that a company interacts with a customer or prospect, they are providing a customer experience. It could be a digital experience on a website, an in-person experience through a meeting with a sales rep, or customer experiences via contact centers or online chats.

A great company is one that consciously manages those interactions to create positive experiences for their customers.

As a sales rep, the experience you give to your prospects is very important. The prospect’s interaction with a sales rep sets the tone for the experience he can expect as a customer.

This is especially true if you are selling B2B products, software, professional services, or any high-end consumer products that a prospect is likely to spend significant dollars on to purchase.

A sales rep can increase the value in the sales process by answering questions in detail, by solving problems, and by reducing pain for the prospect.

The metric used to measure customer experience is substantially higher for sales reps who add value over those who do not.

When a prospect feels that he was lied to, or misled, at the beginning, it is difficult to recover. The great sales reps are the ones who set the tone for a great customer or client experience over the long-term.

As for the sales reps who are not setting a positive tone – Sean believes they are creating the very real possibility that the client will churn in the future instead.

MARKETING VS SALES

Marketing sets the brand promise. They set the expectations but it is up to the sales reps to bring it to life.

The prospects will remember their conversations with sales reps long after they’ve forgotten the marketing campaign. The sales rep has more credibility and is more effective, as a result, in setting a positive – or negative – tone with the prospect.

POSITIVE PROSPECT EXPERIENCE

PeopleMetrics measures various attributes by sending a survey to each prospect to determine the experiences that the reps create.

In this way, Sean has found the prospects always feel that value has been added to their experience whenever a sales rep is able to provide these five things:

• Be prepared. A great sales rep is one who is super-prepared. They know the prospect inside and out; the reps don’t ask questions that are easily found online, for example.
• Be comfortable answering questions. A great sales rep understands their prospect’s situation and can suggest solutions.
• Be a good listener. A great sales rep listens more than he talks and will really understand the needs of the prospect as a result.
• Be knowledgeable about your product. Be able to answer questions beyond what is already available online.
• Be proactive. Be timely and follow-up.

Referrals are key, especially in the B2B market.  At that level, buyers actually seek out referrals from other buyers before making big decisions.

THE CONSULTATIVE SALE REP

As sales reps, we sometimes feel as though we are simply taking orders when, in truth, we should aim to be more of a consultant for the buyer. The company we work for should be one that values the consultative element: providing training, experience, and hands-on opportunities for the sales reps to really learn the product well.

As an example, Sean has a great rep at his company who is generally tasked with opening doors by understanding the prospect’s needs, identifying problems, and introducing solutions. On his own time, the rep learned the product inside and out to the point where he can now read the reports the analysts write for similar-type prospects. He knows the industry, the language, and the company so well that he is extremely credible as a result.  The value that the company placed on his training continues to pay off.

Unfortunately, a lot of smaller companies are unable to provide training, so it is up to the rep to become consultative through proactive measures. Learn as much as you can about the product and the industry and talk to account managers who are servicing similar products, etc.

LEARNING YOUR CUSTOMER

As sales reps, we don’t need our buyers to know all about our business. Rather, we need to learn as much as possible about theirs. We need to be able to help them see their blind spots and identify their weaknesses so that we can create a great prospect experience by providing solutions.

Nothing annoys a buyer more than having to answer questions simply to bring a sales rep up to speed, especially when it is something the sales rep should already understand. Instead, if you can offer the buyer insight into the many ways that your product can reduce their pain, or further them in their careers, you are already ahead of the game. You’ve got the inside track.

It reminds me of a story where a sales rep friend of mine was shadowing a more established rep. The established sales rep, however, was also a really cocky and arrogant guy who didn’t feel the need to do any research on his prospects before a call. He was confident that his knowledge of the product would be sufficient to land the sale.

Long story short: Because the sales rep failed to take the time to research an acronym that he had seen on the prospect’s website, the sales rep misused the acronym and was unable to recover. It was a horrible experience that could have been prevented with a little research.

THE STATISTICS

PeopleMetrics researched 800 B2B buyers and discovered some fascinating reasons as to why they buy or don’t buy.

• Seventy-eight percent of B2B buyers actively seek recommendations from their trusted colleagues as their first step toward a purchase. They rarely look online or make a choice based solely on an interaction with a sales rep.
• Seventy-six percent of the time, the recommended company wins the contract. The losing providers, on the other hand, are almost never recommended.
• Furthermore, the sales rep makes a huge difference as to whether or not a company is recommended. Sixty-one percent of B2B buyers that bought something report that the sales rep provided high value: he was consultative and he was prepared. He provided a positive prospect experience.
• And here’s the kicker: the sales rep that provided the high-value experience for the B2B buyer got bigger contracts – up to $100,000 more within the 800 buyers.

THE CHAMPION CYCLE

Seventy percent of B2B buyers who experience a high-value meeting recommended the provider to others. It is a cycle that goes around and around and around. It all comes down to the experience that the sales reps have with the prospects.

Sean highly recommends reaching out to your prospects after interactions with your reps. Ask them what they did well and what they could do better. At PeopleMetrics, the survey takes less than a minute and they regularly see a 75% response rate.  

Was the meeting valuable? Was the rep prepared?

And most importantly – do you have any concerns related to moving forward? This is a beautiful question because, as sales reps, we waste a lot of time chasing leads that are going nowhere. This question offers a non-confrontational way for a prospect to let us know if our product is not a good fit. Then we can focus our efforts on prospects who are.

E-COURAGE

The survey is sent to every decision maker in the group who attended the meeting.  Sean does not recommend, however, having the sales manager call the prospect with the same survey questions as it is unlikely they will provide completely truthful answers.

People are more likely to provide honest feedback via digital means than in person.

THE NET PROMOTER QUESTION

“How likely would you be to recommend our product or services to a colleague?”

Sean is working with a company that is taking this one step further. Their sales reps call and thank every single customer who provided a 9, or 10. This simple act has resulted in even more referrals!

The mindset of most sales leaders is very hard-charging, or maybe marketing owns the customer experience side of things. Once the sales leader recognizes customer experience as a revenue-generating opportunity, he is more likely to implement it.

Sean recalls a client who left a meeting feeling very confident that he had landed the sale only to receive lukewarm feedback.  As a result, he was able to get on the phone and determine where a misunderstanding had occurred. He was able to turn it around and make the sale.

PeopleMetrics

Valuable prospect experiences can be easily and systematically incorporated in very low stress ways. At PeopleMetrics, they are super passionate about the prospect and customer experience.  Their software automatically sends the survey to your prospects. Once prospects complete the survey, the company sends an email alert of results along with recommendations on how best to proceed.

PeopleMetrics also provides the ability to focus on which reps are doing well, and which ones might need more assistance. It is a complete solution for improving the prospect/customer experience by helping companies listen to their clients.

The prospect experience is the key to delivering a great customer experience that can hopefully last a lifetime.

Take the guesswork out of it.  Know how your sales reps are interacting with your prospects.

“CUSTOMER JOURNEY STARTS WITH THE PROSPECT EXPERIENCE” EPISODE RESOURCES

You can reach out to Sean via email at Sean.mcdade@peoplemetrics.com , or find him on Twitter @smcdade. Learn more about the company at Www.peoplemetrics.com.

If you haven’t already done so, subscribe to the podcast so you won’t miss a single episode. Share it with your friends who would benefit from learning more.

This episode is brought to you in part by our TSE Certified Sales Training Program which teaches you to improve your sales skills, find more customers, build stronger value, and close more deals.

The next semester begins in March.

This episode is brought to you in part by mailtag.io, a Chrome browser extension for Gmail that allows you to track and schedule your emails. It’s super easy, it’s helpful, and I recommend that you try it out. You’ll receive real-time alerts anyone opens an email or clicks a link.

Mailtag.io will give you half-off your subscription for life when you use the Promo Code: Donald at check out.

I hope you enjoyed the show today as much as I did. If so, please consider leaving us a rating on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or wherever you consume this content and share it with someone else who might benefit from our message. It helps others find our message and improves our visibility.

Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound.

Sometimes all it takes to differentiate from the competition successfully is to think past the first solution. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by the co-founder of Leaddelta, Ved Rasic, to learn how he launched a successful company after thinking past the first solution. 

Understand the main assumptions of a crowded market:

• If you’re in a crowded market, that means there’s a demand.
• The leading mistake salespeople make: they scan what others do and try to repeat it.
• Your goal should be to move past that first option (option A) and create option B.
• Understand how people arrive at the stage where they need your product.
• To do this successfully, know the pain points and goals of your customers.

Once you understand the why, how do you differentiate based on those pain points?

• For the small businesses that utilize full-cycle sale reps, you have several interactions with your customers. It’s cliche, but listen to those interactions.
• Don’t just listen for phrases you want to hear, but understand their problems and goals to determine how to help them best.
• Be curious. Let prospects talk more because that often leads to higher closing rates.

Leaddelta can be incredibly helpful in differentiation.

• The platform is essentially a table or CRM-style view of your first-degree LinkedIn connections. 
• This setup makes LinkedIn a better platform because it provides a spam-free, ad-free environment to add notes, tags and save time.
• Leaddelta has over 1400 users, and 50% are paid. And that’s what you can get from thinking about the option B perspective.

The typical salesperson collects LinkedIn connections like Pokemon cards. Instead, use those connections to create powerful relationships.

• Think about what customers talk about that makes them want a product or service. 
• Use storytelling to help you become a better sales rep.
• Follow Ved on LinkedIn and Twitter, and visit his company website at leaddelta.com for more information.

Join Donald’s Facebook group, The Sales Evangelizers, to find a community of people to share, reflect, and grow with on your sales journey.

This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio.

Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real.

But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com.

This course is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Certified Training Program, designed to help new and struggling sellers master sales fundamentals and close more deals. Help elevate your sales game and sign up now to get the first two modules free! You can visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals or call (561) 570-5077 for more information. We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey.

We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings for each episode you listen to! 

Read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore their huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day trial.

Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

How Do I Sell During The Coronavirus Outbreak? 

Many industries are affected by the coronavirus pandemic. With that, there are a lot of questions in the sales community about how to move through this season well.  How can you sell while everyone is quarantined and practicing social distancing? 

Scott Romney is a senior account executive at Soci. He loves sales and building relationships. Soci’s goal is to help their clients overcome the challenges that may come from internal alignment or with their local franchise partners. Soci can come in to balance their clients’ social media reviews and  do it using just one platform. 

Facing the challenges

Businesses that are sole-ownership need to take special care with protecting their brand. The main challenge that salespeople are facing right now is how to keep doing sales without compromising the health of all involved and their businesses. Most salespeople are now hiding by not calling people or having conversations with their prospects and clients. What these same people need to wake up to, however, is the reality that the economy is not dead.  It’s still going and very much alive. We’re not currently in recession and the economy can still pick up once the pandemic is controlled and managed. 

The economy is not dead.  People are still working but they are working differently. 

#COVID19

Understanding the circumstances is imperative to be able to see the opportunity in times of crisis. We all have defining moments in our careers that can change our mindset. You need to ask yourself what these defining moments mean for you. Looking at the challenge brought about by the coronavirus outbreak, ask yourself how this defining moment can change your outlook as a small business. Look at the efficiency and gaps when implementing new flexible working hours and the critical role that social media plays amid COVID-19. Social media isn’t just all fluff but a real lifeline, especially with staying connected to clients.

In every crisis, there’s an opportunity. As salespeople, it’s part of the job to take advantage of the online resources and get to work digitally. This means of communication can help businesses inform, educate, and connect with their clients. 

Keep working

Even with the pandemic, 99% of the world’s population are still working. Salespeople can pick up the phone and build relationships with their prospects despite the change in how we do business. You can connect and build value, helping your clients see you as a thought leader by continuing to offer counsel.  There is still an opportunity to help with pain points. 

It’s time to have a positive side. The nation has faced far greater challenges in the past but they were overcome. As a sales leader, recognize you can come out of this crisis as a leader and not a lagger. Let your prospects know you are working, even in this dire situation, and keep them informed. Make it your goal to build relationships because only a handful of people are currently moving in that direction.  Take this as an opportunity to grow the business by leaning into your clients. This is a defining moment you can take advantage of. Just keep working. 

Change your messaging

Before the virus outbreak, Scott called on prospects with the message they were doing a good job but wanted to share information to further improve their standing on social media. The updated message emphasizes that social media is now a lifeline they need to utilize if they aren’t already there. 

For example, a local fitness gym, All Time Fitness, has jumped into the social media scene. Despite being closed down due to the virus, they are now utilizing social media by sharing some exercise tips people can do at home. They are also using FaceTime and offering a personal coaching session. They realize this is a great time to broaden their client base and have a great opportunity to serve people while they are in quarantine. Businesses can now change their messaging to provide a solution to current pain points. 

Structure  you deal opportunities

This is a great time to restructure some of your deals and give clients an enticing deal during this difficult time. Sales leaders may need to look at the red tape and their client’s current pain points to better align with existing needs. Updating agreements may be called for. Some questions you might need to investigate include: Can I offer my clients a different structure? Can I break up payment schedules?  Doing this won’t devalue your product. It simply gives you margin to listen to your customers and make adjustments as you’re able.  

The long-term changes

This pandemic will change some companies forever. Businesses will have to make necessary adjustments. The important thing is that you can decide to do something and strategize to gain.

“How Do I Sell During The Coronavirus Outbreak? ” episode resources

Reach out to Scott Romney via LinkedIn to learn more about Soci, a leading social media management platform to help multi-location businesses. 

If you are interested in more sales stories, you can talk to Donald about it. Reach him via these channels: LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook about any sales concerns. 

This episode is brought to you in part by TSE Certified Sales Training Program. It’s a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. Sign up now and get the first two modules for free! You can also call us at (561) 570-5077. 

We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes so tune in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings to every episode you listen to. 

You can also read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore this huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day free trial. 

Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

How to Reach Decision-Makers When Selling to Enterprises

When selling, we want to talk to the decision makers but how do you reach them in order to qualify them as a prospect?  Let’s talk about that in this episode. 

Erik Kostelnik is the CEO of Postal.io,  a sales marketing engagement platform that generates leads, increases sales, and improves customer retention by optimizing offline engagement and interactions. 

Challenges in reaching out to decision makers

There have always been obstacles in selling; however, in the last 20 years, it has gotten a lot noisier due to sales and marketing automation. As a result, it has become more difficult to grab the attention of potential clients. People are just overrun by messages and have become desensitized. You need to be different if you want to interrupt this massive flow of data to the decision-makers.  

How to reach decision makers

Historically we have operated on “five touches” to get to a yes or a no response. Operating within these parameters, sales reps standardized the workflow with these five touches in mind. The number of touches has increased, however, due to the volume of people trying to do the same things. It’s become even harder to get a hold of decision-makers. 

The solution is to go back to personalization. Formatted emails need to be removed from your own sequences and be replaced with persona-based selling. Sequence your outreaches using social media platforms, emails, and phone call pitches. You can use this steps: 

• Send an email with a gift, like an ebook.
• Reach out through LinkedIn.
• Make a personal phone call.
• Email them.
• Repeat this process three times.

With this process, you can reach decision makers, even offline.

During this process, sharpen your sales sword and differentiate yourself from the competitors. 

“How to Reach Decision-Makers When Selling to Enterprises” episode resources 

Reach out to Erik Kostelnik via his LinkedIn account. You can also check out the website. 

Speak with Donald directly for more sales talks. Reach him via these channels: LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook about any sales concerns. Try Pipedrive today for FREE! As a TSE listener, PipeDrive is offering you an EXTEND trial beyond the typical 30 days + 25% off your first three months after trial. Try it today at  → https://pipedrive.live/tse use your code: pipedrivetse. This course is brought to you in part by TSE Certified Sales Training Program. It’s a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. It will help them elevate their sales game. Sign up now and get the first two modules for free! You can go and visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals also call us at (561) 570-5077. 

We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes so tune in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings to every episode you listen to. 

You can also read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore this huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day free trial. 

Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Three Things Small Businesses Get Wrong When Marketing  

Businesses often make mistakes in their marketing campaigns and as a result, don’t maximize their exposure. Let’s discuss how strategic decisions about your online presence can make a bigger impact. 

Stephen Hart is the host of the Trailblazers.fm podcast and is also a digital brand strategist. Stephen enhances marketing and communications for a global software firm by coaching individuals and businesses to improve their own brand. Through his experience, Stephen is seeing the need for people to address their brand presence and their digital footprint. It’s important for your brand to represent your product well and this is done by your prospects associating your online presence with a reputation of quality.. 

Digitally sophisticated 

People today are more digitally sophisticated. Employers and consumers often end up going to Google or asking Alexa and Siri for answers to their questions. The same is true when consumers are looking for products or services.  They research and ask relevant questions using social platforms before making a final purchasing decision. People look at company websites, verified reviews online, the company’s social platform, and their customer service and support. 

People want confirmation online long before they ever speak to their first salesperson. There are many touchpoints that consumers look for and by the time they make the decision to meet a product or service rep, most of them have already made up their minds. 

Five key areas of branding

Branding is critical because it’s a visual representation that lets the consumer know what you and your company are all about. Stephen has five key elements that entrepreneurs should consider to define their personal brand. These 5 elements that will help your digital presence include:

• Color
• Font
• Mood and vibe
• Logo
• Voice or the tone of your written content

Colors in branding

Color is  important because it’s one of the elements that offer people the first impressions about your brand presence. Research has shown that people make a judgment within 90 seconds based on color tone alone. This is especially important for salespeople and business professionals with a global touch who are dealing with people from a variety of cultural and religious backgrounds. 

There are websites that can help you decide what color palette works best with your vision.  Think about two or three colors that set the tone, and an additional one or two colors you might use as an accent.  The website can help you work out these different combinations.  

Hex Code 

The hex code is a hexadecimal code that refers to the specific color that you want to choose. You can use this hex code to have a consistent color for your brand. You can document your six-digit color code throughout different platforms so you’re consistently getting the right color and shade.. This will come in handy when making PowerPoint presentations, images in Canva, and more. Just type in the hex code and your color will automatically appear. 

Even beyond your website, the colors you should choose should carry into

 your social media. Use them when you create motivational graphics for your social media posts and other areas you want a digital footprint. You want to create a cohesive visual feel across all platforms. This trains people to think of you when they see your color combinations. 

Be involved in building your brand

While it may be a good idea to have experts and professionals handle the execution of your branding campaign, it is equally important to be involved in building your personal brand. It’s important that the final product accurately and authentically reflects the message you want to portray. Suggest color and tone so you can give the experts a launching pad and a sense of the energy you’re trying to create. 

Focus on the personality of your brand as well. What kind of message do you want to convey? If it’s hard to see with clarity, consider creating a visual mood board.  Similar to a vision board, your mood board will be the place you can put images that capture the tone and the vibe of your business, and you. The more specific your vision is, the easier it will be for your marketing team to put a package together that will make your brand stand out from your competition. 

Another thing to consider is the tone and the voice in which you write your copy throughout your website, social media, and marketing tools. Is it playful, technical, serious?  Make sure you have a consistent voice that reads the same, across the board, to avoid consumer confusion about what they can expect from your business.

Branding is the promise you're making to your customer. #PersonalBrand

Optimize Your Profiles

Your social media accounts are mission critical for your brand. With that in mind, make sure you optimize your profile. Use a profile picture that can be found on all platforms, duplicate your cover photos from your website, and use uniform fonts and colors to show consistency and professionalism. 

Use your LinkedIn account to expand your network.  For your profile, be strategic about how you use the different fields.  Your summary, your positions, experience, and education, for example, should keep pointing back to your central message. Be mindful of keywords that are high on the search. 

“Three Things Small Businesses Get Wrong When Marketing” episode resources

Stephen advises business owners to take care of the story you share online. Begin by creating a personal website and optimize your social channels. Take care of your personal brand and your digital footprints. 

He is having a free webinar on October 4th where he will talk about the things that he’s mentioned in this podcast. This is a digital brand workshop that Stephen is leading for individuals who are looking to maximize their personal brand. 

You can check out his website and social media accounts including LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. 

Satisfy your thirst and let us answer your sales queries. You can also talk to Donald about it via LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook for any sales concerns. 

This episode is brought to you in part by TSE Certified Sales Training Program. It’s a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. Sign up now and get the first two modules for free! You can also call us at (561) 570-5077. 

We have a new semester beginning on February 14th and we would love to have you and your team join us. Follow this link to apply to the program. 

We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes so tune in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings to every episode you listen to. 

You can also read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore this huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day free trial. 

Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

How Can I Use AI To Increase Sales?

Have you ever thought to use AI to increase sales? In today’s society, the application of AI is apparent throughout many industries, including sales. 27% of global consumers say that AI can deliver better service than humans, 38% believe AI will soon improve customer service, and 73% of global consumers  are willing to utilize AI if it makes their lives easier. 

Chad Burmeister is a cofounder of  Sales Ex Inc. Their company is rooted in the idea that AI can increase revenue, eliminate repetition, and make selling more efficient and effective. 

Growing up, Chad had always been at the cutting edge of technology and was always looking for ways to make people’s lives more efficient. 

Chad is officially releasing his book, AI for Sales, this Thanksgiving, November 28th along with Stu Heinecke’s Get the Meeting. If you buy both books on Amazon and send them a screenshot, you’ll get a dozen VIP conference codes for next year to attend events such as Sales 3.0 and AISP. With the codes, you’ll get a20% - 85% discount.. Chad is encouraging everyone to read the books and meet the authors at the conferences. 

Use AI to increase sales 

Chad has seven virtual sellers who are commissioned salespeople. The team has set up a daily data poll for these virtual sellers with a company called Lead 411. The data is fed into their CRM and the CRM goes through their email bot, a virtual assistant named Marissa Brown. They create preconfigured emails that filter through these virtual assistants so multiple batches of  emails can be sent every day. The AIs are preprogrammed to have a “conversation” akin to what you see on a chat feature. When a person responds, the AIs can communicate with the prospects.

The chatbots can also set up meetings and appointments.The AIs chatbots are configured to know when to schedule an appointment. It knows when you’re out of the office or if you have time for a meeting. 

One simple questions has about a thousand variations, such as the cost of a service or a product. The AI knows what to listen for and offers a very simple answer. It then replies with the cost, along with a link to your calendar so the prospect can set up a meeting. 

As the business owner, you need to teach the AI to respond in a way that gets the highest level of conversion. If you are a BDR (Business Developer Representative)assigned to pulling data from a CRM and pushing the send button, then your job might be in jeopardy. However, most BDRS are doing more than just pulling data. They are also pulling relevant lists, and doing research. Additional tasks include figuring out which people to send emails to, writing a good email, and leaving a voicemail as needed.BDRs are responsible for a complex system of outreach. 

Setting appointments via AI 

Chad’s tools called BDR.AI executes 50 to 100 connection requests per day through LinkedIn and  gets over 100 emails a day on the same platform. 

By using this software, they get five to fifteen meetings a month.  As a result, the organization can work more efficiently. The AI allows  the BDR more time to do other tasks. This would include getting on the phone to connect with people personally. This enables them to understand their customer’s needs and show a more personal interest to the prospects. The tools let the bots and humans do what they do best. 

In Sales, AIs can let you do more with less. #SalesTechnology

Tokyo, for example, pushed a 4-day work week and the results have shown about  40% increase in productivity. That increase can be attributed to the use of AI in their respective industries. 

Salespeople can do more with their day than just sitting in their offices,  making appointments and making calls. They can now spend time with their families or take the Friday off to just improve their quality of life. 

The downside of AIs

In the virtual world, somebody always gets to play God. Let’s consider the trolley car example and put yourself in the conductor’s shoes. As you’re going down the tracks, there are five people on the right side and one person on the left. You can’t stop the train so you have to pick a side to do an emergency stop.. Many people would say to choose the left to minimize the damage. However, let’s say the  five people are wearing an orange jumpsuit and the one on the left is your child. In this scenario there are many solutions and a million points of data to consider.. Mathematician Chris Beal says it would take a very long time before we could put all that information in the system. He further added that the AI can only get to a certain point and then it’s up to us to make the final decision. 

We tend to let the bots make the decision for us but think of the trolley dilemma. In hiring, the bot would go to the more qualified candidate. But who really determines the qualification?

In small companies, a decision like this is easy. It’s much more efficient to get a bot who can do a better job at a lesser cost. The same isn’t true for bigger companies where more political decisions are involved. 

Chad believes that there will be a need for people to help   companies make decisions about the ethical use and deployment of AIs. 

AIs assist sellers

AIs are helpful but you need to assess where they can be of help.. It’s imperative to know your top three pains to be able to find the right solutions. A lot of companies get their lists wrong the first time because they fail to consider their ideal customer profile. 

Always go for your target list to get the right people and give these list to your reps. This keeps them from wasting their time looking for unqualified prospects. 

Joe, the head of product from Inside View, says they can go into companies,  and take a look at theirCRM to analyze all the closed deals Their best customer profiles are revealed after analyzing the transactions that have already happened. 

These customers renew, they purchase when upselling is offered, and they pay on time. On the other side of the coin are the clients who don’t pay and don’t renew. Your goal as a sales company is to go after the best customers.

This is the area of AI that helps companies grow. It’s the ability to look at data and change the trajectory of the organization by leading sales reps to the right customers. 

Salesdirector.AI is doing a great job of utilizing AI to improve its sales force. Their bots send messages by text and ask a series of questions pertaining to your sales schedules and appointments. 

AIs are programmed to be efficient. It can go through huge amounts of data using a  fraction of the time. By using AI, you can give your salespeople the tasks that they can focus on such as building trust and rapport as well as building human to human connections. 

“How Can I Use AI To Increase Sales?” episode resources

Reach out to Chad at SCALEX.AI. Artificial intelligence can truly be utilized in the sales industry to always stay ahead of the game. 

You can also reach out to Donald via LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook for any sales concerns. 

This episode is brought to you in part by TSE Certified Sales Training Program. It’s a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. Sign up now and get the first two modules for free! You can also call us at (561) 570-5077. 

This podcast is also brought to you in part by Reveal the Revenue Intelligence podcast. It’s about utilizing data to make business decisions instead of just guessing your way through major sales decisions. Visit gong.io for their podcast. 

We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes so tune in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings to every episode you listen to. 

You can also read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore this huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day free trial. 

Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound.

Your closing process will often require you to speak to a board or a group of people about your product or service, and you must provide value to your audience when presenting in person.

The Sales Evangelist Certified Sales Training Program provides specific sections for prospecting, building value, and converting to a paying client, and we’ve designed the training to help sellers prepare for presentations and to train their teams to do the same. It’s designed to help sales reps and sales teams improve their skills, find the right customers, adopt the right activities, ask the right questions, build strong value, and close more deals. 

Guessing game

Many situations demand that sellers meet with a team of individuals who will ask a variety of questions about the product or service. You’re wasting your time if you don’t understand the problems they need to solve or the challenges they are facing. It doesn’t make sense to play the guessing game during the limited time you have with this group of people. 

Once you understand the issue, you must also determine who the decision-makers and buyers are. You must understand the timeframe they are working against and their budget for the purchase. 

The company you’re pitching to will also bring in competitors who will pitch as well, but they aren’t your concern. 

Storytelling

John Livesay recently spoke about storytelling and the need to be memorable. It doesn’t matter who presents first or last, but rather who tells a better story. 

Consider having other team members attend the presentation with you and introduce themselves by telling an interesting story. Perhaps your CTO can share how his love of Legos® pushed him to create complex things and find solutions to problems. It inserts personality into the presentation. 

Tactical presentation

Make sure you know who will present information on the buyer’s behalf. Have someone from your organization research to determine who will attend.

If possible, learn what those people hope to discover from your presentation. Engage your champion, or the person you’ve been working with to this point, to find out whether you can introduce yourself prior to the presentation. When you do that, ask them what questions they’d like you to address in your presentation and then be prepared to address those specific topics. 

Once you understand who will attend and what information they’ll be seeking, you can build your presentation around those topics. 

Recruit help

If at all possible, take someone else to the presentation with you. Take several people if you can. Assemble a team of people from different departments. 

When you set up in the conference room, don’t divide yourself on opposite sides of the table. Use name cards for both groups to indicate where different people should sit. Also make sure you spell everyone’s names correctly. 

