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Salesman Podcast –
The Salesman Podcast is the worlds most downloaded B2B sales podcast and is an Apple Award winning show. It helps sales professionals learn how to find buyers and win business from them in a modern, effective, and ethical way. The show has featured NASA astronauts, F1 drivers, Olympic athletes, UFC fighters, world leading neuroscientists and the world’s top sales experts as guests.
Selling Made Simple –
Sometimes sales professionals just don’t have the time to listen to an hour of content. This is where Selling Made simple comes in with its 10-minute, practical episodes.
How To Drive More Urgency When Selling | Selling Made Simple
Jan 25, 2023
Are your prospects getting stuck in your sales pipeline?
Do you find it difficult to get them to take action and move the sale forward? Do you have deals that you know would close if the buyer made any effort whatsoever?
In this video I’m going to share how to drive more urgency in your buyers by helping them break through the status quo.
How To Cold Email B2B Prospects - Best Cold Email Template | Selling Made Simple
Jan 18, 2023
To win business, you need to book meetings.
To book meetings you need to be able to contact your buyers and consistently generate conversations with them.
In this video I’m going to share a proven, step-by-step framework to write a cold email that generates B2B meetings, that is being used by over 2,000 salespeople and small business owners within Salesman.com academy right now to drive hundreds of millions in revenue.
I include the best cold email template and some top cold outreach tips at the end of the video too.
How To Make Sales Easier and Less Stressful | Selling Made Simple
Jan 16, 2023
Do you want to make working in sales, easier and less stressful?
Then you need to understand the first rule of sales.
The first and most important rule of sales is that it is a game. If you frame working in a sales role as a game rather than a “job” you’ll dominate the competition.
But what is a game?
Games have 3 elements –
Feedback loops – Grab 100 rings in Sonic the Hedgehog and you’ll get an extra life. Fall down the hole in Super Mario and you’ll lose a life.
Variable outcomes – Some things will work to defeat the end level boss. Others won’t. You need to experiment to find the correct solution.
Control – Your hands input your direction with a controller or the movement of your piece on the chessboard.
Games that don’t have these elements aren’t fun to play. The best, longest term, most entertaining games all have these elements.
7 Rules To Close More Sales In 2023 | Selling Made Simple
Jan 12, 2023
Winning more sales becomes simple when there are clear, proven rules to follow.
Rules act as barriers, either side of a path to sales success that stop us wandering off in the wrong direction.
From the 2,000 high level salespeople and small business owners in the Salesman.com Academy training program and with data from over 14,000 sales professionals who have completed our SalesCode assessment, in this video I’m going to share 7 rules that if you follow, will help you to close more deals in 2023.
Life is too short... not to master sales | Selling Made Simple
Jan 10, 2023
Do you agree that life is short?
Getting Walter, my dog was the turning point for me that confirmed the shortness of life.
He’s two years old and still a puppy.
Yet, he’s probably lived 20% of his life already. I’ve only got 8-10 more Christmases with him and then he’ll be gone.
And I’m sure you’ll agree that 8 of most things isn’t a lot.
8 films can be finished in a weekend. 8 chocolates can be nailed in a couple of mouthfuls.
So, life is short, but what does this have to do with sales?
My message to you is that life is so short that if you’re not selling your products or your ideas… or you’re not selling yourself to do the things that you’ve always wanted to do… then you’re going to end up disappointed with your shot at life.
This is why life is too short not to master sales.
Sell The Way Your Buyers WANT To Be Sold | Selling Made Simple
Dec 22, 2022
Here’s a bold statement—more has changed in sales over the last 20 years than has changed in the 1000 years before it. Crazy right? But it’s true! And it’s especially true when you look at the buyer’s journey.
So what’s the big deal? What’s so different today than just a few decades—heck, even a few years—ago? And what are the 3 takeaways you need to build into your sales process if you even hope to survive the shifting buyer’s journey?
How the Buyer’s Journey Has Changed
Let’s look at how the buyer’s journey has changed. Now, as any sales rep worth their salt knows, understanding your unique buyer’s journey is key to selling successfully.
As Wistia’s VP of Sales & Customer Success Peter Von Burchard told me in our interview…
“Customer success is really understanding the journey that the customer is on, and the problem that you’re solving as a solution and finding a way to align yourself as a company with getting those customers to achieve that end. And I think it’s really about aligning the business and the solution with the goals of the customer and helping execute on that.” – Interview with Peter Von Burchard, VP of Sales & Customer Success at Wistia [01:10]
Now in the old days, the buyer’s journey started with materials educating the prospect about the problem. But soon after, it’d then be taken over by the sales rep. They’d build rapport, explain the various solutions, differentiate their product from the competitors, and close the sale.
But in the past twenty years or so, that’s changed quite a bit. Today, sales reps are way less involved along the way. A study from McKinsey found that up to 80% of B2B decision-makers prefer digital self-service models to “traditional” in-person models. Buyers now expect to be able to access loads of educational themselves, without the help of a rep.
On top of that…
Sales cycles are getting longer
Deals are increasingly complex
And more decision-makers are now involved
Those are some pretty big changes, I know. So the question is, how do you navigate them?
Well first off, you need to know…
1. How to Deal with a Longer Sales Cycle
How to deal with a longer sales cycle. A report from Demand Gen found that nearly 60% of buyers say the decision-making process is becoming longer year over year. Plus, Gartner found on average it takes input from 6 to 10 decision-makers to settle on a solution. And that means more emails, product demos, sales calls, and nurturing cycles than ever.
Now there are ways to speed up that process. Like spending extra time qualifying your prospects, making sure you’re selling to an authority figure, and relying more heavily on referrals.
But in general, you’ve simply got to get used to dealing with a longer sales cycle.
What You Can Do About It
So, what can you do about it?
Well first and foremost, you can work on your sales cadences. If your buyers need more time to make their decision, that’s okay. You just need to make sure you’re keeping them engaged and answering all their questions along the way. That means developing sales cadences that continue to share industry insights, facilitate free and open communication, and ensure that when they are ready to talk, you’re the first person they think of.
So start putting in a bit of extra time to lengthen your cadences this month.
2. The Shifting Importance of Content
Now takeaway number two is about the shifting importance of strategic content.
In the world of B2B sales, the salesperson with the best content is king.
Research from FocusVision found that B2B buyers now consume at least 13 pieces of content before making a buying decision.
That’s why it’s so important for you as a sales rep to make the shift to creating valuable, customer-focused content for every stage of the buyer’s cycle. Doing so positions you as a thought leader. AND it acts as the entry point to your selling funnel.
Selling expert Victor Antonio said the same thing when I interviewed him:
“The majority of executives don’t want to talk to a salesperson, they simply don’t. They want to do the whole customer journey by themselves. And then, when I’m ready, I’ll reach out to you. Well, how do I reach out? Well, this is the guy that’s got content, he seems to know what he’s talking about. I’m going to go call Will, see what’s happening over there.” [12:40]
What You Can Do About It
Alright, so good content rocks. But how do you make it?
My advice is to put in the time for deep dives. Those pithy little 400 word blog posts aren’t doing a damn thing for positioning you as a thought leader. Instead, you’ve got to really dig into the problem. What’s causing your prospect’s pain points? What are the mechanics of that problem? What are the 200 different solutions out there?
This is the type of stuff that your buyer wants to immerse themselves in.
On top of that, use past customer data like surveys, testimonials, and interviews to better understand what topics and pain points to cover. The more your content resonates, the more it’ll seem like you’re talking right to your buyer.
3. A Now-ESSENTIAL Selling Tool
And the third takeaway is that if there’s one sales tool you need now more than ever, it’s this…
A solid CRM.
See, in the old world, you’d know exactly what content your buyer is consuming. Why? Well, because you were the one who showed it to them in the first place!
But with so much research and engagement happening before you even speak to a lead, you need to know exactly what your buyers have interacted with beforehand. That’s where your CRM tool comes in.
With the right customer relationship management tool, you’ll have a complete record of which content leads have already consumed and where they may be at on the buyer’s journey.
On top of that, you’ll have:
Tons of lead scoring info to tell you when to reach out
Lots of buyer background data to help you refine your ideal customer persona
Automation features to make outreach and follow-up 10X easier
With the right CRM on your side, you can knock out as much work as a whole team of sales reps from 20 or 30 years ago.
What You Can Do About It
Now a few words of note here.
A CRM takes investment. There’s the money factor, of course. But these days CRMs are more affordable than ever.
No, more than the money, I’m talking about the time investment.
A CRM’s data is only as good as you make it. And with bad data, you’re going to throw off the entire purpose of using the tool in the first place. That’s why you need to be sure you’re putting in the effort to record the type of data that truly matters. Now if you head over to our guide on the buyer’s journey, we link to a great article from HubSpot on the topic. So be sure to give that a look.
“With CRMs, you reap what you sow and what a lot of salespeople don’t do is they don’t put into the CRM what they need to get the best out of it, and it’s the same with Navigator.” [19:25]
How I Always Have a Full Pipeline of Sales Leads | Selling Made Simple
Dec 16, 2022
Ask a brand-new sales rep what the most important skill is and you know what he’ll say? “Closing.” That’s what we always hear, right? But ask a 20-year vet who’s seen a thing or two and they’ll tell you it isn’t the closing. It’s the prospecting.
“If you’re able to do your own prospecting, you’ll never starve.”
But I’d even take it one step further—nail down how to prospect like a pro, and you’ll live like a king.
Now prospecting is one of the most valuable skills you can learn in your entire sales career. As Cardone Enterprises VP of Sales Jarrod Glandt shared –
“I would rather have a salesperson that could get in the door and create an opportunity in the first place, than somebody who sucks on the front side of it but is average at the end.”
Which is why we created the Sales Prospect List Building Framework. This framework is just four steps. And if you want to take a deeper dive into the strategies and techniques we’re talking about here, I suggest you head over to the link in the video notes below to read the full guide.
Alright with that disclaimer out of the way, let’s jump into the framework.
1. Refine Your ICP
Now step one is refining your ICP or ideal customer persona. These are essentially your perfect buyers. And they’re the prospects you want to be focusing on the most.
Here are some qualities to look for when trying to identify your ICP:
Are easiest to close
Have the pain point you’re solving
Understand your product’s value
Offer the fewest objections
Are urgently ready to buy
All of these attributes up to 1) a shorter sales cycle, 2) higher profit margins, and 3) an easier, less stressful sales process for—that’s right—you.
Now, identifying your ICP takes a bit of work. But you can start by looking at past customers with the shortest contact-to-sale cycle. From there, you can bring in more data points by considering how large the sale is, whether they’ve become repeat buyers, and if they provided a glowing testimonial or referral.
For an even more in-depth dive into defining your ICP, be sure to check out our Value Proposition Design Framework. It’s got an entire step dedicated specifically to finding your perfect buyer.
Okay so once you’ve got about 20 to 40 past customers, it’s time to figure out what they have in common. To do that, you’re going to list out seven components for each:
Job Title
Industry
Location
Company Size
Current Goals
Main Pain Points
Previous Solution
A lot of this info you can get with a bit of online research. But some—like previous solutions, main pain points, and current goals—may require an actual phone call.
Once you have that info for everyone, you’ll need to cross reference and look for similarities between your perfect buyers. What criteria do they have in common? What are some general trends you see among the majority of them?
Details don’t have to align perfectly here. But the closer the match, the easier step two will be.
2. Create Your Test Audience
With your ICP outline detailed, now it’s time to create your test audience.
Essentially, you want to build a small list of prospects that match your ICP and then validate that list by entering them into your sales cadence. Depending on the success rate of your outreach, you can then scale up your audience or go back to the drawing board and refine your ICP to get better results.
So the question is, how do you build that list? And the answer is LinkedIn Sales Navigator. LinkedIn Sales Navigator is a fantastic sales tool I can personally vouch for. I use it myself. This tool lets you plug in details on prospects and then it populates a whole list of potential customers based on that list.
It’s like a super advanced prospecting search tool. AND it’s on the biggest professional network in the world, so you’ll never run out of leads.
All you have to do is plug in the ICP outline you just created into the search parameters. And then hit ENTER. That’s all there is to it.
For new and unvalidated ICPs, start with building an audience of around 40 prospects. For validated ICPs, you can start off strong with 150.
ProTip: Start Off Small
But protip here—remember to start small with your audience. The entire goal of this exercise is to test quickly, document the results, and refine your ICP or cadence accordingly. The bigger the audience, the longer the whole process will take.
Don’t worry, once you hit a solid success rate you can take off. But not yet.
3. “Test” Your Test Audience
Alright now step three is all about “testing” your test audience.
Here’s where you run your list through your cadences and check out the results.
Nothing too special here, just start from the top and work your way down. But you do want to be sure you’re at least working off of a proven framework. Our Cold Outreach Sales Cadence Framework is a great foundation to start from if you don’t have a cadence built out already.
Best of all, it’s even got three templates you can basically copy and start using yourself.
You can take even more guesswork out of the equation by incorporating the messaging from our Cold Email, Cold Calling, and Social Selling Frameworks too.
After you’ve run through your list and recorded your success rate, it’s time to take a step back and evaluate.
What percent of your audience were you able to move on to the next step?
If the success rate (e.g., meetings booked divided by your audience size) was less than 5%, then there’s an issue with either your ICP or the cadence.
For example, if you run 40 people through your cadence, you need to book more than two meetings for it to count as a success.
Once you’ve run through your entire test list, it’s time to decide…
4. Scale or Change
If you’re below a 5% success rate, the answer’s simple—change. Your ICP or cadence isn’t performing as well as it should. So you need to head back to the drawing board. What other similarities did your ideal clients have that you didn’t test?
You should also bring those new prospects who did respond to your cadence into your evaluation. What kinds of job titles, industries, etc. describe them?
Once you come up with a new hypothesis, jump right back on that horse, test again, and keep iterating until you hit at least 5%.
Once you hit 5, you can start scaling your Sales Navigator audience up and build out a monster list in no time.
But just a word to the wise, you should keep testing and improving, even after hitting a 5% rate. With a bit of refining and tweaking, you can easily turn that into a 20% success rate. All it takes is finding new similarities between those who responded and adding those details to your ICP. And then, start the process over again!
Summary
So there you have it—four steps to building a sales prospecting list that’ll keep you bustling with business for the rest of your career.
How To Retire Early - A Guide For Salespeople | Salesman Podcast
Dec 12, 2022
Hitting quota, buying that dream Porsche, taking the family to Disney Land. These are all noble financial goals for salespeople but they’re all dumb.
In this video I’m going to explain the only financial goal that you should have and if you’re watching this video right now, you’re probably further away from it than you think.
The only thing you should be aiming for in your sales career is financial freedom. Otherwise known as early retirement.
Why Would I Want To Retire Early?
Why?:
Because working in sales will kill your soul. It’s emotionally draining.
But…
It’s the fastest way to make insane amounts of money legally and ethically.
It’s the safest way to make money (no risk of starting a business or investing capital).
You’re in control of your own success.
Assumption?:
This works on the assumption that you actually want to retire early. If most people believed it was possible, most people would aim for it.
Most people believe the lie that you have to work until you’re 65 before it’s possible to retire. This isn’t true.
Conclusion?:
Sales is a great medium term (5-10 years) career to acquire significant wealth to retire early on. It’s probably not the most fulfilling longer term (11-30 years) career.
It’s a trade off:
Work hard now so that your future self can live the life that you dream of living now.
How Do I Retire Early?
First off let’s define what early retirement is so that we know what we’re aiming for.
Defined:
When your assets generate more income each month than you spend.
Two ways to get there:
Reduce costs (need less money from assets to live on)
Increase income (can buy more assets to increase income)
So with the definition and the basic steps to retire early, lets get practical.
Steps To Retirement From a Sales Role
Calculate your number
What is your ideal monthly retirement income?
What level of risk are you willing to tolerate with your assets?
How likely are you to continue generating income in your retirement?
How much/many assets do you need to throw off your ideal monthly income?
Calculate the retirement date
Very specifically, when do you want to hand in your notice in your sales job?
Reverse engineer your required income
Take the total asset price, divide by the number of years and then months.
The tough questions
Are you capable of generating an amount of value in your market that will warrant the market giving you enough commission to acquire the retirement assets?
Does the sales role you have right now have the scope to pay out that level of commissions?
Do you have the balls to stick to the plan and make this happen over the medium term (5-10 years)?
You Have A VALUE Problem (NOT A Sales Problem) | Selling Made Simple
Dec 07, 2022
Few things are as foundationally important to sales success as your value proposition statement. In just one sentence, it captures who your buyers are, what problems they’re facing, how your product solves that problem, and so so much more. And when constructed properly, it should drive nearly every action and strategy of a business.
But when your value proposition is off, well that can spell huge problems for attracting the right buyers for what you’re selling.
Now before we get into the Value Proposition Design Framework, I want to point out that we’re going to be doing a brief overview. For those who want to dive deeper into each of these steps, I suggest heading over to Salesman.org. There you can find an article that talks about each step in-depth.
Alright with that said, let’s dig in.
1. Identify Your Value (The Value Diagram)
So step one of designing your value proposition is to identify your value. In the framework, we call this filling out The Value Diagram. And it’s got three sections:
Your Products
Perk Producers
Strain Reducers
Your job is to fill out these three sections.
You can start by listing out all the products or services you offer. Try to be thorough here. Because the next steps are to fill out the perk producers and strain reducers of each.
What are the benefits your products add to your buyers’ lives? Do they outperform your competitor? Do they lead to a positive social consequence like boosting their reputation? Do they create cost savings? Write those down in the perk producers section.
And how do these products eliminate hardships your buyers go through? Do they fix frustrating solutions? Eliminate risk? Limit or get rid of common mistakes buyers make? List them out in the strain reducers section.
2. Find Your Ideal Buyer (The Buyer Breakdown)
Finding your ideal buyer, a.k.a. the Buyer Breakdown. Just like in the previous section, this section consists of three steps:
Your Buyer’s Jobs
Perks
Strains
And yep, that means we’re listing out each.
First, what are the jobs your buyers perform? The functional jobs (like work duties), social jobs (like proving they’re competent and worthy of respect) and emotional jobs (like feeling accomplished).
Next we’re listing out the perks—the benefits your buyers want to see in your product. There are four types of perks to consider here: required perks, expected perks, desired perks, and unexpected perks.
Be sure to head over to Salesman.org to read the article if you want to learn more about each.
And last, what are the strains your buyer’s facing? These are the pain points of your existing customer profile. What annoys them before, during, and after they’re trying to get a job done? What are the risks that keep them from working as efficiently as they could?
3. Find the Fit
Now that you’ve got both your Value Diagram and your Buyer Breakdown filled out, we’re going to do some cross-referencing between each.
All you have to do here is determine which jobs, strains, and perks in the Buyer Breakdown the strain reducers and perk producers on the Value Diagram address. Go through each job, strain, and perk one by one, placing a checkmark next to the ones that fit. At the end, simply remove the ones that don’t have a checkmark.
After that, all that’s left is crafting your value proposition statement based on which elements are highest on the list of importance.
4. Create Your Value Proposition Statement
So, how do you create your value proposition statement?
Simple, you plug in the info you’ve just written down into this template:
So remember all the jobs, perks, and strains you matched before? Simply fill them into this template.
So for me at Salesman.org, it might look like this:
Our Selling Made Simple Academy (product) helps sales teams (buyer) who want to achieve higher close rates (buyer job) by teaching effective sales strategies (verb, perks) and simplifying the sales process (verb, strains) unlike traditional sales training programs (competition value prop).
See how that works?
Now the trick here is to be flexible. Because after you’ve plugged all your info in, you still need to…
5. Verify Your Value Proposition
To settle on a compelling value proposition, you’ll need to test whether it resonates with your buyers. And that means you need to:
Generate a hypothesis about your ideal buyer and what they value
Create a value proposition based on that hypothesis
Design experiments to verify the effectiveness of your value proposition
Run and collect results from your experiments
Reevaluate and tweak the components of your value proposition based on the results
Repeat the cycle
There are plenty of ways you can test your value proposition, including:
Ad and link tracking
Split testing emails
Split testing landing pages
Buyer interviews
Buyer behavior data analysis
Crowdfunding
In the end, just be sure you’re continually re-evaluation and iterating on what you learned along the way. Remember, this is a process, not a one-time effort!
One Page Plan (How I Stay Motivated In Sales) | Selling Made Simple
Nov 29, 2022
Look, everyone’s felt unmotivated at work at one time or another. But salespeople in particular struggle with a lack of motivation the most. And if you’re not motivated to sell, you’re not motivated to earn.
So how do to stay on the course to success, even on those “blah” days? You sell by the numbers. You can start by creating your very own One-Page Plan. And today, I’ll show you how.
Which is why today we’re covering the best motivation system I’ve found to keep me going—selling by the numbers—breaking down your yearly goals into smaller monthly, weekly, and daily goals.
How It Boosts Motivation
How does selling by the numbers boost motivation in the first place? Well, there are actually four reasons why this approach to sales works so well.
1. One Path to Success
First, it’s a single path to success. Compared to the “winging it” approach, selling by the numbers gives you clear, weekly (and even daily) goals so you can quickly know when you’re winning and when you’re falling behind. Achieve those goals, and you’re making progress. Simple as that.
2. Easy to Communicate
Two, it’s easy to communicate to your management. When you’ve clearly defined your goals, it’s easier to get your supervisors behind a plan. And with their support, your 10X more likely to stay on track.
3. Forces You to Decide What You Want
Third, selling by the numbers forces you to decide what you want. This framework moves backward, so you’re defining what your goals are right at the start. And as long as you’re following the plan each day, you can rest assured you’re continually working towards those goals that actually matter.
4. Walk Away Power
And four, selling by the numbers lets you walk away from bad leads if you want. With this framework, you can easily refer to your plan, see if you need that buyer to hit your numbers, and if not, walk away from all the trouble.
And that is something every sales rep would love to do.
The Selling By the Numbers Framework
Alright so the question is, how does the Selling By the Numbers Framework work? Essentially, this five-step framework starts from the end and moves backward to define how to reach your goals.
1. Define Your Wants
Defining your wants.
What do you want your life to look like in 5, 10, 20 years? What do you need to achieve that?
Now don’t go straight for the income figure. Because money in and of itself isn’t a want. It’s a means to an end. And we’re going to be dealing with it specifically in the next step.
Instead, a want is something like being able to send your kid to college. It’s that shiny new Corvette. It’s that safety net to keep your family safe during an emergency.
Get it?
So step one, determine your want. And then…
2. Set Your Income Goal
Step two, set your income goal to achieve that want. How much extra dough do you need to earn to be able to afford that want?
Now for tangible goods you can buy right now like that new car, that’s easy. You know the price. But for wants that you don’t need fulfilled right away, you’ll have to work out a savings plan.
For example, say you want to be able to send your kid to college in 15 years. Tuition is around $225,000 so that breaks down to an extra $15K saved per year. Make sense?
3. Determine Your Starting Point
Determining your starting point. This one’s simple, where are you now compared to your income goal?
All you have to do here is take what you’ve earned already and subtract it from the final goal. Then you need to take into account the givens for this year. Do you have recurring revenue from certain accounts? Are you losing any long-time customers? What kinds of sure-things are out there this year?
Take it all in when determining where you’re at now. The more accurate you are at this stage, the easier it’ll be to achieve your income goals on schedule.
4. Establish Your Waypoints
Step four is where the magic starts to happen. Because this is when you start creating quarterly, monthly, weekly, and even daily goals.
Let’s say we’re aiming for the extra $15K per year to afford our kid’s college. What we’ll do here is go backwards from that. If the average commission of a closed deal is $1,000, that means you need to close an additional 15 deals each year.
Now it’s time to look at your close rates on each step leading up to a sale. How many proposals turn into a sale? How many demos into proposals? And so on and so on.
So breaking that all down, your data may look something like this:
Sales target = $15,000
Average dollar value of closed deals = $1,000
Closed deals = 15
Proposals given = 30
Demos scheduled = 60
Discovery calls scheduled = 120
Decision makers spoken to = 480
Calls made = 2400
So if you make an extra 2400 calls this year, you’re on your way to earning that extra $15K. Now with that info in hand, it’s time to break these numbers down into quarterly, monthly, weekly, and daily goals. Which would look like this…
Quarterly
Calls made = 600
Decision makers spoken to = 120
Discovery calls scheduled = 30
Demos scheduled = 15
Proposals given = 8
Closed deals = 4
Monthly
Calls made = 200
Decision makers spoken to = 40
Discovery calls scheduled = 10
Demos scheduled = 5
Proposals given = 3
Closed deals = 2
Weekly
Calls made = 48
Decision makers spoken to = 10
Discovery calls scheduled = 3
Demos scheduled = 2
Daily
Calls made = 10
Decision makers spoken to = 2
Discovery calls scheduled = 1
And voila! You now have the ultra-specific goals you need to complete each day to achieve your final want.
5. Create Your One-Page Plan
Creating your one-page plan.
This one-page plan summarizes it all: your want, your income goal, your starting point, and your quantitative waypoints you need to achieve—and it’s all on one single sheet you can look at every day.
If we’re sticking with the extra $15K example from before, your one-page plan will look something like this:
My One-Page Plan
Want: To have enough money saved up over 15 years to pay for Molly’s tuition in full.
Income Goal: $150,000 per year
Starting Point: $130,000 + $5,000 recurring yearly revenue (additional $15,000 per year needed)
My Waypoints:
Quarterly
Calls made = 600
Decision makers spoken to = 120
Discovery calls scheduled = 30
Demos scheduled = 15
Proposals given = 8
Closed deals = 4
Monthly
Calls made = 200
Decision makers spoken to = 40
Discovery calls scheduled = 10
Demos scheduled = 5
Proposals given = 3
Closed deals = 2
Weekly
Calls made = 48
Decision makers spoken to = 10
Discovery calls scheduled = 3
Demos scheduled = 2
Daily
Calls made = 10
Decision makers spoken to = 2
Discovery calls scheduled = 1
All that’s left is sticking that one-page plan somewhere you’ll see it every day. I put mine right next to my monitor so I remember to stay focused all day long.
And that, my friends, is how you keep up your motivation by selling by the numbers.
3 Steps To Find And Close More Sales (In The Next 30 Days) | Selling Made Simple
Nov 24, 2022
Over the past six years, The Selling Made Simple Academy has EXPLODED. 2000+ academy students, $992M earned by our members, more than 20 proven frameworks—and we’re not showing any signs of slowing down either.
And it’s all thanks to how we make selling simple.
Today we’re breaking down our unique sales methodology step by step. And with it, you can start simplifying your sales process and leveling up your career today.
So let’s start things off by answering one simple question…
Why Use Frameworks at All?
Why use frameworks at all? Well first and foremost, one of the biggest problems I’ve seen with my students over the last few years is that they’re confused. They’ve got a million different methodologies pulling them in a million different directions. And instead of taking steps forward, they’re just going around in circles.
The problem? They’re overcomplicating things.
Expert Note:
“So much of what we do in management, in sales, in life, is making things more complicated than they need to be.”
Greg McKeown
Salesman Podcast
What’s great about using step-by-step frameworks is all the guesswork and confusion get taken out of the equation completely. Instead of wondering what to do now, your next step is specifically outlined. And that means you can keep pushing forward.
The Simple Selling Method
Alright now let’s talk about The Simple Selling Method. This method is built on 20+ proven frameworks. Frameworks that’ve helped more than two-thousand of our students earn nearly $1 billion in revenue. And frameworks that’ve given reps just like you the skills they need to level up their career.
Now we’re going to do a quick overview on what these frameworks cover. But if you really want to dive deep, head over to Salesman.org for a closer look.
Okay so the first set of frameworks involve…
A) Understanding the Market
Understanding the market. If you don’t know who you’re selling to and why people buy, you’re going to waste tons of time selling to the wrong customers at the wrong time.
If you want to master understanding the market, you need to know how to…
1. Sell By the Numbers
One, sell by the numbers. Sales is a numbers game any way you cut it. And the better you are at leveraging those numbers, the more consistently you’ll be able to hit your goals time and time again.
2. Value Proposition
Two, proper value proposition design. Your value proposition dictates your messaging your clients, your process, and just about everything else you do as a sales rep. So how do you create one that resonates?
3. Buyer’s Journey
Three, the buyer’s journey. This framework helps students understand how their buyers move through the five stages of awareness and shows how to map your product’s unique buyer’s journey.
4. Building a Prospect List
And the fourth skill of understanding your market is building a prospect list. How can you keep bringing new, qualified buyers into your sales cycle? What does it take to break into new markets and tap into new lead sources? There’s tons of valuable info we cover here.
Now, the second skillset is…
B) Getting in Front of Buyers
Getting in front of buyers. Now depending on your marketing department, you might already be getting a good amount of inbound leads. But if you want real control over your success and earning potential, you need to be able to generate outbound leads as well. And that takes…
1. Sales Cadences
One, knowing how to build sales cadences. And that means understanding the essential elements of a cadence and what cadence templates to use in every situation.
2. Cold Email
Two, you have to be an effective cold emailer. How do separate your messaging from the thousands of other emails your buyers receive every day? And don’t worry, there’s a framework for that.
3. Cold Calling
Skill number three here is cold calling. Let’s face it, cold calling isn’t every rep’s favorite part of the job. But guess what? It’s downright necessary if you want to be a high-earner. That’s why we developed our five-step cold calling framework for proven cold calling success.
4. Social Selling
And last but not least is social selling. This framework shows you how to develop a flywheel lead generation system that practically sells while you sleep. And maybe even lets you *gasp* take a vacation once in a while?
Whoa.
C) Explaining the Value
Alright now skillset number three is a big one. Because it’s all about explaining the value. This one’s made up of six different skills…
1. Run a Diagnosis Call
First, running a diagnosis call. More leads doesn’t necessarily mean more sales. You’ve got to have the right customers if you want to get the most bang for your buck. And that means running a proper diagnosis call first.
2. Conduct a Demo
After that, you need to know how to conduct a demo. A product demo is one of the most powerful tools in your sales toolbox—when you do it well. And this framework takes out all the guesswork.
3. Upsell
Number three is mastering the art of the upsell. Your existing customers are some of the best opportunities you have for making serious bank. After all, they already know you can deliver value. All it takes is following our proven upsell framework.
4. Takeover Competitor Accounts
Skill number four is taking over competitor accounts. Now this is a tricky skill to learn. But once you do, you’ll open up the door to leads that already understand your value and may actually be easier to close than any other lead type.
5. Close Effectively
And speaking of closing, there are plenty of misconceptions out there about what closing is and what it should be. But in this lesson, we cut through the bullshit and look at a closing method that not just works like a charm, but is simpler than any other strategy out there.
6. Earn Referrals
And last but certainly not least, do you know how to consistently earn referrals from satisfied clients? Guess what—it’s easier than you think. All you need to do is follow this four-step framework.
So there you have it! Secrets revealed, mysteries solved—you now know exactly what it takes to become a sales industry success story.
How I Keep My Sales Pipeline Packed (Referrals) | Selling Made Simple
Nov 22, 2022
Pop quiz hotshot—what’s your best channel for bringing in quality leads? Is it cold calling? Or email? Maybe LinkedIn? [Buzzer sound] Bzzzzzt. Wrong. Wrong wrong wrong. These are all okay sources. But they’re far from the best.
It turns out it’s your own buyers that are the most superior source of leads. Because they open up the door to the holy grail of all lead types—the referral. The question is, do you know how to earn those referrals without alienating your clients?
Why Referrals Rock
What’s so great about referrals anyway? Well simply put, referrals are just plain better than any other type of lead. Here’s why.
A) They’re The Easiest Leads You’ll Ever Uncover
First up, they’re the easiest leads you’ll ever uncover.
According to a report from Social Media Today, more than half of marketers (54%) say referral marketing generates more cost-efficient leads compared to other marketing channels.
Expert Note:
“The most important way of generating future business, if you’re thinking about the longevity of your career, is the advocacy and evangelism of your customers.”
Christian Kinnear
Salesman Podcast
B) The Best Way to Gain Instant Influence
Referral leads bypass all that time-consuming rapport-building right off the bat. And that means they’re more likely to convert.
Marketo found that referred leads have a better conversion rate than any other channel—at 10.99% from lead to opportunity, 3.74X the average rate. Compare that to sales prospecting (0.90%, 0.31X), inbound (3.82%, 1.30X), paid marketing (2.98%, 1.01X), and email (0.55%, 0.19X).
C) Easier Closing
Referred leads are easier to close.
70% of sales leaders and 69% of frontline sales reps report that referrals close substantially faster than traditional leads according to Influitive and Heinz Marketing.
Nice.
D) Bigger Purchases
Plus, referrals spend more.
The Wharton School of Business found the lifetime value of referral customers is 16% higher than your average customer.
E) Flywheel Referrals
Referral leads bring in even more referrals. With each referral you bring in, you’re not just earning a single new customer. You’re also expanding your network of potential referrals and boosting the odds that you’ll bring even more of these high quality leads.
Because according to Invesp, referred customers have a 37% higher retention rate and are 4X more likely to refer more customers to your brand than non-referrals.
Alright alright, enough with the stats. Let’s get to the meat of it all…
The More Referrals Framework
The More Referrals Framework. How do you ask for referrals in the first place?
Expert Note:
“You don’t necessarily ask for referrals, you have to earn referrals.”
C. Lee Smith
Salesman Podcast
And that means you have to deliver real, tangible value for your customers. But if you have delivered, all you need to do to earn a referral is follow this four-step framework…
1. Confirm Your Value
One, Confirm Your Value. Basically, this is where you prove to your buyer that you’ve earned some serious results for them. And to do that, just follow this mini-framework we’ve put together…
Document the following:
Problems the buyer had when they started working with you.
Results you promised to deliver.
Whether you delivered those results.
Things you’ve done above what was promised.
What you want to improve next quarter.
Set up a call with your buyer and run through your documentation.
Be sure to email the documentation ahead of time (to give them time to look it over).
Go through each step on the call.
Confirm value.
At the end of the call ask, “So it’s fair to say that we’ve delivered/over-delivered on what was promised?”
Optional: Follow up with, “For my records, if I send you a quick email, can you reply and confirm that again so that I can share it with my boss?”
2. Ask “Who Else?”
Ask “Who Else?” Who else is in their network that you can help?
No need to overcomplicate here. Just follow this simple script…
Seller: “Is it fair to say that we’ve solved X problems, with Y solution, and you’re happy with it?”
Buyer: “Yes, that is correct.” (If they say no, refer them to your previous documentation that they have agreed to)
Seller: “Do you know anyone else who has X problem? I’d love to see if I can help them solve it too.”
Then you shut up.
No kidding—don’t say anything else. Let the buyer think about it on their own and don’t help them out. Don’t point them in the right direction. Don’t say a word.
It might be awkward for a minute or two. And that’s okay.
But remember—you’ve made a promise and delivered value to the buyer at this point. They’ve agreed to it. And now it’s time that they do you a favor in return.
After the buyer gives you a name and their contact info, don’t give up there. Instead, say:
Seller: “OK great. Is there anyone else?”
Don’t be satisfied with just one name. Keep going until the buyer really has tapped out of potential referrals they can introduce you to.
After you’ve got multiple leads to reach out to, it’s time to…
3. Make a Specific Ask
Make a Specific Ask—get your buyer to set up a quick introduction.
Here’s the difference between a regular ask and the specific intro we should be aiming for:
Bad Ask: “Is there anyone you think you could introduce me to?”
Specific Ask: “Can you introduce me to Barry Jones from ACME industries, via email? I can send you a templated introduction email if that would make things easier.”
See the difference here?
The best way to make this step more successful is by doing a lot of the work upfront. And that means passing on this template the referral source can use.
Hi [NAME],
I’ve been working with [YOUR NAME] and [he/she] has helped us with [COMMON PROBLEM].
I know they have really useful content and insights that they can send over.
Does it make sense for me to introduce [YOUR NAME] so they can see if they can help you out too?
Thanks,
[BUYER]
Nothing complicated here. But the goal is to make everything as easy as possible for your buyer.
And once you’ve made the specific ask, you can move on to…
4. Use the 1-1-1 Follow Up
Using the 1-1-1 Follow Up method.
You can’t get lazy after you’ve gotten buy-in from the buyer. Because most of the time, they won’t act unless you do a bit of pushing. That’s why it’s up to you to create a system that ensures your buyer is making good on their promise.
I’ve found the 1-1-1 Follow Up method is the best way to stay on top of your referral sources. Check it out…
1 Day – Follow up with the buyer and ask if they’ve sent the email.
1 Week – Follow up with the buyer and ask if they’ve sent the email. Add the potential buyer on LinkedIn. Your introduction message should mention the previous buyer.
1 Month – Follow up with the buyer again. Now start prospecting the potential buyer, regardless of whether the introduction has been made.
That’s all there is to it!
So if you’re not getting the results you want with normal prospecting, turn to mining referrals.
There are 27 fundamental selling frameworks in total.
But if frameworks make winning that simple, why doesn’t everyone use them?
The biggest hurdle to using frameworks in sales is intuition.
Selling culture has embraced the intuitive seller.
We don’t talk bout the salesman who worked 9-5, followed the frameworks and reached 140% of his sales target.
We do bang on about the seller who followed their passion, went above and beyond for their buyer or who used some new psychological trick to close a deal.
Salespeople stress when their manager asks them about their pipeline progress. But they bustle with excitement when they share a gut feeling about a deal.
If selling frameworks make you nervous, it’s probably because they threaten your reliance on intuition. It’s time to get over it.
If you want to beat quota and make some serious money, start using frameworks. It’s time to become a professional.
Ready to get started? I’ve outlined all 27 of the fundamental selling frameworks a free training video and workbook. You can find it for a limited time at Salesman.org/Training.
The MOST Effective Underused Sales Strategy | Selling Made Simple
Nov 15, 2022
When potential buyers start walking away from a deal, most reps do one of two things. 1) They re-emphasize the value of their product. Or 2) they offer a discount. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t.
But there’s a third option here too. And that’s down-selling. Down-selling is one of the most underutilized tools in a sales rep’s toolbox. And when you know how to do it right, it can mean a serious boost to your monthly earnings.
How to down-sell the right way so you can salvage more deals, boost your numbers, and bring in a fatter commission check.
Sound good? Then let’s go.
What Is Down-Selling?
What is down-selling anyway? Well let’s start with a definition we can all agree on.
Down selling is the art of strategically closing prospects when they are on the way out of the door.
When you down-sell, you close sales that otherwise would have gone to your competition. And when you down-sell, you’re getting deals done even if they are less profitable than what you would have liked.
It’s not ideal, sure. But it’s better than the alternative—no sale at all.
Expert Note:
“If you don’t have a thought of what you’re going to do if you don’t get a deal, then you’re in trouble.”
Gavin Pressman
Salesman Podcast
Now if you aren’t down-selling your prospects, you’re wasting all that time and energy you spent on winning the sale.
Think of it like this – not down-selling is like buying a show-bound pedigree puppy. You’re spending a fortune feeding, grooming, and training the dog. Driving them to a dog show, all happy and content that you’re going to win some awards… and then leaving them in the car as you watch in the stands.
You’re throwing it all away!
Clearly this would be bad for the dog, and you’ve wasted a lot of time and energy as well.
So make sure you’re down-selling the buyers who might get away.
Now let me give you a couple of examples of down-selling –
Examples of Down-Selling
Let’s say that you are selling SAAS (or software as a service) to the engineering industry. You might have multiple tiers of service that you can offer.
Say a buyer engages with you. So you then go through the entire sales process with them, and you know that they should be on your premium tier service. However, at the last minute, something changes within the prospect’s organization, and now their budgets have been slashed in half.
At this point, you have invested considerable time into the deal. So with all that spent time and effort, it’s definitely worth down selling them on a different tier service so that you can still recuperate some of those costs.
Another example of down selling would be reducing your minimum contract length on a monthly service product and giving the buyer a little bit more freedom to leave if the service does not sue them.
Of course, you don’t want to start the sales process by offering discounts, pitching cheaper services, or making contract concessions. But if that’s what it takes to stop a deal going to your competitors, then sometimes biting the bullet can definitely be worth it.
So other than getting the deal done, what are the benefits of down-selling the buyer?
Benefits of Down-Selling
The biggest benefit to down-selling a buyer is that you build trust. When you show that you’re willing to work with an organization to implement your service at a price they can afford, you build trust in the organization. And that means once the deal’s closed, you can then upsell to help recoup costs.
Often called the “land and expand” approach to selling, this is often the best way to close very large service accounts.
When I was selling medical devices, I would often down-sell a customer in the first instance so that I could get a deal completed very quickly. Then I would sell larger deals into the account over time because they already had our company approved as a supplier within the procurement department, and they already trusted us to deliver on our promises.
The other major benefit to down-selling a buyer is that you manage to claw some revenue in that otherwise would’ve disappeared into the market. Although it might be disappointing for you to get the deal you want originally, down selling can often help cushion the blow and keep your commissions coming in strong.
And last but not least, it maintains customer retention. You don’t just have to use down-selling when working with new prospects. You can even use it on existing customers. If during an annual call, for example, your customer’s budget or needed features have changed, you can offer a lower-tier service to keep them around. Who knows, maybe their needs will change, and you can upsell them back up to a better package!
How to Down-Sell
Now last but not least, let’s talk about how to down-sell.
The process of down-selling is actually simpler than you might think. All you need to do is go into every sales conversation having a BATNA…
Best
Alternative
To a
Negotiated
Agreement
Negotiation researchers Roger Fisher and William Ury first came up with the term. And it’s basically your plan B in case your plan A of closing the bigger deal doesn’t work out.
Is there a lower-tier product that already matches up with 75% of your client’s needs? Come to the sales call with that information in hand. Got a finicky buyer that seems unwilling to commit to a long-term partnership? Work out how long you can shorten your contract with your employer first. That way you can come to a meeting knowing what you can offer before they run off.
See how that works?
Now it’s important not to discount at the beginning of the sales process. And don’t ever offer concessions on your service or contracts the first time a buyer asks for them. But always have a BATNA ready to down-sell your buyers if the original deal starts to fall apart.
The difference between an average story and a remarkable one is the amount of imagination that is captured.
Remarkable stories take your buyers somewhere new.
Remarkable stories aren’t always factual, but they are always consistent.
Buyers have a tough time working out if the hero was called Barry or Brian but they’re very good at sniffing out inconsistencies in how the story starts and ends.
Remarkable stories build trust.
In a world where nobody trusts anyone anymore stories are an increasingly powerful weapon of mass attention. We don’t trust the news. We don’t trust vaccine manufacturers. We don’t trust salespeople… unless they tell a remarkable story.
Remarkable stories don’t require high production values, slide decks or a conference room.
Either the buyer is eager to listen, or they’re not.
Remarkable stories are never aimed at an entire market.
What is remarkable to you isn’t remarkable to me. When you dumb down a story to make it fit for many, it becomes average to all. The most remarkable stories match the world view of a tiny audience and then the tiny audience amplifies it on your behalf.
Instead, the very best stories agree with what the buyer already believes and makes them feel smart. The more secure you can make the buyer feel with your stories, the more likely they will be to buy your product.
Think Like a Sales Pro – 8 Biases Holding You Back | Selling Made Simple
Nov 09, 2022
In a perfect world, we would all make decisions based on logic alone. But the science tells us that the majority of our choices are influenced by biases—automatic modes of thinking we don’t even realize are controlling us.
Better understanding these 8 cognitive biases lets sales reps like you get in the heads of your buyers, subtly influence leads, and secure your sales success.
1. Anchoring Bias
The first cognitive bias is called the anchoring bias. When making decisions, humans rely more heavily on the first lot of information they receive over any subsequent lots of information that come their way.
The issue is, the first lot of information isn’t always the most reliable.
For example, say I’m selling a product and I tell you it’s worth $20,000 a month. Then two days later I come to you with a credible story that I can now offer it to you for the low, low price of $10,000 a month. Seems like a complete bargain, right? This is because your judgment on what pricing is fair is based on the initial information that you received.
This is an example of how “anchoring” is used as a tool of influence. Many organizations sell their products by anchoring a fictitious price that the product never actually sells for. Then they pitch the lower price afterward to secure a deal.
This can also be used more subtly too. For example, if I ask you whether the tallest building on the planet was more or less than a thousand feet high, I’ve already anchored this number in your brain which can skew your response.
So if you were thinking of a number between 800-1300 ft, then my question that mentioned 1,000 feet specifically skewed your answer.
As it turns out, the world’s tallest building is in Dubai and is 2700 feet tall!
See how that works?
2. Availability Bias
The availability bias is when people overestimate the importance of the information they’ve already accepted. And that causes them to ignore other information that might contradict what they think they already know.
A good example here is that a lot of people in the Western world consider terrorism a very real threat to their safety. Why? Because terrorism is screamed in our faces every single day through newspapers, TV shows, and of course Youtube videos.
So most people assume because of the availability bias that you have a real chance of being killed by terrorists, and something needs to be done about it…
The reality is, you’re more likely to die from a coconut falling on your head or being struck by lightning than being attacked by a terrorist. Yet most people don’t worry about these things.
If you live in America, you’re 130x times more likely to be killed by a police officer, the people who are there to keep you safe from terrorists, than die from a terrorist attack. How crazy is that?
This cognitive bias works because most people do not make decisions based on facts; they make them based on stories as stories sink into our brains easier.
This is an essential cognitive bias to remember when you’re selling. The lesson here is you should blend facts about features and benefits with customer success stories. That’ll leave an impression on your potential customer’s mind that will be hard for a competitor to change.
3. Bandwagon Bias
See, people tend to believe what other people think.
People like to be a part of the crowd rather than nervously looking on as they make a decision that doesn’t fall in line with everyone else.
And in sales, you can really use that to your advantage. If you position yourself as either the industry-standard product or the hot new start-up service or service that everyone is flocking towards, you’re instantly given an incredible amount of credibility.
If everyone is using your product, it must be the best right? That’s how the potential customer will see it anyway. All because of the bandwagon bias.
The bandwagon effect is especially devastating when you look at the financial markets. The world economy can technically be in a recession for months or even years before anyone pays attention to it. But when people start selling their shares, it encourages other people to sell theirs too. And that causes a scare and eventually a full-blown market crash.
People aren’t selling their stocks because they’ve analyzed the company and its performance. They’re doing it because everyone else is doing it.
And that’s the bandwagon bias at play.
4. Decision Bias
People tend to defend themselves once they’ve committed to a decision. This defensive stance is essential for sales professionals to understand. Because if you annoy a potential customer and they say they won’t do business with you, they’re usually going to stick to their guns.
And that means you should just move on. Or better yet, don’t annoy them in the first place!
Another example of this is what people call “fanboyism”. You can see this with nerds that love Apple products such as the iPhone or MacBook. Feature-wise, these devices aren’t very different from the competition.
But even still, Apple fanboys will only buy Apple products. So even as the price of these products goes up and up, they’ll defend their purchase and proclaim they are far more differentiated than what they are.
5. Confirmation Bias
When people search for information, they usually pay attention to content that confirms what they already believe.
So if you were born into a religious household, you’re much more likely to follow the religion of your parents. You’re more likely to watch YouTube content about that religion, more likely to have friends in the same religious group, and so on.
The flip side of this is some religious people haven’t chosen their religion at all. It was dumped onto them as a child, and they’ve never questioned it or researched other religions that with hindsight, with objective thinking, may be more appropriate for them.
You see this an awful lot within the world of health and fitness too. For example, if you enjoy drinking red wine, your brain pays attention to the scientific publications that suggest red wine is good for you. But, if you think alcohol is bad, you’ll naturally pay more attention to the studies that show links between alcohol and cancer.
So make sure you’re genuinely open to the opposite side of discussions; otherwise, you might also fall into the…
6. Ostrich Bias
The ostrich bias is the subconscious bias that encourages you to ignore any negative information that comes your way. This goes beyond not proactively looking for negative information by watching the news, for example. This bias causes you to become blind to the negative information, even when it’s staring you right in the face.
An example of this could be when you know you’re behind on your sales numbers but you “put your head in the sand”, like a cartoon ostrich, and choose to ignore this fact.
You continue procrastinating and you don’t do anything about the issue. Until eventually it’s too late to make a difference.
Now in the short term this bias can relieve some stress that we might face if we embrace the gravity of the situation. But over the long term, this bias always makes things worse.
7. Outcome Bias
The outcome bias is the tendency for us to evaluate decisions based only on the results. Even when those decisions were crappy ones.
This is easiest to understand with an example. Say you were in massive credit card debt and decided to take out an additional loan to buy a bunch of lottery tickets. Then by some miracle you won, managed to pay off your debts and still had money leftover. The outcome bias would push you to believe that you made the right decision.
But the reality of course is that this was downright idiotic. You just got lucky.
This happens a lot in business too. Let’s say a manager is making a purchasing decision. His team and all of the data tell him to buy product A, but his gut tells him to purchase product B.
On one occasion, his gut decision to buy B happened to be the correct decision, even though it went against all of the logical evidence.
The outcome bias will then make this manager trust their gut on purchasing decisions in the future. And guess what? They’ll make countless mistakes in the future because of it!
8. Survivorship Bias
This final bias is when you judge something based on the surviving information rather than all the information that you have.
Example. Right now you’re watching this video. And we’re nearly at the end. So you will have a different opinion on the content than someone who viewed 30 seconds and clicked off because they were bored.
When we only listen to the people who have actually completed the process, we ignore lots of feedback from the people who didn’t. And that feedback can actually be some of the most valuable.
This is a real problem in the sales training industry. You get lots of middle-aged, angry dudes in suits that don’t fit banging on about cold calling and all the other weird sales techniques that worked in the 90s.
Because these techniques worked back then, these guys had some success and so started training others.
Now they have survivorship bias and will only focus on what worked for them, ignoring the facts that the marketplace has changed, and nobody answers cold calls anymore, and also their audience isn’t like them. Otherwise, they would have already had success cold calling. Right?
This is one of the reasons that the Salesman.org training platform includes an assessment that then tells you, specifically, what training will work best for your personality type. This is the most effective way to ramp up selling results, fast.
Because it doesn’t rely on the faultiness of survivorship bias.
5X More Callbacks (Sales Voicemail Examples) | Selling Made Simple
Nov 07, 2022
We all know mastering your cold calling game is essential for sales success. But what a lot of reps don’t come prepared for is voicemail. And that’s a real problem since 4 out of 5 cold calls end in a no pickup.
So, how can you up your voicemail game and maximize the value of every one of your calls? Simple—just use these three word-for-word voicemail templates.
So, ready to beef up your voicemails with these templates? Great, then let’s jump in.
1. The Foundation
The Foundation Template.
This is the template that each of the other voicemail templates are built on top of. And it goes like this:
Hello, this is [your name] from, [company name].
I’m calling because, [reason for calling]. This benefits you for, [benefits].
I will follow up with an email right now and I look forward to speaking with you shortly.
Have a great day. Goodbye.
It’s simple. And it’s effective.
Now let’s take a look at what using this template looks like in the real world.
Real World Example
So this is a word-for-word example of what I say when selling our Selling Made Simple Academy to the VP of Sales:
Hi this is Will Barron, calling from Salesman.org.
I’m calling because we’ve just improved your competitor’s revenue by 24% with 4 weeks of training and we can do the same for you.
I will follow up with an email right now and I look forward to speaking with you shortly.
So let’s break down this template so we can understand what we’re really trying to do here.
First off, you can see that I’m not doing anything weird or manipulative. The old-school way of selling would be something like this:
“I’m calling as I have something incredibly exciting to share and I need you to call back right now before you lose access to it…”
I’ve even heard old-school sales trainers tell reps to start sharing a benefit and then purposefully hang up halfway through the sentence so it sounds like they’ve been cut off.
Both of these tactics are gross and obviously manipulative.
Imagine using a tactic like this with a surgeon, which is who I used to sell to when I worked in medical device sales. They’d think you were an idiot at worst and at best, it would severely devalue you as an industry expert in their eyes.
Why It’s Effective
Let’s look at this template again and see why it works:
Hello, this is [your name] from, [company name].
I’m calling because, [reason for calling]. This benefits you for, [benefits].
I will follow up with an email right now and I look forward to speaking with you shortly.
Have a great day. Goodbye.
The main thing that we are trying to communicate is that we are an expert calling upon someone that we can help. We’re also getting them used to our voice and preempting the fact that we are going to continuously follow up with them until they give us a response.
That is all we are really asking for from a voicemail.
Unless you’re halfway through the deal and you have something specific to talk about, most of the time your prospects won’t reply directly to your voicemail.
And that’s why we always follow up with an email that builds on the trust and rapport our voicemail just created.
Now what’s great about this template is that you can tweak it for a variety of situations. And that brings us to template number two…
2. The Referral
As you might’ve guessed, this is the template you can use to increase response rates by pointing to a referral.
So for example, every time I provided a high level of service to my surgical customers, I would ask them if they thought any of their colleagues could also benefit from the same value.
Often, they would provide a referral which I would then use voicemail, calls and email to follow up on.
So let’s look at how we can use this basic voicemail template specifically for referrals.
Hi, [prospect name], my name is, [your name], and I’m calling from, [company].
[Referrers name], suggested I should book a meeting with you and gave me your details because we have, [benefits to original prospect], for them and they think we can do the same for you.
I will send you an email right now with a little detail on how, [referrers name], thinks we can help you and it will be great to speak with you this week.
Why It Works
So in this voicemail we’ve leveraged a number of the principles of influence. Let’s break them down.
The voicemail includes:
Social proof from including our referrer’s name and recommendation.
We’ve been polite and likable, setting the foundation for rapport building.
And we’ve also started to build a little bit of authority because we have solved the problem that our prospect is facing for somebody else.
That’s not bad for a quick voicemail, right?
So now let’s look at a voicemail template for when you have “no show events”.
3. The Follow Up
Prospects don’t always show up to product demos, scheduled meetings, and other sales events. This is all a part of doing business and truth be told, it’s nothing to be worried about.
But we do need to relentlessly follow up on no-shows so we can either get a “no” from them and remove them from our pipeline or we can get another meeting booked in our calendar so we can progress the sale forward.
Therefore, if somebody no-shows, don’t follow-up by email. Instead, call them immediately. Be assertive here. They may have a very valid reason for not showing. But they’ve wasted your time, your company’s time, and your resources. Not acceptable for high-value dealmakers like you.
If you call the individual and they don’t answer, leave a voicemail using the following template:
Hi [prospects name]. I’m calling regarding our [meeting/call/demo] that we had booked for [time/date] which is today.
I want to make sure you’re not having any connection issues and as my schedule is now booked up, I want to see if I can squeeze you into another timeslot that fits.
I will call you again in an hour to get this wrapped up.
Why It Works
Here you can see that we’re not letting the prospect off the hook by saying that we will email them to rearrange another meeting or by framing the conversation that “maybe it was our fault, and we got the date wrong”.
If you go into the sales process being unassertive like this, your prospects will walk all over you and treat you like an amateur.
Again, think of the principles of influence that we have tapped into with this “no-show” voicemail template.
We have shown authority
We have scarcity because we are saying our schedule is nearly full
We have assertiveness as we are saying that we’ll follow-up in an hour on the phone rather than being passive and asking them to get back to us with another timeslot.
Now before we go, I want to leave you with a…
Bonus Tip
Make sure that the tonality of your voice does not go up at the end of each of your sentences. When you go up at the end of each sentence, it sounds a little something like this…
When you go up at the end of your sentences makes you sound uncertain about what you’re asking from the prospect.
Additionally, I don’t have a particularly powerful or deep voice. But when I stand up straight, have good posture, and I talk a little slower, my voice projects a lot more authority.
So try doing that when you’re leaving voicemails too.
The internet is an opportunity and an issue for sellers.
A few clicks and you have infinite data. More is being added to the infinite every second.
But you can’t consume, research or act on infinite.
If there were infinite rules to a sport, we wouldn’t watch it.
If there were infinite Disney characters, they’d have no brand value.
Humans are not wired for infinite.
And here steps in our sales automated outreach tools…
“Artificial intelligence will scour the infinite sales data you have and give you exactly what you need…”
Maybe someday. Right now AI can’t even keep obvious spam out of my inbox.
Until recently, having more data helped salespeople. Suddenly, more data adds confusion and procrastination to their days.
You know who has the exact information you need? Your buyer.
It’s much more effective to call your buyer and ask them a question than it is to stick another software tool in your “sales stack”.
Computers are great at gathering general data.
Humans are better at uncovering the important bits.
Computers will tell you the numbers, metrics and charts.
Humans are better at finding why people do things.
Computers are better at algorithmic math.
Humans are better at motivating other humans.
Computers will mine your online activities and spit out a persona that marketing loves.
Humans will influence another human and close the damn sale.
So if you’re struggling to get in front of or influence people in the market right now, stop starring at endless dashboards and pick up the phone and ask a couple of people who bought from your recently –
Why did you buy from us?
How did you find out about us?
What could we have done to speed up the sales process?
Cold Outreach Sales Cadence Framework: A B2B Sales Guide
Nov 04, 2022
Sales reps are busy (you know this). Lead generation, following up with prospects, updating contact info, setting up meetings, researching buyers, closing deals—it all takes time to do. A lot of time.
It’s no wonder, then, that sales reps are happily incorporating sales automation tools into their processes more and more. These tools drive efficiency, free up time, and even boost conversion rates. According to Instapage, 80% of marketing automation users see increased leads, and 77% see increased conversions.
However, using an automation tool effectively means developing a strategic and data-driven sales cadence.
But what is a sales cadence? How does it help? And what elements should every sales cadence contain? That’s exactly what this guide examines. We’re also going to look at some proven sales cadence frameworks and examples you can model your framework after.
What Is a Outbound Sales Cadence?
An outbound sales cadence (or prospecting cadence) is a sequence of communications or “touches” that salespeople can follow to develop relationships with buyers. They usually consist of various outreach methods (email, phone, social media, etc.) and span several days, weeks, or even months.
Your sales cadence is a critical part of the modern B2B sales process.
Think of a sales cadence like a cold outreach roadmap. A strategic sales cadence tells you when to reach out to leads and how to communicate with them. With it, there’s no more asking, “Should I follow up today or tomorrow?” And there’s no more wondering which communication method to use.
Like so many other aspects of sales, there’s no single cadence that’s a fit for every business or industry.
Bigger deals with a longer sales cycle, for instance, might call for a more stretched-out sales cadence. Conversely, products with a lower price point may benefit from a more rapid sales cadence.
That’s why it’s so essential to develop and tweak a sales cadence that’s right for you and your current outbound sales strategy.
Why Should You Use One?
