Sales Tuners

View Top 200 Chart

Back to Rankings Page

Business
**Sales Tuners**

SalesTuners is an interview where I talk with great sales leaders and high performing individual salespeople about the Behaviors, Attitudes, and Techniques that have made them great. Learn more at SalesTuners.com

Latest Episodes:

[CLASSICS] 044: Lauren Wadsworth | Just Push Play: Using Video for Face-to-Face Outreach Jan 22, 2019

Show notes

Takeaways

Make Planned Calls, Not Random Calls: For many people it doesn't take long to realize that quality over quantity matters. For example, sometimes it's not about how many calls you make. It's about making planned calls that target specific prospects. Instead of working your way through a list and starting over at the beginning, make calls to the same two or three prospects in the same account on the same day.
It's Hard to Say No to Someone Personally: Face to face communication is huge and while you may not be able to personally meet all of your prospects at conferences, you can introduce yourself by video. It's friendly and personal and offers you a different way to open up conversations. It's really hard to say no to somebody when you see their face and they are more humanized.
Ditch the Buzzwords and Generalities: Quit trying to make everything scale. Paul Graham wrote a great blog post all about intentionally doing things that don't scale. When you try to stuff a script with all the features and benefits of your product while combining that with every possible use cases you solve, you end up appealing to no one. Try to bucket your prospects into groups of known challenges and then speak directly to them in the phrases they use to describe the problem needing solved.

Full Notes

https://www.salestuners.com/lauren-wadsworth

Book Recommendation

Executive Presence: The Missing Link Between Merit and Success by Sylvia Ann Hewlett

Sponsor

Costello – What if every sales rep inherited the habits of your best rep? With Costello, they do.

120: Allen Hammer | Know When It's Time to Walk Away Jan 15, 2019

Show notes

Takeaways

Disqualify Early: If you want to save both yourself and your prospect time, then it's your job to disqualify them as early as possible. Now, if you have a weak pipeline or don't like prospecting, I know you will hang on to every opportunity like it's a bar of gold, but it's likely costing you. Instead of trying to figure out every possible way your product could work for them, focus in on the two or three things that would make it not a fit, and be transparent about it. Doing this will allow you to spend more time working deals that can actually retire your quota and earn you a commission instead of promising your VP that the deal will come in.
Pick Your Path: If you are a star in sales and find yourself regularly hitting or even exceeding quota, don't think that the only next step for you is to become a manager or even VP of sales. The skills you need to train, manage, and get the best out of other reps is completely different than the skills you've worked hard on developing. Additionally, more often than not, you'll also take a pay cut in order to get those new found responsibilities.
You Don't Have to Be the Best: In the 80's, the car rental company Avis rolled out a brilliant ad campaign claiming to be #2 behind Hertz and claiming "we try harder." How many times have you claimed your product or service to have the best this or the greatest that? Here's the deal, it's annoying as hell and is often met with an eye roll you can't see. Plus, how do you know? Because your marketing department told you so? Instead of leading with arrogance, acknowledge that there are other solutions out there and your goal in the conversation is to determine the reals needs of the prospect and promise them you'll try harder.

Full Notes

https://www.salestuners.com/allen-hammer

Book Recommendations

The Transparency Sale by Todd Caponi
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

Sponsor

Costello - What if every sales rep inherited the habits of your best rep? With Costello, they do.

119: Corn George | Fear, Vulnerability, and Failure: Why it is an Option Jan 08, 2019

Show notes

Takeaways

Differentiation is Key: Most of us want to believe we're not selling a commodity, but having been on the buyer's side of the table for several SaaS platforms lately, I assure you, each demo starts to blur together because the features are all so similar. Figure out how you can differentiate yourself from your competitors not only in what you sell but how you sell. Unless you're the founder of the company, I know you don't have control over the product itself, but tailoring your pitch to only the things your prospects care about is one easy thing that will help you stand out above the rest.
Harness Your Fear: Fear comes from not knowing what's on the other side of a situation. But the last thing I want for you is to be afraid and not even know why. Think about all the situations that have, or continue to, limit you on a daily basis. What is it that you're actually afraid of? Write it down. Then, think through the different ways you can mitigate that outcome. What can you do to remove those vulnerabilities by preparing for each obstacle?
Tell Your Prospects What You're Doing: People don't want to be manipulated or even feel like they may be. In sales, it's very easy to be perceived this way. Corn called it social engineering, but it's all the same. Let your prospects know you've done your homework and will be using the information you've found about them to add value to the sales process. With all the privacy headlines in the news right now, being forthright about what you know can actually relieve potential anxiety that you just consider par for the course.

Full Notes

https://www.salestuners.com/corn-george

Book Recommendation

You Are Not So Smart by David McRaney

Sponsor

Costello - What if every sales rep inherited the habits of your best rep? With Costello, they do.

118: #AskJB - Happy New Year Jan 01, 2019

Show notes

117: Making a List, Checking it Twice Dec 25, 2018

Show notes

Special Holiday Episode

https://www.salestuners.com/making-a-list

Sponsor

Costello - What if every sales rep inherited the habits of your best rep? With Costello, they do.

116: Frank Schneider | Do Your Homework: Shifting the Burden Off Your Buyers Dec 18, 2018

Show notes

Takeaways

Ask Direct Questions About the Sales Process: Buyers that are interested and want to actually buy are more forthright with information than you may think. They want you to know what has to happen, but it's your responsibility to ask, and you need to be direct about it. For instance, the last time you bought something like this, what did that process look like? Did you buy alone or were other people involved? How long did it take? Knowing these details can help you understand not only what's real, but also how to accurately forecast your pipeline.
Arm Your Buyers to Help Them Buy: No, I don't mean white papers or any collateral that marketing has put together. I mean, understanding what problems they are actually trying to solve, use cases they're thinking about, or concerns they have about selling internally. Then, connect them with customers who have bought from you in the past. From a prospecting standpoint, you may even be able to host a dinner or event where you can get multiple buyers in the salesroom that have similar problems and let them talk about it with each other. Building these relationships when you're not trying to sell them anything is even better long-term.
Know Your Funnel Math Equation: This still ceases to amaze me, how many people don't know the math behind their quota or pipeline. So much, that I actually created a workbook for it that you can get at SalesTuners.com/roadmap. It's quite simple. What is your average contract value? How many of those deals will it take to meet your quota, whether monthly, annually or quarterly? What's your winning percentage on the opportunities you create? How many prospects do you have to talk to in order to create one opportunity? Once you know this formula, you put together a plan to 2X or even 3X your output.

Full Notes

https://www.salestuners.com/frank-schneider

Book Recommendations

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Drown by Junot Diaz
BUYology by Martin Lindstrom

Sponsor

Costello - What if every sales rep inherited the habits of your best rep? With Costello, they do.

[CLASSICS] 066: Chris Voss | Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It Dec 11, 2018

Show notes

Takeaways

Empathy Saves Time: I know it sounds counterintuitive, but slowing down a sales process can often times speed up the deal. If you lean into your prospect and get a good emotional intelligence read, the empathy you show gets them to open up about their actual concerns.
Get to "No": When you are leading your prospect to say "yes," they get worried about what they are committing to and anxiety creates confusion. But, when you get them to say "no," they feel protected and they have the illusion of control. Once a person says "no," they'll likely give you implementable context to move the deal forward.
There's Always a Favorite and a Fool: If you can't get the scope of your prospect's problem, you need to realize they never envisioned you in that solution. In every deal, there's a favorite and a fool. The fool is often used to drive down the price on the favorite and expose their weaknesses. Thus, you should be looking for proof of life in every opportunity.

Full Notes