Intersperse the members of your group among the members of the company you’re pitching to. When you have breaks in the action, because the two teams are sitting together, they’ll be able to share conversation instead of squaring off like rival gangs. 

We recently used name cards for a presentation and they were a huge hit. The company was blown away by the preparation and the organization that went into the meeting. They assumed that if we were willing to invest that much preparation in a presentation like this, we’d certainly do it in our efforts to help them solve their problems. 

Control engagement

Develop slides that include imagery rather than a jumble of words. Tell a story about the problem your prospect is facing and how you can help solve it. Demonstrate your solution. 

Assign one member of your team to watch for reactions from the others in the room. Use him as a spotter. If he notices that someone is disengaged or fighting against sleep, he can signal that to you by interjecting or posing a question that will signal to you to adjust your direction. 

Have him watch for body language that indicates interest or to take note of those people who are jotting down things while you’re talking.

If, for example, the IT director takes lots of notes during the presentation, at the break I could suggest to the presenters that we talk a bit about IT and the most common questions we hear. 

The spotter’s role in any presentation is to be an integrator and to make sure questions get answered. We don’t want anyone to leave with unanswered questions. #SalesPresentation 

Business case

Thank your champion in front of the entire group for making the presentation possible. Make her feel good in front of her colleagues. 

Then begin the work of building a business case for your prospect. Explain that you’ll answer the questions they submitted ahead of time and address the challenges you see based on the lessons you’ve learned. Describe how you’ve solved these problems for others and how you’ll translate that to this organization. 

Talk about how much the problem is likely costing the company and why they need to fix it. Explain how you’ll help, and do it all using stories. 

Virtual meetings

You can apply many of these same concepts to your virtual meetings as well. Although you can’t intersperse the participants, you can consider sending some treats that will arrive prior to the presentation. You can even send treats that somehow tie to the presentation you’ll be making, like Swedish Fish to make the case that you’re going to help them land bigger clients. 

Work to stand out from the pack by being unique and telling an amazing story. 

Action plan

When the meeting is complete, everyone in that room should leave feeling like they participated and like they were fulfilled by what happened. Then provide a specific action plan for what happens next. 

Present a few different options for ways to move forward. Give them time frames and explain the steps required to progress. 

I conduct presentations this way and they work well for me and for the people I’m presenting to. I want you to realize the same benefits in your own presentations.

"Presenting In Person" episode resources

If you haven't connected with me on LinkedIn already, do that at Donald C. Kelly and watch the things I'm sharing there. I’m fairly easy to connect with. Just comment on something about my podcast. Send me an email.

You've heard us talk about the TSE Certified Sales Training Program, and we're offering the first module free as a gift to you. Preview it. Check it out. If it makes sense for you to join, you can be part of our upcoming semester. You can take it on your own or as part of the semester group.

If you and your team are interested in learning more, we'd love to have you join us. Call (561) 578-1729 to speak directly to me or one of our team members about the program.

This episode is also brought to you in part by mailtag.io, a Chrome browser extension for Gmail that allows you to track and schedule your emails. You'll receive real-time alerts anyone opens an email or clicks a link.

As a savvy seller, you’ll want to continue learning, and you can take advantage of a free 30-day trial, complete with a free audio book, on Audible. They have thousands of books to choose from and you can begin your free trial today. 

I hope you enjoyed the show today as much as I did. If so, please consider leaving us a rating on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or wherever you consume this content and share it with someone else who might benefit from our message. It helps others find our message and improves our visibility. When you share your experiences with the show, others will read the reviews and give us a listen.

I truly appreciate you and appreciate your reviews and your subscription, and your willingness to tell your friends and anyone you know that's in sales about the podcast.

Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound.

On today's episode of The Sales Evangelist, we discuss time management and how daily planning can help you be more effective in your role as a seller.

It seems like there is never enough time in the day to get things done. We need an extra day in the week or at least an extra hour a day.  I was always so busy that it felt like I didn’t even have time to sit down to read a book. Even knowing how important personal development was, I always managed to put it off.

Then, I took a vacation.

It is amazing how much you can do when you are in the air for five hours with limited distraction.

So what changed? What happened? The amount of time I had certainly didn’t change. My focus did.

The concept of daily planning

How many times have you been told to try daily planning? Now, how many times have you actually done it?  [02:04]

If you are the modern seller that I know you are, you are distracted. Reading proposals, talking to customers, going to meetings, checking email ... These are all distractions. Every time an email pings your phone, you are pulled in a different direction.

Everyone - from internal teams to clients to prospects to friends - is vying for your time and attention. As a result, important things fall through the cracks. You finish at the end of each day and find yourself wondering if you accomplished anything at all.

It all goes back to the very powerful principle of being acted upon as opposed to acting. [02:59]

Essentialism

Thinking back to a previous episode when we spoke to Greg McKeown about his book Essentialism, I’m reminded that we can’t have priorities.  The plural of the word ‘priority’ shouldn’t even exist. There can only be one priority.

Essentialism means to focus on the essentials. As a seller, your most important task is to bring in new customers and close deals. So, what activities will lead you to that result?

Until you understand what you need to do as a seller, you will not be able to stay focused. You will always be acted upon. Sure, there will always be important distractions but oftentimes they are not the activities that you need to do to accomplish your goal. [04:46]

To help you stay focused and have the time to do the things that matter the most, I want you to think about these three questions:

1. Will the activity move me toward my essential goal of helping people make a decision and close a deal?
2. Do I have to do it? Is this a task that no one else can do?
3. Does it have to be done right now?

If the activity doesn’t tie into your goal or responsibility, don’t do it.

Set your focus

Let’s suppose you’ve set a goal to prospect for 30 minutes a day. It is certainly a step towards achieving your goal, so it needs to be done. But do you have to do it yourself? Or could you pass some of it off to an internal sales team? Or to someone on Fiverr.com?

Suppose you get a call from your boss and she needs a report. Does she need it right now? Is there someone on your team that can take care of it for you? If you are the only one who can do it, can you move it to the end of the day so as not to take away from your prime working time?

When you focus on the essential things, the distractions fall away. The things that used to pull you away move out of focus. [05:41]

I recommend taking an hour each week to plan for the upcoming week. Be sure you are fully vetted and ready so that you can avoid those distractions. What are the important tasks ahead? Schedule everything out. Set time for social media, time for prospecting, time for appointments ... You can even set time to receive emails using Boomerang, or Google, so that you aren’t pinged throughout the entire day.  [08:46]

You are acting rather than being acted upon.

Once you have the weekly focus set, spend a few minutes at the end of each day to make any necessary adjustments. You will already know what you will do the next day as soon as you arrive at the office. This makes life so much more productive!

Plan your day

Taking the time to plan your day will save you time. Forget about your friends' Instagram posts. Focus instead on the things that will help you grow your business, grow your pipeline and have a killer year. [11:45]

Make the effort.

If it sounds like too much work, then by all means - go back to winging it. But if you do, promise me that you will compare your results to the person who is not winging it.

How much more productive are they? Are they hitting their goals? Are they working with less stress, fewer headaches, and less frustration? Probably.

I share this with you because I’ve been there. I know it works and I’ve seen the huge difference it can make. Try it. Give it a month. I don’t think you will regret it.

"Daily Planning" episode resources

If you have additional questions or want more insight, email me at donald@thesalesevangelist.com. I may not answer it right away (because I'm scheduling my time) but I'll get back to you as soon as possible.

This episode is brought to you in part by mailtag.io, a Chrome browser extension for Gmail that allows you to track and schedule your emails. It's automated outreach that will help you schedule your contacts and it can help keep you from getting distracted.

This episode is brought to you in part by prospect.io, a powerful sales automation platform that allows you to build highly personalized, cold email campaigns. To learn more, go to prospect.io/tse. It will help you with your outbound to expand your outreach and it allows you to set it and forget it. Your prospecting will never ever be the same.

We'll use prospect.io in the upcoming semester of TSE Hustler's League to focus on prospecting. We'll give you insights and tools that will help you gain new customers. In addition, we'll provide training and strategies that you can implement today to ensure constant flow in your pipeline.

I hope you enjoyed the show today as much as I did. If so, please consider leaving us a rating on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or wherever you consume this content and share it with someone else who might benefit from our message. It helps others find our message and improves our visibility.

If you haven't already done so, subscribe to the podcast so you won't miss a single episode, and share with your friends!

Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound.

Every person in every industry can improve a little bit every day by focusing on self-improvement and developing respected leadership traits. Whether you’re a seller, a sales leader, or someone who isn’t even involved in sales, you’ll likely find yourself responsible for guiding people and helping them succeed. 

Luis Weger works with a startup focused on changing the medical construction industry and serves as an offer in the Army Reserves. He recently launched a company called "Self: Reinvented" designed to help others discover their purpose and passion and enhance their resiliency.

He believes that anyone can develop their leadership skills, even those who seem to be natural-born leaders. 

2 ACT

He developed a phrase to help people remember the important aspects of leadership. Leaders must remember 2 ACT. Each letter in the acronym represents two concepts. 

A = Aware and Accountable

C = Competent and Confident

T = Trusting and Trustworthy. 

From his experience leading people, training people, and working with clients, leaders must have these six attributes in order to lead well. It’s especially true in the sales profession. 

Aware and Accountable

Every military leader learns situational awareness because it’s vital in foreign countries. You cannot operate in enemy territory without knowing what’s going on around you. 

In business, this refers to knowing what’s going on around you. It also refers to emotional awareness. 

• Are you in tune with the people around you? 
• Do you know what’s happening within the company you represent?
• Do you understand what your client needs? 
• Are you tracking changes in the industry you’re in?

Industries change constantly, from rules and regulations to policies and procedures. You must stay aware of the changes that are taking place. 

Leaders who live under a rock won’t be leaders very long. You cannot ignore the realities in which you operate because if no one’s following you, you aren’t truly a leader. 

Luis was recently invited to change military units, and he discovered just prior to the transition that there was only one other officer in the unit. That meant that he and the commander were responsible for all 50 soldiers. No one told him that ahead of time, but because he was aware, he picked up on the situation and made an informed decision.

Accountability is also vitally important in the sales industry. 

Being a sales leader means taking accountability for the performance of your team. Don’t pass the blame. Share the credit wherever you can and take ownership of mistakes. 

Leaders guide and protect their team members. They sit down behind-the-scenes with their team members and acknowledge the things that went wrong. Then they help them correct those problems. 

Competence and Confidence

Luis points to the book The Speed of Trust by Stephen M.R. Covey as one of his favorites. When you’re in the sales profession, your clients look to you as the expert. You represent the perfect solution to your client’s problem.

If you have ever sat across the table from a person who doesn’t truly understand the industry he is selling in, you recognize the importance of competence. No one expects you to be an expert in everything. In fact, companies recruit fresh blood all the time. It’s one thing to bring a new perspective in the form of someone who is learning and quite another thing to recruit someone who is incompetent. 

In the military, lieutenants who come right out of college outrank noncommissioned officers who have been in the military for 20 years. They don’t really know much about the military because they are fresh out of school. How do you lead people who have 20 years more experience than you do? 

You don’t have the same knowledge and skills they do, so how do you reflect competence? You reflect a desire to become competent. Like CEOs, you don’t have to be the smartest person in the room; you simply surround yourself with smart people. 

Build a network. Demonstrate humility. Show people around you that you aren’t the greatest but that you’re seeking help to get better. 

Then demonstrate that you’re comfortable leading. Luis knows leaders who are in charge by title but they don’t want to be there. Confidence doesn’t mean feeling 100 percent all the time. It simply demands that you have the right frame of mind. 

So what

Luis developed a technique he calls “so what?” 

• “So what if I mess up on my speech?”
• “So what if I say something unplanned on The Sales Evangelist?”
• “So what if I don’t close this sale today?” 
• “So what if someone sees me make a mistake today?”

The point isn’t to minimize consequences. We’re reminding ourselves that it’s ok to be human and to be imperfect. When you get beyond the discomfort that comes from the fear of failure, that’s true confidence. It’s about managing fear and putting fear in its proper perspective. People will be more attracted to you because they’ll see you as a real person. 

Trusting and Trustworthy

Luis recalls hearing a CEO talk about the need to be trusting and trustworthy. You must trust in the skills and training of those who lead as well as those you are leading. If you try to micromanage everyone around you, you’ll burn out. 

Ask yourself whether those people have developed the skills, knowledge, and training to allow you to trust them. You don’t have to trust them right out of the gate because you don’t know what they’re bringing to the table. So what do you have to do to get to the point where you can trust them? Invest in them. Make sure they are trained, led, and managed in a healthy way. If you find that you can’t trust them, ask yourself why. What is it about that person that makes it difficult to trust him? 

Fix the issue if you can. If you can’t, you may have to consider how to move forward.

Perhaps more importantly, be trustworthy. Be a man or woman of your word. Even the smallest failures to do what you said you’d do cause your trustworthiness to be depleted. 

Withdrawals of trust happen in chunks while deposits of trust happen in small contributions over time. Be trustworthy. #SalesLeaders

Lack of trust undermines any other attribute you bring to the table. 

Who’s following

If no one is following you as a leader, consider whether you’re truly leading. You may hold the title of leader, but are people willing to follow you into battle. 

As a sales professional, you’re a mentor and trainer and you have capabilities and competencies, but are people willing to follow your advice? Will they do what you ask? 

Be humble and be human. Move beyond the perfect image. Everyone brings something to the table, and you can learn from everyone around you. 

“Respected Leadership Traits” episode resources

You can connect with Luis at selfreinvented.com. He enjoys helping people succeed and sharing his own leadership experiences. 

You can also connect with me at donald@thesalesevangelist.com or try our first module of  TSE Certified Sales Training Program or free. This episode has been made possible with the help of  TSE Certified Sales Training Program, a training course designed to help sellers in improving their performance. 

I hope you like and learned many things from this episode. If you did, please review us and give us a five-star rating on Apple podcast or in any platform you’re using - Google Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify.  You can also share this with your friends and colleagues. 

Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound.

How To Ensure Your Sales Teams Actually Have Time To Sell

All organizations, no matter what size, need to know how to ensure your sales teams actually have time to sell. 

Resa Gooding is a partner in an Hubspot certified agency and they mostly help companies, especially startups, in Israel. As one of the top three agencies in Israel, they primarily work with startups and other traditional companies such as agriculture and manufacturing. They are helping them understand the value of CRM and how to effectively apply it to their companies. 

Challenges salespeople face

The most common problem in the sales force is the lack of training given to the sales team. This lack of experience causes inefficiency as the companies throw their sales reps in deep waters  and expect them to swim. 

Many companies are so focused on the technology or the product they’re producing,  they don’t spend adequate time sharing the value and benefits of their product with the sales force.  An untrained team ends up spending more time on the administrative tasks instead of selling. They need to be given the information and the tools to effectively sit down with a new prospect. 

If management fails to offer the sales team a way to stay accountable to the work day activities, management can mistakenly think their team isn’t working. There has to be a system in place so the sales team can report their activities and successes.  Having this in place also gives management a tangible way of seeing the work their team is doing. For example, how many calls they’ve made in the workday. 

Resa set up marketing campaigns for her clients but began to see that if  sales people didn’t know how to work with the prospects that came from the marketing, the efforts were in vain. She saw that to make marketing effective, the sales people needed to be able to  summarize conversations properly and sales reps needed to reduce their time spent on administrative efforts. They needed to be equipped to spend their time selling. Resa aims to give salespeople the time to study their product, set up appointments, and communicate with prospects effectively, instead of spending their time doing administrative tasks. 

Ensure that your sales teams are having the time to sell

Sales reps need training in order to be successful and reach their goals. Sales processes they can follow have to be set up so their efforts can be checked by management.  This promotes accountability. 

There are three tools that can be used to ensure that sales teams are getting more time to sell their company’s product.

Connect your email inbox to your CRM software

You can use HubSpot, SaleForce, or other similar CRM software. At the end of the day, what matters is that your sales team is more efficient in their work. The first thing you can do is connect your email inbox to the CRM software you’re using. 

This is efficiency at its best.  Using this software allows your manager to see the emails exchanged between you and prospects or customers.  Enabling the manager to view this communication directly eliminates the need to summarize conversations at a later time.  Leave that to your CRM. 

Both marketing and sales today can be measured through this software. Managers and the sales team no longer have to meet each time reports need to be made. All aspects of the sales process can be viewed as needed and everything is measurable. 

Earlier salespeople, like the ones who sold door-to-door, had to write down all their data or write a report about their sales day. Today, the salesperson just needs to connect to their email inbox on the CRM platform and reports are immediate.

Using CRM increase the sales reps’ available time up to 21% compared to doing the reports manually. 

For example, when you attend a conference, typically you have to wait until you get home to  input information manually. You can potentially delay communicating with the contacts you made at the conference up to a whole week.   This is valuable time wasted in a world where transactions can happen so quickly. 

When you are using CRM software, you are able to reach out  immediately by asking for their email and starting a conversation while still at the conference. This is a huge advantage to setting up CRM software and free up so much time in the sales process. 

Connect your Calendly to your email communications 

The second way to ensure your sales teams are getting the time to sell is to connect your Calendly to your email communications. This is an efficient way of setting up a meeting with prospects and clients. Hubspot has an amazing tool that can help salespeople connect with speed. It’s suggested that you also embed three specific times a client can meet with you.  It’s more efficient when they don’t have to work as hard to figure out a time or date you’re available. It cuts down on the emails that have to be exchanged to firm a meeting which also saves valuable time. 

Use templates effectively 

Templates are ways to streamline the time it takes to write and send an email while it makes communication customizable.  This can be set up in HubSpot once your inbox is created and by simply clicking a button, it will copy all the text and bring it straight to your HubSpot. You can then change the information and content to make it more personalized and unique to your prospect or client.  

Resa has observed that this feature is especially helpful for salespeople who may not be  strong in written communication. This is where marketing team can be especially helpful. Marketing can set-up the templates for salespeople to use. 

After emails are sent, the software can then track when it’s opened by the recipient.  Having this information helps salespeople become more efficient about timing and targeting the call back or follow up.  It’s much easier to build a rapport with someone who has already shown initial interest. The recipient won’t get any notifications that you’ve seen them open the email.  It’s just a helpful tool for you to time the response. 

These three tools help make your sales team more efficient as it reduces their time on administrative tasks.  Using Hubspot also allows access to reports summarizing all the activity as well.

HubSpot is free so businesses can check it out and test it in their own sales systems. This is a good platform for startups that don’t have the budget to invest in programs and software. 

Many startup companies that Resa has helped have seen positive results when they use her three suggestions for saving time. 

“How To Ensure Your Sales Teams Actually Have Time To Sell” episode resources 

You can message Resa via her LinkedIn account. You can also check out her website: www.cacaomedia.co. 

For more sales information and questions, you can also catch up with Donald via LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook for any sales concerns. 

This episode is brought to you in part by TSE Certified Sales Training Program. It’s a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. Sign up now and get the first two modules for free! You can also call us at (561) 570-5077. 

This podcast is also brought to you in part by Reveal the Revenue Intelligence podcast. It’s about utilizing data to make business decisions instead of just guessing your way through major sales decisions. Visit gong.io for their podcast. 

We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes so tune in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings to every episode you listen to. 

You can also read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore this huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day free trial. 

Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound.

How do you get high email open rates? Discover the secret framework in this episode of the "Sales Evangelist Podcast."

I, the podcast host, sit down with special guest Vin Matano and discuss his four-part cold email secret. I'm telling you, you don't want to miss this episode. 

Vin shares his deep expertise in cold email outreach. Tune in to learn his effective email strategies that'll bring you tremendous success.

Who Is Vin Matano?

• Spending six years at Demandbase, Vin started as a BDR (Business Development Representative) before moving into a closing role on the mid-market major's team. 
• Recently, he embarked on an entrepreneurship journey, eager to leverage his rich experience in sales.
• But that's not all. In this episode, Vin unveils the number one outreach channel that played a pivotal role in growing his pipeline. The reveal happens right at 1:09. And no, it's not cold calling. Can you guess what it is?

Cold Emailing Success: What’s His Secret? (2:36 – 4:04)

• Many sales representatives struggle with personalized outreach. What on earth are you supposed to write? 
• Vin shares the ideal email structure to help you figure it out:
• Observation
• Problem Statement 
• Solution
• Call -To - Action
• Click play and discover why this email framework gives high open rates!

Crafting Irresistible Subject Lines (4:51 - 8: 01)

• Please don't tell me you believe click-bait subject lines equals high open rates. Because it doesn't!
• These types of email subject lines are misleading and deceiving. You don't like to be lied to, so why should you lie to your customers?
• Vin and I delve into a straightforward email trick to boost customers' trust in your brand and encourage them to read your emails. 
• Our special tip: Don't be flashy; stay boring. This approach empowers you to take control of your email marketing strategy and build stronger connections with your audience.

The Role of Multi-Threading in Prospecting (17:23 - 18:20) 

• At the very end of this episode, Vin shares how he uses multi-threading to win stakeholders. 
• Discover how his approach helps ensure that your email outreach is more effective and has a better chance of getting a response.

“You're overcomplicating it. Reread your email, and if it needs a better flow, put a random first sentence, a random problem statement, and a random solution. If those don't talk together, it's a bad email.” - Vin Matano.

Resources

Vin Matano on LinkedIn

Vin Matano on TikTok

Vin Matano on YouTube

Vin Matano on Instagram

Vin Matano on X

Sponsorship Offers

1. This episode is brought to you in part by Hubspot.

With HubSpot sales hubs, your data tools and teams join a single platform to close deals and turn prospects into pipelines. Try it for yourself at hubspot.com/sales.

2.            This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.

Are you tired of prospective clients not responding to your emails? Sign up for a free 60-day trial of LinkedIn Sales Navigator at linkedin.com/tse.

3.            This episode is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Foundation.

Improve your connection on LinkedIn and land three or five appointments with our LinkedIn prospecting course. Go to the salesevangelist.com/linkedin.

Credits

As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Account-based selling isn’t like your typical sales procedure. While both take skill and finesse, Account-based selling requires mastery over both your company and your clients. For the past year and a half, Thomas has worked for Amazon Web Services, making nine-figure deals. And on today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, he and Donald discuss what you need to know about selling to enterprise organizations. (Fun fact: On today’s undisclosed episode of recording, it’s our guest Thomas Niewiara’s birthday!)

Amazon is (to say the least) not a small organization, and they do both account-based and traditional sales approaches.

• Working with Amazon Web Services’ global accounts team, Thomas manages large AWS customers.
• Before, he did many sales and sales engineering roles from Google Cloud to a cybersecurity startup.
• The difference between traditional and account-based selling: the conventional model is a top-down funnel centered around creating and nurturing brand awareness. In account-based sales, you start by identifying critical strategic accounts to focus on and then building lead generation around them.

How to start account-based selling:

• Develop executive-level relationships because prospecting with a bottom-up approach might not work when 1000s of people work within one company segment. 
• Because most of these larger accounts are public, analyze available financial statements (such as 10k’s) to frame your specific solutions. 

Thomas spends much more time than average on research.

• He spends 40% of his time researching for his accounts, with the remaining 60% going towards pitching, presenting, and other facets of his work.
• Why does he spend so much time researching? You need to understand the problem before you prescribe the solution.
• As an account rep with these clients, you are the expert. You’re expected to know all the key players within that account and how they work with each other.
• He has google alerts for both of his accounts, and he uses LinkedIn Sales Navigator for company alerts.
• He moves nine-figure deals. With that amount of money, you need to bring knowledge and professionalism to the table.

Thomas’ final takeaways and sales advice:

• It’s essential to develop a relationship with the customer, but for account-based selling, it becomes even more important to network internally. 
• Know all the tools available to you to do your job as best you can.
• For listeners working in bigger companies, check if coworkers have past connections and ins into the company. You’d be surprised how much overlap there is.

Quick Tik Tok Talk: Follow Tom on Tik Tok at techsalestom (and follow our own Donald Kelly at donaldckelly.) It turns out the app is far more than just dancing! Follow Tom for conversations about tech sales and how it goes beyond the standard software sale. If Tik Tok isn’t your thing, you can connect with him on LinkedIn.

This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio.

Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real.

But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com.

This course is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Certified Training Program, designed to help new and struggling sellers master sales fundamentals and close more deals. Help elevate your sales game and sign up now to get the first two modules free! You can visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals or call (561) 570-5077 for more information. We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey.

We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings for each episode you listen to! 

Read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore their huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day trial.

Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

What Is Social Dynamic Selling & Why Does This Work So Well?

Many sellers appreciate how social dynamic selling works well. It’s effective and has connected more than 2 million consumers to their clients. 

Rylee Meek grew up in a small town in South Dakota but is now residing in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He lived in a town with very few opportunities but at the age of 15, he already had that drive to start earning money. He got a job at a pizza joint and made a minimum wage of $5.15 an hour. He dove into the entrepreneurial world at that young age. His family made a significant amount of money from network marketing and that impacted his path. He met many like-minded people who directed him to the right books to read. It was his initial step of taking that entrepreneurship role. 

He then started working with a network marketing company instead of proceeding to college. At 19 years of age, he was able to get his   BMW but then he realized that his income came solely from the effort and from working up to 17 hours a day. So he started to do things differently. He worked for Prudential but then he wanted to work and sell to more people and not just family members and friends. He proceeded to take another job selling home remodeling. Rylee clearly remembered what the manager told him on that interview, that the job is 85% negative but he needs to focus on the 15% that’s positive to make it through. Until now, Rylee still believes in focusing on the 15% because that’s what matters. Getting 85 Nos to get 15 Yeses was all it took. 

Network marketing journey 

Rylee invested in several network marketing ventures and met many challenges along the way. At one time he became homeless after putting much of his money into a business in Mexico. Their company was shut down by the government and he needed to come back to the states. He spent some time thinking of the things he could do next. He was invited to a pitch presentation and that helped his wheels spinning. His first presentation was done a few months after and he made $2.1 million in sales. They then started recruiting, hiring, and training. When everything worked out well, Rylee stepped back from presenting and started doing coaching, training, and teaching their sales reps. 

Reaching the masses

Rylee was earning well and could take his products to the masses but he didn’t have any passion for his products. While there are many businesses who have so much passion for their products but do not have the vehicle to take their products to the masses. 

He thought hard and brainstormed on all of the things that they’ve been doing right with their company from the coaching to selling their products and services. Rylee wrote everything down and that gave birth to what is now the social dynamic selling system.

Social dynamic selling works well

The core of social dynamic selling is dinner seminars. Invite people and give them a nice steak dinner. You then establish the presenter as the authoritative figure in that industry to gain the trust of the guests. After giving the pitch, you can ask them for an appointment and meet with them the following day to close the deal. 

It is important to create a message. It is an atmosphere where you’re sending an invitation directly to your potential clients to come over to listen to your presentation and craft that into multiple different verticals. 

It takes a little bit of money to make this happen and your product has to have a decent enough margin for this to work. 

Rylee’s team uses direct mail. Many may say that this method is archaic but they had a higher return on investment using direct mail. It beat all the other kinds of marketing including Facebook, Google, and SEO. The response they get from direct mail is crucial in any campaign. Regardless of the method that you’re using, you need to know and track your numbers to be able to see if you’re allocating your funds properly. 

Direct mails

The competition in using direct mail has dwindled today because of the massive amount of junk mail that people get. Companies tend to forget that they are many ways for you to not make your mails appear like junk such as addressing people by their first and last name. 

Social dynamic selling works well if sales reps learn their numbers and not just the art of selling. As a salesperson, you need to know how effective you are and you will see this with your appointment rate, closing rate, and stick rate. 

There are so many components involved in any successful campaign and the first step is knowing your ideal clients. Use the tools available today to figure out your true customers. After that, you can demographically and geographically identify the best area to target those people. Choose the venue according to the result of that targeting. The next step is to craft the message and to create an invitation that’s compelling enough for the potential clients to take action. Everything must be consistent from the crafting of the message down to the day of the event and the actual sale. 

The whole process has a flow and you can’t rush it. 

Always think of your target audience and create the event with their convenience in mind. Do an early dinner for potential clients aging 50 years old. For retirees, you can do breakfast. The rule of thumb is to offer something up the moment they come to the venue because that’s when the law of reciprocity kicks in. 