Some sales reps are under the impression that a effective sales cadence is only suitable for large teams. And for smaller businesses, salespeople should simply “feel” their way through connecting with a buyer.
This couldn’t be further from the truth.
Instead, implementing and following an official, clearly defined sales cadence brings a variety of benefits for sales teams, both big and small.
Benefits for a sales rep like –
Simplify – The most significant benefit of following a sales cadence is that you never lose track of where you’re at in the sales process. Most successful deals require eight touches, according to HubSpot. And when you’re playing it by ear with your follow-up messages, it’s easy to forget when you last reached out or what your previous email covered. There’s no question of what to say next or when to say it with a sales cadence. It’s a more straightforward, more efficient way of selling.
Scale Without Spam – The “wing it” approach may work when you only have a handful of clients. But as business expands and you’re juggling a growing list of potential buyers, wires get crossed and opportunities for rapport building go overlooked. With a well-defined sales cadence, you can handle more clients, close more deals, and not have to worry about overwhelming buyers with too much communication.
Track & Refine – The first step to building a foolproof sales process is tracking what works and what doesn’t. With a sales cadence, you can observe and analyze which stages you’re losing ground with buyers. And you can refine your process when you recognize new steps that are working well.
Essential Elements of a Successful Sales Cadence
As you can see, adopting and following a sales cadence is a great way to streamline your buyer outreach and lock in more wins. But what are the elements that make up a triumphant sales cadence?
A) Activities
Every sales cadence framework is made from a combination of outreach activities. These outreach activities are the individual social interactions you can have with a potential buyer. And as with the overall structure, the type of activity that resonates with your buyer most will vary.
Generally, there are seven different types of activities you can engage in.
Video – Video messages sent to the buyer through email or via social media.
Social – Text-based messages or other type of engagement through social media platforms.
Email – Text-based messages sent to the buyer through email.
Meeting – In-person meeting with the prospect.
Call – Both phone calls and video calls are included here.
Voicemail – Voice messages left for your prospects after a no pick-up.
Text – SMS messages delivered to your buyer’s cell phone.
Remember to vary up your outreach activities. Not everyone will respond to an activity the same way. For example, an older executive from a more traditional company may gravitate to doing business over phone calls. A younger buyer from a startup, on the other hand, may be more receptive to text messages.
In the end, it depends on your audience. And refining which activities you use over time is essential for creating a successful sales cadence.
B) Plays
Plays are a series of activities that are grouped and completed one-after-another in quick succession. For example, a play might look like this:
Call > Voicemail > Email and mention the call
Think of a play like an activity combo. When the activities complement and build on each other, a play will be more effective at driving action and building rapport.
We’ll talk more about plays in just a bit.
C) Cadences
Similar to how plays are a series of activities strung together, a cadence as a whole is a series of plays strung together.
It’s critical to understand that cadences have an effect greater than the sum of its parts. It’s the sequence that leads to results, not just the individual pieces.
For example, a prospective buyer will have more trust and rapport for you and your business at the end of the cadence than at the beginning. That means if you were to send the exact same email to buyers at the beginning and end of a cadence, they’d end up having vastly different results.
That’s why it’s so important to find a proven sales cadence framework and build on it for yourself.
The Goal
A lot of reps misunderstand the end goal of an outreach sales cadence.
A sales cadence is not meant to bring buyers to the end of the sales cycle and close the deal. Instead, it’s supposed to be just the beginning. Sales cadences are designed to get you a meeting so you can start the actual selling process (like the Selling Made Simple Method).
An outreach sales cadence, then, is just the foot in the door. But it’s the foot in the door you need to start nudging your buyer to a “yes” decision.
The Two Plays
There are only two types of plays you need to build a booming cold outreach sales cadence—One-Step Plays and Multi-Step Plays.
One-Step
What Is It: These plays are single activities of any type—phone calls, emails, text messages, or any other kind. So they’re more of a “nudge” than Multi-Step Plays.
When To Use It: One-Step Plays are critical for long-term accounts with a, particularly lengthy sales cycle. These are the buyers that take time to consider using your product. And this type of play prevents these more sensitive buyers from feeling overwhelmed or put off by your communication frequency.
Multi-Step
This type of play drives more action, attention, and responses from buyers over a shorter period of time. That being said, a Multi-Step Play isn’t going to be suitable for every type of buyer. So don’t assume going this route is always the best option.
You can of course, build your own Multi-Step Plays over time. In fact, you’ll want to create your own Multi-Step Plays so they cater to your buyer and industry. But for now, you can use the three below as a basis for building your first successful sales cadence.
Loop Back – Call > Wait 5-minutes > Call > Voicemail > Email referencing the voicemail
Content Share – Call > Voicemail to explain that you’ll send an email > Email content and refer back to your call
Starter Sales Cadence Frameworks
Before jumping into the sales cadence templates to get you started developing your own, let’s have a quick word on the scientific method.
Scientific Method
The scientific method is the most widely recognized way of building empirical knowledge. It’s a system of observation, measurement, experimentation, and theory development.
The method involves:
Stating a hypothesis (a guess about why something happens or why an event occurs).
Testing that hypothesis in the real world.
Refining your hypothesis using the results of your testing and comparing the results of further testing to your original results.
You should apply this method to the development of your sales cadences. You may land on a perfect combination of plays right out of the gate. Or you could find that a particular set of activities is causing potential buyers to drop out of your cycle. The key is to keep on testing and refining.
The sales cadence frameworks below are a solid foundation to build on. But the work will still fall to you to tweak and refine them so they align with your business industry. And if there is a play that’s not performing for you (no calls, low email open rate, zero meetings booked, etc.), then it’s up to you to remove it from your cadence or try something different.
That being said, here are the sales cadence frameworks that we’ve tested and seen great results from.
*Note: The plays in the sales cadence frameworks below are labeled as “OS” for One-Step Plays and “MS” for Multi-Step Plays.
1) Education Cadence
This sales cadence framework is perfect for buyers that don’t yet understand how your product will add value to their lives. It focuses heavily on providing plenty of educational resources that your buyer can use to learn more about what you’re offering.
Day 1 – OS: Connect on LinkedIn
Day 3 – OS: Email – Case study for a related business using your product
Day 10 – OS: Email – Link to a “how-to” blog post that focuses on a common problem in their industry and how your product can help solve it
Day 12 – MS: Call > Voicemail to explain that you’ll send an email > Email link to another case study and reference your call in the email
Day 14 – OS: Email – Provide some hard data on the buyer’s problem that they might find useful
Day 20 – OS: Email – Straight forward ask for a meeting
Day 25 – MS: Call > Voicemail > Email asking for a meeting
2) Social Cadence
This sales cadence framework is perfect for targeting the social butterflies on your buyer list. It focuses primarily on making a connection through LinkedIn. However, you can also apply it to other social media platforms like Facebook or even Instagram.
Day 1 – MS: Visit LinkedIn profile > Connection request
Day 3 – OS: Comment on latest post and ask a thoughtful question
Day 5 – MS: Call > Voicemail to explain that you’ll send an email > Email link to a relevant blog post and reference your call in the email
Day 7 – OS: Email – Straight forward ask for a meeting
3) Stone Cold Cadence
This sales cadence framework is excellent for separating yourself from the noise of the market. It works best when the buyer is already familiar with your brand and product. But rather than understanding the value you offer, they think of you instead as a commodity.
Day 1 – MS: Call > Wait 5 minutes > Call > Voicemail > Email referencing the voicemail
Day 3 – MS: Call > Wait 5 minutes > Call > Voicemail > Email referencing the voicemail
Day 4-10 – OS: Email – Each day send them a new “insight” about their industry, their business, or your product
Day 16 – MS: Call > Wait 5 minutes > Call > Voicemail > Email referencing the voicemail
A Note on Response Rates
It’s worth mentioning that response rates tend to vary wildly when it comes to phone calls. Time of day, personal preference, type of business, day of the week, and more all heavily come into play.
As a result, it can be hard to give guidelines on how many calls should connect during your cadence. And that can make it challenging to know when to vary up your cadence.
However, the data is much clearer for email rates.
Use the guidelines below when refining your sales cadence emails.
Over 60% open rate / 10% reply rate – Great! Don’t change anything, and keep pushing forward.
>60% open rate / >5% reply rate – Your subject line is great, but you should test your email body copy.
>25% open rate / >2.5% reply rate – Your subject line is poor, which is limiting the reply rate.
Sales Cadence Example
Let’s take a look at what a sales cadence may look like for your business and a general gist of what to say. We’re going to be using part of the Education Cadence as the template. That way, you can get a sense of what a social message, email, and voicemail sound like.
Day 1 – OS: Connect on LinkedIn
LinkedIn message:
Hi [name], I saw that we’re both connected with [connection’s name]. Nice to “meet” you! I thought you might be interested in some of the work I’m doing with [connection’s name], and it’d be great to connect. Take care and looking forward to hearing from you!
Day 3 – OS: Email – Case study for a related business using your product
Email:
Hi [name], [your name] here from [your business]. We recently spoke on LinkedIn, and I wanted to say thanks for the connection! I also thought I’d quickly send over a case study from a similar client we recently helped solve [business problem]. I think you’re going to get a lot of value out of it.
Day 10 – OS: Email – Link to a “how-to” blog post that focuses on a common problem in their industry and how your product can help solve it
Email:
Hi [name], the other day I was reading about [problem you think/know the buyer has] in this great article we put out not too long ago and thought you might be interested in giving it a read. You can check it out at the link below.
Day 12 – MS: Call > Voicemail to explain that you’ll send an email > Email link to another case study and reference your call in the email
Voicemail:
Hi [name], just thought I’d connect to tell you a little bit about another case study you might find useful. I’ll just shoot it over to your email. Be sure to give it a look and let me know what you think. Hope all is well on your end!
Email:
Hey [name], here’s that case study I promised I’d send over in my voicemail. I’d love to talk about it with you some more after you read it. If you have a minute, feel free to ring me back at xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx or just shoot me an email to set up a call. Hope you’re doing great.
Sales Cadence Tools
Building a strategic sales cadence framework for your business is crucial for filling your pipeline with enthusiastic buyers. But to really get the most out of your cadence, you’re going to want to utilize a sales cadence tool for implementation.
How a Sales Cadence Tool or Software Helps
While every sales cadence tool or software is going to vary in its features, most provide the following features.
Streamline Your Prospecting Process – With no more questions about when to call, email, or even poke leads on social, you’ll eliminate all that wondering when to reach out (a real timewaster). And that means you can connect with more leads and potential buyers.
Better Qualify Your Leads – Determining the “when” is only half the battle. There’s also the “who” that you have to consider. The right software or tool tells you which leads are ripe for taking the next step in the sales process.
Automate Time-Consuming Tasks – These days, automating your work is more important than ever. A sales cadence tool can often compose and send customized emails from a template, message potential buyers online for you, and even dial their contact number with just a click. And all the time you save can quickly add up.
Keep Track of What Works & What Doesn’t – Finally, a sales cadence tool lets you bring a scientific approach to the art of selling. Software like this lets you zoom out and observe which cadences buyers are responding to and which are driving them to your competitors.
Top Sales Cadence Tools
So, which sales cadence tools should you consider picking up? There are plenty out there to choose from. But below are some of the best in the industry.
HubSpot – This CRM is great for organizations and has fantastic tracking, reporting, and support. Pricing can be an issue for some companies though.
Pipedrive – Affordable and user-friendly, this customer relationship management (CRM) tool lets you build cadences. But unfortunately, its support leaves quite a bit to be desired at times.
Outreach – A great tool for personalization, Outreach makes it easy to build customized cadences that appeal directly to your buyer. However, integration with some other tools (like Salesforce) can be problematic at times.
Reply – This sales cadence tool is designed for cold email outreach. It has plenty of integrations (including LinkedIn and calendar integrations) and lots of ways to automate your processes.
SalesLoft – Great for email and phone touches, SalesLoft offers helpful features like call recording, advanced analytics, plenty of integrations. It does have some functionality restrictions that reps may find frustrating.
Cadence for Confirming The Booking
Once you’ve developed an outreach flow that works, there’s one more cadence you’ll need to start using—the booking confirmation cadence.
Now, this may look like a lot of extra work upfront. After all, who wants to send two extra emails or touches before a call? Aren’t they already going to show anyway? But this cadence can actually save you a lot of time by weeding out the no-shows early. It’s also the attention-getter a forgetful buyer may need to actually show up, saving you tons of back and forth about rescheduling.
The 24-Hour Reminder Email
This email should include a complete agenda for the meeting while also linking to any relevant content or data the prospect may want on-hand during the meeting.
Example:
We’re looking forward to connecting with you tomorrow at 8 am GMT. Here is what we have agreed to discuss on our call –
Point A
Point B
Point C
We also recently published a report that backs up some of the data points we’re going to look at. Here’s a link if you’d like to have it on hand –
HTTP://LINKTOARTICLE.COM/SPECIFICPAGE
If anything comes up in the meantime, please do not hesitate to let me know. I’m always here to help.
The 10min Courtesy Touch
Always default to a quick text if you have the proper contact info (more effective than email here). This touch is just enough to get their attention and make attendance much more likely.
Example:
Looking forward to our call in 10 minutes. I will call you on xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx. If anything comes up in the meantime, here’s my mobile number too xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx.
Wrapping Up
Some sales reps may be a bit hesitant about changing up their process. They may argue that selling is more art than science. And it’s true, there’s only so much that hard data and set-in-stone processes can do when it comes time to close the deal.
But a sales cadence isn’t so much a path you should never veer from. Instead, it’s a foundation for you to build on again and again. The more you refine and tweak it for your audience, the more successful it’s going to be. And the greater of a beneficial impact it’ll have on your response rates.
In the end, Daniel Disney (speaker/trainer/author-extraordinaire) may have put it best in an interview on The Salesman Podcast:
“I’ve worked and managed a lot of salespeople that are very resistant to utilizing things like cadences because they think they can do it themselves. They think they know everything. And trust me, for most people, having a bit of structure can have a hugely positive impact on your results.”
Are You Telling Or Doing? | Performance Improvement Plan
Nov 03, 2022
Day to day, do you spend more time telling or doing?
What do I mean by that? –
Do you solve problems for your prospects and earn the meeting or do you tell them you have a wonderful solution?
Do you pick up the phone cold call prospects or tell your colleagues about the newest cold calling hack that you’ve uncovered?
Do you ask for the business assertively or do you tell your sales manager that you think the deal is probably going to come in soon?
There are countless ways to tell. You can shout, talk, scream, leave passive aggressive post-it notes on the office microwave informing Barbra to clean her shit up.
Doing stuff is different.
To have an impact on our environment, we need to do.
Telling rather than doing is the safe thing to do in the corporate environment. You can get feedback, someone can stop you before you make a mistake, people will chat back and forth about the best way to do stuff.
But if you actually cared about the outcome of the situation, you wouldn’t tell, you would do.
If my house is on fire, I’m running in to get my dog out. I’m not standing around telling people about my plans.
If I really think Salesman.com Academy can help a salesperson reach their potential and become finically free in just a couple of years, I’ll follow-up until they get signed up.
So today, when you go to tell a prospect, a colleague or your sales manager about your plans. Stop. Shut up and take the first step of action towards completing them.
I guarantee that you’ll make more progress than by chatting crap.
Eliminate Price Objections – 4 Steps to Boost VALUE | Selling Made Simple
Nov 03, 2022
Pop quiz hotshot—what’s the #1 sales objection you’re likely to run into? Got it yet? The answer is overwhelmingly… price. But 90% of the time, the problem isn’t about budget or expenses. It’s about value.
The better you are at selling your value, the less price is going to matter. And this 4-step framework shows you how to do just that.
Now, one of the most important lessons you’ll learn in your sales career is that value isn’t the same as price.
And oftentimes, an objection on price really comes down to value, not the cost.
In my interview with Saas marketing expert Ajit Ghuman, he said the same thing…
Expert Note:
“Many times the issue of price is not the issue of price, it’s an issue of we didn’t communicate the value properly.”
Ajit Ghuman
Salesman Podcast
What Is Value?
What is “value” in the context of a B2B sale?
Value is the difference between the intrinsic cost of a product and the price the buyer pays.
So a car for example has intrinsic cost in the fact that it’s made of lots of expensive materials.
But the value is that it can take you places. You don’t have to take the bus, you can fit more activities in your day, and it can exhilarate you if you like driving fast like me.
So it’s much easier for a buyer to say yes to an offer with lots of value, because it makes the offer price look small in comparison.
This gets exciting for salespeople because…
Total Value = Product value + Your value
So you actually have a leverage point here to close more deals, and you don’t have to rely on anyone else to increase the value in the equation.
So how can you as an individual salesperson add more value to the offer and make it a no-brainer for the buyer?
The 4 Steps to Building Real Value
That’s where today’s framework comes in. In four steps, you can increase both the product value and your own value to the buyer. And that way you don’t have to compete on price at all.
1. Identify Real Problems
Often buyers will come to you with what they believe is their issue. But in reality, they’re just seeing the superficial problem—the symptom rather than the disease. With your experience, you’re perfectly situated to help the buyer diagnose what’s really wrong.
Think of it like a buyer going to a mechanic and saying that their steering wheel is causing them issues. They turn the steering wheel but the car doesn’t change direction.
But you as an expert in your field can see plain as day that the car doesn’t have any wheels. No wonder that turning the steering wheel isn’t working.
In the same way, you can add massive value to your potential buyers by diagnosing the problem that’s causing the issues they see.
2. Be a Guide
Next up, you know the pitfalls of your industry and products. It’s likely you’ve taken buyers through the buying process hundreds of times.
The buyer on the other hand may be making a purchase in your industry for the very first time.
Therefore there’s tremendous value for the buyer if you can honestly help them navigate the landmines and potential issues they may face along the way.
For example, when I was selling medical devices I’d regularly add value to the surgeons that’d head up the buying project by making introductions to key procurement and management staff that they didn’t realize they needed to onboard before getting the deal signed. By making their life easier, I was able to increase the total value of working together.
See how that works?
3. Industry Insights
Next up is industry insights. I have a couple of consulting clients that don’t want me to teach them how to sell. They’re already doing a great job at getting deals done.
Instead, they jump on the phone with me every month to get insights on what is working across the broader B2B sales industry.
They’re looking for cutting-edge, innovative ideas, not a training plan.
Now you might not realize it but you’re probably full of industry insights that could be really valuable to your buyers too.
Just think how much time you spend in and around your own specific part of your industry. It’s likely 100x more experience than your buyers have with it. So you’ve likely lots of valuable insights to share and boost your value.
4. Facilitating the Buying Process
Finally, unless you’re selling to a professional procurement team, it’s likely your buyer isn’t used to buying things in the B2B environment.
Buying new products, services, or technology probably makes up a tiny amount of what they do each year in their job.
You know who needs to be involved. You know how long these things take. You know what issues need to be investigated before the deal can happen.
So you can add tremendous value by educating your buyer and streamlining their efforts throughout the buying process.
In sales second place doesn’t count. Only one salesperson wins the deal.
The flip-side? When you’re the best selling becomes easy.
People will fly across the world to visit the best restaurant.
People will wait in line for hours to get a piece of paper squiggled from the best athlete.
When you’re ill, you don’t ask for the second-best doctor. You’ll shout, demand and pay way over the market rate to speak to the best.
We all have limited time and so we intentionally narrow our choices to those at the top. If you’re not the best salesperson, you don’t exist.
Our culture celebrates the best. It’s typical that the top salesperson in your industry makes 10 times more than the second best. Probably 100 times more than the 10th best seller.
It’s a steep curve.
There’s only room at the very top for a few people. That scarcity makes being number one worth something.
Do you want to earn more money? Get more respect? Want to stop cold calling and have buyers throwing themselves at you instead? Then become number one.
At this point you might be screaming in your head “of course I want to be the best”. But do you really? Where is the evidence?
What have you gone through that your competition hasn’t? What expertise have you developed that they don’t have? What audience have you slaved away to create that they don’t have access to because they’ve been watching game of thrones instead?
It’s easy being number one. It’s arduous work to get there.
If you want to dominate the mind of your buyer, become number one.
Not the number one generic salesperson in the world. There’s too much competition.
Become the number one salesperson for your specific product, in your specific industry, in your specific location, for your specific ideal buyer. That’s doable, right?
Doing Average, Will Get You Average Results | Performance Improvement Plan
Nov 01, 2022
A big shoutout to the HubSpot Podcast Network for supporting this episode. Stay inspired with more podcasts that help grow your business at HubSpot.com/podcastnetwork.
Today’s principle is that average action will always get you average results.
Most salespeople barely hit their quota and that used to be me as well. It wasn’t until I started becoming more unreasonable with my expectations that my income started to explode.
The cold hard truth is that what you did to have success during the good times is not going to be enough to make it through a recession.
Therefore, you need to become unreasonable. Unreasonable with your levels of action. Unreasonable with your assertiveness. Unreasonable in taking new approaches that you hadn’t considered previously to find and close new business.
Practically this means 5 things –
1– Longer hours
You may have to work longer hours at least at first to start testing what works and what doesn’t in this new selling environment.
How you generated leads during easy times is unlikely to be effective when you try implementing it during a recession. You’re going to find that prospects want to speak to salespeople even less than before.
I’m not saying that you should reduce the amount of sleep that you get each night so that you can squeeze a few more hours of prospecting each day. What I am saying is, that you will need to uncover new ways of achieving your previous level of results.
2– Then become lazy
Counter the first point, as soon as you uncover a better way of finding and closing new business you need to become lazy. Uncover the 20% of efforts that is getting you 80% of your results and focus in on that. Ditch the crap that isn’t crushing it.
Then a few weeks later, find the 20% of effort that is getting you 80% of the results within your new process. And continue this until every moment that you are working in the new selling environment, you’re generating meetings and progressing sales to a close.
The recession that we’re in is not like COVID. During COVID the advice from sales experts was to stay in touch with prospects, even if they weren’t buying from you in that moment and to start to build stronger relationships with them so that when the money starts following, your deals will come back to life.
COVID however was a completely different environment to a real recession because it was artificial. Governments were stopping people going to the office, the public could not spend their cash the ways that they would usually do so. So the market was artificially held back for 12 months.
This time around we have an organic and completely natural downturn in the economy. Companies still have cash; you must work out the most efficient way to get in between the problem they have and the solution they need so that you can accept payment for solving their pain point.
3– Lose the losers
This next point can be a tough to implement but has a dramatic effect during a reccession.
We’ve all heard the saying that you are “the average of the five people that you spend the most time with”. There is also science to back this up. Most people earn between plus or minus 20% of what their parents earn for example.
What does this tell us?
This tells us that we need to stop spending time around people, influencers, and media that are not helping us progress towards our sales goals.
That includes any colleagues who are panicking about their performance right now. It’s very unlikely that spending time with individuals who are panicking is going to improve your chances of smashing quota. So don’t do it. The same goes with cutting out the news and social media. Ignore all of it, get your head down, complete the sales activities that lead to success in this new economy, and you’ll be just fine.
4– Minimalism
Step four follows a similar pathway to step three. We need to become minimalists.
I’m not saying that you should sell your house and move into a small white room with a mattress on the floor with no cutlery. Instead think about this definition of minimalism – “remove anything that doesn’t help you become the person that you want to be”.
Tying this directly into your sales role, you should remove any activity or interaction that doesn’t progress you towards becoming a person who smashes their sales quota regardless of the economic climate.
Does that expensive watch move you towards becoming the person you need to become to hit quota? Or would you be better off spending that cash getting training and unlimited coaching from a organisation like us over salesman.com?
5– Become assertive
The final step is to become more assertive. You going to have to ask for the business more often to close it during a recession. You going to have to implement longer and more assertive sales cadences to book the same number of meetings during a recession. You must be clearer with your outreach in general if anyone’s ever going to listen to you during a recession.
So that is it, 5 steps to breaking the idea the average gets average results.
Longer hours
Then become lazy
Lose the losers
Minimalism
Become assertive
If you do an extraordinary amount of work, which doesn’t just mean more hours comment it means working smarter, you will get extraordinary results. Recession or not, this is what leads salespeople to truly become wealthy in this industry.
Start Loving Sales Calls ❤️ – 5-Step Pre-Call Plan | Selling Made Simple
Nov 01, 2022
Ahhhhh the sales call. This is where the magic happens in any buyer’s journey. When it goes right, a sales call qualifies your buyer, drives enthusiasm, and sets the final deal in motion. But done wrong, it can eliminate trust, tarnish your brand, and send leads headed for the hills – permanently.
There’s a lot riding on a sales call. And if you don’t come to the table with a strategic Pre-Call Plan, you’re setting yourself up for failure.
When we’re working with the sales professionals in our community at the Selling Made Simple Academy, the salespeople who love their calls tend to do more pre-call preparation than the folks who don’t enjoy them.
The good news is that this pre-call preparation can be done in just a couple of minutes too.
So if you want to find yourself much more relaxed, focused and effective in your next sales call, then let’s start building your Sales Pre-Call Plan.
1. Review
Step one is conducting a brief yet thorough buyer review.
Before picking up the phone, give yourself a few minutes to open your CRM and LinkedIn to read up on the person you’re going to be speaking to.
Now you don’t have to go too crazy with the details here. Just get enough information to inform the rest of your research and planning.
Try to answer these questions before you move on through the rest of your pre-call planning:
When was the last time you spoke with this person?
What has changed in their world this month?
Are they qualified to do business with you?
2. Catch Up
Next you should have a couple of questions in your mind to bring everyone who’s involved in the conversation up to speed so you’re all at the same point in the sales process.
Have these questions lined up before dialing so you’re ready first thing.
Your catch-up questions could be:
You’re still in the market to change X in your business, right?
We’ve just made X change with our product. Do you think it could solve your Y problem?
Is it fair to say that X is…?
I jot these catch-up questions down before each call so I have a firm starting point for every conversation.
3. Goals
You’re not going to close a sale on every call you have with a buyer. But it is important to always have a goal for the call that pushes the buyer forward toward a close. That way, you’ll always have an endpoint in mind. And you’ll naturally nudge prospects down that path, even if you aren’t doing it consciously.
Now additionally, I like to get the buyer to agree on the goal of the call before I make it. I usually do this at the end of the email setting up the call or at the end of the earlier phone conversation.
This is super simple to do too. All it takes to close the agreement on the next call’s goal is to say:
“On our next call, does it make sense to do X?”
If they say “yes” then you’ve got a clear goal for your next call. If they say “no” then you ask:
“What agenda for next week’s call would make sense?”
And you can work out the new agenda from there.
Again, it’s a simple step but it’s incredibly important.
4. Objections
Now step four is all about doing your objections homework. One of the traits of high-performing salespeople that we’ve uncovered with our research at Salesman.org is that high performers are optimists.
It’s not rocket science. If you never think anyone will close, you won’t make an effort to close them. This leads to a vicious cycle of a lack of personal belief and zero deals getting done.
So most high-performing salespeople are optimistic about the outcomes of their selling conversations.
With that said, it’s worthwhile to spend a minute to ponder what objections might come up on your upcoming call.
Now if you’ve been selling your solution for a while now, you may know the best responses to these objections already. If you’re new to the industry, it may take some studying.
I personally don’t write these objections out and make up a rebuttal for each and every one of them, for every single phone call. But I do predict what might come up ahead of time to give my subconscious brain a little time to process some possible rebuttals.
If you’re new to sales, you should keep an “objection journal”. An objection journal is a notepad where you write down any new objections that come up in conversations. Objection journals let you see what objections come up regularly so that you can then spend a little time coming up with a rebuttal for the most common issues you face.
5. Support Materials
Finally, in your pre-call planning you should pull together any information or materials that could make your call run more smoothly.
Nothing makes you look more amateur than having to fill 3 minutes of awkward silence on the phone as you try and find that piece of paper that you need from your messy work bag. Case studies, product catalogs, testimonials, use cases, whatever. Anything you need to help you sell, get it together before jumping on the call.
So pull together everything you might need for your call beforehand. And bonus points if you’re using either an overpriced “sales enablement” software tool or even better, something like Evernote to manage your selling materials.
In Sales, You Are Always Where You Deserve To Be | Performance Improvement Plan
Oct 31, 2022
A big shoutout to the HubSpot Podcast Network for supporting this episode. Stay inspired with more podcasts that help grow your business at HubSpot.com/podcastnetwork.
Welcome to the “performance improvement plan”. This is a new series of short-form podcast episodes that I promise to put together and will continue to publish as we move into and hopefully out of the impending recession.
For anyone who is fortunate to have not come across the term performance improvement plan in their career, a performance improvement plan is what your sales manager leadership put you on when your performance isn’t up to scratch.
I’ve been on two of them, but I came out of the other side a stronger, more effective salesperson. Sometimes they’re exactly what you need to get your head out of your ass and to start making real progress.
In my experience performance improvement plans are typically enacted when your management wants to start collecting evidence that you are not performing to the standards of the organisation so that they can then eventually let you go without any repercussions of firing you.
This performance improvement plan series that I’m going to publish each however is different. I’m here to give you the daily motivation and tactical advice you need to improve your performance to the point at which your success becomes undeniable within your organisation. The goal being that the amount of revenue that you’re going to generate in both hard times and easy times will make you unsackable.
The first lesson that I have for you today is a tough one. It’s a bitter pill to swallow, but if you an choke it down, your life will be better for it.
The lesson – “you are exactly where you deserve to be”
Let me say that again you are exactly where you deserve to be.
This is a harsh reality of not just B2B sales but of life as well.
If you are behind on your quota right now, you have only yourself to blame. It’s been widely publicised in the media that a recession is coming. You are bright enough to understand, that during recessions most organisations reduce their spending on products and services that are not essential, and they become a lot more picky as to the products and services that they do spend money on.
And so, knowing this, if you haven’t been working your ass off for the past six months to build a solid sales pipeline, you are exactly where you deserve to be.
If you haven’t at least six months’ worth of living costs saved up in a liquid bank account, and you’ve been spending money on crap that you don’t really need, again knowing that there is an impending recession that will affect everybody sales careers, you are exactly where you deserve to be.
If during the good times of the past ten years of rapid economic growth, you’ve been spending your evenings watching Netflix, becoming overweight, and going out of your way to avoid learning how to improve your sales skills, knowing that at some point we’ll enter a rapidly changing selling environment, you are exactly where you deserve to be.
Now, this isn’t all doom and gloom.
If you are one of the thousands of Selling Made Simple Academy students that have signed up in the past couple of years, you’ve improved your sales skills, you’ve built a strong pipeline and you’ve become known as a recognised expert in your industry, you are exactly where you deserve to be. You will now dominate the marketplace for the next 6 to 12 months. You will become a hero within your sales team because you will be one of the few individuals that has already done the hard work and so has resilience in your sales pipeline.
Now, the good news is that there is still time the change. You don’t need to join Selling Made Simple Academy, I’m not here to shove our training and coaching program down your throat. But you do need to put in more hours, work smarter, and be more strategic right now, if the place that you believe you deserve to be six months from now, is a place of financial abundance, security, and admiration of your selling peers.
So ask yourself the questions as you’re working through your selling activities today –
Is what I’m doing right now going to lead me to massive success six months from now?
Can the task I’m doing right now be eliminated, delegated, or automated?
If the percentage of my pipeline that usually closes got slashed, how many more prospects would I have put in the top of my pipeline so that I still smashed my sales quota 12 months from now?
How can I convert the value proposition of my product into a must have during the recession rather than a nice to have?
So that’s it for today’s performance improvement plan. I hope you enjoy this new series.
My promise to you is that I will give you everything that you need from a motivation and strategy standpoint, over these daily podcast episodes, over the next few years as we ride through this recession to make serious money.
All you have to do is implement the strategies undo the work.
5 Questions To Uncover The Buyers REAL PAIN | Selling Made Simple
Oct 27, 2022
Killing it in sales is all about one thing—alignment. Is what you’re selling the solution to your prospect’s problem? Does it alleviate their pain points?
The tricky thing though is that 95% of the time, prospects only tell you about their surface-level pains. But to close a deal successfully, you need to be able to solve the problem that’s causing those pains.
You’ve got to treat the disease, not the symptoms. And today we’re looking at 5 word-for-word questions to help.
Surface Level Pains
During the first few talks with potential buyers, you’ll only scratch the surface of their pain points. Your prospects don’t have the expertise to really get to the bottom of the issues. And so you’re left with the superficial problems, not the ones that are the real cause of their pains.
Now that’s actually good news for salespeople like us. Because if buyers did have that knowledge, products, or expertise needed to dive deeper into their pains, they could solve them without your help.
So this leaves a gap between a buyer knowing they have a problem and not knowing how to fix it.
And that’s where we come in. We close that gap. But to do that, we need to move past the superficial pain points and get to the heart of a buyer’s problem. And we can do that using five questions in particular.
Now before we get into those questions, there are four main categories that surface-level buyer pains fall into. Let’s look at some examples of what your potential buyers might say for each category.
#1. Financial Pains
Financial pains. You can spot these with statements like…
“Revenue is up, but profits are down”
“I don’t have enough visibility of the numbers to make sound financial decisions”
“We’re only profitable enough to keep the doors open”
#2. People Pains
People pains, shown by statements like…
“Our team’s morale is low”
“Our managers don’t drive innovation”
“Our best employees keep leaving to our competitors”
#3. Productivity Pains
Productivity pains…
“We keep missing our client deadlines”
“We have quality issues that are leading to higher refunds”
“We spend too much time in meetings”
#4. Process Pains
And process pains, which show up with statements like…
“Our hiring process is a mess“
“We have no system in place to monitor our sales pipeline”
“The customer service department is inundated and can’t keep up”
Alright, so now you know the four categories of pain points. And you’ve heard some examples of how they might share them. So let’s now look at some questions we can ask to dig deeper into the buyer’s pain.
We want to dig deeper into the buyer’s pain so that we can align our service to their deepest, most impactful pain points. Because when we align our service to a really deep pain, it becomes a “must have” rather than “something to consider next quarter”.
1. “What’s holding you back?”
The first question that we can ask to dig deeper into the pain of our buyers is this:
“What’s the main thing holding your company (or division) back from growing right now?”
This question is great at eliciting a very specific response. One that lands your prospects pains into one of the four categories we covered before.
Financial Pain
People Pain
Productivity Pain
Processing Pain
This question is the starting point to go a level deeper than the more general categories of pain that we’ve already discussed.
And once you’ve done that, you can move on to the next question…
2. “How do you plan to solve this?”
“How do you plan to solve this pain point?”
An uneducated buyer will tell you that they are unsure how to solve their pain point. This is an incredible opportunity for you to educate the buyer on how your service can solve the problem and relieve their pain.
A more educated buyer who is further through the sales process might have a few ideas on how they can solve the pain. But clearly there’s still something holding them back from taking action.
So the next step is to uncover what that thing is that’s keeping them from solving the problem themselves.
Now on to question number three…
3. “What’s your deadline?”
We uncover lots of information when we ask the buyer the next question:
“What is your deadline to solve this problem?”
If the buyer tells us that there is no deadline, then the problem is not very painful for the buyer. And that means they’re not going to be very motivated to solve it, meaning you’ll have to work harder to earn their business. The takeaway here? Avoid doing business with these individuals. They’re not worth the effort.
Alternatively, if the buyer does have a set deadline to solve this pain point by, you now have a very qualified buyer that is worth engaging with further.
Now we need to keep probing and see if there is the budget and authority to solve the pain.
4. “What does your boss think?”
Now question number four is where we uncover the true level of pain the buyer is in. After you’ve gone through the previous steps and questions, it’s time to ask:
“What does your boss think about all this?”
One of the most common obstacles to a smooth selling process is your buyer lacking the budget or the authority needed to make the purchase. Maybe they have to go to their manager to request funding. Or maybe they need to get permission from their boss before pulling the trigger on the deal.
In either case, closing is going to be a pain. You’ll need to spend extra time convincing stakeholders that your product is worth the value. And you’ll risk your messaging being diluted since your contact then has to then convince their higher-up that it’s worth the price.
All bad things.
So if you ask this question and your buyer says “my boss has been on my back about this for weeks now, I really need to get this sorted” you have uncovered that the buyer likely has both the budget and the authority to solve the issue.
And for you, that means an easier sale.
Now that leaves us with one final question to ask the buyer to go beyond the surface-level pain they’ve been describing to you so far.
5. “What’s stopping you?”
The final question we now need to ask the potential buyer is:
“What is stopping you from solving this problem today?”
This is the most important question in this sequence of questions.
So far we’ve been living in the future with questions like, “What is your deadline?” and “What does your boss think?”
Now we need to pull the buyer back to the real world. What’s stopping them from fixing the problem now, TODAY. This will intensify the buyer’s pain, drive urgency, and make it far more likely that they’ll take action on any suggestions you give them to solve it.
Now you’ve got a quality, qualified lead on your hands that’s ready to buy and easy to close.
And after that, well. You know what to do after that, don’t you?
Value Proposition Design Framework: Find Your Ideal Buyer | Salesman Podcast
Oct 27, 2022
The value proposition is a foundational component for any successful sales department.
It tells salespeople like you which demographics to target. It clues you into your buyer’s biggest hopes and fears. And it guides your strategy for closing deals and earning that oh-so-sweet “yes.”
But what happens if your value proposition is wrong? What if the ideal buyer that marketing has told you to focus on isn’t a fit for your product? What if all those unclosed leads who said your product “just isn’t right” for them… were actually right?
This guide takes you through how to develop, refine, and verify your value proposition. Along the way, you’ll learn our proven four-step value proposition design framework. And with it, you can determine your product or service value (The Value Diagram), find your ideal buyer (The Buyer Breakdown), and develop the value proposition you need to close more sales.
*How to Use This Guide – Despite how much business is done these days digitally, some things are still done better with your bare hands. That’s why we recommend printing out both The Value Diagram and The Buyer Breakdown and filling them in with sticky notes.
There is going to be quite a bit of shifting ideas up and down in terms of priority. And if you’re trying to type ideas in or even writing them directly onto the sections, you’ll be doing a lot of Ctrl+Xing and erasing along the way.
Also, be sure to progress linearly throughout and not skip ahead for the best results with creating your unique value proposition.
What Is a Value Proposition & Value Proposition Design?
Before we get started on the value proposition design framework, let’s first define what a value proposition is.
Simply put, a value proposition is a promise to your buyer about what you have to offer. It should be free of jargon and painstakingly clear. It should communicate the benefits of choosing you over the competition. And it should identify who your ideal buyer is.
Value proposition design, then, is the methodology used to create your value proposition.
Plenty of respected business thinkers have covered value proposition design—namely, Alexander Osterwalder, who penned a book of the same name. In the Value Proposition Canvas, Osterwalder outlines how to develop a effective value proposition that gets to the heart of your product’s value and shows how it solves your buyer’s problem.
Our four-step value proposition design framework is built on the principles outlined in Osterwalder’s book. But instead of focusing on developing a new product based on a buyer’s needs, our framework is for salespeople with an existing product that want to find their ideal target customer.
Why Is a Value Proposition So Important?
A value proposition (when constructed correctly) should drive nearly every action of a business. It could very become your competitive advantage in the marketplace.
Your value prop should:
Inform your product development
Guide your marketing
Instruct your sales team
Govern your growth strategy
Think of a value proposition as the seed from which the rest of the business grows. A bad seed, no matter how great the conditions around it, still won’t sprout. And a healthy one can withstand even the worst environments.
What’s more, the process of strategic value proposition design lets you test and validate market needs. According to CB Insights, a whopping 35% of new businesses fail due to there being no market need for their products. This is a problem of “fit” (more on that later) between what the product offers and what the ideal buyer wants.
With so much resting on a well-made value proposition, it’s no wonder nearly 7 out of 10 B2B businesses have theirs clearly defined, according to Quick Sprout. Over half (52%) of those companies have different value propositions for other products or services.
Use the following four-step value proposition design framework to identify your product value, determine your ideal buyer, and develop your value proposition statement.
Step 1: Identify Your Value (The Value Diagram)
While Osterwalder’s Value Proposition Design focuses on creating a new customer from buyer characteristics, your product as a B2B salesman is already defined. As such, we need to work backward by starting with the product.
This framework step asks you to determine what your products bring to the table by filling out The Value Diagram. You’ll be defining:
Your Products
Perk Producers
Strain Reducer
You’ll likely already be well versed in what your products bring to the table. You probably already have oodles of product specs, use cases, and benefits lists ready for buyers at a moment’s notice.
Even still, you must go through the steps of filling out these sections from the ground up. If your “ideal buyer” is saying they don’t need your product, the problem could be as deep-rooted as improperly defined product value.
A) Your Products
This section is a list of all the products or services you offer. After finishing this section, you’ll be building out all the perk producers and strain reducers of these products—so try to be thorough.
You can take two approaches here—you can stick to products that only apply to a specific customer segment, or you can create an exhaustive list of everything your company offers.
After listing out your products, rank them in order of importance. Your flagship products will likely be at the top, with upsells and supplementary offerings closer to the bottom.
B) Perk Producers
Next up is the section on perk producers. Again, building from your product list section, what benefits or value adds do those products offer? How do they help move the needle in a positive direction for the buyer?
You’ll likely have plenty of sales collateral on hand to help you fill out this section. Be sure to include the benefits outlined by marketing in this section. But along the way, weed out the corporate-supplied perks that don’t make much sense.
You’ll also want to build on the stated benefits of the products. How else does it add value to the buyer’s day? Let yourself brainstorm a bit.
Here are a few questions to get you started. Does your product…
Outperform similar products?
Offer cost savings?
Make your buyer’s job easier?
Create positive social consequences (e.g., boosting reputation at work, giving them more power)
Be sure to rank the perk producers you come up with in order of importance, too.
C) Strain Reducers
The last section in The Value Diagram is on strain reducers. How do your products eliminate hardships in the day-to-day of your buyer? What do they do to make their jobs less frustrating?
Again, you’ll probably have plenty of in-house material to build on. But as with the perk producers section, be sure you’re reexamining that material as you add those strain reducers to the diagram. Again, not all marketing material is going to be spot on. And if you can pick out a strain reducer that doesn’t quite fit, you’ll be left with an even more dead-on ideal buyer at the end of the process.
And once more, don’t forget to rank the strain reducers in importance and brainstorm new ones along the way.
Some questions to get you started:
Does the product fix frustrating solutions by introducing new features or usability options?
Does it eliminate financial, social, or technical risks?
Does it limit or eradicate common mistakes buyers make?
Does it overcome obstacles that keep buyers from achieving greater social power or status?
Best Practices
Be Strategic – Try to only list out products that apply to a specific audience at first. If you start broad, your ideal buyer isn’t going to be clearly defined. And it won’t help you narrow down who’s a good fit for your product.
Be Comprehensive – Be sure you’re listing all products within your segment. Products can be physical (e.g., manufactured goods), intangible (e.g., copyrights, services), digital (e.g., downloads, Saas products), or financial (e.g., investments, insurance).
Differentiate Between Perks & Strains – Strain reducers are ways your product eliminates annoyances. They’re things that impede buyers from completing their jobs. Perks, on the other hand, are ways your product lets buyers do their job better. You’ll be comparing strains and perks across both your product and your ideal buyer. So if you misclassify, it may show a misalignment when the two are actually well aligned.
Step 2: Find Your Ideal Buyers (The Buyer Breakdown)
Once you’ve thoroughly defined your products’ perks producers and stress reducers, it’s time to focus on the buyer.
This step of the value proposition framework is all about describing your buyer using The Buyer Breakdown. You’ll be detailing:
Your Buyer’s Jobs
Perks
Strains
Like in The Value Diagram, you’ll want to begin with the sales collateral you’re using now, but only as a jumping-off point. There are three reasons for this:
Your current jobs, perks, and strains may align with your ideal buyer, but they may be off in order of importance.
You’ll weed through these perks and strains to see which ones actually match up with your product values.
You’ll brainstorm new perks and strains along the way, too.
A) Buyer Jobs
The first section of The Buyer Breakdown is all about buyer jobs. What are your buyers trying to get done? What are the tasks they are performing? And what are their goals?
Don’t just think of this section as simple work duties. Instead, buyer jobs break down into three unique categories:
Functional Jobs – These are the typical things that come to mind when you think of jobs. They’re the individual tasks they have to get done at work (e.g., input information into their CRM, update accounting information, fill out timesheets).
Social Jobs – These jobs are focused on looking good, gaining power, or rising in status. In the workplace, that translates into goals like looking professional, proving competence to the higher-ups, and expanding the team you manage.
Personal/Emotional Jobs – These jobs concern a buyer feeling good. Peace of mind, elimination of risk, feeling accomplished and eliminating risk fall under this category.
Take a moment to list out jobs that relate to your product segment identified earlier. Then, again, use the customer profile provided by your company and try to come up with your own, too. Then, rank them in order of importance to the buyer.
B) Perks
These are the benefits your buyer wants to see from your product. They’re the concrete outcomes of working with you or buying your product. These benefits can apply to any of the jobs listed out previously. The more exact and definite you are here, the better.
While brainstorming these perks, try to think about:
What precise quality levels do they expect?
What would make your buyer’s job easier?
What kinds of positive social consequences would make them eager to buy?
How do they measure success and failure?
Perks can come in four different categories. Try to come up with some for each and then rank them in order of importance to the buyer.
Required Perks – These are the bare necessities. The basics. They’re what the buyer absolutely needs to see from your product, or else it’s a dealbreaker. Think of a running engine in a new car.
Expected Perks – These are a step lower in necessity but are still expected to be included in the product. Solid design and safety standards for your car might be an expected perk.
Desired Perks – These are perks that go beyond what your buyers anticipate in your solution. Sticking with the car metaphor, this type of perk might be connecting seamlessly with your devices.
Unexpected Perks – These perks go above and beyond customer expectations. They’re the blow-away qualities that buyers don’t even imagine having. Being able to run on electricity (think Tesla Model S) might be an unexpected perk of a new car.
C) Strains
Last up is buyer strains. What annoys your buyer before, during, and after they’re trying to get a job done? What prevents them from even starting? What are the risks that keep them from working as efficiently as they could?
These are the pain points of your existing customer profile. And as with other sections, you should include them in the list, but remember to brainstorm new ones as well.
Some questions you might ask yourself while brainstorming strains might include:
What takes too much time, costs too much money, or requires too much effort?
What are the most significant difficulties facing your buyer when performing a job?
What keeps them up at night when it comes to their job?
What risks outweigh the benefits of performing a certain task?
List out whatever you can come up with, add them to the strains of your current segment profile, and rank them in order of importance to the buyer.
Best Practices
Forget Your Product – Try not to cater to your buyer’s perks and strains specifically to your product while brainstorming. Instead, you’ll want to get as many varied ideas on the board as possible. You’re going to go through them later to determine if they’re a fit for your product. So, for now, let the ideas flow!
Stick With a Single Buyer Segment – Different segments will likely have different needs, wants, and pain points. So be sure you’re only using the segment that lines up with your chosen product line and stick with it.
Make Perks & Strains Concrete – There’s value in specificity when it comes to listing these two categories out. Don’t just write down “it’s too slow” as a strain. Instead, try to put down how much faster they want to get the job done. That way, you can parse out precisely what their standards of success and failure are.
Step 3: Find the Fit
Now that you’ve filled out The Value Diagram and The Buyer Breakdown, it’s time to determine “fit.” Fit is how well your product values line up with what the buyer needs. The better it aligns, the more successful your value proposition will be.
In terms of the value proposition design framework, fit is determined by whether your product’s gains:
Address the most critical buyer jobs
Reduce the biggest strains
Provide the most sought-after perks
So, how do you determine fit?
Simple—determine which jobs, strains, and perks in The Buyer Breakdown the strain reducers and perk producers on The Value Diagram address. Go through each job, strain, and perk one by one, placing a checkmark next to the ones that fit. At the end, simply remove the ones that don’t have a checkmark.
After that, all that’s left is crafting your value proposition statement based on which elements are highest on the list of importance.
Step 4: Create Your Value Proposition Statement
Once you’ve whittled down your Value Diagram and Buyer Breakdown to include only items that fit, it’s time to craft your value proposition statement.
Your value proposition statement will be the basis of your sales process (once properly designed and tested, of course). It’ll inform how you build rapport, which points to hit when nurturing leads, and what strategies to use when closing the sale.
Generally, the best value propositions fulfill a number of guiding principles.
They target only a few jobs, strains, and perks (make peace with not solving everything).
Align with how the buyer measures success.
Don’t just target functional jobs (be sure to address social and emotional jobs too).
Focus on unsatisfied jobs, lingering strains, and essential perks.
Differentiate your product from the competition (why you and not them?).
Value Proposition Statement Template
A value proposition statement should be clear, to the point, and touch on the most critical issues from The Value Diagram and The Buyer Breakdown.
You can use the template below to craft yours.
Remember though—this template is simply a rough sketch of what a value proposition should look like. As long as it hits all of the following points clearly, your value proposition is going to stand out to buyers.
Your products
Buyer segment
Buyer job
Reduction of specific customer strain
Increase of specific perk
Differentiate from competition
Step 5: Verify Your Value Proposition
Last but certainly not least, there’s verifying your value proposition. And unfortunately, this one is likely going to take the most time out of all the steps.
To settle on a compelling value proposition, you’ll need to test whether it resonates with your buyers.
Generate a hypothesis about your ideal buyer and what they value
Create a value proposition based on that hypothesis
Design experiments to verify the effectiveness of your value proposition
Run and collect results from your experiments
Reevaluate and tweak the components of your value proposition based on the results
Repeat the cycle
There are plenty of ways you can test your value proposition, including:
Ad and link tracking
Split testing emails
Split testing landing pages
Buyer interviews
Buyer behavior data analysis
Crowdfunding
Exactly which method is within your means will depend on your unique organization.
In the end, just be sure you’re continually reevaluating and iterating on what you learned along the way. Remember, this is a process, not a one-time effort!
Great Value Proposition Examples
Below are just a few solid value propositions examples that target an ideal customer, have a strong value proposition and answer the customer’s main problem.
Intuit
Smart and simple to use accounting software for small businesses.
Canva
Create beautiful designs with your team. Use Canva’s drag-and-drop feature and layouts to design, share and print business cards, logos, presentations and more.
HubSpot
There’s a better way to grow. Marketing, Sales, and service software that helps your business grow without compromise. Because “good for the business” should also mean “good for the customer.”
Slack
Slack is where work happens. Slack unifies your entire team’s communications, making your workflow, well, flow a lot better. All the apps you need are seamlessly integrated into our platform, and you can effortlessly search and find all your files, calls, messages, and colleagues in one place.
Stripe
A fast, simple, and secure online processing payment solution and infrastructure required to operate online transactions for businesses of all sizes.
Wrapping Up
Value proposition design is an essential component for any success-minded salesperson. With the right value proposition design, you’ll be able to:
Define your ideal buyer
Identify which leads to qualify and which to spend less time on
Nurture potential buyers faster
Strategize the most effective ways to close more deals
And with this five-step value proposition design framework, and the included value proposition examples you’ll have all the tools you need to get started today.
But having the right value proposition is only one aspect of being a successful sales superstar. And there’s plenty more to learn about winning sales tactics, proven pitch strategies, and more.
7 PROVEN Ways to Increase Sales Productivity 🚀 | Selling Made Simple
Oct 25, 2022
Eventually in your sales career, you’re going to hit a maximum effectiveness at winning business. “You can’t squeeze blood from a stone,” as the old saying goes. But that doesn’t mean you’re stuck where you’re at.
If you want to drive more deals now, you’ve got to increase your throughput of sales leads. And that takes boosting your sales productivity using these 7 techniques.
1. Reverse Engineering
Reverse engineering your goals, mainly your financial goals.
What are you shooting for? Is it your dream house? Sending your kids to college? A ridiculously fancy new watch? What is it that you want?
Take your goals, jot them down, and then it’s time to work backward.
Start with how much extra income you need to afford those goals in a specific amount of time. So say you want to bring in enough to put a 20% down payment on a $500,000 house in 3 years.
What you’ll do is break down the extra amount you’ll need to earn $100k each year, or $33,000. Then break that down into quarterly, monthly, and weekly commission goals.
But the work isn’t done yet. Now you have to take your sales success rate and work backward to determine how much outreach you need to do every week. So if you have a close rate of 5% and each deal nets you an extra $1000, you’ll have to find 660 prospects a year to achieve your financial goals. And that boils down to 13 prospects a week, totally manageable.
And best of all, you’ll always know when you’re on track to that brand new house and when you need to make up for lost time.
2. Measuring Progress
Now number two is measuring progress.
If you aren’t keeping track of everything, you’ll have no idea if you’re 1) being productive and 2) becoming more productive. You’ll be going on feel alone and have no real data to show for it.
So what should you do?
Measure your stats relentlessly.
At a bare minimum, and I’m emphasizing the minimum here, you need to be keeping track of the following on a weekly basis.
Prospects added to your list
Emails and sales cadences started
Meetings booked
Demos completed
Sales closed
Your average deal length
With these numbers at your fingertips, you can keep track of larger trends, see how you’re improving, and even spot shifts in the industry before they become a problem.
It’s simple to do. And it’s a game-changer.
3. Time Blocking
Number three, time blocking religiously.
This one takes some practice. But the productivity payoff is substantial.
For every one of your important tasks, you need to assign them a time block on your calendar. Prospecting, two hours a day, 8 to 10. Lead follow-up, one hour a day, 1 to 2. Demos, 3:30 to 5. Whatever it is, make a specific start and end time. And focus on it and it alone during that time window.
Now the tricky part is not wavering. Answering emails during the prospecting window, making calls during follow-ups, any sort of multitasking or shifting that time window will make the entire system fall apart.
Instead, be single-minded. Be focused. And only work on that task and that task alone. It’ll take some adjustment. But you’re going to be 10X more productive once you do.
4. Leveraging Parkinson’s Law
Number four is leveraging Parkinson’s Law.
Have you ever heard the saying that a goldfish grows as big as its tank allows it to? Well the same is true for the time you spend on tasks.
If you give yourself three hours to finish something, say a new email sequence, it’s going to take you three hours to do, even if it only should have taken two. Humans are great at following the path of least resistance. And if you’re spending more time than you should on something, it’s probably because the deadline is off.
That’s Parkinson’s Law – “the time required to perform a task tends to extend to all the time available to perform it.”
So to fight that, you need to reduce the time you give to projects. Ask for forgiveness rather than permission and cut back the task to make it simpler. Usually this’ll be for the better and you’ll be thanked for the greater efficiency.
You may even want to consider not doing the task at all and seeing if anyone complains. You’d be surprised at how much of what we spend time on is just plain busy work.
5. Saying “No”
Number five is a powerful one—learn how to say no.
No gives clear boundaries and stops clients, colleagues, and unreasonable bosses from walking all over you. And I guarantee saying it just a few times a day will free up literally hours and hours of time each week.
Your time is valuable. And you need to treat it as such.
6. Prioritizing Revenue Generators
Six, prioritize the real revenue generators in your business.
Your business won’t die if your accounts are a little late. It won’t die if you check your emails in an hour rather than immediately. And it won’t die if you spend a little less time polishing the website.
But you know what will cause it to die? Neglecting to create a sustainable pipeline. Never moving prospects through it. Not closing on a time-sensitive deal and losing a sure thing.
There are tasks that are essential to bringing in the dough. And there are others that can wait until later.
Make sure a good amount of your time blocked time each day is spent on the former. And focus less on the latter.
7. Qualifying Harder
And last but not least is qualifying leads harder.
One of the best lessons you’ll learn in your sales career is that not every lead is right for your product. And the sooner you recognize those leads in your pipeline, the sooner you can spend more time on the ones that are likely to buy.
That means you need to qualify clients more. When you find the right lead, you spend less time on explaining the value, less time on handling objections, and less time on closing. And that means you can spend your day bringing more great leads into your pipeline.
If you need a quick qualification method, use BANT:
Budget – What is the lead’s budget? Does it match up with your price?
Authority – Does the lead have the power to make decisions, or do they influence policy-making?
Need – What are the lead’s business needs?
Timeframe – In what timeframe will the lead be fulfilling the solution?
The more time you spend qualifying, the less time you’ll spend on bad leads that will never be a fit.
Summary
There’s only so much you can do about close rates. But at some point, you’re going to hit your max. And that’s when you’ve got to put your productivity efforts into generating more leads by…
Qualifying Sales Leads: Increase Close Ratios by 500%
Oct 24, 2022
When it comes to qualifying sales leads, more doesn’t always mean better. Notably, if the sales leads are not qualified. You could spend hours each day and still only manage to close a measly 1-3 leads out of a hundred.
So, how does a B2B lead qualification process work? What systems can you employ to increase the effectiveness of your qualification process? And, most importantly, how is the perfect qualifying process different from the one you currently use?
The important thing is knowing that the sales lead qualification process is all about knowing which questions to ask and whom to ask them.
What Does Qualifying A Sales Lead Mean?
Qualifying sales leads means the same thing in every context: determining if the subject meets predetermined criteria or ‘qualifies’ for it. For example, to qualify a lead is to determine how likely the lead will develop into a sale.
The whole point of sales lead qualification is to reduce the time a sales representative spends talking to potential customers who will not turn into buyers. Otherwise known as ‘chasing leads.’
Sales qualification helps weed out the tire kickers by using a framework that allows the sales rep to process a lead and determine its sales potential. Narrowing down what B2B sales lead qualification frameworks you want to leverage each day when qualifying prospects is the biggest hurdle to success here.
For example, if you are selling insurance products, a qualified lead would be someone who owns the item you’re selling insurance for. You’d be surprised to learn about the amount of time sales reps spend chasing leads that are not even related to the products or services they are selling.
Success in sales often comes down to spending more time with buyers who are a good fit and ready to buy.
The ratio of the number of sales a rep closes from all the leads they have is called the close ratio. So when you are looking at improving the number of sales you make from your leads, you have to improve your close ratio.
This is different from the conversion ratio, which measures how many leads you secure from the number of people exposed to your marketing efforts.
Why Would You Want To Qualify Your Leads?
The most straightforward answer is to save yourself time and effort. Less time spent on disqualified leads means more time spent on qualified ones. That means more conversions or sales. Successful sales people spent more time with decision makers, who use lead scoring and have a defined sales process.
Sales Lead Qualification 101: The Basics
The success of your attempts at qualifying sales leads depends on how effectively you can measure your leads’ responses against your qualification criteria. We will discuss different qualification frameworks later but let’s look at what they all share.
Qualifying Questions
All lead qualification systems use carefully designed qualifying questions to understand how well a lead matches your qualification criteria. Common qualifying questions include:
Q1. What kind of budget do you have to solve this problem?
