Sales Tuners

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**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:

095: Amy Appleyard | The Difference Between Cooperating and Collaborating Jun 26, 2018

Show notes

Takeaways

Understand How Your Prospect Makes Money: You already know how your company makes money and you already know how you make money once your company makes money. During the sales process, if you really dig in and figure out how your prospects make money, then you can sync your offering with their real incentives. It truly doesn't matter what you sell if you can figure out how your offering impacts their revenue engine. That's the key.
Put Yourself Out There: Your network is not just going to build itself. You have to commit time in a given week or month outside your organization. Think about it just like you would building your pipeline. Who are the top 3-5 people you'd like to know? Reach out to them and ask for coffee or for lunch. Be genuine in your reasoning and figure out how you can provide reciprocal value. This effort you put in now will pay off in spades for a long time to come.
Own Your Day: It's been mentioned a few times on this show but understanding your own process and the things that make an impact or crucial to real success. Get organized and plan your day intentionally. Block on time on your calendar to do the things you know need to get done and don't let the 5-10 minutes between meetings get wasted with goofing off because you can't get any "real work" done in that short of time. Also, at the end of each day, recap the day and plan for what is going to happen the following.

Full Notes

https://www.salestuners.com/amy-appleyard

Book Recommendations

It's Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy by Michael Abrashoff
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni

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

094: Bob Burg | Temporarily Suspending Your Own Self Interest Jun 19, 2018

Show notes

Takeaways

Accomplish More With a System: I liked Bob's personal definition of a system as simply the process of predictably achieving a goal based on a logical and specific set of how-to principles with the key being predictability. What I've seen is that pretty much anything we want to do has likely already been done. So, if we will put in the work and do the research to find the processes that worked for those that came before us, we can attain our desired results in less time.
Don't Have Money Be Your Target: If you set out on any venture with money being your main driver, you're going to take some shortcuts that could do long-term harm. Your target should be serving others. Now understand, that when you hit the target, you'll get a reward that comes in the form of money. And you can do with that money whatever you choose. Another way to think of it is, there are always two profits: the buyer profits and the seller profits because both parties come away better off afterward than they were beforehand.
Pull Instead of Push: Influence is simply the ability to move a person or persons to a desired action. But the essence of influence is to pull them as opposed to push them. Great influencers attract people to themselves first and then to their idea. You'll notice this also takes the pressure off of you. When you focus on the other person, you'll gain more confidence because all you'll care about is figuring out how the other person succeeds.

Full Notes

https://www.salestuners.com/bob-burg

Book Recommendations

The Secret of Selling Anything by Harry Browne
How to Win Friend and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

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

093: Jacquelyn Nicholson | Focus on the Person You Want to Be Jun 12, 2018

Show notes

Takeaways

Executives are Like Everyone Else: Having senior level conversations is no different than conversations with anyone else, they just want you to get to the point a bit quicker. They want to know specifically why what you're bringing them is important to them and what value it will add. The best way to show this value is to start with the why behind it.
Research Matters in the Enterprise: We've talked a lot on this show about how much you should research before you start an outbound initiative, but in the enterprise, it's imperative. You need to know not only the industry challenges but also specifically the business priorities of the individual company you're trying to get into. If they're public, read their investor documents and regulatory filings. If they're private search for any presentations they have online or try to find who their investors are and research their investment thesis to open up the critical components of a conversation.
The Only Thing You Can Control is You: While you can't control every situation you find yourself in, you can absolutely affect the outcome. The only unknown variable is your reaction and/or your response to the situation. If you look around and blame everyone else for your predicament, realize you're giving up all of your power. Our biggest problem looks at us every day in the mirror and we must stay true to who it is we aspire to be.