The goal in every event is not just to sell but to get to know the potential clients and earn their trust. You can do that by creating a fun and laid back environment. People want to buy but you need to create that environment that allows them to make the buying decisions instead of pressuring them just to make a sale. 

Nobody wants to feel like they’re sold to so ensure that you’re giving the clients the freedom to make the purchasing decision. Do not pressure them. #SalesSuccess

Social dynamic selling works well, there is no question about that but you need to follow the process. 

Remember, the first step is knowing who your clients are and it all goes from there. 

“What Is Social Dynamic Selling & Why Does This Work So Well?” episode resources

Reach out to Rylee by visiting his website, socialdynamicselling.com. You can also visit his other site, workwithrylee.com. You can schedule a strategy call with him or with one of his team members. 

If you any sales concerns, you can also shoot Donald a message on his LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. 

This episode is brought to you in-part by TSE Certified Sales Training Program. It’s a training program designed to help sales reps improve their skills in making sales and closing deals. 

Sign up now and get the first two modules for free! You can also call us at (561) 570-5077. 

Read more about sales or listen to audiobooks at Audible as well and explore this huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day free trial. 

If you like this episode, do give us a thumbs up and rating on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. We produce high-quality podcasts weekly so make sure to subscribe to get more of these sales talks that matter! Share this with your friends and teach them how to subscribe as well. 

Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound.

Sales objections happen all the time but with the health crisis today, it’s a standing question of how the pandemic may impact your customer’s sales objections or how it has already impacted them. Join Donald Kelly and Chris Mele as they talk about the pandemic, customers, and sales objections. 

• Being in a software company means that the people you’re working with are former executives from other software companies as well. 
• It’s a very complex environment and so people are critical of the academic principles and the things they adopt because there are real things that work for a software company and there are those that don’t. 
• For Chris Mele’s experience, how they price, package, and license their technology has a direct connection to the sales force. 

The impact of the pandemic on sales objections

• One of the biggest changes is the aversion to risks and this comes in many different forms. Buyers today are more risk-averse, especially when it comes to new relationships. 
• Salespeople and companies start seeing the transaction size compress. People are no longer very keen on allocating cash.
• With the pandemic, people are more stressed and thus more uncertain. It’s a tough selling environment. Unless you’re in the industry where you’re selling tools such as Zoom and other related tools. 

Why are there objections?

• Price isn’t the only reason people aren’t buying. 
• There are many companies today that offer premium prices that are doing well. There are a few companies that raised their prices and while they have fewer customers coming in, they’ve been able to isolate who they’re serving and they’re able to substantiate that premium value. 
• Salespeople can destabilize the deal when you use word nuggets around the pricing, implying flexibility, at the early stages of the sales dialogue. 

Handling objections

• In the B2B perspective, there are many things that you can do outside of the price that you are charging. 
• If people aren’t buying because of the price then you need to start evaluating your offer. Ask yourself what it is you’re offering and if you need to offer all of that. If you can offer just half of it then do so. 
• Never look at your cost, instead, look at the value that you’re offering.
• Figure out what it is that you’re offering and the people to whom you’re offering. Make sure that you can name them. 
• You may have a mix of customers you’re selling to pre-COVID and this group may include big and small enterprises. With the pandemic, you are losing some of these customers so it’s critical that you become very specific to the people you’re offering your products to. 
• Even if the company falls down, you as the salesperson can still adopt. You may see the need to change the pricing a little bit or create your own little rules. The challenge here is to make sure that each salesperson isn’t changing the landscape entirely. Even when a customer meets two sales reps from the same company, their core offer and pricing should be the same. 
• Pricing is an important part of the dialogue because it represents money that’s being invested. Sales reps have to be transparent and be upfront about the pricing early on the sales dialogue. 

“Objections: How the Pandemic May Impact Your Customer’s Sales Objections” episode resources

Follow Chris Mele on LinkedIn. You can also check more of his books and activities on his website. 

Speak with Donald directly for more sales talks. Reach him via these channels: LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, about any sales concerns. 

This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. 

Are you sick of crickets? The pain of sales reps continually reaching out with phone calls and emails and not receiving a response is real. 

85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation. All text messaging is not equal. Customers respond to people, NOT BOTS. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in conversions. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com.

This episode is brought to you in part by NetHunt CRM.

NetHunt CRM is a sales automation tool that lives inside Gmail. It covers a full set of features to manage leads, nurture customer relations, monitor sales progress, and automate sales and marketing workflows. With native-like Gmail and G Suite integration, you can access all the CRM data, launch bulk email campaigns, and set up automated sequences right from your inbox. NetHunt helps to move your leads down your sales funnel and never let the valuable prospects go untouched.

NetHunt CRM offers TSE listeners a 40% discount for the first 3 months along with free user training and a dedicated Customer Success Manager with any pricing plan. 

Try NetHunt CRM today →  https://nethunt.com/tse

This course is brought to you in part by TSE Certified Sales Training Program. It’s a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. It will help them elevate their sales game. Sign up now and get the first two modules free! You can go and visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals also call us at (561) 570-5077. "We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our 2 mins survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. 

We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes so tune in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings to every episode you listen to. 

You can also read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore this huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day free trial. 

Audio provided by Free SFX. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder, written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

We all experience pain and grief and in these seasons, we can feel depths of emotion that are hard to resolve.  How does unresolved grief affect your sales potential? Let’s learn about dealing with unresolved grief today with Herdyne Mercier. 

Herdyne Mercier is the Chief Grief Crusader and host of  Redefining Grief Podcast with Herdyne Mercier. Her job is to create safe spaces so that broken hearts can be seen, heard, and validated. The process helps you get unstuck from your unresolved grief and get you to a place of purposeful living. 

Redefining grief 

Herdyne defines grief as experiencing any kind of loss. This isn’t limited to losing a loved one to death. Grief can also be felt when you move to a new place, experience job loss, go through divorce, or when filing for bankruptcy. Herdyne had the exact feeling when along with her husband, they filed for bankruptcy back in 2007/2008. The real estate market crashed and they couldn’t sell their home. Her husband, James Mercier, could not find a job with a Master’s Degree.  Herdyne had to become the main provider for the family while James delivered newspapers and sushi. As a new mother, she grieved having only thirteen days to spend with her newborn son before she realized she had to go back to work. As James adjusted to being a stay-at-home father, he too grieved as a man because of the job he’d lost.  

The grief almost cost them their marriage when Herdyne told her husband that she needed a divorce but James, in his wisdom, suggested they go to counseling together instead. The process of overcoming her own grief helped her create a brand that represents a woman who had forgotten to put on her MASK (an acronym we’ll explain) but is now healed. In her healing, she is now able to serve others. 

Days of grieving

Many are grieving loss due to the pandemic. People have lost their jobs and some have lost the people they love from this illness. We have all lost something in this pandemic and are trying to figure out how to navigate this new normal. There’s a lot of frustration and pain in the process. 

The first step is to not compare your grief story to someone else’s. We may feel that our loss is greater than others but in truth, we can’t actually quantify loss. Our culture does not teach us how to deal with loss. Instead, we focus on aiming for the top and shooting for number one. We want the biggest house and the nicest car, but we aren’t told what to do with our emotions. We’re not guided toward healing when loss occurs. 

This is nobody’s fault - not your parents, not your grandparents, or any other people around you. Circumstances are what they are; however,Herdyne teaches to be still and know your purpose. How do you go about doing that? 

The truth and connection anchor

Emotional anchors will set you free.  The first, is truth.  Be honest about your grief. The next anchor is connection. Look for that person in whom you can confide and be totally transparent.

One of the biggest myths a griever has to overcome is the belief they have to do it alone.  

Overcoming your truth

They say time heals all wounds but Herdyne doesn’t believe this to be true. Time doesn’t heal all wounds. While time may pass on, you can remain emotionally stuck. 

Some also believe that keeping yourself busy will help you forget your grief, that if you stay busy, the grief will eventually fade. The truth is, grief won’t just disappear.  Left unchecked, it will manifest in other ways. These alternatives are just pacifying and soothing behaviours. Giving a hungry baby a pacifier only means you’ve helped to delay, but not address, the real problem of hunger.  In the same vein, you need to heal and not just soothe by taking time for yourself,  finding a community, possibly hiring a grief coach or a therapist, and finding a wisdom circle. Seeking wisdom in your situation is how you’ll see the beauty of restoration. 

The restoration anchor is the phase where you’ve already managed your grief and  taken care of the pain and the loss. 

Your grief

Everyone’s grief journey is different, so we can’t compare or police anyone’s journey. We all have our own time frame and can even experience grief flare-ups. Anchor into your truth, your sadness, and your heartache. 

In seeking the wisdom within your situation, you can begin healing the grief. #Healing

The importance of dealing with your truth

Oftentimes, people can be tempted to “go with the flow” in order to ignore the pain. For example, you may be hurt because your friend wasn’t there when you needed him/her. Instead of talking it out, you decide to get on with your life to get over it. You think you’re okay until your friend calls and you don’t answer your phone.  Because you didn’t address the root cause of your pain, your feelings haven’t been resolved.

The first step toward healing is to seek wisdom. Herdyn has many free resources about how you can find wisdom. This resource has 61 different ways you experience grief and how you can deal with each one. Once you know how to deal with grief, you’ll be closer to setting yourself free. 

When we were children, we were told to go to our rooms when we cried. As parents, it’s our job to let our children grieve. Instead of asking why they’re crying, ask them to share what their tears represent. Allow them to express themselves and let them tell their story. 

Follow the MASK

At one point, Herdyne was wondering why she wasn’t selling the shirts from her brand. She was wearing the product, sharing it on social media, and once in a while, had it in her Etsy store. Still, the shirts weren’t selling. Herdyne sought wisdom by enrolling in the TSE course where she learned that she needed to do more than just wear her items, she needed to promote her brand, Wifedence. She realized she needed to share that her brand means standing up and showing love, offering support, and living life with a purpose. It means standing up and having the life you deserve. 

When you’re grieving, remember MASK. 

• M - maintain your peace
• A - acknowledge your emotion
• S - seek community 
• K - this too shall pass

When facing grief as a salesperson or as an individual, don’t just ignore it. Address your grief and overcome it. 

“How To Unlock Your Sales Potential By Dealing With Unresolved Grief” episode resources 

This episode is brought to you in part by Crmble, the easy-peasy CRM for Trello that helps you manage your contacts and leads without investing in complicated solutions, sync all your data, manage custom fields, and get powerful reporting on your sales. Try Crmble for free now at www.crmble.com/tse.

Catch Herdyne Mercier on May 7, 2020 7PM EST for her Master Class webinar where she’ll be talking about unlocking your purpose to heal your unresolved grief. Go to her website to check out the free webinar. 

If you are interested in more sales stories, you can talk to Donald directly. Reach him via these channels: LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook about any sales concerns. 

This episode is brought to you in part  by TSE Certified Sales Training Program. It’s a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. It will help them elevate their sales game. Sign up now and get the first two modules for free! You can go and visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals also call us at (561) 570-5077. 

We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes so tune in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings to every episode you listen to. 

You can also read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore this huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day free trial. 

Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

If you find that your deals are falling through the cracks or you're losing your prospects to your competition, perhaps the problem is that you're not leaving anything behind. 
You might be thinking of brochures and other leave-behinds, but that's not what we're talking about here. Instead, we're talking about the things you should be leaving behind any why these things are so critical to moving your deal forward. 
Research phase
Unless you're dealing with a referral, when you're dealing with a prospect, that person is probably considering other people as well. Even if the prospect reached out to you and seems completely interested, that person is ultimately looking for the best deal. 

You must stay top of mind. Ensure that you stay relevant and always present without being annoying. You must give the prospect something valuable. 
Content
Consider leaving content behind that ties directly to what you've already discussed. Or leave content that helps the prospect prepare for the next scheduled meeting. 
Once you've done this a time or two, you'll understand why it's so important. 
Imagine IT companies in this situation that are evaluating service companies. You won't be the only company they are considering, but you want them to forget those other companies and focus on yours. 
One option is to determine which other companies the prospect is considering.
Create landmines
Create landmines for the competitor. 
For instance, when I sold document management services, I had a competitor whose services were only good for one department. The competitor served that department very well, but the other departments hated their services. 
I planted the idea in our prospects' minds that a tool that only benefits one department isn't really a valuable tool for the entire company. My leave-behind was the idea that the competitor would only benefit a small portion of the company.
If it wasn't a good fit, certain departments wouldn't use it, which would result in wasted money because no one used the software. 
I suggested to the prospect that a solution that benefits everyone would be a better fit.
Format
In the past, that kind of content might have appeared in the form of a white paper. Now, however, your prospects are busy and many things are grabbing at their attention.
Instead, consider a LinkedIn post or article, or a podcast, or a video addressing the issue. Identify the top things that make your company a favorable choice. Highlight the challenges that your company can solve better than the competition. 
Educate your buyer before you return for the next meeting or demonstration. That way, when the prospect meets with the competition, they'll know what issues to ask questions about. 
If you're not leaving anything behind, the prospect may simply respond to the flashy, cool presentation. 
Notifications
Make this tool even more powerful by using tools that notify you when the prospect opens the message or clicks on the video. 
Consider, for example, that you send a video for your prospect to watch prior to the next meeting. Maybe it answers questions that frequently occur during the second meeting. 
If you send it with BombBomb, you'll know when the prospect watched it, and whether they watched the entire video. It helps you know when and how the prospect is engaging with your content. 
Do something different
Everyone is leaving a business card, so you must do something that helps you stand out from the crowd. Make your company the obvious choice.
Position yourself as the trusted advisor and the one who is helping the prospect understand all the important considerations before making a decision. 
If you're not leaving anything behind, your promising deal may disappear. 
"You’re Not Leaving Anything Behind" episode resources
If you haven't connected with me on LinkedIn already, do that at Donald C. Kelly and watch the things I'm sharing there.
You've heard us talk about the TSE Certified Sales Training Program, and we're offering the first module free as a gift to you. Preview it. Check it out. If it makes sense for you to join, you can be part of our upcoming semester.
You can take it on your own or as part of the semester group. The program includes 65 videos altogether, and we just completed a beta group that helped us improve the program and maximize the information in it.
If you and your team are interested in learning more, we'd love to have you join us. Call (561)578-1729 to speak directly to me or one of our team members about the program.
This episode is also brought to you in part by Mailtag.io, a Chrome browser extension for Gmail that allows you to track and schedule your emails. You'll receive real-time alerts anyone opens an email or clicks a link.
I hope you enjoyed the show today as much as I did. If so, please consider leaving us a rating on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or wherever you consume this content and share it with someone else who might benefit from our message. It helps others find our message and improves our visibility.
Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound.

Do you take the time to follow up with potential clients?

Maybe a client told you right now is not the time they want to work with you. Just because they said no then doesn't mean you should give up.

Sales representatives need to have a follow-up process to know when it's time for them to contact old business deals. In this episode of "The Sales Evangelist Podcast," host Donald Kelly speaks with Jake Tacher on the importance of doing follow-ups to gain clients.

Jake shares his wealth of knowledge and experience in the sales world, shedding light on the critical role of follow-up in sales success and providing actionable insights for sales leaders and individual contributors. Discover the three follow-up strategies he shares in this episode.

Jake's Background and Expertise

• Jake is a seasoned fractional CRO professional and sales director. With a career that spans from starting as an SDR to becoming a sales manager, he now focuses on driving growth through sales coaching, consulting, and recruiting. 
• Jake also offers sales training programs and shares his extensive experience transforming underperforming SDRs into high-performing assets.

The Definition of Effective Follow-Up

• Jake defines effective follow-up as any contact attempt-based activity with a prospect that aims to push them along the buyer's journey. 
• Whether it's aiming for a meeting or a closed deal, the essence of follow-up lies in continually engaging with prospects to move them closer to the desired outcome.

Challenges and Solutions in the Follow-Up Process

• Jake addresses the common challenges faced by sales professionals regarding the follow-up method. 
• He highlights the fear of rejection and the need for preparation or confidence in approaching follow-up conversations. 
• Jake observes that these obstacles often stem from inadequate training and resource allocation within sales organizations.

Tactical Approaches to Effective Follow-Up

• Jake offers a systematic approach to enhance follow-up effectiveness. 
• He emphasizes the importance of staying organized and prepared, suggesting daily task reassignment and contextualizing follow-up tasks to provide specific details for each prospect. 
• Furthermore, he stresses the significance of offering valuable resources and customized solutions during follow-up interactions.

The Power of Data in Follow-Up

• Jake elaborates on the effectiveness of leveraging data during the follow-up process. 
• By citing averages and typical scenarios, he suggests that prospects can better relate to and trust the offered solutions. 
• Utilizing third-party sources and real-time industry developments, Jake recommends integrating data-driven insights tailored to each prospect's specific pain points and objections.

Operationalizing Follow-Up in Sales Teams

• Jake proposes a structured approach for sales leaders to operationalize effective follow-up within sales teams. 
• He recommends creating a follow-up calendar and asset vault, organizing follow-up strategies, and putting valuable resources based on various buyer avatars and potential objections into a system that is easily accessible and conducive to consistent execution.

Key Takeaways for Sales Leaders and Individual Contributors

• Jake's insights emphasize the importance of facilitating and enabling success for sales professionals. He encourages sales leaders to streamline the follow-up process and empower their teams. 
• He urges individual contributors to take ownership of their sales process and constantly seek growth and improvement.

Jake Tacher offers practical wisdom and actionable strategies to elevate the follow-up game. He empowers sales leaders and individual contributors to utilize a systematic, resource-driven approach that puts the client's needs and objections first.

Learn how sales leaders and representatives can develop follow-up processes to help bring in more clients in this episode of “The Sales Evangelist Podcast.”

“You should follow up before they tell you to follow up with no agenda. You should be doing that if you're serious about booking these meetings. Especially if you're not in a volume SDR role.” - Jake Tacher. 

Resources

Jake Tacher on Instagram

Jake Tacher on LinkedIn

Jake Tacher on TikTok

Sponsorship Offers

1. This episode is brought to you in part by Hubspot.

With HubSpot sales hubs, your data tools and teams join a single platform to close deals and turn prospects into pipelines. Try it for yourself at hubspot.com/sales.

2.            This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.

Are you tired of prospective clients not responding to your emails? Sign up for a free 60-day trial of LinkedIn Sales Navigator at linkedin.com/tse.

3.            This episode is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Foundation.

Improve your connection on LinkedIn and land three or five appointments with our LinkedIn prospecting course. Go to the salesevangelist.com/linkedin.

Credits

As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

As you're working to expand your reach and grow your network, recognize the importance of building diversity into your network so you'll be better positioned to succeed in your industry.

I met Sharon Manker at the Eastern Minority Supplier Development Council ROAR Conference, which connects minority-owned and women-owned businesses with Fortune 100 companies. Sharon has worked in supply chain for two decades, in both the for-profit and the nonprofit sectors, in utility and now in healthcare. In her words, she negotiates for a living.

She also works to engage diverse suppliers in a woman-owned, veteran-owned, minority-owned system.

Small business challenges

Many small business owners lack the vehicle to connect with the right decision makers. They don't know how to meet the people who actually influence the contracts.

When they discover their limitation, they often observe that they just didn't realize how it impacted their work.

As a supply chain person, Sharon works to connect qualified suppliers to the businesses who need them. She also works to connect those same businesses with her business stakeholders.

To that end, she attends events and even hosts events that allow people to connect and build relationships. The trick is to recognize that as you're working to connect with the decision makers, there are people along the way who can help you do exactly that.

Diversifying suppliers

When you aren't able to attend these events, Sharon points to other opportunities to connect with people: chambers of commerce and councils, just to name two.

You'll be positioned to find corporate partners there. You'll encounter people who are actively engaged and ready to increase their supplier diversity.

Even if you attend these events and find out about developments that are 24 months away, future gains will happen. Put in the work now and build relationships now.

Benefits of partnership

Many corporations prioritize working with small businesses because they have committed to certain diversity goals, such as spending a certain amount of their operating expenses with diverse suppliers. In some states, in fact, this diversity is mandated.

This demands a pool of Minority Business Enterprises, Veteran Business Enterprises, and LGBTQ enterprises that can help meet the needs of those businesses.

It can't be a last-minute effort, either. You don't want to wait until you're in an emergency situation to begin vetting partners. Those organizations must proactively work to find the best option in every category to provide the product or service they need.

Some corporations connect with small businesses simply because they value giving back to entrepreneurs and small businesses.

If you're an entrepreneur or a seller listening to this, find groups like this to connect with, because if you can land a large contract, you can eat pretty well for a while.

If you balance your regular prospecting with your networking events while you work to connect with large corporations, you'll more easily keep a steady flow of connections. #CorporatePartners

Strategic plan

Create a strategic plan for your business. In your case, your plan for success is that failure is not an option. Instead, when you fail, you learn a lesson, and you repeat that until you get to a successful outcome.

You can't give up. You must stay positive.

There won't always be immediate opportunities, but building a network of resources or opportunities provides some security. Then, if you don't have a resource or an opportunity for those organizations, you could always help connect them with another partner that you've met and added to your network.

We've talked recently about the need to focus on a champion rather than only focusing on the decision maker. Your network will help you accomplish that.

You may bypass a champion on your way to connecting with a CEO, but the champion can be a much quicker connection. You can build a relationship with him more quickly, and then he can help you get to the CEO.

Intentional communications

When you're building relationships, be mindful of your communications. Some people are very aggressive in their approach, but they often overlook all the other restraints that these decision makers are facing. They want to do a deal now, but they aren't mindful of the other projects these professionals are working on.

There are hierarchies of communication in every organization. There are also barriers to entry. Your champions can't advocate for you if you're perceived as aggressive or pushy.

The vetting process may take weeks, and you must be willing to exercise patience. You don't know about all the things that the organization is working on.

Be strategic. Recognize the structure in each organization.

People will notice the way you communicate.

Be prepared

When your network does call on you for your product or service, make sure you are ready and able to give your brief, to-the-point presentation.

Make sure you're being active so you'll stay positioned to meet other professionals. Make sure you're open and willing and teachable.

Even if you aren't a minority, realize that if 51 percent of the company ownership is minority, that classifies as a minority-owned business.

"Building Diversity Into Your Network" episode resources

You can connect with Sharon on LinkedIn where she shares tremendous amounts of information about supply chain.

We are currently in the Beta portion of our new TSE Certified Sales Training Program. The first section is about prospecting, the second is all about building value, and the third is about closing.

This episode is brought to you by the TSE Certified Sales Training Program. If 2018 wasn't the best year for you, check out TSE Certified Sales Training Program. We can help you out of your slump.

If you gave a lot of great presentations and did a lot of hard work, only to watch your prospects choose to work with your competitors, we can help you fix that. The new semester of TSE Certified Sales Training Program begins in April and it would be an absolute honor to have you join us.

This episode is also brought to you in part by mailtag.io, a Chrome browser extension for Gmail that allows you to track and schedule your emails. It's super easy, it's helpful, and I recommend that you try it out. You'll receive real-time alerts anyone opens an email or clicks a link.

Mailtag.io allows you to see around the corners. You can see when people open your email, or when they click on the link you sent. Mailtag.io will give you half-off your subscription for life when you use the Promo Code: Donald at check out.

I hope you enjoyed the show today as much as I did. If so, please consider leaving us a rating on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or wherever you consume this content and share it with someone else who might benefit from our message. It helps others find our message and improves our visibility.

If you haven't already done so, subscribe to the podcast so you won't miss a single episode. Share it with your friends who would benefit from learning more.

Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound.

How to Reach Executive Decision Makers, and Why They are Listening Right Now

In previous episodes, we’ve covered that sales reps have to touch base with several people within their industry, especially the executive decision-makers. This may seem a  daunting task in today’s climate but it’s necessary. 

In this episode, we talk to Jeremy Miller, the founder of Sticky Branding. His experience in moving through recessions with the family business, and with his own brand, prepared him for the economic downturn that resulted from covid. With the knowledge he’s accumulated, he’s helping other businesses turn it around and in many cases, launch even better. 

Reach out executives

The pandemic leveled the playing field for all - every sales rep and even the executives are going through the same experiences together. Almost all businesses are in a state of change as they push the threshold of what they’ve known as common business practices.  They’re having to relearn where to listen. Sales reps who are equipped with the right knowledge and who are positioning themselves to talk with the right executives are going to see success despite current industry standards. 

Bring value to the executives 

There are three ways to sell: 

• feature benefits selling 
• solution perspective selling 
• provoking the customer

Jeremy suggests that the last one is the best approach today as businesses right now are changing. As a sales rep, ask yourself, “Who needs the expertise of our company most right now?” Approach your customers with the question, “Who in your organization knows about the need first?”  Ask them what their problems are and offer them a solution. 

The business executive team should be looking at the market and asking the important questions: Where do we play? How do we win? What are the issues that our clients are facing? 

It’s a team effort

Have a team meeting that talks about value proposition and the sales efforts on a weekly basis. Make it a dedicated meeting and discuss how you sell right now. What are the shifts you are making as a company? Talk about the strategies that work and get feedback from everyone on the team.

Sales is the sharp end of the spear when it comes to business development. The organization must learn to adapt with the trend and make the necessary changes to have a competitive advantage. Sales teams who are thriving keep everyone in their organization from getting laid off. 

“How to Reach Executive Decision Makers, and Why They are Listening Right Now” episode resources

Follow Jeremy Miller on LinkedIn now to learn more. 

If you are interested in more sales stories, you can talk to Donald directly. Reach him via these channels: LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook about any sales concerns. 

This episode is brought to you in part by Crmble, the easy-peasy CRM for Trello that helps you manage your contacts and leads without investing in complicated solutions, sync all your data, manage custom fields, and get powerful reporting on your sales. Try Crmble now for free at www.crmble.com/tse. This course is also brought to you in part by TSE Certified Sales Training Program. It’s a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. It will help them elevate their sales game. Sign up now and get the first two modules for free! You can go and visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals also call us at (561) 570-5077. 

We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes so tune in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings to every episode you listen to. 

You can also read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore this huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day free trial. 

Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

The Accidental Seller Series 2 - "DeJuan Brown"

This is the second episode of the series The Accidental Seller. There are more accidental sellers in the sales industry than we know of. In fact, there are about 4.14 million sales professionals in the United States who fell into this career. 

DeJuan Brown wanted to be a chemist when he was a kid. He also wanted to be a system analyst because he wanted to follow his uncle’s footsteps who worked as a system analyst for Guardian Life for a long time. But in college, he studied Psychology and Philosophy. The mathematics included in studying both Chemistry and System Analysis dissuaded him to push through with his childhood careers. 

His view of sales and of the salespeople came about when his father started selling Insurance when he was two years old. Selling insurance then was very different compared to how it’s done today. People are able to sign up online or pay for their premium online but before, selling insurance was a door-to-door sport. His dad would spend hours going door to door collecting premiums from people. Seeing his dad selling made him think that sales was super lucrative on the back end but also super hard at the same time. DeJuan initially thought that salespeople were undesirable. 

The sale stigma 

The perception of salespeople then didn’t change much until today. There’s still a bad stigma and DeJuan didn’t want to be associated with it. Salespeople are seen as sleazy and manipulative and even though his Dad is not like that, he came to adapt that view as well. It’s apparent with a car salesman and the salespeople you see in infomercials and TV. 

People kept telling DeJuan that he’d be good in sales but for him, it was a choice between using his skills for the worse which is doing sales or using it for the best which is helping people through law and other things. 

The accidental seller

DeJuan was doing a variety of things and was moving from one job to another. He ended up waiting tables and bartending. He was good at it and made a tremendous amount of money in it. His friends kept telling him to go into sales because he’s good at selling entrees but still the stigma of salespeople stuck in his mind. The stigma prevented him from considering the possibility until his buddy got a job at Intuit. 

His buddy convinced him to get into sales and he applied. He got a schedule for an interview and got a part-time job of 16 hours a week doing transactional sales. That’s when he got into sales. 

He fell in love with the reward of sales and it was the first time that he felt good about serving people. 

Fears in sales 

He had fears and trepidation when he started sales and most of the fear revolved on the thinking that he had to push people. DeJuan wanted to help people. If they want something, he wants to help them get it and if they do not want to get the product and services, then he doesn’t want to push them and he just wants to leave them alone. 