Q2. Which feature are you most interested in?
Q3. What kind of timeline do you have to get this implemented?
Q4. What is the primary business problem you hope to solve with this product?
Q5. What measures have you taken in the past to attempt to solve this issue? How effective were they at eliminating the problem?
I have highlighted the most critical part of each question. Your qualifying questions have to sound as natural as possible to elicit helpful information from the lead. After all, why would anyone share their business problems if the questions like you’re trying to manipulate them?
Main Types of Sales Leads
Depending on where the sales lead is within the funnel, the leads are given different names.
A. Marketing Qualified Lead
When your marketing department grabs an email address or phone number, they call them Marketing Qualified Lead or an MQL. An MQL has been exposed to your marketing initiatives and has shown interest in either purchasing your product or service or acquiring more information about it. An MQL is generally someone who has only make initial contact with your business and so often they are not quality leads at this point.
B. Sales Qualified Lead
Next, when sales teams speak to a MQL and ask them qualifying questions, they are then relabeled as Sales Qualified Leads or an SQL. These leads are likely to become customers because they have met your desired lead qualification criteria and they’ve had their long term pain points identified.
C. Disqualified Lead
The last type of sales lead is called a Disqualified Lead which is equally important as the previous two. Disqualified sales leads are the one type of lead that you want to eliminate from your sales pipeline. A disqualified sales lead is different from an Unqualified Lead. An unqualified lead isa prospect that has not shown enough interest at the marketing stage to be sent to the sales team.
Another thing all prospecting frameworks share is the concept that leads qualification is not an event but an ongoing process. The discovery call might not provide ample time or rapport needed to ask all the questions for sales lead qualification. More often than not, several calls and engagements are required to qualify a lead properly. The process goes through different levels of lead qualification.
Let’s take a look at the different levels of potential qualification within a buyer’s organization.
1. Organization Level Sales Lead Qualification
When you start to qualify across an entire organization, you’ll begin to consider things like company size, industry, customer base, and region.
For example, if your business sells hydraulic lifts, you will want to know if they are in a region your engineers can visit and install them.
Example organizational level qualification questions include:
Q1. What are your products or services?
Q2. What kind of customer flow do you see each quarter?
Q3. How many employees does your company have?
Q4. Where are your customers based?
2. Opportunity Level Sales Lead Qualification
Moving on, you would want to know whether the prospect wants your product or service. If they want it, can they afford it? And finally, when are they most likely to make a purchase? Opportunity level lead qualification is all about identifying a lead’s pain point. We call it a pain point because they are more likely to want a product that removes that pain.
If you are selling Search Engine Marketing services, you must speak to somebody interested in their business’s online presence. Their pain point might be that their turnover has dramatically dropped after a Google Search update. This identification of a specific pain point is the information you need to qualify this prospect.
Q1. What else have you done to try and solve this problem?
Q2. What kind of budget are you working with?
Q3. When do you think we can start solving this issue?
3. Stakeholder Level Sales Lead Qualification
Stakeholder sales qualification questions are all about making sure you talk to the right person within the company. Your prospect must have influence over the decision-making process of their organization to the extent where it can help you close the sale.
You don’t want to spend time going through organization and opportunity level qualifications only to find out that the person will pass on the information for someone else to get back to you.
Although, this isn’t precisely a dead-end scenario either. If you can ask the right questions, you can create a map of your lead’s organization, ultimately leading you to the decision-maker.
It’s pretty straightforward if your ideal customers are individuals or owner-managed businesses, as you will be speaking to the decision-maker from the start. But if it’s a more prominent company, you will need to ask questions like:
Q1. Who is typically involved in your decision-making process?
Q2. Is someone else or their team going to use the product or service?
Q3. Is there a procurement team involved with purchases over a certain dollar amount?
Using Sales Lead Qualification Frameworks for Lead Qualification
The three levels of qualification that we have discussed so far are all you need when developing questions for your qualification framework. However, as there are many variables here, a pre-built Qualification Framework could make your qualification process more efficient.
Your industry, the type of leads you talk to, and the service or product you sell will determine the qualification framework and sales process you will ultimately use.
The three most widely used lead qualification frameworks are BANT, CHAMP and MEDDIC.
BANT
Bant has four elements of qualification and is a slight twist on the classic “budget authority need” method of lead scoring:
Budget being the financial capacity to make the purchase.
Authority being the ability to decide on the purchase.
Need being the explicit requirement for your product or service.
Time relating to their urgency to require your product or service.
CHAMP
Although they aren’t related, CHAMP is similar to the BANT framework in the way it incorporates Money, Authority, and Need, but it builds on the Time section of BANT by taking into account where your product or service lies in the list of priorities of your lead.
CHallenges are the immediate problems of the company your product or service can solve for a prospect. The CHAMP framework begins by asking questions about challenges to qualify leads.
Authority in the CHAMP framework is similar to authority in the BANT framework. You want to speak to people who make buying decisions.
Money is what makes your sale whole. You have to identify whether the prospect’s organization can afford what you are selling.
Prioritization is about ascertaining the importance of your product or service in the current or plans. The CHAMP framework differs from BANT in this regard by not equating urgency with priority.
MEDDIC
The MEDDIC framework is similar to the revised MEDDPICC qualification framework. It takes a different approach to lead qualification by thoroughly looking at the decision-making process and separating it into Decision Criteria and Decision Process. The framework goes a step further in its thoroughness by looking for influence in non-decision making but influential individuals it calls Champions.
Metrics is where your questions start. The MEDDIC framework places a greater emphasis on quantifying your lead’s goals or plans. A number instantly hands you a figure you can use to signify the economic advantages of your product or service.
Economic buyer is somebody whose signature is the last one on the check. You have to know who this is to understand how they think, directly impacting whether the organization becomes your next customer.
Decision criteria help you understand how decisions are made in the target organization. The objective is to determine if it’s a single person (the economic buyer), an executive board, or an interdepartmental committee.
Decision process is the identification and understanding of how the decision-making body reaches a decision. Knowing this helps prevent confusion at later stages due to complex internal approval processes, for example.
Identifying pain is the part of this process designed to understand how urgently the lead needs the solution you are providing.
Champions are individuals you look for in the prospect’s organization that may not be part of the decision-making process but could influence it. They may do this by their seniority, proximity to the problem being solved, or an interest in your solution.
Signs to Look Out for when Qualifying Sales Leads
Years of experience from various sales experts and successful sales reps have blessed us with enough insights to identify the red and green flags that can appear when qualifying sales leads.
The following positive signs of sales qualification and red flags are easy to spot when you know them:
Positive Signs
If the lead is interested in talking about their projects, plans, or challenges, whether past, present, or future, it means they want to be heard. It also means that they want you to possibly provide a solution.
If the potential buyer starts asking specific questions about your product or service during the discovery call and after organization level qualification, you’re onto a winner. There is no better indicator of qualification than genuine interest.
Red Flags
A prospect giving inconsistent or incomplete answers is either unaware of their problems or they’re not interested in fixing them.
Very short or One-Word answers are the biggest no-no. Someone giving answers in this manner is waiting for you to end the call. So disqualify them and stop delaying the inevitable?
Is Sales Leads Qualification Difficult?
The sales lead qualification process revolves around asking your leads questions. These questions are designed to help a sales rep determine if the lead has any potency for a sale.
Seems pretty simple, right? Most salespeople fall into issues when qualifying their customer when their prospects get uneasy with answering questions all of their rapid fire questions.
Potential customers can feel uneasy because they:
Are more interested in understand your product than being sold to.
Are not comfortable sharing their organization’s goals or plans.
Are fed up with talking to sales reps since you are the tenth person that has called.
Are not interested in what you are pitching.
If your prospect isn’t interested in what you’re pitching then, congratulations! You can confidently disqualify that lead.
Remember your sales leads are people, and people want to be heard. So make the qualification process easy for them so they get comfortable with divulging crucial information about their business. You need this information to either qualify or disqualify the buyer.
Is Disqualifying a Sales Lead Common?
Absolutely! Think of the sales lead qualification process as a feasibility study of your leads. The purpose is to determine how feasible pursuing a lead is so those leads that do not meet set criteria do not consume resources that can otherwise be spent on leads that do. Therefore, disqualifying leads is as important as qualifying them.
The top salespeople in the world are proactive about disqualifying poor or even average sales leads and so you should be too.
Conclusion
Qualifying sales leads is easy, just ask the right questions at the right time to the right people. The other half of the sales qualification formula is analyzing your prospect’s answers and knowing what to ask next.
How To Write a Follow up Email After No Response (+ Templates and Best Practices)
Oct 22, 2022
Getting ghosted is every sales professional’s nightmare.
You think everything is going right—the prospect is the right fit for your target audience, your product is within their budget, and they are genuinely interested in buying it—until it’s not.
No response. Missed calls. Just pin-drop silence.
You can’t understand what the hell went wrong. Don’t worry, though. You have to up your follow-up game.
To help you out in these tricky situations, we’ll show you how to write a follow-up email after no response and get the deal back to track.
So let’s get started!
Why Should You Send a Follow-up Email After No Response?
The whole point of sending up a follow-up email is to increase your chances of getting a response from your prospect.
According to research, you can boost your reply rates by 65.8% when you send a single follow-up. What’s more, the first follow-up email has a 40% increase in reply rate compared to the first sales email. This means your prospect is 40% more likely to reply to your email.
What’s more, no response doesn’t mean any interest. Tons of factors affect a prospect’s decision to not respond to your email:
You may have caught them at the wrong time
They may not have seen your email
They may have seen your email but forgot to reply
Your email may be deeply buried in their inbox
They may not be interested now but can be later if you stay in contact.
Even after getting zero response, sending up follow-up emails may give you the leverage you need to close a deal.
The moral of the story is to never skip on following up—you might just lose a closed-won deal.
When Should You Follow Up After Getting No Response?
Sending follow-up emails is an art. In addition to the contents of your follow-up email, you also want to get the follow-up timing right.
A week is too long, and sending a follow-up on the same day is—for the lack of a better word—desperate. That’s why we recommend waiting three days before following up after no response.
You can send 2-3 emails in your follow-up email sequence to urge the prospect to get back to you. And while you should leave the prospect after sending a few follow-ups, don’t send them a breakup email. Instead, leave the conversation open and return to it sometime in the future.
How To Send a Follow-up Email After No Response
No response means you’ve already sent your first follow-up email after talking to the prospect. So here, we’ll give you suggestions on how to write an email after your first follow-up.
A) Send a Fresh Follow-up Email
If following up after no response involves you cutting and pasting—or forwarding—the original email, we’ve got to stop you right there.
First and foremost, your prospect will feel you’re trying to guilt them for not responding. Secondly, it’s also possible for your second follow-up email to get filtered by spam or even get blocked by the prospect.
That’s why every follow-up email should be a blank slate. Instead, try new and witty subject lines, opening lines, and calls to action. And not only your second follow-up email, but all subsequent follow-up emails should be fresh.
Think about it: why limit yourself to one email thread that already has several old messages weighing it down?
B) Maintain a Friendly and Cordial Tone
Following up after no response can feel personal. But sales professionals need to have thicker skin.
Don’t waste precious email real estate by using passive-aggressive lines like “I know you’re busy, I’m busy too, “or “Was waiting for a reply to my previous email but to no avail.”
It’ll do more harm than good. Your prospect might feel offended, and if they do respond out of guilt, their answer won’t be one you want to hear.
Keeping your tone positive is your best bet. Use phrases like “Wanted to touch base on our last conversation “or “Do you have any questions about our last conversation?”. The idea here is to acknowledge your prospect might be busy and give them a gentle nudge to take the conversation forward.
C) …But Be Persistent
While you want to stay polite, you also want to be persistent. Be politely persistent.
Of course, some people will say “no “along the way, but there are also those who will say “yes. ”
Following up will help you get ahead, but you have to be consistent about the whole process and create a repeatable, scalable process. So focus on providing continuous value and send multiple (and well spaced-out) follow-up emails within the span of the next few weeks to see results.
D) Provide the Prospect Clear Value
To get a response, you have to have a crystal-clear “ask.” So, before hitting ‘Send,’ see whether the email answers the following questions:
Is the follow-up email relevant to the recipient? If yes, why?
Does the prospect know why you’re contacting them?
People usually skim through emails quickly, especially those sent by strangers. So if your follow-up email doesn’t have a clear value proposition, they won’t be interested in responding.
The easier you make it for them to know what you’re hoping to achieve, the better your chances of securing a response. Transparency is valued, so don’t make the prospect read between the lines or try to translate.
E) Consider the Time and Day of the Week
You want to leave a good first, second, third—maybe even fourth impression on your prospect when following up.
When following up multiple times, it’s best to send your email at an optimal time. For starters, consider the day of the week and how that might affect their schedule. For instance, people generally catch up with work on Mondays and solve problems. That’s why sending follow-ups on Tuesdays or Wednesdays makes more sense.
You also want to consider your prospect’s time zones. Better to pop up in their inbox after they’ve settled in the office than when you’re just starting out the day or ending it. This will differ based on your industry, too.
Think from your recipient’s viewpoint.
F) Make It Easier for the Prospect to Say “Yes”
Think about it: it’s easier to say “yes “to a request for a 5-20 minute chat compared to, say, an hour-long meeting.
Ask for as little of your prospect’s time as possible. This shows them you respect their time, which will make them more likely to say “yes. ”
Also, if you notice, attending a “meeting” sounds more daunting than setting up a “quick chat.” That’s why you should use words that have positive associations—words that sound like much less of a commitment, and therefore, easier to say “yes “to.
Trust us; even the smallest of changes can make a big difference in the long run.
Follow-up Email After No Response Examples
Sending a follow-up email after no response can seem too much. To help you get started on the right track, here are a few follow-up emails after no response examples for inspiration.
Follow-up Email #1: Show Belief in Your Product
Hi {prospect’s name},
Hope you’re doing well.
I understand your position, but I wouldn’t follow up with you if I didn’t firmly believe {your company} can help {prospect’s company}.
{your product’s name} ‘s {product benefit 1} and {product benefit 2} features can help solve the {prospect pain point} you’re facing and improve workflow efficiency in just 28 days.
Let me know if you’d be up for a quick chat about what we do.
Regards,
{your name}
Follow-up Email #2: Use a Clear CTA
Hey, {prospect name}
I am reaching out again to ensure that you had a chance to review my last email.
I’d love to schedule a short call to discuss further details about {topic A} and {topic B}, as I’ve been talking to other market leaders and would love to get your perspective too.
Let me know when you’re available for a quick 15-minute chat. You can book a slot on my calendar here {calendar link}.
Kind regards,
{your name}
Follow-up Email #3: Show Social Proof
I hope you’re having a great day!
Reaching out again to let you know I’m available to show you a few {topic} best practices and {another topic}, which is something we discussed in our previous conversation.
We’ve had success with a few clients in the {prospect niche}, and I believe we can create a great plan to help you increase lead generation and sales conversion, too.
Let me know when you would be available for a quick call.
Ultimate Guide To Close The Deal (+ 10 Examples of Closing Statements)
Oct 20, 2022
You’re familiar with the dreaded drill: find potential clients, connect with them, present your solution, but somehow don’t end up closing it.
Maybe your prospect cannot afford what you have to offer or ditched you for a competitor. Perhaps they decided to hold off deciding until the next quarter.
Why is this happening? Where are you going wrong? What can you do to close the deal?
To close deals successfully, you need to understand the other person’s goals, make a compelling offer, and overcome objections. Then, once you determine a mutually beneficial proposal, you have to figure out the right time to ask and use the best technique to close the deal.
Close the Deal Meaning
Closing a deal is a term sales professionals use to describe a situation where they bring negotiations to an end by reaching an agreement with their prospect. It’s the very moment when a prospect decides to make the purchase. Closing deals is a very nerve-wracking process for sales reps since they are left exposed to the chance of rejection from the prospect.
Selling Made Simple Two-Step Technique For Closing A Deal
At Salesman.org, we use a two-step process to help sales reps close a deal. Don’t worry; it’s straightforward and highly effective!
Step 1 — Ask: “Does It Make Sense To… “
This will help you determine whether the customer needs more help to understand how your solution can benefit them. For instance, you can ask, “We’ve been through our automation capabilities. Does it make sense to sign you up into our system so we can start working together? ”
That’s it.
Next, you wait for the prospect’s answer. If the prospect says yes, congratulations! You can send over the necessary paperwork to get them on board.
If they say “No,” don’t lose hope. Move on to Step 2.
Step 2 — Ask: “What Needs To Happen To Move Things Forward”
As a sales professional, you’ll always find yourself hearing, “No. “It can happen again when you ask the question in Step 1. So the next step in the process is to figure out how to take things forward despite the initial rejection.
Ask the second question: “What needs to happen to move things forward? “This will encourage the buyer to tell you why they haven’t agreed and what you can do next to get the deal done. No brainstorming or contemplating alternative scenarios is needed on your part!
The prospect may want a formal proposal outlining everything you discussed with them orally. Or a copy of the contract to send it off to the legal team before giving the final sign-off. Whatever the reason, you’ll hear it directly from the horse’s (the prospect’s) mouth.
Additionally, you should be closing deals throughout the sales process, and not just at the end of it. For instance, you can apply this methodology at the end of every sales call.
“Does it make sense to discuss if you are a good fit together? “
“Does it make sense to check whether you have the budget before we need to move things forward? “
“Does it make sense to hold a formal meeting to discuss how the product can benefit your organization?”
… you get the drift.
Following this simple process will push the sales forward, helping you get that verbal agreement from the prospect that they genuinely want to progress with the deal.
More Tips To Help You Seal the Deal
Here are a few extra tips to help you understand how to close the deal over the phone or close the deal when selling. Let’s take a look.
A) Research Your Prospect Thoroughly
Expert Note:
“I believe that you have to open a relationship before you can ever close a sale.”
Deb Calvert
Salesman Podcast
The first step in sealing the deal is to do your research.
You have to be well-versed in your company’s offerings and know-how to demonstrate the value the product or service can provide your prospect. Doing this will help you decide which of your offerings are most suitable for your prospect, eliminating the chance of you pitching the wrong product and losing the prospect altogether.
Another good tip is to expand conversations beyond your point of contact.
Try to speak to others in the company, especially crucial decision-makers and other departments. This will help you learn different perspectives, and more importantly, define the organization’s pain points. Then, use these insights to tailor your pitch and present your products or services in the best possible light.
B) Talk Budgets and Timelines
To improve the chances of closing the deal, you should clarify budgets and timelines early in the sales process. This way, you can understand whether the prospect is ready to buy now or somewhere down the line.
If the prospect is ready to buy right away, you should prioritize them over your other dormant prospects. If they aren’t, you can revisit them when they are ready. Again, we recommend talking about budgets and timelines before presenting a demo of your product or service.
C) Offer Solutions and Handle Objections
Expert Note:
“Great salespeople are persuaders. They close from discovery with date-driven selling and there are persuaders and they get everyone to buy into their message.”
Julian Reading
Sales Leadership Show
Instead of selling your products or services, offer solutions. Show the prospect what your product or service can do for them and tailor your conversations from their context. Prioritize the prospect, their pain points, and challenges.
Your potential clients can still have concerns and objections after educating them about your product or service’s benefits. After all, they spend their money and want to know what you’re offering is worth it.
An excellent way to handle objections is connecting with the prospects and winning their trust. Never brush off their concerns, and show them you understand where they come from. Looking back at past objections that you or your colleague has received can also be a good starting point to prepare for similar scenarios.
D) Leverage Storytelling
As a sales professional, you don’t have a lot of time to impress your prospect. Therefore, you need to earn trust from the get-go, which is why you want to use every opportunity wisely. Compelling storytelling is an excellent way to make a positive impression on a prospect.
Now, when we say storytelling, we don’t mean telling just any random, irrelevant story that takes the conversation on a tangent. Instead, you want to tell stories that commit to memory and allow you to tap into your prospect’s emotions relatively quickly.
Here are a few forms of effective storytelling:
Personal Testimony: Share a personal testimony of someone relevant to the prospect to assure them about your team’s competency and support if things go wrong.
Success Story: Share a story about a client who is similar to the prospect (similar pain points, industry, business size) and the benefits the former experienced as a result of using your solution.
Quick Aside: Occasionally, you can go on an unrelated tangent if things are going well between you and the prospect. Incorporate humor, hope, or emotion into the conversation to stand out from your competitors.
E) Set Up and Clarify the Next Steps
Many sales reps forget to set up the next steps, which creates difficulties when closing deals.
Suppose your prospect has accepted your proposal and wants to move forward. In that case, you should finalize paperwork and provide the customer with all the information they need to use your products and services easily. This also includes post-sale services, where you check in to see if the client is having any issues or problems after product delivery or the rendering of service.
10 Best Statements to Close the Deal When Selling
Below, we’ve created a short listicle of non-salesy transition statements to bring the buyer closer to the decision stage.
Does it make sense to move forward? I can send over the contract right now.
After considering all your requirements and challenges, I think these two products would be best for you. Product X can help you [product benefits] while Product Y can be invaluable for [pain points solved]? Which one would you prefer out of the two?
Would this be a better fit for your organization or budget in the next quarter? If so, I’m happy to follow up then.
I know X is your biggest priority for the current year. Our solution can help you achieve X by X date.
If we implement Product A by X date, I think you can start seeing ROI by August. This means it’ll have to close by X date. Is this enough time for you to make a decision?
Surely you don’t want [negative consequence] to befall your company because you didn’t have the right product in place. Do you want to take the crucial steps to protect your organization today?
I think Product X will make a good fit for you and your organization, and here’s why [reason]. Would you like to take this conversation forward?
Would you like to finalize this solution that’s within your budget and solves [challenge]?
Why don’t you give [solution] a try?
X and Y features are of the most interest to you, right? If you get started today, you can have the system up and running by [date].
As you can see, each of these statements is benefits-oriented and focuses on the prospect on their needs and pain points.
The OBVIOUS Secret to Closing BIGGER Deals | Selling Made Simple
Oct 18, 2022
Want to know what separates your everyday sales rep from the high-earning pros? Focus. And not focus of mind. But focus of strategy. The real pros know smashing through quotas is all about working key accounts—clients with exceptional revenue potential.
So, how do you identify and work key accounts so you can start bringing in fatter commissions? Let’s find out.
So I get it, you’ve got a sales target to hit, and the sooner you hit it the better. Otherwise, you’re prolonging the pain, the stress, and the lack of a bonus.
With that said then, why do most sales professionals spend their days chasing their tails?
They fire off hundreds of spammy emails and make dozens of random calls with no real system in place. And there’s zero consistency.
Expert Note:
“Activity drives success but ultimately consistency is the big thing. Unless you’re consistent, you’re only ever going to get very mediocre results.”
Richard Smith
Salesman Podcast
If you’re not consistently making moves to land big moneymaker accounts, you’re losing out. Because the small deals get you close to hitting the target. But the big ones blow that target to bits.
If you want to crush your quota, you need to be closing what we call “key accounts”.
What Are Key Accounts?
So first let’s define what a key account approach to sales is –
Key Account Selling: A selling approach which offers strategic value to specific accounts, while distinguishing you from your competition.
So that begs the question, “what are strategic accounts?”
Let’s use an analogy of the people in your life. You probably have hundreds of acquaintances you’re happy to speak to every now and again. Perhaps you’re happy to help them out too if it’s a job that takes five minutes or less. But there are likely only a handful of people you’re willing to drop whatever you’re doing for to spend time with or help out. These are the strategic people in your life.
You get more out of interacting with them than others. And sales is the same way.
So think of your accounts being in a pyramid shape. Your key accounts are way on top and they’re the smallest. Your good customers are in the middle below them, and below that is the general riff-raff that you have to engage with.
Now what’s funny here is that if you run the numbers, I’m sure you’d find that this pyramid shape has an inverse relationship to the revenue these customers bring in each year.
The general riff-raff brings in the least amount of money. The good customers bring in a moderate amount. And the key accounts bring in most of all. In fact, key accounts will usually bring in more revenue than all other accounts combined.
And that means if you can close just a few more key accounts per year, you can massively scale your income potential.
Key Account Criteria
So that begs the question, “how do I uncover key accounts in the sea of crappy lead data that I have access to?”
The answer is simple – use the key account matrix.
We go a lot further into this in our Selling Made Simple Academy, but here’s a high-level view.
If we draw a chart with two axis –
X Potential future revenue
Y Current relationship with the account
And then split this into four segments, we can label the segments as –
Selective investment accounts – You have low or poor relationships, but there is high potential for new business.
Strategic Investment account – You have good relationships with these clients, and there is potential for new business.
Proactive maintenance accounts – You have great relationships, but there is a low chance of growth.
Avoid these bastards at all costs accounts – You have low relationships and a low chance of new business.
So to find potential key accounts, you then need to look through your lead data and find accounts that fulfill two criteria—they have the potential to generate lots of revenue, and you also have good relationships with them.
They’re the two key fundamentals to quickly developing key accounts – Good potential future revenue and good relationships within the account.
Building Your Account List
Now, how do you build up your key account list? Well all you have to do is follow a clear 4-step process…
Step 1 – Identify Potential Accounts
Identify potential accounts.
If you’ve got a CRM system, you may be able to apply this selection criteria to your entire customer base. That being said, you may want to stick to just 10 potential accounts. That way you can focus your efforts, at least at first.
Step 2 – Ranking
Next up, list your key accounts with the hottest prospect at the top and the lowest at the bottom in relation to potential revenue that could be generated.
This shouldn’t be a guesswork job. We need to uncover the potential profits we can generate. For example, if you are selling management services to haulage companies, you could rank these businesses by how many trucks they own. When I was selling medical devices, I’d look for how many endoscopes the account currently has, or how many operating rooms they have.
Step 3 – Strengths
Next, we’re going to evaluate our strengths in each account relative to our most relevant competitor. Think about how you compare on price, deliverability, uniqueness of offering, additional business services you can provide, variables like this.
Now give yourself a score out of 5 versus the competition.
Step 4 – Hypothesis
Now we’ve actually built up some data, we can use it to start to make some hypotheses about the potential accounts we should and shouldn’t go after.
If you’d like to make this data visual, then you can plot the data from step two on the vertical axis of a graph and the data from step three on the horizontal axis. If you then split this up into the quadrants we’ve already discussed, you’ll have an excellent visual representation of which accounts to focus on and which to ignore.
And then you can start building up your key accounts quicker than ever.
Discount Request? 4 Simple Phrases to Turn It Around in Seconds | Selling Made Simple
Oct 11, 2022
How often have you heard this – “Look, we really love your product, but it’s outside of our price range. Can you offer any discount?”
Offering discounts can be a great way to speed up a slow-moving deal. But if you’re adjusting price before negotiations begin, you’re doing a serious disservice, both to yourself and to your product.
Instead of caving right away, there are four tried-and-true responses you can give to turn the conversation around in your favor.
What’s Wrong with Discounting Immediately
What’s wrong with discounting immediately. Like I said, discounting isn’t always a bad thing. It can speed up deals and give you leverage for reducing the service you’re offering.
But there are three very real problems to offering a discount before negotiation has taken place.
#1. Devalue
First, your buyer subconsciously devalues your service. After all, if you’re really going to deliver the ROI your pitching, why do you have to immediately discount the price?
#2. Forfeit’s Power
Second, the instant you propose a discount, you lose some of your negotiation power. You lose this negotiation power as you’ve taken the price, your biggest variable for negotiation, off the table.
#3. Shifts the Focus
And third, discounting shifts the focus. In the buyer’s mind, you’ve shifted the conversation from the value that is being exchanged to the emotional topic of money. Rather than the buyer thinking about the impact that your service is going to have on their business, they’re now thinking about what is going to cost them in the opportunities they will lose from this lack of cash flow.
So with those three things in mind, it’s important that negotiations on price and discounting happen towards the end of the sales process rather than at the beginning of it.
That being said, if a buyer does request a discount too early in the process, there are a few things you can do. And that brings us to the four word-for-word responses that’ll deflect, turn the tables, and even give you the selling advantage.
1. The Value Probe
The first and easiest way to deal with a buyer bringing up the idea of a discount is to say this word-for-word:
“We can definitely have a conversation about the numbers. But first let’s make sure that we’re on the same page about our service being a good fit for your needs…”
So, what does this response do?
It Reframes the Conversation
You buy yourself time to reframe the conversation. Right now the buyer is focused on price alone. But at this point in the sales process, you need to be demonstrating value. What do you offer that your competition doesn’t? And most importantly, how does it solve your buyer’s problem? This is the perfect time to focus on that instead of the expense.
It Let’s You BUILD on Your Value
It also gives you more time to build value before the numbers do eventually get discussed. What additional benefits do you offer that you haven’t talked about yet? What value can you bring to the table that the buyer isn’t already aware of?
2. The Obstacle Identifier
The second way to deal with your buyers asking for discounts is to answer your buyer’s question with a question.
When your buyer asks if you’re able to discount you can ask:
“That is a fair question. Do you see price being a major obstacle in this conversation?”
This immediately makes the buyer reconsider if they really want to discount or if they want to get the deal done. It also pushes the pressure back on the buyer to justify why there should be a discount in the first place.
Bonus tip here. Notice show I said “that’s a fair question” before I responded with my question? The point of this extra step is to acknowledge to the buyer that I have heard them, but I need more information to answer their first question.
This little extra ping stops the question coming across as manipulative and lets the buyer feel in control. Which of course is a great way to keep the relationship on solid footing.
3. “Why?”
Are you feeling brave? Well when the buyer asks you about discounts, you can politely respond with the question:
“Why?”
Now admittedly, this does take some guts. Your buyer definitely won’t be expecting it. And taken the wrong way, it could spark some defensiveness. That’s why you’ve got to be polite when you say it and genuinely look for an answer from the buyer.
A slight look of confusion helps sell this too. The point is you need to look sincere. Like nobody else has ever asked you this before, rather than aggressively asking them “WHY?!”.
Responding with this question of “why?” when a buyer asks for a discount, stops the buyer from negotiating on price just for the sake of negotiating.
In my experience buyers often respond to this “why” question by saying “I was just wondering…” which you can then shrug off and carry on with the sales conversation.
4. The Tit-for-Tat
The Tit-for-Tat. This is in my opinion the cleverest approach. Because with the right wording, both you and the buyer will leave the conversation with added value.
Here’s how you do it.
When somebody asks for a discount, say something along the lines of this:
“I can reduce the costs if we [extend the contract/change the tier of service/get a referral/etc.].”
This turns a concession in randomly discounting your pricing into an active negotiation. Okay, you can offer a little give on price. But what will YOU get out of things?
Now this isn’t something you want to deploy with every buyer. Because truth be told, you can shut down the discount request with most leads using the three previous responses without giving anything up.
But if you’re dealing with a tough customer where price is obviously a major pain point, this response could be your ticket to a winning sale.
See, it’s always a good idea to walk into your sales meeting with what’s called a BATNA:
Best
Alternative
To
Negotiated
Agreement
A BATNA means if plan A doesn’t work because it’s too expensive, you’ve got a plan B that you can offer the buyer to make sure that you don’t leave empty-handed.
Often you will find the buyer wants the extras you are offering with plan A and so when you explain you can only discount if you move them to plan B, they will fall in line with the original pricing.
See how that works?
With a bit of wordsmithing and gentle nudging, you can either shut down their discount request or move them to a higher-value sale.
5 Most Powerful Sales Questions To Ask Without Sounding Salesy
Oct 04, 2022
A successful sales rep is a curious sales rep. And when you ask potential buyers the right questions during discovery, you’ll get some powerful takeaways to better qualify leads, drive enthusiasm, and boost your chances of closing.
In today’s post, I’m breaking down five of the most powerful sales questions to ask potential buyers. And best of all, these questions let you avoid sounding salesy while demonstrating yourself as the sales expert you really are.
Best Sales Questions
These days, successful sales isn’t just about being chatty. Sure, the gift of gab helps. But when it comes down to it, charm alone isn’t enough to seal the deal.
Instead, you need to be able to explore issues, dive into problems, and offer exceptional solutions for your buyers. You need to offer value, not just a pitch. And asking questions is the best way to investigate whether your buyer’s problem is one that you can solve.
But there’s a catch here—asking the wrong questions can set you up for failure. I’m talking about close-ended and manipulative inquiries like “Tell me, would you be interested in doubling your revenue this quarter?” or “What will it take to earn your business?”
These types of questions are downright shit at getting real, valuable info you can use. And beyond that, they make you sound like a slimy sales rep that no one would trust.
So rather than falling back on those sales cliches, start asking these five powerful sales questions instead. Doing so will let you qualify leads and give you the info you need to skyrocket your sales success.
So, question one…
1: “Does It Make Sense to…?”
This is one of my personal favorites because it virtually eliminates the need to “close” on deals. You know, when you’ve spent days or even weeks on a potential buyer and then nerve-wrackingly have to ask them for their business.
Closing that way sucks. And it puts a lot on the line, too. If they walk away, you’re out tons of lost time.
But when you ask this clever sales question along the way—I mean when…
“Does it make sense to set up a call?”
Setting up discovery calls…
“Does it make sense to schedule a time so you can see it in action?”
Moving on to demos…
“Does it make sense to bring in our product team to dive deeper into the specs?”
Discussing product specs, all of it…
When you do that, you’re getting continuous buy-in from the prospect.
Plus, buyers will have the opportunity to tell you exactly what’s holding them back from taking the next step, giving you the chance to address any of their nagging objections.
Best of all, you get to avoid all that nail-biting of the “will they, won’t they” right before you ask for your business.
2: “Why Can’t You Solve This Problem Yourself?”
Why can’t you solve this problem yourself?
This one in particular is great for qualifying leads.
On the one hand, this question helps you uncover more about the problem and the obstacles you might face as you try to solve it. And maybe a prospect that seemed like a good fit turns out not to be a match as a result.
But beyond that, this question also lets you evaluate their need. Do they even need you? In most industries, the clients you want to work with won’t be able to do the same job your product or service is doing. Otherwise, you’ll likely run into plenty of issues down the line, like questioning your judgment or asking for the job to be redone entirely.
If they can solve the problem themselves, they’re not going to value what you do as much as they should. And it’s better just to move on.
3: “When Do You Need This Solved By?
This powerful sales question gets to the heart of one of the most important issues—timeline.
Are they hoping to solve the problem in a few weeks, but your product requires a two-month implementation? Are they planning ahead for a few years from now, and only wasting your time today?
Answering these and more timeline questions is an important step for qualifying your leads. And it’s a solid filter that weeds out those that aren’t a fit.
4: “How Would Things Be Different If We Solved This For You?”
Think of this question as an investment in the future satisfaction of your product. Let me explain what I mean here.
For most of you out there, your product or service is going to take some effort on the part of the buyer. Maybe they’ll have to fight for budget. Or spend time on training. Or maybe even hire a new team entirely to use your product to its full potential.
It’s vital that this effort is well worth the benefit your product provides. If it isn’t, your buyer will feel resentful, won’t provide referrals or great reviews, and likely won’t be coming back for return business.
Asking this question puts this required effort into perspective for the buyer. If it doesn’t match up and they leave, you’ve just saved yourself loads of hassle later. And if it does, you’re building enthusiasm in a prospect that’s a picture-perfect match.
Easy peasy.
Okay, and the final powerful sales question I have for you today is…
5: “How Are Projects Like This Usually Funded?”
How are projects like this usually funded?
Yep, here it is—the money question. People get weird about money, don’t they? Jaws tense up, prospects close off, and the air gets sucked out of the room in an instant.
But when you approach budgetary issues with this question, you’re easing into it. Prospects may talk about whether they have the funds allocated already, if this is a single department’s expense, and may even hint at their desired timeline too.
Plus, it’s phrased in such a way that prospects won’t feel like they’re being blindsided, keeping them open, friendly, and engaged.
This final question is a simple solution to a touchy subject. And it can quickly shift the tides of any discovery call in your favor.
Summary
Success in sales is all about bringing real, tangible value to the table. And delivering that value means you have to be adept at uncovering your buyer’s problems, assessing their needs, and determining if you’re a good fit for each other.
To do all that and more, just ask these five powerful sales questions…
“Does It Make Sense to…?”
“Why Can’t You Solve This Problem Yourself?”
“When Do You Need This Solved By?
“How Would Things Be Different If We Solved This For You?”
“How Are Projects Like This Usually Funded?”
With these questions, you’ll be able to qualify leads faster, tap into real buyer needs, and speed up the sales process—all while never sounding salesy and showing off your sales expertise at the same time.
So next time you’re on a discovery call or delivering a pitch, make a mental note to ask these five questions along the way to make your job ten times easier.
B2B Sales Is A Numbers Game – And Here's How to Win | Salesman Podcast
Oct 03, 2022
It is common for sales managers to say that sales is a numbers game. If this is what you have been told you may be wondering what this statement means.
The simple explanation of what this statement means is that more activity leads to more sales. But this still leaves you with questions like:
What type of activity?
How much activity?
Is it possible to improve the outcomes from the action?
If you Google the phrase “Sales is a numbers game.” you’ll find many articles claiming this statement is false or a myth. But in reality, it is true. It’s just that working in B2B sales has changed over the years.
Where more activity to close more sales might have been practical in the past, there is more to the story in today’s sales environment.
But, before we dive deeper into what that means today, let’s start with the basics of sales success.
The basics of how sales is a numbers game works
Of course, if you are going to play the numbers game in sales, you have to know the numbers. Crazy, right? Yet many salespeople don’t track any metrics at all.
This means that you need to track your activity every day. For example, if you are making prospecting calls to cold leads, keep track of:
How many calls you make?
How many decision makers you speak to?
How many discovery calls you schedule?
How many of those meetings result in a demo?
How many of those demos result in a proposal?
How many of those proposals end in a closed, won sale?
What is the average dollar value of the deals you close?
Once you have tracked these metrics for a while, you’ll have enough data to figure out how many calls you need to make to hit your sales targets.
In a perfect world, where you hit your sales target, your data might look like this:
Sales target = $10,000
Calls made = 1600
Decision makers spoken to = 320
Discovery calls scheduled = 80
Demos scheduled = 40
Proposals given = 20
Closed deals = 10
Average dollar value of closed deals = $1,000
In this case, you would need to make 1600 calls to close 10 deals worth $1,000 each to hit your sales target of $10,000.
Your numbers are probably very different than this. So, how can this numbers game help you?
The point of this example is to show how to determine how much activity you need to do to hit your sales target.
Start with your monthly, quarterly, or annual sales target. Then, divide it by the average dollar value of a closed deal to determine how many deals you need to close to hit that target.
Once you know how many deals you need to close, work backward to figure out how many calls you need to make to close that many sales. You can then take that number and divide it into weekly and daily activities.
Okay, that is the basics of how the numbers game of sales works. But today, there is so much more to this game.
Expert Note:
“As salespeople we are schooled to think about sales is a numbers game. The more you fill the pipeline with, the greater the chances that you sign something. And in transactional sales, I agree. But in mega deals, it’s the other way around.”
Bora Brannstrom
Salesman Podcast
Identify areas for improvement
The primary example of sales is a numbers game, if your sales target increased or you wanted to exceed your target, you’d need to increase your amount of activity. But why not work smarter instead of harder?
Making improvements in your skills and sales technique will result in better selling strategies. A small amount of sales training advice in the right places can lead to massive upticks in appointments booked and results.
By tracking your activity data as described above, you can start improving your skills to close more business from the same number of calls, for example. But be methodical in your approach to measure your progress to recognize what is causing changes to your performance.
How does this work?
Testing, testing, testing
There are many aspects of your sales process where you can use A/B testing to optimize what you are doing to boost your results without increasing the amount of activity needed. For example, a/B testing is a proven method often used by marketing professionals to raise email, landing page, and marketing message response rates.
You can test aspects of emails, sales calls and scripts to improve your results. These facets include:
In this case, sales is still a numbers game, and you still need to track your activity to see your progress. This will reveal how much activity you need to reach your target as you improve.
The testing process
Regardless of what you are optimizing or which aspect you focus on, the steps involved are the same.
At least leaving a well-crafted message enables the prospect to call you back. As you refine your voice mail script, you’ll most likely start receiving more return calls. And this will improve your results.
So, let’s focus on an aspect of your voice message script in this example. Try two different introductory statements at the opening of your voice message, like:
Hi Joe, This is Sue with ABC Company…
Hi Joe, This is Sue at 123-456-7890…
Use the two scripts for at least 100 voice messages or more, leaving the balance of both scripts the same. The greater the sample size you use, the more accurate your test results will be.
Assess the effectiveness of the two scripts by analyzing the data. The option that leads to the desired outcome more often is the better one. In this case, whichever voice message script results in more returned calls, is the better script.
Adjust your voice message script accordingly and start testing another aspect of the script to continue refining it. Once you have finished adjusting your voice mail script, select another element of your sales process to optimize. Then test measure, and refine.
Expert Note:
“A lot of sales managers could care less about the mission, about the cause, about the wellbeing of the customer or the salesperson. It’s all about the numbers. And when that’s your core mission, your mission is all about the numbers, the customer feels that.”
Bill Caskey
Salesman Podcast
Other ways to improve your numbers
Beyond leveraging A/B testing to improve your sales techniques, there are skills you can master to close more sales. Recent research revealed that sales reps who are effective at the following actions could influence buyers:
Uncover the complete set of buyer needs
Show buyers what’s possible
Listen
Make a strong ROI case
Educate buyers with new ideas and perspectives
Communicate value to buyers
Build rapport and develop relationships with buyers
Work to gain and keep buyer attention
Differentiate yourself from other sellers
These actions are possible when you take the time to master a few skills such as:
Research
Communications
Building relationships
Giving perspectives and insights
These skills will differentiate you from your competitors so buyers will want to speak with you over other salespeople.
But, precisely what do you need to do to implement each of these desirable abilities?
Research
Develop the habit of doing pre-call research on each prospect and the prospect’s company. Then start studying the industries and common challenges your potential customer’s experience. This helps you understand your prospects’ businesses before you speak with them.
The more you know before each customer interaction, the better. Prospects are busy and don’t want to educate you about these things.
This enables you to ask more meaningful questions and get to know your prospects on a deeper level.
Your prospects will appreciate you making an effort to prepare thoroughly and will want to speak with you again and again.
Communications And Sales Calls
All sales reps need to develop excellent communication skills. Being an effective communicator improves your performance at every stage of the sales cycle.
If you can track your calling numbers and get in front of more qualified prospects you’re going to earn more money in modern B2B sales.
One communication skill that you’ll benefit from mastering is active listening. This type of listening means grasping what the prospect is saying in response to your open-ended questions. And the ability to understand the feelings attached to the message the prospect is sharing.
Active listening requires the use of clarifying questions to uncover deeper insights. This addresses two behaviors buyers find influential:
Making an effort to uncover all the buyer’s needs
Listening
So, developing these communication skills will help you influence more prospects and increase the percentage of prospects who buy from you.
Building relationships
Buyers don’t like doing business with sales reps focused solely on closing the sale and then disappearing after the prospect signs on the dotted line. Instead, customers want to develop a trusted long-term relationship with the salesperson they work with.
Prospects feel that they deserve just as much support after purchasing as they receive during decision-making.
Potential customers want salespeople to strive to gain their attention. Then the customer wants you to be continuously helpful by sharing information to aid in the decision-making process.
Strong relationships are also the quickest way to block the competition from booking an appointment to see your buyer and talk their way back into the account.
Giving perspectives and insights
Only 23 percent of B2B buyers view sellers as a top resource for solving business problems. That’s why prospects prefer to engage with salespeople who provide perspectives, insights and guidance. This makes the buying journey easier for your prospective customers.
Doing your advanced research to know and understand your prospect is essential here. Otherwise, how will you understand what perspectives and insights to share with the buyer as they advance through the sales cycle?
The types of information the prospect is looking for here includes several of the things that buyers have said will influence their buying decisions, such as:
Educating buyers with new ideas and perspectives
Communicating value
Showing buyers what’s possible
Making a solid ROI case
Becoming adept at these skills will lead to a more significant percentage of your prospects buying because your solution will solve their problem. And buyers will see the value of implementing what you are proposing.
Conclusion
Sales is a numbers game that you can win. Start by tracking your activities and results.
After tracking these numbers for a while, you can work on improving your sales outcomes. For example, do things like A/B testing and developing skills that help you influence and attract more buyers.
Over time you will see continuous improvements. So, you won’t need to increase your activity for the same results. Working smarter, not harder, will allow you to meet or exceed your targets without constantly working yourself to death.
This Cold Email Subject Line Is A CHEAT CODE | Selling Made Simple
Sep 30, 2022
Cold email is one of the best tools in your sales rep toolbox. But there’s just one problem—if your emails aren’t getting opened in the first place, then all of your efforts (the clever copy, the personalization, the research) will all be for nothing. THAT’S the importance of a great subject line
So, what’s the absolute BEST cold email subject line you could ever use? That’s what we’re talking about in this video.
The Ultimate Subject Line
What does the best-performing subject line look like?
Let’s not beat around the bush, huh?
It looks a little something like this…
“[NAME] – [REFERRAL NAME] said I should get in touch”
Bam. That’s it. That’s the absolute best subject line you could ever, ever use for your cold email.
It works so well because you’re leveraging someone else’s trust rather than putting in all the effort to build your own. Which is basically impossible to do in a subject line alone anyway.
It’s simple. It’s effective. And you could go out and use it for yourself right now and watch your response rates skyrocket.
BUT…
If this was the magic bullet of cold email, wouldn’t everyone be doing it?
See, there’s just one little problem here… referrals are notoriously hard to get. Most buyers don’t give them out freely. And asking for one is a tricky situation that most sales reps just don’t know how to navigate.
So rather than spend this video talking about the subject line, breaking it down into why it works, and turning a simple thing into something more complex than it needs to be, we’re going to look at the hardest part of this cold email secret weapon…
How to Get a Referral
How to get a referral in the first place.
Now if you’ve watched this channel’s videos before, you know that we at the Selling Made Simple Academy have a framework for everything under the sun. And surprise surprise, how to ask for a referral is no different.
Our 4-step More Referrals Framework takes you through what you need to do and say to bring in tons of referrals from your current client base.
And it looks a little something like this…
1. Confirming Value
Step one, confirming value with the client.
This is where you’re setting the groundwork needed to get a solid referral without any false promising or feet dragging.
What you’re going to do here is get your client to clearly recognize the benefits your solution has provided. This is tipping the value scale in your favor. If your ROI is great, then they’ll be more likely to reciprocate with a quick favor.
The principle is simple. And it’s the foundation for a successful introduction you can use to bring in a quality lead.
Now, an email at this step is okay, but you’re going to get the best results from a quick call. That way you can focus their attention, ensure they’re seeing the full scope of your value, and better direct the rest of the conversation.
Once you have shared the numbers (and be sure to use real numbers, not just general benefits) it’s time to ask, “Do you feel like this is working as well as you planned?”
If your ROI is solid, they’ll have every reason to say yes. And then you can move on to step #2…
2. Asking “Who Else?”
Asking “who else?”
When they turn around and tell you how happy they are, ask them, “Is there anyone else that you feel we could help within your professional network?”
You’re going to ask the question. And then, importantly, you’re going to shut up.
Make the ask. And don’t say another word.
Let the buyer think about it on their own and don’t help them out. It might be awkward for a moment or two. And that’s okay.
But you’ve made a promise with your product. And you’ve delivered. Now it’s time they did a favor for you in return.
Don’t give up after a single name either. Follow up with “OK great, is there anyone else?” and keep on going until they’re spent.
3. Making a Specific Ask
Making a specific ask.
Getting the contact info is one thing. But it’s also the bare minimum you can do. Instead, you’re going to add in one small detail that will really make your open rates fly.
Here’s what NOT to say after they tell you a referral…
“Great, can you give me their email address?”
And here’s what you SHOULD say instead…
“Great, if I email them and CC you in, is it OK for me to mention that we’ve worked together?”
This right here is a game-changer. Not only are you getting a referral, which is already leagues ahead of any other subject line you could ever use. You’re also attaching your common contact’s address to that email! And when your prospect sees a name they recognize, your email is going to pop off their screen and practically force them to click “Open”.
If you can get your client to agree, it’s a sure thing.
4. The “1-1-1” Rule
Sometimes you can’t get all the details sorted out with your client in a single meeting. So what kind of follow-up schedule can you follow to make getting that “oh-so-valuable” referral from your current buyer?
Simple.
1-1-1 — follow up after 1 day, 1 week, and 1 month later until everything is set up. At that point, if they do back out, stop wasting time and move onto your next referral.
It’s better to keep people on your side for FUTURE referral opportunities than it is to pester them and burn that bridge.
Don’t get greedy. And don’t be annoying!
Summary
When done right, cold email can be one of the most valuable sources of leads at your disposal. But guess what, you’ve got to get them opened first.
4 Secrets to Driving Urgency in Sales | Selling Made Simple
Sep 26, 2022
One of the absolute best ways to scale your sales earnings is by speeding up your sales cycle. You know this. But how often do you still get hit with “maybes” and “I’ll think about its” when you’re trying to close?
The problem—they don’t feel the urgency. And sorry to say, that’s on you.
Here’s how to fix your problem with urgency (and the lack of it).
“Stalled” Prospects
“Stalled” prospects.
One of the key differences between high-performing sales professionals that crush targets and those that don’t, is the number of “stalled” potential deals in their sales pipelines.
A potential customer is classed as stalled if you’ve tried to close them and they haven’t said “yes” or “no” yet. They’re up in the air.
Stalled deals will kill your chances of hitting your sales target and the 4 tips I’m about to share with you will help you give them some momentum through increasing the level of urgency.
Many low-performing sales professionals waste time trying to sell these stalled individuals. The fact is, once the momentum of the initial discovery calls and solution presentations has waned, every week that goes by is a lower chance of that potential customer ever buying from you.
So how does your pipeline look? Do you have a bunch of stalled accounts in there? If so then this video is for you.
4 Strategies for Driving Urgency
So with that said, let’s take a look at 4 tips to create urgency in sales so that your prospects don’t get stuck in your pipeline and you can get more deals closed, quicker.
1. Understanding
Understanding.
Tip one is this – Really understand your potential customer’s pain point.
If your potential customers aren’t in extreme pain, there will never be any urgency to get the deal closed.
Now typically there are three types of pain points that you should be looking out for when you’re going through your discovery and questioning process. They are:
Productivity Pain Points
Process Pain Points
Financial Pain Points
These are the REAL pain points that you can use to drive urgency and get the deal done faster.
Let me use a quick analogy to explain what a REAL pain point is. Your lead doesn’t buy a shovel because they need a shovel. They don’t even buy a shovel because they need a hole, which is the classic, cliché sales analogy.
Instead, their problem is deeper. Much deeper. They’re reworking their landscape to impress the hoity-toity neighbors. They’re finally installing that pole to fly their grandfather’s flag. Maybe they’ve even got a dead body in their closet that’s starting to smell and their wife is getting suspicious!
This is the real pain and obviously there is massive urgency here. If you tried to sell a shovel, they wouldn’t care about the features and benefits. If you tried to sell them hole digging service, well they might be slightly more interested. But if you explained that you could get rid of a body… they wouldn’t even ask what the price was and they’d jump at the chance to work with you.
So you need to work out what the body is that your potential customers are trying to bury, so that you can sell them the tool or solution to help with the REAL issue.
Once you start doing this, the level of urgency in your conversations be much higher.
2. Naivety
Now the second strategy revolves around naivety.
Tip two – Don’t let the potential customer think they can do it on their own.
Another issue that sales professionals run into during the sales process is that they make it seem all too easy to remove the pain for the potential customer.
A lot of reps are guilty of shelling out too much free consulting advice throughout the sales process. And that can give the potential customer confidence that now they know all the secrets. They’re capable of solving the problem themselves.
This leads to stalled deals and a severe lack of urgency as now you don’t even seem necessary to solve the problem! Not good.
So by all means, give advice, share insights, build your reputation as an industry expert throughout the sales process. But keep your advice to more general industry trends only. Don’t solve the entire issue for the potential customer right before you get paid.
3. Speed
Now tip number three is a simple one. But it’s powerful too.
Tip three – Follow-up quicker.
One of the reasons deals stall and urgency drops out of the sale process is because salespeople are too slow with their follow-ups.
If you have a sales call on a Tuesday, don’t give the potential customer a week to pull together the information you require to help them. Instead, arrange the follow-up call for this coming Thursday instead.
Most salespeople are passive in their follow-up schedule because they are happy that the potential customer wants to speak to them at all!
High-performing sales professionals on the other hand are always oversubscribed with potential meeting options and so they need to get deals moving quickly to make sure they have enough time to get through them all, and so their follow-up dates are set in quick succession.
Even if you aren’t completely oversubscribed right now, this is the impression that you want to leave on your potential customers if you want this to become the reality in the near future.
And now we’re at the final and maybe most important strategy for creating urgency…
4. THE Question
Popping THE question more often.
Tip four – Close more often.
As crazy as it sounds, sometimes you just need to make the deal real. And that means attempting to close earlier rather than adding layers of artificial urgency to pressure them into asking about the close themselves.
Now we cover the Closing 3.0 Methodology in a lot more detail in the Selling Made Simple Academy. But the basic gist of it is that closing the sale can be done with no pressure, no weird manipulation tactics, and basically zero chance of rejection by asking the following questions.
“Does it make sense to X”
So, for example, “does it make sense for you to sign up today, to relieve the pain point of your sales team underperforming which I know is stressing you out and to jump on the Salesman.org sales training platform?”
The potential customer, in this example a sales manager, will either say yes or no.
This question can’t be answered in a maybe. And that’s part of the magic behind it. Because instantly you have a level of urgency that wasn’t there before.
Of course, if they say yes, then you’ve closed the deal and so the rest of this conversation on creating urgency is irrelevant.
And if they say no, then just ask the following question.
“What needs to happen to move this forward?”
No matter what the answer, you’ve automatically built urgency into the conversation because once this next step is complete, your buyer themself has told you that they will then be ready to close the sale.
Rather than GUESSING at what they need to move forward, they outright tell you! It’s a prescription for selling success and urgency that you just can’t beat.
The Book That Changed How EVERYONE Sells | Selling Made Simple
Sep 19, 2022
Believe it or not, there wasn’t a whole lot of data out there on sales techniques in the past. A lot of the industry was based on “feel”, “intuition”, and “charisma”. That is until one revolutionary book came along and turned the business of selling on its head in 1988.
And the research-driven techniques this book uncovered are just as effective today as they were 30+ years ago.
Today we’re talking about one of the most influential books in sales history, SPIN Selling by Neil Rackham.
The History of Sales
As the scholars among you may already know, the first sales model that was widely used across markets we developed in the 1920s.
It focused on traditional selling tactics like using open and closed questions, presenting features/benefits, objection handling, and closing. This alone was often enough to win over most prospects.
But as sales grew in price and complexity over the years and particularly in the late eighties, this model alone wasn’t enough to get the job done. And that’s where Neil Rackham’s SPIN Selling came in. This extensively tested new model was built to address the changing sales landscape.
It uses a questioning method that follows the acronym SPIN:
S for Situation
P for Problem
I for Implications
And N for Need Payoff
We’ll get into the specifics of it all in a sec. But first let’s look at…
Why SPIN Works
Why SPIN Selling works. When it comes to the larger complex sales of B2B businesses today, there are four main differences that sales reps like you need to compensate for.
1. A Longer Sales Cycle
While small sales can be handled in a single call, modern sales require many calls, often with different stakeholders over the course of several months.
2. A Larger Commitment
Small sales don’t require a lot of commitment due to the lower price tag. But more complex deals typically require a larger financial commitment, meaning the rep needs to demonstrate MORE VALUE to make it worth the investment.
3. Ongoing Relationships
Due to the longer sales cycle, more complex deals will naturally create deeper relationships between the buyer and seller. As a result, that relationship (whether good or bad) tends to have more of an effect on the deal itself.
4. Higher Risk
There’s a higher risk with larger deals. If the solution isn’t a fit, there’s more money at stake here. But don’t forget, there’s also a loss of time, respect, and even future advancement on the line.
How to Use SPIN Selling
How can you use SPIN Selling to maximize success with your prospects?
Like so much of sales, success depends on asking the right questions. And SPIN is all about what types of questions you should be asking.
S – Situation Questions
Situation questions. These are the fact-finding and background questions. Questions like, “What do you see as your company’s biggest opportunities for growth in the coming quarter?”
This is where you start the conversation out. They’ll help you build context around the buyer so you can naturally transition into the next stage.
Now before we move on, it’s important that you use these types of questions sparingly as they may eat up a lot of the customer’s time and patience.
Once you’ve built up some context, time to move on to…
P – Problem Questions
Problem questions. These are questions that explore problems or issues your product can solve. Questions like “Are you concerned about your aging equipment’s ability to meet your clients’ quality standards?”
These questions uncover implied needs.
These are the smaller, more generalized customer frustrations. Frustrations like “Our press quality is lacking,” or “our system creates too much waste.”
Your job is to then build those needs into larger, more urgent issues—the explicit needs.
I – Implication Questions
Implication questions. These are the questions that underscore the implications or consequences of an implied need. Doing that opens the door to more urgency and the customer understanding the value of your solution.
Some examples of implication questions might be “how will this affect your fourth-quarter results” or “what will this mean for your biggest customer?”
The goal here is to get the customer to state their explicit needs. Needs like “We have to cut our procurement costs” or “we need a more efficient system.”
N – Need Payoff Questions
These questions lead the customer to link the benefits of your product to their problem.
For example, you might ask, “How useful would it be if we could increase your output by 10%?” or “How would being able to reduce errors help you?”
When you can ask the right questions to lead the buyer to make that connection, you’re going to be in great shape to close the deal.
SPIN In Action
SPIN in action so we can better understand how all these questions flow together.
Here’s what a typical SPIN Selling question cycle might look like.
The seller asks Situation Questions to gather context around the buyer. That then leads to…
Problem questions that help the buyer uncover implied needs.
The seller then develops those implied needs using Implication Questions that highlight the impact of the problem they’re facing.
Thanks to the impact becoming clearer, the buyer will shift from implicit needs to explicit needs.
The seller then responds to those explicit needs with Need Payoff Questions…
Which let the buyer identify the benefits of the solution, contributing to sales success.
As you can see, questions flow into each other and open up the door to the next step naturally.
This open flow makes the transition through the sales cycle seamless, natural, and very effective.
Replay: Using GAP SELLING To Make Objections And Closing OBSOLETE | Salesman Podcast
Sep 17, 2022
Keenan is the CEO and President of a sales consulting firm, A Sales Guy Inc., and was named one of the top 30 social sellers in the world by Forbes.