Full Notes

https://www.salestuners.com/jacquelyn-nicholson

Book Recommendations

The Stand by Stephen King
Without Remorse by Tom Clancy

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

092: Paige Drews | Moving From 'Can Do' to 'Has Done' Jun 05, 2018

Show notes

Takeaways

Sell From a Place of Pain: There's been a lot of debate lately, even on this show, about whether pain based selling still works. I'll forever be in the pain camp as the way to go because basically, human psychology sees us trying to move away from pain more often, and with greater rigor than we do toward gain. That said, I like how Paige tied the pain concept to the greater "why." Regardless of your opinion, digging deep enough to understand why a prospect wants to make a change will always put you in the driver's seat.
Turn Chaos into Calm: Take a look at the immediate world around you. I'm talking about your daily calendar, your personal sales process, and heck even the notifications on your phone. Living in a constant state of chaos and distraction is a heavy mental burden and it's exhausting. If you find yourself scatterbrained and never having enough time, stop what you're doing and write down three things you can do to change your environment. Then actually do it.
Make the Main Thing the Main Thing: I'm not a proponent of multitasking. In fact, I've read all the studies that prove that it's actually not possible. As you look at all the things on your plate, what's the main thing you need to get accomplished this week? What's the main thing you have to get accomplished today? What's the main thing you have to accomplish in the next hour? Focus on that. The rest will sort itself out.

Full Notes

https://www.salestuners.com/paige-drews

Book Recommendations

The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran
Ava's Man by Rick Bragg

Sponsor

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

091: Andrea Waltz | Failure and Success: Opposite Sides of the Same Coin May 29, 2018

Show notes

Takeaways

Increase Your Failure Rate: If you're the person being rejected or constantly being told "no," it may be hard to hear that you need to increase the amount of times you should actually hear it. But, the real question for you is what opportunities are you leaving on the table simply by not asking the question? What deals could you have kept alive if you had just asked the question? What other products could you have bundled in the sale if you had just asked the question? What referrals could you have got if you had just asked the question?
Stay Curious: After you've heard "no," what is the next best question you can ask? If you can start to plan your conversations to elicit "no" responses, you can then also start to plan for a strategic follow-up question. Think about what is actually being said when you hear "no." What additional context can you gain by building upon their response?
Practice in Everyday Life: I mentioned in the conversation, my #1 mantra is that you'll never get anything in life you don't ask for, so start asking. That applies not only to sales, but everyday things like shopping, dining, travel accommodations, personal relationships, and even dating. If you ask and get a "no" you haven't really lost anything because you never had it to begin with. But if you ask and get a "yes" you gained 100% of whatever the ask was. To me, this is really a no lose situation.

Full Notes

https://www.salestuners.com/andrea-waltz/

Book Recommendation

The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom by Don Miguel Ruiz

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

090: Jim Brown | AskJB May 22, 2018

Show notes

AskJB:

"Is it better to research your prospect before cold calling or just pick up the phone and dial?" [2:35-3:22]
"What does one do when a promising lead turns cold or goes dark?" [3:37-5:26]
"I have a deal in my pipeline that has hit a wall, how can I go over their head to the person who is likely more interested in the solution we can provide?" [3:52-5:26]
"When a prospect was very engaged in the sales process but then goes cold, what do you recommend to do to re engage them?" [4:10-5:26]
"There's a lot going on with GDPR right now, how might that lengthen or change the sales process for customers with international data implications?" [5:27-7:25]
"What are a couple of things a new BDR should do first to get up to speed quickly and start dialing?" [7:30-8:22]
"What is one thing an exceptional sales person does that the average sales person would find surprising, and similarly, what does an average sales person do that an exceptional sales person would find equally surprising?" [8:28-10:14]
"What is the number one issue sales teams are experiencing" [10:19-11:08]
"I'm hiring my first sales rep after doing everything myself for the first six months — what are the things I need to do before they start and during the first 30 days to maximize their chance of success?" [11:14-12:14]
"How does a company know which sales methodology is right for their organization?" [12:19-13:21]

If you've got a challenge you've been working through and would like to #AskJB for help, simply go to SalesTuners.com/AskJB.

Sponsor

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

089: Mike Schultz | Prospecting with New Ideas and Perspectives May 15, 2018

Show notes

Takeaways

Run an Attraction Campaign: From primary research to brainstorming sessions and even success stories, these tactics can at least get you a first meeting. From there, it's up to you to educate your buyer with new ideas and perspectives while simultaneously weaving in your capabilities and offerings.
Shake Up the Complacency Mindset: Your biggest competitor in a sales cycle is status quo. You have to help prospects see that where they are is not nearly as good as where they want to be. Notice I said "where they want to be," not where you want them to be. Figure out how to get them to see that it's worthwhile for them to attempt a change and you unlock the best value in the relationship.
Be Present for the Elusive Time of Need: For the short term thinkers out there, this one will frustrate you. There are some products and services that require an active need in order for the prospect to buy. For certain buyers that window may only be every 2-3 years. By building relationships now and growing your network, you can ensure that you'll at least have a shot when the time comes. Additionally, if you're building relationships with the right people, rest assured they have friends who they could refer you to in the meantime.