The fear went away relatively early in the process when he realized that he was helping people. He understood people and all that they have at their disposal. He gave them all their options and made sure that they made decisions based on what they have. Helping people changed his paradigm on sales audits. 

DeJuan thought about quitting during his tough times but his experience helped him get through the rough times. When he isn’t at the top of the leaderboard, he thinks of quitting and starting out on another career. 

Sales is a rollercoaster ride: here’s no such thing as always up and always positive. #SalesMotivation

That fact kept him on and motivated him. 

There’s no such thing as every time you dial, someone picks up the phone or responds to every email. Understanding that helped him control the inputs and outputs. The mindset shift helped him shift his attitude towards selling. 

His first sale was unforgettable for him. He was consistent with his deals and he was able to enhance someone’s product or their order. For his first sale, he was able to sell a logo and on the same sale, he was able to add color and shadow. He also offered the self-sealing envelopes on the same order. DeJuan is now in the enterprise industry and connected with Seismic. 

DeJuan was an accidental seller but if asked if he was going to choose another path, he’d say that being an accidental seller is one of the best things that happened for his career. 

“The Accidental Seller Series 2" episode resources

Reach out to DeJuan via his LinkedIn and he will also be in the Sales Success Summit. He is also on Twitter. 

Go ahead and hit me up for concerns and questions about sales. You can also reach out to me via LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Use these practical sales tips and let me know how it works for you. 

This episode is brought to you in part by TSE Certified Sales Training Program. It’s a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. Sign up now and get the first two modules for free! You can also call us at (561) 570-5077. Our next semester starts on November 8 and we would love to have you. 

The episode is also brought to you by Sales Live Miami. It’s an event put on by a group of friends and it’s designed to help sellers and sales leaders improve their sales game. It’s going to be this November 4-5, 2019 in Miami, Florida. Come and join us. You can find more about this event on The Sales Evangelist website. 

We want you to join us for our next episodes so tune in to our podcast on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings to every episode you listen to. 

Read more about sales or listen to audiobooks at Audible as well and explore this huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day free trial. 

Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound.

How To Tell A Story That Connects & Sells

In this episode, we are going to talk about how to tell a story that connects and sells. We tell stories to inspire others, show empathy, and more. The problem is, we don’t know how to tell stories in a way that consumers will be compelled to buy our products. This is what Jude Charles is going to teach you in this episode. 

Jude Charles is a story-driven filmmaker, brand strategist, and a speaker who’s been running a video production company for the past 13 years. He’s been helping entrepreneurs tell stories effectively to be able to connect with prospects and clients. 

What is a story? 

Stories are universal. There is no difference between a story about your normal day and a story you might tell during a sales meeting. The only difference is the ending and its goal. 

Stories are about a specific moment in time. It has a beginning, a middle, and an end. What happens at the end will make your story impactful. 

When you’re telling a story in sales, you want the listener to buy into the service you’re selling. This story has to matter in a way that by the end, they will want to buy your product or service. Stories can make a connection. 

Case Example: Money Heist

Storytelling works because it’s relatable. A Netflix show called Money Heist has a story that pulls you in. It includes a group of nine guys that are getting ready to rob a mint in Spain. Although viewers aren’t robbers themselves, as the movie unfolds, the audience begins to relate to these men and become more invested in the characters and the plot. The viewer gets to know these nine guys and sees their reasons for wanting to rob the mint. 

The same is true in selling. You want to share a story with your client that he/she can relate to. Instead of just selling your products and services outright, or presenting bullet points of the benefits, share a success story instead. Set the scene by beginning with the problem. You’ll then go into the actual journey that leads to solving the problem.  As the story unfolds, the client or prospect should be able to picture themselves in the scenario. By the end, they will see themselves as the one rescued from the problem by the solutions you have to offer. 

The basics of presenting a story 

When forming a story, think about how you will sit with the client and talk to them about what you’re doing. 

The number one question in your client’s mind is about who you are and why they should do business with you. It’s during this assessment your story telling should be an integral part of the sales process. It will become part of the conversation you’re having with your client. The basic framework of storytelling is pretty much the same: 

• Start with a problem
• How you went on the journey of solving the problem
• Reveal the solution 
• Share the results of the solution 

Jude keeps a story bank and saves story notes throughout the day, from the biggest details down to the minute ones. It’s these pieces that are used to create a story that is meaningful to the client. 

Kinds of Stories

There are different kinds of stories. When you talk about yourself, then you are telling the Who are you? story. Other stories include Client Success stories. These kinds of stories not only build your credibility but they prove your process has worked for someone else. 

There are also Closing Stories and Value Stories. These are your core values. Clients like to see integrity and transparency so you can tell a story that illustrates these values.

To see examples of great stories, a recommended book is The 10 Great Stories That Leaders Tell by Joseph Lalonde. 

Raising the stakes

Let’s look at Money Heist again. The objective of the movie is for nine robbers to be able to get into the Royal Mint of Spain. The first thing they did was to pose as cops. The story raised the stakes when the police commissioner decided to try to break into the Mint of Spain while the robbers are there. The robbers say they have hostages and that one of them is the daughter of Spain’s ambassador. The police could rescue all the people but the stakes are high because the ambassador’s daughter will die. 

Raising the stakes is getting to the moment in the story where it looks as though you think the journey is way too hard.  A great story will illustrate how the characters overcome.

What happens at the end

The end is where you become very strategic about your story. It will include the lesson you want the client to learn. Your goal is for the client to understand that they need to be all in. 

The important factor at the end of the story is how you frame the lesson. What are the results after the solution? That’s a question you need to answer. 

A great way story lets your client know you have an understanding of who they are, what their problems are, and the solutions they need. You want to set the vision of what the future looks like with, or without, your product or service.  

Another book called The Story Factor by Annette Simmons also talks about storytelling. While it’s not in the concept of framework, it shows you how to use storytelling in everyday life. It shows you how you can influence the person you are talking to so you can get your message across. 

You can get better at telling stories by doing it every single day and observing how people react. It’s a skill worth learning. 

The most important thing to know about storytelling is you can use it in everyday life to connect, influence, and get the message to the person you’re sitting across from. #SalesStory

“How To Tell A Story That Connects & Sell” episode resources

Connect with Jude Charles via his website, judecharles.co 

Do you have sales questions? Suggestions? You can also talk to Donald about it via LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook for any sales concerns. 

This episode is brought to you in part by TSE Certified Sales Training Program. It’s a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. Sign up now and get the first two modules for free! You can also call us at (561) 570-5077. 

We have a new semester beginning on February 14th and we would love to have you and your team join us. Follow this link to apply to the program. 

We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes so tune in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings to every episode you listen to. 

You can also read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore this huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day free trial. 

Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Oh no! It’s happening again.

The biggest search engines are making changes. But, this time, it’s to protect people’s email accounts. Sellers sending out over 500 emails per day may want to stop because there will be repercussions for doing so. 

In this episode of "The Sales Evangelist Podcast," host Donald Kelly addresses the recent strict changes announced by Yahoo and Google regarding email outreach. 

How will these changes affect your sales approach? What are the limits to how many emails can you send now? 

Tune in to this week’s episode and learn how to adapt to these recent changes.

Understanding Yahoo and Google's Changes

• Donald breaks down the changes announced by Yahoo and Google, highlighting that bulk senders who dispatch more than 5000 emails per day must adapt to align with the heightened requirements. 
• These changes aim to shield end users from spam and potential security risks associated with excessive unsolicited emails.

Insights Derived from Mailgun

• Referencing insights from Mailgun, Donald delves into the implications for sales professionals and how these changes impact their outreach strategies. 
• He emphasizes that aligning with the standards enforced by Google and Yahoo is essential for safeguarding email deliverability and maintaining a positive sender reputation.

Essential Practices for Email Outreach

• Donald outlines three crucial elements that sales professionals must prioritize to navigate the evolving email outreach landscape. 
• These include authenticating emails, enabling easy unsubscribe options, and sending targeted emails that cater to recipients' interests and preferences.

Implications for Sales Professionals

• Addressing the potential impact on sales professionals, Donald discusses the nuances of these changes for individual contributors and organizations. 
• He stresses the importance of adherence to email authentication practices, particularly for organizations with multiple sales representatives engaged in outbound email activities.

Technical Requirements for Email Authentication

• Donald elucidates the technical aspects of maintaining compliance with Google and Yahoo's email-sending policies. 
• He emphasizes the need to implement SPF, DKIM, and DMARC measures to uphold authentication standards for domains exceeding the 5000-email threshold.

Adapting to Enhance Relevance and Impact

• Drawing parallels between the evolving email outreach landscape and the need for enhanced creativity and relevance, Donald underscores the importance of crafting substantive and impactful communications. 
• He stresses the need for sales professionals to establish reference points, leverage referrals, align with recipient interests, and ensure a respectful and relevant approach.

Embracing a Thought Leadership Mindset

• Encouraging sales professionals to adopt a thought leadership mindset, Donald emphasizes the importance of focusing on individual buyers' specific needs and challenges. 
• He advocates for aligning communications with potential impacts on the buyer's role or responsibilities, thus enhancing the relevance and impact of outreach efforts.

Donald urges listeners to elevate their sales game and take advantage of the resources and sponsors highlighted in the episode. He offers valuable guidance for sales professionals seeking to adapt to the changes in email outreach and elevate their approaches to securing quality sales opportunities in a shifting landscape.

Resources

TSE LinkedIn Prospecting Course

MailGun Update on Gmail and Yahoo

"Slow the game down. Don't rush, don't stress. When there's a breakaway by far, go ahead and take that breakaway. Take that shot. But right now, let's slow the game down. Let's play the field and increase the chances of us scoring" - Donald Kelly.

Sponsorship Offers

1. This episode is brought to you in part by Hubspot.

With HubSpot sales hubs, your data tools and teams join a single platform to close deals and turn prospects into pipelines. Try it for yourself at hubspot.com/sales.

2.            This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.

Are you tired of prospective clients not responding to your emails? Sign up for a free 60-day trial of LinkedIn Sales Navigator at linkedin.com/tse.

3.            This episode is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Foundation.

Improve your connection on LinkedIn and land three or five appointments with our LinkedIn prospecting course. Go to the salesevangelist.com/linkedin.

Credits

As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Are you tired of the same old tactics falling flat in your sales discovery calls? 

Everyone wants to make a sale, but too often, the approach is to pitch the product or service right out of the gate. Is there a better way to connect with your prospects and truly understand their needs before you dive into your sales pitch? 

Host Donald Kelly speaks with guest Paul Butterfield on having a solid strategy for sales discovery in this episode of "The Sales Evangelist Podcast." Paul dives deep into the importance of understanding the customer's journey and shares insights on creating a unified, customer-focused experience across various teams. 

He emphasizes the need for a robust discovery process and how it can significantly impact the quality of the buyer's experience. Tune in to hear how effective discovery calls can revolutionize your sales approach and elevate your success in closing deals.

Paul's Experience and Expertise

• Paul is the founder of the Revenue Flywheel Group, focusing on enabling B2B companies to create a unified customer journey. 
• With extensive experience in the field, Paul brings real-world examples to support his insights, making this episode a valuable resource for sales leaders and individual contributors.

The Flawed Approach to Discovery Calls

• Paul highlights the all-too-common practice of immediately jumping into a demo without fully understanding the customer's needs. 
• He acknowledges the prevalence of pitch decks laden with bragging rights and emphasizes the need for a shift in mindset regarding the purpose of a sales interaction.

The Power of Effective Discovery

• Paul passionately advocates for a more in-depth approach to discovery calls, stressing the importance of preparing for a business-level conversation. 
• He believes that a successful discovery call can create a vision in the prospect's mind and help them understand how to achieve their future state. 
• Moreover, Paul emphasizes how this approach enhances the customer experience and filters out deals that may not be a good fit early in the process.

Elevating the Role of BDRs

• Paul shares valuable insights on the role of Business Development Representatives (BDRs) in preparing for successful discovery calls. 
• He underlines the significance of equipping BDRs with business acumen, allowing them to elevate their conversations beyond the traditional script and initiating a more meaningful interaction with prospects.

Key Strategies for Sales Success

• Paul expands on the significance of maintaining finesse when handling buyers fixated on immediate demos. 
• He advocates for an approach that understands the underlying business challenges and provides insights tailored to the prospect's specific needs.

Overcoming Inferiority Complex in Sales

• Acknowledging the common struggle of feeling inferior in front of high-profile prospects, Paul shares personal experiences and insights on how sales professionals can overcome this mindset. 
• He emphasizes the importance of being seen as an industry authority, fostering a mutual learning environment between the seller and the buyer.

In this enriching TSE episode, Paul has shed light on the transformative potential of effective discovery calls in sales. Paul's practical tips and real-world examples are a game-changer for sales professionals and leaders striving to differentiate themselves and enhance the buyer experience. 

This episode is a must-listen if you're seeking ways to boost conversion rates, negotiation effectiveness, and overall sales performance. Take advantage of this opportunity to refine your sales strategy and drive exceptional results. Tune in to the full episode now and take your sales game to the next level!

“The opportunity to differentiate through the sales experience and the quality of that buyer experience. That opportunity is huge. The bar is very low in the way that outbound, even inbound prospecting, qualifying, and discovery are being done. And you will set yourself up for better conversion rates and better negotiating if you come in strong with a higher-quality discovery process. I cannot overestimate that.” - Paul Butterfield. 

Resources

Paul Butterfield on LinkedIn

Sponsorship Offers

1. This episode is brought to you in part by Hubspot.

With HubSpot sales hubs, your data tools and teams join a single platform to close deals and turn prospects into pipelines. Try it for yourself at hubspot.com/sales.

2.            This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.

Are you tired of prospective clients not responding to your emails? Sign up for a free 60-day trial of LinkedIn Sales Navigator at linkedin.com/tse.

3.            This episode is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Foundation.

Improve your connection on LinkedIn and land three or five appointments with our LinkedIn prospecting course. Go to the salesevangelist.com/linkedin.

Credits

As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Many sellers discover that their perfect pitch is not working because, as they work to build value, they are appealing to logic rather than emotion.

We're devoting the whole month to a discussion about building value, and some of today's information comes from the book The Transparency Sale written by Todd Caponey. Todd will visit with us on the podcast in the near future, but today we'll talk about the decision-making process and the role our brains play.

Brain power

Every day, we engage in activities every day that are so routine that we don't even think about them. When we drive to work, we put a seatbelt on without even thinking about it. When we back the car up, we put our arms over the seat beside us and then look backward.

You're able to listen to this podcast while you're driving because you don't even have to think about driving.

Todd talks about three levels of the brain, which you may have heard of before. The reptilian part, the limbic part, and the neocortex.

The reptilian portion is the core or center, and it's the oldest part of the brain. It prompts us to do things without thinking. It drives our instincts. It's the part that prompts us to react to pain without thinking, and it's part of our survival.

The limbic portion is more intricate and it helps deals with feelings and emotions. It helps us make decisions and motivates our behaviors.

The neo- or frontal cortex is the newest part of our brain and it's associated with information and logic. It's the largest part of the brain and it ties with math and reasoning and justification.

[Tweet "We make decisions emotionally and justify them logically, and it's our brain that makes it possible. #brainpower"]

Sales standpoint

We typically show up to our prospect meetings with PowerPoint presentations, charts, spreadsheets, and graphs of all the amazing things our product or service can do. We show up prepared to sell to the customer's neocortex -- the logical part.

Remember, though, that the logic part of our brain isn't where decisions are made. Decisions form in the middle portion of the brain, where our feelings and emotions reside.

You must help people make a decision emotionally, and then justify it logically. You can build value as a sales rep by using stories to tap into the emotion or pain that the prospect is experiencing.

Unless there is some kind of pain, your customer won't make a decision.

Status quo

The reptilian part of our brain wants us to stay where we are. If nothing is harming us, why would we move? Leave things as they are.

Until someone points out the reason we need to make a change and appeals to our emotion, we'll never see a need to move. If a seller use emotion to prompt the customer to move and then help him justify the move logically, he'll be much more likely to make a change.

Tie the emotion and the logic together to help your prospects understand the need to make a change.

Making it work

I recently met a guy who sells water filtration systems in Florida. He begins by asking people whether people drink water, and many people say no because it tastes bad and it's unclean and unhealthy.

He points out that taking a shower in the same water can be just as unhealthy because your skin is your body's largest organ, which presents a pain point for his prospects.

The seller never mentions price or facts about his product. He focuses on the emotion of wanting to be healthy.

Do it with stories or by asking the buyer questions that tap into emotion.

Defining sales

I define sales as helping people persuade themselves to make a change. If we try to persuade them, their guard immediately goes up.

Great sellers leave the buyer in charge of the decision. If your demos are flopping or your presentations aren't working, you're probably focusing too much on logic. Don't sell to the logical part of the brain. Sell to the emotional part.

"Perfect Pitch Is Not Working" episode resources

Grab a copy of the book The Transparency Sale written by Todd Caponey for more information about the role our brains play in the buying process.

This episode is brought to you by the TSE Certified Sales Training Program. I developed this training course because I struggled early on as a seller. Once I had the chance to go through my own training, I noticed a hockey-stick improvement in my performance.

TSE Certified Sales Training Program can help you out of your slump.

If you gave a lot of great presentations and did a lot of hard work, only to watch your prospects choose to work with your competitors, we can help you fix that. The new semester of TSE Certified Sales Training Program begins in April and it would be an absolute honor to have you join us.

This episode is also brought to you in part by mailtag.io, a Chrome browser extension for Gmail that allows you to track and schedule your emails. It's super easy, it's helpful, and I recommend that you try it out. You'll receive real-time alerts anyone opens an email or clicks a link.

Mailtag.io allows you to see around the corners. You can see when people open your email, or when they click on the link you sent. Mailtag.io will give you half-off your subscription for life when you use the Promo Code: Donald at check out.

I hope you enjoyed the show today as much as I did. If so, please consider leaving us a rating on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or wherever you consume this content and share it with someone else who might benefit from our message. It helps others find our message and improves our visibility.

If you haven't already done so, subscribe to the podcast so you won't miss a single episode. Share it with your friends who would benefit from learning more.

Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound.

How do you move beyond having a network of connections on LinkedIn to leveraging it to drive meaningful conversations and opportunities?

In this episode of “The Sales Evangelist Podcast,” host Donald Kelly chats with Brandon Lee, the founder of FistBump, on the best practices for maximizing your impact on LinkedIn. 

Discover powerful techniques for engaging with prospects, creating compelling content, and establishing genuine connections that lead to tangible results. Tune in to hear essential strategies for utilizing LinkedIn to drive sales success.

Brandon Lee’s Background

• Brandon founded Fist Bump, which offers a done-for-you and done-with-you model aimed at C-suite sales leaders looking to leverage LinkedIn more effectively. 
• The service appeals to individuals seeking guidance on improving their LinkedIn utilization and those lacking the time to do it themselves.

LinkedIn as a Sales Tool

• Donald and Brandon discuss the critical role of LinkedIn in B2B sales and business.
• They tackle the common issue of professionals failing to effectively utilize their LinkedIn connections after making them, highlighting the need for a more strategic approach to networking and relationship-building on the platform.

Best Practices for Utilizing LinkedIn

• Brandon emphasizes the importance of adopting a networking, rather than a purely sales-driven, mindset when using LinkedIn. 
• He shares the challenges of coming across as just another demanding voice in the crowd and advises on shifting from a lead generation to a demand creation mindset.

Creating Intriguing Content

• Brandon stresses the significance of sharing educational and informative content that resonates with buyers, regardless of whether they are currently in the market. 
• He delves into the strategy of transforming valuable customer insights into engaging social posts and provides examples of how to offer industry-related solutions rather than straightforward sales pitches.

Making Content Relatable

• Donald and Brandon explore the concept of relatable content and the impact of sharing experiences and insights that resonate with the audience. 
• They discuss the effectiveness of content that addresses common industry challenges and offers solutions, emphasizing its relatability and value to the target audience.

Maximizing Engagement Through Comments

• Brandon advocates for consistent and meaningful engagement by commenting on relevant posts and extending conversations by commenting on comments. 
• He emphasizes the algorithm’s positive response to active engagement and encourages leveraging it to increase post visibility and exposure to a broader audience.

Taking Advantage of Profile Views

• Brandon highlights the benefit of monitoring profile views and utilizing them as an opportunity to extend connection requests and initiate conversations. 
• He stresses the importance of personalizing connection requests and seeking common ground with potential connections, ultimately fostering a more extensive and valuable professional network.

Overcoming Impostor Syndrome

• Brandon shares advice for individuals hesitant to leverage LinkedIn, focusing on overcoming impostor syndrome. 
• He emphasizes the value of personal experiences and the significance of taking the initial step, as well as reinforcing the learning curve and the benefits of perseverance.

Brandon’s expertise provides invaluable insights into fostering meaningful connections, creating engaging content, and maximizing visibility on LinkedIn, offering actionable tactics for those seeking to elevate their sales game on the platform.

With practical tips and a focus on authentic human connection, Brandon's approach is both compelling and achievable for anyone seeking to excel on LinkedIn. Tune in to the full episode for a wealth of actionable insights and take your LinkedIn game to the next level!

“I think Sales Navigator is a great sales tool, and LinkedIn is a great networking tool. But if we confuse them and try to sell before we network, we try to sell before we build a rapport or a reputation, then we're just a cold voice demanding or asking people for their time. People have had enough of that!” - Brandon Lee.

Resources

https://getfistbumps.com/

Brandon Lee on LinkedIn

Sponsorship Offers

1. This episode is brought to you in part by Hubspot.

With HubSpot sales hubs, your data tools and teams join a single platform to close deals and turn prospects into pipelines. Try it for yourself at hubspot.com/sales.

2.            This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.

Are you tired of prospective clients not responding to your emails? Sign up for a free 60-day trial of LinkedIn Sales Navigator at linkedin.com/tse.

3.            This episode is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Foundation.

Improve your connection on LinkedIn and land three or five appointments with our LinkedIn prospecting course. Go to the salesevangelist.com/linkedin.

Credits

As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Creating a valuable and accurate sales forecast is dependent on your ability to anticipate the success of sales. So how does the founder and CEO of forma.ai Nabeil Alazzam motivate and drive his team to maintain momentum? Through sales incentives! Using sales incentives and data-driven forecasting, Nabeil encourages his salespeople to reach specific and measurable objectives.

How Nabeil defines sales forecasting:

• It depends on whether the forecast is for a team leader or a representative. As a leader, it’s taking data across the team and using it to aggregate results.
• On the rep level, accuracy is critical. If you’re confident which accounts close, you can better visualize what else is needed to do to hit a target number.

Common forecasting mistakes:

• Being overconfident with deals without a data-driven element to justify the belief.
• Instead, utilize checkpoints throughout the sales process to know if a prospect will move forward.
• Another common mistake is that a lack of nuanced checkpoints leads to overprioritizing a fast-cycle sales prospect.
• As a sales rep, use data to allocate time free of bias towards the accounts most likely to close (without taking the speed of the sales cycle into account.)

Segmentation and forecasting go hand-in-hand.

• Use data when thinking about an audience cluster. A checklist sales reps have for different groups of people can and should look different depending on the best likely outcome for each group. 
• For managers, don’t think of data points as averages across the board.
• Understand your different customer segments and establish guidelines within each audience as data points.

Start data-driven forecasting:

• Forecasting is a crawl, walk, run approach.
• When running, you can automate the segmenting approach. In the crawl, it’s simply acknowledging that people buy differently and may need different buying propositions.
• Think about the types of clients you serve and what success looks like with each of those groups, segmenting by sector, growth stage, and the number of employees.
• Think about the forecasting method and sales practice you should apply to each (and create data points based on these audiences.)

How can incentives help our forecasting?

• Incentives drive behavior. And, ideally, better salespeople get paid more. If you can’t set forecasting successfully, you can’t allocate the proper incentives to the right salespeople.
• If you start to novice a prospecting segment is beginning to lag, you can be specific in your incentive to correct your trajectory.
• The goal should be to design incentive structures so the rep understands how much time they should allocate to that goal without detracting from the overall performance.

Connect with Nabeil on forma.ai and reach out on LinkedIn.

This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn Sales Navigator.

The Great Resignation has become the Great Reshuffle, meaning it can be difficult for sales professionals like you to find leads and close deals. Luckily, Sales Navigator from LinkedIn is here for you!

Sales Navigator from LinkedIn is the only tool that uses real-time alerts and up-to-date insights to help you know when prospects are ready to buy. And, with over 30 advanced filters, sales professionals can quickly find genuine leads with the intent to purchase.

Gain the advantage of accurate, quality lead generation data from LinkedIn Sales Navigator. You can get a 60-day free trial of Sales Navigator at www.LinkedIn.com/TSE. 

This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio.

Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real.

But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com.

This episode is brought to you in part by mParticle.

Are you tired of wading through thousands of open sales positions to find the one perfect for you? Well, look no further. mParticle is one of the leading independent customer data platforms out there, and they’re looking for motivated remote sellers (just like yourself.) 

With top-name clients from Spotify and Burger King to Airbnb, we don’t want you to let this opportunity go to waste! For more information and to view open positions, go to https://www.mparticle.com/careers/.

This course is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Certified Training Program, designed to help new and struggling sellers master sales fundamentals and close more deals. Help elevate your sales game and sign up now to get the first two modules free! You can visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals or call (561) 570-5077 for more information. We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey.

We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings for each episode you listen to! 

Read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore their huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day trial.

Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

You send hundreds of messages on LinkedIn every week, but you are still waiting for someone to get back to you. Maybe there’s one or two who have the courtesy of saying hello back to you, but it never goes any further than that.

As a sales representative, you know how important LinkedIn is to help you gain clients. However, if you’re not creating engaging conversations with prospects, it will be hard to build a pipeline.

In this episode of the TES podcast, host Donald Kelly shares five creative ways to do outbound with LinkedIn. Tune in and hear what he has to say.

Stop Sending Generic LinkedIn Requests

• You may find it easier to send basic messages stating who you are and what you can do for prospects. However, these types of LinkedIn messages often get ignored. 

• Instead, consider sending a personalized message to your prospective clients. This involves reviewing their profiles and seeing how to connect with them.

Don’t Just Care About Building Your Pipeline

• Yes, your goals are to gain clients and make money. But this shouldn’t be all you care about. People can sense this and will know if this is the only thing you’re worried about.

• Donald shares why sales reps should focus on building relationships with prospective clients. 

• Always remember that people crave connections. If your prospects have a positive relationship with you, they’re more likely to do business with you.

How to Send a Personalized Message on LinkedIn?

• Even if the person you’re speaking with turns out to be someone who you don’t work with, they may be some help later on. This is another reason why sales reps need to send personalized messages on LinkedIn.

• How can you do this?

• Ask questions: Once again, dig through their profiles and be curious about what they or their company share on LinkedIn.

• Engage on the platform: Don’t be a fly on the wall, and take the time to comment on the posts your connects share. It shows you’re genuinely interested in them and not just trying to take their money.

• Give compliments: If you see they’re doing good in something, compliment them. Donald discusses how complimenting prospects will help them engage more with you in the messages.

The goal of the TSE podcast is to help sales reps 3x their sales pipeline and close twice as many deals. Every week, we share two episodes to help sellers reach their goals. So, if you need help building your pipeline and closing deals, subscribe and listen to this episode.

“You need to make sure you strive to have some kind of genuine connection with human beings; people are craving that these days.” - Donald Kelly.

Resources

Donald C. Kelly on LinkedIn

Sponsorship Offers

1. This episode is brought to you in part by Hubspot.

With HubSpot sales hubs, your data tools and teams join a single platform to close deals and turn prospects into pipelines. Try it for yourself at hubspot.com/sales.

2. This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.

Are you tired of prospective clients not responding to your emails? Sign up for a free 60-day trial of LinkedIn Sales Navigator at linkedin.com/tse.

3. This episode is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Foundation.

Improve your connection on LinkedIn and land three or five appointments with our LinkedIn prospecting course. Go to the salesevangelist.com/linkedin.