In this episode of The Salesman Podcast, Keenan is explaining what “GAP Selling” is and why relationships, objections, and closing in sales are dead.
You'll learn:
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Featured on this episode:
Host - Will Barron
Founder of Salesman.org
Guest - Keenan
Best-selling Author and Gap Selling Specialist
Coming up on today’s episode of The Salesman Podcast.
Keenan:
So the only place it matters is value, and the thing that helps drive value is credibility. The credibility you establish as someone who can genuinely help them get done what they need to get done, and bring tremendous value in solving problems. They buy from those people. At the core of that is trust because if you don’t trust somebody, they can’t be credible.
Will Barron:
Hello sales nation and Will Barron and host of The Salesman Podcast. The world’s most listened to B2B sales show. If you haven’t already, make sure to click subscribe. With that, let’s meet today’s guest.
Keenan:
Hey, what’s up, peeps, my name’s Keenan. I am the author of Gap Selling and CEO and founder of The Sales Guy. You can find me@asalesguy.com and/or on Amazon.
Will Barron:
On this episode of the show with the legend that is Keenan. We’re diving into gap selling, how we can uncover what the gap is, the insights behind that, how we communicate it? How it makes closing essentially obsolete? How it makes winning new business, once you get all this down at the front of the sales process, a whole lot easier. Let’s jump right in.
The Sales Myths That Were True 10 or 20 years Ago That are No Longer True · [01:13]
Will Barron:
What myths are currently being banded around the sales training space, the sales industry, as a whole? Whether it’s from trainers, whether it’s from leadership, whoever it is, what myths have been banded around that perhaps were true 10, 20 years ago, but aren’t necessarily true right now?
Keenan:
One is that you need to be liked. That’s the big one, that you need to be liked to sell. Another one is that good closers are good salespeople. That’s a crazy, ridiculous myth. Another one is that price matters and that people buy on price. That is not true.
Keenan:
So those are your three big ones that really … I mean, the other one is that your elevator pitch matters. The idea that you need an elevator pitch and that matters. Those are some of the bigger ones that people throw about and still try to teach.
Will Barron:
So why is it? Because all these are seemingly counter-intuitive. I know Objective Management Group have data on the fact that salespeople who don’t feel … I might kind of screw this up from their terminology, but sales people that don’t feel like they need to be liked by their customers, outperform salespeople who want to be liked by the customers, for example.
Trust Versus Likability in B2B Sales · [02:28]
Will Barron:
So there’s clear data on this, but it’s still seemingly counter-intuitive of, we think that people will, and this is perpetrated, of people buy from those that they know, like, and trust. How much of that equation is perhaps then trust? As opposed to actually liking the individual?
“If I have a four-quadrant matrix that spells the whole thing out. Like is on one axis and value is on another axis. The only axis where people buy every time is on value. So if they like you and there’s value, then they’re going to buy. I mean, I like you and there’s value in what I’m buying, so I’m going to buy. But if you go to the, I like you, but there’s no value, they don’t buy.” – Keenan · [02:46]
Keenan:
It’s all trust. I mean, at the end of the day, people don’t even buy for trust. I have a four quadrant matrix that spells the whole thing out. Like is on one axis and value is on another axis. The only axis where people buy every time is on value. So if they like you and there’s value, then they’re going to buy.
Keenan:
I mean, I like you and there’s value in what I’m buying, so I’m going to buy. But if you go to the, I like you, but there’s no value, they don’t buy. Because I’m not buying you unless you’re the product, which is different. Then there’s whole bunch of other things. But I’m not buying you, I’m buying a software, I’m buying services, I’m buying a babysitter. I don’t freaking know. So I’m not buying.
Keenan:
Then the other, excuse me, the other column, which I don’t like you, and there’s no value. Well, you can only imagine that’s just fuck off. I mean, that’s just fucking go to hell.
“The only place that matters is value and the thing that helps drive value is credibility. The credibility you establish as someone who can genuinely help them get done what they need to get done and bring tremendous value in solving problems. They buy from those people, and at the core of that is trust. Because if you don’t trust somebody, they can’t be credible.” – Keenan · [03:41]
Keenan:
Then other places they do buy is value, but they don’t like you. There’s value but they don’t like you, they will buy. So the only place that matters is value and the thing that helps drive value is credibility. The credibility that you can garner, or that you can establish is the best word, the credibility you establish as someone who can genuinely help them get done what they need to get done and bring tremendous value in solving problems. They buy from those people.
Keenan:
At the core of that is trust. Because if you don’t trust somebody, they can’t be credible.
Will Barron:
How does then the being a closer come into this? Is it as simple as five, 10 years ago, you could push someone down the pathway of the sales process and get them to sign on the dotted line. Whereas now buyers perhaps have more power, and so that somewhat of a ability to either push or manipulate someone, is less useful because people just don’t care as much.
Keenan:
So great question. So they really don’t go hand in hand. The problem with closing, if you remember closing, the assumptive close. Well, okay. This is fantastic. So I’ll get you the contract tomorrow. You’re assuming the close and that they’ll just go along with it.
Keenan:
Or if you say, “Hey, if I can get you this and this, then you’ll close.” All of that is what I call product centric selling. All of that is based on the premise that you have told them about the product, you told them what they need. You may even listen to them a little bit, but you really have no idea on why they should buy. So you don’t know if they’re ready to close or not. Or if they should close or not.
“What I argue is that the close is actually at the beginning of the sale. Your ability to actually uncover the intrinsic motivations of why they need to buy, the impact of why they need to buy, their current state or current situation, why they’re in trouble, what problems they’re struggling with? All of that. When you get all of that, and then you offer a solution, you know if they should buy. You’ve already addressed all of the things that go into it. So at the end, it’s a simple, let’s move forward.” – Keenan · [05:16]
Keenan:
What I argue is that the close is actually at the beginning of the sale. Your ability to actually uncover the intrinsic motivations of why they need to buy. The impact of why they need to buy. Their current state or current situation, and what’s happening? Why they’re in trouble? What problems they’re struggling with? All of that.
Keenan:
When you get all of that, and then you offer a solution, you know if they should buy. You’ve already addressed all of the things that go into it. So at the end, it’s a simple, I don’t even know. I can’t really call it a close. It’s all right, let’s move forward.
Keenan:
It’s done. There is no close. There is no I got to get them to some point. It’s already done. It’s all done in the beginning, not the end. So if you’re going to be a hard closer, you didn’t do the upfront work.
The Difference Between Asking Discovery Questions and the Sales Qualifying Process · [06:00]
Will Barron:
Oh. So what’s the difference then, Keenan, between that and then traditional kind of textbook, just qualifying?
Keenan:
So textbook qualifying, in most cases, people are looking for a need. So they’re saying go find a need or go find the pain. Well, there’s two problems with those. First, a lot of times people confuse the two, which is a whole different set of stories.
Keenan:
But if you’re looking for need, it assumes the customer knows what they want. That’s a huge mistake, huge mistake. I talk about, tell a story in the book, how I thought I needed to charger one time. Then what I ended up needing was actually a case. I had no idea that I needed a case for my Palm Pilot when I thought I needed a charger. It’s a great story in the book.
Keenan:
Had that salesperson not asked some questions to try to get to my core problem, I never would have got it solved because I went into buy the wrong thing. Well, that happens with customers all the time. So salesmen run out and try to sell them stuff based on what they think the customer needs, because they’re looking for a need.
Keenan:
The second one is they go in for the quote/unquote, the pain. First, we don’t even do it very well. When they do find the pain, that doesn’t necessarily mean again, it’s the right problem. It can be simply a symptom. So it makes it very difficult to influence a sale if you’re trying to shoot for a need or a pain that isn’t actually at the root cause and/or isn’t what the customer actually needs. So it doesn’t allow you to do a good job.
Keenan:
The discovery that Gap Selling talks about is about breaking it down into current state plus future state, and that equals the gap, the difference between the two. Then you have a total understanding of what’s going on. Where they are today? Where they want to go tomorrow? What the space in the middle is?
Keenan:
Then when it comes time to offer a solution, it can be customised because your discovery actually created a custom environment, a unique environment that is only specific to that buyer.
How to Identify if We’ve Uncovered the Symptom of a Problem or the Problem Itself · [07:56]
Will Barron:
So how then do we know? I don’t know. It’s even a weird question to ask because it seems so simple. But perhaps it’s profound of how we uncover it because this sets up the rest of the sale and the conversation. How do we know the difference between we have uncovered a symptom of the problem? Versus we know the actual problem itself? How do we separate the two live in a conversation?
Keenan:
Yeah. So it happens as you dig deeper. So in Gap Selling, the way we talk about the discovery is first, you got to go after the current state. That’s first and foremost. So the current state consists of the physical and literal today. I don’t know, it depends on what you’re selling and you got to be aware of what you’re selling.
Keenan:
But if you’re selling, I don’t know, lead services or plumbing services. I don’t care, plumbing services. Then you got to understand, okay, what type of house do they have? How many bathrooms do they have? How many showers? Is it copper piping or plastic tubing? Whatever.
Keenan:
You ask all these questions and it’s non-judgemental, it just helps you understand the lay of the land. Then after that, you have to understand what are the problems that they’re struggling with? So do they get clogged often? Does the water run slowly? Do you not have hot water? I’m just guessing stuff.
Keenan:
So now you’ve got to understand the problems they’re having. Then you go to the impact of those problems. The impact is two people can’t take showers at the same time. I’m constantly having to buy fricking Drano. Our hot water bill is through the roof. I don’t know, what is the impact?
Keenan:
Then the next one is what is the root cause? Now as you start to dig into the root cause of the problems, what you start to build is a very, very custom assessment that is only specific to that customer. When you add all four of those things up, the actual problem starts to come together.
Keenan:
As opposed to, you’re like, oh, okay. I thought that was the problem. Now I realise that’s just a symptom. Because as you dig and you dig and you get all four of those layers, the problem becomes automatic.
Is It Fair to Say That Customers Rarely Know What They Need Until a Seller Uncovers the Root of the Problem? · [10:00]
Will Barron:
Is there a process of getting the person that we’re speaking to, to visualise this and take it in? Other than walking them through it? If that makes sense. Are we asking people to go well … It sounds cliche as I say it out loud. It sounds ridiculous as I say it out loud.
Will Barron:
Imagine this problem 10 years into the future, tell me the pain that you’d be in? Almost like a kind of psychologist or psychiatrist would do for us? Are we trying to get into their brains like that?
Keenan:
No, you don’t have to. It’s amazing. Well, so when you asked about traditional discovery. One of the things traditional discovery people do is they go, can you tell me what you need? They just ask this one question. Can you tell me what you need? Or can you tell me about some of the pain you’re experiencing? Or they just ask these stupid, direct, direct, direct questions.
Keenan:
In Gap Selling, what we do is we encourage people to ask very broad open-ended questions. Literally like, tell me a little bit about your current? I mean, we’re running on the stupid analogy, might as well continue with it. Tell me a little bit about your current plumbing and your current bathroom and kitchen environment? Then they’ll just start talking and as they talk, you listen very intently. You should know what questions to ask.
Keenan:
So as I they, “Well, we have …” I don’t know. “We have one bathroom.” Then the next question may be, oh really? How many people live in the house? You should automatically click one bathroom. Is it one person or 10 people? If it’s 10 people, that’s an interesting problem. If it’s one person, not a problem, continue. Do you see what I’m saying?
Keenan:
Then they say, “We have a shower and a tub separate.” Okay. Interesting. You just let them go and you keep teasing little more out of them to start understanding the environment. Then when you understand the environment, then you should naturally be able to understand some of the problems that come with that.
Keenan:
So you start asking questions to tease out problems there. So say it’s a woman and she’s 32, and you said, “Do you have long hair or short hair?” Now why am I asking that question right now, Will? Why would I ask if you have long hair or short hair?
Will Barron:
Blocking up the drains?
Keenan:
Yes, yes, yes. So this is a very complex way of thinking. You have to be very, very in tune with what they’re saying and what the problems could be and what the root causes could be. So that as they’re talking, and she says, “Long hair.” You can say, “Oh, so do you find that your hair clogs the drain often? Or how many times you get clogged? You get once a year? Is it usually hair related?” “Yes, it is.”
Keenan:
Okay. Now I know that if I have any products that can address that, I’m going to bring them up. That’s how you do it. You just pay very close attention to the environment and what they’re saying to start to look and tease out problems that they’re not processing.
Will Barron:
First question is, are you having some plumbing work done at the moment? Why is this top of mind?
Keenan:
No, I have no idea where this problem came from. Because it’s always hard. There’s different businesses out there.
Will Barron:
The reason I ask is I’m having a kitchen fitted in a couple of weeks. So I’ve got all this kind of stuff top of mind. So it’s just a weird coincidence.
Keenan:
Yes. Like if I was working with you on your kitchen. I would ask all kinds of questions. Like, is it you? Or you and your wife? Is it you and your kids? What do you like to cook? What does she like to cook? How do you cook today? How often do you cook today? What type of meals does she cook today?
Keenan:
Because I might be thinking you need, it’s something as silly as I might even recommend the boiling pot thing that comes out of behind the stove? You know that thing that comes out?
Will Barron:
We’ve been through that conversation. We’re not getting one.
Keenan:
Yeah, oh god.
How to Set Yourself Up As An Expert Consultant Instead of a Pesky Salesperson · [13:37]
Will Barron:
Don’t need bullshit like that in the kitchen. All right. Going off track here, Keenan. Let’s pull it back on. So how do we? Because it seems like if I was to call, if Richard Branson was to call me up and say, “I’ve got a few questions about your business, I might be able to help.” I would answer any questions he could possibly imagine.
Will Barron:
He might be able to give me, even just nothing to do with consulting with him or working with him in the future, he might be able to give me one or two pieces of information that could blow up my business, or change the way I sell, or anything like that.
Will Barron:
But if Joe Boggs emails me saying, “Hey, Will, we’ve got this new SAS.” I’ve just changed accounting firms and accounting software. So perhaps Joe Boggs rings me up, calls me. He says, “I’ve got this awesome new SAS software. Let me get on the phone with you, and I’ll solve all your problems.” I’m going to say, “I’ve probably not got time to get on the phone with you. I’ve just switched kind of 10 minutes ago.”
Will Barron:
How do we frame this up, Keenan, so that we are setting ourselves up as an expert to be consulted with? As opposed to a pesky salesperson, just trying to steal time?
Keenan:
Yeah. So notice how you just, you even yourself, who’ve been doing this whole sale things for years, just lead with a product-centric email. You said, “Hey, I’m Joe Blow with accounting software, I’d like to talk to you about how I can solve all your problems.”
Keenan:
You started with I’m with accounting software. What you needed to do. You can say I’m with so-and-so, but you needed to start with a problem, or number of problems that I think you might have. So why did you switch your accounting software?
Will Barron:
Because there was zero accounting and bookkeeping done beforehand, and now the revenue’s getting to the point where it needs to be done basically.
Keenan:
But you had one before.
Will Barron:
Essentially spreadsheets.
Keenan:
Okay. So you’re using spreadsheets, that was your current state.
Will Barron:
Yep.
Keenan:
So if I know that many of my prospective clients are using spreadsheets, or starter accounting packages, I should know what types of problems that causes. So name one type of problem that you were having because you were on that spreadsheet?
Will Barron:
We registered for VAT and it was a mess to go back and see what VAT, this is a kind of tax in the UK that I can-
Keenan:
Yeah, Value Added Tax.
Will Barron:
Just for the audience who aren’t in the UK. Yeah, I need to claim a tonne of it back now that we’re registered, we have to pay it so that you can have it offset your bill. It’s literally, it means me going through 12 spreadsheets per year for the past four years to kind of put all that data together.
Keenan:
Okay. So I might, if I’m good and I know that my target is people like you, small businesses that could be on old accounting systems, I would’ve led that email with, “Will, if you’re having trouble or getting frustrated with having to spend countless hours trying to attack that, do spreadsheets or this accounting software or that counting software.”
Keenan:
“I’d love to talk about how we can address that, and many of the other time intensive accounting issues that small businesses have because they don’t have the right accounting software.” Would that have gotten your attention?
Will Barron:
That would have got a phone call for sure.
“This is what most people don’t understand, when you’re selling a product or service, that product or service was designed to solve problems, whether we talk about them or not. So you should know what those problems are and talk about those problems first. That’s problem centric selling. Don’t talk about your product and what it can do. Start with the problems that have to exist before your product has any value.” – Keenan · [16:48]
Keenan:
Yes. So notice I’m leading with the problem. This is what most people don’t understand, when you’re selling a product or service that product or service was designed to solve problems, whether we talk about them or not.
Keenan:
So you should know what those problems are and talk about those problems first. That’s problem-centric selling. Don’t talk about your product and what it can do. Start with the problems that have to exist before your product has any value.
Will Barron:
What is the-
Keenan:
That’s how you do it.
The Key Elements of Problem-centric Selling · [17:19]
Will Barron:
I love it. What is the cadence of that, Keenan? What I mean by that is, is this a email with one problem? Then we follow up on that problem, then we pitch a second problem further down the line? The answer is it depends, I’m sure. But is there a structure to build a system around this?
Keenan:
It does. It depends. It depends on how big are the problems that you can solve? So if you only solve one really big problem, I would probably stick to it.
Keenan:
If you solve several key problems that just different businesses could have. One business could have this, and it’s a big one, another one could have this and it’s a big one. Then I might round Robin it. But I’d go at least two to three touches on the same problem before I pivot.
Sharing Content with the Buyer to Educate on the Problems they Might Be Facing and Stay Top of Mind · [17:58]
Will Barron:
Would you then perhaps, because we talk about social selling and it seems to have died down a little bit now, the kind of hype around that. But are we then sending people content in the next email? Or are we always trying to just get that initial phone call? Is that always the call to action?
Keenan:
85%. Now, if I’m going to add content, I’m going to add content that’s going to support or explain that problem. So let’s say, I mean, again, I’m on the fly on this, but if we’re using your accounting software and I get you on that, hopefully I’ve got some information that talks about the average half a million dollar a year company, spends 25 hours on that. They have these many mistakes and these mistakes can cause you these problems.
Keenan:
So if I educate you on the problem, if you don’t feel that it’s a problem because you didn’t pay a right VAT and you’re paying fines in retro, whatever. So I might do that. I might find content that reinforces, just reinforces the problem or explains the problem. So I’ll go that route.
Why Highlighting the Impact of a Customer Problem is Crucial in All Sales Conversations · [19:04]
Will Barron:
Then I want to rush through this because I feel we can paint a good picture on the subject. The answer is buy the book if you want to go more depth into it. But say we get on the phone call, nine times out of 10, it’s probably not going to go as swimmingly and seamlessly as what we’re described here. But we uncover it, whatever the issue is, they have that aha moment that we’re all searching for.
Will Barron:
Everyone’s happy. Everyone’s excited. How do we follow up and reinforce the fact that we have discovered this issue? We potentially have a solution. How does this get formalised? Because I guess if we can get someone to agree to what we’ve said, then we’re halfway there to closing the sale, right?
Keenan:
Yes. Well, okay. So yes, but the key is this, getting them to accept and own they have a problem is only half of it. Then you need to outline the impact. Remember I talked about those five things, physical and literal, problem, impact, root cause. Then I didn’t talk about one, emotion. How do they feel about it?
Keenan:
When you have all those on the table, the impact is the motivator. That’s where intrinsic motivation lives. So the impact is I’m paying fines. The impact is how much are you paying in fines? X, Y, Z. If you weren’t paying those fines, what would you be doing with that money? I’m making this up. What is your marketing budget? Would you have moved that money from those fines to the marketing budget? What does it cost you to pay those fines? Or whatever the impact is.
Keenan:
So we’re going to lay the whole impact out. Once you get them sitting in the impact, it’s a simple transition to the future state now. It’s okay, so where are you trying to go? Is your company growing? That’s of course, yes, it is growing by 20%. So if this keeps growing at 20% year over year, these fines are going to continue to increase and so is the amount of hours you’re spending.
Keenan:
So you’re going to lose more and more money. So therefore you want to get to a future state where you’re not losing this money and you’re saving this X amount. Then you start asking questions about what do you want? Where do you want to take the business? What other initiatives do you want to embrace? So now it’s, I don’t know, maybe I want to start a podcast.
Keenan:
It’s okay. So now all this 12 hours is going to make it harder to do the podcast. Yes it is. So now I’ve got them all focused on this whole future state where I can stop paying the fines. I’m not spending 12, 15 hours a month doing this. I can do other things that I’d never thought about. I can forecast my business better. I can get a loan.
Keenan:
All this stuff I can do that I can’t do now. I spin this whole future state. Then all of a sudden it becomes just a natural transition. I’m here, now I want to be here. The gap is this. That’s what we start selling on is the gap. That’s where the closing is already starting to be done.
Gap Selling and Why It’s Important · [22:01]
Will Barron:
I think it’s James Murray who came up with this. Maybe I’m kind of paraphrasing him/15 other people I’ve talked about on the show. But I always know, without all this structure, in hindsight, I can put some of this in place, that I’ve done a great sales call. I’ve added value to a conversation when at the end of it, I can just go, does it make sense to work with us?
Will Barron:
The answer is either yes or no, because, and then you can backtrack. Oh, there’s an objection or something you haven’t covered. Is that the goal that we should have with all of this? That we just get to the end of the conversation and go, does it make sense to move forward?
Keenan:
Yes. Yes. It’s that simple, it’s that simple? Yep. It is that simple. So getting all that information is hard.
Will Barron:
Sure.
Keenan:
I’ll tell a quick little story. I was called, and I talk about it in my book, I was called by this company. They’d already called several sales experts, influencers. Some have been on your show. Some have written books. They’re the names we all know.
Keenan:
He had seen me speak at a conference and I don’t know why he decided to call me. Just something wasn’t clicking with the other ones. These are sales experts. These people know how to sell. He got me on the phone and we talked for a while and I went through the whole Gap Selling approach, current state. Obviously don’t tell them that, but you’re just going through the whole thing.
Keenan:
One of the things I dug out, is he told all the reasons he wanted. He was very capable buyer. He was like, “I want this, I need this, this is the problem I’m having.” Dah, dah, dah, dah. So he said all of the other sales leaders jumped right on those things he told them, explained how they could help, and walk through what they do it and all this stuff.
Keenan:
Then I went to a place and asked some questions. I said, “You said you’re growing.” I said, “So it’s not like you’re losing money.” He goes, “No.” I asked him some questions about how it was structured. He explained how he’s structured. I was like, “Well, that’s kind of a little messed up.” I said, “So why is this growth so important to you?”
Keenan:
He said, “Well, it’s not that growth is important. I just don’t want to fall behind.” I said, “Okay, that’s interesting.” Then I said to him, “What is your goal? What is your growth goal?” He said, “Well, we want to get to a 48 in 2020.” This was in 2000, end of 2017. I said, “Oh, okay. Where are you now?” He gave his number and I did some quick math while I’m talking to him.
Keenan:
I said, “Wait, you’re behind.” He goes, “Yeah, we’re behind.” I go, “You’re behind seven million dollars. At your current growth rate, you’re not going to make it.” He stopped and he goes, “Yeah, you’re right.” I said, “So this isn’t just about growing. You’ve got to make up some lost revenue here. So you can’t just keep growing, you need to grow faster than you’re even faster going now to make up what you lost.”
Keenan:
He said, “That’s a great point.” Then I said this, I said, “Why? Why 48 in 20?” “Well, it’s a big BHAG we have.” I said, “That’s it? It’s just a big BHAG? I mean, okay, that’s fine. So if you don’t make it, it’s not the end of the world.” He goes, “No, but one of our competitors just got bought. When we get to 48 to 50 million, the valuations change dramatically.”
Keenan:
I said, “What’s dramatically?” He said, “It could be an extra two to four X from where we are now in valuation, plus we’re 50 million. So it’s really worth 100 million to us.” I said, “Oh. Who owns the company?” He said, “There’s just a handful of us.” I go, “Oh.” So all of a sudden, I now know what the intrinsic motivation is here.
Keenan:
I was like, okay, “This is what’s going to happen. This is what you need to do. This is the only way you’re going to get to this.” I got the gig and I tell you the story in that, I beat out a number of very well-known sales experts who didn’t do this. None of them uncovered where he was trying to go.
Keenan:
None of them uncovered 48 in 20. None of them uncovered that there was a potential exit. None of them uncovered where he was and what was preventing him to get there, and the fact that he was seven million behind. That changed everything. So that’s what it’s about right there.
Will Barron:
So a good part of this seemingly, as I listened to you, and as I process this myself, Keenan, is that you just got to really give a shit about the person that you’re speaking to. They can’t just be another number, another dial, another email that you’re spamming with some kind of automated software.
How New Salespeople Can Shift From Product-centric Selling to Problem-centric Selling · [26:00]
Will Barron:
So with that to on side, because I think everyone can appreciate that, everyone can wrap their heads around that. How do we make the leap from say, we’re new to sales and we’re a junior sales person, and we want to share these insights. We want to dig into these conversations. We want to go deep with it all. How do we make the leap from what you’re describing here of I randomly for accounting software. Clearly you’ve got your finger on the pulse of VAT and different things that you certainly mentioned.
Will Barron:
So you have a good head for business. You’re an entrepreneur yourself. How does someone compete with that? If they are either new to sales? Or they’re new to a specific industry? How do they learn and get all this background knowledge that allows them to ask these really useful and powerful questions?
Keenan:
One of the things you do, and the term that I like to say is how do you go from product centric selling to problem centric selling? The way you do that is you start by doing your homework and research on the problems.
Keenan:
So I’m waiting for a company that hires me, that lets me build the problem centric selling, training for them. Because if you get a new job and you go into this accounting firm and they’re going to teach you everything about the product, everything has to be product centric. They’re going to teach you all the different features and functions and how it works and who their customers are. They’re going to teach you how to build an elevator pitch and they’ll teach you how to build messages that talk about the product. I want someone to flip that script.
“What I do is I create something called a PIC list. It stands for problem identification chart, and it’s made up of three columns. The first column is the problems that your product or service solves. What are the problems that you know that your product or service solves for your ideal customer profile? Then the next column is the impact to an organisation if those problems exist. Then the next column is why do those problems exist? Or what are the root causes of those problems? If you fill that out and you are accurate and in depth, excuse me, you’re in depth, you now have your guide. That’s your map.” – Keenan · [27:24]
Keenan:
What I do is I create something called a PIC list. It stands for problem identification chart, and it’s made up of three columns. The first column is the problems that your product or service solves. What are the problems that you know that your product or service solves for your ideal customer profile?
Keenan:
Then the next column is the impact to an organisation if those problems exist. Then the next column is why do those problems exist? Or what are the root causes of those problems? If you fill that out and you are accurate and in depth, excuse me, you’re in depth, you now have your guide. That’s your map.
Keenan:
You look at the problem. You look at the impact it can have on an organisation. You look at why those problems exist. Then you can start having those conversations with anybody. You can enter the account any way you want through that. You can go to the impact first. You can go to the problem first. You go to the root cause first, or why they happen. You can do any of that.
Is Social Selling and Having an Online Presence Really Necessary Once a Salesperson Masters the Art of Gap Selling · [28:29]
Will Barron:
Do we need to do anything else to set ourselves up when we send that email? What I mean by that is, clearly the example you just give, Keenan, someone saw you on stage speaking. So immediately you’re an authority in their eyes and they ring you up. You’ve pre-framed yourself as an authority by that kind of link.
Will Barron:
For the, not the average B2B sales professional, but the high performer, or the aspiring high-performing B2B sales professional, if we send an email that highlights the problem, or our hypothesis of the problem that an individual has, is that good enough to get a phone call? Or do we need to do all of this stuff?
Will Barron:
If you’re for this, it’s stuff. If you’re against this, it’s bullshit. Around building a social media profile and social selling and creating content and being at the front of your industry on multiple levels. If we are good at diagnosing a problem, sending a customised message to the right people, do we need all the other stuff? Or is that necessary in the kind of marketplace we’re in?
Keenan:
So it depends on how you want to define success. If you just want to be the salesperson that’s, I don’t know, that’s trying to make president’s club and try to hit their quota every once in a while, or I guess every day, and just work within the confines of your industry and work within the confines of your company, don’t do it.
Keenan:
If people are responding to your emails and marketing’s providing you inbound leads and people are calling you and your pipeline is big enough, then don’t do it. But if you actually want to put gasoline on the fire, if you actually want to be the top in your space. If you actually just don’t want to be some average dolt, then yeah, you need to do it.
“If you highlight the problems and you create content on solving the problems, you create content on how those problems impact an organisation. You create content on how the impact can bring down organisations. You just keep creating content and educating people on the problems you solve, by default you’ll create your own personal inbound engine. You’ll have that credibility. So I don’t know why people don’t. I just think they’re foolish. But absolutely that’s what I would do. Absolutely what I would do.” – Keenan · [30:22]
Keenan:
Because the cool part is you get out there and you create videos, or you write blog posts, or you write LinkedIn posts, or you spend time on Instagram and you highlight the problems and you create content on solving the problems. You create content on how those problems impact an organisation. You create contact and how the impact can bring down organisations.
Keenan:
You just keep creating content and educating people on the problems you solve, by default you’ll create your own personal inbound engine. You’ll have that credibility. So I don’t know why people don’t. I just think they’re foolish. But absolutely that’s what I would do. Absolutely what I would do.
Will Barron:
Good. I knew you would say that. I tried to tee it up that way. Let me give a bit of context from this. I’ll ask you if this is somewhat common, I guess when you kind of work with individuals, or you’re at least pushing them in this direction of being the top of their industry and their spaces.
Will Barron:
I get asked to consult on things, to come into businesses, all that kind of stuff, somewhat regularly now. If I don’t refuse, I just put a ridiculous price on it so that everyone kind of says, “No, sod off, you lanky bugger. What are you kind of playing out here?” Because I don’t want to do it. I’ve not got time to do it, got other priorities.
Will Barron:
But four years ago, if you would’ve said to me, “Right, you’re going to do this podcast. You’re going to ask questions that hopefully sales people want to hear. On the other end of it, people are going to be both speaking gigs, and people are going to be throwing consultant jobs at you.” I would never have believed it.
The Distinct Benefits of Having an Online Presence · [31:40]
Will Barron:
So what I’m getting at here, Keenan, is, is it worth doing all this? Doing the extra mile? Because it doesn’t just separate you and allows you to have your own inbound engine for your sales role. It potentially sets you up for just bigger things in your career moving forward as well, doesn’t it?
“Exposure, awareness, and reach are the most valuable assets you can have as a salesperson.” – Keenan · [32:00]
Keenan:
Absolutely. What people don’t understand, and I talked about it in my first book, Not Taught, is that exposure and awareness and reach are the most valuable assets you can have. I mean, reach is like gold. It’s like oil.
Keenan:
Look, it’s a brilliant example whether we like it or not, but the Jenner twins. Those girls were on a show where they almost never spoke. Okay. Now I haven’t seen the Kardashians in a long, long time. So maybe they moved them into a more prominent role. But in the beginning, back when I watched the show with my daughters and my ex wife, because that’s what they wanted to do. And before what’s her name? Before Bruce Jenner became, I forget who he became. What’s her name?
Will Barron:
I know the names, but I’ve never watched it.
Keenan:
Carrie or whatever. Before he became, before he changed over, those twins had played no role, but everybody knew who they were. So they had reach, they had exposure. They had millions and millions and millions of people who knew who they were.
Keenan:
So once they got older, all they had to do is flip that switch. Just flip it, and then start engaging with those people, talking to those people, doing stuff, sharing their lives. Now Kylie, I think is almost worth a billion dollars.
Will Barron:
I think she is. I think she’s one of, if not the youngest female billionaire.
Keenan:
Okay. So she got over the hump.
Will Barron:
I think so, yeah.
Keenan:
How did you do that? Yes. She leveraged that reach and started pushing cosmetics. Now it’s not to say that if she pushed cosmetics that were bad, she’d be able to do it. But the point is she had the reach because it started with exposure. She didn’t have to do anything. She didn’t have to do an act. Just people knew who she was.
Keenan:
That’s why I’m emphasising this. I’m leaving her sisters out because her sisters showed personality. They were on the show. They had speaking roles. They could build that. All the twins did, they were just in the background for the first four, five, six, seven years as nobodies. But because they were there and millions of people saw them, they were building reach. Once they decided to flip the switch, it was gone.
“Why the average American does not spend time building micro reach, whether it’s only 1000 people, 5000 people, 10,000, is beyond me. Then what they do when they need something, they go on to LinkedIn and say, “Hey, I’ve just been let go. I’m looking for a gig.” Where the fuck have you been the last five years? You wouldn’t have to do this if you had actually built reach.” – Keenan · [34:01]
Keenan:
So why the average American does not spend time building micro reach, whether it’s only 1000 people, 5000 people, 10,000, is beyond me. Beyond me. Then what they do when they need something, they go on to LinkedIn and say, “Hey, I’ve just been let go. I’m looking for a gig.” Where the fuck have you been the last five years? You wouldn’t have to do this if you had actually built reach.
Will Barron:
Are you familiar, Keenan, with the concept of 1000 true fans?
Keenan:
No.
The Concept of 1000 True Fans · [34:25]
Will Barron:
So I’m pretty sure his name is Kevin Kelly, he’s the founder. Maybe still, maybe not, the chief editor of Wired Magazine. He’s got a really good article. I’ll link it in the show notes of this episode.
Will Barron:
Basically this works for an entrepreneur. It works for perhaps you’re a sales professional in a specific industry and you want to turn that into a consulting gig. Or you want to do speaking, whatever it is. Or one of the examples he uses in this blog post article is a band. All you need is 1000 people, 1000 people who love everything that you do, who will spend a little bit of money with you each year.
Will Barron:
Say for the band, they buy the $100 EAP. The record, as opposed to just the digital download. As a consultant, maybe it’s not 1000 people, maybe it’s 100 people, and they all give you $1000 for a day’s work or whatever it is. Whatever people are charging as consultants in their specific niches.
Will Barron:
Once you suss out that it’s so few people and you can reach them so easily, it changes paradigms on this. It changed my mindset on all of this for the podcast. It’s just slightly different now what we’re doing, but I knew that if I had 10 companies that would give me 10 grand a year to sponsor the show. So I only had 10 customers to sell to, that was the business. Or the beginnings of the kind of seeds of a business there.
Will Barron:
So I read this article, I translated it into that. That’s how I went about everything. I find that the bigger, not necessarily the bigger, the better your relationship, because we kind of poo-pooed relationships at the top of the show. The more value that you can give these individuals, whether they like you or not.
Keenan:
Yes, yes, yes.
Will Barron:
I’m learning. It is going in, Keenan.
Keenan:
The more value you give to these people, the more they’ll pay you. Yes.
Will Barron:
The more value you give them in the meantime, the easier they’re going to pay you and work with you in the future. That’s what I was getting at with that. We’re not talking about Kylie Jenner with how many millions or 10s of millions or 100s of millions of followers she’s got an Instagram.
Will Barron:
We’re talking about you, perhaps me, as a medical device sales person in leads. I just need to give value to 32 urologists and I will smash my target, do multiple six figures every year and it’s as simple as that.
Keenan:
Yes. Yep. You got it.
Will Barron:
Good man.
Keenan:
That’s it. Yeah.
Keenan’s Advise to His Older Self on How to Become Better at Selling · [36:48]
Will Barron:
Good. Well, glad I’ve got to kind of tie it altogether there. Well, with that, Keenan, I’ve asked you this question about 47 times now. I’m going to ask you again, just to wrap up the show. That is, if you go back in time and speak to your younger self, what would be the one piece of advice you’d give him to help him become better at selling?
Keenan:
Nothing.
Will Barron:
You got to give me something to work with here.
Keenan:
That’s what I say every single time.
Will Barron:
Go back. What would you right now tell if you could, if you could put it in a letter, in a time machine and send it forward, what would you tell your kind of 60 year old self?
Keenan:
Oh, I like that one. Remember what got you here. That is, excuse me. That is there are no rules, family and friends matter. That life is too short, too short. By the way, this is messed up. That’s only 10 years from now. Okay.
Keenan:
So my 60 year old self, you got to come up with an older year because it’s nine years from now, actually. So that’s not a good one. But here, that puts it in perspective, is as you said it, it seemed in my head like a long way down the road, but it’s really only nine years from now for me.
Keenan:
So I won’t forget, but I think that’s why I am happy with the life I’ve lived and where I’ve gotten, is I just have a very youthful, a very high energy life. That just doesn’t make me feel that I’m getting older. It’s moving down the road.
Keenan:
I literally forget that I’ll be 51 in April. Forget it. I’ll be reading articles and they’re like that 52 year old man died, or the 60 year old man. I’m like, God, I hope I’m healthy when I get there. I’m like, oh, snap. I’m there. Like, oh my God, I’m almost there. So it’s an interesting perspective that I have myself in. I do not feel that 60 is a million years from now in my head, but it’s really only nine.
Parting Thoughts · [39:01]
Will Barron:
Good. Well, I could dive into that for another 15 minutes and get your insights for all us young guns who are following in your footsteps, Keenan, but we’ll wrap up with that. Tell us where we can find Gap Selling? Tell us where we can find more about you as well because you put out so much awesome video content. It’s well worth kind of following it and seeing what you’re up to.
Keenan:
Thank you, sir. So look, I do a lot of video on LinkedIn. So talking about giving. I just do LinkedIn content, tell people how to handle different sales scenarios, that provides tonnes of value on making you a better salesperson.
Keenan:
You can find me on Amazon where you can find Gap Selling on Amazon. I didn’t check the last few days, but it’s been the number one hot new seller on Amazon for almost two and a half months now, which has blown me away. You can also find me@asalesguy.com, just asalesguy.com.
Will Barron:
Good stuff. Well, I’ll link to all that in the show notes of this episode, over@salesman.org.
Will Barron:
With that, Keenan, I want to thank you for your time, as always, mate. Next time you’re on, we’ll dive into phase two of the kitchen fitting at my place and the saga that’s going on there. With that, mate, I’ll speak to you again soon on The Salesman Podcast.
Keenan:
Awesome, baby. Love coming out here. You’re dope. Appreciate it.
How To Use Deal Management To Win More Business, In Less Time | Salesman Podcast
Sep 15, 2022
As a sales professional, you’ll often find yourself working on more than one deal at once.
You’ll hold conversations with different people with different needs and viewpoints. You want to close each of these effectively to ensure you keep smashing your sales quotas.
Staying on top of all this can leave you overwhelmed, confused, and sometimes lost.
Luckily, effective deal management can help simplify and organize the various aspects of your sales deals and improve your performance, efficiency, and conversions.
How Can Deal Management Help You Become a Better Sales Professional?
Effective deal management can drastically improve your sales performance. Here are the three most significant benefits of deal management.
Greater Preparedness
Having a deal process provides you with all the necessary information and tools to help you make informed, versatile decisions.
Suppose your manager is unavailable for a client call due to a bad connection. If your organization has a well-defined deal management system, you can:
Speak on behalf of your superior
Make the best decisions using the information available to you
Keep the deal moving forward
You’ll be better prepared to pivot and respond to situations and can create a more resilient and sustainable organization that recovers faster from setbacks.
Better Consistency
Your ultimate goal is to close as many deals as you can. But to achieve this, you have to eliminate any human error or personal preference-caused inefficiencies. Having a clearly defined deal management process makes this possible.
With refined deal parameters in place, you can engage proactively with prospects as per the set standard. What’s more, having a repeated process will also strengthen your selling skills, helping you deliver consistent and improved client experience throughout the sales cycle.
Shorter Sales Cycle
Time can be a sales rep’s best friend or the worst enemy. Whether it’s your friend or enemy depends on your management style.
We’ve found that the longer the sales cycle, the less likely is the prospect to convert. Why? Many things can go wrong if the deal gets dragged. For instance, the prospect may lose interest or have another urgent matter to attend to; a pandemic might hit… anything can happen.
With a carefully established deal flow management system, you can speed up your sales process while maintaining an excellent prospect-rep relationship and providing a solution-based engagement.
What Are the 5 Stages of Deal Management?
Deal management is an entire process designed to inform you what to expect when selling and ensure optimal deal management. It can be broken down into five stages to streamline your processes, letting you make the most of available sales opportunities.
Stage 1: Process Planning
You need to create an effective deal management that can be implemented company-wide. At the same time, your strategy must align with your organization’s objectives, needs, and resources.
That’s why your deal management strategy should be flexible and streamlined to account for all kinds of client agreements effectively. Consider the following factors to develop an effective deal management strategy:
What kind of deals is your company working with?
Who is responsible for the different stages of the sales process?
What issues have taken place in the past that resulted in a failed deal?
What resources do you need to implement your strategy effectively?
Answering these questions will help you set the ball rolling for the next stage.
Stage 2: Process Implementation
Once you’ve outlined your deal management process, it’s time to implement it.
We highly recommend using a deal management software tool like Monday.com or HubSpot Deal Tracking Software. You can import your data and onboard your suppliers into a centralized platform, allowing you to set up and execute all your deals with ease.
Onboarding is a critical aspect of the implementation stage. Every person involved in the deal should know about your goals and how to use ideal management software. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself resolving tons of errors and issues introduced into the deal management process.
Ensure you and your team are aware of the new process and follow all procedures to the T to make deal management more reliable and efficient.
Stage 3: Pre-Deal
At this stage, you’ve established the foundation of your deal management process. Next, you’ll implement it when creating new deals with your prospects.
If you want the prospect to invest in your product or service, you should focus on the solution and not the product. It’s why effective negotiation and overcoming client objections is such a big part of the pre-deal stage.
Ensure you have access to all data that helps you understand the prospect’s requirements and then tailor your sales pitch accordingly.
Stage 4: Handover (Optional)
If your organization has a system where the people negotiating the deal are different from people managing it, you have to hand the prospect over to them. On the other hand, if you’re responsible for closing the deal yourself, you can skip this and move on to Stage 5.
The thing is, handovers can be tricky. Prospects don’t like it since they’re back to square one, where they have to communicate with a brand-new person they haven’t interacted with before and, more importantly, don’t trust.
Your job is to make the handover as smooth as possible, ensuring everyone involved in the deal management process knows what they need to do to see it to its conclusion. Be sure to walk the next person to the details of the deals and introduce them to the prospect to make the transition seamless.
Stage 5: Closing the Deal
This is the stage when you take the plunge and ask for the sale.
Make the prospect feel comfortable about saying yes to the deal. A good strategy is to create a sense of urgency by setting a deadline for the prospect to respond.
Be sure the prospect is aware of the terms of the deal. Once everyone has agreed on the terms and signed the contract, you’ve got yourself a brand-new customer. Congratulations!
3 Effective Tips for Better Deal Management
Below, we’ve compiled a list of tips that can help you improve your sales processes and add value to each client or customer experience.
Collect All Relevant Data
Measurable data allows you to initiate quality engagement with prospects, which will ultimately help you close more deals. Think of the whole process as mapping your roadmap before you start your journey: you’ll have a better idea of where you’re going, where you shouldn’t go, and know where others have gone wrong before.
Try to find out more about your prospect—what are their long-term goals, threats to those goals, and their specific pain points. You can then use this information to establish trust and pitch your products or services.
Expert Note:
“Once a deal has been approved to move through the sales process, the sales leader is responsible for every step along the way.”
Tom Searcy
Salesman Podcast
Create Multithreaded Relationships
Sales 101: Never put all your eggs in one basket.
Buying decisions generally involve more than one person. So if your point of contact doesn’t have the power to make buying decisions, there’s a chance you may not close the deal.
Create a multithreaded relationship, where you connect with more than one person at the company. This will ensure the deal doesn’t rely on a single connection, improving your chances of securing a sale.
Stay Patient During the Pricing and Procurement Process
Despite everything going perfect, you can still lose the deal if you don’t handle the pricing and procurement process effectively.
You may feel like rushing the last few steps of the deal, but staying patient and strategic is incredibly important here. After presenting your prospect with pricing details, hit pause. Give the prospect time to respond and resist the temptation to throw out a discount to close the deal faster.
Be confident in the way you managed the deal to this point and the value you presented. Trust me, the prospect will notice. If you have successfully established a genuine connection with the prospect, you won’t face any difficulty addressing their concerns when they get back to you.
Deal Management Tools
B2B sales teams often need deal management tools to generate intelligent industry insights and visibility of potential commercial growth. Deal management software can often quickly improve the number of deals that can be worked on in real time and reduce operational constraints at the same time.
If you’re not happy with your current CRM or deal management software of choice, feel free to drop us an message and we can offer our unbiased opinion on some potential solutions for your business.
Next Steps
Are you thinking to relax after successfully converting the prospect? You don’t want to make that mistake.
Following up after the close is critical in effective deal management. Make sure your brand-new customer gets the product or service on time and is satisfied with everything. It’ll help you build better relationships, resulting in repeated sales.
A Rough Quarter Ahead for Salespeople (How To Actually Set More Meetings) | Selling Made Simple
Sep 12, 2022
Do you feel that? You can practically smell it in the air. *Sniff* *sniff*—a recession is coming. Are YOU prepared?
If you want to come out of this economic dip intact, you need to start preparing. Like NOW. And one of the best ways to do that is by setting MORE meetings and begin the work of overloading your pipeline.
Today we’re covering that dreaded word on everyone’s mind, “recession.” Not whether it’s going to happen or what the fallout will be. But what you can do to protect yourself or heck, even come out ahead, by booking more meetings TODAY.
Now, experts agree that there’s a recession looming not too far off on the horizon. How big it will be or how long it will last is anyone’s guess.
But what we do know is how it will affect buyers as a whole.
What a Recession Means
First and foremost…
1. Less Spending
Your clients and potential buyers are spending less money. When money becomes tight (and it will), your buyers are going to be way less likely to shell out for a product they aren’t desperate for.
And that means you need to get better at driving urgency, selling value, and showing buyers why you’re a solid investment.
2. Scared For Their Job
Number two, buyers are scared about the future of their job. Zooming in from a company level, your buyers are going to have their own fears. How secure is their job? Is their department first on the chopping block? And how will making a buying mistake affect their chances of sticking around?
3. Prioritizing the Status Quo
Buyers are also shifting their priorities. In a growth market, companies are looking for opportunities. Chances to get bigger, to get better. They want to expand.
But in the face of a recession, a lot of businesses are looking for ways to secure the status quo. How will they simply keep afloat so they can wait out the storm?
4. Scared of Change
And number four, they’re scared of change. Change carries risk. And as a result, buyers are going to be waaaaay less likely to spend their already tight budget on big-shift products.
Change is already scary enough. But in a recession, it’s a nightmare.
Alright, so with all that in mind, the question becomes…
How to Book More Meetings (3 Steps)
What can you do to capitalize on these shifts to book more meetings?
There are three things in particular you as a sales professional can do to keep your pipeline packed.
1. Up Your Qualification Game
Up your qualification game. When the market is booming, you may have the time and resources to focus on anyone who shows even an ounce of interest. But when times are tight, every second counts. And that means you need to spend your day working with only the best leads.
Now you’re going to be running into three types of leads here.
People with money to spend now.
People who will have money once things lighten up and get better.
And people who don’t have money now and aren’t sure how they’ll be later either.
Your goal is to prioritize people with the money to spend now. Put 80% to 90% of your efforts into them. Because they’re the only ones who you’ll have even a chance with.
The buyers who are waiting for the economy to shift should be priority number two. Don’t leave them out entirely. Because once things do turn around, the relationship you’ve built right now can lead to some seriously massive quarters in the future.
And finally, the “can’t do now, not sure about later” leads. Light touches here. Keep them in your loop for now. But don’t spend too much time with them. Instead, just follow up after everything changes. And invest the bulk of your time in the first two lead types instead.
The better you are at qualifying, the better you’ll fare right now.
2. Adjusting Your Value Proposition
Technique number two is adjusting your value proposition.
In regular times, you’re probably used to hitting some core points when talking about your solution’s benefits.
“It can increase revenue, help your company expand, grow your market” – that type of stuff. Go-tos, right? Well, things have changed. And in a recession, belts are tightening and growing takes a back seat to maintaining.
So what does that mean for you?
To maximize your booking rate, you need to shift your value proposition to how you can help get more from less. Instead of focusing on ROI and investing in growth, talk about how you can boost efficiency. How your product lets them cut costs, reduce time spend, and make the budget they have now go further.
And as a cherry on the top, show your buyers how your solution doesn’t just streamline the business as a whole. It also means it’ll make their job more secure.
3. Demonstrate the “Costs”
Status quo reigns supreme during a recession, that much is clear. But your buyers shouldn’t just be focused on not growing. They should also be looking for ways to prevent problems.
Not acting in and of itself is a problem, particularly during a recession. Companies will go under. And the ones that survive SHOULD actively be looking for ways to increase their competitiveness.
So when you’re working on a new buyer, be sure to hit the costs of not changing especially hard. The more they see that inaction is costly, the more likely they’ll be to consider your solution.
Replay: How To Steal Your Competitors Business And Eat Their Lunch | Salesman Podcast
Sep 10, 2022
Anthony Iannarino is an international speaker, author, and experienced sales leader.
In this episode of The Salesman Podcast, Anthony shares how we can take business from our competitors and essentially “eat their lunch”.
You'll learn:
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Featured on this episode:
Host - Will Barron
Founder of Salesman.org
Guest - Anthony Iannarino
International Speaker and Experienced Sales Leader
Coming up on today’s episode of the salesman podcast.
Anthony Iannarino:
This is the thing about human relationships. Fast is slow and slow is fast. So the faster you try to go, the slower you go and the easier you try to make things for yourself, the more difficult it is for you. And when you do the hard things, the easier it is for you to generate the results you want. It just works that way. I didn’t design the universe. I had no say… I mean, God didn’t consult with me to make this law. It was the law when I showed up here. That that tends to be the way things work.
Will Barron:
Hello, sales nation. I’m Will Barron host of the salesman podcast. The world’s most istened to B2B sales show. If you haven’t already make sure to click subscribe and let’s meet today’s guest.
Anthony Iannarino:
I’m Anthony Iannarino. I’m a speaker, I’m a writer, I’m a teacher. And you can find me thesalesblog.com.
Should Salespeople Be Aiming To Be the Best Professionals They Possibly Can Be, or Do They Just Need To Be 1% Better Than the Next Best Competition? · [01:18]
Will Barron:
On this episode, Anthony, will dive in into how you can go into a competitor account, how you can take their lunch, how you can steal the business away from them, the step by step process to do this. And it’s incredible that we haven’t really covered this on the podcast before. This is probably the, not necessarily quickest, but the most efficient and best way to really crush your target, not just now, but over the years and decades to come. And so with all that said, I’m hyped up, you should be. This is a real important show for us. Let’s dive right in. To set the story, to set the scene for the audience should be to be sales professionals, should they be aiming at all times to be the best professional they could possibly be, learn everything they could possibly learn and give as much value as they possibly can. Or do they in reality only really need to give and be that 1% better than the next best competition.
Anthony Iannarino:
I love that question because I see this thing go by on Facebook and it’s like a regular post that just always comes by in my feet for some reason. It says, I don’t want to be better than anyone else. I just want to be better than I was yesterday. And I love that platitude. But what I would want for you is to be better than you were yesterday and better than your toughest competitor today. Because if you live in the red ocean and your a competitor, then you have to be better. And the way that you frame that up is sort of a mutually exclusive sort of choice.
“A lot of people are so focused on their competition that they forget that it’s a contest to create value, and that there’s absolutely nothing you can do about your competitors. So if you can’t do anything about them, then what should you be working on? That leaves you. So you better start working on that because that’s all you’ve got.” – Anthony Iannarino · [02:20]
Anthony Iannarino:
Like, do I need to be the best version of me or do I need to be better than them? Both. It’s an and. You need to constantly work on this, but you do hint to something where a lot of people are so focused on their competition, that they forget that it’s a contest to create value. And that there’s absolutely nothing you can do about your competitors. So if you can’t do anything about them, then what should you be working on? That leaves you. So you better start working on that because that’s all you’ve got.
How Much of the Marketplace is Already Taken Up By the Competition Versus New Buyers Who’ve Never Used Our Type of Product or Service Before? · [02:47]
Will Barron:
Good. I expected hope for that answer and that makes total sense for me. So hopefully it makes sense for the audience. And with that context and the kind of back in mind as we go through this conversation Anthony, how much… I don’t know if there’s a percentage, I don’t know if there’s statistics on it. So I don’t want to kind of put you on the spot, but how much of a marketplace, if we are a B2B sales professional is taken up with the competition already having an account versus what we spend typically most of our time on which are trying to convince people that they want our product.
Anthony Iannarino:
It’s an interesting question. And I think from vertical to vertical and industry to industry there’s variances. And a new industry where things are interesting when you look at, especially all the tech stuff that goes on our world of sales, there’s a lot of people trying to capture leads. And for some reason they think leads are better than targets because somebody raised their hand. And I had a conversation with a group of people I was speaking to and they said, the biggest challenge we have is turning marketing qualified leads into sales qualified leads. And I said, well, what does that mean? And they said, a sales qualified lead is somebody who shows up ready to buy. And I said, then why do they need you? I mean, you’re redundant now. They’re already ready to buy.
“The thing that I’ve always struggled with as somebody who’s run businesses of my own is people that come in and say, “we should call on people who don’t buy our services and teach them the value of the services because they’re not already buying.” And I would say, “well, why do you think they’re not already buying? Because they don’t care about what we sell. They don’t believe they’ll benefit from it.” So why not spend all of your time or at least a disproportionate amount of the time on the people that already see what you sell as essential, as strategic, as necessary as something that’s going to help them move their business forward.” – Anthony Iannarino · [04:04]
Anthony Iannarino:
So I know that’s what you want, but that’s not how it tends to work. People have issues that they’re trying to resolve and questions that they need answered and concerns that they need help with and all these other things. For most of us, I don’t know what the percentage is, but the thing that I’ve always struggled with as somebody who’s run businesses of my own is people that come in and say, we should call on people who don’t buy our services and teach them the value of the services because they’re not already buying. And I would say, well, why do you think they’re not already buying? Because they don’t care about what we sell. They don’t believe they’ll benefit from it. So why not spend all of your time or at least a disproportionate amount of the time on the people that already see what you buy as essential, as strategic, as necessary as something that’s going to help them move their business forward.
“For most of us, if you were to make a list of your dream clients and say, who are the companies and the people that my value proposition is going to resonate with so strongly that they’re going to see me as a strategic resource, they already have somebody sitting in your seat. I mean, they weren’t waiting for you to come along like, “we’d really like to do this but nobody’s reached out to us.” Everybody’s reaching out to them. So I think most of our dream clients, probably a hundred percent of them already belong to a competitor. So what should you do about that? I mean, you can look for an easier way and say, well, if I had really good leads, that would be great, or you can decide to target them and then come up with a strategy that allows you to penetrate that account and develop the contacts and the relationship so that you can displace your competitor.” – Anthony Iannarino · [04:38]
Anthony Iannarino:
And for most of us, if you were to make a list of your dream clients and say, who are the companies and the people that my value proposition is going to resonate with so strongly that they’re going to see me as a strategic resource, they already have somebody sitting in your seat. I mean, they weren’t waiting for you to come along like, we’d really like to do this but nobody’s reached out to us. Everybody’s reaching out to them. So I think most of us that are dream clients, probably a hundred percent of them already belong to a competitor. So what should you do about that? I mean, you can look for an easier way and say, well, if I had really good leads, that would be great, or you can decide to target them and then come up with a strategy that allows you to penetrate that account and develop the contacts and the relationship so that can displace your competitor.
Is Displacing a Competitor all About Having the Right Mindset? · [05:30]
Will Barron:
So I want to dive into specifically displacing competitors and the strategy behind that in a second. But just to wrap up, I guess the intro here Anthony, is this a mindset issue? Is this that humans will… Most humans will typically go for the easiest route if there’s two routes to an end goal. Do we have it wrong in our heads that we think that educating someone who doesn’t know anything about our product service, perhaps even industry or value, we think that is an easier proposal versus educating someone who or reeducating someone who is already somewhat educated, who’s already spending money, we see that as harder. And if that is the case that we’ve got those perceptions, is that necessarily true?
“Convincing somebody that doesn’t believe they’d get value from what you sell to value it, that’s really difficult. Finding somebody who already values what you do and has a belief that they could have even better results, it takes more time for certain but it’s easier for you to generate the outcome that you want. And there’s a difference.” – Anthony Iannarino · [06:13]
Anthony Iannarino:
The way that you stated it is exactly right. We want to do what’s easy. And what’s easy is actually the most difficult thing to do. So convincing somebody that doesn’t believe they value from what you sell to value it, that’s really difficult. Finding somebody who already values what you do and has a belief that they could have even better results, it takes more time for certain but it’s easier for you to generate the outcome that you want.
“This is the thing about human relationships, fast is slow and slow is fast. So the faster you try to go, the slower you go. And the easier you try to make things for yourself, the more difficult it is for you. And when you do the hard things, the easier it is for you to generate the results you wanted. It just works that way. I didn’t design the universe. I had no say… I mean, God didn’t consult with me to make this law. It was the law when I showed up here. That tends to be the way things work.” – Anthony Iannarino · [06:32]
Anthony Iannarino:
And there’s a difference. This is the thing about human relationships, fast is slow and slow is fast. So the fast you try to go, the slower you go and the easier you try to make things for yourself, the more difficult it is for you. And when you do the hard things, the easier it is for you to generate the results you wanted. It just works that way. I didn’t design the universe. I had no say… I mean, God didn’t consult with me to make this law. It was the law when I showed up here. That tends to be the way things work.
Will Barron:
Sure. I guess if the law was different, it would still reach an equilibrium, right? Of, if spamming called emails with no customization and no care or thought and it worked, which maybe it did at one point, it’s not going to work at some point in the future. So this is always constantly ebbing and flowing, right?
Will and Anthony Talk About the Increasing Amounts of Spamming That’s Present on LinkedIn · [07:14]
Anthony Iannarino:
You are apparently having the same LinkedIn experience that I’m having.
Will Barron:
Probably not to the extent as you are, because everyone knows I have zero budget to spend on absolutely anything, but I still get… Yes spammy emails and LinkedIn messages all the time.
Anthony Iannarino:
That’s funny. I mean, I get the worst messages. I have sales trainers offer me sales training continually. And I’m like, did you even look at the profile at all? You had… No. The answer is no they didn’t.
