Make It Happen Mondays - B2B Sales Talk with John Barrows

Latest Episodes:

Jay Godfrey and Richard Meloff: The Business of Psychedelics Oct 24, 2022

Show notes

The booming psychedelic industry offers hope to those with psychological challenges as well as opportunities for workers and investors, according to two pioneers in the business. Jay Godfrey and Richard Meloff left investment banking to create Nushama, a network of psychedelic wellness centers. Jay says his first experience with supervised use of psychedelics “uncovered things that I couldn't uncover in three years of therapy.” Seeing people living in fear during the pandemic inspired creation of the company, which is part of a fast-growing segment of healthcare that treats PTSD, addiction, and mood disorders. … John encourages people suffering to consider psychedelics and offers a reminder to those facing stress in sales: "You're never as good as your best deal; you're never as worse as your worst deal."

Connect with Jay on LinkedIn here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jay-godfrey-090b602/

And with Richard here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rmeloff/

Find out more about their Nushama psychedelic wellness centers here:

https://nushama.com/

Stacey Hall: Selling from Your Comfort Zone Oct 17, 2022

Show notes

Sales, social media marketing, and entrepreneurship coach Stacey Hall says many of us are in need of an alignment. Her new book “Selling from Your Comfort Zone: The Power of Alignment Marketing” argues that knowing yourself is essential for success in business. “You get into alignment with yourself, you get into alignment with the company that is selling something you can get behind,” she tells John, “and you get into alignment with the audience. Because if you can get behind that product, so can your audience. If it's a match for their needs, they'll get behind it.” … Hear John and Stacey discuss how understanding your core values can lead to success at work and in life.

Learn more about Stacey at her website:

https://www.staceyannhall.com/home/

And connect with her on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/staceyhall1/

Jonathan Mahan and Jordana Zeldin: How to really “Practice” Sales Oct 10, 2022

Show notes

Sales is one of the only professions in the world where we’re expected to take a training or read a book and immediately apply what we learned to a real-world scenario without much practice. Most athletes spend over 80% of their time practicing and less than 20% of the time playing the game.

Jonathan Mahan and Jordana Zeldin of The Practice Lab discuss with John the difference between practice, role play and memorization and how to structure practice so it makes a real impact on sales rep’s development and results. They also dive into the mentality you need to have for practice to be meaningful and how to teach genuine curiosity which is the super power of great sales reps. an online sales training platform. Jordana says that instead of rote playing and itches, sales professionals should provide "impactful questioning" of prospects, demonstrating "they're authentically curious in the context of a real conversation." Or as Jonathan puts it: “You can't truly sell in an enlightened, effective, top-of-the-line way, if you don't give a shit about what you're selling.” … Hear John Barrows describe being in the audience for a keynote that derailed into “one of the most awkward things I think I've ever experienced” — and get tips on how to avoid a repeat.

Connect with Jonathan on LinkedIn here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jtmahan/

And Jordana here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordanazeldin/

The Practice Lab here:

https://www.thepracticelab.co/ - applications for the q1 2023 cohort are now open.

Wanna try this practice thing on for size?

Join Jordana and Jonathan on the third Wednesday of every month for WHEEL OF OBJECTIONS, a fun and free practice-based training on a fresh approach to tackling your most common objections:

http://lu.ma/tpl-wheel-of-objections

Nikki Ivey's Journey From Section 8 to the C Suite Oct 03, 2022

Show notes

Salespeople are free to be “who we can be,” says Nikki Ivey, who used a career in sales to leave life in the housing projects far behind. From first working at a used car lot in Hinesville, GA., she rose to become a newly hired key executive at John’s company, JB Sales. As a director of training she wants to lead by example, and as a Black female executive in corporate America, “it's definitely about what people coming up right now are seeing as possible through me.” … John and Nikki “go there” and discuss race and racial identity in America and the sales profession.

Connect with Nikki on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikki-ivey/

John Costigan: From cold calling on stage to fighting throat cancer Sep 26, 2022

Show notes

John Costigan (JC) has been in Sales and Sales training well before John Barrows (JB) got into the industry. JB has been a long time fan but the two never actually met until one day JC reached out to JB one day on LinkedIn with a message “it’s probably time we need to talk. I really admire what you’ve done to represent our space.

”During their first call it was evident they shared similar values along with a similar mentality and approach to the profession of Sales. During this episode they talk about their respective training journeys and how JC broke through the noise by doing live cold calling on stage. They talk through tactics, strategies, what’s changed and what has stayed the same throughout the years in Sales.

Recently JC fought and beat throat cancer which gave him a completely new perspective on life and appreciation of time. With JB’s dad passing recently they both shared how these challenges affected them and ultimately made them stronger and more purpose driven.