Credits

As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald Kelly discusses why 2023 will be a difficult year for sellers. He also discusses how, despite the upcoming challenge, how you as a seller can continue to succeed in your field.

What exactly is going to be different about 2023?

• Ever since the pandemic, inflation rates and the general cost of living have STEADILY increased. This makes people far, FAR more hesitant to actually spend money. Why should someone buy your product or service when money is already tight?
• Alongside higher inflation rates, the feds have also hiked up interest rates to curb inflation. Since there are higher interest rates, people are less likely actually to borrow money. This means that businesses will be slower to grow.

Here are some quick facts, from Donald’s personal experience and the State of Sales report:

• 69% of sellers are saying that selling is actually becoming HARDER for them.
• 92% of sellers claimed that they’ve had to start using a NEW method of selling their product or service.

With all of this in mind, what can you do as a seller to keep a steady stream of purchases coming in?

• One key thing to focus on, with the current market, is to focus on LOW RISK but HIGH REWARD activities. One example of this is cross-selling. Are you maximizing your profits off of current buyers? What can you do, or offer, existing buyers to generate even more income?
• Another activity you can do is focus on cross-functioning. Work within your organization and your different departments to help create cohesiveness. Instead of working in multiple, different organizations, you can focus on working as an ENTIRE unit.
• A third example of what sellers are doing to keep steady profits and deals coming down the pipeline is targeting new markets. Instead of continuing to operate in the exact same way, see if there aren’t different methods or people you can promote to. Are there buyers more comfortable with parting with their money? Is there some tweaking you could do to get a RECURRING payment? Again, focus on low-risk ventures that will bring in the highest rewards.

You can connect with Donald more and learn about perfecting your craft as a seller on his Instagram at donaldckelly or on his LinkedIn profile, also at donaldckelly.

1. This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio.

Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com.

2. This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com. 

3. This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn. 

The sales landscape is totally changing. You need to adapt to succeed. Deep Sales, a part of the next generation of LinkedIn Sales Navigator, can help you do just that. Check it out yourself and get a 60-day free trial at Linkedin.com/TSE.

4. This episode is brought to you in part by Calendly.

The power of scheduling automation has never been more critical than it is today. Your sales team needs a solution to easily meet with prospects at the right time, every time. Finish the year strong and request a demo of Calendly today at Calendly.com/TSE. 

Credits

As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. 

Audio is provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Due to the pandemic, most businesses have transitioned to working remotely. In this episode you’ll learn how to maximize sales productivity when working with a remote team. 

Ensuring sales productivity 

• At a very young age, author, speaker and organization improvement consultant

Brad Jeavons watched his mother selling over the phone. He saw how she used trust and value to make an impact on her customers. The consultative approach his mother used was effective. 

• Brad made note that using the phone can cover a lot of turf. 
• Brad also studied the strategies of big companies such as McDonalds and Apple, and how their practices are applicable to productivity and sales performance. 
• Some of the best practices and operational/enterprise excellence in the world today come from the largest organizations. 
• With working remotely, we can take all these practices to another level.

The 4 Ps in Productivity 

•   The 4 Ps in Sales Productivity: 

1. Plan - you need to be able to focus and create a plan of attack. Know who is still currently buying and learn how to adjust the plan. This plan has to be done with people, not to people. 
2. People - We need to show empathy toward our sales team because everyone is feeling the effects of the pandemic. Build trust within your team. 
3. Process - Collaboration is important in team processes. It enables everyone to be in on the plan and adjust the plan as a whole. 
4. Partner with your customers - Go into these relationships as an abundant consultant, not just as a merchant selling to customers. Sell with a purpose. The only way to do so is by helping the sales team form a process they will practice with consistency. 

• Brad uses the customer journey mapping technique to help sales teams develop an abundant sales approach in which they become highly skilled as they practice. 
• Agile sales and marketing processes start with the customer’s buying journey. This is before the discovery phase. It’s focusing the team on the customer’s pain points and their needs. It enables them to connect to the customers on a deeper level. 
• The Devotion phase allows you to focus on how you can serve your clients so they become people who are devoted to your product or service. 

“S1: Maximize Sales Productivity When Working With a Remote Team” episode resources 

Follow Brad Jeavons on LinkedIn. You can also get his book, Agile Sales: Delivering Customer Journeys of Value and Delight. You can also visit his site to learn more 

Speak with Donald directly for more sales talks. Reach him via these channels: LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook about any sales concerns. Try Pipedrive today for FREE! As a TSE listener, PipeDrive is offering you an EXTEND trial beyond the typical 30 days + 25% off your first three months after trial. Try it today at  → https://pipedrive.live/tse use your code: pipedrivetse. 

This episode is also partly brought to you by Wingman. Wingman uses AI-software to empower remote sales teams with conversation intelligence, actionable insights on successful playbooks, and delivers real-time coaching.

This course is brought to you in part by TSE Certified Sales Training Program. It’s a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. It will help them elevate their sales game. Sign up now and get the first two modules free! You can go and visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals also call us at (561) 570-5077. "We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our 2 mins survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey

We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes so tune in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings to every episode you listen to. 

You can also read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore this huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day free trial. 

Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Connecting with prospects over the phone can be daunting. Your success as a rep comes down to what you say, and more importantly, how you say it. In this episode, Donald Kelly meets with sales expert Jeremy Chen to discuss the dreaded cold call. Chen’s sales team primarily uses cold calling to generate business, but that’s not why he’s so passionate about it. He’s passionate because, in his words, “a cold call saved his life.”

Always Act Like You Belong

• When job hunting, Chen accidentally called the CEO of a massive Canadian company! Even though the CEO hung up on him, he got a call back a few weeks later that connected him with a job.

• Because Chen didn’t initially know he was calling the CEO, he didn’t have any tension or fear when he called. Even execs are just people – embrace confidence.

Just Make the Call

• You never know where a call will take you! When Chen called the CEO of Telus, it completely changed his life.

• Don’t get discouraged. Hang in there and try not to take the rejection personally. Keep trying.

Use a Pattern Interrupt

• Chen uses transparency. He actually says, “This is a sales call… Feel free to hang up on me if you don’t take sales calls.” This weeds out the prospects who aren’t interested.

• If the person doesn’t hang up, Chen doesn’t use industry jargon. He explains things in layman’s terms.

• He asks questions and LISTENS. Instead of railroading prospects, he lets the prospect explain their pain.

Remember Your Purpose

• Stay on target. In your first call, all you need to do is book an appointment, not make a sale.

• You might gain some insights into your prospect’s pain points. Take note, but don’t try to explore the whole story.

• Offer them a specific time (and place if you’re meeting in person). 

“Just make the call. I know that a lot of reps that I deal with today, they’re nervous, they don’t feel like their leads are the greatest, their territory sucks, whatever. Make the call. You have no idea where your next call is going to take you.” – Jeremy Chen

Resources

Reach out to Jeremy via e-mail: jeremy@jeremychensales.com

For more information, check out: JeremyChenSales.com

Sponsorship Offers

1. This episode is brought to you in part by TSE Sales Foundation.

I think we can all agree that sales should be fun. However, many times, we find ourselves in a quagmire where we’re not progressing and deals are not going the way that they should. This is why we created TSE Sales Foundation. It’s a program designed to help sales professionals just like you master the fundamentals of sales so they can radically improve their sales pipeline and close more deals. To find out more about TSE Sales Foundation and our next start date, simply go to thesalesevangelist.com/foundation.

Credits

As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

How To Build A Sales Engine That Will Land Massive Deals – Repeatedly

Every sales person wants to build a sales engine that will land them improve their business, earn massive deals, and generate future sales. In this episode, we’ll talk about how to move toward these goals. 

Lisa Magnuson’s whole career has been in sales, specifically in sales management and sales leadership. Sales has always been Lisa’s passion and getting into Clorox, which is used in homes and businesses around the world, is where she experienced closing big deals. 

The struggles in generating sales 

There are several struggles companies face when trying to generate sales. During a crisis, the most difficult phase of the sales cycle is prospecting which is hard enough without added pressures.  During a time when everyone is already cautious you have to be careful about coming off as self-serving. Just conducting regular business can isolate potential clients. This is a concern that is applicable for both BDRs and SDRs. No one is exempted. 

Lisa is an expert when it comes to knowing the right strategies you can use to prepare your team to get through a crisis. There are mindsets you can incorporate in your process to make sure you hit the ground running when we get back to the new normal. 

Building your sales engine

Regardless of who you are, we were all left feeling that elements of our lives were cut short. This pandemic has affected all of us and we are trying to figure out how to pivot and thrive amid the challenge. The best way to do that is to serve and offer a hand to someone else. 

The focus should be to keep the dialogue  going. All the stages in the prospecting process are important. The mantra for this time is “lead with your heart, then offer a hand”. That’s how you build your sales engine. That “hand” may look like a valuable idea you got from one of your customers or clients and you’re able to pass it on to others.. You need to keep it simple and interesting for your clients. You can drop a message inviting your prospects to a virtual coffee and talk about the idea that may resonate to them and you go from there. There are also other things that you can do to land opportunities that are worth five times more than your normal contract size. 

Do more soft prospecting 

Sending an email template to people you have never met before is hard prospecting. Soft prospecting is sending out emails to the people you know and already have a personal connection with. Take the time to reach out and ask how they’re doing. Once you know the kind of help they need,  you can lend a hand by sharing what is working for your other clients. Give them an opportunity to receive this information to see if it resonates with their goals. 

When soft prospecting, just remember:  

• Lead with your heart
• Offer a hand
• Relate to their sales challenges
• Give them a possible solution
• Offer to engage in a way that make sense 

Maintain your sales engine

Because of the coronavirus, many sales people are having to deal with the disappointment of cancellation and postponement. We may not be landing the deals we thought we would but this doesn’t mean we should stop the push to find new opportunities.

Lisa’s new book, The TOP Sales Leader Playbook: How to Win 5X Deals Repeatedly, talks about sixteen plays to build those 5X deals, many of which can be done right now. 

Scoring your opportunities

You can continue scoring your opportunities without any customer interaction. Decide on the characteristics of your big deals and score them. Gather your account team together and work on a strategy. This is the time to do research. If you want the big deals, there is a need to do more than the usual. 

Part of the strategy for growth is relationship mapping. Know the key decision makers and players who will be involved in the deal and make soft connections with them. Use LinkedIn and other social media to find the common connections. You can set yourself up for the big deals right now by investing your time in making those connections and building your network.

The 4 parts to Lisa’s book include: 

• The sales leader
• Methodology
• Execution
• Culture

Sales leader

Lisa’s book is primarily for sales leaders and account quarterbacks. Sales leaders take the lead in looking out for the big deals. Big deals can be messy and they don’t follow your normal sales process.  A leader and quarterback knows how and when to move forwards and backwards as needed. The sales team needs direction. The sales leader’s role is to tie all the information together to ensure that the message and goal is clear for everyone.  

Develop your methodology 

Sales people may have a distaste for methodology and process but these are important resources for a sales team to embrace. Your methodology is your company’s way of going after the big deals and these include:

• Identifying the deal
• Scoring the deal
• Relationship mapping
• Doing a SWOT analysis
• Building a strategy
• Doing a competitive analysis
• Creating the blocks 

Your methodology plays a big role in making sure your sales engine generates big deals in a way that’s duplicatable. 

Execution and Culture

Execution means that you commit to the plan and work it. You’ve already laid out your methodology and you’ve done account strategy planning. It’s time to execute the plan. 

Lisa knows if her client has a “big deal culture” or not. Companies tend to talk about their big deals, share their stories, and show off new virtual walls and logos. Salespeople stick with these companies because they feel the fulfillment of their success and they feel well compensated and included within the culture. Does this sound like your company? Everyone should feel they are celebrated in the wins and a loss means a lesson learned together.  Behind every deal there is a team that works together, from executives to account managers to sales managers to sales reps. 

We all got cut short when Covid-19 hit and caused us to pivot. The best way to do that is by lending a hand. #SalesHelp

The importance of scoring

Scoring is very important because big deals take a long time due to their complexity. Sales leaders need to be able identify which deal is worth paying attention to and which teams to designate to each project. Lisa’s scoring tool has eight criteria which include evaluating the customer’s and account team’s commitment.

Build your own playbook

Lisa interviewed 41 sales leaders to build her playbook. She asked them about their priorities, their challenges, and they’re methodology. Through the knowledge she’s gathered, you’ll have the structure to plan your own playbook. Also, as suggested by one of her interviewees, Lisa has included yellow flags and red flags that you might want to look out for as you go through your scoring process. 

Lisa estimates that a 5X deal can take around 9 months to close.  Use these months to work your playbook to move the team toward a massive close.  If they know in advance how to pre-call, account plan, strategize, map out interactions, do the scoring, etc you can cross the finish line together.  It’s worth the effort. 

“How To Build A Sales Engine That Will Land Massive Deals – Repeatedly” episode resources

Sales, whether you are a rep or a leader, is all about finding opportunities and committing to a process that will close a deal. Lisa can help. Visit Lisa’s site, Top Sales. 

If you are interested in more sales stories, you can talk to Donald about it. Reach him via these channels: LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook about any sales concerns. 

This episode is brought to you in part  by TSE Certified Sales Training Program. It’s a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. It will help them elevate their sales game. Sign up now and get the first two modules for free! You can go and visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals also call us at (561) 570-5077. 

We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes so tune in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings to every episode you listen to. 

You can also read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore this huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day free trial. 

Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Women are doing great things in the sales industry. In this episode, Donald Kelly is joined by an amazing woman, Nadia Rashid. Listen as Nadia shares how to overcome the most common objections in B2B sales. 

Nadia Rashid is the SVP of Sales for Seismic on the East Coast. She manages all the teams from the commercial mid-market all the way through enterprise and global. 

Defining Objections

• For Nadia, objections are obstacles. These are the concerns that prospective buyers convey. Objections are buyers’ concerns that salespeople need to overcome. 
• The objection is almost needed in sales because it allows the buyers to do a clear assessment of what’s in the market. 
• It’s also a good indicator between a good salesperson and a great salesperson. How you react to objection when it’s thrown at you shows how much experience you have. 

Overcoming objections

• Nadia teaches sales reps to ask difficult questions in every call - are there any concerns? Is there any reason we shouldn’t move forward to the next step? These questions help sales reps ensure that there is a sales relationship built and that there are no surprises. 
• Nadia categorizes objections in several areas, an example of which is the top of the funnel objections. These are objections during the actual sales cycle such as the lack of budget, the lack of resources, cost justification, and competing priorities. 
• When there’s an objection, it’s important to take a pause. While others feel that it’s uncomfortable, this pause allows the buyers to gather their thoughts. 
• Do the five-second rule for assessment. 
• Nadia also asks sales reps to listen to other top sales representatives and learn from them. Oftentimes, they learn two things from these great sales reps: to actively listen and to ask a lot of open-ended questions to understand and validate the good stuff. 
• Think of objections as a four-step process. 

• Ensure that you’re listening.
• Always validate and ensure that your buyer/the person you’re talking to understands what you’re saying.
• Respond accurately. There’s no need to lie; if you don’t know the answer tell them honestly. 
• Confirm that you’ve resolved the objection. 
• An open dialogue is much more collaborative and better received. 
• Come from a place of concern. You need to care about what it is that you’re solving for the prospect and how your solution is going to impact them. 
• As sales reps, it’s critical to listen well and ask open-ended questions to trigger the buyers to think. 
• Open-ended questions allow you to see if there is an opportunity there and see how engaged the prospects are. 

“Objections: How to Overcome the Most Common Objections in B2B Sales” episode resources

Follow Nadia Rashid on LinkedIn. Speak with Donald directly for more sales talks. Reach him via these channels: LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook about any sales concerns. 

This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. 

Are you sick of crickets? The pain of sales reps continually reaching out with phone calls and emails and not receiving a response is real. 

85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation. All text messaging is not equal. Customers respond to people, NOT BOTS. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in conversions. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com.

This episode is brought to you in part by NetHunt CRM.

NetHunt CRM is a sales automation tool that lives inside Gmail. It covers a full set of features to manage leads, nurture customer relations, monitor sales progress, and automate sales and marketing workflows. With native-like Gmail and G Suite integration, you can access all the CRM data, launch bulk email campaigns, and set up automated sequences right from your inbox. NetHunt helps to move your leads down your sales funnel and never let the valuable prospects go untouched.

NetHunt CRM offers TSE listeners a 40% discount for the first 3 months along with free user training and a dedicated Customer Success Manager with any pricing plan. 

Try NetHunt CRM today →  https://nethunt.com/tse

This course is brought to you in part by TSE Certified Sales Training Program. It’s a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. It will help them elevate their sales game. Sign up now and get the first two modules free! You can go and visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals also call us at (561) 570-5077. "We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our 2 mins survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. 

We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes so tune in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings to every episode you listen to. 

You can also read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore this huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day free trial. 

Audio provided by Free SFX. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder, written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Getting to know Scott Roy and Roy Whitten

Scott Roy is the co-founder and CEO of the Whitten & Roy Partnership. It’s a sales consultancy that works with organizations to transform their sales performance. They work with 45 countries in the B2C and B2B markets. 

Roy Whitten has been friends with Scott Roy for many years and they’ve journeyed through their sales careers together. Roy started in door-to-door selling but later on, transitioned into applying transformational work to B2B and B2C companies. He used his education and works in transformative learning to coach and train more than 100,000 people. 

Managing attitude to increase sales

• The issue is that when sales are going well, the attitude is great. When the sales aren’t going well, the attitude takes a downturn. 
• As a sales leader, Scott is looking for ways to help his team manage their attitude and drastically increase sales. 
• Managing attitude is more than just a causative attitude. It’s maintaining a purposeful attitude. It means having the ability to stay on track and see how things are going to work out positively. 
• The first part in managing attitude is by getting a clear picture of what the purpose is for your selling activity and conversations. The second part is no longer being a victim of circumstances and taking control of the process instead of being affected by the situation. 
• Scott volunteered in Cambodia and he discovered that the fundamental belief in selling is shared by many people whether they’re from a developing country or in the U.S: That selling is about pitching, convincing, and sometimes, pressuring people to make a decision.  
• Decision intelliegence can help salespeople to become so much more effective than the pitch, convince, and persuade strategy. This means being committed to help clients make the best possible decision. 

Drastically increase sales with these 4 steps

• Step one: Find a problem, stay on the problem, and not get off the problem until it’s solved. It’s about taking the customer through the journey of discovering their pain point and helping them identify the causes in order to eventually come up with a solution.
• Step two: Know the impact of these problems on the company, employees, the brand, and additional touch points. 
• Step three: It’s all about the solution. It’s how the products or eservice meet the problems in a way that the problems are solved. 
• Step four: Calculate the return on investments and make sure that what you’re spending is worth it.
• R = A+C+E. Result is based on three things: The attitude you bring to every moment of the conversation. C is the competence you have in how well you are able to get you customers to explore the problem. E is effort or execution as you do the activities at the right time to effectively sell. 
• Approach the customers with a problem proposition, not with what you can do for them. 

“The Best Way to Manage Attitude and Drastically Increase Sales” episode resources 

Reach out to Scott and Roy via their LinkedIn accounts. You can also visit their official website to learn more. 

Speak with Donald directly for more sales talks. Reach him via these channels: LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook about any sales concerns. Try Pipedrive today for FREE! As a TSE listener, PipeDrive is offering you an EXTEND trial beyond the typical 30 days + 25% off your first three months after trial. Try it today at  → https://pipedrive.live/tse use your code: pipedrivetse. This course is brought to you in part by TSE Certified Sales Training Program. It’s a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. It will help them elevate their sales game. Sign up now and get the first two modules free! You can go and visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals also call us at (561) 570-5077. "We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our 2 mins survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey

We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes so tune in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings to every episode you listen to. 

You can also read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore this huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day free trial. 

Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Sometimes, getting a prospect to say “yes” requires the right personality. But what if your personality doesn’t quite match theirs? How can you prevent them from hanging up the phone?

My guest, James Buckley—the self-proclaimed phone expert and co-host of the Sell Better Podcast—is here to share the communication style you need to instantly increase your cold-call success rate. Click play and learn how to align your sales style with your prospect’s personality.

Meet James Buckley

• After meeting James Buckley, it’s clear why he’s known as “the phone guy.” His communication style evokes emotions far more swiftly and effectively than email ever could. 
• James personalizes his sales approach by being authentic, intuitively connecting with prospective customers in a way that builds rapport and trust. 
• Thanks to his unique methods, James has become a valuable resource for both new and seasoned sales professionals. 
• Be sure to check out Sell Better, where he shares daily and weekly sales tips.

Have the Right Personality

• The wrong approach could be keeping you from closing deals. James explains how to tailor your communication based on personality cues you can often pick up from LinkedIn profiles. 
• For example, if someone appears friendly in their profile, adopt a jovial tone; but if a prospect’s profile has a more serious vibe, use a tone that matches.

Think Smaller with Emails

• James says, don’t write a novel when emailing prospects! Decision-makers often read emails on mobile devices, so the shorter, the better. His advice? 
• Make your emails concise and to the point by removing unnecessary words. 
• Here are three ways ChatGPT prompts to improve your emails:
• Rewrite the email to make it shorter.
• Make it more about the prospect, less about yourself.
• Ensure it’s easy to read on a phone.

Subject Line Tips

• Your subject line matters more than the email’s body. James shares that specific words can boost your open rates. 
• For example, use “Thanks” for an ego appeal, rather than the neutral “Quick question.” 
• Also, a meaningful preview text can also capture the prospect’s attention, increasing response rates.

“Folks, I’m going to give you four words that will change everything about your emails in 2025: The shorter, the better.” — James Buckley.

Resources

The Daily Sales Show

Sellbetter.xyz 

Cold Call Openers

Sponsorship Offers

1. This episode is brought to you in part by Hubspot.

With HubSpot sales hubs, your data tools and teams join a single platform to close deals and turn prospects into pipelines. Try it for yourself at hubspot.com/sales.

2.            This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.

Are you tired of prospective clients not responding to your emails? Sign up for a free 60-day trial of LinkedIn Sales Navigator at linkedin.com/tse.

3.            This episode is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Foundation.

Improve your connection on LinkedIn and land three or five appointments with our LinkedIn prospecting course. Go to the salesevangelist.com/linkedin.

Credits

As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

LinkedIn is a platform that allows professionals to network and connect with others in their industry. In this episode, Donal Kelly talks about the three LinkedIn strategies that provide results. 

• The issue here is that there are too many people on LinkedIn, and when we find people, we start pitching right away without adding value to them. 
• Ensure that you are engaging and not just going to the platform pitching and pitching. 

Three LinkedIn strategies you need

• Make sure that you are sharing content. ,

• Create videos that you can share.,

• Utilize the LinkedIn polls.,

Share your ideas/contents

• You know a lot of information about your industry that you need to share with other people. 
• The goal is to become a thought leader and an expert in your own space. 
• Tribal Impact saw that 55% of decision-makers use LinkedIn content to evaluate potential partners. 
• Important people are looking at your content and the value that you add to every post you share. So make sure that you’re sharing content relevant to your ideal customers.
• Think of what your prospects are thinking but would never say to anyone and write a post about it. This content is relatable to many customers in your sphere. 

Create videos to share on social platforms, especially LinkedIn

• Videos are five times more likely to increase your engagement on LinkedIn than any other type of content. 
• Recreate your content and make it into videos. Use hashtags when sharing your video content for more visibility. 
• You can also use videos and send them via private messages. It makes your messages more personalized and increases your chances of engagement. 

Utilize LinkedIn polls

• Polls are like sharing a little message and then asking people for their opinion on the matter. 
• Tribal Impact said that they saw 115% higher engagements in their polls for the last six months compared to other content they posted. 
• Don’t just ask any questions. Make sure that your questions add value. 
• Try to engage everyone who answers the poll and use hashtags in your post. 

“LinkedIn: Three LinkedIn Strategies Providing Results” episode resources

Speak with Donald directly for more sales talks. Reach him via these channels: LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, about any sales concerns. 

This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. 

Are you sick of crickets? The pain of sales reps continually reaching out with phone calls and emails and not receiving a response is real. 

85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation. All text messaging is not equal. Customers respond to people, NOT BOTS. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in conversions. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com.

This episode is brought to you in part by NetHunt CRM.

NetHunt CRM is a sales automation tool that lives inside Gmail. It covers a full set of features to manage leads, nurture customer relations, monitor sales progress, and automate sales and marketing workflows. With native-like Gmail and G Suite integration, you can access all the CRM data, launch bulk email campaigns, and set up automated sequences right from your inbox. NetHunt helps to move your leads down your sales funnel and never let the valuable prospects go untouched.

NetHunt CRM offers TSE listeners a 40% discount for the first 3 months along with free user training and a dedicated Customer Success Manager with any pricing plan. 

Try NetHunt CRM today →  https://nethunt.com/tse

This course is brought to you in part by TSE Certified Sales Training Program. It’s a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. It will help them elevate their sales game. Sign up now and get the first two modules free! You can go and visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals also call us at (561) 570-5077. "We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our 2 mins survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. 

We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes so tune in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings to every episode you listen to. 

You can also read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore this huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day free trial. 

Audio provided by Free SFX. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder, written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Emotional connections are an important part of life but sometimes sales professionals forget that those emotional experiences can help us make genuine connections with our prospects. In some cases, those emotional connections can help us close more deals.

On Valentine’s Day, we’re sharing some ideas for ways that you can build emotional connections with your prospects.

TSE CERTIFIED SALES TRAINING PROGRAM

The TSE Certified Sales Training Program began as a result of my inexperience as a seller. I wasn’t a great sales rep, but I went through training that transformed me.

I created TSE Hustler’s League, which was my own version of a sales training program. Since then, that program has evolved into the TSECSP.

You can take the course alone or with a group to gain from group coaching. The new semester will begin in April.

CONNECTING WITH BUYERS

Salespeople often overlook the importance of connecting with buyers on an emotional level.

At some point in your life, you were likely interested in someone but you were afraid of letting that person know. You might have even been rejected by that person.

Imagine your buyers in that scenario. They encounter emotional experiences daily. They have problems and challenges daily that they need help solving. If you step into that role, you have an opportunity to create emotional connections.

BEST CLIENTS

Think back to those clients you’ve successfully brought on board. Perhaps they were afraid of losing their jobs if they couldn’t solve a problem at work. Or afraid of losing track of invoices. Or unable to follow up on opportunities that came through their pipelines.

They likely signed on with you because you were able to demonstrate to them how they could solve a problem. You created a connection by helping them.

SENDING EMAIL

If you’re sending email as part of your prospecting process, are your subject lines boring?

“Join us for a free webinar.”

Your prospect doesn’t care about your webinar. He cares about his problem. He doesn’t care about your business or your product until you show him how it can help him.

Tap into his struggles to help him care about your business.

If you’re dealing with finance directors who are frustrated with the invoicing process, try this subject line: “Dave, are you frustrated with these invoicing situations?”

That may not be exactly his struggle, but if the rest of your ideal customers are struggling with this issue, it’s likely that Dave is, too.

If Dave is, in fact, frustrated with this issue, he’ll likely click on your email. When he opens it, the first line will include his name, and will immediately tie back to that subject line.

“We’ve helped more than 10,000 finance directors solve the problem of not being able to process invoices on time. We’ve helped them avoid miscalculations and lost invoices.”

PROVIDING SOLUTIONS

Once you’ve made an emotional connection with your buyer, you can offer the solution to his problem. Then, after you’ve explained the remedy you offer, you can invite him to join your masterclass or webinar.

It’s possible that your prospect won’t respond to the first email because he’s busy, but you can grab his attention with email number two. When you demonstrate your understanding of his pain and his challenge, he’ll likely feel connected to you.

USING VIDEOS

Videos help you build emotional connections because the prospects can hear and see your emotion.

Tools like BombBomb, Loom, Wistia, and Soapbox allow you to embed videos directly into your email so that your prospects have an opportunity to make a human connection. That 20- or 30-second video allows them to hear and see your emotions.

You can share an experience you had in the past or a solution you’ve provided to a previous client.

Sellers who do this well throughout the pipeline can tap deep into emotions.

It’s one thing to tell a prospect that you can save him $50,000. It’s quite another to talk about the extra fees that a company is needlessly paying each month because of missed reports and missed opportunities.