Will Barron:
I had someone reach out to me the other day. And maybe you’ve had this with your experience in kind of your podcast as well, Anthony. But I had someone who’s obviously scraped my podcast for all the guests and then were reaching out to them to offer them a podcast booking service, to get them booked on another podcast. It was a called email. There was no customization other than a name and then my podcast. And someone had literally written in this… Or spam this email to me that said, Hey Will, I’ve seen that you… Or I loved your episode on the salesman podcast.
Will Barron:
Would you like to get a more podcast like the salesman? I was like, I had to email the guy. I was like, look, I don’t need the service. I don’t mind you spamming my audience because I will look for other podcasts such as yours to find great guests and I’ll do my own research on the back of that and reach out to them. But this is not leading… This isn’t going to leave a good taste in anyone’s mouth. Because clearly it’s… Clearly to me it’s spam, but to other people they’re going to see right through it as well.
Anthony Iannarino:
I didn’t realise that I was supposed to be interviewing you on this podcast. So at some point we’ll have to do it takeover and ask you a bunch of questions.
The First Step of Trying to Take Over a Competitor’s Account · [08:58]
Will Barron:
Yeah. Well off the record, we should probably do that as well. I think that’d be a good way to kind of… The audience would probably enjoy that. We’ve done it once before in the past. And I think you’d be a good interview to do that on. But as a sidetrack we’ll come back to that when we kind of stop recording perhaps, but how do we then implement this? How do we… Clearly there is a strategic process here, but is there a strategic process and what’s the first step of it? How do we even just get our foot in the door with an account to maybe they’re somewhat happy with the brand, the organisation that they’re using at the moment.
Anthony Iannarino:
I always know how far people read into the book when they reach out to me and send me emails because the first about three chapters are so consuming for people and the results that they get change immediately as it comes to prospecting that I start getting notes that say I have 17 meetings next week and after reading the first three chapters. The first chapter is a very… It’s an important chapter. And it’s probably the thing that I’ve been teaching the longest, but it only made it into the third book because I felt like I had to put the other two books before this one. First I had to give people a competency model. So you could be somebody worth buying from in the first place. That made selling way easier than anything else. Just actually being somebody people want to buy from. The second thing that I wrote was a book called the Lost Art of Closing. That’s how do you gain the commitments and have the difficult conversations that move clients forward and their process of trying to create better results.
“Most of us say something like, “well, I’d love to come out, introduce myself and my company, tell you about the products and services and the companies like yours that we’re helping and then learn a little bit about you and what you do.” That is just not a great value proposition, but that’s what we offer people when we’re prospecting.” – Anthony Iannarino · [10:26]
Anthony Iannarino:
And then we got to this book and this is the first place where I felt like I could now start talking about the four levels of value creation. And the reason that they took so long to get here is because the concept it’s sort of difficult in execution, but it’s a very simple idea. Most of us say something like, well, love to come out, introduce myself and my company, tell you about the products and services and the companies like yours that were helping and then learn a little bit you and what you do. Okay. So that is just not a great value proposition, but that’s what we offer people when we’re prospecting. And it’s what we offer them when we show up in their office to have a conversation. So let me start by telling you my company’s great story and our great history.
“The first level of value is what’s the value of the product that you sell, and it’s critical and it’s important that you have a great product. But it’s not what people are really buying. If you show up and you start from that part of the conversation, you look and sound like a commodity. The second level of value is what kind of experience do you offer? Are you easy to do business with, do you have the service and support? Because you’re going to give me your product or your service and it’s going to create problems for me. So I need to know that I can get those problems taken care of. The third level of value is really what I would just call tangible results. So let’s imagine you’re a company that’s shipping something. Can you get it from point A to point B? Does it show up? That’s an outcome. But it’s not a strategic outcome. And level four is the strategic outcome. So why are you doing this in the first place?” – Anthony Iannarino · [11:03]
Anthony Iannarino:
So we go back decades and decades to begin a story with somebody who’s actually concerned about right now and they’re really not worried about 1972 or some time period before that. So the first level of value is what’s the value of the product that you sell and it’s critical and it’s important that you have a great product, but it’s not what people are really buying. If you show up and you start from that part of the conversation, you look and sound like a commodity. So the second level of value is what kind of experience do you offer? Are you easy to do business with, do you have the service and support because you’re going to give me your product or your service and it’s going to create problems for me. So I need to know that I can get those problems taken care of.
Anthony Iannarino:
The third level of value is really what I would just call tangible results. So let’s imagine you’re a company that’s shipping something. Can you get it from point A to point B? Does it show up? That’s an outcome. But it’s not a strategic outcome. And level four is the strategic outcome. So why are you doing this in the first place? And the first book I used a quote from a Harvard marketing professor named Theodore Levit, who once said, people don’t buy drills, they buy quarter inch holes. And that was to say, if they could have the hole without the drill, they just take the hole. But we’re at a point right now in the evolution of markets and economies and sales to where instead of showing up and saying, I can get you a hole, which everyone can do. I have to start by saying, first of all, you don’t know that you need a hole.
Anthony Iannarino:
You don’t need to know what the hole looks like yet. You don’t have that covered. You don’t know what wall you need to drill the hole on in the first place. So we have to get to the first principle, which is what is the strategic outcome that somebody’s trying to accomplish. And what we call this in the book is entering from the right. So if you imagine a PowerPoint deck with level one on the left and level four on the right, everybody has been taught to enter from one to say, let me demonstrate my credibility to you by talking about my company, when you really need to show up and say, listen, these are the systemic challenges that are facing your business. These are the strategic outcomes that we should be talking about and you enter the conversation at a much higher level.
“What we’re trying to do is make the case for there’s a reason to change. And if you say, “well, I have a really good product and my competitors all have really good products.” Well, then I don’t really need to change. And if you say, “well, I could probably save you a little bit of money.” Enough money to make it worth my while to go through the trouble of changing all the things that I’ve set up and I already know these people. They’re the devil I know. So I’ve figured out how to do all the workarounds I need to get this result and I’m going to start over with you, why? So you have to move up to a higher level of value if you’re going to have that displacement conversation.” – Anthony Iannarino · [13:46]
Anthony Iannarino:
Now you’re still going to wrap up your product, your services and the tangible results you produce at some point in time. But it’s just not a great starting point for the conversation. That’s the first chapter, but it’s followed very closely by a chapter about capturing mind share. And the view here is that every client that you are calling on has a lens in front of their face that they’re looking at the world through and they’re looking it through their experience, their challenges, the other people’s content that they read and consume that shapes that lens. And what you have to be able to do is walk in and either replace that lens or sharpen that lens so people see something different to say, wait a second. We haven’t quite looked at it like that before. And that changes my view because what we’re trying to do is make the case for there’s a reason to change.
Anthony Iannarino:
And if you say, well, I have a really good product and my competitors all have really good products, well, then I don’t really need to change. And if you say, well, I could probably save you a little bit of money, enough money to make it worth my while to go through the trouble of changing all the things that I’ve set up and I already know these people. They’re the devil I know. So I’ve figured out how to do all the workarounds I need to get this result and I’m going to start over with you, why? So you have to move up to a higher level of value if you’re going to have that displacement conversation. And basically the start of that book is what gives people a different view of how to prospect and how to open these conversations. That just results in greater opportunity to have a discussion that ends up with you displacing your competitor.
The Differences and Similarities Between the Process of Displacing Your Competitor and Consultative Selling? · [14:47]
Will Barron:
Is this… I’m removing because of people call other people have books about consultative selling and things like that. So removing all that from the conversation for a second of other people’s brand and IP, and that side of things. Is this essentially what consult… When we’re told to consultative sell what we should be doing in that we should be leading with insights that perhaps our competitors don’t have so that differentiates us when we reach out. But then insights that all of this sharpens the lens of how people are looking at the landscape, the customers that we’re going to work with. Is this what consultative selling should have been all along as opposed to some kind of buzzword, if that makes sense.
Anthony Iannarino:
I love that question too. I got a chance to speak to [Mack Hanan 00:15:18] before he died. He wrote the book consultative selling in 1970. And in the book, he recommended that you focus on pips, not a personal improvement plan, but a profit improvement plan for your client. And his whole view was you should figure out how to make them more profitable, which is a really good starting place. But he literally wrote the book on consultative selling. And this must have been last. Before he passed away, I think in 2014 or something like that, I’d had a chance to spend a little time with him on the phone. And I have these calls recorded with Mack who was at 85 years old as sharp as any human being you’ve ever met. And I asked him, we’ve known this for 40 plus years and we haven’t done it.
“Consultative doesn’t mean that you’re not high pressure and that you don’t use a hard sell. And consultative doesn’t mean you ask really good questions. That could be a part of it too, but that’s not what it means. Consultative means you provide your best advice as to how they run their business better. So, that’s the starting point. When people say, “I really want to be consultative.” And then they say, “well, I don’t want to tell them because they know their business better than I do.” Then why are you sitting in front of them? I mean, if they know their business better and you don’t have a point of view about this, if you don’t have some way that you think you can create greater value, then how are you going to consult with them at all?” – Anthony Iannarino · [16:03]
Anthony Iannarino:
Why not? And he said, I have no idea why we haven’t done this. Consultative doesn’t mean that you’re not high pressure and that you don’t use a hard sell. I mean, you don’t do those things anyway. And that might be something that is an attribute of somebody who’s consultative and consultative doesn’t mean you ask really good questions. That could be a part of it too, but that’s not what it means. Consultative means you tell people, you provide your best advice as to how they run their business better. So, that’s the starting point. When people say I really want to be consultative. And then they say, well, I don’t want to tell them because they know their business better than I do. Well then why are you sitting in front of them? I mean, if they know their business better and you don’t have a point of view about this, if you don’t have some way that you think you can create greater value, then how are you going to consult with them at all?
Anthony Iannarino:
And I think that it is how we’re supposed to be doing this work. I don’t think that the insights necessarily have to be unique because as I lay out in the book there’s systemic challenges that affect every business. And you sort of can look and say, these are the factors but you do have to have a point of view about it. And you do have to have a set of values that say, this is a better idea than that idea. And this trade off is the right trade off for you to make, but it’s not the right trade off for somebody else to make and here’s why, because you’re pursuing different strategic outcomes. Somebody might say, I’m trying to increase my profitability. And some other company you work with might look at the same solution and say, I don’t care about being more profitable.
“This is probably the primary question I get, “How do I compel people?” Well, find out what’s already compelling them and figure out how to help them with what they want already. If you’re trying to compel them to buy a product, they don’t want a product. They want some strategic outcome. And if you can latch onto that and help them with that initiative, you’re going to do a lot better.” – Anthony Iannarino · [17:46]
Anthony Iannarino:
I don’t want to make any money on this. I want to capture market share faster than anyone else. And I’m going to invest in this for a different reason. You have to be able to understand those things and have that conversation, which is why I’ve been writing about business acumen for 10 years. Because you have to understand that what they want and people ask me… This is probably the primary question I get. How do I compel people? Well, find out what’s already compelling them and figure out how to help them with what they want already. You’re trying to compel them to buy a product. They don’t want a product. They want some strategic outcome. And if you can latch onto that and help them with that initiative, you’re going to do a lot better.
Anthony’s Thoughts on Why Salespeople Should Learn About Sales Consultancy Themselves Without Waiting on Marketing or Leadership Input · [18:07]
Will Barron:
So is this our own points of view, our own own values, our own ability to understand a marketplace, or is this what has been dripped fed to us by the organisation that we are representing?
“You only need two things to be a trusted advisor: trust and advice. That’s it.” – Anthony Iannarino · [18:18]
Anthony Iannarino:
I continue to say this, Will, to every sales audience I have. You only need two things to be a trusted advisor, trust and advice. That’s it. Okay. So if nothing and you’re like, well, I don’t really know anything, but my marketing department gave me this killer slide deck, you should see it. Well, why don’t I talk to somebody who knows more than you? I mean, you have to get the business acumen yourself. And that’s the hard part. The business acumen comes when you’re out doing the work and you’re paying attention and you’re reading and you’re learning. But yeah, you have to have something that makes you the advisor. You cannot be a know nothing. And I call this concept in the book, a 52% me. If you can’t go on a meeting because you can’t have a discovery conversation without having a subject matter expert with you, then you are not the subject matter expert.
Anthony Iannarino:
And you have to have enough of this, that when you’re sitting across from your client, there’s information disparity. We know something, we have ideas and how could it be otherwise? So you think about a salesperson that sells enterprise resource planning software. How many times does the average buyer buy that in their life? Hopefully in their opinion once. Like, hopefully I never have to do this again, because it’s a root canal, a colonoscopy, a brain surgery and quadruple bypass for your business all in the same day. That that’s too much. It’s hard.
“There should never be information parity. And if there is, you’re serving hundreds or thousands of customers, how do you not have greater insight about what decisions to make and in what order to do things than your client who’s going to buy it once?” – Anthony Iannarino · [19:53]
Anthony Iannarino:
How many times does an enterprise resource planning salesperson sell that. Hundreds of times. So who has a better idea of how you should think about it? What kind of trade offs you should make? The person that has all the experience doing that. So there should never be information parity. And if there is, I think if you were to challenge a salesperson, look inside your four walls, you’re serving hundreds or thousands of customers. How do you not have greater insight about what decisions to make and in what order to do things than your client who’s going to buy it once.
How to Gather and Administer Sales Insights That Give You the Competitive Advantage in the Marketplace · [20:10]
Will Barron:
How do we… Because it’s one thing to say this, Anthony, but it’s another I guess to live it and to document it. So what insights can we gather that give us a competitive advantage when we’re doing these, hopefully doing these deals in sales every day, months, and and years to come. What should we be looking out for? Or what is… What would be a counter intuitive insights? How would we uncover something that makes someone go aha, as opposed to kind of facts and figures that are obvious. How do we go that level deeper with this?
Anthony Iannarino:
Yeah. And some of the facts and figures are obvious, but what are you going to do about them? So in the book, I used my experience because I came out of temporary staffing and I would walk in and say, well, right now there’s 11,000 baby boomers retiring in the United States every single day. So that’s 368,000 people a month and we’re creating 220,000 new jobs a month. So we now have a gap opening up. That’s for 4.3 million people retiring. How are you going to find what’s your strategy right now to acquire the talent you need and how do you skill them up to give them the experience of somebody who’s been in an industry for 30 years. And first off, no one knows that 11,000 baby boomers are retiring. Second off, no one’s ever asked themselves, what’s the implications for our talent strategy when there’s going to be a massive gap because the baby boomers in the United States is our largest generation followed by two smaller generations.
“If you’re not doing the work as a salesperson to have the advantage in the conversation, to know facts and to know what the implications of the facts are, more importantly, then you can’t be the trusted advisor. And what happens is executives are busy running their business. And I know what the internet says. I know LinkedIn and I know the social selling stuff very well like, ‘your customer is researching and they’re reading and they’re studying.’ They’re not. They’re trying to run their business. They’re not doing those things. And when you walk in and you start sharing these concepts with them, they’re like, great, now I don’t have to think about it at all because I have a really smart person who’s doing this work for me.” – Anthony Iannarino · [21:47]
Anthony Iannarino:
Where are you going to find the people? ? And you think, well, that’s a well documented fact because it is. But people don’t know that fact. They don’t know it. They’re not reading and studying. And if you’re not doing that work as a salesperson to have the advantage in the conversation, to know facts and to know what the implications of the facts are more importantly, then you can’t be the trusted advisor. And what happens is executives are busy running their business. So they’re not out. I know what the internet says. I know LinkedIn and I know the social selling stuff very well like your customers researching and they’re reading and they’re studying. They’re not. They’re trying to run their business. They’re not doing those things. And when you walk in and you start sharing these concepts with them, they’re like, great.
Anthony Iannarino:
I can find somebody. They think about this nonstop. They’re concerned with this. They understand the implications. They have strategies. Now I don’t have to think it at all because I have a really smart person who’s doing this work for me. That’s back to the beginning of our conversation today. That’s just a decision. Like, do you want to be that person that can come in and help people? Or do you want to lean on the product and hope that it’s something external that allows you to beat your competitor and take a deal away from them. But it’s not, it’s going to be you. The product’s not going to be enough. Your company’s not going to be enough. They need somebody to help them say there’s a better way for us to move forward. So you just have to make a decision to do that. And you will find novelty.
Anthony Iannarino:
I mean, when you start looking for what’s really going on in the world and you will find implications, but it’s just enough. It tends to be enough when you walk in and you show up as a subject matter expert. It’s not like I’m going to walk into a chief marketing officer and say, listen, I’m not sure if you know this or not, but people are using their mobile phones for everything now. And those chief marketing officers going to go, what! There’s a thing called a mobile phone. Of course they know, but you have to say, well, the implication to this from our view right now is that if you’re not putting the ads in front of them where they live right now, you’re probably missing a large part of the market if you care about 18 to 24 year olds. And I’m going to have facts that can demonstrate that. And I mean, they hope that you know this. You’re demonstrating that you belong in the room with them.
Will Barron:
I’ve lived this. And just a super quick example for the audience of selling from one hospital to another. So I’d have here in beautiful Yorkshire in the UK, I didn’t manage Leed’s hospital, but I managed Bradford. Bradford’s colorectal centre is one of the… Some of the surgeons there, some of the best colorectal surgeons in the world and it was all the whole theatre anthem was kitted out with the last organisation I worked for. I would very often just go on the Leed’s hospital website, see what they were up to, which anyone could do, and then report that back to the team at Bradford.
Will Barron:
And they’d be loving it. There was almost a news ticker for them. And then that would get me meetings. And that just continue that relationship and kind of not what we were talking about today in this episode of securing account. But I went in there then every Friday and secured that account by just doing that very simple task. And it’s very difficult for anyone to get a foot in the door because there wasn’t many insights if someone was to do this against me to compete against. Because I was the one who kind of always at first through the door with all of this and-
Anthony Iannarino:
That’s chapter 12. The continuation of creating new value. So you come in and you create new value. Look, there’s something else for you to pay attention to. Well, I don’t need to look at anybody else yet because you keep coming back with new value. It’s a great retention strategy.
Will Barron:
I wish I knew it was a retention strategy. For me, it was just, it’s the local hospital… Most local hospitals where I live. So I’d go in every Friday afternoon and just sky there for a few hours, do some emails. But inadvertently I’d be winning over the account. And that probably did 20, 30% of my revenue every year by just doing that and popping in on a Friday. And I was almost a rep, a consultant, a service person trying to go in and solve any problems whilst I was there by just doing that. So for people with medical devices, that probably makes somewhat sense to them if you go in hospital to hospital but other people may not. But with that said, Anthony, I want to wrap up the show here with something real practical for the audience. Because we’re only really on like stage one of the outreach.
The Strategic Framework for Reaching Out to Prospects When Trying to Convert an Account · [25:50]
Will Barron:
So we’ll have to of you back on to get deeper into the topic of converting accounts. But is this a reasonable structure or is there a better structure for whether it’s a call, an email, meet someone at a conference. But it seems like if we’ve got some kind of fact, then we have the implication of the fact and then we ask them an intelligent question about their strategy with regards to this. Is that a framework reaching out to someone and if so, is that the best way to go about it? Or is there perhaps enough way?
Anthony Iannarino:
Yeah. When people change their language, it’s interesting. So you and I were talking and I’ve mentioned people sending me notes that they have 17 meetings the following week after changing their approach. But their approach went from, love to stop by telling you about my company, tell you about the customers that we work with, to look like you and how we’re helping them and learn a little bit about you, which means what’s keeping you up at night and I hope you have enough pain or dissatisfaction I create an opportunity. But if you show up and you say, well listen, I’d love to ask you for a 20 minute meeting where I can give you an executive briefing on what’s going on in digital transformation inside sales organisations. And a lot of this you’re going to be aware of, but some of it is probably going to have some novel implications for your business based on what I can see right now.
Anthony Iannarino:
And listen, even if there’s not a next step, I’m going to leave you with a deck. I’m going to leave you with some of the questions that you’re probably going to want to talk to your management team about as you think about your next 18 to 24 months. What do you look like Thursday for an executive briefing? And I promise this is going to be worth your time. Okay. Now I’m trying to trade enough value to earn a meeting. So the first value prop is you get to listen to me talk about my company, which should be a very interesting experience for you, right?
Anthony Iannarino:
And then I’m going to tell you about me, which should just be a delightful way for you to spend your Thursday afternoon. And then I’m going to tell you about our products and services. Okay. Well, I already know all those things because I have people who do what you do. And then you’re going to ask me, what’s keeping me up at night. I’m a hard pass on that. I have to wash my hair that day. So I can’t meet with you.
Will Barron:
That’s a hard pass for you if you need to wash your hair Anthony.
“The higher people get up into an executive leadership role, the more concerned they are about the things that they don’t know. And the more they start looking outside to find somebody who understands something in a way that gives them a competitive advantage without them having to do all the work. And that’s just a decision. You either want to be that in your space or you want to try to find an easier way to that conversation.” – Anthony Iannarino · [28:06]
Anthony Iannarino:
Exactly. My eyebrows maybe. The other value prop is, I want to have a conversation about strategic outcomes and what’s going on in your world and the trends and things that we’re concerned with and we’re helping our clients answer because that’s what this person’s looking for. They’re looking for ideas. And the interesting thing about the higher people get up into an executive leadership role the more concerned they are about the things that they don’t know. And the more they start looking outside to find somebody who understands something in a way that gives them a competitive advantage without them having to do all the work. And that’s, again, it’s just a decision.
Anthony Iannarino:
You either want to be that in your space or you want to try to find an easier way to the conversation that we had at the beginning. You want to try to make it easier. Well, wouldn’t it be easier to have a lead come in? It would be easier to have a lead come in, but would it be easier for you to reach your goals with leads? No. You’re going to have to go find the largest accounts in your territory and displace people if you really want to perform at the highest level in sales.
Why Salespeople Need Sales Targets and Not Sales Leads · [28:48]
Will Barron:
It seems though on another level of all of this as well. If we do have a lead come in, they’ve raised their hand, they’re interested, they’ve done a lot of the research, right? And I know we kind of poopooed this at the beginning of the show a little bit. But if a lead comes in, it’s likely they’ve put the hand up because they’ve researched five companies because they want a quote from you to do the comparison because of the done a lot of work on this themselves. Versus if you are given an executive briefing, you are almost start… You’re not quite starting at zero because you’ve done a lot of the qualification has been pre-done for you of there’s a need and all this kind of stuff. But it seems like a better position to start from regardless to anything else, just that meeting versus perhaps even getting a meeting with someone who is somewhat raised their hand.
Anthony Iannarino:
I mean, if you have a target and they’re spending millions of dollars in the category, they’re already qualified. I mean, you don’t have to worry about that conversation. That book either lunch starts like, you need targets, not leads. And I don’t know how much research people do and my experience, and I have a lot of experiences that tell me they don’t do much. And if they do, it’s a surface level, like who are they? What do they do? It’s not a deep dive into what are their views and values and how would they structure a deal different than somebody else? Or how would they structure a solution different than their competitors? They can’t see that on your website. I mean, I know everybody wants to have the website doing all this work for us, but the fact of the matter is, in a displacement that’s not going to be the way that it tends to happen for most people.
“I spoke to a group of people this last week and they were very excited that two of their dream clients downloaded something and they saw their email addresses. And I had to say to them, if those are your dream clients, and you’re excited about this, why didn’t you just call them and ask them if you could share something with them that would create value for them. I mean, why did you wait? You’re waiting two years for somebody to find you, why? You know what you want, go start doing something about it.” – Anthony Iannarino · [30:38]
Anthony Iannarino:
And the truth of the matter is, if you want mind share, if you want to capture mind share, why would you wait until anybody researches your company and offers you an RFP? That would be the exact opposite of what you would want to have happen in real life. So why let that happen to you? Why don’t you just get on your front foot instead of your back foot and go start having these conversations. I spoke to a group of people this last week and they were very excited that two of their dream clients downloaded something and they saw their email addresses. And I had to say to them, if those are your dream clients, and you’re excited about this, why didn’t you just call them and ask them, if you could share something with them that would create value for them. I mean, why did you wait? You’re waiting two years for somebody to find you, why? You know what you want. Go start doing something about it.
Salespeople Need Verified Opportunities and Not an Email Address in the Name of a Marketing Qualified Lead · [31:08]
Will Barron:
How much of this then? Because I fell foul to this a little bit. I’ve not really had other than the podcast advertising, I don’t really have a B2B product to sell. And the product is the podcast essentially in this point, and there’s the sales school, which is we’re building a specific product there that can be sold to B2B so I can continue selling and build a sales team and document it all later on. So that’s kind of another conversation, but how much of this comes down to… I don’t want to give up responsibility for any of this. How much of it comes down to marketing, focusing on perhaps content marketing rather than actually driving MQLs, which obviously then marketing qualified leads, which then we work on the backend of things.
Will Barron:
Because it seems like a lot of organisations are getting excited that someone’s downloaded this white paper, that they’ve never open or someone’s watched this video and… I’ve had people email me, go on the LinkedIn statistics and now four people from this organisation have viewed my profile, but none of them have reached out, connected or done anything. How much of this craziness comes from marketing as opposed to just sales alone?
“I think marketing needs to shift to, what are our insights, what are our views and values? What are the kinds of trade-offs that we think people should be making? What do we believe about these things? What do we believe the future means and so much of it is not geared towards that. It’s geared towards getting a name and an email address and a phone number. Okay. I did my job. I gave you a lead. That’s not a lead. And it’s certainly not an opportunity.” – Anthony Iannarino · [32:43]
Anthony Iannarino:
I don’t think it’s marketing. I think it’s technology. I just think that we’re so enamoured with technology and have been for the last, let’s call it 10 to 12 years. We’re just so enamoured with the fact that we can capture this data and that we can see these things and we want it to have meaning. They downloaded the white paper. They downloaded our white paper, this is the greatest thing. Not because they’re trying to buy what you sell because you had a white paper that had an interesting topic there. And I’ll tell you what I think marketing needs to shift to. Marketing needs to shift to, what are our insights, what are our views and values? What are the kind of trade offs that we think people should be making? What do we believe about these things?
“I think marketing, the shift that they have to make is from lead generation to opportunity creation because that’s what we’re really trying to do, is create an opportunity to displace a competitor, not just get a name and a phone number. That’s easy now.” – Anthony Iannarino · [33:12]
Anthony Iannarino:
What do we believe the future means and so much of it is not geared towards that. It’s geared towards get a name and an email address and a phone number. Okay. I did my job. I gave you a lead. That’s not a lead. And it’s certainly not an opportunity. So I think marketing, the shift that they have to make is from lead generation to opportunity creation because that’s what we’re really trying to do is create an opportunity to displace a competitor, not just get a name and a phone number. That’s easy now. There’s a whole bunch of people, Zoom info. We can get you the name and the phone number and the email address. That’s not hard. The interest and the decision to change, that’s a different conversation.
When to Talk About the Competition During an Executive Briefing · [33:40]
Will Barron:
Okay. So final thing to wrap up on all of this. Say we get our… You described it as an executive briefing. I love that. Just using that language alone separates you for most of the competition, right? So we get the meeting. It goes, well, we’ve got 20 minutes. We’re giving them all these insights. They are kind of perking up. We can see the body language. They’re excited. They’re almost drooling into work orders in some capacity, just so to keep access to all this data, information, insights, whatever it is. When do we bring up the fact that they’ve got an incumbent supplier. Do we go straight in for the jugular of all this and just try and just differentiate ourselves, and then say, look just converge, come over. Or is there an element of nurture to all of this?
Anthony Iannarino:
There’s a long… I mean, the exploration of change happens first. You’re going to have a couple conversations. What happens within a briefing like that is people start asking questions. They start saying, well, what do you guys think about this? And what do you think about that? And at some point you have to go back to the second book, the Lost Art of Closing and be willing to say something that sounds like, Will it sounds like there’s a couple areas here that are still worth exploring. What I’d like to recommend is that we get back together and let me share a little bit about some of the choices other people have made and see if any of it might make sense for what might come next for you and your organisation. I mean, I have to start getting into a discovery conversation to say, now we’re going to collaborate and figure out what the right answer might look like.
Anthony Iannarino:
And now I’m going to build consensus and start bringing in the other stakeholders because you’re not walking in having a meeting with an executive and them firing their long time partner of 15 years. Like, this guy came in with a great deck. We’re going to fire you today. No, it doesn’t work that way. It takes time and you have to go through a process. And again, the reason I put the books in the order that I did is first be somebody worth buying from. Second, know how to control that process and have this conversation. And then you can start worrying about the displacement. So this is the book. The books are really kind of a trilogy in that they kind of belong together. Not like Lord of the Rings kind of a trilogy, but sort of you have to go through the process of becoming somebody that’s worth buying from. Truly becoming consultative and having difficult conversations and then the rest of this gets easier.
Anthony’s Advise to His Younger Self on How to Become Better at Selling · [35:55]
Will Barron:
Makes total sense. Well, clearly we’ll recommend all the books at the top of the show and in the show notes. But with that, Anthony, I’ve got one final question to ask everyone that comes on the show. I’ve asked you a couple of times now. I’ll ask you again. And that is, if you could go back in time and speak to your younger self, what would be the one piece of advice you’d give him to help him become better at selling?
Anthony Iannarino:
I’m going to tell you what I now believe to be my final answer on this question. Okay. So this is my final answer. I wouldn’t tell the younger me anything. He was perfectly dumb and made tremendous mistakes and those mistakes are why he’s slightly less dumb now. And I would just let him make the mistakes. Like just make them and be thoughtful enough not to repeat them over and over again. So I’m not going to say anything. I’m just going to sit by and watch and let him learn.
Will Barron:
Fair enough. Astute advice. We talked about this on a previous episode recently of, I was a complete idiot until I was 25. Then when I was 30, it went up to, I thought I was an idiot until I was 28. And now being 32, I was an idiot of everything I was doing with the podcast when we first launched it kind of three and a half years ago. And it’ll probably go on further. So, I’m kind of coming around to your way of thinking here of [crosstalk 00:37:00]
Anthony Iannarino:
I promise you, it goes on forever.
Parting Thoughts · [37:15]
Will Barron:
Good. Well, that’s that’s food for thought for perhaps some of the younger audience who are trying to instil all this and osmosis it. In other words, use osmosis to get it into their brains. With that, Anthony tell us where we can find the book and kind of give us the trilogy and where we can find out more about you as well.
Anthony Iannarino:
The books you’re going to find at amazon.com or bookstores. I don’t know about the UK. Tougher there. All in the United States, all Barnes and Nobles have the books. Amazon.com is the best place probably to get those, unless you buy them in bulk. And then you go to 800 CEO read, because you’re going to get the best deal. And they’re real book people. I mean, they actually care about books. Best place to find me, thesalesblog.com and the best thing to do when you get there, sign up for the Sunday newsletter. Goes out to about 80,000 people now. And that’s my best work every week. At least is my favourite work every single week.
Will Barron:
Perfect. Well with that, again, appreciate the time. We’ve only gone through a third of the book here. So hopefully we’ll have you on to dive through the other two thirds in the future. And with that, I want to thank you for joining us again on the salesman podcast.
How To Destroy The Most Common Sales Objections | Salesman Podcast
Sep 08, 2022
Here’s an eye-opener for ya—92% of sales reps quit after hearing “no” four times. But it turns out 80% of prospects say “no” four times before saying “yes”!
The lesson here? Sales objections happen. But success boils down to how you respond to them. That’s why in this video we’re covering how to respond to the 5 most common sales objections you’re bound to hear.
Alright but before we jump into that, just a word on sales objections.
Sales objections are not bad. Not by any means.
Instead, what you’re getting from your buyer here is an open window. An open window into what makes them tick, what they’re concerned about, and most importantly, what’s holding them back from saying yes.
So if you can turn that sticking point of an objection into a “Yes”, that question mark into an exclamation point, you’re going to have a more enthusiastic buyer on the other end of things.
You just have to know how to address these objections properly. And that’s what we’re covering right now. So let’s dive in.
The Two Pathways
The two ways you can respond to an objection. No matter what the objection is, there are two pathways you can take when a buyer brings up an objection.
A) The Circle Back Method
The Circle Back Method. See, most objections come from a lack of understanding. And when the prospect learns more about your offering, like later on the call, then the original objection is no longer an issue.
These aren’t “stupid” objections. They’ll just get answered over the natural course of the presentation. So in these situations, just respond with “Okay, we’ll come back to that in a minute.”
Simple as that!
Then there’s pathway number two…
B) Solve the Issue
Solve the issue. If it’s a real objection, solve the issue. And then, and this is important, follow up to make sure it’s solved.
In some cases, these objections might come out as a knee-jerk response. For instance, if you have a buyer that says, “I don’t think we have the budget for this,” and you haven’t even hit pricing yet, push the issue rather than let it go.
Ask them, “Do you know what the price is?” In many cases, you’ll find that a little bit of pushing reveals that they don’t actually understand the product like they think.
In cases like this, some simple information can solve the problem in a second. If they don’t actually know what the pricing is, tell them. If they don’t think it’s right for their industry, point to their competitors that are using your product.
Another simple solution.
Now, where it gets complicated is when they have all the information they need and still have objections. And that’s when it’s time to bring out the big guns.
So, let’s look at the 5 most common sales objections and how to respond to them.
5 Most Common Sales Objections
1) “This Is Too Expensive”
First up, this is too expensive. According to a survey from Sales Insights Lab, budget is the number one reason a strong sales opportunity falls apart. And it makes sense! Business is money.
And if you hear this sales objection, it’s because they don’t see ROI from working with you.
But instead of closing up shop right then and there, ask…
“If I could show you a strong ROI that you could expect from working with us, would it make sense to continue the conversation?”
In 99% of cases, the answer is going to be yes. All you have to do then is point to past success stories with a great ROI. If the ROI makes sense to them, Bam! Sold. If not, they weren’t going to be happy with your product anyway. Best to move on.
2) “Now Isn’t a Good Time”
Now isn’t a good time.
Here the buyer either doesn’t see the value that you offer OR they’re not qualified to do business with you.
Now you could handle this like any other sales rep and just leave your contact info. But if you did that, you’d NEVER hear from them again.
Instead, you need to close on the next conversation. And you can do that by following up with…
“You seem like a great fit for what we do. When would it make sense to chat?”
Now you’ve got a date you can call back on without running into any friction from the buyer.
Alright third objection…
3) “I Already Have Another Supplier”
I already have another supplier. So selling to a brand new customer in your market is one thing. You’ve got to convince them of your value, push their pain point buttons, and get them to fight for the budget.
But for buyers that already have a similar solution, you’ve got to focus on how your value proposition stacks up against who they’re already using.
In some situations, these customers can be even easier to win over than brand new ones. You just need to find out how their current solution isn’t making the cut.
Simple solution here. Ask…
“Are you thrilled with how X are performing for you right now?” This will open up the door to where they’re falling flat and let you see if you’re in a position to help.
4) “Just Email Me Some Information”
Just email me some information. The ultimate blow-off. It typically happens at the very beginning of a call. And here, they don’t care about you… YET.
Your job now is to make them care about you. And you can do that by sending them the right kind of info.
That’s why you should follow up with…
“Can I ask you a couple of quick questions to make sure that I’m sending you the correct information?”
Two things going on here. First, you’re learning more about the buyer and their problem so the info you send is just what they’re looking for.
But beyond that, you’re also qualifying the buyer. Are they even a fit for what you’re selling? If not, you can cut them loose and save yourself a whole lot of time.
5) “I Need to Ask My Boss”
I need to ask my boss. This is the one that’s your fault. You’re not speaking to the right person within the account. And that means you need to bring the real decision-maker into the conversation.
And you can do that with one simple response…
“Does it make sense to book a quick call with both your boss and yourself to run through this?”
What’s great about this response is it doesn’t cut out your initial contact. And that means you won’t risk embarrassing them or putting them on the defensive.
The Book That Made Me Proud to Work in Sales | Selling Made Simple
Sep 05, 2022
Look, “selling” gets a bad rap these days. But after reading this monumental book, I realized that EVERYONE sells, especially in the modern workplace. To sell is to be human. And when you do it with the right approach, it’ll make you proud to be in sales, just like I am.
Today we’re talking about the book that made me proud to work in sales, To Sell Is Human by Daniel Pink. We’ll be covering two foundational concepts covered by his work.
Selling: We All Do It
We aaallll are sellers. From the retail professional over at GAP to Fortune 500 secretaries, mom-n-pop accountants, and traveling HR consultants. No matter who you are or what you do, odds are you’ve had to sell someone on an idea before.
Pitched an idea in a meeting? That’s selling. Asked for a raise? That’s selling. Convinced your co-worker to speed up signing the checks so you could get them out in today’s mail? S.E.L.L.I.N.G.
Pink took this idea and used it to form what he calls Contemporary Selling. This kind of selling is about moving others to exchange resources that include but do not revolve around money.
Contemporary selling isn’t about PRODUCT. It’s about SERVICE.
Okay, so what does this all mean for you, a sales professional?
The New Paradigm: What That Means for Professional Sales
It means there’s a new sales paradigm. Rather than “selling” in the traditional sense, your job is to render a service to your prospects and clients. And your job is to do it with the end goal of improving their lives.
Now there are two specific steps you can take to sell better in this new paradigm.
1. Making It Personal
I’ve seen lots of reps try to keep their relationships all-business and ultra “professional.” To a fault even. While there’s a time and place for that, leaning too heavily into it creates distance rather than forging a connection with the customer.
Instead, try coming from a place of passion. You LIKE what you’re selling. You believe in it. And you want others to get the same value from it that you do. When you approach your relationships this way, you come off as credible, not profit-driven. And that builds trust.
Example
Here’s an example of making it personal for you.
Say you sell a certain type of large-scale project management software for Fortune 500 companies. And guess what? You hate what you sell. It’s inefficient. It’s overpriced. And frankly, it just doesn’t do a great job of solving your buyers’ real problems.
Since you know making a sale won’t actually help the prospects you’re selling to, you have to find value in other aspects of the deal. You’re making money. You’re boosting your numbers. You’re shooting for a promotion and this will seal the deal. Ultimately the potential buyer becomes a means to an end. And that leads to devaluing them and their needs… not good for sales.
But on the other hand, say you love what you’re selling. You know it works. You’ve seen how it makes your other clients’ lives easier. And you think your potential buyer will get a lot out of it too.
When you approach a sale with that mindset, your genuineness shines through. You’re there to provide a service. And your buyers can tell. So they trust you, what you have to say, and the value of your product.
2. Make It Purposeful
It’s easy to get caught up and bogged down in the specifics of your solution. The nitty-gritty features, the in-the-weeds technical details, the straightforward use cases. And if you spend too much time here, you may not realize that what you’re selling is actually connected to a broader purpose.
As it turns out, studies show the desire to serve is innate. It’s built right into us. And you’re most successful when you believe you’re serving not just you, not just the client. But also a larger person than both of you.
When you connect your solution to that larger purpose, you’re more passionate. You’re more service-oriented. And more driven than ever.
So to be more purposeful, focus on how your service can improve society as a whole and frame it that way to potential buyers.
Example
Say you sell accounting software specifically for mom-and-pop sized businesses.
Your product is powerful enough to keep these businesses’ costs down by keeping things compliant. But it’s also easy enough to use that they won’t have to hire an accountant.
Your product also works really well, your clients love it. That alone is a great driving force you can get behind.
But take things a step further.
You’re helping these businesses stay afloat. But you’re also contributing to a world where small but valuable businesses can compete with the big box stores. You’re making it easier for new ideas to thrive and not be immediately squashed by monopolies. And you’re also helping contribute to the values of the free market—competition, ingenuity, and the freedom for anyone to participate.
And you thought you were just selling accounting software!
When you make your work purposeful, you make it important. That shines through with your buyers.
And when you do that, you too will be proud to work in sales.
Tom Hopkins is a sales training legend. Since 1976, Tom Hopkins International has been dedicated to providing the finest sales training strategies and techniques to individuals and companies alike.
On this episode of The Salesman Podcast Tom shares 4 ways you can deal with a potential customer saying “no” to your sales pitch.
Storytelling in Business - Drive More Engagement With Prospects | Salesman Podcast
Sep 01, 2022
The everyday sales pitch is boring.
Running through features, hitting on target metrics, going through product slide after product slide after produ…
Truth be told, the everyday sales pitch sucks. And your buyers think so too.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. You can deliver a powerful, effective message while driving engagement, stirring emotions, and generating real buying intent.
And it’s all thanks to storytelling in business.
In this guide, I’ll show you how to incorporate compelling stories during your sales pitch using a simple five-point framework. I’ll also cover why business storytelling drives serious selling success, pro tips for how to tell a good story, and three goals every sales story should have.
Now, let’s dive into this potent sales technique
Why Storytelling in Business Just Plain Works
If there’s one thing that unites all humans, it’s that no one likes change. It can be scary. And adapting to it takes work. So, why should you go through the necessary changes to bring storytelling into your processes?
As it turns out, there are four reasons in particular why a business story just plain works.
A) Engaging on a Fundamental Level
First and foremost, a compelling story is engaging. And not just “meh” engaging. But engaging on a fundamental, biological level.
See, we’ve been hard-wired for thousands, even tens of thousands of years to pass on important information via storytelling. In fact, some of the earliest evidence of stories come from cave drawings in France that go back as far as 30,000 years.
Studies have shown that how character-driven a story is can predict how much people are willing to donate to charitable causes. A message wrapped in a well-constructed story is more likely to be understood (and even recalled weeks later). And even our conception of ourselves, our own identity, is built on a storytelling foundation.
Humans are storytellers and story-listeners. And when you incorporate that nature into your selling process, you’re tapping into that biological underpinning.
B) Taps Into Emotions
Logic is an important aspect of any sale. If you can’t make the numbers, the buyer isn’t going to bother giving you a try. Hey, it’s just business.
But sales is about emotion too. Sometimes it’s even more important than logic.
Emotion is the driving factor behind decision-making. It’s the excitement, the trust, the gravitational pull that causes buyers to say, “Yes! I want this.” And logic, while important, is more about justifying that purchase decision.
When you’re telling your great story to prospects, you’re helping them feel the same ups and downs as your “characters” or past buyers. And as a result, you’re priming their emotions to make a purchase decision.
“Fundamentally, we make decisions emotionally, and if all we’re doing is spouting features and benefits, we’re really engaging the logical part of the brain. The logical part of the brain does not make decisions. But analyses and captures information to weigh pros and cons, but decisions are made emotionally. And what stories do is they tap into the emotional center of the listener, and that’s where the decisions are made.” – Interview with Adrian Davis, President & CEO of Whetstone Inc.
C) Lets the Buyer Feel Like the Hero
In the same vein as the last point, when your buyer feels the emotions of your narrative’s hero, they start feeling like the hero themselves. And that is key to driving real action.
Unfortunately, a lot of sales reps don’t get this point until far later in their careers. They try to make themselves look like the hero—the rep who knows it all, who has all the expert knowledge, and who has helped countless others.
But the truth is, the buyer does not care about you.
On a human-to-human level, of course they do. But when they’re faced with serious change (switching vendors, putting their reputation on the line, etc.), they need to feel the jubilation that comes from being the reason for a massive business success.
And it’s up to you to help them feel that way.
“I think most of us want to come in as salespeople, and I sell all the time, so I’m no different, and we want to be the hero. Well, I’ve got bad news, we’re not the hero, we need to make our customer the hero.” – Interview with Ken Rutsky, Consultant, Speaker, Mentor, & Author
D) A Subtle Way to Boast Success
Last but not least, a story is a way to hint (just hint) at your own success. Without straying too far from the real hero of the story—the buyer—telling a story about a past client lets you say, “Hey, I’ve helped plenty of people like you. See?”
As we all know, social proof is the undisputed king of tools for building trust. But if you bombard prospects with testimonials and case studies right off the bat, they’re only going to head for the hills. They’re just not at that stage of the buyer’s journey yet.
But when you tell a story that really connects with your prospects, you’re helping them understand the problem, explore the solution, and see that you are ultimately the gatekeeper to their success.
This lets the prospect know that you have a deep understanding of your target audience. That you’ve seen relatable experiences and you answer their questions in an authentic way.
Pretty cool, right?
The Sales Rep’s Storytelling Framework
Now that you understand why storytelling in business-to-business sales is so important, it’s time to dive into the how.
Lets get into some storytelling skills for the business world.
Now, there are plenty of different ways to approach great storytelling. But what I’ve found works the best is following a simple five-step process I like to call The Sales Rep’s Storytelling Framework.
It looks a little something like this:
Illustrate the Current Reality
Dive Into the Unresolved Pain
Encountering the Success Blockers
Illuminate the Future Reality
Build the Reality Bridge
1. Illustrate the Current Reality
The very first step to telling an effective sales story is to start with a previous customer you helped overcome a problem—a problem that’s strikingly similar to what your current prospect is going through.
Maybe it’s that their business’ growth has stalled in recent months. Or their team isn’t working nearly as efficiently as they should. Or it could be that they’ve hit a success roadblock that they just can’t seem to overcome.
Whatever the problem is, it should be a problem that resonates with your prospect. And it should be a problem that they themselves are encountering in their current reality.
Some points to drive home here are that:
The current reality, well… it sucks. And frankly, it might always suck. Unless something’s done about the situation of course.
It might not be the hero’s fault. Things change in business. And most things are out of people’s control. They’re a victim of circumstance.
This stage is laying the groundwork for the amazing solution to come later. So the bleaker you make this part of the story, the better.
How to Tell a Good Story Pro Tip: Do your research. The more intimately familiar you are with your prospect (problem they’re facing, pain points, goals, etc.), the more this introduction to the story is going to resonate with your prospect. And consequently, the more effective the story will be.
“If you want to close deals, if you want to win business, make it about them. It’s not about you. It doesn’t matter how great your product is. What is it going to do for them? Do your research on them, give them as many good examples of how it’s helped similar people, but make it 100% about them.” – Interview with Daniel Disney, Author, Speaker, & Founder/Owner of The Daily Sales
2. Dig Into the Unresolved Pain
Once you’ve introduced the hero and the broad strokes of the problem, it’s time to really drive the pain home. In copywriting terms, this is what’s known as “agitating” the pain. And it’s an essential step to get your prospect to really connect with the story on an emotional level.
Your goal here is to make your prospect really feel what the hero is going through. And you do that by adding more detail, fleshing out the thoughts and emotions of the hero, and upping the tension.
Some questions you may want to cover are:
What are the consequences of this pain? – Think along the lines of missed revenue goals, delayed product launch, costly inefficiencies, etc.
Who do they look stupid in front of because of the pain or problem? – Their boss? Their colleagues? Their family members and friends?
Who is judging them? – Saying they could do the job better? Thinking the hero should never have had the position in the first place?
What is on the line? – A raise or bonus? A job? An entire department?
How to Tell a Good Story Pro Tip: Come at the problem from all the angles here. Money is a motivating factor, sure. But it’s not the only thing people consider when making a choice. Don’t be afraid to dive into the social consequences too.
“The number one fear that will stop most people from doing most things isn’t failure, it’s embarrassment.” – Interview with Michael Reddington, Certified Forensic Interviewer & President of InQuasive, Inc
3. Encountering the Success Blockers
At this stage of the story, the unrelenting pain points should force the hero into action. But before they settle on a solution (your solution), they encounter two roadblocks to success:
The Status Quo
They’re Lost
Blocker #1: The Status Quo
As we all know, the status quo is the existing state of affairs—it’s where we’re at now. It’s where everything stays the same and nothing changes, for the worse or the better.
And as a sales rep, you should know that the status quo is generally the enemy. It’s what keeps buyers from finding new (and more effective) solutions to their problems. And it’s what needs to be dealt with before they adopt your solution.
In our story, the status quo is built including four elements:
Selection Overwhelm – Selection overwhelm is when a buyer knows that they have a problem, but they don’t take action because they see so many potential solutions in the marketplace. This is where product differentiation comes in, a topic I’ve talked about plenty before. And at this stage in the story, it’s a great spot to reiterate just what makes your solution so superior to the competition.
Confirmation Bias – Confirmation bias is one of the tougher aspects of the status quo to overcome. Essentially, this bias is our mind’s tendency to stick by our previous decision and defend it wholeheartedly. The reason we have this bias is because it protects our self-image. If we admit that the previous solution we chose isn’t up to snuff, it’s a blow to our ego. And rather than finding a new, better solution, we stand by our old one. It’s your job to prove that this is a mistake.
Blowback Risk – The blowback risk is the very real risk that your potential buyer will look stupid if your proposed solution does not work out. Your reputation and brand in your industry will make a massive dent in this fear when you demonstrate your expertise and develop a network of satisfied customers.
Initial Cost of Change – Finally, the initial cost of change is that first chunk of energy that the buyer needs to spend to start using your solution. Fighting for the budget, implementing your product, and any other number of time-consuming tasks may all need to be taken care of before the buyer starts seeing benefits. The easier you can make it for the buyer, then, the more likely they’ll be to sign on.
“Buyers are looking to make a choice or an improvement in their environment. And a ‘do nothing deal’ happens when they decide to stick with their status quo.” –Interview with Tom Pisello, Chief Evangelist for Sales Enablement at Mediafly
Blocker #2: They’re Lost
That status quo is without a doubt the biggest barrier to buying. And when you deal with it effectively (or rather show how you dealt with it with past customers), there’s only one blocker left: the buyer is lost.
They don’t have all the answers. At least not yet, anyway.
And in the complicated world of B2B buying, knowing which solution is right for their problem (and how to implement it effectively) is confusing.
That’s why they’re looking for help. They’re looking for a guide, a mentor of sorts, that can simplify the process for them and tell them exactly what they need to know to make the right decision.
Sound familiar? Yep, that’s you!
But don’t jump into the story just yet. Instead, we’re first going to move on to the next step to really build the excitement.
4. Illuminate the Future Reality
Now that we’ve explained the current reality for the hero, dug deep into their pain points, and effectively described their success blockers, it’s time to paint a picture of their reality after implementing the solution.
The goal of this step is to generate enthusiasm in the buyer and to put them in the shoes of the hero.
How did the hero’s life improve after adopting the solution? Were they able to achieve or even outperform their professional goals? Did their stress levels drop? Did the higher-ups recognize all the hard work the hero went through to achieve these results?
Now’s the time to show just what’s possible when your buyer breaks through their wall of status quo and finds the right guide to get them the results they’re after.
How to Tell a Good Story Pro Tip: Get visceral with the future. Details are key here to driving real connection here. The more detailed and relevant you can make this for the buyer, the better they’ll be able to imagine themselves in the shoes of the hero. And that’s exactly what we’re after here.
“The average human being struggles to envision the future. They can see the present, they can see the past, but they really struggle to see the future. And what a before and after picture allows someone to do is think of the present photo, and that after photo as the future. That’s why I think that salespeople have an opportunity, and I would dare say maybe even a responsibility, to preview the future for their customers that their customers aren’t going to be able to envision on their own.” – Interview with Joey Coleman, Author, Speaker, & Chief Experience Composer at Design Symphony
5. Build the Reality Bridge
Finally, it’s time to tie everything together. It’s time to explain that you are the guide/mentor that took the hero from their current reality to their better future reality.
It was you that let them bridge the gap across their success blockers.
It was you that helped them see why your product stood out from the competition. Why adopting a new solution is a good investment. Why they don’t have to be concerned about blowback. And why implementing your solution doesn’t have to be stressful and time-consuming.
It was you that helped them achieve those jaw-dropping performance results, reduce their stress, and show the C-suite why the buyer is the best person for the job.
And yes, of course, you can do the same thing for the prospect too. You can make them the hero in their own story. All they have to do is say, “yes.”
If you’ve done everything right up until this point, you’ll now be talking to an engaged, excited, and ready-to-start prospect who’s just dying to work with you.
And it’s all because you told an excellent story.
“How you know that you actually won the prospect over is when they lean forward and say, “Can you tell me more about how you worked with Fred? What exactly did you guys do?” – Interview with Adrian Davis, President & CEO of Whetstone Inc.
How to Tell a Good Story: 3 Goals
Now that you understand how to tell a good story during your sales pitch, let’s go over three guiding principles you should never forget.
These are the ultimate goals you should be shooting for with your storytelling.
When you hit the three goals below, you’re using storytelling in business to its maximum effect.
Goal #1: Connect to the Buyer
Above all else is connection.
You want the buyer to feel like they are the heroes of the story. They are the ones that can achieve all the success you touched on. And in order to do that, you need to drive buy-in.
So, how do you get your prospect into the shoes of the hero?
First is research. Match your story to the real problems, pain points, and other details to those of the prospect.
Second, try dropping in key phrases that “transport” the prospect into the story. Phrases like:
“Does this sound familiar?”
“How would you have solved this?”
“Could you see yourself there too?”
Beyond just putting the buyer into the role of the hero, they also keep your audience engaged and part of the story.
Goal #2: Requalify the Prospect
Your story is also a great way to actually requalify the prospect to see if they’re a good fit for your solution.
Ask the buyer outright, “do you have these issues?” or “how would you have solved this?”
If their response is no, that’s fine. Just pivot to a different story and test that.
But if you aren’t making any headway and continue to get negative responses, it’s a good sign that this lead isn’t right for your business. And from there, you can take the appropriate actions to refer the lead to someone else.
Goal #3: Close, Close, Close
Finally, the goal of the story is to (duh) close, close, close!
If the buyer has been nodding their head throughout the story, you know it’s time to pounce. After you share that you’re the mentor that they’re looking for to achieve similar outcomes, ask, “Would it make sense for me to help you navigate this too?”
Making this ask is a powerful way to close the emotional side of the sale right then and there.
“If you can understand what your customer’s “good” looks like in six months time, guess what, you’re selling to his perception or her perception of value. And that’s what a customer buys. Customers don’t buy technology, they buy outcomes, I believe.” – Interview with Julian Reading, Sales Enablement Expert
Wrapping Up
Storytelling in business is a powerful tool for any sales rep looking to boost their selling effectiveness. That’s because it’s fundamentally human, taps into a prospect’s emotions, lets them feel like the hero, and subtly sells your success.
But to get the most benefits possible, you need to know how to tell a story. And with The Sales Rep’s Storytelling Framework, effective storytelling in sales is easy. Just:
Illustrate the Current Reality
Dive Into the Unresolved Pain
Encountering the Success Blockers
Illuminate the Future Reality
Build the Reality Bridge
With this framework, you can add some life to your sales pitch. No more driving buyers to sleep by endlessly slogging through features and metrics. Instead, prospects will be more engaged, more receptive to your solution, and (of course) more likely to buy from you.
Your B2B Buyer's Journey: A Comprehensive Guide For Sellers | Salesman Podcast
Aug 30, 2022
Times have changed for B2B salespeople.
Not too long ago, buyers used to do light research on a solution before reaching out to a sales rep for more detailed information. These interactions helped educate buyers about the product. But they also gave salespeople all the power when it came to controlling the buyer’s journey.
These days, however, the buyer’s journey is in the hands of the buyer. Pricing, product features, case studies—these sales assets (and many more) are typically all available online. And buyers now move through 70% of the buyer’s journey on their own, not at the urging of a sales rep.
So, how do you navigate this new B2B selling landscape? And how do you determine what your own buyer’s journey is for your ideal customers?
That’s exactly what this guide examines. Inside, we’ll be defining the buyer’s journey, explaining how it’s changed over the years (and what that means for you), and detailing what you need to consider when redefining your buyer’s journey.
What Is the Buyer’s Journey?
As a quick refresher, let’s outline exactly what a buyer journey is. Also known as a customer journey or purchase cycle, a buyer’s journey is essentially how your buyers go from being unaware of their problem to deciding to purchase your solution.
As you know, buyers don’t wake up one day and make purchase decisions on a whim (especially true in the B2B world). Instead, buyers need to first recognize they have a problem, learn more about it, and research the best solutions before deciding on a solution.
The length of a buyer’s journey tends to depend on the level of risk involved.
For pricier solutions, the buyer’s journey is longer. Buyers need to do more research to justify their purchase. And they’ll need more convincing to jump onboard.
For less expensive solutions, the opposite is true. With less at stake, buyers feel more comfortable making quick decisions.
As a buyer progresses through different stages of the customer journey, they’ll have different concerns that need addressing before moving to the next stage. And it’s your job as a successful sales rep to meet those needs every step of the way.
For example if your buyer is already at the consideration stage because they’ve consumed someone elses inbound marketing efforts then their buying process is nearly complete and it’s going to be difficult to win business from them.
Alternatively, if you’re prospecting a slightly different buyer persona and they’re still in the research and decision process then you’ve still got a chance to solve a pain point or two and influence their purchase process.
Breaking Down the Buyer’s Journey Stages
So, what are the buyer’s journey stages? First, let’s take a closer look.
No Awareness – This stage is when the buyer doesn’t even know they have a problem. That can mean they’re entirely unaware of it in the first place, or (more likely) they don’t understand that a current inefficiency can actually be fixed.
Awarenessstage – This is when the buyer acknowledges the problem exists and seeks out more information about it. A buyer in this stage will respond to content types that examine their problem and shed light on why this problem exists in the first place.
Exploring Solutions – Now that your buyer fully understands the problem they’re dealing with, they’re going to start researching solutions. What types of solutions are out there on the market? And which type will fix their problem?
Comparing Vendors – This is when buyers get into the nitty-gritty. After determining the solution type, it’s time to drill down into how the vendors stack up against one another. Which has the most valuable features? How do they compare on price? And what services will align best with their business?
Purchase Decision – The final stage of the B2B buyer’s journey is making a purchase decision. This stage is when buyers have settled on a solution but still need a bit of a push over the edge. They need reinforcement that they’re doing the right thing. And they need reassurance that this solution is right for them.
Then Vs. Now – What’s Changed in the B2B Buyer’s Journey?
While the stages of the B2B buyer’s journey haven’t changed, the sales rep’s role in that journey certainly has. And that’s all thanks to an increasingly digitalized sales cycle.
According to HubSpot, a whopping 77% of purchasers won’t talk to a salesperson until they’ve done their own research. And that was in 2015. These days, the numbers are even higher.
Decision-makers are relying on their research to learn more about their problems and possible solutions than ever before. They’re leaning into marketing automation and search engine results pages to educate them rather than calls with sales reps.
As a result, sales reps like you need to understand the difference between the old buyer journey and the new buyer journey and then tailor your sales process accordingly.
The Old Buyer Journey
In the old days, the sales rep would shoulder most of the burden to ushering potential buyers through the active research process and customer journey.
As you can see from the traditional buyer’s journey above, educational materials would only play a role in informing buyers about the problem and touching on the solutions.