Connect with John Costigan on LinkedIn here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/johncostigan/

Valerie Fischer: What is NLP and how it can help you sell Sep 19, 2022

Show notes

The majority of salespeople aren’t aware of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and how it can help in the sales process. If you haven’t heard of this (and even if you have), you’ll want to listen in to my conversation with Valerie Fischer, co-owner of The Conversion Engine and an NLP-Certified Practitioner. I was introduced to NLP early in my sales career but didn’t really get too deep into it because I thought it could be manipulative. But Valerie feels it’s really just getting to know your client and helps them to label their thoughts and behaviors. “It’s trying to understand what your clients think-points are,” Valerie says. “What are the possibilities they see for themselves. When you ask questions like that, you’re able ot squeeze that out of them.” We also delve into identifying whether your client is a visual, auditory or a kinesthetic person and how to mirror your messaging to take full advantage of these traits. We also discuss metamodel questions that can help get to the client’s actual motivations and goals for their business. Valerie says, “When you find your value, you find your purpose and they you find your why.”

Connect with Valerie on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/valeriepfischer/

Find out more about Valerie’s ventures at:

https://valeriepfischer.net/

John Talty: Nick Saban’s Leadership Secrets Sep 12, 2022

Show notes

Alabama football Coach Nick Saban doesn’t set lofty goals, but his teams win national championships. Guest John Talty, who covers the Crimson Tide as sports editor at Alabama Media Group, says Saban is “much more focused on what we need to do on a daily basis to put ourselves in a position to have success.” Creating a system where players and coaches share understanding of their roles and how they fit in with the team allows Saban to succeed year after year, Talty writes in his new book, “The Leadership Secrets of Nick Saban.” … Coach Saban’s philosophy prompts John Barrows to challenge sales team leaders by asking, “When was the last time you actually really genuinely painted a vision for them about where you're taking this, and how they fit into that vision?”

Connect with John Talty on LinkedIn here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-talty-586642b/

Get a copy of his book:

https://www.amazon.com/Leadership-Secrets-Nick-Saban-Alabamas/dp/1637740832

Connect on Twitter

@JTalty

Donald C. Kelly : Just Two Sales Guys Talking Sep 05, 2022

Show notes

As founder of The Sales Evangelist, consultant Donald C. Kelly “sells sales to salespeople.” When he sat down with John they declared the conversation “just two sales guys talking.” But it was more a crash course in selling with observations like: Showing genuine curiosity engages clients; get “yesses” along the way; an empowered consumer “will buy all day;” avoid “fake personalization” in outreach, people know; work hard to land government contracts “because government people don't like to switch.” … John agrees strongly with Donald’s advice to educate prospects instead of dazzling them, advising him to use analogies and “help it make sense to them in their world.”

Connect with Donald on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/donaldckelly/

Mark Raffan: Negotiating Lessons from Procurement Aug 29, 2022

Show notes

If you’re a sales professional whose job revolves around procurement, you’ll want to listen to my discussion with Mark Raffan, CEO of Negotiation Ninja. Mark provides a master class in negotiations because he knows all the tricks in this field as he used to work on the procurement side. “I come from the dark side, the other side of the procurement world,” he said. “I started in sales and moved into procurement.”One of the biggest fallacies in the world of negotiations is the “win-win” scenario. Renowned negotiator Chris Voss says “fair is like a four-letter word in negotiations,” and Raffan mostly agrees with this philosophy. “The whole idea of fair is really, really scary,” Raffan says. “But it’s also the foundation for win-win. I used to put stuff in my (starting) negotiations just to give them up just to make you feel good.”One aspect in negotiations we discuss is when you have to concede in pricing, make sure to get some sort of reciprocity, such as payment up-front or a larger order than originally intended. We also talk about “nice to have” solutions versus a “must have” solution, along with knowing when to walk away and the impact time has on negotiations.

Connect with Mark on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/markraffan/

Find out more about Negotiations Ninja:

https://www.negotiations.ninja/

Chris Mirabile: How I Slowed Down Aging Aug 22, 2022

Show notes

After battling a brain tumor as a teenager and depression as a young entrepreneur, wellness advocate Chris Mirabile “grew to appreciate that I was here, living still.” Today the founder and CEO of longevity company Novos Labs says he has slowed his aging process by 31% through a holistic approach to mental and physical health that includes meditation, aerobic and strength training, and a good diet. ”All of these different things, they all interact with each other, and they impact your physical health, your biological health, your emotional well being, and so on,” he says of what he calls his “longevity lifestyle.” … Hear John and Chris discuss how ego and entrepreneurship can pose unique challenges to mental and physical health.Connect with

Chris on LinkedIn here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrismirabile/

Follow his health journey here:

https://slowmyage.com/

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