People lose their jobs over those kinds of issues, and VPs feel the pressure to fix those problems.

When you can demonstrate how your company can prevent those people from losing their jobs over missed reports and missed opportunities, that $50,000 savings feels more personal.

BUILDING VALUE

Build value in your stories and demonstrations. Tap into their frustrations. Reiterate their challenges and explain how you can help them tackle those challenges.

Work to build emotional connections.

This stuff works, which is why we share it here.

“EMOTIONAL CONNECTIONS” EPISODE RESOURCES

This episode is brought to you by the TSE Certified Sales Training Program. If you put in a lot of hard work in 2018 but weren’t able to close many of your deals, we can help you fix that. We have a new semester beginning in April and it would be an honor to have you join. Visit thesalesevangelist.com/CST.

Check out BombBomb, Loom, Wistia, and Soapbox to help you make emotional connections with your prospects by embedding videos into your emails.

If you haven’t already done so, subscribe to the podcast so you won’t miss a single episode. Share it with your friends who would benefit from learning more.

This episode is also brought to you in part by mailtag.io, a Chrome browser extension for Gmail that allows you to track and schedule your emails. It’s super easy, it’s helpful, and I recommend that you try it out. You’ll receive real-time alerts anyone opens an email or clicks a link.

Mailtag.io will give you half-off your subscription for life when you use the Promo Code: Donald at check out.

I hope you enjoyed the show today as much as I did. If so, please consider leaving us a rating on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or wherever you consume this content and share it with someone else who might benefit from our message. It helps others find our message and improves our visibility.

Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound.

The world is changing, and sales representatives must adapt. This is especially true when it comes to content creation.

Do you know what the top-performing social media content is nowadays? 

It's video creation! If you're not taking the time to create and promote videos, it may keep you from building your pipeline.

In this thought-provoking TSE episode, host Donald Kelly speaks with Adam Robinson, founder and CEO of Retention, about his approach to content creation. Adam discusses the significance of establishing content pillars and sub-pillars to maintain coherence and deliver a unified message. This technique has been instrumental in Adam's success, solidifying the foundation for his content strategy.

Discover Adam's methods to improve your sales techniques.

The Chris Walker Method

• Adam credits Chris Walker for the impact his approach has had on Adam's own content creation journey. 

• By consistently reinforcing a central message, Adam emphasizes the role of repetition in strengthening the audience's understanding and recall. 

• He also touches upon the growing propensity for video content, hinting at the potential crossover for YouTubers into corporate positions, as video prowess becomes increasingly valuable in business.

Building Trust with Organic Content

• Both Adam and Donald concur on the superior efficacy of organic social content compared to traditional ads when building trust. 

• Donald personally reflects on his inclination towards products discovered on social media, favoring YouTube for its less intrusive nature over website videos. This preference underscores the shift towards content platforms that offer a more genuine connection with audiences.

Adam's Philosophy on Social Media and Connection

• Adam elucidates the pivotal role of social media in forming relationships and amplifying one's presence. 

• He shares his own narrative of venturing into content creation, underlining the initial uncertainties and the growth that followed. 

• His experiences testify to the value of perseverance and authenticity in the content creation landscape.

Establishing a Unique Voice

• The conversation delves into Adam's early challenges in content creation within an unfamiliar niche, his strategic moves to raise brand awareness, and the evolution that led him to discover his unique voice. 

• Adam parallels Chris Walker's style, acknowledging the influence and adaptation of Chris's methods in his video production process.

Behind-the-Scenes and List-Style Content

• Adam and Donald discuss the fascinating effect of behind-the-scenes style videos and their ability to captivate audiences with a sneak peek into the creative process. 

• Adam also extols the unexpected success of unconventional formats like lengthy list-style LinkedIn posts and sideways 'fake podcast' videos, which resonate more with audiences than high-budget docuseries.

Content Creation: A Blend of Art and Inspiration

• Adam underscores that while there is no foolproof blueprint for success in content creation, a wealth of inspiration can be harnessed. 

• He advises taking cues from flourishing creators and incorporating their ideas with a personal flare. 

• Adam encourages starting modestly on one platform and prioritizing iterative improvement.

In this illuminating TSE podcast episode, sales representatives can reflect on the insightful journey through the art of content creation, the trust-building power of organic social content, and the pivotal role of video in today's business landscape. Discover the importance of authenticity, perseverance, and the strategic use of social platforms to amplify one's voice and brand. 

Lastly, don't forget to join Adam's waiting list for his pioneering software, Retention.

“There is no more effective way and efficient way to build trust to an audience than organic social.” - Adam Robinson. 

Resources

Adam Robinson on LinkedIn

Billion Dollar Challenge 

Retention 

Chris Walker

Sponsorship Offers

1. This episode is brought to you in part by Hubspot.

With HubSpot sales hubs, your data tools and teams join a single platform to close deals and turn prospects into pipelines. Try it for yourself at hubspot.com/sales.

2. This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.

Are you tired of prospective clients not responding to your emails? Sign up for a free 60-day trial of LinkedIn Sales Navigator at linkedin.com/tse.

3. This episode is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Foundation.

Improve your connection on LinkedIn and land three or five appointments with our LinkedIn prospecting course. Go to the salesevangelist.com/linkedin.

Credits

As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald Kelly meets with Paul Owen, the owner of Sales Talent, to discuss the importance of planning when it comes to sales, and why all salespeople should have some sort of a plan to maximize their performance.

The importance of planning in the world of sales:

• Many salespeople will go into a deal without a plan in mind. Instead, they simply rely on their past experiences and instincts. This CAN work in some instances, but having a plan is always better.
• When you approach each sale with a structure in mind, you can replicate success more reliably. Instead of winging it and simply having one-off successes, a plan gives you the framework and tools you need to consistently make a profit.

Why don’t salespeople utilize planning more?

• A lot of salespeople believe that going off of a plan is too RESTRICTIVE. One big misconception sellers have is that sales are too dynamic and unique to utilize one sales plan. Sales are unique, yes, but they still have some commonalities. These commonalities allow sellers to actually utilize a plan to better equip themselves to finalize the deal.
• Another reason why salespeople don’t use planning more is that they’re naturally good at selling. As the saying goes, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. This CAN work if the salesperson works individually. When they start to build a business, however, they’ll run into issues. Unless the entrepreneur finds people who are also naturally good at sales, they won’t be able to teach new sellers how to effectively sell. Having a plan in place can alleviate this problem.

How can you start using planning in your sales?

• Take notes of past sales, and what did and didn’t work, and utilize that to create a plan. Although sales are unique, there are still common themes and elements between them. Take those common themes and elements and use them to create a framework for your future sales.
• Use buyer feedback. Ask past clients for their experience and utilize this feedback. Implement what works and get rid of what doesn’t to streamline your sales process and create planning designed to increase your sales.

You can get a hold of Paul Owen and learn more about using structure and plans in your sales through LinkedIn. Owen also runs a website for his company called www.salestalentuk.com with blog posts and more information.

1. This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio.

Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com.

2. This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com. 

3. This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn. 

The sales landscape is totally changing. You need to adapt to succeed. Deep Sales, a part of the next generation of LinkedIn Sales Navigator, can help you do just that. Check it out yourself and get a 60-day free trial at Linkedin.com/TSE.

4. This episode is brought to you in part by Calendly.

The power of scheduling automation has never been more critical than it is today. Your sales team needs a solution to easily meet with prospects at the right time, every time. Finish the year strong and request a demo of Calendly today at Calendly.com/TSE. 

Credits

As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. 

Audio is provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

How do sleep and sales relate?

You’ll have to listen to this exciting Sales Evangelist Podcast episode to find out. Host Donald Kelly delves into the crucial topic of sleep and its impact on sales performance with guest expert Tanessa Shears. 

Tanessa, a specialist in wearable tech and health hacks, discusses how improving sleep quality can lead to increased energy, clarity, and better problem-solving skills, making it a foundational element for a successful sales career.

Tune in now to gain access to Tanessa's wealth of knowledge and uncover actionable strategies to optimize your sleep quality, enhance your energy levels, and revolutionize your sales performance.

Impact of Sleep on Sales Professionals

• Tanessa highlights the common tendency among sales professionals to neglect quality sleep to pursue productivity and achieve sales targets. 
• The "hustle and grind" culture often leads to sacrificing sleep and neglecting personal health while striving for professional success. 
• She emphasizes the detrimental effects of insufficient sleep, including brain fog, stress, and compromised cognitive function, that can significantly hinder sales professionals' performance.

Addressing Sleep Challenges in Sales

• Tanessa shares her experiences working with entrepreneurs, a group often caught up in the fast-paced business world, where neglecting sleep and health has become normative. 
• She emphasizes the need to recognize the actual sleep time versus the time spent in bed, the importance of consistent sleep schedules, and the significant impact of sleep quality on overall performance.

Practical Tips for Improving Sleep

• Highlighting the significance of sleep duration and consistency, Tanessa provides actionable ways to improve sleep quality. 
• She advises sales professionals to allocate enough time for sleep, maintain consistent sleep schedules, and focus on the quality of sleep, particularly emphasizing the benefits of deep and REM sleep. 
• In addition, she emphasizes the need for a wind-down time before sleep, minimizing external input, and avoiding screen time to enhance sleep quality.

Understanding Sleep Quality and Resilience

• Tanessa unravels the connection between sleep quality and resilience, shedding light on how sleep impacts the ability to handle stress, cognitive function, emotional stability, and energy levels. 
• She emphasizes the crucial role of deep and REM sleep in enhancing problem-solving abilities, memory retention, and emotional stability, all of which are essential for sales professionals.

Behavioral Changes for Enhanced Sleep

• Tanessa presents practical changes individuals can make to enhance their sleep quality, such as minimizing screen time before bed, fostering a wind-down routine, and prioritizing activities that facilitate relaxation and unwinding. 
• She also discusses the impact of reading before bed, offering insights into the types of reading that can either hinder or enhance sleep quality.

Balancing Sleep Practices

• Discussing the balance between embracing leisurely sleep-ins and maintaining consistent sleep schedules, Tanessa addresses the importance of managing sleep debt and maintaining a balanced approach to sleep practice. 
• She offers guidance on allowing a degree of flexibility while also ensuring that oversleeping does not compensate for insufficient sleep during the week.

Benefits of Enhanced Sleep for Sales Professionals

• Tanessa elaborates on the benefits of improved sleep for sales professionals, including increased energy, enhanced problem-solving skills, improved memory retention, and the ability to build strong rapport with clients. 
• She stresses the importance of showing up with energy and clarity to attract and retain clients.

Resource for Further Learning

• Tanessa provides a free downloadable resource, the "12 Ways to Biohack Your Energy" playbook, which offers actionable hacks to boost energy levels and create productive mornings. 
• The playbook, containing practical tips and insights, aims to empower individuals to apply simple yet powerful strategies to enhance their energy and overall performance.

Tanessa Shears shares invaluable insights about sleep's crucial role in our productivity, resilience, and overall well-being as sales professionals. From uncovering the hidden truths about our actual sleep hours to delving into the impact of social jet lag, Tanessa's expertise sheds a powerful light on the often overlooked aspects of our sleep habits.

Don't miss out on this opportunity to gain invaluable techniques to optimize your sleep and become a high-energy, top-performing sales leader. Listen to the full episode now and take the first step towards unlocking your true potential.

"It's not only just the time that you're spending sleeping, but how you're cueing your brain during the day and during the night to have a really good sleep." - Tanessa Shears.

Resources

Becoming Limitless Podcast

Tanessa Shears on Instagram

Sleep Biohacking Toolkit 

Becoming Limitless Course  

Sponsorship Offers

1. This episode is brought to you in part by Hubspot.

With HubSpot sales hubs, your data tools and teams join a single platform to close deals and turn prospects into pipelines. Try it for yourself at hubspot.com/sales.

2.            This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.

Are you tired of prospective clients not responding to your emails? Sign up for a free 60-day trial of LinkedIn Sales Navigator at linkedin.com/tse.

3.            This episode is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Foundation.

Improve your connection on LinkedIn and land three or five appointments with our LinkedIn prospecting course. Go to the salesevangelist.com/linkedin.

Credits

As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Creating an authentic personal brand is important because everything that we develop in business is based on creating a personal brand. As sales reps, polishing your personal brand must be a priority to stand out to everyone no matter where you go or where you are. 

Emily Soccorsy and Justin Foster are co-founders of intrinsic branding practice Root + River. They have combined their experience and expertise in branding and passion for personal growth to guide individuals in combining authentic original brands that attract new opportunities and levels of possibilities. 

The intrinsic practice 

Both Emily and Justin believe that every great brand is a spiritual experience. As coaches, they guide individuals regardless of the roles they play in the organization. Their goal is to make them understand that deep foundational soul of their brand and put that into practical use every day. 

Branding is a practice, which means you need to do it every single day whether you are aware of it or not. Intrinsic practice will help you be aware of the things that you do and get organized around them so that those things will have far greater impact for a longer time. 

What is branding?

In simple terms, a brand is how other people experience what you believe. The brand is how people experience you in everyday situations and conversations. If you understand what that experience is giving to people, you can tap into that in a more conscious manner to help build your brand in a way that has greater impact. 

Frank Rogers is a good example. He is a great salesperson who developed a thought leadership brand. He doesn’t wait for the market to tell him what to say. Instead, he leads from the front. 

Chip Scholz from North Carolina is another example. He is an executive coach with a very memorable brand who uses a direct and Socratic approach in his coaching. 

Regardless of the audience you are talking to and the role you have, whether you’re a coach or a sales leader, you must follow the same principles because you are responsible for two brands. First, you’re responsible for your personal brand, and second, you’re responsible for the brand that you are representing. 

There are three specific qualities in intrinsic branding: inner traits that show up in the outer world. 

• Be original. 

Don’t be a karaoke singer or cover band. Be an original thinker, an original producer. 

• Articulate well.

Learn how to tell your story eloquently, consistently, and compellingly. Do this without hesitation and insecurities. Share your story from the heart with conviction. 

• Be vulnerable.

Do not give a packaged version of yourself. It is best to carry the lightest armor you can because when you do, you emanate something. 

All three traits help to make a brand a positive contagion. 

Originality 

Anyone in any position has an opportunity to take an inventory of what their true expertise is and what they are better at doing than anybody else. If you are good in sales, ask yourself how it manifests, what it looks like for you, and in what aspect of the selling process you are crushing it. 

These are difficult questions to answer because most times, what comes easily to us doesn’t get much value. But if you are able to tune into the things that you are good at and able to share those with people, you’ll have the opportunity to be an original thinker and brand yourself as a thought leader in whatever sliver of space that is. 

Make sure that you share the tips that you have and give feedback to people who are open to it. You begin to build your brand by being a thought leader when you differentiate yourself in those conversations. 

Fear

Many feel apprehensive in speaking and expressing their original self because of two reasons: the fear of becoming an over-promoter and the social emphasis on humility. 

There is a fear of overdoing things and the feeling of bombarding people with content they don’t really need. But sharing is a moral obligation if the content is good and you are producing something that is helpful for the community. 

The second one is humility. 

While humility is a beautiful trait, it is unfortunately a terrible brand strategy because you have to suspend the idea that you’re not special. 

Conditioning

From a very early age, we are conditioned to put the emphasis on other people and not on ourselves. People who talk about themselves are looked down upon. 

But the truth is you have a voice and you have a message. You have something that transcends the product or service that you are selling, and you have a piece of yourself to offer to the world. You can’t do these things if you choose the road of humility. 

As a sales rep, it is your role to share your gifts with the world, and the way people can access your gifts is through your products and services. 

Consistent authenticity 

Authenticity comes from knowing who you are and what you can do. It stems from acceptance and conviction. When you discover who you are, the next thing you need to master is how to achieve consistency. 

In branding, it’s not the most technically talented that wins; it’s the most consistently authentic that wins. #Branding

Austin Kleone mentioned in his book Steal Like an Artist that you need to steal from the people who inspire you instead of copying them. 

Brene Brown is a great example. She built her brand by investigating what she found interesting and curious about the world. She then shares what she learns and talks openly about it. She is authentic and consistent in what she does. 

The same is true for Gary V. Many would say he is  “too much” but that’s the way he builds his brand. He shows up, answers questions, and talks a lot. But still, he is being paid for it because he is sharing something that he is good at. If you’re going to hold yourself accountable to something, hold yourself accountable to authenticity.

Inspiration

The TSE brand prides itself on being personal to our clients. Even now with thousands of people listening to our podcasts, we make it a goal to be the same people we were before. When people connect with us on LinkedIn, we try to communicate with them and send something personal.  

In Justin’s assessment, The Sales Evangelist brand strives to be inspirational before it’s informational. As it turns out,  peoples’ brains are full of information, but there’s always room for inspiration. People welcome inspiration because it’s nourishment to the soul.  

Listen to your audience 

Listen to your audience. People often talk about the ideal market in terms of sales but we don’t like that language. We favor the ideal audience and what you need to do with an audience is to take in their feedback. Your audience can give you energy and you can respond to that. It will help you hold things a little bit longer and move through things a bit quicker. 

Salespeople must be responsive to the audience from an emotional standpoint. You don’t do this by sending out surveys every other day. You do this by asking them questions, listening to them, and incorporating the things they said through your work. 

Articulate 

When you have something to say, you need to say it well, which means you need to write and speak with a level of excellence. Building a great authentic brand requires one to both write and speak well because it’s the only way that the audience can access you. You need to find a balance. 

You can make a system where you go out, do things, and speak. Learn how to produce interesting and consumable content. Learn how to create an explanation that’s going to incite curiosity and interest to engage people in conversation. 

It is important to simplify your message and infuse energy and emotion as much as possible. It’s got to have the unexpected quality as well. 

Simple, unexpected, and emotional are the three ingredients in making interesting content that people would be inclined to share it to the world. 

This is what articulation is and it comes from practice. It is a type of discipline. The skill of articulating well isn’t a natural ability; it’s a product of frequent practicing. 

Vulnerability 

You have to push back against several thousand years of biological and social programming to become a great brand. Branding is far more about conviction. It comes from having an open front and strong back, according to Brene Brown. It is important to show your audience a little bit of the behind-the-scenes. Vulnerability means sharing your true self to the world. It is about being honest and telling people how you are doing or what you are doing. 

Many find this challenging, however, and the line between what’s private and what’s public is difficult to cross. 

Being vulnerable means sharing parts of the journey: the little lessons and failures along the way and opening yourself up to feedback. Contrary to what many think, vulnerability isn’t about confessing everything. It’s about showing your client that you are human and that you are relatable. 

Michael Jordan failed so often that he was cut from his team, but he was able to push through, and that made him more human. It made him relatable and people have hope because of his story. They believe that they can do it, too. 

Show the mess a little bit without being too self-deprecating. Vulnerability means a lot of different things but for us; it’s a behavior and an action. 

Who you are as a brand

Set aside time to dive into who you are as a brand. Ask some thought-provoking questions and do the deep work with the intention of translating that into your action. Remember that you are your first client. It is important to practice self-care and to take care of the energy centers of physical health, mental health, emotional health, and spiritual health. 

Be better so that everyone around you benefits. The world needs the best version of you, not a worn-out version of you. There is no better brand than vibrancy, and vibrancy comes from nourishment. 

“Creating an Authentic Personal Brand” episode resources 

Check out rootandriver.com for resources on how to create an authentic personal brand. Connect with Emily Soccorsy and Justin Foster on LinkedIn.

Sales Management Simplified by Mike Weinberg is a great book that teaches simple concepts about sales leadership. Check it out and tell me what chapter of the book you liked the most. 

This episode is brought to you in part by Audible, your one-stop shop for thousands of books across genres. Go ahead and check out audibletrial.com/tse to get a free book and to enjoy the 30-day free trial. 

It’s also brought to you in part by the TSE Certified Sales Training Program, a helpful course for sales leaders and sales reps in finding better prospects, having more meaningful conversations, and knowing how to ask the most powerful questions to close deals. Don’t miss the opportunity of becoming a sales savvy and check out the program. The first two episodes are absolutely free. Visit thesalesevangelist.com/freecourse to find more information about the program. 

This episode has been nothing short of fun and I hope you feel the same way too. If you enjoyed it, please give us a 5-star rating on Apple podcast. You can also listen to more contents by clicking subscribe. Share this podcast to your sales reps friends in whatever platform they use, they can find us in Google Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. 

Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound.

Why having a sales trainer is a good idea?

In this episode of the Sales Evangelist podcast, host Donald Kelly will provide four benefits to having one. If you’re ready to save time and elevate your game, listen to why you need a sales trainer to help you achieve greatness!

Why Listen to Donald on Sales Training?

• He has years of experience as a sales representative, sales leader, and individual contributor.

• Based on his three levels of experience within the sales industry, he will share the difference between those who do and don’t receive sales training. 

• Donald shares his experience working with two companies that didn’t provide sales training. He had to figure out how to make sales independently and often struggled to close deals.

• When he started working with a company that provided sales training, he received a $30,000 deal within his first three months of working with them.

• Thanks to the third company investing in a sales training program, they were able to help their representatives improve their process.

Sales Training Brings New Ideas

• A great sales trainer will bring fresh concepts to improve sales. Donald noticed after receiving sales training, he started to come up with different ideas on how he could improve his techniques.

• Companies can work with other organizations to understand what works and is not working within the industry. The ideas they receive help them create a sales process to win over potential customers.

• However, you must work with a sales trainer who is up-to-date with today’s methods and can provide fresh ideas. The new ideas give sales representatives the confidence to apply different techniques. 

A Sales Trainer Helps Improve Your Process

• Remember, sales fundamentals don’t change, but the process will! 

• Don’t make the mistake of working with someone using an outdated sales process. Once again, you need someone skilled in using today's digital methods.

• 50% of potential customers are millennials, so it’s essential to have a sales process that will connect with them.

Sales Trainers Can Help You Save Time

• As a leader, you can’t do everything on your own. You want your sales team to have the proper training, but you can’t provide one-on-one care to them. 

• A sales trainer will help you save time and provide the proper training to your representatives. Listen to Donald explain how a sales trainer can effectively organize and guide your team.

Generate ROI With Sales Training

• A good sales trainer will be able to provide examples of how they have helped other companies.

• Look at their case studies to see how they improved the sales process for others.

• Find a sales trainer that is actually selling!

• A proven track record will let you know the effectiveness of their work.

These are the four benefits of working with a sales trainer. Donald Kelly still provides sales training and has a proven track record; visit the Sales Evangelist website to learn more.

Also, don’t forget to subscribe to the Sales Evangelist Podcast!

Resources

The Sales Evangelist

Donald C Kelly LinkedIn

Donald C Kelly Instagram

Donald C kelly TikTok

Sponsorship Offer

This episode is brought to you in part by TSE Sales Foundation.

I think we can all agree that sales should be fun. However, many times, we find ourselves in a quagmire where we’re not progressing and deals are not going the way that they should. This is why we created TSE Sales Foundation. It’s a program designed to help sales professionals just like you master the fundamentals of sales so they can radically improve their sales pipeline and close more deals. To find out more about TSE Sales Foundation and our next start date, simply go to thesalesevangelist.com/foundation.

Credits

As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

As we move into 2022, there’s no time like the present to set new goals and be prepared for the year ahead. So what is Donald doing to prepare for 2022?  He’s adding three books to his reading list (and you should too.)

The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks:

•  Getting past your comfort zone can be a challenge. When it comes to quotas, commissions, and sales targets, many salespeople trap themselves into thinking that they can only do a certain amount. 
• But I’ll ask you this - why can’t you make more? Don’t be your own worst enemy!
• If your company limits your commissions, maybe it's time to find a new job to break through and get to the next level. 

The Billion Dollar Secret by Rafael Badziag:

• This guy interviewed billionaire people and asked them what it takes to make a billion dollars.
• You may not get a billion dollars in sales revenue yourself, but why can’t you get six or seven figures?
• Get past limits you set yourself to unlock more money for you.
• Salespeople reap what they sow - focusing on the ideal customer who makes more significant purchases can be what brings onto the 7-figure level.

The 12 Week Year by Brian Moran:

• Salespeople are super productive between October and December because of the shorter quarter. But why can’t you have this same urgency throughout the year?
• The 12 Week Year breaks down overarching goals into smaller, 12-week-long goals that help you achieve whatever goals you’ve set for yourself.

And now, the bonus book: Donald’s Sales Planner!

• (Yes, this is a shameless plug.) When searching for a sales planner, Donald realized those in the market weren’t what he wanted. 
• Instead of a reactive planner, he wanted one that kept him focused on his goals and moving forward.
• His planner encourages you to focus on tasks that directly correlate to success by utilizing the 12-week concept framework.
• It features a performance tracker at the end of each day or week.
• It is a 3-month planner, promoting focus on each quarter, and features a performance tracker for each day and week to ensure you’re on track to reach quotas.
• Even if you don’t use this planner, plan! Spend 30 minutes each day planning the next day to see more success in the new year. 
• To order the planner for the start of 2022, visit thesalesevangelist.com/salesplanner.

This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio.

Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real.

But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com.

This episode is brought to you in part by mParticle.

Are you tired of wading through thousands of open sales positions to find the one perfect for you? Well, look no further. mParticle is one of the leading independent customer data platforms out there, and they’re looking for motivated remote sellers (just like yourself.) 

With top-name clients from Spotify and Burger King to Airbnb, we don’t want you to let this opportunity go to waste! For more information and to view open positions, go to https://www.mparticle.com/careers/.

This course is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Certified Training Program, designed to help new and struggling sellers master sales fundamentals and close more deals. Help elevate your sales game and sign up now to get the first two modules free! You can visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals or call (561) 570-5077 for more information. We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey.

We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings for each episode you listen to! 

Read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore their huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day trial.

Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

What’s the ideal word count for a successful cold email? To find out, tune into this episode of the Sales Evangelist Podcast.

In this episode, I sit down with Jason Kramer to discuss the ins and outs of effective email outreach. Jason, the founder of Cultivize, shares his proven framework for enhancing email effectiveness and driving better results in the sales process. 

Click play to gain actionable insights and strategies in email outreach.

Meet Jason Kramer

• Jason Kramer founded Cultivize, a company dedicated to helping businesses optimize their sales process through nurtured lead generation and effective use of CRM tools.
• With a marketing background and deep sales experience, Jason has pioneered innovative strategies for ensuring nothing falls through the cracks.

The Magic Number for a Successful Email

• One of the key takeaways from this episode is the ideal word count for an email. But what is it?
• To find out, tune into this episode at 3:33! This magic number ensures clarity and focus, making your emails more effective.

Effective Cold and Warm Outreach Strategy

• Jason sheds light on different strategies for cold outreach and warm leads. He provides a detailed email framework that includes:
• 1. Introduction Email (8:11 - 9:47): Short, to the point, focusing on the problem you solve.
• 2. Case Study Email (9:55 - 10:54): Provide proof of your solution’s effectiveness.
• 3. Follow-Up Emails (10:55 - 11:47): Checking if the prospect received your previous email.
• 4. Reintroduction Email (12:26 - 12:59): Offering additional value and insights.
• 5. Continuous Engagement (13:03 - 14:29): Using CRM insights, LinkedIn networking, and even text messaging for diversified touchpoints.

Best Practices for Email Subject Lines and Links

• Jason advises keeping email subject lines between a specific amount of words to increase open rates. 
• He also shares how many links you should have in your email to ensure higher domain quality and reduce the risk of getting flagged by spam filters.

"The quality of your domain name is a big deal, right? Because if you get blacklisted or be seen as a spammer. It's going to affect not only what you're doing, it's going to affect the whole company." - Jason Kramer.

Resources

Afterthelead.com

Jason Kramer on LinkedIn

Cultivize

Sponsorship Offers

1. This episode is brought to you in part by Hubspot.

With HubSpot sales hubs, your data tools and teams join a single platform to close deals and turn prospects into pipelines. Try it for yourself at hubspot.com/sales.

2.            This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.

Are you tired of prospective clients not responding to your emails? Sign up for a free 60-day trial of LinkedIn Sales Navigator at linkedin.com/tse.

3.            This episode is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Foundation.

Improve your connection on LinkedIn and land three or five appointments with our LinkedIn prospecting course. Go to the salesevangelist.com/linkedin.