From the third stage on, buyers would get most of their information and educational materials from the reps, not from their own research. This, of course, put a lot of control in the hands of the reps and this is why a hard sales pitch became common place.
Reps could assess where the buyers were in their journey and feed them materials that they needed to move on to the next phase.
These materials might include:
Articles
How-To Guides
Relevant content
White Papers
Product Spec Sheets
Case Studies
Demo Videos
Product Comparison Guides
Free Samples
The New Buyer Journey
Where the traditional buyer’s journey allowed for maximum control, the modern buyer’s journey is much more hands-off for sales reps like you.
Rather than coming to you for educational materials, buyers now expect to access much of that information independently. And that’s even more true today in a post-COVID era.
A 2020 McKinsey study, for example, found that 70-80% of B2B decision-makers prefer remote human interactions or digital self-service models vs. “traditional” in-person models. Just 20% of buyers said they hope to return to in-person sales. And that’s even in industries where field sales have dominated, like pharmaceuticals and medical products.
Buyers now expect to access the content they need to move through the first four stages of a customer journey by themselves. They want to learn about their problems, possible solutions, and various vendors on their own first. Then and only then are they willing to get on the phone with a salesperson.
You’ll also notice the modern buyer’s journey is longer than the traditional journey. Whereas educating buyers and closing a complex sale could happen in the span of just a few days before, most buyers are now taking longer to get to that “yes” decision.
What This Shift Means for You
So, what does all this mean for you as a B2B salesperson? Well, there are a few key takeaways here.
A) Prepare for a Longer Sales Cycle
Turning a prospect into a confirmed buyer takes longer than ever. Demand Gen Report found about 58% of buyers report their decision-making process is becoming longer year over year.
Part of that is due to more readily available competition. With so many products ripe for the picking in the digital world, B2B buyers have many options to choose from. Of course, some of those options won’t be right for the job. But even still, simply weeding through all the not-right products out there takes time.
On top of that, B2B deals are becoming increasingly complex. On average, it takes input from 6 to 10 decision-makers to settle on a solution, according to Gartner. That means there are bound to be more emails, product demos, sales calls, and nurturing cycles than most B2B salespeople were used to even a decade ago.
Here’s how you can adapt to a longer sales cycle:
Avoid pushy sales tactics and adopt an educational attitude.
Develop a solid sales cadence to keep prospects engaged over time.
Work on building out educational and valuable content for every stage of the buyer journey.
Keep detailed accounts of what content your buyers have engaged with so you understand when to step in.
Focus on customer lifetime value where possible with your buyer personas. It’s far easier to close one target audience more than once than it is to close fresh prospects over and over.
B) Focus on Strategic Content
In the world of B2B sales, the salesperson with the best content is king.
These days, buyers are interacting with content more than ever before. And they’re doing it on their own too. Research from FocusVision found that B2B buyers now consume at least 13 pieces of content before making a buying decision.
That’s why it’s so important for you as a sales rep to make the shift to creating valuable, customer-focused content for every stage of the buyer’s cycle. On the one hand, it reinforces you as a thought leader.
Selling expert Victor Antonio said the same thing when Salesman.org interviewed him:
“The majority of executives don’t want to talk to a salesperson, they simply don’t. They want to do the whole customer journey by themselves. And then, when I’m ready, I’ll reach out to you. Well, how do I reach out? Well, this is the guy that’s got content, he seems to know what he’s talking about. I’m going to go call Will, see what’s happening over there.”
Great content, then, builds trust. And it funnels more buyers into your pipeline.
Beyond that, great content also caters to your buyers’ desire to move through the cycle at their own pace. You’re meeting them where they want to be rather than forcing them into a journey they don’t want to participate in. And that is how you appeal to buyers today.
C) Adopt an “Education First, Salesmanship Second” Mindset
The modern B2B buyer’s journey is no longer linear. Instead, decision-makers will flow from Awareness to Exploring Solutions to Comparing Vendors and back to Awareness again, all in a single cycle. What’s more, they may dip their toes in each stage at the same time.
Rather than a straightforward path, then, Gartner suggests a B2B buyer journey may look closer to this:
Throughout such a complicated journey, individual salesmanship is likely to be lost in the shuffle of information.
What takes its place in importance is your ability to provide educational materials every step of the way. And the more focused you are on delivering value rather than simply talking your way into a sale, the better your numbers will be.
D) Equip Yourself With Alignment Tools
You’ve already seen how the modern buyer’s cycle is heavily dependent on delivering quality, educational content.
In the old world, you would know exactly what content your buyer is consuming because, well, you showed it to them in the first place. But with so much research and engagement happening before you even speak to a lead, you need to know exactly what your buyers have interacted with beforehand. That’s where your CRM tool comes in.
With the right CRM (customer relationship management) tool, you’ll have a complete record of which content leads have already consumed and where they may be at on the buyer’s journey.
Mapping Your Buyer’s Journey
The purpose of changing up your buyer’s journey is to create a sales cycle that more buyers respond to positively. And for most B2B businesses, that means shifting away from a product-focused approach and towards a buyer-focused model.
Jeff Koser of Zebrafi put it best in a recent interview with Salesman.org:
“[Buyers] don’t care about your product, they care about themselves. And they have to. It’s their job. That’s why there’s such a fundamental difference between the buying journey that a prospect wants to go down versus a sales cycle that most salespeople try to conduct. And by shifting to pain, business issues, and value, you’re actually making more of the shift to the buyer’s journey that they want to participate in.”
To figure out how your own customers are moving through the buyer’s journey, you need to take into account the following factors:
Which step you’re meeting them at
Where they’ve been
What pain points they’re experiencing
What their next step will be
How you get them to that next step
1) Which Step Do You Meet Them?
Where are you currently reaching out to buyers? Again, if it’s in the earlier stages, you should consider shifting that to later in the sales cycle.
Generally speaking, you will likely want to steer clear of direct interactions until late in the Comparing Vendors Stage/Purchase Stage.
True, there was a time when you could swoop in during the solution exploration stage. But today, ushering buyers through this part of the customer journey is better left to educational content.
It is worth noting, of course, that every industry is going to be different. And your unique buyers may respond better to earlier outreach.
But the key here is to test alternative contact points and measure the varying effectiveness. Don’t rely on old models to tell you when you should push for a call and when you should step back and let the buyer take the lead.
2) Where Have They Been?
You’ll also need to consider the context for how they’re moving through your buyer’s journey.
Which stages have they been through already? Have they shown strong engagement with materials from those previous stages?
A robust CRM will be helpful here as it’ll let you see what content from which stages buyers have consumed so far.
3) What Pain Are They In?
Next up is determining the pain points buyers are likely experiencing.
In general, there will be specific pain points associated with particular stages in the buyer’s journey.
To give you an idea of where to start, buyers may experience the following pain points in these stages:
No Awareness
I know my business can be run more efficiently, but I don’t know-how.
Can we generate more revenue?
Is it possible to attract more qualified talent?
Awareness
There is a gap in our processes that I need to understand better.
We are missing out on earning potential; let’s figure out why.
There is a problem in our business, we need to give it a name and define it.
Exploring Solutions
We don’t know which solution types will solve our problem.
We don’t know which solution types apply to our business model.
We don’t know which solution types are available in our industry.
Comparing Vendors
Which product offers the features we need to make this a successful solution?
Which product offers additional features that increase their business value?
Purchase Decision
I’m concerned this isn’t the right decision and needs reinforcement.
4) What Is Their Next Step?
Next, you’ll need to define where you want the buyer to go next.
This can be as simple as naming the next stage of the buyer’s journey. For instance, if you determine the optimal place to interact with buyers is in the Comparing Vendors Stage, the next step would be ushering them into the Purchase Decision Stage.
5) How Do You Get Them To The Next Stage?
For most stages of the buyer’s journey, the answer here will be valuable content.
Content should be the backbone of your buyer journey. And content (not pushy salesmanship) should be the driving force of what moves a buyer from one stage to the next.
But what content type works best for each stage?
Below are just a few examples of the best content types for each stage of the buyer’s journey.
No Awareness & Awareness Stages:
Blog posts
Social media posts
Educational webinars
Checklists
Exploring Solutions Stage:
How-to video
Whitepapers
Ebooks and in-depth guides
Comparing Vendors Stage:
Product comparison guide
Product spec guides
Case studies
Reviews and testimonials
Purchase Stage:
Sales calls
Consultation offer
Discounts
Live demo
Free trial
Creating Your Journey Statement
A journey statement is essentially the combination of all the information you learned when defining your buyer’s journey. It should help you define:
When you’re meeting buyers
What stages of the buyer journey they’ve been through
What pains they’re currently experiencing
What are their next steps
How you help move them to that next step
It should look something like this:
I help (buyers at the optimal engagement stage), who have (which stages they’ve been through), solve (main pain points at that stage) and move towards (next stage) by (how you move them).
Example:
I help buyers at the Purchase Decision stage, who have made their way up through the Comparing Vendors stage, justify their decision to buy our product and move towards a purchase by showing them what it’s like to work with us using live demos and more.
Your journey statement (when well-defined) will help you better understand your role as a sales rep and let you engage buyers at the optimal point in the buyer’s journey.
Wrapping Up
The buyer’s journey isn’t the same as it used to be. Buyers have more control over their progression. B2B salespeople need a more sophisticated content strategy. And a more modern cycle requires reps to shift from a product-focused approach to one focusing on providing value instead.
And while acclimating to this new B2B sales landscape may take some adjustment, you can do so successfully if you put in the work and focus on customer success more than anything.
As Wistia VP of Sales and Customer Success, Peter von Burchard, put it in our interview:
“Customer success is really understanding the journey that the customer is on, and the problem that you’re solving as a solution and finding a way to align yourself as a company with getting those customers to achieve that end. And I think it’s really about aligning the business and the solution with the goals of the customer and helping execute on that.”
How To Create a Winning 30-60-90 Day Sales Plan (+ Sales Plan Template)
Aug 29, 2022
You’ve got a job interview for your dream sales job.
You have the experience and a track record of success. The only thing between you and your offer letter is your (hopefully) future sales manager.
Impress them with your exceptional selling skills and expertise, and you’ve got the job.
But the question is: how?
This Salesman.org sales plan template guide will show you how to put together a winning 30-60-90 day sales plan to impress your sales manager with your sales knowledge and expertise and nab your dream sales position.
What Is a 30-60-90 Day Sales Plan?
A 30-60-90 day sales plan outlines the measurable goals for your first three months on the job. Think of it as your personal value proposition that shows your superiors you’re a self-starter and helps you be laser-focused on achieving results.
It expands on what success looks like in the first 30, 60, and 90 days, respectively. The idea here is to lay out your clear-cut plans for measuring a successful transition and keeping everyone focused in the right direction.
Why Do You Need a 30, 60, 90 Day Plan?
Your dream sales job is also somebody else’s dream job. This means you have to stand out in your interview and make sure the hiring manager can see what a great addition you can be to the organization.
The only way to do this effectively is to create a sales plan that shows your vision of the future of the sales territory or customers you’ll be taking over. It should outline your interaction with your sales team, sales strategies, sales cycle, target audience and revenue goals.
Each aspect of your 30-60-90 day sales plan should detail a specific focus, your priorities and goals, and a plan for measuring success. Getting this right will help you maximize your progression into a new role by identifying potential partners to sell two and establishing a general framework for success.
Here’s are the biggest benefits of developing a 30-60-90 day plan:
Creates a clear focus for your first 90 days on the job, boosting your productivity and maximizing results
Ensures your goals are set properly in your 30-60-60 day plan, letting you integrate quickly and smoothly into the organization
Proves you’re capable of self-management and achieving goals and are an employee worthy of development.
If you bring in a well-thought-out plan into a job interview, you’ll have an advantage over other under-prepared candidates, significantly improving your chances of getting hired.
Other Scenarios Where Having a 30-60-90 Day Sales Plan Makes Sense
Putting together a 30-60-90 days sales plan takes time and effort, but the good news is you don’t have to do it often. When you write a sales plan it becomes a sales tool that can be used over and over.
Besides the interview process, you can also use your sales plan for the following circumstances:
Scenario 1: First Week on the Job
You got a brand-new job—or maybe you’ve earned an internal promotion.
Regardless of the circumstance, you should create a 30-60-90 days sales plan within the first week on the job. Doing this will demonstrate your commitment to your new role and give you a well-defined plan to ensure you’re off to a good start.
Scenario 2: New Territory Management Assignments
If your company follows the territory management approach, creating a 30 60 90 day plan for new sales territory is a no-brainer.
Your plan should clearly define geographic boundaries for territories you’re responsible for and the metrics you’ll use to evaluate territory performance. It should include any new business goals, changes in the company mission or types of sales that you’ll be making.
Steps To Create a Winning 30-60-90 Day Sales Plan Template
Next, let’s understand how you can draft an effective 30 60 90 day sales strategy plan.
Step 1: Know Who You’re Creating the Plan For
You should know who you’re making the plan for. This involves thinking from the perspectives of two stakeholders: your team and you.
A) Align Your Plan With Your Organization’s Goals
Understand your sales team’s priorities and goals and align your sales plan with them.
For a job interview, try to connect with a salesperson already working with the company on LinkedIn. Strike a polite conversation and ask them what goals they’re being pushed towards corporately.
If you’re new on the job or handling a new territory, speak to your sales manager and ask them about goals that matter most to the organization.
Find out current revenue targets, sales and marketing initiatives and any strategies and tactics that are working for the sales team.
B) Identify Your Own Priorities
What are your current priorities and personal goals?
Do you want to earn more money? Or do you want to focus on building now to set up your territory for even bigger successes? Maybe you want to position yourself as a legendary adviser for all things sales.
You must identify your own priorities before you start building your 30 60 90 day plan. This will give you a clearer perspective on how to approach things and set yourself up for success.
Do you want to install new sales tools, motivate your team or start pushing a new product or service? Creating your sales plan can reduce the time to implement a more effective sales action plan.
Don’t worry; we’ll also share a super-easy template you can follow and ensure better outcomes.
Step 2: Figure Out How to Measure Your Success
Now that you know your sales goals, your next step is to measure progress against those goals.
In the words of Peter Drucker, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” When you know how to measure success, you can improve your plan further by identifying and eliminating weak aspects.
Here are a few tips to help you get started on the right track:
Gain in-depth knowledge of product features
Have the ability to demo the product at a high level
Have built key relationships built-in potential growth accounts
Developing a more targeted customer profile
Become known, liked, and trusted with all current partners
Improved sales performance or increased sales activities
Have a list of 100 potential partners to prospect over the next 12 months
Step 3: Draft Your 30-60-90 Day Plan Breakdown
At this point, you’ve already done most of the hard work.
You can now focus on documenting the information you currently have to create a more formal 30-60-90 day sales plan that you can then share with your sales manager. For each section of your plan, ask yourself “what does success look like?“.
Note: We’ve also added critical questions below to help you create a more impressive sales plan.
Stage 1: 30 Days
As mentioned, the first step is to ask yourself what success looks like after 30 days are complete.
When applying for a job, success in the first 30 days is likely completing your onboarding and training process successfully. In addition, you can also add the following criteria if you want to be more specific:
Understanding corporate priorities, new roles and responsibilities
Intermediate knowledge of key products and services
Knowing the product’s position in the market vs. the competition
Developing key connections within the organization with customer support, sales leadership, team members etc
Going through previous rep’s sales CRM data and outlining a few key accounts to target
The 30-day section of your sales plan should define your success goals and briefly explain how you plan on achieving them. It should also share how you‘ll know you’ve been successful in meeting these goals.
Let’s explain this using an example.
Success goal: Having intermediate knowledge of key products and services offered by the organization.
To complete I will: Spend an hour every week with the product specialist for each product and have them quiz me on my knowledge.
I will have success if: In the 30-day review meeting with my sales manager, they can quiz me about our product range like a potential partner would and I can answer their questions confidently.
This will allow you to show off your self-starting nature and help you understand your responsibilities better.
Be sure to schedule a meeting with your sales manager to discuss successes and any issues you had during the 30 days before moving on to the 60-day and 90-day time periods. It’ll make the transition smoother.
Stage 2: 60 Days
With the first 30 days up, you have to amp up your sales efforts in the second month.
You’ll be spending more time in the field or talking to potential partners at this stage. Keeping this in mind, you should understand your marketplace and products at a high level. Regardless of what you’re selling, after 60 days of being immersed in it, you should know everything related to the offering—big or small.
Another good tactic is to role play with co-workers and shadow your senior sales professionals to understand their sales processes and approaches.
Here are some pointers to include in the 60-day section of your sales plan. Notice how some of them are mandatory, while others are more flexible depending on your role, experience, and onboarding process.
Started developing at least five new leads — Mandatory
Have shadowed the top two performing sales reps in the company — Mandatory
High-level understanding of key products — Mandatory
Completed role-playing sessions with other sales professionals in the team
Have contributed to a sales meeting by adding value to the conversation
Completed all formal sales onboarding or training that needs to be done
Of course, these objectives will vary depending on why you’re drafting the 30-60-90 day sales plan. For instance, if you’re an experienced sales professional who has been recently assigned a new sales territory, your success criteria will look something like this:
Knowing your target territory — Mandatory
Setting measurable and realistic setting goals — Mandatory
Developing a territory management plan — Mandatory
Recording daily development in CRM
Attending meetings with other sales professionals
Information overload, we know. But getting this step right will help you achieve greater success. Plus, once you get the hang of things, everything will become easier.
Stage 3: 90 days
This is where you hit the ground running.
Your 31-90 day plan sets out what you’re planning on doing for the rest of the time in the specific sales role. Here, you should have an optimized prospecting list and have your foot in the door with at least a couple of potential new key accounts.
Only a few things can go wrong at this point, which might stop your 30-60-90 day sales plan from being fabulous. Don’t worry, though. We’ll cover 30-60-90 day sales plan mistakes later to make sure all your hard work pays off.
At this point in your new sales role you should have a lead generation strategy, be on top of all the new sales enablement tools and content, understand your customer pain points and have a few new customers on the go.
At the 90-day meeting with your sales manager, discuss any 3-4 points from the following success criteria:
Clear and optimized prospecting list in use — Mandatory
Daily schedule established for prospecting, following up and staying on top of everything else — Mandatory
Become a solid member of the team — Mandatory
Had at least one round of feedback on performance from the sales manager
Closed at least a couple of deals without too much babysitting from others
Foot in the door with a couple of exciting key accounts
And that’s it! That’s how you create a solid 30-60-90 day sales plan.
Mistakes To Avoid When Creating a 30-60-90 day sales plan
The whole point of creating a 30-60-90 day sales plan is to give you a clear direction in your new sales role. But there are a few errors that may make it less effective…
Mistake 1: Not Including Success Measurement
We get it: you don’t want to make promises you can’t keep. But not including specific ways of measuring your success on your sales business plan is a huge red flag that may cause your sales manager to question your capabilities.
You must be willing to put your money where your mouth is. So make sure you include measurable success criteria for each section of your 30-60-90 day sales plan.
Mistake 2: Making an Ambiguous Plan
Planning is about being specific and granular.
If you’re going to be ambiguous, your plan isn’t going to inspire confidence in your new sales leadership role and may fall flat.
Sales managers want to see numbers and progress towards a target rather than vague business strategy and generic sales plans.
Mistake 3: Lack of Sales Manager Follow-ups
Similar to how following up is necessary to win deals, holding meetings with your sales manager is important for improving your 30-60-90 day sales plan and self-improvement. Don’t forget to schedule meetings with your sales manager at the 30, 60, and 90-day points to review your progress and ask for advice on your sales process.
30 60 90 Day Sales Plan Template
As promised, right click and save as to download your 30 60 90 day sales plan template. This free template will take you through the process of creating a sales plan.
Replay: Do Sales People REALLY Need ALL That SOFTWARE?! | Salesman Podcast
Aug 26, 2022
Chris Smith is a sales and marketing expert, USA Today bestselling author and co-founder of Curaytor.
On this episode of the Salesman Podcast Chris shares how software and what tools modern, internet based B2B sales professionals really need to close business in their marketplaces.
Close Sales Faster By Understanding Your Buyer’s Journey | Selling Made Simple
Aug 25, 2022
Most people think the best sales reps are selfish, that they only think about closing a deal from THEIR side, not the buyer’s. They’re focused on the sales funnel, not the buying process.
But it turns out the most successful reps put 90% of their energy into understanding WHY buyers make a purchase. They focus on what’s known as the buyer’s journey. Because doing so makes nurturing a deal and closing 10X easier.
And guess what, you can do the same too.
What Is the Buyer’s Journey?
Basically, the buyer’s journey is how your buyers go from being unaware of their problem to deciding to purchase your solution.
Most sales professionals break the journey down into five stages:
1. No Awareness
No Awareness where the buyer doesn’t even understand they have a problem.
2. Awareness
Awareness where they’ve acknowledged the problem exists and are seeking more information about it.
3. Exploring Solutions
Exploring Solutions where the buyer is trying to find the right product to solve their problem.
4. Comparing Vendors
Comparing Vendors where they are weighing the pros and cons of different solutions.
5. Purchase Decision
And Purchase Decision where, you guessed it… they decide to purchase a particular solution.
Now, as they move through these five stages, they’ll interact with touch points that push them forward to the next stage. Touch points could be content like articles, case studies, and testimonials, but they’ll also be initial conversations with sales reps, demos, and sales calls.
How Has the Buyer’s Journey Changed?
How the buyer’s journey has changed recently.
Here’s what the old buyer’s journey looked like:
About 40% of the journey was covered by content the buyer would consume on their own. After that, sales would get involved and help guide the buyer through the remaining 60%.
But these days, the buyer’s journey looks more like this:
Nowadays sales reps are typically only involved in the final 20% of the journey—a huge change from the model of the past. This model has only gotten even more hands-off since the rise of COVID.
In fact, a study from McKinsey found that 70-80% of B2B decisionmakers now prefer remote or digital self-service models vs. traditional models.
This shift spells out three distinct changes for sales professionals like you:
1. The Sales Cycle Is Longer Than Ever
The sales cycle is longer than ever, which means more in-depth sales cadences and customer lifetime value are incredibly important.
2. Content Needs to Be More Strategic
Two, content needs to be more strategic. B2B buyers now consume at least 13 pieces of content before making a buying decision. As a result, your content needs to be specifically tailored for the buyer’s journey stage they’re currently in (more on that in just a bit).
3. “Education First, Salesmanship Second”
And finally, you need to adopt an “education first, salesmanship second” mindset to be successful in this new world of sales. Longer relationships, a complicated journey, and fewer sales rep touch points mean buyers will focus more on the value you provide, not the charm you exude.
Mapping Your Buyer’s Journey
Now, the question is how can you change up your buyer’s journey to create a sales cycle tailored to this new reality?
This is where the Buyer’s Journey Framework from the Selling Made Simple Academy comes in.
The first step is to understand how your own customers are actually moving through the buyer’s journey. And that takes plotting out five factors.
1. Which Step Do You Meet Them?
Which step do you meet them?
If it’s earlier in the cycle, you may want to consider shifting your personal touch points to later in the journey. Rather than having a sales conversation with prospects in the No Awareness stage, better to leave things to a well-crafted piece of educational content.
Now it’s worth mentioning that every industry will be different. So don’t be afraid to experiment with different methods in yours. But the key is to not rely on old models where you may close a deal during your first conversation.
Instead, know when to step back and let the buyer take the lead.
2. Where Have They Been?
Factor number two is knowing where the prospect has been.
Which stages have they been through already? What kind of content are they consuming on a regular basis? Where are you seeing the most engagement?
A robust CRM is golden here so be sure to equip yourself with tools like HubSpot as soon as possible.
3. What Pain Are They In?
Next up, what pain are they in?
There are usually specific pain points for each stage of the buyer’s journey. Knowing which pain points match up with which is essential for delivering the right messaging.
Here are some examples of possible pain points for each stage.
No Awareness
I know my business can be run more efficiently, but I don’t know how.
Awareness
There is a gap in our processes that I need to understand better.
Exploring Solutions
We don’t know which solution types will solve our problem.
Comparing Vendors
Which product offers the features we need to make this a successful solution?
Purchase Decision
I’m concerned this isn’t the right decision and needs reinforcement.
4. What Is Their Next Step?
The fourth factor you need to consider is what is the buyer’s next step?
In the best-case scenario, the next step is going to be the next step in the buyer’s journey, like moving from No Awareness to Awareness.
With that next step in mind, you can then move on to…
5. How Do You Get Them to the Next Stage?
How do you get buyers to the next stage?
For most stages, it’s going to be valuable content that does the trick. Use the individual pain points you picked out when deciding what pain the prospect was in during step number three. From there, generate educational content that addresses those pain points.
Now in general you’ll want to keep content for earlier stages more simple. Blogs, social media posts, that kind of thing. And for later stages you can get more in the weeds with product spec guides, whitepapers, and case studies.
What’s important here is that you’re meeting prospects where they are and ushering them to the next stage. Skip the salesmanship. And focus on education instead.
Summary
Not taking the buyer-focused approach isn’t just wrong in principle (after all, your job is to be a problem solver, not a shyster). But it also makes qualifying, nurturing, and closing prospects 10X easier.
Proven 4-Step Cold Email Framework (Any Industry) | Selling Made Simple
Aug 23, 2022
Let’s face it—most cold emails suck. Cheesy openers, misleading subject lines, body copy that drawls on and on. It’s no wonder why the response rate for them is often less than 2%.
But the most frustrating thing about it is cold emails don’t HAVE to suck! Because there’s a simple, 4-step structure you can follow to make any email stand out in any industry for any customer…
Today we’re hitting on a subject that should be near and dear to any sales professional, cold email.
We’ll be covering one of my favorite Selling Made Simple Academy processes, The Strategic Cold Email Framework. It’s made up of just 4 short steps:
Get Attention
Demonstrate the Need
Earn Their Trust
Call to Action
Now, I love this framework because it’s just so versatile. You can apply it to any industry, from textiles and candy bars to professional services, luxury goods, and enterprise-level software.
And like I said, it comes directly from the Selling Made Simple Academy. We won’t be able to cover it as in-depth here, of course. But it’ll be a great overview so you can at least get some actionable strategies you can start using today.
And at the end, we’ll put it all together and share a template you can start using today.
1) Get Attention
In the increasingly busy and crowded world of email, if you can’t stand out from the rest right off the bat, your cold email is going straight to the trash. Buyers won’t even bother opening them.
So, which subject lines get opened rather than sent to junk?
A. Direct Subject Lines
Direct subject lines like “The world’s fastest CRM tool – 20% off today”
B. News Subject Lines
News subject lines like “Law [X] has moved on. Has your insurance followed?”
C. How-to Subject Lines
How-to subject lines like “How to reduce your advertising spend in 14 days”
D. Question Subject Lines
And question subject lines like “Is [X] costing you more to operate than it should?”
2) Demonstrate the Need
Once you’ve got their attention, it’s time to demonstrate the need.
What can you offer? And why should they devote their time to listening to you?
One of the best ways to do this is by using the reality gap method. This method involves three steps.
A. Current Reality
Outline their current reality, typically by highlighting a problem they’re dealing with today. Next…
B. Desired Future Reality
Show their desired future reality once that problem is solved. And last…
C. Reality Bridge
Build the reality bridge by providing the steps they need to take to get them from where they are now to where they could be—i.e., use the solution YOU are offering.
Here’s what that might look like in practice:
Hi [NAME],
I recently worked with [NAME], he is in the [INDUSTRY] like you.
Traditional salespeople had failed [NAME]. Here is his story – [LINK TO INSIGHT POST]
He went from zero motivation,to proactively racing to get to his desk each morning to prospect.
All by implementing proven frameworks to relieve the pressure of choice from his job.
Does it make sense to jump on a quick call to see if you can use these frameworks too?
Cheers,
Will
3) Earn Their Trust
Earning the buyer’s trust.
Social proof is the name of the game here.
What kinds of success stories have you had with past clients? What amazing ROI did you achieve that lines up with what you can offer this prospect?
Try to include social proof directly in the body copy. For instance, when building out a reality gap, use quantitative results from people in similar companies, preferably ones the prospect will recognize.
But if you really want to see your open and clickthrough rates explode, use a referral.
A referral is without a doubt the most effective piece of social proof in your arsenal. So if you have a colleague in common, be sure to leverage their name right in the subject line.
Another trick you can use is to include links to testimonials in your email signature. It’s an easy way to point prospects to even more social proof without seeming overtly spammy.
4) Call to Action
And the final step of the Strategic Cold Email Framework is the call to action.
At the end of the email, just ask this:
“Does it make sense to jump on a quick call to… [achieve a result]?”
Simple.
Don’t mix up your messaging by having multiple CTAs. Don’t overcomplicate things with a lot of fluff. Just ask the question. Bam.
Pulling It All Together
Now, what does this look like when we put it all together?
Well here’s the cold email template I mentioned earlier that has all four elements in one winning email.
Subject: Referral from [NAME] at [COMPANY]: Should we connect?
Message:
Hi [NAME],
I was chatting with [NAME] last week, and he said [INDUSTRY] is tough at the moment.
I told him that we help [INDUSTRY] salespeople close more sales in just 28 days, guaranteed! He was a little shocked…
That is a bold statement, right?
Well, we have helped [RELEVANT COMPANY] increase their sales by X% in the past few months. [NAME] their sales manager is dancing on tables right now.
Does it make sense to jump on a quick call to see if we can increase your sales too?
Thanks,
Will
See how we’re leveraging social proof right in the subject line and first sentence? Then we’re moving on to demonstrating the need and giving proof. And finally we’re wrapping up with a clear, straight-to-the-point CTA.
This is the exact template I use with my cold outreach. And if you use it for yours, I guarantee you’re going to see some pretty spectacular results.
And the coolest thing is that is isn’t just the Salesman.org team using this cold email framework, there are literally thousands of ofther sales professionals using it too.
Here you can see the Selling Made Simple Academy community and there are thousands of examples of people sharing their emails, getting feedback and getting success from them too.
If you’d like to find and close more deals in the next 30 days or your money back, click the link below to book a call with one of our team and we’ll see if you’re a good fit for our program.
Sales Territory Management 101: A Sales Rep's Complete Guide | Salesman Podcast
Aug 22, 2022
Many businesses organize their sales teams into territories based on geography, demographics, or other criteria. Your company has also decided to jump on the sales territory management bandwagon to ensure better outcomes.
But how can you ensure you continue hitting your monthly sales quota under this new arrangement?
Your experience and your prospect’s willingness to buy your product affect your success, but one thing is sure you cannot simply… wing your sales territory management.
You need a territory management plan—a solid one at that.
This Salesman.org guide will lay out the basics of sales territory management and help ensure you direct your time and energy on activities that have the most impact.
What Is Territory Management?
A sales territory is a customer group or geographic area over which either an individual sales reps or a sales team has responsibility.
Each territory is defined based on specific factors, such as its history, geography, or sales potential—sometimes a combination of these factors. The ultimate aim of managing sales territories this way is to maximize sales and profits while efficiently allocating resources.
Sales territories have to be balanced. Otherwise, bad things can happen to performance:
If your territory is being under-serviced, you and your team can spread too thinly, resulting in inadequate activity levels. As a result, you’ll seek out a few leads, identify fewer prospects, and generate lower revenue.
If your territory is being over-serviced, you’ll have little work and too many team members to service a smaller area. This will increase costs and overall prices, which will ultimately lead to reduced sales.
If you want to get the most value from your prospects, you need to get your territory management right. And the best way to get this? Have a solid territory management plan.
5 Easy Steps To Create an Effective Sales Territory Plan
Below, we’ve created a step-by-step rundown to help you create a winning enterprise territory management plan template and set yourself up for sales success.
Step 1: Familiarize Yourself With Your Target Territory
The first step when managing a sales territory is to analyze your current and potential customers thoroughly. Think about what your customers have in common, including:
Their location
Their purchasing behavior, i.e, the product or offering they buy from your business
The pain points your product or offering solves for them
The events that cause them to buy—or not to buy—your product
Also, figure out the needs of the market that are not currently being fulfilled. This analysis will tell you how to position your products or services uniquely, giving you an edge over your competition.
Step 2: Do a Self-analysis
Be aware of your strengths and weaknesses and your capacity to win business from your new prospects. This will help you develop a territory plan that plays to your strengths while improving any weak areas.
Besides your capabilities, you should also consider your organization’s resources and think of ways to utilize them efficiently on your sales patch.
Step 3: Set Measurable Goals
Using the information collected from Step 1 and Step 2, develop goals you want to achieve from implementing your territory management. The goals you could measure include:
After identifying your territory management goals, it can be valuable to document them to remain top of mind. There are a few ways you can do this:
Goal Statement: Your goal statement should address what you plan to achieve and what is at stake in your sales territory. When you put your goals on paper, it becomes concrete. Instead of wondering about objectives, you know what you want to achieve from which activity.
Key Milestones and Deadlines: With a roadmap for approaching your prospects, you will close sales and achieve your goals faster. Break down your plan into smaller milestones to make your road to success clear. For instance, if you want to close $100,000 of new business this year, you can track progress by breaking your plan down into smaller milestones, such as $15,000 by Month 2, $32,000 by Month 3, and so on.
Measurable Metrics: You’ll need clearly defined KPIs to ensure your business goals are met in an efficient mannor. To get started on the right track, consider metrics like total sales created, leads contacted, and leads closed. Choose metrics that give you insight into productivity and can help track your progress against those goals effectively.
Your goals must be realistic and simultaneously push you to improve and grow to meet your sales targets.
Step 4: Chalk Out Your Territory Action Plan
Creating the plan is where all the action begins!
Generally, your sales manager will create a map for you to prevent any overlap between different territories and sales reps. Your job is to ensure you visit all opportunities within your region in a timely and effective manner.
Think about how often to call each account and whether the calls should be in person or by phone—or the more remote-friendly option: virtually. By planning out the nuances beforehand, you’ll minimize time, effort, and money wastage and can direct your focus on converting your clients.
Put your call plans on a calendar and stick to it. This will force you to have the discipline needed to become a successful territory manager.
Step 5: Effective Record-Keeping
As you implement your territory management action plan, you should maintain an accurate and up-to-date record of outcomes in your organization’s CRM. This will help you track your plan’s effectiveness.
Log everything. If your data tracking starts taking too much time then invest in selling software to help.
Sales Territory Management Best Practices
Besides creating a sales management plan, you’ll have to adopt a few best practices and make them a part of your daily routine to have massive sales success.
A: Create a Contact Rotation Schedule
Regularly check in on prospects to ensure they have all the information resources to move forward in the buying process. But while you do this, don’t come off as too salesy and end up overwhelming them.
It’s why we highly recommend creating a contact rotation schedule. Use it to determine the communication channel that works best for your specific territory and at what point in the sales process. It’ll also make it easier to decide when and how often an account needs a phone call, an in-person visit, or a promotional email.
B: Don’t Forget Your Current Accounts When Finding New Leads
Your sales territory management plan should have a dual focus on providing services to high-value accounts and developing relationships with potential new accounts.
High-value accounts are those guaranteed to bring in higher volume sales in shorter periods when compared to other accounts. However, while high-value accounts will help you meet your sales quotas, they aren’t enough to smash through it. You’ll also have to cultivate new accounts to expand the business and ensure professional growth.
C: Change With the Seasons
Customer requirements change with the seasons. Depending on the product you’re selling, your territory’s customer base and conditions might vary during the year.
To avoid issues, analyze your territory by looking at sales data over time. Find out:
What product or service do people buy during different times of the year?
When are they buying it?
How much do they spend on them?
Based on the data, identify whether your business has slow and busy seasons. Then adjust your goals, priority level, and plan of action as needed.
D: Align Your Sales Efforts With Other Departments
You are not the only one interacting with customers. While other departments may not be talking to your buyers face-to-face, they’re still interacting with your accounts.
Try to collaborate with other departments—marketing and customer service—and get them involved with your territory. Maintaining consistent interactions will help you learn valuable insights that you can apply when selling.
E: Refresh Your Sales Map
Territory management is a never-ending cycle where you must continuously evaluate, implement, assess, and improve your action plan.
Yes, this regular evaluation and improvement is a lot of work. But it’ll help you achieve more tremendous success and close more deals over the longer term.
Even after you draft a strong territory management plan, nothing is set in stone. Conditions can change at any time, regardless of your industry, economy, organization. So keep measuring progress and modifying aspects of your plan to stay relevant and get your desired results.
Once you get a firm grasp over your territory, accounts, and current and potential customers, you can effectively crack the complicated code of successful treasury management. All the benefits—and bonuses—will soon follow.
Replay: How To Stay In Control Of The Sales Conversation | Salesman Podcast
Aug 20, 2022
Deb Calvert is the President of People First Productivity Solutions, offering sales training, coaching, and leadership development programs. Deb also leads the Stop Selling & Start Leading® movement and founded The Sales Experts Channel.
In this episode of The Salesman Podcast, Deb explains how we can use selling questions to remain in control of the sales conversation.
You'll learn:
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Featured on this episode:
Host - Will Barron
Founder of Salesman.org
Guest - Deb Calvert
President of People First Productivity Solutions
Coming up on today’s episode of the Salesman podcast.
Deb Calvert:
Your role as being a leader in any sales conversation. The word origin of lead is guide. So you are the guide. What buyers really want is to be inspired and to be led. If you be as a leader, you become perceived as a leader, and leaders, they operate in the realm of something that’s of interest to others.
Will Barron:
Hello, Sales Nation. My name is will Barron, and I’m the host of the Salesman podcast. The world’s most downloaded B2B sales show. And on today’s episode, we have the legend that is Deb Calvert. She is the author of Discover Questions. One of the only sales specific books that I recommend to you guys, Sales Nation, and to anyone else who wants to learn how to sell as well. And we’ll get into questions on this episode, how to use questions to stay in control of the sale, no matter what stunts your buyers are trying to pull on you. Everything that we talk about is available in the show note to this episode over at salesman.org. And with that, let’s jump right into it.
Who Between the Buyer and the Salesperson Should be in Control of the Sales Conversation? · [01:21]
Will Barron:
Conversations is what I want to talk about in this episode. We’re going to look at how we can put ourselves, to use your words, in the driving seat of sales conversations moving forward. But let’s get right back to basics here for someone who’s perhaps relatively new to sales, whose job is it to control and drive a sales conversation forward? Is it the salesperson or is it that we should be listening to the buyer and we should just be sucking up to them and doing whatever they say and letting them be in control of the whole sales process?
“Let’s use this metaphor. Imagine being in a car and someone’s in the driver’s seat and that should be the salesperson, but I think that the buyer should be metaphorically the navigator they should absolutely be involved and you should be very closely listening to them. But before you can even get those roles worked out, you’ve got to make sure that you’re both going to the same place.” – Deb Calvert · [01:40]
Deb Calvert:
Well, yes, we should listen to the buyer, but let’s use that metaphor. So imagine being in a car and someone’s in the driver’s seat and that should be the salesperson, but I think that the buyer should be metaphorically the navigator they should absolutely be involved and you should be very closely listening to them. But before you can even get those roles worked out, you’ve got to make sure that you’re both going to the same place. So knowing that destination, you want your buyer to be in the car with you. But here’s the thing that I see. And I guess this is really why this conversation is so important. I see a lot of sellers who are thinking that it would be rude or presumptuous to get into the driver’s seat, and so instead they end up driving around aimlessly, looking, hoping somebody’s going to want to get in the car with them.
Deb Calvert:
So that implies first of all, that like it or not, you’re in the driver’s seat, but are you going to get a buyer in there with you? And the only way you do that in fact is ironically, by making sure it’s clear that you’re in the buyer’s seat to you and to your buyer. You already are there, but making sure that your buyer is going to get into the car with you, that’s what this is really all about. And the only way you get them there, just like an Uber driver, is by making sure you’re going to that destination where they want to go. And that’s how they get in the car with you. Does that make sense? It’s very ponderous.
Why Step One in a Sales Conversation Should be Setting a Clear Goal and Guiding the Buyer Towards That Goal · [03:07]
Will Barron:
That makes great sense. And Deb, is that step one then of both creating the conversation and the navigation system, is it to suss out going back and forth with the buyer where we are going, is that step one of stating that we’re in control and then progressing it towards potentially a close?
“Your role is being a leader in any sales conversation. The word origin of lead is guide. So you are the guide in that conversation with your buyer, and that is driving. You’re taking somebody someplace, just like a guide would.” – Deb Calvert · [03:40]
Deb Calvert:
I believe it is. And even before that, it’s step one of working out in your own mind, your role. Your role as driver. Your role, we’ll even position this a little differently. I think people might like this better. Your role as being a leader in any sales conversation. The word origin of lead is guide. So you are the guide in that conversation with your buyer, and that is driving. You’re taking somebody someplace, just like a guide would.
Deb Reveals Why Most Salespeople Shy Away from Leading the Sales Conversation · [04:01]
Will Barron:
I want to get into questions and how we can navigate this moving forward, but why do perhaps some of the audience and perhaps myself as a younger sales rep, and you can give us your thoughts on this as well, Deb. Why do we sometimes shy away from this leadership role? Is it that we just don’t want the responsibility of it? Why isn’t it that we’re doing this by default?
Deb Calvert:
Well, let me separate it from age, because I see a lot of older salespeople who do this too. It’s that a seller isn’t understanding the buyer and what they really want from a seller. So this is based on research. There are two bodies of research. So it’s not just the recent research that went into Stop Selling and Start Leading. But it’s the bigger body been going on now for almost 25 years, that’ll age me, with discover questions.
“The job of a leader is to take followers to a place the followers want to be. That’s what guides do too. So if you think about being in the jungle and chopping down the vines that are in the jungle. As a guide, you’re taking somebody somewhere, and you’re making it easy for them to get there. But nobody is going to go through that jungle with you if it’s not a place they want to be. And frankly, they don’t need you, unless it’s a place that is a little hard to get to, and they see that you, uniquely, you have some expertise that could get them there.” – Deb Calvert · [05:15]
Deb Calvert:
And what buyers really want is to be inspired and to be led. So let me see if I can’t use a couple of other visuals here. The job of a leader is to take followers to a place the followers want to be. That’s what guides do too. So if you think about being in the jungle and chopping down the vines that are in the jungle. As a guide, you’re taking somebody somewhere, and you’re making it easy for them to get there. But nobody is going to go through that jungle with you if it’s not a place they want to be. And frankly, they don’t need you, unless it’s a place that is a little hard to get to, and they see that you, uniquely, you have some expertise that could get them there. Well, this is all about positioning that, whether you’re using questions, whether you’re using inspirational language, but it’s all about leadership either way.
Deb Calvert:
And so step one is yes, knowing where your buyer wants to go. But even before that, having the mindset that you are a leader who is committed, interested, able to take them there.
How to Squash Buyer Assumptions About Salespeople and Present Yourself as a Thought Leader · [06:27]
Will Barron:
It makes all sense, right? I think everyone’s nodding their head in agreement with this. And for us to give buyers the ideal buying outcomes, we’ve sold the same product hundreds of thousands of times. They’ve probably not bought this product as many times as we’ve sold it. We’ve got insights. We’ve got resources in our own organisation. We can help these people, Deb. But just to play devil’s advocate slightly here from the perspective of the buyer. I think most buyers, until they’ve dealt with you perhaps a couple of times, and perhaps we can talk about how we can set ourselves up to be known and perceived as leaders. Most buyers, when a salesperson reaches out to them, think, “[inaudible 00:06:37], another pesky salesperson trying to grab my money and take something and take up a load of my time.” So how do we set up the conversation so that we come across as a leader? So then I’m assuming that once we’re perceived as a leader, all this gets easier as we go throughout the sales process.
“The fastest, quickest way to get away from that being perceived as a pushy salesperson who just wants to reach into my pocket, is that you’ve asked me a question, or you’ve somehow demonstrated that you care about me and you’re interested in where I want to go and what’s important to me.” – Deb Calvert · [07:21]
Deb Calvert:
It does. If you behave as a leader, you become perceived as leader. And leaders, they operate in the realm of something that’s of interest to others. See, it’s not true that leaders live in ivory towers or that leaders are lonely at the top. That’s not true. Real leaders, the ones who inspire us that we choose to follow, they have an interest in us. So the fastest, quickest way to get away from that being perceived as a pushy salesperson who just wants to reach into my pocket, is that you’ve asked me a question, or you’ve somehow demonstrated that you care about me and you’re interested in where I want to go and what’s important to me.
Deb Calvert:
I say questions because that is frankly the fastest, easiest, clearest way to demonstrate that. Otherwise, you’re in the assuming place and that’s always dangerous. But a question, some great questions. And this is going to depend on the industry you work on a little bit. It’s going to depend on your personality a little bit. It’s going to depend on your buyer and what you know about them. But by and large, it’s a question that sounds like, “What is it that you hope to accomplish?” Not what do you want to do with my product? That’s too early. But bigger. What do you want? What do you hope to accomplish? What are your goals? What are the things that you value right now that are urgent and important to you?
Deb Calvert:
And when we start there, it does change the conversation, it does engage the buyer, and it does differentiate you from just that person who’s waiting with baited breath to pounce on some opening that is all about you and serving your own interest.
Will Barron:
So two things I think you really subtly hear, Deb, and you might not have even realised it, because you’re so ingrained in all of this. One, and I’ve never heard it put like this before. You said you want to be a leader that people choose to follow, as opposed to, we’ve probably all had that sales manager that’s cracking the whip and constantly got us nervous about hitting target and trying to bully us into doing more work. We want to be a leader that inspires. You’ve used that word a few times. So I think that’s important here just to frame up what a leader is and what we are aspiring to be, as salespeople, in front of our audience of buyers.
Will Barron:
And the other thing, and I want to just get clarification from you here. When we ask a question like, “What is your goals?” Are we keeping it an open-ended question like that? Or are we asking a more close ended question of, “What are your goals with your marketing this year with this range of products that I also happen to sell?”
The Differences Between a Leader and a Manager in Sales · [09:41]
Deb Calvert:
Yeah, those are two very important questions. I’m going to start with the first one, because people often misunderstand this very important thing. Managing and leading are not the same. There are lots of managers who have authority. You to do what they say if you want to keep your job. That’s not leadership. Ideally a manager and a leader are the same person, but it doesn’t always work that way. Leadership happens at every level and in every kind of a relationship. And leadership is, as I said, it’s to guide, whereas manage the word origin there means to handle. I’ve got to get today’s work done today. So that puts leaders more often in the longer term and managers in the shorter term. And I don’t mean this to sound disparaging to managers, both leaders and managers are important, but if you don’t have a title of manager and you’re working with, for example, a buyer where you have no authority, you can still lead. So yeah, really, really good clarification there.
Comparing the Effectiveness of Open-ended Versus Closed Questions in Sales Conversations · [10:43]
Deb Calvert:
The other question is a good one. A broader versus a more narrow question. And I do strongly recommend, as counterintuitive as it may sound, because it will feel like it’s going to take longer, but I strongly recommend, you start with that broader approach. What are your goals for the year, period? What are your goals for your legacy? What are your goals for your team? These are all bigger questions. They have nothing at all to do with your product. They have nothing at all to do with marketing or positioning or branding. Later, right? Later that question will be fine. But we had started talking about how do you open up the conversation and reposition yourself so that people will willingly choose to follow you. Will stick around with you and take the call with you.
“Let’s say you’re a media rep. If you ask, “What are your goals for your marketing?” If you’re selling some sort of technology, “What are your goals for your user experience? What are your goals for your tech support?” If you ask it in a very narrow way, it becomes too quickly about you and about what you sell. But when you ask it in the broader way, you immediately tap into whatever truly matters to that individual. And then you’re talking their language and you’re showing them that you care about what matters to them.” – Deb Calvert · [11:40]
Deb Calvert:
And let me go ahead and explain and why. When we ask very narrow questions, let’s say you’re a media rep. If you ask, “What are your goals for your marketing?” If you’re selling some sort of technology, “What are your goals for your user experience? What are your goals for your tech support?” If you ask it in a very narrow way, it becomes too quickly about you and about what you sell. But when you ask it in the broader way, you immediately tap into whatever truly matters to that individual. And then you’re talking their language and you’re showing them that you care about what matters to them. And you’re much more likely to be in that space of tapping into what they truly value. That’s where you motivate them and inspire them and get their attention and cause them to think about why they ought to spend more time with you.
How to Leverage Open-ended Questions to Spark Buyer Curiosity and Drive Sales Conversations · [12:36]
Will Barron:
I feel like if someone asked me a more open-ended question, especially the top of a conversation, I’m more likely to go, “Oh,” and take a step back and actually think about the answer as opposed to, “I’m not interested in that,” which is obviously the response that a lot of sales people will get as soon as they do manage to jump on the phone or so on, because the buyer probably feels like they’re being sold out, influenced. And I feel like, yeah, as you were saying that, Deb, I feel like I’d be going, “Oh, maybe I need to think about my goals and write this stuff down. And hopefully this person can give me some insights.” That’s the change in dynamic that I would feel in that conversation.
Deb Calvert:
It is. And I always appreciate how practical you make the conversations. But I’m going to go a little impractical here for just a moment because I think it’s so important for the mindset piece of this. And I’m going to look away from you because I have a quote that I cut out of a newspaper something like 30 years ago. And I have my file organiser. I had taped it on there, and so I can keep that file organised there for this quote, but I want to make sure I quote it very, very quickly. I mean, very correctly. And the quote is from a guy named Daniel H Burnham. It says, “Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood. Make big plans, aim high in hope and work.”
Deb Calvert:
Okay. So what does this have to do with what we’re talking about? Well, it is the same thing. It’s this bigger everything. Bigger plans, bigger ideas, bigger hopes and dreams. That’s where people get inspired. We talk about the little stuff. Let me illustrate it this way. Dr. Martin Luther king Jr., he said, “I have a dream.” And his whole speech, what people remember is the dream. He didn’t say, “I have a list of measurable objectives.” And it would not have had the same magic if he had said it that way.
Deb Calvert:
It’s okay to indulge in that, especially early on. That’s what captivates people and gets their interest. That’s where you are going to be able to drive a conversation, a relationship, a sale, is if you first get people on board with you. Get them in the car with you and then invite them to navigate, but stay in the driver’s seat.
How to Nudge a Sales Conversation Forward · [14:55]
Will Barron:
So what do we do then, Deb, next? Hopefully the buyer now has, they’ve come out with some spiel and they’ve poured their heart out to us, and we’ve got a gist, an idea now of both the business objectives and perhaps some of their own personal objectives as well. And how they align and intermingle. How do we, considering the conversation here is about being in control of the conversation. How do we then nudge the conversation forward rather than just doing essentially psychoanalyst on this individual and charging them some kind of psychiatry fee after the fact?
Deb Calvert:
I’m going to give you and your listeners the very best example that they can relate to. And then I’ll break it down a little bit. You do this really well. Anybody who listens to your podcast, without perhaps knowing it, already has the answer to that question you just asked. This is how you do it. You pay attention to what Will’s as the driver of the conversations with the guests he brings onto his podcast.
Will Barron:
Let me just say this, Deb, and to interject here. I have no idea what you’re going to say. So whatever I’m doing, I’m doing it by accident and inadvertently.
“This is what smart sellers do. They learn, they adapt and they follow some of their better instincts. They also are humble enough to do those adjustments along the way.” – Deb Calvert · [16:25]
Deb Calvert:
Well, you’re paying attention to your sum of your good instincts, and you’ve probably learned along the way. I bet if you went back and listened to some of your early podcasts, you might even be horrified. I know I was when I listened to some of the first podcasts or sales calls that I had a chance to play back. But this is what smart sellers do. They learn, they adapt and they follow some of their better instincts. They also are humble enough to do those adjustments along the way.
“First of all, they (good salespeople) don’t plan ahead for every single question that they’re going to ask. If you script your questions, you might as well not have your buyer in the passenger seat, navigating at all.” – Deb Calvert · [16:55]
Deb Calvert:
So what a good salesperson or a good podcaster or a good friend who converses with you, what we do in conversations that takes us step by step to a place where we’re leading in a place where we’re using questions effectively. They do a couple things. First of all, they don’t plan ahead for every single question that they’re going to ask. If you script your questions, you might as well not have your buyer in the passenger seat, navigating at all. In fact, that’s exactly how they’ll feel. They’ll feel completely marginalised and they’ll feel like it’s very robotic and generic. And it’s very disinteresting to them.
Deb Calvert:
Many podcasters, to keep my comparison going here, many podcasters send a list of questions. In fact, you can tell, send the same questions to everybody who’s ever on their podcast. And I guess some guests actually are okay with that, or maybe even like it, because it helps them to feel more prepared. I think after that initial security blanket aspect of it wears off, they also eventually feel, and certainly listeners feel, that it’s a little bit boring, and they’re not really getting a full amount of information, and it doesn’t create opportunities for real, genuine, personalised, relevant, meaningful dialogue.
Deb Calvert:
Okay. So first thing is that they don’t ask scripted question. Second thing, it’s hard, but you listen. You listen to the answer for every question that you asked, and that’s a skill and it requires some skill building, but you’ll notice as you are listening, to Will, as an example of what I’m describing here. He doesn’t ask a question that’s unrelated to what I’ve said. Now, maybe sometimes you have to do that because maybe sometimes guests or buyers get way off course and you’ve got to rein them in with a question that’s different from what they’ve just said. But more often, your question is a natural one. It drills down around something that they’ve said it, but builds on what they’ve just said. For example, your question was, “Okay, that’s what we do first. Now tell us, Deb, what do we do next?” It’s natural for conversation to flow in that way.
Deb Calvert:
And the third thing is that as they’re listening, and as they’re drilling down, and as they’re creating this two-way dialogue that it’s a back and a forth, they also do advance the conversation. Will’s last question did a good job with that, too. And people are going to start to think we plan this, Will, because [inaudible 00:19:19], but we didn’t. But what I mean by advancing the conversation and building on the conversation and directing, driving, steering the conversation without being manipulative or rude in the way that you do it, is that you select out the pieces that are most useful to the goal, the destination that you want to reach. You don’t ignore the other important pieces. If I had said something very big, very emotional and took us on a different tangent, you’d have been okay with that. But since our topic is, how do you stay in the driver’s seat, and why is that important in a sales conversation, you extracted some of what I had said before and decided to emphasise that as we move forward.
Will Barron:
Okay, Deb, tell me this. What is your favourite food?
Deb Calvert:
Now there’s a tangent, right?
Will Barron:
[crosstalk 00:20:15] I was only joking. [crosstalk 00:20:16]
Deb Calvert:
Where’s he going with that? Even though it’s a fun question and I’m laughing as he asks it, I still had that [crosstalk 00:20:22]
Will Barron:
Well, it’s because you are listening, right? You are actively paying attention. And you’re right, I don’t send questions across. What I do is typical. We went back on forth. I like to have a headline and a place where we’re going to, essentially. And what I try and do in the podcast is, you highlighted it there and this is something I do consciously do, Deb. That is I try and break it down into steps. So at the end of the show, we can wrap it up with, here are the four steps to do X or Y.
Will Barron:
Now some podcasts, when you have someone who’s just got a really motivational story, sometimes the story’s good enough. But I even find when I interview those kind of people, we’ve had Olympic athletes on the show, I’ve had astronauts on the show, I’ve had UFC fighters on the show, I find that just throwing this story back up for the 17 [inaudible 00:21:11] time that week. And so I do try and break things up the best I can with them as well.
The Benefits of Separating Sales Conversations into Different Sections · [21:18]
Will Barron:
But is that something that we should be thinking about in our sales conversations, that the conversation is in multiple parts and we know that we’re making progress, because we can say, well, we’ve gone from getting the big picture. Now we’ve narrowed things down to part B, C, D, E, and F is perhaps we ask the question, “Does it make sense to jump on board? Have another call? Bring in your partners?” Should we be thinking of a sales call that we’re trying to stay in control of as having separate sections?
Deb Calvert:
Absolutely. So we’re in the car, we’re driving to our destination, you’ve got to have things along the way that you’re checking off. Am I going the right way? Do I have enough gas? Am I able to make it or do I need to stop for the night? So that yeah, sure, sure. What I really like about this question is that it’s making me think about what the typical salesperson does that isn’t that. And having those criteria or those chapters worked out, I think that’s really smart.
Deb Calvert:
Too often, sellers make those checkoffs. Is this a qualified buyer? Did I hear a hint of any need? Like have they ever used or even heard about my product? And do they seem to be giving me a little smile or something that’s at least a little bit affirming, and then I’m going to be able to dive in. So we’re already doing this, but are we doing it in the right way? I love this question. Yeah. Yes. The answer is yes, people should do that.
“I believe that you have to open a relationship before you can ever close a sale.” – Deb Calvert · [23:05]
Deb Calvert:
So that’s what they shouldn’t do. Let’s talk about what they should do instead, very much in a better way. So I believe, and you’ll find people who have different answers. I believe that you have to open a relationship before you can ever close a sale. So let’s call step one, that we’ve established enough rapport because of my very broad questions and my true interest in you and understanding what you value and where your head’s at right now. That’s the first thing. And it doesn’t have to take a long time. We know from all sorts of research on what causes people to trust each other and whatnot, that that can be built quickly. So you want to be effective and efficient using questions to get there.
Deb Calvert:
And then next as I’m narrowing down, I think the next thing is partially qualifying, but it’s not qualifying the way BANT or some other training out there would do it. That’s further down in the funnel, in my opinion. The next thing though, it’s going to feel a little bit like qualifying to you, but you don’t want it to feel that way to the buyer, but it is about now shifting the conversation, drilling down in the conversation to help them understand a little bit more about your product without you selling it.
Deb Calvert:
I call these in discover, I call these solution and example questions, and it’s about, what are your thoughts about, and tell me a little bit about the contrast between where things are now and where you want them to be. It’s enriching the story. It’s getting them to start selling themselves in a way, but it’s giving you tremendous more insight and you’ll pick up some things that qualify for you. Which parts of my product service will they want? Which ones don’t they want? And their storytelling as you invite some very broad information is going to serve you really, really well. So long as you’re listening and can pick up on it.
Will Barron:
I like this idea of contrast. Have you read, Nancy, I think it’s Nancy Duarte’s books on presentations.
Deb Calvert:
I have met Nancy. Now, I’m sure I’ve read her books because usually when I meet people, I like to read their books, but it’s not … I think I told you before, I read one or two business books every week. I used to read one a day. So tell me the names, maybe I’ll [crosstalk 00:25:15] or a key theme.