Full Notes

https://www.salestuners.com/mike-schultz

Book Recommendations

On Writing Well by William Zinsser
Consultative Selling by Mack Hanan

Sponsor

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

088: Liz Cain | Generating Interest: The Missing Piece of Outbound Sales May 08, 2018

Show notes

Takeaways

Be Responsive and Get Shit Done: When you're working at a company that is really going somewhere, everybody has a hundred things on their plate and constantly shifting priorities. If you want to stand out, be the person that volunteers for new projects and make sure to follow through. Once you say you've got it, don't be the person that someone else has to follow-up with or check-in on. This exposure is what will make you great in the future.
Hone in on Your Top Segments: The simplest definition of a segment is a group of people who can be reached with the same go-to-market strategy combined with the same product. This will not only help define territories by way of geography, industry, or company size but really it will help create repeatability in your messaging — making your product easier to sell at a lower cost-per-acquisition. This focus doesn't mean you can't go after other segments later, it just keeps you on target with your limited resources.
Generate Interest First: When you're doing outbound sales, realize you're connecting with suspects — not leads. This should start to change your thinking a bit about how you talk to them. Starting with the right market segment, your first job is to find out whether or not they even have a problem you can solve or if there is an opportunity to improve something in their business. Then, and only then, are you able to generate interest and deliver your pitch.

Full Notes

https://www.salestuners.com/liz-cain

Book Recommendation

Who: The A Method for Hiring by Geoff Smart and Randy Street

Sponsor

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

087: Scott Leese | Addicted to the Process May 01, 2018

Show notes

Takeaways

Stick With What Works: Once you find a system that works, stick with it. As obvious as it may sound, too often we want to tinker with things out of boredom. Your goal should be to strip everything down to the smallest set of choices you can possibly have and then run those plays consistently.
Lean Into Objections: The buyer knows every objection they're going to come up with before they ever decided to talk to you. And unfortunately, they're not just going to go away. That said, don't shy away from them. Lean directly into them and have the conversations about known challenges as early in the process as possible. This will accelerate the good deals and get you out of the bad deals.
Strip Out Complexity: Regardless of how much your product can do, figure out the top 3-4 pain points your ideal customers face and solve for those. That's it. Now, you may be thinking that comment should be focused on your internal product team, but it's not. When you talk about all the features you can provide, all you do is confuse people including yourself. Focusing on a smaller subset of real value help you create the right conversation and position accordingly.

Full Notes

https://www.salestuners.com/scott-leese

Book Recommendation

The 48 Laws Of Power by Robert Greene

Sponsor

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

086: Steli Efti | The Answer to Your Problems May Not be Convenient Apr 24, 2018

Show notes

Takeaways

Words are Powerful: Your mastery of language and results driven communication is paramount to your success in sales. It's one thing to be good, but becoming a student of linguistics and really understanding the nuance between conscious and subconscious states can take you to an entirely different level. Think about the notion of associated and dissociated language — such as using the royal "we" when you really mean "I." Learning different communication styles can help you not only influence others but also yourself.
Act Despite Your Feelings: Knowing yourself enough to realize there are times you don't want to do certain things is totally okay. However, you still need to do them. Look, I get it — there are absolutely moments in a day or week that I don't want to take a meeting, do a task, or even have a conversation. Give yourself the permission to have the feeling, but then figure out how to get over it and take the action you know needs to be taken. Learning how to overcome those emotions will change your life and put you in complete control of your career success. And once that idea came about my life changed and started being able to not be a victim of my emotions anymore being control of my life and being able to do things even if I didn't feel like
Your Job is Not to be Liked: Way too many sales reps I talk to want prospects to like them. They believe that if they say anything to challenge the person they're talking to they will lose the opportunity. Neither of those things are true. You must realize, you do not have to sell to every prospect. Respectfully push back and tell them that while they may treat other vendors a certain way, for you to become a true partner to them, you have to better understand their current situation. This includes following up — if you've had a positive interaction with a prospect, it's your duty to continue to reach back out even if that means pissing off a few people.

Full Notes