Credits

As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Forecasting (and really all parts of selling) grows more successful when you communicate value. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by Tom “The ROI Guy” Pisello. As an entrepreneur, speaker, and author of the book Evolved Selling™: Optimizing Sales Enablement in the Age of Frugalnomics, Tom specializes in value to get the most out of your efforts. 

Three big trends characterize the post-pandemic era of sales:

• First, there’s a tremendous amount of sales turnover. While the Great Resignation is not news, sales will struggle to retain top sellers in favor of faster-growing companies. 
• Second, the buyer is changing. They’re in control of the buying process, cautious of the seller, and more economically focused than ever - it’s the decision by risk aversion.
• Third, we’re in an environment where sales is understaffed, you need engagement, the buyer is more challenging to sell to, and predictable revenue is decreasing.

How do we find (and retain) great talent?

• Growing a team will be challenging. Of course, throwing money and benefits at it is part of the equation, but you also must provide intangible benefits like career development to make your position seem worthwhile.
• What is the purpose of your organization or group? And more importantly, how can you include new personnel to feel that they actively work towards that purpose?
• Create an atmosphere of authenticity that suits your personnel to retain talent.
• It’s not just a long game for selling; it’s a long game for hiring.

Overcoming the ice-cold buyers:

• Buyers have incredible access to resources and information than ever, even compared to a few years ago. Sellers used to be in control, but now it's the opposite.
• In that, they have information overload. And great salespeople guide prospects through this challenge. 
• The curated content a salesperson supply is an excellent direction for the next generation of salespeople.
• If you can show that pain is worth addressing (and that you provide a uniquely differentiating solution), you demonstrate a fiscal reason to make a decision.

Tackling the issue of predictability:

• The old way of leveraging spreadsheets and expert resources within the organization no longer works - only 17% approach forecasting scientifically.
• We now have systems that track multiple criteria, but they act in silos. Aggregating data points to develop a more comprehensive and data-driven forecast will yield more accurate results.
• Know what “good” looks like so you know what to focus on. What works to close a deal, and what are the associated steps?
• Visualize patterns to prioritize to understand the correlations and next best actions.

Episode Resources:

• For more great content from Tom, connect with him on LinkedIn or visit evolvedselling.com.
• Listen to Tom’s podcast, The Evolver’s Podcast, and read his book, Evolved Selling, on Amazon.
• Check out his past episode on The Sales Evangelist here: Episode 1076.

This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn Sales Navigator.

The Great Resignation has become the Great Reshuffle, meaning it can be difficult for sales professionals like you to find leads and close deals. Luckily, Sales Navigator from LinkedIn is here for you!

Sales Navigator from LinkedIn is the only tool that uses real-time alerts and up-to-date insights to help you know when prospects are ready to buy. And, with over 30 advanced filters, sales professionals can quickly find genuine leads with the intent to purchase.

Gain the advantage of accurate, quality lead generation data from LinkedIn Sales Navigator. You can get a 60-day free trial of Sales Navigator at www.LinkedIn.com/TSE. 

This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio.

Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real.

But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com.

This course is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Certified Training Program, designed to help new and struggling sellers master sales fundamentals and close more deals. Help elevate your sales game and sign up now to get the first two modules free! You can visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals or call (561) 570-5077 for more information. We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey.

We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings for each episode you listen to! 

Read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore their huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day trial.

Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

When you have sales meetings with your prospects, the last you need is a boring presentation turning people away from your awesome content. You want them to get excited! And on today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by Alex Dripchak, relationship manager at Mercer, to give us his inside tips to learn how to lead, run, and organize effective meetings.

Why is Alex so passionate about demystifying sales?

• Alex founded and runs Commence, a college to career development skill program.
• He’s also recently published a book on destigmatizing sales for younger people, which breaks down the positive traits and skills salespeople have.

• With 57 U.S. colleges having an official sales major, the word “sales” is slowly become less of a dirty word. However, there is an entrenched viewpoint people need to overcome.

How can you lead effective meetings in your sales life?

• There are components of meetings, whether virtual or in-person, that just suck. Namely, when people push their own agendas down your throat. So, how instead can you turn that into an effective meeting?
• Structure your meetings around reaching individual goals that lead to the end result.
• Keep yourself dynamic and versatile in responding to the needs of individual clients.
• Ask better questions that lead to higher engagement to encourage the prospect’s voice.
• To save time, create a framework to use for every first call, contract negotiation, or meeting with a specific purpose. Then, tailor that framework for individual clients, so you don’t recreate the wheel each time.

The Three Strategies:

• Shut up and listen
• Develop effective questions
• Rehearse and practice

Of course, what would TSE be without a bonus strategy?

• Understand the subtlety between question and engagement prompts. 
• The default is inertia, or lack of movement. Get your prospects to engage with you.
• For example, Alex responds, “did I answer your question in full” after answering a prospect’s question.
• Not only does this put the onus on himself, but it also encourages prospects to further indicate if they need more explanation. 
• Integrate engagement prompts throughout a presentation or meeting to keep people focused. Don’t set aside 20 minutes for a Q&A that may or may not be needed.
• Stop treating people as roles, prospects, and managers. Think of them as people. They aren’t just invested in the company, they’re invested in themselves. 

Alex’s major takeaway: Especially in complex sales, make sure you spend time proportionally to its importance. If you aren’t bordering on something tedious and tiresome for an important task, you haven’t gone far enough.

To get in contact with Alex, you can find him at his website (which includes links and information to his new book), his coaching website for current college students and recent graduates, or connect with him on LinkedIn.

This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio.

Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real.

But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com.

This course is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Certified Training Program, designed to help new and struggling sellers master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. Help elevate your sales game and sign up now to get the first two modules free! You can visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals or call (561) 570-5077 for more information. We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey.

We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes, tune in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings for each episode you listen to! 

Read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore their huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day trial.

Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

How to Build A Six Figure Income Even If You're Not Great At Closing! 

Ever wonder how you can build a six-figure income even if you’re not great at closing? Closing is one of the most important parts of sales. It is crucial and every word you utter during closing matters. 

Terry Hansen hails from Idaho Falls, Idaho. His plan is simple but he still has impressive sales success stories. He’s worked with many organizations and sales reps around the country and helped them boost their sales. Throughout his sales journey, Terry has observed three bottleneck scenarios in which entrepreneurs and sales professionals can get stuck.

The first is that many struggle to increase their sales and income because they are not getting in front of the right kinds of companies and individuals. They are going at it like opening a phone book and just calling from the top of the list, hoping that someone will buy from them. Once on the phone, they don’t spend time introducing themselves, starting a conversation and making appointments.

The second scenario a bottleneck can occur  is the lack of framework to qualify customers and salespeople end up closing  with people they shouldn’t. This comes from a scarcity mindset. There will always be goals and  sales quotas, that have to be hit. Because of this, many people in sales end up trying to sell to without taking the time to  determine whether they’re selling to their target customer.. Sometimes, salespeople can close a client and later have regrets because they didn’t share their work values. 

The third bottleneck in failing to close well comes from not having the right skills. 

It is each of these three scenarios that can become the speed bumps that keep entrepreneurs from growing their sales. 

The value of prospecting 

Many sales books stress the importance of having closing techniques. You have to be a champion in overcoming objections and resolving concerns to become successful in growing your sales. Another secret to success is becoming an account manager. You need to have stellar customer service, be able to ask for referrals, take good care of your base, and keep your competitors from your clients.

Terry read a variety of books and did everything they suggested but he still wasn’t hitting his quotas and achieving the level of success he wanted. He then had lunch with a great mentor and  was venting about his frustrations. Terry let him know that despite doing the right things, he was still living paycheck to paycheck. His mentor shared an illustration about two salespeople, one  great at appointment setting but lousy with closing and the other, great at closing but bad with appointment setting. The first salesperson could schedule 40 appointments per month but only closed 10% of those appointments, which resulted in only four sales per month. The second salesperson lands four appointments per month. He is an amazing closer and  but can only close deals 50% of the time, making two sales per month. 

Terry understood that he would make  more money by being good at setting appointments and increasing opportunities. Closing is equally important but the analogy taught him he needed to redouble his efforts in making appointments and meeting with people. 

The challenges in prospecting 

Prospecting is uncomfortable, scary, and awkward.  Stereotypes of salespeople being manipulative, talking a lot, listening too little, and using high pressure tactics have to be overcome. Most salespeople don’t want to be perceived as manipulative and try to make relationships a priority. However, there  can be a period of adjustment as they work to avoid reflecting the negative stereotype. 

Salespeople are having a difficult time getting past the gatekeeper and making contact with the decision-maker. Too often they leave multiple voicemails and emails with the hopes of getting a reply but typically, that doesn’t happen. The challenge is to be compelling in those initial interactions. 

Terry tries to be generic in his voicemails to avoid  stereotypes. The first three seconds you’re identified as a salesperson are the most challenging.  The person who is being contacted can lose interest regardless of what is being sold. It’s best to veer away from bad introductions and barking up the wrong tree. Salespeople shouldn’t just go through the phonebook without a clear idea of who they want to contact.   . There’s no need to spend too much time trying to facilitate an introduction with people who don’t fit the ultimate goals. Doing so will delay getting in front of the clients who actually need the service or product being offered.. 

Building your client 

Salespeople should look at their top  10 best clients, profile them and get an overall sense of  the companies they represent. From this information, they can build a dream list of similar companies. Use these strategies and tactics to make contact with the decision-makers: create a profile, build and stay focused on a  specific list of desired traits, and use the right kinds of tactics. 

Many salespeople hate prospecting because they find it awkward. There’s already a resistance when they call companies and there’s a feeling of  relief,not the disappointment, when they get a voicemail to leave a message. The voicemail is now an escape. With the gatekeepers, like receptionists, salespeople have to get assertive to get to the decision makers. The goal is to get past the voicemail and get to a person. This is an opportunity to be persistent

Instead of just saying, “Yes, please,” to leaving a message, salespeople should be a little more curious and assertive. Probing questions such as, “Is he in the office or out of the office?”, “Is he at a meeting?”, or “If you slip a note to him to let him know I’m on the line, would that be appropriate?” can move a salesperson closer to their target client.

It’s also a good idea to ask  the secretary if it would be okay to wait on the phone until the meeting is done, especially if they’re already wrapping up. 

If the decision maker is out of the office or on vacation, press further and ask if it’s possible to get their personal number.If it’s given, follow up is imperative.. 50% of the time, secretaries will say no t but the other 50% will give the number or transfer the call directly. 

.   

Think positively and don’t assume the other person is unwilling to talk. If your persistence doesn’t work, however, then ask for someone else in the organization. The director of marketing, the human resource officer, the CEO, anyone with  buying power in a decision committee can be great alternatives. These days, CEOs and presidents no longer make a decision by themselves. Today, the purchasing decision is decided by a vote or by committee. Find two or three of these people in the organization and talk to them. These tactics are not difficult but they do require you to be more assertive and persistent, not aggressive and arrogant. 

At the end of the day, the way to build a six-figure income even if you’re not great at closing is to improve your skills in appointment setting. 

The secret to prospecting and having conversations with decision-makers is to be more persistent, assertive, polite, and  professional.

“How to Build A Six Figure Income Even If You're Not Great At Closing!” episode resources

Terry Hansen and his team are hosting a special online sales training workshop on November 14, 2019, where they’ll be teaching the three secrets that salespeople can use to boost their sales revenue. They’ll be talking about how to build a six-figure income even if you’re not great at closing. You can go to salespitchmastery.com/register to attend for free by using the special link or you can attend it for $49. 

For other sales concerns, you can also reach out to Donald via LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Use these practical sales tips and let him know how they work for you. 

This episode is brought to you in part by TSE Certified Sales Training Program. It’s a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. Sign up now and get the first two modules for free! You can also call us at (561) 570-5077. 

We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes so tune in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings to every episode you listen to. 

You can also read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore this huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day free trial. 

Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound.

Are you ready to boost your sales performance to the next level?

You can start by taking ownership of your professional development. Stop waiting for the company to provide the necessary training and build your sales skills yourself. 

How can you do this?

In this episode of “The Sales Evangelist Podcast,” host Donald Kelly speaks with Matt Doyon, a seasoned sales leader, on the game-changing concept of the 3x3 coaching methodology.

Matt shares his experiences and insights to show how this coaching framework can revolutionize sales training and improve performance. Hear why sales representatives must take ownership of their skill development for tangible results.

Matt Doyon's Background

• During his tenure at Rock Content, Matt Doyon pioneered the "three by three coaching" method. 
• With a focus on empowering individual sellers, Matt's approach emphasizes skill development, accountability, and personal ownership of the coaching process.

The Three-by-Three Coaching Method Explained

• At the core of the three-by-three coaching method lies the belief that individual sellers are the owners of their coaching process. 
• This framework provides guardrails to enhance accountability and drive skill development. 
• The first "three" refers to the skill category - technical, professional, and personal skills.
• These categories encompass core sales skills, professional skills like time management, and personal skills such as emotional intelligence and growth mindset.
• The "par" methodology governs the second "three" by outlining the point of focus, action plan, and results. This empowers sellers to identify specific areas for improvement, create actionable strategies, and measure the tangible impact of their efforts.

Real-life Success Stories

• Matt shares a compelling success story where a struggling sales rep was able to identify and improve their process using the "three by three" framework. 
• By isolating the point of focus and enabling the agent to craft their own action plan, the coach guided the seller to internalize and adapt the necessary changes. This hands-on approach leads to sustainable and meaningful skill development, ultimately driving improved performance.

Empowering Sellers through Self-Directed Coaching

• Emphasizing the importance of allowing sellers to find their own path to success, the "three by three" method challenges traditional coaching approaches. 
• Rather than providing all the answers, managers act as guides, empowering sellers to take ownership of their growth. This approach fosters independence and ensures sellers fully invest in their personal development.

The Tangible Impact

• Matt further asserts sellers need to move out of their comfort zones and embrace discomfort as a catalyst for change. 
• With insightful economic perspectives, he highlights the evolving market dynamics and the need for sellers to take their profession more seriously. This strategic focus on skill development and continuous improvement is the key to thriving in the competitive sales landscape.

The 3x3 coaching method empowers individual sellers to take control of their professional growth. As the sales landscape evolves, salespeople must embrace self-directing coaching and skill-building for success.

Discover how this coaching method sets the stage for sustainable growth and impactful performance improvement.

"It really comes down to empowering every individual to own their own business and really create the wins as much as they can without the help of a manager or a VP or a director." - Matt Doyon. 

Resources

Matt Doyon on LinkedIn 

Triple Session 

Sponsorship Offers

1. This episode is brought to you in part by Hubspot.

With HubSpot sales hubs, your data tools and teams join a single platform to close deals and turn prospects into pipelines. Try it for yourself at hubspot.com/sales.

2.            This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.

Are you tired of prospective clients not responding to your emails? Sign up for a free 60-day trial of LinkedIn Sales Navigator at linkedin.com/tse.

3.            This episode is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Foundation.

Improve your connection on LinkedIn and land three or five appointments with our LinkedIn prospecting course. Go to the salesevangelist.com/linkedin.

Credits

As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

We are going old school today. I’m sharing a past episode of my conversation with Tim Riesterer, co-author of The Three Value Conversations, where he shares details of his book. Check it out to learn the conversations you need to be having to master your sales craft.

Meet Tim Riesterer

• Tim is the Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer of Corporate Visions. He has more than 20 years of experience in marketing and sales and is a co-founder of Customer Message Management.
• Tim also worked with Corporate Visions LLC, where he was the CEO until it was acquired by Corporate Visions in 2008.
• He brings a lot of great insights to a sales conversation, and during this episode, he offers some great thoughts relative to his book.   

Importance of Value Conversations

• Being a sales professional is hard! You have to provide a solution that isn’t complex and too difficult for your prospects to understand.
• How can you do this when you’re stuck at the proposal stage, getting caught up on prices, and unable to build your pipeline?
• By having conversations with prospects that help educate them and bring value to them!

The Three Value Conversations

• Tim breaks down his book in full detail and shares how to overcome common sales challenges to bring value to prospects:
• The time for change: Feeling stuck at the status quo? Learn your prospect’s situation and get them to recognize they need to change before they buy from you.
• Unconsidered need: You already know your prospects' pain points, and so do they. Customers know what their problems are and may believe they have already found their solutions. To get you away from the proposal stage, help them discover their hidden problems.
• Finances: 80% of business deals need to be signed off by a CFO. However, only 10% of most opportunities have a CFO as a contact. Learn how companies make money to get in front of the CEOs and move deals forward.

Whiteboard vs. PowerPoint Presentation

• Most people think it’s a better idea to create these beautiful PowerPoint presentations so others won’t get bored while they’re talking.
• Tim did research on this and found that people actually prefer to watch a simple whiteboard stick figure story than a creative PowerPoint presentation.
• You’ll be surprised how much more credible and engaging you seem by just drawing on a whiteboard with a marker and talking to your audience.

“Value is created when a salesperson’s lips move.” - Tim Riesterer.

Resources

Corporate Vision’s Website 

Tim’s on Twitter @TRiesterer

Get Tim’s book on Amazon 

Sponsorship Offers

1. This episode is brought to you in part by Hubspot.

With HubSpot sales hubs, your data tools and teams join a single platform to close deals and turn prospects into pipelines. Try it for yourself at hubspot.com/sales.

2.            This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.

Are you tired of prospective clients not responding to your emails? Sign up for a free 60-day trial of LinkedIn Sales Navigator at linkedin.com/tse.

3.            This episode is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Foundation.

Improve your connection on LinkedIn and land three or five appointments with our LinkedIn prospecting course. Go to the salesevangelist.com/linkedin.

Credits

As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

The sales process seems to be getting more difficult and if you don’t know what you are doing it can be scary. On today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald talks with salespeople Ari and Kristen about how to overcome the fear of cold calling. 

What makes cold calling scary?

• No being prepared to have conversations with high-level executives and to overcome their objections. If you learn what the prospect is selling and who they are selling to you will have a better chance.
• The fear of sounding stupid. If you haven’t done your research you will sound like you don’t know what you are talking about. The conversation will be more organic and authentic if you have done research beforehand. 
• The fear of hearing no. Once you accept that a majority of the people you call are going to say no, it is easier to handle it. Reframe your thinking and realize that the prospects who say no aren’t the ones you are looking for. 

How do you effectively do research and still maintain volume?

• As you get better at research, you can do it a lot faster. With experience, you can see common trends in each industry. 
• Have an understanding of what their business is going through, even if you are totally off, a good senior-level leader will appreciate the fact that you did research. 
• Focus on what they sell, who they sell it to, and how they sell it. You don’t need to read an entire annual report to understand what they do. 
• Use all resources available to you including job descriptions. 

What advice do Ari and Kristen have for BDRs who are scared

• You won’t get over the fear of making calls by not making calls. Make as many calls as you can and learn from your mistakes. 
• Practice with a team lead, manager, or AE. Record your role plays and have your manager review them. 
• Let yourself be vulnerable and let yourself make mistakes. 
• No question is a dumb question, if you are having trouble ask for help. 

To hear more from Ari and Kristen, connect with them on LinkedIn. 

This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.

The sales landscape is totally changing. The way that we are selling is out of line with the way our prospects are buying. You need to adapt to succeed. Imagine if you could use data that could give you insights into when somebody is ready and the challenges they are facing so you can fine-tune your message specifically toward them. Deep Sales, a part of the next generation of LinkedIn Sales Navigator, can help you do just that. Check it out yourself and get a 60-day free trial at Linkedin.com/TSE.

This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com. 

This episode is brought to you in part by Calendly.

The power of scheduling automation has never been more critical than it is today. Your sales team needs a solution to easily meet with prospects at the right time, every time. With calendly, you can turn more meetings into revenue, accelerate your sales cycle, and increase your win rate when you choose to use calendly to automate your scheduling. Finish the year strong and request a demo of calendly today at Calendly.com/TSE. 

This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio.

Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real.

But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com.

As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

The modern seller is exceptional in their industry and knows what to do to add value to prospects, keep a full pipeline, and close more deals. But how exactly can we be modern sellers? In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by sales consultant Amy Franko to discuss what she believes makes modern sellers stand out in today’s market.  

The modern seller excels in three things:

• Their value is an essential part of the conversation; they look to be a part of the equation that closes a deal. 
• They are seen as difference makers in the eyes of their clients and others in the industry.
• Prospects and buyers believe modern sellers have a competitive advantage over the other sellers in the industry.

Anyone can be a modern seller:

• Understand the makeup of your territory and what you’ve been assigned to sell. Then, take a strategic view of what makes up your territory.
• Determine if you have a business plan for your inventory, revenue, and profit.
• The hallmark of a modern seller is the ability to take something complex and boil it down to something simple. Set goals and milestones that indicate if you’re on the right trajectory.
• Understand your ideal client profile and know what is important to the people you pursue. 

Focus on building relationships.

• Once you clearly understand your verticals, you can focus on building relationships with decision-makers.
• Connect with one or two people a week to something of potential value to them, whether that’s introducing them to another contact or sharing articles and information. 

Read Amy’s book, The Modern Seller, to dive into the five capabilities any sales professional should build in themselves and their teams. For more information and content from Amy, connect with her on LinkedIn or visit amyfranko.com. 

This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio.

Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real.

But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com.

This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com. 

As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

A good salesperson knows how to nurture “No” into “Yes”. Hearing No in the sales world is common regardless of what you sell or to whom you’re selling to. When you hear a no, you can’t just back down and give up. You need to get back on track and fix it. 

Craig Klein is based in Houston and he works in the energy business. He used to make deals with large oil companies and the deals would take a year or more to close. With that period of time and the level of complexity of every sale, he sought help from others. 

He began Sales Nexus to address that inefficiency. Today, his company helps other businesses to grow and aims to help everyone in the community give their fair share of making their community a better place to live. 

No is difficult to hear 

Craig was trained by Dave Blanchard for awhile. Dave does executive training and he talks a lot about our need to be right. Humans as we are, once the idea is planted in our head and we start dreaming about it, the idea becomes real. If that idea is taken away, we end up getting hurt. 

It is the same with sales. We meet our clients with big plans for closing the deal but when we turn up, we are told no and that hurts. There’s a lot of burnout in the sales position because sales reps tend to make many phone calls and end up getting No. The thing about it is that when we hear No, we tend to take a step back and sometimes, we don’t ever make a step forward again. 

Nurture “No” into “Yes”

Salespeople need to learn to be a bit aware of themselves and to focus on the customers' needs, not on what they need. It’s also important to realize that sometimes, the prospects say “No” not because they don’t want to do business with you. They may be tied to a contract to your competitor or now may not be a good time. 

The primary way to nurture “No” into “Yes” is to have a sales strategy that makes you stay engaged with the prospects and build relationships over time. #Relationships

It’s not efficient to just focus on who you can close this month, it’s also about focusing on the people you can close deals with in due time. 

Stay in touch 

For every No you get, you make sure to take their name, their email address, their phone number, and keep it somewhere safe. You always have to write down everything you have learned from this customer including their budget cycle and their needs. Then, you create a system that allows you to keep connecting with time and getting them engaged. Check them out every once in a while and ask them how they’re doing. Let them know that you’re there. 

Meanwhile, you can find somebody else who is ready right now. Just keep nurturing and keep moving forward. 

Change your mindset that you will close every deal you have because that won’t happen. Instead, think of every appointment as a way of establishing a relationship based on trust. Resonate to them that you came not just to close but to understand what their needs are. 

Salespeople are like doctors. Physicians don’t sell their service in a way that’s too in your face. They diagnose their patients and examine what is something wrong with them. They then show you the patients how they can help with the problem. 

The same is true for salespeople. We examine their problem and we show them how we can help. You don’t sell the product the moment you meet them. You warm them up and figure out what they need first before presenting your options. 

The automated email drip campaign 

Craig’s Sales Nexus Platform uses an automated email drip campaign in order to stay in touch with their potential customers. They take every lead and put it into their system and into an automated email drip campaign. The potential clients don’t just get generic emails, they get personalized email depending on what they need. 

When the time is right for them, they’d click on the link to their site and they’ll be notified by it. This is their time to give them a call and ask them if anything has changed. 

One of Craig’s clients used the auto-drip campaign and things have been better for them now. They used to have sales reps call chiropractors all day long but these professionals are busy and they don’t look at their phones most times of the day. Then they started putting the chiropractors’ name on the system, they searched for their needs, and on the things they focus on. They are then placed on their appropriate auto-drip where they get emails that are relevant to their needs. When they interact with the emails, the company is being notified and they get to start pitching again. The auto-drip system allows them to build relationships with prospects without compromising their sales rep’s manpower. 

There other ways to do it. Some are using the typical marketing system and sends out weekly or monthly emails to their list. Others also hire someone whose job is to focus on making mails and sending them out. 

“How to Nurture "No" Into "Yes"  episode resources 

Reach out to Craig Klein by visiting his website. Check out the site to get downloadable PDFs on how you can organize your customer list to send the right emails to the right people. 

Wanting to learn and hear more about sales? Don’t hesitate and connect with Donal via LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. 

If you’re a sales rep looking to hone your craft and learn from the top 1% of sellers, make plans to attend the Sales Success Summit in Austin, Tx, October 14-15. Scheduled on a Monday and Tuesday to limit the impact to the sales week, the Sales Success Summit connects sellers with top-level performers who have appeared on the podcast. Visit Top1Summit.com to learn more and register! 

This episode is brought to you in-part by TSE Certified Sales Training Program. It’s a 12-module program for salespeople like you to improve your pitches and presentations. Sign up now and get the first two modules for free! 

If you like this episode, do give us a thumbs up and rating on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. We produce podcasts weekly so make sure to subscribe to get more of these sales talks that matter! Share this with your friends and teach them how to subscribe as well. 

Read more about sales or listen to audiobooks at Audible as well and explore this huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day free trial. 

Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound.

To some people, building outreach sequences for prospects is easy. However, for most people, that isn’t the case. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by the co-creator of the Money Sequence, Miranda Morrison, to explain how she built a sequence that doubled engagement upon implementation.

Sequencing, especially in tech sales, is critical.

• Before the money sequence, Miranda’s company had email segmentation for many audiences depending on their interests, position, and what information would be most pertinent to them.
• What made it successful was the combination of ‘spray and pray’ with highly personalized and individualized approaches. 
• Personalizing later in the sequence (by reference to an article or important piece) shows a degree of research that is most effective without spending too much time.
• Personalization at scale is the best approach. However, there are times a more personalized email is more appropriate, which is often later in the sales cycle.

What metrics were they focused on?

• The goal for each SDR was to book ten meetings each month, and Miranda found that short and sweet messaging was well-opened but infrequently responded to. 
• Moving to a more personalized sequence later in the cycle resulted in a larger shift.
• After converting to the money sequence, Miranda adjusted her copy to be more bulleted and more personalized that presented the same information, but the tone as a whole was catered more toward the job title of the prospect.

The Money Sequence - 18 steps over 28 days:

• Always start with a phone call and ensure you have the correct phone number. Call and email on day one. 
• Day Two - Phone call again
• Day Four - Phone call with an email. With this email, Miranda utilizes Drift for videos. Putting a face to a name is the best way to separate yourself from the pack in an email format.
• In her video, she gave insight into what the platform looked like so the prospect wasn’t entering a meeting completely blind.
• If there isn’t an opportunity for personalization, the video still serves as a source of information that people would open.
• Steps 5-8 are phone calls and a LinkedIn request
• On Day 10, she manually replies on the same thread as her video message.
• Step 11 (Day 13) - Another phone call
• Her other best email? Coffee on me. Coffee chat sessions with ideal clients offering a gift card in exchange for taking a look.

Miranda’s advice to someone scared of reaching out and facing rejection? She used to be terrified of it. But most of the time, the people you’re contacting are used to it and know what’s happening. If you provide genuine value, there is nothing wrong with how you reach out.  Maybe the money sequence isn’t perfect for your industry. If not, find what works and stick with it.

This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio.

Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real.

But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com.

This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com. 