Will Barron:
I’ll link them all in the show notes. I’m getting a lot of value out of them. So I don’t typically read traditional sales books. Obviously, we’ve got yours on the desk here so I love that. But I tend focus on books around sales and I feel like I learn more from them that is then applicable to a sales role, because I think a lot of sales books point out the obvious and try and sell you on some kind of training on the back of it.
Will Barron:
But with that said, Nancy’s books, a big part of presentation techniques that she teaches is to contrast either this is what it was like and this is what it could be like, and future pacing people, or this is how things have always been done, this is how things could be done and going back and forth. And that’s how she reckons that. For example, she uses Martin Luther King’s presentation. She breaks it down and it’s here now there’s the problems, here’s the future, here’s things in the past, and going back and forth between all these different opportunities to contrast where we are right now, where we could be, if things go right where we could be, if things go wrong.
Will Barron:
And I find that’s really valuable in my own sales calls and the training that we do as well, Deb. As you use the storytelling, it starts to paint a real picture in the mind of the buyers, rather than saying our product is going to do X, Y, Z. We’re starting to paint this story in the buyer’s mind using contrast at this point in the conversation of, they think our product could do X, Y, Z, and if they don’t do anything, they think that the future is going to turn out this way.
Getting the Buyer to Buy Into Having a Conversation Before Asking Them to Buy · [26:50]
Will Barron:
So how can we get the buyer to think about all of this themselves so we’re not putting words in their mouth by perhaps asking questions that allow this contrast and, and sharing of future, the different futures? How can we draw that out of the buyer so again, they’re painting the picture and we are listening to it, rather than us saying, we can do X and if you don’t do it, you’re going to get Y?
Deb Calvert:
I mean, and that is so smart because then you’re getting buy-in before you ever ask for the buy. It’s their idea, not yours. And in customer experience research, this is called, they’re participating in creating what they want. This is the E question in the acronym discover. I call it an example question because that’s what we’re after. And its purpose is to give people the same sort of experience that when you go to buy a new car, that experience is that they put you behind the wheel of the car. They’re so much in a hurry to get you to take a test drive because they know you’re going to smell the new car interior. You’re going to feel that lumbar support. You’re going to love how the cup holder’s positioned. It’s going to be so different from what you’re driving right now in positive ways.
Will Barron:
Deb, I think me and you buy cars differently, if you are really interested in lumbar support and cup holders.
Deb Calvert:
That’s the purpose of the test drive. And then afterwards, yes, they’re going to pop the top and they know you’ve already done a lot of research about, you want to V8 in this one, you had that power as you accelerated. Yeah. Yeah. But yes, I’m very much about comfort in my recent purchase.
Will Barron:
Sorry to interrupt you there.
Deb Calvert:
That’s great. There’s the age difference coming through. I even like car colour, Will. So yes, so you can’t do that unless you sell a product where they get a hands on demo. You’ve got to do it in their mind instead. And a question about contrast will help do that. So you ask a question like, “Tell me the difference between the experience that you’ve been having with your X, Y, Z, and what you would consider the ideal experience.” You get them to begin imagining that.
Deb Calvert:
Or you give them a little bit of a something like, “What would it be like for you if, instead of having to have somebody on your team do transcription, you could have 95% accurate transcription with AI. What would that be like for you?” And then of course the follow up is, how important would that be to you? You want to know and magnify that value. So, whatever it is that you have to offer and that you know is likely going to be important, you’re asking them to give that contrast and be able to fully feel and experience it as much as they can.
Will Barron:
So at the top of the conversation, Deb, we’ve built some rapport, we’ve asked these big open ended questions, the buyer went, “Oh, this is not what I was expecting from this call.” And there’s a tonne of value, and perhaps we’re helping them refine what their goals are, to a certain extent on the call, then we start to compare and contrast what life would be like hitting those goals and not hitting those goals. And hopefully at some point our product or service is now nearly in the picture, even though we’re not perhaps talking about it directly. How do we then stay in control of the conversation?
How Salespeople Can Stay in Control of the Conversation and Prove to the Buyer That Their Product Will Fix Their Pain Points · [30:10]
Will Barron:
And perhaps at this point, I don’t know how many minutes we are into the conversation at this point, but how do we start to perhaps steer it towards, to gauge a reaction of whether they think that our product is suitable for them from a perspective of ignoring banter. We assume that most of that has been ticked off, because we’ve done our research before picking up the phone. So we know that they’re somewhat qualified. How do we steer them towards now taking that future reality that they want to move towards and having our product as perhaps the bridge to help them get there.
Deb Calvert:
Let me pick up two threads and then I’ll answer that question. So you listed a lot of benefits that are really important that we’re building up here, but you left one out that’s especially important. And that is, as they’re telling these stories, as they’re making these contrast, you’re also overcoming any price objection that would’ve come automatically later on. When they ask about price, it’s going to be offset by all this value that’s been building up. And it really is true, this actually happens. So you’re also supplanting price as the primary consideration in their mind. Okay.
Deb Calvert:
And then the second thing you said was who knows how long we are into this conversation by now. So I want to offset that and let people know that this is actually a much more efficient way of selling. It’s effective. You’re going to get more yeses more often. You’re going to have a longer conversation right now, but not hours like you might be imagining that it would be. Purposeful, good, well crafted, good sequence in your questions, makes everything happen faster, ultimately, including the yes, the advancing of this sale to a yes.
Deb Calvert:
Okay. So how do you do it? So now we have gotten them to tell us what their goals are. We’ve gotten them to tell us these contrasts between current state and desired future state. We’ve gotten some indication of value. What matters most? Why does it matter? How important is it? And now that we’re moving down this narrowing, we’re at the place now where we’re bridging between probably value that’s on the table and the decision process. We need to understand it and begin getting them to think about it. so we’ve asked some questions like what are your thoughts about, and what would that mean to you? And give me the difference between. So value again.
Deb Calvert:
So you told me what’s most important to you is. What’s it going to take internally for you to make that happen? And what will your primary criteria be as that decision’s made, for you and for others? And how is my product stacking up here as you evaluate it based on these criteria? And what have we not talked about that would seal the deal and make that happen for you and for others inside the company? Okay. So, now we’re in the realm of selling, but still we’re getting information and it’s the buyer who is navigating as you steer with your questions.
How to Drive a Sales Conversation into a Close · [33:01]
Will Barron:
So what’s the final step in this process? I feel we’ve got four steps so far, Deb. Is it always to ask a question like, does it make sense to do X, Y, or Z, and get a definite yes. Or is the opportunity to go back to open-ended questions? What was the end goal with all of this process?
“But at some point, you need to know yes or no. Being caught up in endless continuances and maybes doesn’t serve you or them well at all.” – Deb Calvert · [33:45]
Deb Calvert:
Yeah. We do want to get to a place where there’s a yes or a no. It may be in the same sales call, it may not be. It depends on the complexity of your sale, of course. So, we’ve been sort of talking about the discovery process at this point. For certain kinds of products, you could bridge that straight into a close. For others, there are going to be more meetings and demos and timeframes that come into play. But at some point, yes, you need to know yes or no. Being caught up in endless continuances and maybes doesn’t serve you or them well at all.
Will Barron:
So is it fair to say then that we are starting with big, audacious questions and then slowly, perhaps even get more strategic with the questions and they’re getting narrow and more closed as we go towards the end of the conversation?
“They’re getting more narrow in focus and more about you and the need as it does now fit your product. So the big need is, in my company we have committed to. And my role in that is that I’m responsible for. And that means I’m going to need. And your product does. And now let’s make it happen.” – Deb Valvert · [34:10]
Deb Calvert:
Yeah, absolutely. They’re getting more narrow in focus and more about you and the need as it does now fit your product. So the big need is, in my company we have committed to. And my role in that is that I’m responsible for. And that means I’m going to need. And your product does. And now let’s make it happen.
Will Barron:
That could be on a poster, Deb. Literally what you just said then should be on a poster as a general framework for people as they’re on conversations to prompt them to move down this funnel of questioning.
Deb Calvert:
Well, you call it the question sequence funnel and discover questions, but you’re right, I need to revise it because that was better than what’s in the book.
Will Barron:
I would have a poster like that. It’d be something that you could even have it on the desk sitting here. But that would be a cool thing to have, especially if you’ve got your little office cubicle, especially if you’re doing inside sales. Something like that could be a real subtle, useful prompt for people to just subconsciously encourage them to keep moving forward and making progress and staying in control of the sale.
What To Do When You’re trying To Be a True Inspirational Leader But the Prospect is Still Treating You Like a Pesky Salesperson · [35:19]
Will Barron:
There’s two things I want to quiz you on to wrap up the show, Deb. One is completely off topic so I’ll save that for in a second. But what do we do when we are trying to be the true inspirational leader? We’re trying to help our buyer navigate us towards a place where everybody wins. We deliver our product, they get an incredible service that far outweighs in the value that they get, that the price that they’re paying for it. What do we do when the buy still is retreating, goes like a pesky salesperson, even though we are pretty much doing everything right, what kind of questions can we ask that are perhaps a hard restart that allow us to re-grab hold of any control that we possibly can?
Deb Calvert:
I was listening to some chorus recordings for a newer client last week, and I loved this example. So I’ll give you a fresh new example. This seller had done a lot of things right. And there were two buyers, this was all in a Zoom meeting and it was the third or fourth meeting. And it was still very much the buyer having all those stereotypes in mind, literally saying things like, “I know that’s probably going to work out better for you commission wise, but,” and always assuming the worst kinds of statements that were not deserved by this particular seller.
Deb Calvert:
And so finally the salesperson, I mean, I don’t think this was made up or acting at all, but the seller eventually just said, “Okay, look, I work really hard at not being like every stereotypical sales person out there, and you’re giving me a really hard time. Am I ever going to be able to earn your trust and be viewed differently?” And he just, and he didn’t say anything else. He just like froze and looked into the camera at the end of that. And I watched the buyer get really, really uncomfortable. And the other person, the other buyer who hadn’t been acting that way was so embarrassed.
Will Barron:
[crosstalk 00:37:12] watching, yeah?
Deb Calvert:
Yeah. And it broke things down. And the buyer acknowledged, yeah, I have been kind of hard on you and maybe that’s not fair. And would you give me another chance? I’m sorry I was acting that way.” I don’t know if it’ll work in every situation, but a moment of real, that came from a place of integrity, I think, and a moment of just real … It requires confidence. It requires leadership to do something like that. And it was effective.
Be Assertive, Not Aggressive and Take Control of a Sales Conversation · [37:45]
Will Barron:
Is there a level of assertiveness here that … We’re doing the job. We’re doing the job the best we can. We’re being professional. We’re trying to help the buyer. It’s going to be clear if you’re trying to just rip someone off. It’s going to be clear through your subconscious, body language, and all that stuff that we can talk about in another episode. We’re coming from the place here that hopefully the audience do have integrity what they do. They’re listening to a show like this, right, because they want to improve their professional skills. How much of this is being, I guess, how can I put it? How much of it is being just candid and open and honest with the buyer versus being assertive and saying, “Hey, look, you are not being professional here. And I’m trying my best.”
Deb Calvert:
I do think that assertiveness is appropriate. Let’s make sure everybody understands that assertiveness means equally that my needs are being met and your needs are being met. Different from aggressiveness where I begin to trample on your needs because I’m so forceful with my own. So it requires this balance, which in essence is what we’ve been talking about all along. I ask questions. I listen. I have an interest before I try to be interesting. There is some give and take here.
Deb Calvert:
But too many sellers do the other extreme and they’re so deferential. So there’s aggressive, there’s assertive, and then there’s passive and you’re not supposed to be passive. That’s where you’re not in the driver’s seat and you’re expecting the buyer to do their job and yours too. So assertive is a very good summary of what we’ve been talking about here.
Will Barron:
I’m glad you said that, Deb. And the reason I asked that is we’ve got thousands and thousands of sales assessments over at salesman.org now of our sales code assessment. And we find that the majority of salespeople are either passive or aggressive on the as assessment, and the accuracy of assessments is a bit wishy washy with very specific terms like this.
Will Barron:
But there is clear correlation between the people who drive the most revenue and who hit the most commissions each year being slap bang in the middle of being assertive. So you kind of framed it up the way that we frame it up in our training as well. And it makes total sense, right? Because if you are unable to ask for the business and your needs are getting met and their needs are getting met, nothing’s going to happen if you try and bully someone. They’re going to have buyer’s remorse, even if they do buy, and you’re going to have people complaining, customer service are going to get hounded.
Will Barron:
And of course, if you’re on the far end of all this, and you’re just passive and you are in the backseat while someone else is navigating and driving. You’ve got no control and you’ve no idea. If you’re in the backseat, you’re not doing your job right because you’re not adding any value to the conversation. You’re just there along for the ride.
Deb Calvert:
Yeah, it’s true. That’s not leadership and that’s not what buyers want. So I want to underline that everything we’re talking about, it’s not just about what works in selling, it’s about what buyers want from you. So feel emboldened by that.
Actionable Tips For Keeping Multiple Conversation Threads in Your Head and Add Value to a Sales Conversation · [40:50]
Will Barron:
I’ve got one final question, Deb, and this is something that it’s totally left field and nothing to do with anything we’ve talked about so far, but it’s a skill that you’ve done about five times in the interview so far, because I’ve asked some pretty average questions and you’ve pulled them back from their brain and given really good answers. But you’re very good at holding seemingly multiple threads of a conversation in your head at once and multiple times, you’ve said, “Well, I’ll answer this then I’ll answer this.” And by the time you’ve answered the first part, I forgot the second part that I asked you originally. And you’ve got all this wrapped up in your brain. And is there any strategies to that? Is there anything you are doing to keep track of all these different threads of conversation? Because I feel that could be really valuable to sales people, especially if you ask a big open ended question and the buyer comes at you with seven different opportunities for you to continue the conversation, keeping track of three or four of them, I find personally, is difficult.
“It is not true that buyers are going to feel like you’re not listening to them or that you’re not making eye contact with them if you take notes. In fact, buyers like it, they feel important when you take notes.” – Deb Calvert · [41:48]
Deb Calvert:
Well, I think note taking helps. So, if the next thing I tell you seems daunting, just know that you can take notes. It is not true that buyers are going to feel like you’re not listening to them or that you’re not making eye contact with them if you take notes. In fact, buyers like it, they feel important when you take notes. So it’s a good thing and it will help you track those different threads that you want to respond to.
Deb Calvert:
The second thing is that it’s a discipline and it all goes back to what we have talked about. It’s about listening. So I’ll provide one tip since that’s what you’re asking for. And I love how you always get things to the practical level. One way that you can listen at this level and retain more information is by dumping the other stuff out of your head. Be confident enough not to be worried that if you don’t respond right now, which means you might interrupt, or if you don’t respond because it’s fresh in your mind and your passion is going to come out if you answer that one thing right now. Those are fallacies.
Deb Calvert:
So to dump things out of your mind means that you will not be trying to craft your answer. Have confidence that it’s going to come. You made it a little note about it mentally or on paper. The answer’s going to come when the time is right. Listen for what else is there.
“Don’t listen for what’s similar. It will make you rude and it will make you narrowly focused. Listen in every conversation you ever have for what’s not familiar, for what’s different, for what is coming out a little unlike what you already expected or are used to. That’s where the real gold is because that’s where you get to learn more and it’s where you’re going to be dignifying the other person who’s speaking.” – Deb Calvert · [43:15]
Deb Calvert:
And the other part of that tip is different from what most people do. We mostly listen for and respond to what’s similar or what’s immediate. That’s why we interrupt because we think we have to catch the one thing before another thing gets piled onto it. Not true. Don’t listen for what’s similar. It will make you rude and it will make you narrowly focused. Listen in every conversation you ever have for what’s not familiar, for what’s different, for what is coming out a little unlike what you already expected or are used to. That’s where the real gold is because that’s where you get to learn more and it’s where you’re going to be dignifying the other person who’s speaking.
Will Barron:
That makes total sense. I love that, Deb. And just for context, I know the audience will get to see it here. So I start off the show with a few questions, just so I’m on track, and then I will write down BANT. Make it clear, choose to follow, questions, leader, navigate, objections. So objections are something that I wanted to come back to, but we’re not going to have time to come back to. So that’s how I try and keep track of this.
Will Barron:
But I was just amazed the way you were doing a better job of it than me. I don’t think you’re writing notes there. I think you’re just doing it all mentally, and that’s a real skill. Clearly you’re just crushing it and you’re an expert in asking questions and answering them. You’re proving that the case study is perfect of yourself, Deb. But I just thought that was interesting for the audience as a little tidbit to add on the end of the show.
Parting Thoughts: Deb’s Books and How to Get in Touch with Her · [44:30]
Will Barron:
And with that, Deb, I guess the next step very clearly for the audience is to buy both the books that we’ve mentioned so far. So tell us more about both of them and where we can find more about you as well.
Deb Calvert:
Well, Discover Questions Get You Connected is now seven years old. It continues to show up on lots of lists like HubSpots, they curate ratings from Amazon. And more recently it was on another list of top 10, top 20 most highly sales books of all time for sales people. Things like that. I’m very proud of that book. It’s based on research with buyers and observations of calls with sellers in the field or on the phone. So it’s sounds very wonky and academic, but hopefully as most of those reviews will tell you, it’s also very much about examples and clear ways that you can improve your question asking and rapport building skills.
Deb Calvert:
And the other book also based on buyer research is called Stop Selling and Start Leading. It’s based on a body of research with B2B buyers. It gave them choices of behaviours that they could have in sellers and ask them if they would like those and if they’d respond by buying. And it turns out that the ones they like are behaviours more often associated with leaders than with sellers, hence the conclusion that you want to be a leader as you’re working with buyers.
Will Barron:
Perfect. And I want to [inaudible 00:45:49] both available on Amazon. I link to them both in the show note to this episode as well. Deb, just plug your homepage whilst we’re at it, and tell us a little bit also about the sales experts channel.
Deb Calvert:
Okay. So my company is called People First Productivity Solutions, peoplefirstps.com. Tonnes of stuff there. I like to give stuff away. And the sales experts channel is my pet project, my give back to the sales community, where I invite lots of other sales experts around the world. We’ve had over 300 writers, authors, bloggers, podcasters researchers, thought leaders come in and contribute inspirational and educational content. We’ve got 70,000 people over there. So if you’re not there, you might find that there’s a tonne. The salesexpertschannel.com.
Will Barron:
Perfect. Again, I’ll link to all this in the show notes over at salesman.org. [inaudible 00:46:38] Deb. And thank you again. I really enjoy, I don’t say this to everyone and usually I would say this off air after the show, but I really enjoy chatting with you. There’s never a question that I can’t ask you. And without Deb, thanks again for the insights and for joining us on the Salesman podcast.
This Is the Future Of Sales - Don't Get Left Behind | Selling Made Simple
Aug 19, 2022
In just seven years, the SaaS industry has grown from $31.5 billion to an astounding $171.9 billion. And by 2024, it’s on track to reach $369.4 billion!
For sales reps like you, the writing on the walls is this—no matter what you sell today, you’ll be selling SaaS in your next sales role. And that my friends is a good thing. Today we’re talking about why, and what you can do to take advantage of this massive sales industry shift.
Let’s get real here. The job you have right now? You probably won’t have it forever. Businesses go under. Goals and needs change. And salary objectives shift. That’s okay! The average person will change their job five to seven times during their working life.
What matters, though, is how prepared you are for that next job. And as a sales professional, it’s incredibly likely that your next position is going to be in an SaaS company. So in order to make that transition as smooth as possible, you owe it to yourself to find out what this industry is all about. And most importantly, what does working in it mean for you?
Alrighty, so starting out, let’s hit a basic question…
1. What Is SaaS?
Well, SaaS is short for “software as a service.” Basically, it’s a model where businesses license software to customers in exchange for a subscription, be it monthly, yearly, or any other timeframe. These businesses also “deliver” the software in a sense by hosting it over an internet connection.
As a result, customers don’t have to install via a CD, have a tech crew come in and set up their system, or engage in any other cumbersome physical onboarding. Connection is on-demand. And with just a few clicks, customers can start using the product for their business.
Think of apps like Dropbox, HubSpot, or cloud-based Microsoft Office 365
Okay so the question is…
2. Why Will You Be Selling It
Well to put it simply, companies across the world are making the shift to this model because it offers some very real and very lucrative benefits. For instance…
A) It Brings In More Revenue
It brings in more revenue. And it brings in more consistent revenue. See, an SaaS model is built on recurring subscriptions. If a customer doesn’t cancel their subscription, they’ll be billed again for the next cycle. And that means the default is staying a customer.
Compare that to the traditional model. The default after a purchase is nothing. Because it takes work for that customer to buy again.
So as long as an SaaS company is keeping its buyers happy, those customers won’t go through the hassle of canceling.
And given our tendency toward the path of least resistance, that often means an SaaS company will bring in more money over time compared to traditional models. Plus, that revenue is consistent, making it easier to plan ahead.
B) Allows for Automatic Upsells
Allows for automatic upsells. SaaS products typically have multiple tiers to choose from. The more you pay, the more functionality and features you gain access to.
So as an SaaS customer’s needs grow and expand, they can seamlessly choose to upgrade to a new tier. No searching for a new provider. No going through a whole new lengthy sales cycle. Instead, they can make the switch with just the click of a button. Easy as that.
C) Higher Business Valuations
Higher business valuations. Now, there are two components to this idea.
First, SaaS is expanding. Remember what I said before? About SaaS growing 5X over the last seven years? And nearly 12X from 2015 to 2024? That means the future is SaaS. And businesses are valuated according to that trend.
Secondly, and this might be above our heads as just knuckle-dragging salespeople. But we sell what drives a company’s shareholder value. The easier it is for US to sell, the better a company is going to fare. And the more it’s going to be worth.
3. Why This Shift Is Great
Why is this shift great for you as a sales professional? What does all this mean for on-the-ground benefits?
Well, first and foremost, there’s…
A) Long-Term Residual Commissions
Long-term residual commissions. If your mouth isn’t watering already at the thought here, it should be.
Many SaaS businesses reward their salespeople with commissions that continue over the course of a customer’s relationship with the product. So if a client stays subscribed for, say, 10 years, you will continually earn a commission for that lifetime.
Just imagine, a single sale can lead to a decade of recurring payouts. Sounds like heaven! The only trick here is that the better you sell them on your product, the more likely they’ll be to stick around. So it’s still worth putting in the effort up front and focusing on your skills.
B) An Easier Closing Cycle
For SaaS products, most customers get the majority of their info from automated funnels. Ebooks, case studies, how-tos, in-depth articles—this is where your clients will dive deep into what your product can do AND what they can do with it.
As a result, you don’t have to do as much selling as with traditional models.
On top of that, implementation is as easy as a click of a button. And the ability to split costs on a month-by-month basis lowers the biggest barrier to buying—expense.
And you know what that means—it’s easier to close!
C) Clearer Selling Points
SaaS products are, by their very nature, dependent on the internet. And that dependence brings with it a few very clear selling points that you can use to nudge buyers towards that “yes.”
For instance, many SaaS products are designed to work in tandem with other solutions. For instance, HubSpot integrates with over a hundred different apps to simplify automating your business, updating your contacts, and much more.
That dependence on internet connectivity also allows for regular software updates and hassle-free cancellations.
And these, like integrations, make selling your product easier. Giving you more time and the opportunity for more sales success.
We all know the stereotype of the dodgy used car salesman. But contrary to popular belief, sales isn’t about tricking people into buying. Instead, it’s about giving customers the solution to their problem (whether they know they have the problem or not).
The tricky part for salespeople is finding out if their solution is a good fit for their buyer’s needs.
Is that buyer actually struggling with a problem you can solve? Do their needs align with what you can provide? Are they equipped with the resources to use your solution correctly? Discovery calls are designed to provide this invaluable information and more.
With this discovery info, you can better qualify leads, craft the perfect sales pitch and close more deals.
This guide will help you uncover your buyer’s actual needs and home in on their underlying business problem with a simple step-by-step sales process. We’ll be looking at nine open-ended discovery questions along with 12 powerful follow-up questions.
What Are Discovery Questions?
Discovery questions are the questions you ask sales leads during a discovery call. Of course, you’ve likely already learned a bit about the prospect before jumping on the phone. But your discovery call will help you fill in the details about their situation and create a clearer picture of their needs.
The answers to your discovery questions let you determine several things.
If your product offering can solve the needs of a sales lead.
If you can deliver your product within the buyer’s constraints (i.e., timeline, budget, etc.).
The best way to pitch your product.
If the prospect’s answers line up well during your discovery call, then they’ll move on to the next phase of the sales process. If not, you can redirect them through another nurturing campaign. Or they’ll drop out from your sales funnel entirely.
So, what makes a sales discovery question effective at uncovering your sales lead’s genuine business problems?
Principles of Great Sales Discovery Questions
The types of discovery questions (and how you ask them) determine the quality of the information you extract on your call. With the right discovery call questions, you can get to the heart of your prospect’s needs. The wrong one? You may lose the buyer’s trust and sink the deal entirely.
So, what do great sales discovery calls look like?
They’re Open-Ended – Avoiding “yes or no’s” gets the sales lead talking and lets them avoid feeling “trapped” into an answer.
They’re Informed – Do your research beforehand. Novice-level questions torpedo your credibility in an instant. But informed ones prove you’re a professional worthy of trust.
They Move the Needle – Each question you ask should always take you one step closer to qualifying or disqualifying. They allow sales reps to dig deeper and move the entire sales process forward. There’s value in building rapport, but time is precious. So don’t waste it on filler. Try to keep questions in line with proven frameworks like MEDDPICC.
They’re Ripe for Follow-Up Questions – A discovery call should be a conversation, not an interrogation for your prospect. They should add value to the potential buyer. Asking relevant follow-up questions lets you naturally uncover pain points and hints for creating a perfectly catered sales pitch. Plus, it helps build rapport which will help your deals close faster.
9 Qualifying Discovery Questions for Sales
Asking the right discovery call questions is key to uncovering the information you need to create an irresistible sales pitch.
So lets get practical. Below are nine discovery questions you should always use on your discovery calls. You’ll also find 12 follow-up questions you can use to extract even more valuable info.
1. “Tell Me About Your Company & Your Role”
Once you’ve broken the ice, it’s time for some sales discovery. This question lets the potential buyer take the lead and ease into the conversation at their own pace. Best of all, people love talking about themselves. So they’ll often be excited to share.
Besides building rapport, you’ll also be uncovering hints about the prospective buyer. Hints like do they have decision-making power in this deal? What areas of the business do they oversee? And what difficulties have they been hitting recently?
Great Follow-Up Question:
“What specific metrics are you responsible for?” – Perfect for aligning your pitch to what’s specifically essential to their role. Plus, it may help uncover their decision-making power along the way.
2. “Tell Me About Your Upcoming Goals”
This question is an excellent lead-in to get more information specifically related to the prospects business needs. It’s a fundamental discovery call question. For example, are they looking for a way to save on costs? Streamline their processes? Boost their customer satisfaction?
Plus, the open-endedness of it keeps the conversation moving forward without sounding pushy.
Great Follow-Up Question:
“What is your timeline for achieving those goals?”– The buyer’s answer to this question lets you determine if the implementation for your product matches up with their timeline needs.
3. “What’s Keeping You From Achieving These Goals?”
It may be vague. But by keeping things general, you’ll be able to extract which problems are the most pressing for the decision maker. Along the way, you can determine if they’re struggling in areas related to your product offerings.
This question also leads the buyer into a “challenge-oriented” state of mind. The more concrete those challenges become in their heads, the more valuable your product will seem if it can solve them and the more likely you’ll be to move forward in the sales process.
Great Follow-Up Question:
“Why are you having those problems?”– The answer here helps identify if their current solution is working and if yours can help.
4. “What Happens if These Problems Go Unresolved?”
Setting up the “what if” scenario should be a go-to in your sales toolbox when talking with the decision maker. It solidifies the risks involved in letting this problem go. It underscores the challenges the prospect is facing. And if the consequences are dire, it makes your solution to their problem that much more appealing.
Beyond that, this question also lets you gauge the buyer’s urgency, whether you need to increase that urgency in your final pitch and their real pain points.
Great Follow-Up Question:
“What would success look like exactly?”– This follow-up helps you determine if their expectations are realistic and if you can help—both vital for deciding whether to qualify or disqualify.
5. “Who Else Is Involved in Choosing a Solution?”
One of the essential aspects of any qualification framework is determining the authority of your contact. Do they have decision-making power? Or are they just the gatekeeper who reports back to the actual authority?
Rather than asking, “Who’s really in charge here?” this question lets you uncover that information without eroding the rapport with your current contact.
Great Follow-Up Questions:
“Do you already have specific criteria crafted for choosing a solution”– The holy grail of qualifying and disqualifying information. Some buyers won’t give up these criteria willingly. But if you’ve built up a great rapport, you may be able to get access.
“Who created those criteria?”– A subtle hint at who the decision-makers are.
6. “If We Can Find the Right Solution for Your Problem, What Will It Take To Implement The Solution?”
The point of this question is three-fold.
First, this question gives you a clearer idea of the process ahead. What steps will we need to go through to get the deal approved? Which departments will it have to pass through beforehand? The info here will help you nail down a timeline and hint at their authority.
Second, it further connects your product to the idea of solving their underlying problem. And that makes it easier for them to get to “yes.”
And lastly, using the vital “we” language puts you and the buyer on the same team and boosts rapport.
Great Follow-Up Questions:
“What are the main hurdles you see for a smooth implementation?” – This further clarifies the last question and gives you an idea of the potential challenges involved ahead, not just the decision-making process.
“What are your other options for solving this problem?” – This question reveals your competitors or whether the buyer is considering putting the project off. Either way, it’ll give you specifics to leverage in your pitch.
7. “What Is Your Implementation Timeline?”
Now we’re a bit more in the nitty-gritty. And by this point, you’ll have built up a strong rapport, so tackling these details should be acceptable. How much time do we really have here? And is it even feasible?
Here you’ll want to be checking for realistic expectations and disqualifying information, too. If the prospects current solution isn’t driving some serious pain points, then now is the time to end the discovery call and move on.
Great Follow-Up Question:
“Are you ready to begin solving this today?” – How urgently are they ready to fix this problem? Ideally, you’ll want them to be excited about the solution. And if they aren’t, it’s your job to build that excitement.
8. “What Is Your Approximate Budget?”
Discussing monetary terms can always be tricky. So be sure to leave this question for later in the discovery conversation. Keeping figures ballpark is a great way to soften the blow, too.
That being said, enquiring about the budget is a necessity. If they can’t afford the project, then this deal is a non-starter.
Great Follow-Up Question:
“Is the budget owner an ‘executive sponsor’?” – Are there any senior-level employees directly involved? If so, will you be speaking with them too?
9. “How Will This Make Your Life Better?”
Last but not least, it’s essential to wrap up your conversations by helping your sales lead envision their future specifically. Will they have more time on their hands? Can they finally start attracting their ideal audience? Will their department be able to boost their efficiency and meet lofty goals?
Get the buyer to think about those benefits. Doing so makes your solution more appealing. It also motivates your sales lead to sell your product more passionately to other stakeholders.
Great Follow-Up Question:
“How can I help make this easy?” – This final question lets the buyer ask you questions and request more information if needed. Plus, it’s a great way to continue building rapport.
Learn To Ask the Right Questions
A strategic discovery call does more than just let you see if a sales lead is a good fit for your business. It also allows you to uncover valuable information that can be used to deliver a spot-on sales pitch. For you, that means higher close rates and better commissions.
If you’re getting on plenty of sales calls with leads but still struggling to understand what their business problems are, asking these nine discovery questions will help.
How I Do A Full Weeks Sales Activity in 6 Hours 🕑 | Selling Made Simple
Aug 16, 2022
Look, I’m a busy guy. I run a sales training company, produce hours of content each week, run 15-20 weekly training calls, and single-handedly sell 7-figures worth of enterprise level training packages. But I also take my dog on long walks every day. I practice drums each morning for an hour. And my family life is full and fulfilling.
It’s true you don’t have time to do it ALL in sales. But if you prioritize your time for maximum productivity like I do, you can still be highly successful in B2B sales while living your best life. Here’s how.
1. Reverse Engineering
So much time is wasted on tasks that don’t do a damn thing to help you reach your goals. It’s a problem that comes from having the wrong perspective.
Instead of looking forwards to decide what needs to be done to reach your destination, look backwards. Imagine what you want, typically it’s going to be a financial goal. From there, start moving backwards in time. What do you have to do each year that’ll build up to that goal? What about each month? Each day?
Say you want to earn an extra $50k this year. Let’s start there. $50k in commissions equals an extra 30 closed deals. For every closed deal, there are 24 discovery calls that don’t work out. Which means you need 750 discovery calls in a year or about 190 per quarter, 63 per month, and around 15 per week.
And with those numbers in mind, you’ve got EXACTLY the work you need to do each day to reach your goal.
2. Time Blocking
Next up is time blocking.
This is one of my favorites. I’ve even talked about it before.
Essentially, you need to start scheduling your important tasks. Don’t just have a mental to-do list that you’re crossing off throughout the day. Instead, put all the tasks you need to have done into your calendar.
But here’s the most important part—you have to stick to those times. Don’t spend a second more or a second less on the tasks that you schedule. If you waver even just a little from those scheduled times, tasks will start to bleed over into others. And the entire system falls apart.
So schedule it. And stick to it like hell.
3. Paper To-Do
Keeping a paper list with you at all times makes it easy to add to it and cross things out throughout the day, no matter where you are.
Feel free to plug them all into a digital list at the end of the day to keep things organized. I do the same thing with the app Things on iOS.
But there’s something so viscerally satisfying about crossing tasks off one by one.
4. Phone Pruning
This one’s going to hurt. But trust me, it’s worth it.
Get rid of the distractions on your phone. Facebook, WhatsApp, LinkedIn even. If you’re spending non-work time on it, nix it. Now, there are some features out there that make it 10X easier to concentrate while at work. I use the Focus feature on iOS all the time.
But eliminating ANY temptation whatsoever is a powerful way to keep your eye on the ball at all times.
5. The Pomodoro Technique
This technique is surprisingly effective for how simple it really is. Next time you’ve got a task you don’t want to be doing, say cold calling or updating your CRM, commit yourself to it for 25 minutes. That’s it. And then schedule a five minute break.
When you structure your entire day with this technique, something pretty amazing happens—you stop wanting to stop.
I’ve found the hardest thing for me is simply getting started on a task. After that part’s over, my momentum usually just keeps me going and going.
With this technique, you’re making the biggest barrier (getting started) easier to overcome. After all, it’s just 25 minutes!
6. Parkinson’s Law
I like this one a lot because it’s so unintuitive. Parkinson’s Law basically states that the time it takes to finish a task depends on how much time you allot to doing it.
So if you’re giving yourself three hours to perform some menial task that should only take one hour, it’s still going to take three hours to do.
The moral of the story here is that you should experiment with harsher self-imposed deadlines. Sure what you produce might not be quite as polished, but you’ve now bought yourself time to polish and refine the finished product, rather than being in a rush to finish it last minute.
7. Continuous Structure
Technique seven, continuous structure.
How often do you find yourself struggling to be productive after a lazy weekend? All the time, right?
Well the problem is, you’ve only got one brain. And when your habits and your thoughts are one way at the office and the complete opposite at home, making the switch between the two can be damn difficult.
So instead of trying to keep the two separate, try using the same techniques in both.
If you find for example that time blocking is doing wonders in the office, try doing it for date night with your partner each week. Fight to protect it like you would a massive client meeting.
You may be surprised how well these techniques work in both worlds.
8. The Power of “No”
And eight, the power of no.
Stop being so nice. Just stop it. Agreeing to every demand, every unreasonable meeting time, every covering of someone else’s blunder—it’s sucking the energy right out of you. Even worse, it’s letting colleagues, clients, and yes, bosses, know that it’s 100% a-okay to walk all over you.
Listen, you’ve only got one life. And if you want to make your goal omelet, you’re gonna have to break a few eggs.
Start getting comfortable with saying no more often. Saying “no” gives clear boundaries. It stops clients walking all over you. And saying it just a few times a day will free up hours and hours of time each week.
Time you can spend on more important things like I don’t know, say doing what you want.
So say no. There’s no way you’ll regret it.
How much you can get done each day comes down to time management. And if you want to get better at using your time more wisely, use these eight techniques…
Buying Signals: Know Exactly When To Close The Sale
Aug 15, 2022
Only 19% of sales close, so you can have lots of selling conversations and the best closing skills but still not win new business consistently. That’s because there is more to closing a sale than asking for the business.
Not all prospects are a good fit for your product or service. And if your potential buyer isn’t ready to make a purchase, then your odds of successfully closing the deal is dead. That’s why you need to recognize your prospects’ buying signals.
But this isn’t only about identifying when your leads are ready to buy your product or service. These signs occur throughout the buyer’s journey.
So, you need to watch and listen for buying signals during prospecting calls, discovery calls, demos, and every other prospect engagement. This includes phone calls, emails, social media interactions, data within your sales tools and video calls.
But what are buying signals?
Definition of the term ‘buying signals’
Buying signals are verbal and non-verbal cues, signs, or indicators that tell you when the lead is either ready to buy or interested in moving forward in their buying process.
You will often see buying signals from your prospect when a lead schedules a discovery call or when an opportunity responds to an email you’ve sent requesting additional information. In both cases, the prospect is giving buying signals indicating their interest in moving forward even though they aren’t ready to become customers yet, by signing on the dotted line.
Buying signals are like road signs, helping you recognize how to proceed with each prospect. A lack of buying signals might even mean not advancing them through the sales process.
Why are buying signals essential to recognize?
Spotting these buying signals is more critical than ever because sales reps are getting less time with prospects. For example, B2B buyers currently spend only 17% of their time meeting with potential suppliers. And if the prospect is considering multiple solutions, your time with this potential customer drops to as little as 4-5% of the time it takes for them to make a buying decision.
This lack of face time with your leads gives you less time to pick up on indicators that the lead is interested in buying or moving forward with the sales process. So, it’s essential that you learn to quickly recognize buying signals as they happen so you can respond appropriately. Reading the prospect’s buying signals can also save you time by allowing you to disqualify potential customers too. You want to disqualify potential buyers because you don’t want to spend precious selling time with prospects who aren’t a good fit for your product.
They are less likely to close or may take longer to close and are more likely to be dissatisfied or churn. Churn is when a customer cancels their subscription to your product after a short period or chooses not to renew.
Ultimately, by spending your time with highly qualified leads who will most benefit from your solution, you significantly increase your close rate.
What are buying signals in sales?
Buying signals can be verbal or non-verbal, and some are more subtle than others, but with practice, you can learn to recognize all the different buying signals communicated by your prospects.
Here are some examples of positive buying signals or signs when a prospect is interested in buying from you:
Non-verbal buying signals:
Nodding, direct eye contact, and paying attention during your conversation or presentation. This is a sign the lead is interested. If you can’t see the other person, listen carefully to determine if they are fully engaged in the conversation.
Smiling and appearing excited about your product or service is undoubtedly a positive sign. If you cannot see the person, you can listen for a positive tone in their voice.
Involving others on the buying committee in meetings, calls or email communications indicates the prospect is seriously considering taking the next step in the buying process.
Responding quickly to email communications shows the prospect is interested in continuing the conversation with you.
Quality of email responses is a buying signal, too, since a prospects willingness to provide detailed and timely responses to email inquiries reveals their level of interest in advancing through the buying process.
Open Communication buying signals:
Openly discussing the needs, challenges, and problems the lead want to solve shows that the prospect is intent on finding out if your product is the best solution.
Telling you about problems or issues with their current vendor is a transparent buying signal from your sales lead revealing that they are unhappy with the solution they are using. This enables you to learn more about the potential customer’s preferences.
Sharing their goals, ideal end-state, or desired results is also an indicator that the prospect wants to give you the information needed to determine if your product or service will meet their needs.
Expresses an interest in future communications like scheduling another meeting, a discovery call, demo, or proposal. Or if the potential buyer asks when they will hear from you again. This is a buying sign demonstrating the prospect’s interest in advancing the buying process.
Repeating or confirming attractive benefits indicates what the prospect is most excited about or interested in.
Questions that are a buying signal:
Asking questions during a demo or presentation instead of waiting until the end is a sure sign the buyer is interested in learning more about your product or service and its ability to meet their needs. When the lead asks questions like “how quick can we get started” you know you’re close to getting a contract signed.
Questions about payment methods are a strong indicators the lead is close to making a buying decision. The lead being proactive about the price means your deals are on track.
Prospects picturing themselves using your product or service is a strong buying signal. This is seen when potential customers ask questions in terms of ‘When I use the product, will…?’ or ‘How quickly will I see an improvement?’ or ‘Will I see X that quickly too?’
Asking about delivery, installation, or on-boarding procedures and timing are strong buying signals since the prospect is wondering how soon they can benefit from your solution.
Requesting general pricing information is a buying signal that shows a prospect is interested.
Requests that are buying signals:
Wants to know more about your company. A request from the prospect indicates they like your solution and are trying to determine your company’s longevity or its financial stability.
Requesting case studies or research reports by a prospect in a complex sale shows how interested they are in your product or service
Asking to speak with existing customers demonstrates that the prospective customer has a strong interest in moving forward
Asking to try the product before they buy is a strong buying signal. Prospects who are interested in taking the time to try a product during a free trial are seriously considering buying. If you offer a free trial, be sure to check in with the prospect at previously agreed-upon intervals to ensure everything is going smoothly.
Requesting a quote is a buying signal, but it’s essential to present the pricing to the prospect, so you have the opportunity to get feedback from the potential customer. And, in this case, you want to be sure you are presenting to the decision-maker. Otherwise, you may never find out where you stand in comparison to competitors.
Examples of negative buying signals or signs when a potential buyer is not interested in buying from you:
Unresponsive or reluctant to schedule time to learn more. When a prospect won’t respond to your social media, email or phone messages, or they are hesitant to schedule another call after initially speaking with you, is a clear sign the buyer isn’t interested.
Indicating they are still looking into other options may mean the prospect isn’t interested. Or, at the very least, it means ‘not now.’
Reluctance to talk about their needs, challenges or goals is a sign the prospect isn’t presently interested in learning more about your solution.
Unwilling to share their budget may be a sign that there isn’t a need currently, the prospect isn’t interested, or there isn’t sufficient funding available to make a deal happen.
Hesitant to identify or introduce the decision-making is a negative indicator since initial contacts are often not making the final buying decision. If you can’t find out who is making the final decision at the prospect’s company, you are wasting your time.
Telling you, they are not interested is a sure sign that this prospect will not become a customer… at least not now.
How to get better at spotting buying signals
An excellent way to develop your ability to recognize buying signals is to record your phone and video calls. Then review each call to see which buying signals were displayed by the prospect. Next, identify the ones you didn’t recognize in real-time during the live call, so you don’t miss them next time around. Doing this consistently will help you hear and see buying signs more quickly until it becomes automatic.
Conclusion
Even the most skilled reps don’t close every prospect. It doesn’t matter how well your sales and marketing team have done, the buyers purchasing intent is down to you to understand.
But the better you get at recognizing buying signals, the more time you’ll end up spending with highly qualified prospects. This increases the percentage of prospects that you close. And it prevents you from wasting valuable selling time with leads who aren’t a good fit for your product or service. This makes it easier to hit or exceed your quota targets and increases your number of sales.
So, learn to identify buying signals, revisit all your calls to figure out which signs you missed, and you’ll soon become proficient at knowing when to progress the sale to a close.
Replay: What Is MEDDIC? (Win More Sales With This Process) | Salesman Podcast
Aug 12, 2022
In this episode of the Salesman Podcast, Andy Whyte dissects each step in the MEDDIC process and explains how B2B sales professionals can leverage the framework to both progress and close more sales.
Andy is the author of MEDDIC: The Ultimate Guide and an expert on using MEDDIC in the complex sale
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Featured on this episode:
Host - Will Barron
Founder of Salesman.org
Guest - Andy Whyte
Author: MEDDIC: The Ultimate Guide
Coming up on today’s episode of the Salesman Podcast.
Andy Whyte:
I think the thing is this, a lot of… MEDDICC is probably the most widely used methodology or framework or whatever you want to call it, in enterprise sales. What you find is that everyone has a different word for it. As a salesperson, you really only have one thing, one asset that really is going to dictate how successful you are and that’s time.
Andy Whyte:
The paper process is the one that will have the biggest impact on whether your deal will close on time when you think it will. Because once you’re a vendor of choice, once you’re past selling and you’re into closing, it’s the paper process that takes the time and…
Will Barron:
Hello, Sales nation. My name is Will Barron and I’m the host of the Salesman Podcast, the world’s most downloaded B2B sales show. On today’s episode, we have an absolute legend. We have Andy Whyte. He is the author of the book MEDDICC. You can find at meddicc.com, which is M-E-D-D-I-C-C.com.
Will Barron:
On today’s episode, unsurprisingly, we’re talking about MEDDICC as a framework and how it can help you close more complex and enterprise-level sales. Everything we talk about in this episode is available in the show notes over at salesman.org. With that said, let’s jump right into it. Andy, welcome to the Salesmen Podcast.
Andy Whyte:
Thank you, Will. It’s awesome to be here. As I’ve mentioned to you before, I’m a big fan. I’ve been watching the shows. Thank you for having me on.
Andy’s Definition of MEDDICC · [01:30]
Will Barron:
I appreciate it. I’m excited to have you on. On this episode, we’re going to get into MEDDICC. We’re going to hopefully break down the analogy and go through each of these sections the best we can in the time that we have. But Andy, how do you describe MEDDICC? Would you say it’s a sales methodology or do you have a better way or a different way of describing what it is?
Andy Whyte:
Yeah, great question. I think the thing is this, a lot of… MEDDICC, is probably the most widely used methodology or framework or whatever you want to call it in enterprise sales. What you find is that everyone has a different word for it. I personally, don’t really mind what you call it, whether you call it a framework or a methodology. The only caveat I have around that is that one of the beautiful things about MEDDICC is it works with any other sales methodology. It plays very, very nicely.
“At its core MEDDICC is, I would say, a qualification framework. It helps people to qualify, should I be in this deal? And if I should be, what should I be doing to ensure I’m going to win it?” – Andy Whyte · [02:28]
Andy Whyte:
In fact, I think it enhances other methodology. Whether you use something like Sandler or Challenger Sale or any one of the many great methodologies that are out there, it kind of can work very well with MEDDICC. But at its core MEDDICC is, I would say, a qualification framework. It helps people to qualify should I be in this deal? And if I should be, what should I be doing to ensure I’m going to win it?
Why is The Sales Qualification Process So Important? · [02:47]
Will Barron:
For someone who is perhaps less familiar with a complex sale or high value deal size sale, why is the qualification process so important? Just to set up the rest of our conversation here.
“As a salesperson, you really only have one thing, one asset that really, it’s going to dictate how successful you are and that’s time. If you are a salesperson who is running around chasing after every single opportunity you have without kind of putting yourself on the front foot by identifying what your chances are of winning, then you’re going to spread yourself very, very thin.” – Andy Whyte · [02:53]
Andy Whyte:
Yeah. Good. Good question. So as a salesperson, you really only have one thing, one asset that really, it’s going to dictate how successful you are and that’s time. If you are a salesperson who is running around chasing after every single opportunity you have without kind of putting yourself on the front foot by identifying what your chances are of winning, then you’re going to spread yourself very, very thin.
“Not all good salespeople are good forecasters, but all good forecasters are good salespeople.” – Andy Whyte · [03:21]
Andy Whyte:
I have this saying which is that not all good salespeople are good forecasters, but all good forecasters are good salespeople. If you’re a sales leader and if you’re talking about, as we all do, to aspire to the very best jobs in sales, what sales leaders of the best jobs out there are looking for is they’re looking for somebody who can accurately forecast, who can say, “I’ve got this deal and I’m going to win it and it’s going to close on this date.” So it can be forecasted out.
Andy Whyte:
And if you are a salesperson that can do that, then you will always have the best job. You will always work for the best companies. But the key to being able to answer those questions and forecast accurately is being able to qualify your pipeline.
Will Barron:
I love it. I love it. Just a personal anecdote from my side, 99% of the friction I’ve had with sales managers and sales leadership in the past when I was working in sales was the fact that I would always hit target, I’d always do pretty well, not the best, but I’d always do pretty well. But there was no forecasting.
Will Barron:
It would always look like it would just flukally, I had to close one big deal a year that would crush it 80% or 20% of the target and get me beyond my 80% mark. It looks like it comes in flukally. It doesn’t go in flukally. It came on the back of hard work but because I wasn’t using a methodology or a system like MEDDICC as well as what I should have been to qualify, I just got managers on my back all the time and that made the last part of my final sales job, it a bit of a mess and a bit of a pain.
Andy Breaks Down the MEDDICC Framework · [05:02]
Will Barron:
There’s definitely value in this, not just in getting more deals done but from having a better relationship with your internal stakeholders as well. So without Andy, breakdown MEDDICC. Give us the high level of what the acronym stands for and then we can perhaps go through each step as best we can with the time that we have.
Andy Whyte:
Of course, yeah. To do that, if I may, I’ll just take us back in time a little bit to where MEDDICC was formed because it beautifully explains why MEDDICC exists. MEDDICC was created by a guy called Dick Dunkel in the ’90s. I think it was 1995 in a company called PTC, Parametric Technology Corporation.
Andy Whyte:
They were a big, big organisation, over 1,000 salespeople. They had this challenge where they started to plateau, they were starting to lose sales people. It was kind of that sort of growing pain at that size issue. The sales leader at the time, a guy called John McMahon, who is by the way, the pound for pound, the greatest sales leader of all time. This guy is the Maradona of sales leadership, the [inaudible 00:05:57] of sales leadership, he’s the guy, greatest of all time.
Andy Whyte:
He pulled the guy called Dick Dunkel, as I mentioned, out of the field, who was a great, great salesperson. He said, “Dick, we need more people like you basically. We need you to train the sales team to be like you.” And so he was doing that and if you can imagine, there’s a thousand salespeople, that’s lots of different teams and regions.
Andy Whyte:
What Dick was doing was travelling around meeting the teams. He ran this exercise, which I think is brilliant, which he still runs today, by the way, where he asked three key questions. Number one, why do we win deals? Number two, why do we lose deals? And number three, why do deals slip? What he noticed by asking those questions to multiple different teams with those six elements that were the same everywhere he went, they were six common elements of the reasons why if they had these elements in strength, they would win. If they didn’t have them and they were weak on them, they would lose or the deal would slip.
Andy Whyte:
And of course, you can guess where I’m going with this. Those elements became MEDDICC and the astute of the audience amongst us that would have read the show notes or looked at the title or seen my book will see that there’s two Cs in my MEDDICC. That totals to seven letters, not six letters and you’re absolutely right. It initially started with MEDDICC with one C, there’s now two Cs. There’s sometimes even a P and other letters in it.
Andy Whyte:
But I’ll get into what it stands for now, if you like. The first letter is M and it stands for metrics. The high level version of this is I like to say, imagine yourself six months from now, sat down having a quarterly business review with your customer. You’ve won the deal, what would be the KPIs in which you’re measuring the success of your solution with them? Those, whatever the answers to those are, it maybe improvements in conversion rate, it maybe efficiency improvements or anything depending on what the value is of what you sell, those are the metrics.
Andy Whyte:
The idea is you want to find those as early as possible in the deal through good discovery and kind of make them the headlines of your deal. That’s the metrics. Of course, we can get into more detail on all of these as we go, if it helps you.
Will Barron:
Sure. Let’s go each of them as quick as we can and then we’ll dive into them. Because I don’t think we have time to go into all of them. We’ll perhaps pick on the ones that you feel most salespeople get wrong most often.
Andy Whyte:
Beautiful. Let’s do that. The second letter is E, and it stands for economic buyer. This is the person who has the overall authority in your deal. This person can say no when others say yes and yes will never say no. They can create budget out of thin air. These are generally senior people.
Andy Whyte:
Then you’ve got the decision criteria. Now this one’s really kind of easy, because it’s kind of the clues in the name, it’s the criteria in which the customer is going to base the decision. Very easy in a RFP, this one. It’s like what are the things they’re scoring you against? It can be more holistic things like partnerships and your roadmap or whether they like you even you as a company. And then the second D is decision process. This is really how are they going to make their decision? What’s the process they’re going to go in? What authorizations? What stakeholders? All that sort of stuff.
Andy Whyte:
And as I mentioned before, there’s sometimes a P which stands for paper process, which is really just the contract, the NDA right through to getting stuff signed. And then this is an interesting one, we should definitely dive more into. It’s I. It initially stood for identify the pain. I actually say there’s three Is: identify the pain, indicate the pain and then implicate the pain. So we can perhaps go back into that one a bit more detail.
Andy Whyte:
And then you have the most important of all, the greatest CROs I’ve spoken to about MEDDICC will tell you this and that’s champion. No champion, no deal. Big champion, big deal. And we can talk more about champions because I think it’s probably the most used term to describe a customer, but it’s also the most incorrectly used term.
Andy Whyte:
And then the last C which I have on my book, which is commonly implemented as well stands for competition. Now, everyone listened to this goes, “Oh, you don’t need to explain that one, Andy.” But actually, it’s a commonly misunderstood one because most people think of the competition as your rival solution, the other company out there that you normally don’t like them and they’re worse than you, of course and they’re selling the same thing as you are, maybe a bit different. Obviously not as good as what most salespeople would say.
“Competition in today’s world where our customers have so much options and so much opportunity, is any one person or thing that is vying for the same budget or resources that you are.” – Andy White · [10:28]
Andy Whyte:
Now, the catch here is actually the competition. In today’s world, where our customers have so much options and so much opportunity is any one person or thing that is vying for the same budget or resources that you are. That could be both or it could be three things, it could be the rival solution, it could be the customer themselves looking at what you do and saying, “Well, we can build that ourselves.” Or it could be something that’s does a similar thing to what you do but a completely different solution or platform or something like that that could still the people that are going to implement your solution or steal the budget for it. That’s it. That’s MEDDICC in probably three or four minutes.
Andy Describes the KPIs That Can Potentially Help in Identifying and Solving Customer Pain Points · [11:05]
Will Barron:
Perfect. Well, let’s start at the top here because I feel like metrics are something that often get forgotten. We as salespeople will often go into a room virtually now I guess, these days, sit down with people and go, “Hey, you have this problem, we have this solution. You’ve got some budget, we’ve got something to suck the budget away from you.” I find typically there’s not a lot of discussion of what does success look like for you.
Will Barron:
Do you care to solve this problem or not? Just because you’ve got this problem, oversells it. Or the place is on fire constantly. Everything is falling apart behind the scenes. But I don’t care to solve all the issues because they don’t drive revenue, for example. So with that said, what would be an example of a KPI of success if we’re selling to the enterprise or we’re trying to do a large deal here. What kind of KPIs would we be trying to pull out from the potential buyer?
Andy Whyte:
Sure. Well, I predominantly have worked in marketing technology, which is a good place to use as an example, because unlike so many other technologies out there, we are all consumers. We’re generally always being marketed to, so we can kind of relate to these things. And I like to… In fact, the sales MEDDICC group who are a consultancy that implement MEDDICC, they break metrics into two: metrics ones and metric twos.
“What happens so much for salespeople today, is they spot an opportunity, whether it’s inbound or outbound and they know they can help a company and at the first chance they get, before they’ve even joined the Zoom call, they’re straight away telling the customer about how ugly their baby is.” – Andy White · [12:31]
Andy Whyte:
This is really, really key. Because what happens so much for salespeople today, is they spot an opportunity, whether it’s inbound or outbound and they know they can help a company and at the first chance they get, their laptop lid, before it’s even up, before they’ve even joined the Zoom, they’re straightaway telling the customer about how ugly their baby is. They come on and they go, “Will, my solution, you… When you email me, you don’t personalise it or whatever the value is and it’s horrible and look at your competitor. They’re so much better than you. You suck basically.”
Andy Whyte:
And the customer’s going, “Thanks a lot. I don’t really… Do I really want to introduce you to my boss, because you just told me I suck and now my boss will think I suck as well.” But that’s the common mistake we do. And we even do it in outreach, we show like bad examples.
Andy Whyte:
What the difference between metrics ones and metric twos are as metrics ones are where you research the customer ahead of your meeting and you think about your existing customers and the value you provide to them and you think about, “Well, which of my existing customers have relevant value to the customer I’m about to go and see?” And so when I sit in front of you as a person in a marketing department, for example, I can say, “Hey, I work for X company. Here is the value that I provide to my customers. Here’s an example of a customer that before working with me had these problems.
Andy Whyte:
And now since working with me and my solution, they’ve not got these problems. Look how great it looks. By the way, these are the metrics, these are the things that they’re getting, the areas of value. Their conversion rate has gone up or their checkout-dropout has fallen off,” or whatever those metrics therefore become.
Andy Whyte:
What that will do is build trust, which is very hard to do in today’s world in COVID times. It will help build trust and value and the customer is more likely to open up to what you want them to be able to do, so you can do good discovery and find the metrics twos, which is the metrics that are specific to their needs.
Andy Whyte:
Now, they could be exactly the same as the metric ones if they were a close enough company, but the idea is you almost have to use the metric ones to unlock the metrics twos and then you can really, really personalise what value you’re going to bring.
The Crucial Customer Metrics Salespeople Need to Monitor When Identifying Buyer Goals and Areas of Improvement · [14:51]
Will Barron:
Is the end goal here Andy to get a one singular holy grail metric that the company is working for? Or can it be just as effective to say, “We can potentially fix/solve, improve one, two, three, four, five different things.” Is one way better or should we focus on one or go for multiple?
Andy Whyte:
It’s a great question. There isn’t a single answer to that. And so it really is going to come down to the opportunity itself. I’ll give an example of that based on something that I think everyone will know. I used to work for the leading social media software provider. In that example, I could be talking to, let’s say, Unilever, a gigantic company. They could be spending an absolute fortune on Facebook advertising for Lynx Aftershave or something like that. So my metrics to them might be, “Well, I can help you identify more people that are likely to buy Lynx by using our data platform and our services.”
Andy Whyte:
That’s a metric, that’s going to not only increase their goal of getting more people to engage with Lynx, but it’s going to save them money. So there’s one metric, increased revenue on the end, metric number two, it’s going to decrease their ad spend, it’s going to give them more bang for their buck, basically.
“Metrics depend on who you’re talking to, who you’re selling to and what their needs are.” – Andy White · [16:26]
Andy Whyte:
But then over here, you could have another metric completely separate, which is to say, “Hey, what happens if an intern goes rogue on your Facebook page and just starts causing havoc?” Well, that would be an entirely different metric from these sort of revenue metrics. Then all of a sudden, it’s like a brand risk and it could affect the share price. It depends on who you’re talking to, who you’re selling to and what their needs are. It could just be one, but it could be many.