As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio is provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

LinkedIn Sales Navigator is a handy tool to help you find prospects, but if you’re not using it right, you won’t be able to target the ones who have the say in closing a deal. How can you learn to use it to get in touch with C-suite executives? Find out in this episode with my guests Mike and John Murphy, the father-and-son duo of Text Tonality, and learn their three-step strategy for using LinkedIn.

Where Did Their Passion for LinkedIn Come From?

• After struggling to find new clients, John turned to his son Mike for help. Mike had a unique strategy that helped his father find high-stakes clients in no time.
• Thanks to Mike’s method, he and his father are now the proud owners of Text Tonality.

Understanding What Filters Are

• When you first use LinkedIn Sales Navigator, you’ll notice the many different filters within the tool. Mike noticed that people usually use the filters incorrectly in two different ways: either using too many or not enough filters.
• There are a certain number of filters you can use to help you find the right clients. If you DM Mike, he gives you the code to his free training to help you learn this trick.

What To Say to C-Suite Executives When You Find Them

• John shares that to get your message out correctly, you first have to position yourself in front of them.
• They have to see how you can help them with their problem. If you can’t get them to see this, then they’re not going to spend 30 minutes on the phone with you.
• Start with the big problem they have to intrigue them with a solution.

Sending LinkedIn Messages Without Spamming

• John and Mike share that it’s best not to send messages within LinkedIn connections. They share how sending Text Tonality messages works better after waiting a day after sending a connection request.
• Mike also shares how probing can help get prospects to speak to you more after they say no thank you to your first message.
• If you’re struggling with LinkedIn Sales Navigator, consider working with John and Mike at Text Tonality to learn more of their secrets.

“Don't be afraid to follow up. People won’t get mad at you. They don't mind as long as you do it right." - John Murphy. 

"You want to think about how there is an element of numbers to this. A key performance indicator that we look for is a 25% acceptance rate, which means I'm targeting the right people and my profile is resonating." - Mike Murphy. 

Resources

Learn more LinkedIn secrets at Text Tonality 

Connect with John and Mike on LinkedIn

Don’t forget about the Sales Navigator Secrets Code: wealth24

Sponsorship Offers

1. This episode is brought to you in part by Hubspot.

With HubSpot sales hubs, your data tools and teams join a single platform to close deals and turn prospects into pipelines. Try it for yourself at hubspot.com/sales.

2.            This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.

Are you tired of prospective clients not responding to your emails? Sign up for a free 60-day trial of LinkedIn Sales Navigator at linkedin.com/tse.

3.            This episode is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Foundation.

Improve your connection on LinkedIn and land three or five appointments with our LinkedIn prospecting course. Go to the salesevangelist.com/linkedin.

Credits

As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

In the sales world, the mantra "do more with less" often feels more like a challenge than a guiding principle. In this episode, I chat with Anthony Nava, Senior SDR Manager at Crunchbase. 

With years of dedicated service and experience, Anthony reveals the innovative strategies that have helped his team thrive despite tight resources. Discover how Anthony's blend of empathy, tech-savviness, and strategic thinking can transform your sales team's performance.

Meet Anthony Nava

• He leads the sales efforts for the team, contributing significantly to their success through various innovative and strategic approaches. 
• Anthony has navigated the company's various transitions and challenges, leveraging tools like AI to maximize efficiency and performance. 
• Before joining Crunchbase, Anthony amassed valuable skills and knowledge that have made him an effective leader and a critical asset to the organization.

Embracing AI to Boost Sales Efficiency

• When faced with limited resources, Anthony leverages AI tools to drive efficiency and maintain high performance. Essential tools mentioned include:
• Attention AI: Helps in call listening, note-taking, and integrating insights into Salesforce, saving time for SDRs and allowing for focused coaching.
• Crunchbase Insights: Using AI to determine accounts in a buying position, providing a strategic advantage by identifying potential deals before competitors.

Adjusting Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)

• Anthony discusses the critical pivot toward refining the Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) to enhance sales efficacy. 
• His team, through data analysis and collaboration with marketing, identified key decision-makers who had a high impact on deal closures:
• Finance Involvement: Around 80% of closed deals involved finance personnel from the early stages.
• Strategic Adjustments: By aligning towards this new ICP, they ensured better engagement and quicker deal cycles.

Coping Mechanisms for Leaders

• Anthony delves into how leaders can mentally and emotionally prepare themselves:
• Empathy: Understanding the team’s challenges and adjusting leadership styles accordingly.
• Positive Reinforcement: Continuously highlighting the exciting potentials and future achievements.
• Offsite Meetings: Facilitating team get-togethers to discuss concerns and strategies. It also helps maintain a cohesive unit.

"Data and collaboration will be your best friend in some of the toughest times." - Anthony Nava.

Resources

Anthony Nava on LinkedIn

Sponsorship Offers

1. This episode is brought to you in part by Hubspot.

With HubSpot sales hubs, your data tools and teams join a single platform to close deals and turn prospects into pipelines. Try it for yourself at hubspot.com/sales.

2.            This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.

Are you tired of prospective clients not responding to your emails? Sign up for a free 60-day trial of LinkedIn Sales Navigator at linkedin.com/tse.

3.            This episode is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Foundation.

Improve your connection on LinkedIn and land three or five appointments with our LinkedIn prospecting course. Go to the salesevangelist.com/linkedin.

Credits

As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Time management is often considered one of the essential skills to master in the professional world. As one of the resources we never seem to have enough of, time certainly is a resource to use to the best of our abilities. But today’s guest, Antonio Thornton, argues that time management doesn’t exist. How does it not? Check out today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist to find out!

Why does time management not exist? 

• How many hours in the day do you have? 24. Just like everyone else. You can’t manage time, but you can manage yourself according to time.
• Managing yourself within time comes down to three main criteria: monitoring, monetizing, and maximizing your time.

Monitoring your time:

• Most people have no idea what they’re doing. Most people confuse busy with productive - they do not equate.
• Productive does not equate to profitable. 
• The productivity paradox: People tend to focus on tasks that make them feel productive, even if they aren’t profitable.
• Cleaning out your inbox or desk and shuffling papers might keep you busy, but those tasks aren’t productive.

Monetizing your time:

• There is no difference between each other’s times. Most of us spend time on activities that don’t generate revenue - responding to email, completing training, and updating websites. While these things might be necessary, they aren’t RGAs: revenue-generating activities.
• It doesn’t matter how much work you put into these activities; you won’t make any money no matter how much time you contribute.
• Learning and training are productive tasks, and research is a productive activity that can inform you before a sales call, but those tasks in of themselves aren’t profitable. If you only do those tasks, you will not make a single dollar.
• Whether you’re a salesperson or entrepreneur, there’s only one thing that makes money in sales: getting an offer in front of people.

Maximizing your time:

• The difference between a salesperson who generates $60,000 versus $6 million is all in what they do each day.
• Ask yourself how you can leverage what you’re doing to create an exponential result.
• Find the tasks and projects you can accomplish that lead to a higher amount of RGA.

Antonio’s final takeaway? Time is our most valuable commodity. To have a great life, moderate, monetize, and maximize your time. To get in touch with him, visit his company website or send an email to time@timebank.gps.com.

This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio.

Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real.

But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com.

This course is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Certified Training Program, designed to help new and struggling sellers master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. Help elevate your sales game and sign up now to get the first two modules free! You can visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals or call (561) 570-5077 for more information. We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey.

We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes, tune in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings for each episode you listen to! 

Read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore their huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day trial.

Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

How to build a sales engine that will land massive deals – repeatedly

A sales engine is a great strategy to increase your number of closed deals. As a sales manager, how do you build a sales engine to land massive deals for your team? 

Nigel Green works with  executive investors and sales leaders of companies to help them scale up faster and smarter. As a sales advisor, he works behind the scenes to ensure that leaders are hitting their targets at the end of the year. Nigel understands that if you don’t relentlessly pursue your craft and coach your team well, you won’t be in the game very long. 

The revenue harvest

Nigel coined the  term, Revenue Harvest, in this sales leaders almanac containing the fruits of 15 years of experience. He’s been helping various companies build their sales team faster so investors have a chance to grow their private equity. Sales leaders in this kind of environment need to act fast.

When Nigel moved to a farm, an hour outside of the city, he was able to observe the farming community. He realized that leading a sales team was very similar to tending crops. Both can face circumstances that are outside of our control. The farmer knows he’s got to produce a crop but looking at the year, he wonders when it’s going to be too hot or too cold, when it's going to rain, or not. These are elements a farmer can’t control but he can’t be paralyzed by the uncontrollables. He’s got to get to work. 

In Revenue Harvest, Nigel shows sales leaders how to yield results year-in and year-out that are consistent.  Nigel has broken this down into seven principles a sales leader can follow. 

Create a plan

The first principle in the Revenue Harvest helps sales leaders understand what a plan really is and how to do it well. Most sales people don’t have a plan. They’ve been given a plan by their leader but they haven’t pushed back in areas where it’s not realistic.  Leaders need buy-in from the influencers on their team and it needs to be implemented in a time period that will be effective, before the first quarter. Sales leaders have a responsibility to not only assign the revenue and targets of the plan to the sales rep, but also to the customers.

The plan also has to account for the metrics that are important to the business. Only the sales leader can make sure that everybody on the team is spending their time well and score-carding. The leader needs to incentivize the team in a way that is aligned with the CEO or COO’s goals. Oftentimes, time isn’t a salesperson’s friend but with planning, time can be used more efficiently. 

Planning for adversity

The truth is, most people don’t plan for adversity.  We plan the year assuming that everything is going to be perfect. We don’t plan for the person who is going to quit or go on maternity leave and we don’t plan for competitors to launch a new product. Most sales leaders don’t expect adversity but the truth is, it can come when we least expect it. 

A real plan accounts for adversity. The first step in planning is to ask when the budgest season starts. The budget season is a common language in private equity companies. This season typically falls in September or October. By that time, the heads of the company want to see a completed budget expenses revenue target, if new reps need to be hired, etc.. As a proactive leader, you want to go to the heads of the company to get a sense of what it is they want you to accomplish, what resources they’re going to give you throughout the year, and negotiate if it doesn’t sound feasible. Sales leaders have the responsibility of making sure that adequate resources are in play to hit the numbers.

Positioning 

Positioning is two-fold. Before you finalize the sales plan, identify your sales influencers and run the plan by them. No matter how good a plan seems to be, it’s wise to receive feedback from the members of your sales team who know the climate of the sales team and can offer information about whether or not a plan is viable. 

No one can predict the future but there are two practices that can help mitigate unforeseen disasters: First, look at what the team has done over the past couple years in detail. If the business is affected by seasonality, it’s important to look at history by weeks, maybe even days. Check the spikes during busy seasons. If you’re in retail, Saturdays and Sundays are huge. Look at what was actually accomplished. You tend to create a better plan when you see the circumstances that have influenced your sales historically. 

Second, look at the lost selling days. A sales leader needs to figure out how you want to track lost selling days that don’t include national holidays or PTO.  An example might be one of your sales team members not being able to meet her customers due to unforeseen circumstances like a snowstorm that shut down all the roads. You need to figure out a mechanism to track these days and start reducing the days you implement into your plan because of these historically lost sales days.

Preventing a mutiny

With every salesperson being different, not all strategies will work for all people.  There is still an opportunity to reach people even if you have to contend with bad attitudes.  Allow them to sit with you and share their thoughts. Listen to what they have to say even if it’s not something you’re able to implement.  Many people just want to be heard and feel they are part of the process. 

If you do decide to use their idea, then you have the chance to enlist them in the work and implementation. The team is then positioned well and fortified in areas that you may not have had a lot of influence.

Restore

We live in a world of grind and hustle. We all have that influencer we follow for inspiration. This is a world where people are struggling with mental health, addiction, and many other blocks that get in the way of peak performance. This grinding mentality is a slippery slope to some of the real epidemics we’re facing. 

A farmer knows he can’t work a piece of land over and over and never let it rest. It needs restoration. It is the same way with people. You can’t work people hard 12 months a year, leave their families, and be on the road without building in time to let them recuperate.  Don’t forget to give yourself restoration as well. When everyone comes back, the team is stronger. 

Tend 

Planting seeds doesn’t guarantee a harvest. The magic happens between planting, prospecting, and closing. #TheSalesProcess

We all have the prospecting techniques, the SDR teams, the inbound and outbound, and more. We have a team for every phase but may dwell enough on the in-betweens which include the process, the way we segment the customers to support nurturing the leads, and taking care of our customers until they’re ready to buy.  

Segmenting the market 

Oftentimes, salespeople create these arbitrary lines of segmentation, these boundary lines that don’t make sense. The best way to segment customers how they buy which is not something that we normally do. Salespeople hand off a customer multiple times which slows down deal velocity. You take them away from someone they love and hand them to a new person at a certain stage of the funnel. This is harder and more frustrating for them. When a customer is ready to buy, let them purchase things the way they want. 

“How to build a sales engine that will land massive deals – repeatedly” episode resources

Read the book the Revenue Harvest to learn more. True leadership is about consistency over time, consistency and action, consistency in values, and consistency and execution over time. This is just not in one year, not in one quarter. You have to recognize that your career is a series of seasons and if you don't treat it that way, you won’t have a very long career. 

If you are interested in more sales stories, you can talk to Donald about it. Reach him via these channels: LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook about any sales concerns. 

This episode is brought to you in part by TSE Certified Sales Training Program. It’s a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. Sign up now and get the first two modules for free! You can also call us at (561) 570-5077. 

We have a new semester beginning this March and we would love to have you and your team join us. Follow this link to apply to the program. 

We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes so tune in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings to every episode you listen to. 

You can also read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore this huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day free trial. 

Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Not all deals come to a close, so when a deal doesn’t close, how long should you wait before re-engaging the prospect? David Perry speaks in length about closing in today’s episode. 

Re-engaging the prospects

• David is a big fan of value selling. 
• Value selling is part of the training that enterprise sellers can go through. It is a value-based approach which is a seemingly simple framework on the surface but with a lot of power behind it. 
• Looking at frameworks is helpful when conversing with other salespeople or whoever is involved in the deal. 
• The more you look at the framework, the more you are able to see the things that are taking priority in the organization at a given moment. 
• There are top three reasons why deals don’t close: 

• The lack of access to power
• Timing
• The lack of articulation of value or tying it to the key master sector business issue
• Sales reps, however, have a whole array of reasons why deals don’t close. 
• Value selling is very difficult since every customer has their own view and perspective of what value is. You need to be able to translate that value for it to be considered value for the overall organization. 
• Before re-engaging the prospect, you will want to make sure that the team has a clear idea of what the gap is. Brainstorm with the team about the issues and forecast the additional risks that you will have when you re-engage with a prospect. 
• All the issues with the deal must be discussed with the rest of the team no matter how minute those issues may be. 
• When you are having a problem re-engaging the prospect even when the deal is almost at the end of the line, it’s good to take a step back and identify the bad signal and whether it’s the lack of access to power or something else. 
• At the end of the day, your first step is to call or email the prospect to try and get back on their calendar. 
• Chapter 11 of David’s book, Game of Sales: Lessons Learned Working at Adobe, Google, and IBM, lists all the value sources that you can use as hooks for re-engaging and catching the attention of your prospects. 
• With huge deals and with so much at stake, it’s normal to feel like the deal is dead several times over. 
• Reaching an impasse doesn’t mean that you have to let go of the deal. 
• It’s important to always be prepared no matter who you meet, especially if you are meeting with the executives. Make sure to learn what you can before the arranged meeting. Identify their style and make sure to adapt and adjust. 
• Make sure to highlight the risks of the deal to the executives. Transparency is important. 

“Prospecting: When a Deal Doesn’t Close, How Long Should I Wait Before Re-Engaging the Prospect?” episode resources

Follow David Perry on LinkedIn. You can also check out his book, Game of Sales: Lessons Learned Working at Adobe, Google, and IBM on Amazon or get the PDF here. You can check more resources here. 

Speak with Donald directly for more sales talks. Reach him via these channels: LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook about any sales concerns. 

Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com.

Are you sick of crickets? The pain of sales reps continually reaching out with phone calls and emails and not receiving a response is real.

85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage

in a conversation. All text messaging is not equal. Customers respond to people,

NOT BOTS. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in conversions. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com.

This episode is also partly brought to you by Wingman. Wingman uses AI-software to empower remote sales teams with conversation intelligence, actionable insights on successful playbooks and delivers real-time coaching.

This course is brought to you in part by TSE Certified Sales Training Program. It’s a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. It will help them elevate their sales game. Sign up now and get the first two modules free! You can go and visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals also call us at (561) 570-5077. "We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our 2 mins survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey

We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes so tune in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings to every episode you listen to. 

You can also read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore this huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day free trial. 

Audio provided by Free SFX. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder, written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

You want to speak with a company's high stakeholders but have no idea how to reach them. Prospecting is always a challenge for sellers, but it’s easier when you use this powerful sales technique that’ll get through to anyone. 

In this episode, I chat with Stu Heinecke, a Wall Street Journal cartoonist, marketer, and author, about using contact marketing for prospecting.  Listen to the secrets he used with his sales teams to reach prospective clients and close more deals.

Stu Heinecke’s Background

• Stu Heinecke, a Wall Street Journal cartoonist, discovered the power of “Contact Marketing” early in his career, earning him two Hall of Fame nominations as a marketer.
• He now hosts and writes for the How To Get A Meeting with Anyone podcast and blog.
• Additionally, Heinecke is the founder and president of Contact, a company specializing in contact marketing.

Importance of Business Cards

• When was the last time you saw someone pull out a business card? Thanks to the digital world we live in today, it's rare.
• However, Stu shares why it's essential to go back to the basics to help clients remember who you are.

Upgrading Business Cards to Devices

• Say goodbye to business cards and hello to engagement devices. The regular business cards aren't impressing people anymore, especially those with long titles. So, instead of giving them a card, you provide them with an engagement device. 
• An example of this is Kevin Mitnick's card. The card does not contain logos, words, or descriptions. It speaks for what the company does. 
• The goal is to make business cards serve as visual metaphors for your best work. They still fit in their pocket, but they use them differently, and not only when they give you a call.

How Does Contact Marketing Work

• These engagement devices are designed to align with the contact marketing model.
• Businesses should establish a baseline for responses. The goal is to achieve a 100% breakthrough with every deal the company makes.
• To accomplish this, provide prospects with a standout card that directs them to your landing page. A well-crafted card will pique their curiosity about what your landing page offers, potentially sparking the beginning of a conversion.
• Stu’s book offers a wealth of stories and insights on launching campaigns using contact marketing. It’s filled with actionable ideas that you can adapt to your own contact marketing efforts to achieve breakthroughs with your audience.

“Reach people using relevant, timely, and high-value campaigns.” - Stu Heinecke. 

Resources

How to Get a Meeting with Anyone

Get The Meeting

How to Grow Your Business Like a Weed

Stu Heinecke on LinkedIn

TSE Prospecting Course

Sponsorship Offers

1. This episode is brought to you in part by Hubspot.

With HubSpot sales hubs, your data tools and teams join a single platform to close deals and turn prospects into pipelines. Try it for yourself at hubspot.com/sales.

2.            This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.

Are you tired of prospective clients not responding to your emails? Sign up for a free 60-day trial of LinkedIn Sales Navigator at linkedin.com/tse.

3.            This episode is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Foundation.

Improve your connection on LinkedIn and land three or five appointments with our LinkedIn prospecting course. Go to the salesevangelist.com/linkedin.

Credits

As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Meetings serve an important purpose in business so we must learn how to run better meetings to avoid the feeling that we are wasting our time. 

Reshan Richards is a career educator who launched an app — targeted for use in schools — that ultimately became a software business. He has seen a significant intersection between things that are effective in both business practices and the classroom. Together with Steve Valentine, also a career educator, he is collaborating to articulate and pinpoint the specific moves that can be borrowed from the teaching profession and implemented in business. Steve has studied leadership and its application in order to work with young people and help them understand basic leadership. 

Meeting mistakes

The problems that plague corporate meetings often mirror those of ineffective classrooms. Primarily, the transmission of information isn’t right for the audience who is meant to understand it. People often go back to their defaults or their own experiences to measure what is right.

If, for example, you get called into a meeting where one person is doing all the talking or all the work, it isn’t a good use of anyone’s time. It wasn’t likely called for the service of the people who are meant to share the information. In education, a difference exists between the transmission of information and the building of knowledge. 

Reshan and Steve believe that the best kinds of meetings are those that leave people feeling like they couldn’t possibly have had the same great experience without the meeting. In other words, there’s no substitute for the meeting, and people are glad they went. 

Unfortunately, that’s a rare occurrence in both business and education.

If you think about the amount of time and effort it takes to secure a face-to-face meeting with a customer or client, it’s important to be respectful of that person’s time, energy and attention. Never leave him doubting why he was called into that room. #BetterMeetings

Bad meetings

Reshan’s company, Explain Everything, worked with a Fortune 100 company to help them run better training for new-to-title employees. As he evaluated their structure, he realized that 90 percent of the time during a week-long seminar was spent sitting watching PowerPoint presentations. The other 10 percent of the time was application of what they learned. The following week, those employees were sent into the field. 

The meetings were efficient and easy to plan, but retention was low, so he worked with them to rethink their time together. He encouraged the company to think about how it might best utilize the experts in the meetings as well as how the information should be delivered. 

They also found that they were teaching concepts on Monday that the employees wouldn’t get to apply until Thursday. The distance between the lesson and the application meant that the employees had to learn the information twice. 

For Steve, the very best meetings are those that are allowed to be messy and those that permit people to drop their status. He measures the quality of a meeting by the extent to which people are treated as learners and the extent to which they actually learn something they didn’t know when they walked in. 

That information doesn’t have to appear as a revelation. Rather it can simply be the chance to build knowledge together in the temporal context they share. 

Internal meetings

Planning a great meeting looks exactly the same as planning a great lesson or learning experience. Reshan and Steve think in terms of three motions, or phases. 

1. Before the meeting
2. During the meeting
3. After the meeting

These stages parallel the stages of sales, where sellers engage in pre-call, during, and then follow-up. 

As the meeting facilitator, you should have a really good awareness of the prior knowledge participants have prior to the meeting. 

Meeting prep

Often times meetings get scheduled by those who have the authority to do so, but the attendees don’t know the agenda until they arrive. Those that get the agenda ahead of time either get it too far in advance or too close to the meeting time. 

Meeting prep also varies greatly among the attendees at meetings. Some people dutifully prepare for the meeting while others never even look at the agenda. The facilitator often has to go to the lowest common denominator because a percentage of people didn’t prepare. In the end, that holds the entire organization back because it means that instead of starting at level 7 in the dialog, you’re starting at zero because there is no ritual around basic procedures.

Ask yourself whether it’s necessary to actually have everyone in the same room at the same time in order to achieve your outcome. 

Brain breaks

If you’re interested in making sure that learning happens in your meetings, build in brain breaks where you provide time for people to synthesize the information you provide. Things often move quickly in meetings, and if you build simple pauses like questions or discussions into the meeting itself, you’ll support learning. 

If you don’t give the human brain time to do what it does best, you’ll leave a lot on the table in the meeting. 

Consider the intention of the meeting as you’re determining how much information you include. There’s no right or wrong number of agenda items, but you must provide off-ramps so that you can read the room and respond to the audience. Be willing to push some of the information into off-line discussions without disrupting the meeting momentum.

Just because it was delivered doesn’t mean it was understood. 

Productive chaos

Your organization might successfully navigate a meeting with 14 agenda items, but ask yourself what the impact of the meeting was. In schools, this shows up as racing through the content without making sure students understand. The art exists in adjusting your presentation and being able to reshuffle things if necessary. 

Steve once had to plan a two-day retreat for a group of leaders, and his approach at that time was to build massive slide decks in an attempt to control every moment. Reshan suggested cutting the number of slides down a bit, and then he cut it from about 100 slides to seven.

Steve remembers being terrified because he wasn’t sure what he was going to do or say, but Reshan reminded him that their purpose was to facilitate. They intended to bring ideas out of the leaders so they would have a transformative experience. In short, the leaders were to do more of the work. 

Teach themselves

The pair structured the meeting loosely, but it wasn’t without structure. As a result, the participants accomplished much more than any of them expected. They still hear from the people who attended that event. 

Steve notes, too, that they weren’t being lazy. They were actually being rather rigorous in their preparation because they were removing rather than adding. The result was productive chaos. 

In short, they helped the meeting attendees teach themselves because they built so much of the meeting themselves.

As a general rule, the content kind varies inversely to the time: the longer the engagement, the less content there should be. You’ll build in more generative time from participants.

Think about how you can design your meeting so that the people in the room are doing more of the work and the thinking. That’s what leads them to be able to use the knowledge. 

• Be clear on the goals and purpose of your meeting, and don’t hold one simply because you believe you should. 
• Be reasonable based upon people’s schedules. 
• Set crystal clear goals and prevent diversions and tangents.  

Many people work without the need to go to the office every day. If you’re taking someone’s time, hold your meetings to a higher standard. Remember that they are never getting that time back. 

“How To Run Better Meetings” episode resources

Reshan and Steve launched a book called Make Yourself Clear, and you can connect with them at the website, MakeYourselfClear.xyz. 

If you’re a sales rep looking to hone your craft and learn from the top 1% of sellers, make plans to attend the Sales Success Summit in Austin, Tx, October 14-15. Scheduled on a Monday and Tuesday to limit the impact to the sales week, the Sales Success Summit connects sellers with top-level performers who have appeared on the podcast. Visit Top1Summit.com to learn more and register! 

You can also connect with me at donald@thesalesevangelist.com or try our first module of  TSE Certified Sales Training Program for free. This episode has been made possible with the help of  TSE Certified Sales Training Program, a training course designed to help sellers in improving their performance. We want you guys to go out each and every single day to find more ideal customers and do big things.

I hope you like and learned many things from this episode. If you did, please review us and give us a five-star rating on Apple podcast or in any platform you’re using - Google Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify.  You can also share this with your friends and colleagues. 

Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound.

If you’re not using LinkedIn to build up the front of your sales pipeline, let this be your sign to take the leap. In this episode, our host Donald Kelly has an info-packed conversation with Megan Killion, the powerhouse behind MKC Agency. You probably already know content creation isn’t just about sharing articles and posting pics. Listen in to hear proven strategies for connecting with the right audience and starting quality conversations.

Content Strategy

• You can’t just “post and ghost”! Your engagement is necessary.
• Megan cautions against the use of LinkedIn pods that automate engagement using bots. Going this route won’t help you gain traction with the people you want to reach.
• Her number one tip for aspiring creators on LinkedIn is to use polls. LinkedIn’s algorithm results in more engagement with polls than other kinds of posts, but you have to be strategic about them.

 Identify Ideal Customers

• When you market to everyone, you market to no one. 
• Use your ICP (Ideal Customer Profile) to narrow down the list of people you’re interested in reaching with your content.
• Learn your buyers’ pain points, demographics, values, attitudes, etc. Get as niche as you can.
• Your ideal audience should be behind you in knowledge by 3-5 years. These people will find your content engaging without feeling like it’s above or below them.

 Setting Up Your Process

• Make a list of 5-10 subjects that you are an expert on. Within each subject, identify specific teachable topics. This is going to form the basis of the content you create (at least at first). 
• “Niche down,” just like when you define your ideal customer. Get increasingly more specific about what you know well and speak on those things.
• Define who you are. Identify your values and the values of your business. Know what makes you unique and capture that in your content.

“Our number one metric across all channels, whether you’re cold-calling, cold-emailing, sending messages, or posting content on LinkedIn, is QC: Quality Conversations. Are you starting quality conversations and finding out more info? If you’re not doing that, that channel is a waste for you.” – Megan Killion

Resources

Follow Megan Killion on LinkedIn - Message her telling her you heard about her on TSE and get access to her framework!

https://mkcagency.com/

Sponsorship Offers

 1. This episode is brought to you in part by TSE Sales Foundation.

     I think we can all agree that sales should be fun. However, many times, we find ourselves in a quagmire where we’re not progressing and deals are not going the way that they should. This is why we created TSE Sales Foundation. It’s a program designed to help sales professionals just like you master the fundamentals of sales so they can radically improve their sales pipeline and close more deals. To find out more about TSE Sales Foundation and our next start date, simply go to thesalesevangelist.com/foundation.

 Credits

As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.