How to Identify and Engage with The economic buyer · [16:40]
Will Barron:
Okay, perfect. You’ve transitioned perfectly to the second part here of MEDDICC, the economic buyer. Does the economic buyer when we’re talking about people, does the economic buyer have to be our champion? Can we just know, identify who the economic buyer is and be cordial and polite to them or do we actually need to engage with them and kind of build a relationship with them directly?
“According to data from iSEEit, 80% of deals that were won had engagements with the economic buyer. 80% of deals that were lost or slipped didn’t have engagement with the economic buyer.” – Andy Whyte · [17:12]
Andy Whyte:
I have a really good answer for this one and it’s data backed, which I’m sure you will like. There’s a SaaS company called [inaudible 00:17:11] and they provide MEDDICC software. It helps implement MEDDICC into Salesforce. They were able to analyse the data of won deals and lost deals. Here’s the stat. 80% of deals that were won had engagements with the… Sorry, it’s over 80%. I can’t remember the exact figures but had engagement with the economic buyer.
“If you want to be successful, consistently successful, you absolutely have to be engaged with the economic buyer. I would be as bold as saying that if you aren’t engaged with the economic buyer, then you are order taking, not selling.” – Andy Whyte · [17:42]
Andy Whyte:
80% of deals that were lost or slipped didn’t have engagement with the economic buyer. That’s the data backed to answer your question. The economic buyer is not the same person as a champion. It’s someone more senior than the champion. You absolutely, if you want to be successful, consistently successful, you absolutely have to be engaged with the economic buyer. I would be as bold as saying that if you aren’t engaged with the economic buyer, then you are order taking, not selling.
Will Barron:
Sure. Let me give a anecdote here without giving too much away. Let’s say salesman.org is looking at partnering with a big CRM company right now and there’s discussions ongoing in the background. When the show goes out, it’ll all be signed, sealed, and delivered hopefully. So let’s say that this is the case. Hopefully, this is being addressed to the audience and make it real for them as well.
How Salespeople Can Engage The Economic Buyer and Close More Deals By Adding Value to The Conversation · [18:55]
Will Barron:
So I have daily conversations with a champion within the organisation. I could probably ring the economic buyer, the CMO of the entire organisation and he’ll probably answer my call and have a chat with me. But there’s not much value I don’t think I could give him that otherwise couldn’t be just passed through their own internal chain of command.
Will Barron:
How do I engage with that CMO without pestering them, without communicating with them unnecessary information that they can just get from their own team? What value can I add to that individual to increase the level of engagement so that I can spend with them?
Andy Whyte:
Yeah, great question. You’re a bit of a unique case to the answer to this. If I may, I will broaden out the answer because I don’t think too many managing directors of the company would be in this sort of situation where they’re doing a sponsorship deal. Let’s imagine that you the… You’re a middle manager or something like that or not middle manager, you’re middle ranking in this.
Andy Whyte:
Now, what you most likely have and what most people listen to this podcast will have whether they are individual contributors, sales leaders, is they’ll have a boss or maybe a few bosses above them. This is multi-level selling 101. It’s not necessarily your job, Will, as the salesperson to contact the economic buyer. It’s your boss’s job. And they should do that early on. Now this is a really, really, really good tip and this is not one of my tips.
“The idea should be that you should, before you’ve even had the first meeting with a potential customer, you should get your boss to write to the person’s boss that you’re going to meet.” – Andy Whyte · [20:02]
Andy Whyte:
The idea should be that you should, before you’ve even had the first meeting with a potential customer, you should get your boss to write to the person’s boss that you’re going to meet. There is no ask here. It’s very straightforward. You simply just write to them and say, “Hi, Sara. I’m Andy. It sounds like our teams are meeting next week to talk about these things. I’m really, really excited by it. We’re really excited to talk to you because we’ve helped companies just like you do A, B and C areas of value. I didn’t have any ask at the moment, but I just wanted to open this line of communication to you just in case you had anything you want to talk to me about.”
Andy Whyte:
Now, chances are you will get a reply if you’ve teed it up. But that’s it. If you set the bar, then you can constantly re-engage those things, add value, ask questions and that sort of thing. Yeah, but it’s a good question. A lot of people… If it was easy to contact the economic buyer, everyone would do it and that’s why it’s such a awesome thing to have as a focus because the more you do it, the better you’re going to be.
Will Barron:
Sure. That makes total sense. It’s almost a level of professionalism and the fact that we’re taking this deal so seriously that we’re willing to have our higher ups are not ours. And then myself included, those [inaudible 00:21:17] sales people, pestering people higher up the food chain. So that makes total sense and especially if we’re dealing with the enterprise.
Will Barron:
I think that… I’m hesitant to use this word, but I feel like that’s the appropriate thing to do, isn’t it?
Andy Whyte:
Yes. Yes, it is absolutely right.
The Difference Between the Decision Criteria and the Decision Process in MEDDICC · [21:33]
Will Barron:
Cool. Okay. Well, let’s move on to decision criteria again. Tell me your thoughts on how separate the decision criteria is versus the decision process. Are these… I know in the acronym MEDDICC, they’re separate elements but should these be… Are they related or should they be kept in separate silos?
Andy Whyte:
Yeah, people quite often try and push them together and I think that’s… Those would be people that haven’t had a great implementation of MEDDICC because they are very, very different, even though they’re both kind of got the same D in them. The reason why it’s the decision process itself is really about how are they going to make their decision? What is the process? Who are the people involved? And so that’s over there and then the decision criteria is what are they going to make their decision based upon?
“What the best salespeople do is they uncover the decision criteria. Now, you know as well as I do, quite often buyers, they won’t have a decision criteria. They know they want something, so it’s your job because then you can become the trusted advisor and you can craft the decision criteria for the customer.” – Andy Whyte · [22:30]
Andy Whyte:
Now, this is a really good one to dig into, because it’s the one that can really be a game changer for salespeople. What the best salespeople do is they will uncover the decision criteria. Now, you know as well as I do, quite often buyers, they won’t have a decision criteria. They know they want something [inaudible 00:22:41], they won’t have it. So it’s your job. And that’s actually a good thing, by the way, because then you can become the trusted advisor and you can craft the decision criteria for the customer.
Andy Whyte:
So you can do some discovery and find out what they need. And of course, the elite salespeople will be including their own unique capabilities as decision criteria. They’ll have a meeting, they’ll do some great discovery, they’ll get what they think is the decision criteria and then they’ll follow up after the meeting and say, “Have I heard this, right? It sounds like this is your decision criteria.” You can even be as bold as calling it that and put all the things you think that they’re making a decision on and then include…
Andy Whyte:
And also, it sounded like whatever solution you’re going to go for, it absolutely must have these things which will be your decision criteria, which is bad news for your competition, especially if they don’t have those features, functionality or they’re weaker in that area. You can really set yourself up for success. This is something I noticed from watching a few of your former guests that when we talk about procurement, everyone’s sort of, “Oh no, procurement.” And they shudder and they think that’s a terrible thing.
Andy Whyte:
Now, I feel like if we were to talk to procurement people and tell them that we do that and the reasons why, there’ll be very offended because most procurement professionals I know, they would be offended because they’ll say, “No, no, we are just trying to find the best value for our company. We’re not just trying to get the best price. We’re trying to find the best value.”
Andy Whyte:
Now, if you imagine that scene, when you go into what is effectively a negotiation for a procurement. We never just go in there to have a cup of tea with them. They’re always going to do something. And you go in and they do that classic, “Will, I’m looking at your training package here. You’re twice the price of the other quote we’ve had.”
Andy Whyte:
Now, most sellers at that point, they’ll get into sort of, “But mine’s got the videos in it,” or this or that. But if you’ve really nailed the decision criteria, then you’ll be able to say, “Cool, okay.” What you’re saying is if you’ve not got the budget for this or you’ve got to isolate the objection, they’d be, “No, you just seem expensive.” And you say, “Okay. Well, we could make it cheaper. If you’re looking for cheaper, we could take these things out but it sounded like you needed those things.” And those are obviously the things you’ve put in the decision criteria that are unique to your solution.
Andy Whyte:
And then all of a sudden, all of a sudden the dynamic changes because the procurement person can clearly see based on the criteria of what they need, only you can provide it and you’ve actually obviously set that up and it’s just a really smart way. That obviously works not just with procurement, but with anyone you’re having a conversation with around the decision criteria.
Will Barron:
I’ve shared this anecdote on the show before. I won’t share it in full. But we used to do this selling medical devices here in the wonderful UK to the NHS. There’s only really two endoscopic camera systems… Probably in the market, there was only two that surgeons want to use. I worked for both companies and so I’d just do the opposite both times.
Will Barron:
Basically, HD cameras had just come in to the marketplace. One company used interlaced footage, which really made very little difference. But in fast movement when the camera’s inside the patient, perhaps it looks smoother and better. And then the other brand used non-interlaced footage, which on a static camera perhaps looked better. Not really much difference between the two in all honesty when you’re inside a patient and you’re performing your procedure, the last thing you really care about is how the lines are drawn on the screen at 60 frames per second.
Will Barron:
Well, we used to use this as… Well, I used to use this as leverage with procurement. I’d asked them, “What are you looking for? This, this and this?” A lot of the times, they didn’t know what they were looking for. I would always spend the extra hour of procurement, I’d always spend that extra bit of time trying to almost provide a bit of a service to help them make a good decision.
Will Barron:
Sometimes it was us, sometimes it wasn’t us. But whenever we got to an RFP or request for proposal stage of the buying process, which we’ll come on to in a second, the decision process, it always included whatever company I worked for the appropriate must have interlaced footage or must not have interlaced footage, immediately locking out the competition and 99 times out of 100, we’d win those deals.
How Salespeople Can Influence The Procurement Officer’s Decision Criteria · [27:06]
Will Barron:
I feel like we’re only touching the surface of each of these steps here, Andy, but there’s a lot of strategy that can come on the back of this that can… A little bit of work up front can really pay dividends towards the end of the sales process, can it?
“I always liken sales to sports because it’s a performance activity.” – Andy Whyte · [27:21]
Andy Whyte:
Yeah, you’re absolutely right. And that’s the most beautiful… I always liken sales to sports because it’s a performance activity. There was things that… Imagine that 30 yard out free kick that Ronaldo takes and he calls into the top right hand corner. What you’ve talked about there is the sales equivalent of that.
“When you are able to influence the decision criteria of an RFP, that’s elite selling.” – Andy Whyte · [27:35]
Andy Whyte:
When you are able to influence the criteria of an RFP, the decision criteria of an RFP, that’s elite selling that is. Everyone can do it. But if you just need to lean in and make sure you kind of really focus on building that decision criteria.
Will Barron:
Yeah. This is a stupid way of describing it. I can’t think of off the top my head a better way of describing it. I think it’s just big boy selling. It’s selling in the big leagues. It’s what you do, adding strategy to a longer term enterprise sale or didn’t have to be enterprise sale. But when you have a methodology and a strategy and you stick to it and you refine it and you learn an A/B test from your customers, what works, what doesn’t work.
Customer Relationships Versus Selling Strategies · [28:20]
Will Barron:
In my mind, that’s the difference between a sales professional and then you have other salespeople who are trying to blag it and use quick wit and banter and even trying to leverage relationships more than strategy. I feel like nine times out of 10 again, I’m not the greatest salesperson, I’m pretty good, but I will wipe the floor was someone who comes in thinking that they can blag it with just a few levels of strategy every single time.
Andy Whyte:
Yeah, yeah. I used to play football as an amateur. In the changing room, we used to have this quote above the wall that said, “Hard work always beat talent when talent doesn’t work hard.” That said, with something like MEDDICC, if you embrace it, it’s a blueprint for success. It really is.
Why Is It Important That Salespeople Know How The Buyer Makes Purchasing Decisions? · [29:11]
Will Barron:
For sure. Okay, so we’ve touched on decision criteria. Let’s touch on decision process now. We’ve kind of alluded to it slightly in that last point. But why is it important that we… It’s a stupid question to ask but why is it important that we know how the buyer makes purchasing decisions? Sorry, or the process of of choosing, I guess.
Andy Whyte:
Yeah, sure. Well, it’s that classic thing of we’ve all been in those deals where we thought that we’re doing great and all of a sudden, [inaudible 00:29:35]. “Well hang, what happened there?” And it’s those seven other stakeholders that we never knew were involved in the process. That’s not because we…
Andy Whyte:
That’s not because they’re weird, it’s just that companies… We always think as salespeople, we get up in the morning and all we do is sell and depending on how complex the sales we have, we could even have a one deal a quarter we’re working on. And so that’s what we think about, but the companies we’re selling to, we’re just not even probably 5% of their day. And so there’s always going to be stakeholders and they’re going to rely on other people that maybe are close to the process.
“If you don’t understand your decision process and your paper process, you have no chance of forecasting accurately.” – Andy Whyte · [30:33]
Andy Whyte:
And so you need to know who those people are, you need to know how they’re evaluating who those people are. There’s almost two stages. There’s the validation side of the decision process, where they’re kind of figuring out what they need and who to trust for it. And then there’s like the authorization side of things where it’s about now we’re into procurement process, legal side of things and all. Going back to what I said at the top about forecasting, if you don’t understand your decision process and your paper process, you have no chance of forecasting accurately. You really, really don’t. Yeah, that’s why it’s so important.
Why It’s Not Inappropriate to Ask Your Clients Their Buyer’s Decision Process · [30:50]
Will Barron:
Just to double down on this for a second, it’s more than appropriate, especially with procurement, to ask what your decision process is, right? It’s not an unreasonable question to ask, especially in a larger deal size.
Andy Whyte:
Correct. I tell you, I had an anecdote this week from a gentleman called [inaudible 00:31:06] in Germany, he’s a top MEDDICC consultant there. He told me that the head of procurement at Siemens who are obviously a gazillion dollar company told him that he prefers to buy from companies that use MEDDICC because they go to him and his team and they’re looking for the right things. They’re professional and they’re trying to run an efficient process from both sides. Yeah. Absolutely right.
Will Barron:
Perfect. Okay. Paper process, an extra P. MEDDPICC with a…
Andy Whyte:
MEDDPICC, yeah.
Will Barron:
Is that what it gets [inaudible 00:31:41].
Andy Whyte:
Yeah, yeah. And it’s so funny people get so so precious over whether it’s MEDDICC, one C, two Cs, Ps and that sort of stuff. I’m just like look into them all and find the one that works best for you. Because they all have their pros and cons.
Will Barron:
Sure.
Andy Whyte:
But yeah, MEDDPICC is similar to the decision process. But it’s that… All the things that can happen, especially today with the cloud, as in the world I sold the technology sales, you’ve got data privacy, user privacy, you’ve got infrastructure security, you’ve got lawyers, you’ve got a gazillion different contracts and everything.
Andy Whyte:
That’s what it comes down to. It’s not just that. It’s like who’s signing it? Who has to approve it before it’s signed? What if someone goes on holiday? And so it’s really just keeping on top of those things. What can go wrong here and how am I going to mediate that if it happens? It’s a really straightforward one, but it’s a really important one.
Will Barron:
Crazy important. Doubling down on this analogy here of me selling medical devices, but if we ever wanted… Surgeons would always want the camera systems to be able to put data on the hospital network so that they open a computer in a different room and they get all the files and the images and the videos from the procedure in there all nicely and all wrapped up in a bow.
Will Barron:
Very rare were we able to actually integrate that because as soon as we get anywhere near one of these cameras stats with an ethernet cable, IT come running in the room, bashing heads and waving keyboards to attack people because they know that as soon as it gets plugged in, they’ve got a responsibility to maintain it, to maintain the licences and there’s obviously additional costs and paperwork that go along with that.
Andy Describes How Salespeople Can Avoid Some Existing Pain Points To Avoid Making the Deal Complex and Help Close the Deals Faster · [33:14]
Will Barron:
So this point for us, it was almost our job to avoid existing and this sounds counterintuitive, but to almost do as limited integration as what we possibly could, that the end user was happy so that we didn’t have to involve other people, because then the deal would never get done because it would become too complex. So it can work both ways. Can it, right?
“The paper process is the one that has the biggest impact on whether your deal will close on time when you think it will.” – Andy Whyte · [33:36]
Andy Whyte:
Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Right. Yeah, the paper process is the one that have the biggest impact on whether your deal will close on time when you think it will. Because once you really… Once your vendor of choice and once your past selling and your into closing, it’s the paper process that takes the time and whether it’s understanding if the company you’re selling to has internal or external legal counsel, I straightaway… If I’m looking at a deal in my team and someone’s forecasting a deal within a month and we haven’t got legals, then we find out they’ve got an external legal team, forget it. You’re going to see more reding on that contract than anything at all. It’ll look like your background.
Implicating Versus Identifying Customer Pain Points · [34:35]
Will Barron:
Okay. Well, so from then on, and let’s rattle through these last three. I’m going to put you on the spot. I’d love to have you back on to perhaps get into one or two of these in detail in a future episode. Let’s rattle through the last three of these now. Just because of time constraints. Or implicating pain. You mentioned that there’s potentially three Is that we could stick on this one.
“Identifying the pain is what you can almost not fail to do if you’re a salesperson today. You talk to a customer and you find some pain.” – Andy Whyte · [34:45]
Andy Whyte:
Yes. I’ll give you the really short version. Identifying the pain is what you can almost not fail to do if you’re a salesperson today. You talk to a customer and you find some pain and what the average sales person will do will accelerate into their sales point, their PowerPoint presentations, “Hey, I found some pain. Let me tell you how I solve it.” That’s not great. That’s pretty poor selling.
Andy Whyte:
The next level up, which is what the majority in certainly in my world events price sales do, which is they indicate the pain. They find some pain, they go, “Okay, how much of that is a pain and how much is it costing you?”
Andy Whyte:
And then they’ll indicate back to the customer by a business case or an ROI or something like that. “It’s costing you 2 million a year,” and the customer feels, “Well, that’s a little bit more painful than seeing your slide deck. But it’s okay, I’ll take that into account.”
“Now, implicating the pain is the one that really elite sellers do. Where it’s like, I’ve found some pain, I’ve quantified it, but now I’m going to really make you feel it.” – Andy Whyte · [35:38]
Andy Whyte:
Now, implicating the pain is the one that really elite sellers do. Where it’s like, I’ve found some pain, I’ve quantified it, but now I’m going to really make you feel it. So via a really smart discovery where I’m asking you what the implications of the pain, how much is it costing you and just digging deeper, SPIN Selling basically.
Andy Whyte:
Digging deeper and deeper and deeper to the point where it sort of starts as, “That’s not great.” But at the end of the discovery session, I’ve dug in so deep to it, you’re just like, “Will, can we just forget about this and just get the contracts done already because I really need to solve this?” It’s not easy to do. It takes a lot of skill and discovery. But the sellers that can do it will always overachieve on that quote, because they’re the ones that are really bring the pain up and they’ll sell more higher value deals because of it.
How to Strategically Implicate a Customer’s Pain Points · [36:19]
Will Barron:
Sure. Again, just continue this analogy for me. Tell me if I’m right or wrong here. But a lot of this would be, well, we want these cameras, because we will be able to do the procedures quicker. So then I would start to lay on top, well, you’re using a standard definition screen camera system right now, a high definition camera system. Maybe you’re going to have better patient outcomes and it’s difficult to quantify. So now I bring a surgeon in that will… “Are you going to perform better?” Because the surgeons want the latest toys.
Will Barron:
So they’ll agree with whatever what kind of pitch it to a CFO in the NHS. We’re bringing them in, “Hey, do you think you’ll be able to perform a safer procedure and reduce the chances of the NHS get sued? Any kind of patient problems on the back of this?” And of course, they say yes. And they go on board. And there’ll be two or three other things that we would layer on top of that. Would that be on the right tracks of this I here?
Andy Whyte:
That’s it. It’s exactly it. Yeah. And it’s that thing around with the example there, it’s like the implicating the pain would be really digging into, in the case of the surgeon, I’ll be digging into the feelings they have of what if something… How many bad issues going wrong will this solve and how many, like you said better outcome for patients. I’m not knowledgeable enough about the space to know what they were treating, what they’re solving. But if I did, I’d be like scratching on that little wound a little bit, so to speak, to try and really open it up so that it…
Andy Whyte:
[inaudible 00:37:46] Yeah, actually, this is a really big problem. And I need to solve this immediately, if not sooner. That’s kind of the trick.
Will Barron:
Because we tie into the… And this sounds manipulative post mortem. But during the conversation, it’s not manipulative. You’re asking questions and they’re giving you answers that they feel are appropriate. I wouldn’t feel like maybe you could do this in a manipulative way if you chose to. But I would only be asking, I’d be asking relatively open-ended questions so they could choose not to give me the response I was looking for.
Will Barron:
But you get to the point where you’d be talking about their careers and how many legal actions can you have against you before the general medical council in the UK go, “Hey, there’s a problem here.” A lot of that can be tied to very literally just being able to see better on a screen. Maybe I’m in a good position here or I was in a good position, because that’s an obvious wave of add an implication and maybe a software product would be more difficult to add this. Maybe that’s a conversation for another time. Next, go on to champion.
Andy Whyte:
Champion.
Who is a Sales Champion? · [38:45]
Will Barron:
Do we have a champion? Do we have multiple champions? Are the different levels of champion? Do we need a champion and do we need to identify the person who’s going to kibosh the whole thing and the enemy? How does this framework work in regards to all that?
Andy Whyte:
Yeah, great, great way of phrasing it. You can have more than one champion for sure. But the most important thing with a champion is that it’s a qualified champion. In MEDDICC, there’s three qualifying criteria. And these are really, really important. It’s okay if you haven’t qualified this, it doesn’t mean you need to rule out talking to this person but before calling them a champion, you have to have these things, three things.
Andy Whyte:
Number one, power and influence. Okay, it’s not rank. It’s just when they speak, when they say something, do people listen. The second is they have to have a mutual win with you. They want to… There has to be something in it for them, your success needs to equal their success. The third is they have to be selling on your behalf. You can’t be there all the time. There’s going to be lots of conversations when you’re not there and they need to be selling in your behalf. And what that means is when somebody says, “Well, I think we can build this ourselves,” or, “I like the competition or whatever it is,” they stand up and step up for you.
Andy Whyte:
Obviously, these three qualifying criteria, some are easier than others. You can see power and influence in a meeting, see if their people listen to them. You can kind of talk to them about your mutual win. The one around selling for you, the real easy hack here to understand if they talk to you to say, “Hey Jess, surely you’ve been talking about this project internally?” “Oh, yes, yes, we have.” “Has there been anyone that’s not been in favour of our solution?” “Oh, yeah. There’s Steve. He didn’t like it.” “What did Steve say?” “Oh, well. Steve told me this.”
Andy Whyte:
So first one, tick. Jess has told you what Steve said. That’s a good sign. The real ultimate test is, “And what did you say to Steve?” She says, “Well, I told Steve and I made sure everyone else knew that Steve was wrong as well.” That’s the champion. That’s the first part. You’ve got your champion. And you can have more of those than you want. But it’s really important you have a proper champion, rather than thinking just everyone likes me. “Everyone likes me.” That’s no good.
Andy Whyte:
The next one is the competition’s champion, your counter champion, if you like. Now, it really comes down to who has the stronger champion, right. And if you find out that your competition has a stronger champion, you’ve got two choices, you either build up your champion to be stronger, you’ve got to train them, you’ve got to support the order, give them the talk track or you’ve got to find another champion because whoever has the strongest champion will win. It’s basically the law.
How To Identify and Nature Your Sales Champion · [41:36]
Will Barron:
I feel like I could ask you 15 questions here. I guess the most important thing here to understand for the audience, I don’t know if there’s data on this, I’m asking you anecdotally, do these champions come about because they like the salesperson or the people in the organisation personally?
Will Barron:
Is this all based on relationships or is this typically because the champion knows that your product or service is the correct thing and they’re excited to get it implemented?
“The best champions actually often don’t have to like you.” – Andy Whyte · [41:53]
Andy Whyte:
Yeah, brilliant question. Absolutely astounding. Because this is the thing. The best champions actually often don’t have to like you. In fact, they can be a bit of a pain in your ass. They can. And so, yeah, that’s the thing. The Challenger Sale is the book that gets talked about all the time and rightly, it’s a good book. But the followup book, The Challenger Customer, for me, is a better book. And in that book, it talks about the difference…
“The different types of buyers. And actually, the one that’s your friend is actually not as good as the person that the persona that is actually just wants the best for their company.” – Andy Whyte · [42:39]
Andy Whyte:
And I think one of the reasons why it doesn’t get as much hype, by the way is because people think it’s for customer success people or something, it’s about customers, but it’s actually talking about the person you’re selling to. And it’s saying that where there’s challenge of salespeople, there’s also challenge of buyers. It should be called The Challenger Buyer. They should bring me up. They can have that one for free. But that’s it. What they talk about is the different types of buyer. And actually, the one that’s like, your friend is actually not as good as the person that the persona that is actually just wants the best for their company.
Andy Whyte:
They don’t care if it’s you, they don’t care if your logo is blue or red or what you do, they just want to get the best and that’s that. Yeah, you almost actually just want… I’d rather have that champion because they definitely have more power and influence because people are like, “Well, it’s really hard to impress that person.” So if you’ve impressed that person, it’s worth more than the person that seems like everybody.
Which One is More Important: Customer Relationships or Understanding the Buyer and Delivering Value? · [43:15]
Will Barron:
Yeah. We’ll come on to a competition in a second but just to drill this home. How important are relationships versus how important is it to understand the buyer and just deliver value to them as a whole, across the whole like in the MEDDICC methodology?
“As a salesperson, you don’t necessarily have to be liked. In fact, sometimes it can be a bit of a hindrance.” – Andy Whyte · [43:55]
Andy Whyte:
Yeah. Well, here’s a probably an unpopular opinion. Everywhere I’ve worked, there’s always been a successful sales person who I thought, I won’t say what I thought, but you just think, “I don’t like that person. They don’t seem to…” I know it’s not me. I know they’re like that with their customers, but they’re still wildly successful. That, to me, proves that you don’t necessarily have to be liked. In fact, sometimes it can be a bit of a hindrance. If you just want people to like you… Earlier in my career, that was me. I was scared of asking the difficult questions and all that sort of stuff. So that the more outcome driven sellers, I think are the better ones. I have a really nice analogy for how I think salespeople should be. We should never be apologetic, we shouldn’t be, “Thank you so much for your time.” You, yourself as a great example of this, you were selling technology that literally helped save people’s lives.
“They should be calling you up and clearing their calendar to talk to you. If you don’t feel like that about the product you’re selling, then you’re probably in the wrong job.” – Andy Whyte · [44:27]
Andy Whyte:
They should be calling you up and clearing their calendar to talk to you. If you don’t feel like that about the product you’re selling, then you’re probably in the wrong job. And so this is the analogy, this is the mindset. There’s a film called Limitless, I don’t know if you’ve seen it. It’s got Bradley Cooper. It’s one of my favourite films. But for those that haven’t seen, it’s basically about a pill that says we use 6% of our brain. The pill unlocks 100% of our brain power. So you can learn a language in like an hour or something like that, learn Kung Fu in an hour.
Andy Whyte:
If you were a salesperson of an FDA approved pill that did that, how would you be as a salesperson? You would be so confident. You wouldn’t let anyone waste your time. If we take that mindset into sales, that’s how we should be. There’s two things that will happen. People won’t waste your time, but also people are like one, “This guy seems very busy. I better make the most of his time before he goes on to the next person.” And that’s kind of the mindset, I think we should have.
Will Barron:
For sure. That film, the NZT or B or whatever it’s called-
Andy Whyte:
NZT.
Will Barron:
Is based on a drug called modafinil.
Andy Whyte:
Let me write that down.
Will Barron:
We’re going off topic here. It’s a narcoleptic drug, but people do use it as a smart drug. I’ve experimented with it in the past and it’s not your… You barely notice it. What it does for me though, what it does in general, is why people use it as a smart drug, it removes that little bit of voice at the back your head when you go. “God, I was doing my accounting today. I’ve got to do this VAT return.” That little bit of voice doesn’t exist, and you literally just sit down and do the work.
Will Barron:
So it doesn’t turn you into an incredible author and a superstar kind of ladies man like it does in that film. I just thought it would be funny to mention, there are literally people selling that drug right now who are probably going… They’re probably on the drug as well. They’re probably going, “Yeah, I appreciate what you’re saying here, Andy.”
Andy Whyte:
I didn’t know that. I didn’t know that.
Competitors In and Out of an Organisation You’re Trying To Sell To · [46:22]
Will Barron:
Well, there we go. Final thing here, competition. So you touched on at the top of the show, the fact that this isn’t just our direct competitors, it’s anyone who can take a budget. Is there anything else that we need to add to that to make that clear in the audience’s minds?
“By the way, if a salesperson ever says, “There’s no competition here,” they’re either lying or they’re not close enough to the deal.” – Andy Whyte · [46:54]
Andy Whyte:
No, I think that’s it. It’s anyone that can take not just the budget, but the resource as well. If your solution requires expertise or people to help implement it, then that can be a thing as well. That’s a really, really important one. Because people just go… By the way, if a salesperson ever says, “There’s no competition here,” they’re either lying or they’re not close enough to the deal.
Will Barron:
For sure. Okay. So just to wrap up then, I’ve got one final question that I ask everyone that comes on the how.
Andy Whyte:
Okay.
Andy Reveals the Steps Most People Get Wrong in the MEDDICC Methodology · [46:05]
Will Barron:
Well, before that, out of these one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight steps, if we include some of the extra ones, what do people get wrong the most? What’s the biggest hurdle for salespeople? What if you could wave a magic wand and fix one of them would solve kind of 60-80% of your clients’ issues?
“Stop calling coaches, stop calling the person that talks to you the most your champion. Test them, test them and test them. That’s the one. When you have a champion, you know very, very quickly how you’re going to win and if you’re going to win.” – Andy Whyte · [47:34]
Andy Whyte:
Yeah, the one that people get wrong the most is their definition of metrics. But the one that will have the biggest impact of getting right is the qualifying criteria of the champion. Stop calling coaches, stop calling the person that talks to you the most your champion. Test them, test them and test them. That’s the one. When you have a champion and you know very, very quickly how you’re going to win and if you’re going to win.
Will Barron:
Is that because people don’t have a champion or is that because there’s a champion there and we haven’t identified them?
“If you’re in the right deal and you’ve got the best value to offer, then the champion will be there. You just need to find them.” – Andy Whyte · [48:04]
Andy Whyte:
Well, I guess this comes back to qualification. If you’re in the right deal and you’ve got the best value to offer, then the champion will be there. You just need to find them.
Will Barron:
Sure.
Andy Whyte:
And you’ve got to look high, low and wide for them. That’s what salespeople are afraid to. It’s hard. You upset people when you go high and wide and you go around people and you need to be kind of really confident in what you’re doing. And here’s the thing, if somebody is blocking you from talking to someone else that’s going to progress your deal, they’re not a champion. They failed the qualification of your success is their success. Yeah, you’ve got to get high and wide.
Andy’s Advise to His Younger Self on How to Get Better at Selling · [48:40]
Will Barron:
Love it. That makes total sense. Okay, Andy. Well, with that, final question, mate, that is given to everyone who comes on the show. If you could go back in time and speak to your younger self, what would be the one piece of advice you’d give him to help him become better at selling?
Andy Whyte:
What a great one. Listen to the Salesman Podcast.
Will Barron:
Nothing to do with the podcast and nothing to do with MEDDICC either.
Andy Whyte:
Well, this is genuinely what I would say is I would tell myself to ensure that I qualify out of deals more quickly. This is what I’d say. I guarantee the audience listening to this right now, ask yourself, have you or anybody you know ever regretted qualifying out of a deal? Have you ever qualified out and walked away and gone, “You know what? I could have won that one.” It never happens and here’s the real goal of this.
Andy Whyte:
If you were to be qualifying out of a deal that you really should be winning, the customer will tell you. They’ll say, “No, Will. Will, Will, Will, Will, Will! Stick with me here mate. We’re onto something here. I know we’re difficult to work with or I know I made it seem like I wasn’t interested but I really am.” And so best case scenario, the customer starts paving because they’ve made you feel like you should qualify out or second best case scenario, it’s not even a bad scenario. You save yourself a load of time and heartache by chasing [inaudible 00:49:51].
Will Barron:
I love that. I’ve had customers come back to me and apologise and they were trying to get a discount, they were trying to do this, they’re trying to do that. Sometimes, they’re just buying time. You feel like they’re fobbing you off, but they’re just buy in time because they know the budget is coming in six months and they’re too nervous to tell you that they’re embarrassed about it for whatever reason.
Parting Thoughts: Andy’s Book and How to Contact Him · [50:10]
Will Barron:
I love that. No one’s ever said that on the show before, Andy. That’s really insightful. I appreciate that mate. With that, tell us where we can find out more about you and then where we can find the book as well.
Andy Whyte:
Yeah, thank you. Well, the book is on Amazon. It’s MEDDICC with two Cs, Andy Whyte is W-H-Y-T-E. The reason why I sort of laugh is because I found myself between two of the most unfortunate kind of ointments on the Amazon results page.
Andy Whyte:
Don’t buy those or you can if you need them, no judgement . It’s MEDDICC, it’s on Amazon. You can find me at meddicc.com, M-E-D-D-I-C-C.com. Actually just to be awkward, my social profiles are @meddpicc on Twitter and on Instagram.
Will Barron:
Perfect. Well, I’ll link to all of that in the show notes for this episode over at salesman.org. With that, Andy, I want to thank you for your time. I would love to have you back on to perhaps dive into two or three of these in more detail in the future. With that one, thank you again for joining us on Salesman Podcast.
Cold Calling 101: 5 Steps to Cold Calls That Work! | Selling Made Simple
Aug 11, 2022
Few things strike fear into the heart of sales reps quite like cold calling. Do you know where that fear comes from? A lack of control. The more control we have over any situation, the less afraid we’ll be. Same goes for cold calling.
So if you want to eliminate cold calling fears FOR GOOD, you just need a simple process or framework to follow so you know what to do at each step of the call. That’s where control comes from. And that’s what we’re talking about today.
The first step of the Cold Calling 101 is…
1. Confirm
Confirm you’re speaking to the RIGHT person. And that means the decision maker. You want to be speaking directly with whoever decides whether to buy. Because otherwise, you’ll be dealing with a gatekeeper who then has to go convince their boss to make the purchase. And along the way, your product’s value will likely be diluted.
So what does that sound like in practice?
“Hi, Will Barron from Salesman.org. Who’s in charge of sales training at X?
Scenario 1: “That’s me.” — Move on to the next step
Scenario 2: “That’s Barry.” — Now we need to get in touch with Barry.
“Ok thanks. Could you connect me with him? Can I tell them that you referred me?”
2. Break
This step is all about breaking the prospect out of their status quo, i.e. being comfortable with the solution they’re using right now. So ask them how their current solution is working out. As it turns out, most people will tell you there’s some kind of problem. Things could always be cheaper, faster, more effective.
So pop the question, like this:
“OK great, how are you training your sales reps right now?”
No matter what their response is, it’s important to still move on to the next step. Even if they tell you they’ve already got a solution that’s working great, still push forward to
3. Value
This is when you give a short snippet of the value you can offer. Don’t go too crazy on the details here. Just hit the biggest problem and the most important way what you’re selling solves it. One sentence should do the trick.
Now remember, you’ve got to push through to this step, regardless of whether they seem pleased or not with their current provider. Buyers will be open to new solutions more often than you might expect.
And if they push back, you only have three more sentences to get through (15 seconds max).
Now let’s look at what a value statement looks like in practice.
“We help salespeople find and close more sales in the next 30 days or your money back.”
See? Quick, succinct, and hit’s all the main points. Doesn’t have to be more complicated than that.
4. Tie-In
Here’s where you tie in the value of your product to what the prospect is going through.
How can you help? What kinds of benefits that matter to THEM can they expect to see from working with you?
And more than anything else, why the hell should they care?
Here’s what it might look like in our scenarios.
Scenario 1: “It seems like you’re not happy with your current sales training solution. Would it make sense to see if we can solve this problem for you?”
Scenario 2: “Would it make sense to see if we can turbocharge your current solution so you can train more effective sales reps more quickly?”
Once you bridge this gap, you can move on to the all-important final step…
5. Close
This is where the rubber meets the road ladies and gentlemen. Where everything you’ve done until now combines into the sweet success of a “yes” or the bitter pill of the “no”.
It’s time to make the ask.
Now of course the goal here isn’t to make the SALE. Because no one in their right mind is going to agree to buying after a thirty second conversation. Instead, your aim is just to set up a sales meeting. Schedule a call. That’s it.
So what does that look like?
“Ok great, it looks like we might be able to help. Does it make sense to jump on a quick 10-minute call tomorrow to discuss?”
Bam, simple as that.
Now the nature of cold calling here means you’re likely to get a “no”, even if you’ve done everything right. But that doesn’t mean it’s time to give up. Instead, give them your contact info and ask for theirs as well. You can then plug them into your nurture sequences so that if something DOES change on their end, you’ll be the ones at the top of their mind.
And if you get a “yes” out of it all, well then mark your calendar because you just scored a sales call with a brand new lead. Congrats!
Personal Branding Examples (How To Become A LEGEND In Your Industry!)
Aug 11, 2022
Do you want to become a legend in your industry?
How would that affect your sales performance? What would your day look like if you had inbound leads hitting your inbox rather than having to cold call until your fingers bleed from dialing?
On this episode of The Salesman Podcast, Shama Hyder shares a bunch of personal branding examples and a step by step process to getting known in your industry
Sharma is known as the “Zen Master of Marketing” by Entrepreneur Magazine and the “Millennial Master of the Universe” by Fast Company.
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Featured on this episode:
Host - Will Barron
Founder of Salesman.org
Guest - Shama Hyder
Zen Master of Marketing
So I think as any good salesperson will tell you, especially in the B2B world, relationships are everything. So the first thing that you have to keep in mind, especially with something like personal branding, is that you’re going to have to look at the ROI in both quantitative and qualitative ways. It’s not necessarily about how many people can you get in front of, it’s how are you viewed by that audience? Are you another salesperson? Are you a respected resource? Are you someone they feel looks out and has their best interests in mind?
Will Barron:
Hello sales nation, I’m Will Barron, host of the Salesman Podcast. The world’s biggest B2B sales show where we help you not just take your target, but really thrive in sales. If you enjoy this content, make sure you click subscribe. And with all that said, let’s meet today’s guest.
Shama Hyder:
Hey, this is Shama Hyder founder and CEO of Zen Media.
Will Barron:
In this episode, we’re diving into personal brand in sales. Why it’s important, how to measure it, how to leverage it the best you possibly can, and the first thing you should do after consuming this content to make a real impact on LinkedIn in front of your potential customers. Let’s jump in.
How to Analyze the Size and Depth of Your Personal Brand · [01:12]
Will Barron:
Before we dive into the how of building a personal brand. How do we, if we even can, how do we measure our progress with it? Is it the number of Twitter followers we have? Or for a B2B sales professional, is there a better way to measure the personal brand that we have in perhaps within our vertical?
Shama Hyder:
So I think as any good salesperson will tell you, especially in the B2B world, relationships are everything. So the first thing that you have to keep in mind, especially with something like personal branding, is that you are going to have to look at the ROI in both quantitative and qualitative ways.
Shama Hyder:
So the qualitative is that really important, hard to put numbers on at times, but just as important. So, it’s your reputation, it’s how someone says, “oh, you are everywhere”, or “I’ve heard of your company before”. Anybody who’s been in sales knows the difference when they call someone and they get hung up on versus, “oh, I’ve heard of you guys”. And that’s the game changer. When someone says, “I’ve heard of you”, and you have that instant credibility, your reputation precedes you. And I think that’s what you’re really looking for when you build a brand where you’ve already have that credibility, you have that respect, and you have that time. So if you get their time and you’ve got their attention, then you’re one step closer to actually closing the sale.
The Benefits of Being Super Specific with the Type of Audience You Want Be In Front Of · [02:27]
Will Barron:
I think you just touched on something here and I think you consciously did this of being everywhere. And I think this is the salesperson’s biggest competitive advantage versus the marketing team or other development teams in that, my background in medical device sales, there was only 16 urologists here in Yorkshire here in the UK that I needed to be in front of. If they all bought something from me every year, I’d smash my target, which was a couple of million quid. It’s not that difficult to be everywhere in front of 16 people, versus a CEO of an organisation, your customers, you’re trying to be in front of thousands of people. So how can we leverage this fact that we only need to be in front of a handful of people rather than tens of thousands? How can we leverage that as sales people versus perhaps how a marketer would?
“It’s depth rather than breadth. And that is also something to be said about your personal brand. It’s not a popularity contest. It’s not how many people know you. It’s what the people that you are trying to get in front of think of you. How are you creating resonance and relevance with that group?” – Shama Hyder · [03:17]
Shama Hyder:
Sure. So it’s not necessarily about amplification all the time. And what I mean by that is it’s not necessarily about how many people can you get in front of. Which of course, if you have a niche audience, that’s not really the case. It’s how are you viewed by that audience? Are you another salesperson? Are you a respected resource? Are you someone they feel looks out and has their best interests in mind? Are you someone they feel like keeps up with the industry, that cares about their patients, their practise. I think it’s conveying all of this information. So it’s depth rather than breadth. And that is also something to be said about your personal brand. It’s not a popularity contest. It’s not how many people know you. It’s what the people that you are trying to get in front of think of you. How are you creating resonance and relevance with that group?
Who Decides How You Are Perceived in Your Industry? · [04:03]
Will Barron:
Before we’ve picked up the phone, perhaps they’ve Googled us before we’ve outreached to them, or perhaps we have outreached to them and we’re in the process of booking call and they’ve Googled us. Who decides that initial perception of whether you are an industry thought leader, whether you are to be trusted? Is it the content that we put out? We’ll touch on content in a second. Or is it how they interpret the content? If that makes sense. Who’s in control of that initial, oh, that seems like a reasonable person to chat to.
Shama Hyder:
So it’s a combination of things, . And here’s the crazy thing. We often think it’s one person it’s not always one person. Especially if you look at B2B tech sales, what a lot of research shows is that it’s a group decision making process now more than ever before. And so it’s not always one person who says, “aha, I think X, Y, Z.” I think about, like I do keynotes all over the world and more and more, my bookings are by younger millennials, people who are not necessarily in decision making positions, and roles in their company, but they’ve read my books, they’ve followed for a while. And they’re the ones that bring me to their bosses and they’re “we got to get her in.” And so you’ve got to be able to realise that it’s not a one track, you have this one person you need to influence. You also have to influence this sphere of people that influence their decisions.
Shama Hyder:
And what you’re really looking for is content, but also consistency in that content. And that’s the other mistake so many people make, especially salespeople, which is funny because sales is all about multi-touch, multi-point we all know this. And so it’s funny because it’s not about one tweet, one LinkedIn post. It’s what you do consistently over time. And I feel like consistency is such an unsexy word. People don’t like it. It’s the cousin of prudence, . Nobody wants to hear the word consistency. But it’s absolutely crucial when you’re building brand and you’re trying to build that trust and credibility and shorten your sales cycle.
Shama Hyder:
So for B2B folks, they say, that’s the best thing you can do as you build these profiles, as you build this presence, you are going to shorten that sales cycle considerably. That doesn’t mean you can be shortsighted about it because it does take time, but where something might have taken eight months, a year, can be a lot shorter because they already trust you. They already think that you are the best of the best.
How to Build a Personal Brand in B2B Sales · [06:56]
Will Barron:
For sure. I think it immediately separates you from the competition. If you’re known, liked, and trusted within an industry, if you just do a couple of talks a year. I used to do it all the time to surgeons. I’d get up on stage and explain kind of the future of endoscopy, the different equipment that we’re using. I worked for the two biggest competitors in the industry, so it’d be kind of a vendor agnostic. But I’d get people come and talk to me after the fact, and they’d very often become customers kind of a year or so down the line. So with that said, is there a series of things that B2B salespeople should be doing to build a personal brand? And then we can kind of dive into the nitty gritty of practically what they should be doing day in, day out. For example, context, speaking, are there any real high leverage items that people or activities people should be doing to build their personal brand in a specific vertical?
“The highest leverage thing that you can do to build your personal brand regardless of vertical, is perhaps the most important and the most overlooked, which is ask yourself why and what are you trying to accomplish?” – Shama Hyder · [07:13]
Shama Hyder:
The highest leverage thing that you can do to build your personal brand regardless of vertical, is perhaps the most important and the most overlooked, which is ask yourself why and what are you trying to accomplish? And I know this seems like a simple question, but it’s amazing how many people dive in because they think that’s what they’re supposed to be doing without really saying, what’s the goal? Am I looking to shorten that sales cycle? Am I looking to build trust? Am I looking to just get visible? Maybe my target market doesn’t even know who I am. I don’t even exist. What does that look like? And I think then the question becomes, and again, this is so important, how do I add value to my target market?
Shama Hyder:
This is the big difference I think between sales from yesteryear and sales now. Perhaps it’s always been this way, but that it’s highlighted so much more now, how can you add value to your given audience? Absolutely crucial in sales. And most people never ask themselves that. If you asked yourself that, get on stage, you would talk about these vendor agnostic solutions that there might have been, but you’re really trying to educate and you’re providing value. So whether that’s through the stage, whether that’s through online, that’s the key. What is it that your audience is hungry for?
Shama Hyder:
And I’ll go a little deeper into this Will, if you don’t mind, because I think this might be helpful for your audience listening. So many people don’t know this, but I did my thesis on Twitter when it had about 2000 users. Yeah, so it’s crazy, long time ago, about 10 years now, today, of course, Twitter has 375 million users.
“Why do people use social media? And I think this is an important question to answer because before you can try to figure out how to use it, you have to understand what drives people to use it.” – Shama Hyder · [08:55]
Shama Hyder:
So very different landscape. One of the things that I looked at in my academic research for grad school was why do people use social media? And I think this is an important question to answer because before you can try to figure out how to use it, think you have to understand what drives people. Like as sales people, we’re all about the motivation. What is the motivation? So when I looked at that, my hypothesis was that we use it to connect with each other, to have that sense of community, but I was wrong. The primary reason people use social media is to showcase their own identity. Okay. And I know it might sound narcissistic first glance, or, oh my God the world is a giant selfie.
Shama Hyder:
But if you stop and think about it, you realise that’s how we’ve always become who we are. It’s the feedback we get, who we are, and we adapt to fit our community and so forth. Identity is a very changing thing. But translate this to sales and marketing, and what this means is it used to be so much about what does your brand say about you? Like we’ve all been these branding exercises for a company perhaps, or we’re looking at, what does our brand stand for? Who do we want to be? What do we… We’ve all been there, but what this research shows us is the right question to be asking isn’t what does our brand say about us? The right question to be asking is what does doing business with us, allow our customers to say about their personal brand?
How Your Personal Brand Affects the People That Choose to do Business with You · [10:10]
Will Barron:
What would be an example of that in the B2B space?
“If someone chooses to do work with your company, they’re doing it not because of what your company is, but what it allows them to say about themselves.” – Shama Hyder · [10:28]
Shama Hyder:
So if someone chooses to do work with your company, they’re doing it not because of what your company is, but what it allows them to say about themselves. And so I’ll give an example. We’ve done projects with McKinzie. They’re a client, McKinzie Consulting. And so if you look at those guys, when people hire them, for business issues, big challenges, when the fortune 100 go to them for different things, they’re going to them because it allows them to say, “we care about strategy and we’re going to look for one of the best in the industry to help us”. It allows them to say about their brand. When a CEO hires a business coach, they’re hiring someone because it says, “I care about my leadership. I care about my career. I care about this.” When people come to us for marketing and new media, and how do we how do we stay relevant and make sense in the digital age, what they’re saying is “I want to be innovative. So I’m working with you”, and that’s very important when you’re in sales to try to figure out how can you help support your customer’s goals?
Shama Hyder:
And I’ll give you another great example. So Chase Business is one of our clients. We’ve got this amazing campaign with them right now called a Chase Bizmobile that has been going all across America. It’s literally like an amazing trailer, for lack of a better word, but it’s really outfitted cool. We help design, put it together, we got some great partners we’re working with to roll that out. But the whole point was chase business, it’s a bank, Chase is a bank they’re in the banking business. But what they had to stop and ask themselves were “what does that mean for our customers?” And their customers are interested in their business. So Chase looked at it and said, “how do we help support our customers businesses?” Being, “yes we’re their banking partner, but we want to be their business partner”. And so great kind of example of that, of where this Bizmobile that’s going around, has expert advisors. We actually do a lot of these sessions for them on marketing, on technology, helping business owners, who are their customers, reach their goals.
Shama Hyder:
And so it’s so easy, especially when you’re in sales to get siloed. Like I am selling this one thing without saying, what is the goal of my customer, my client? What are you trying to do? And when you step back a little bit, it’s amazing, think about the relationships that we have with someone when they say, “you know what, my product’s not right for you. This is who you need to talk to”, or “you’re just not ready for this yet. But let me tell you exactly what you need.” It’s amazing when someone steps back and has true empathy for their customer, their client, and with that empathy helps them solve the greater issue. It may not be what they’re looking for from you right now, but I promise you they’ll think of you. They will turn to you. You will have their trust for when you need it.
Will Barron:
I’m going to give the audience a sneak peek here, and then we’ll pull it back to the conversation because I’ve been following your Instagram, or the business’ Instagram profile. So I’ve seen your Chase bus. And it’s very similar to something that I want to do. I’m trying to work with a couple of the audience will… the biggest brands in the sales industry are kind of back and forth in negotiations over this. I really want to get a VW camper van and turn it into an interview, essentially, studio and drive around the UK and Europe interviewing business leaders and sales experts. So that’s a sneak peek for the audience that might crop up before the end of the year. And I saw what you were doing on the Instagram profile. I was like, “yes, this is very similar, this is what I want to do moving forward”. So I’m glad we’re on the same wavelength with that, but-
Shama Hyder:
Yeah, let us know if you need help designing it and getting it out there. So yeah, it’s been such a fun campaign and that’s a fabulous idea. And see the right brand partner, for example, Will, the person that partners with you on that or says, we want to sponsor this. They’ll be really smart because their audience, who they want to get in front of is who’s listening to this podcast. They’re professionals, they already trust you, they enjoy the content, they trust that you’re bringing good resources to them. So it’s already a very natural fit and connection. And if they’re smart, they’re going to leverage that. So much of this becomes about making those connections and sales not being sort of a blunt force instrument, but really being fine tuned, looking for influencers who already have that trust, who have that credibility and then making smart partnerships and leveraging that to grow your brand further.
Will Barron:
Well, I’m going to take that clip where you said it was a smart move and show it to these organisations I work with. So thank you for that. That was awesome.
Understanding What Your Customer Really Needs · [15:05]
Will Barron:
But going back to the branding element of this, and kind of what we’re talking about is high level. This is what an organisation could perhaps do. How do we narrow this down for an individual? And I had one idea that popped in my head as, you were talking Shama, of perhaps if we don’t do a deal with someone without mentioning any names, that’s a small blog post of, I couldn’t work with this person because of X, Y, Z. I encourage them to look at 1, 2, 3. That’s a nice little blog post that can be then shared around within your little niche, within your vertical. And I imagine if you did clearly, there’s elements of being able to write and other things here, which we can perhaps drill down into a little bit deeper on the content creation front.
Will Barron:
But something like that builds trust, it shows that you’re at least an expert in your product and the competitors as well. Is that something that we should be aiming for? Bits of content like this, that take a one-on-one conversation that salespeople have all the time, but then perhaps add a bit of scale to it, because 30 people can see it, 40 people can see it.
Shama Hyder:
Absolutely. If you are an individual, you also have this distinct advantage because you can step back and say, “what does my client really need?” And not just right now, but overall.
Shama Hyder:
So I’ll give you a very simple example. Let’s say you’re in B2B sales for technology, for IT. Very common, you sell IT and you usually sell it to companies, startups that are growing really fast. Okay. I’m just making this up. So let’s say your audience is startups that are scaling really fast and you give them IT infrastructure, great. You know, already that those startups are facing much greater challenges than just IT. It’s not so much a stretch to put together a guidebook, a resource that says here’s what working with so many startups that are scaling fast has taught us that we’ve been able to curate all this information and here’s a directory of resources.
Shama Hyder:
Of course, you can have your IT, but maybe they need other things with HR. Maybe they need other things with finding good talent. And so maybe this is a resource book that helps them get where they need to go. And you’re a part of that puzzle. But the more you can step back from “what’s in it for me?”, and look into “how can I help them with the bigger picture?”, that’s really where you’re going to get the most bang for your buck.
Will Barron:
That makes total sense. And for me, medical device sales, I would put together and I carry out my own iPad. The corporate iPad that could never be touched or changed. I carry around my own iPad as well. And I had basically pinched a load of slides from the previous organisation I worked for, I re-rendered them with my own backgrounds and stuff. And the new call stats, corporate backgrounds from the new company I worked at and it had all our products, competitor products, the differences, the changes, the balances between the weight of the different elements of them. These are all like glass optical lenses that would go inside people. And surgeons loved it. And there was always a fine line to balance on because corporately they hated it, they didn’t allow it, they told me off many times, but I kept doing it because it closed deals. People enjoyed it. And it was a reason, an opportunity to spend time with someone. And because it had not just our equipment in it, which the corporate one did, it had everything in it, people loved it.
How to Use Video Content as Your Competitive Advantage in Sales · [18:32]
Will Barron:
And so again, positioned you as a somewhat of an expert in the field. If you’ve got all this information about the competitors, and then they’re just trying to pitch their own products, whereas you are kind of going across the board with this. But Shama for someone who can’t… I’m an okay writer, I’m not a fantastic writer, I’m okay. From years of practise now doing the podcast and the blog content. For someone who sucks at writing, but, and there’s a stereotype here perhaps, is somewhat chatty, somewhat charismatic, how does video play into all of this and how can video be a competitive advantage over someone who’s just writing blog posts?
“64% of people will finish watching up to a 30 minute commercial video clip versus 24% that’ll finish reading an article.” – Shama Hyder · [19:13]
Shama Hyder:
Yeah. So video’s fantastic. I think sometimes the challenges with the opposite where you couldn’t do video, but you’re a good writer, you have to find the medium that makes sense for you. But video I’m so thrilled about because I’ve been gung ho on this for a long time. And if you look at the stats, they’re so compelling, 64% of people will finish watching up to a 30 minute commercial video clip versus 24% that’ll finish reading an article. That’s staggering. And of course, some of some people on here might be like, “oh, but I love to read.” Yeah, but you are not your audience. I read these novels, like 800 page Diana Gabaldon books, I love it. But not everyone is that way. And the truth is, think about everyone on here listening, has at some point watched an infomercial and could not change the channel until someone else walked in the room and they said, “what are you doing?What are you watching?” And then they’re like, “I don’t know. But these knives though!” or, “Wow, Oxy really does get it clean!”
Shama Hyder:
I mean, we’ve all been there where we’ve been completely mesmerised or transfixed by something by video and it’s human. It’s human. So video was such an amazing tool. I’m very excited with what LinkedIn is doing with video right now. So LinkedIn to me is like a B2B salesperson’s best friend. What an amazing platform. You can reach people, you can have valuable conversation, for nurturing, attraction, all those things, I love LinkedIn. And now with LinkedIn video, it’s such a no brainer. So if you are in B2B sales and you haven’t played with that yet, I highly recommend it because like all things, it will reach saturation and we will lose visibility.
Shama Hyder:
And I’ll give you an example. This is the stuff I love talking about marketing, technology, so forth. I keynote somewhere, I do a quick video after, whatnot. I’m always sharing this information. Sharing these videos on YouTube, for example, just randomly might get like 4,000, 5,000 views. It’s nothing crazy to write home about, but sharing that same video on LinkedIn very quick on my iPhone, shoot it, edit it, quick post, that maybe five minutes, maybe less, five minutes is kind of long. Usually mine are about two to three minutes. Will average a quarter million views within 48 hours and 10% engagement. So very high targeted audience, very engaged. And I find that fascinating, so I’m so gung ho about video. I think anyone who feels comfortable on camera should absolutely go for it. And the only way you learn is by doing, your first videos may be utter BS, but as you do [inaudible 00:21:37]
Will Barron:
Will be BS, right. It will a hundred percent be terrible. There’s zero doubt in my mind, or I’m sure yours that everyone’s first video after watching this is going to be absolutely atrocious, right?
Shama Hyder:
I cringe at mine. I mean, Will, when I started doing videos and I look back and I’m like, “what was I thinking?” Like I have my dog in my lap like I thought that was cute. I didn’t know. It was really funny. So I look back and I’m like “ah, face Palm, these are so bad.” But I wouldn’t be as comfortable as I am on camera doing the things that I’m doing if I hadn’t gone through that process. Like there’s not a shortcut through that. I do think you can have natural inclinations. Like I enjoy public speaking, I enjoy sharing my passions, so I have natural inclinations for that, but I definitely was not as good of a speaker or doing media interviews and stuff as I am now, because it was 10 years ago, that’s a lot of practise show after show. So many things, and that’s how you get better. But I am such a firm believer in video, highly think it’s the highest ROI right now, especially if you’re looking at LinkedIn.
Want to Create Your First Video For LinkedIn, Here’s a Topic Idea For You · [22:50]
Will Barron:
Perfect. And I want to offer the audience a challenge here, Shama, what should be the video that after listening to this, and most people listen to this, either driving the car or jogging, so please do it when you get to your office and please don’t do it on the treadmill. Cause that’s asking for a broken hip, what should the first video that they should be uploading be? What should the title be? What should the subject be? And I guess what’s the generic kind of video that the audience should put out there, just to get the first one done, just to get it out?
Shama Hyder:
And if you do decide to stop what you’re doing right now and take a funny video, please send it to Will and I, tag us, we love it. Don’t hurt yourself, but I’m always up for a good laugh. So it’s very simple, great question Will, very simple challenge. If everyone listening says “I want to do this, I don’t really know like how to start”, start with the most simple thing possible, which is, I’ll give you two prompts. You can choose one or the other. You can either do what I wish every single one of my clients knew. And you could do that so quickly because I promise if I asked almost anyone on this podcast, what’s the one thing you wish your clients knew, you’d have an answer, whatever that was. Like “do this early and do this before you actually need it”. Or whatever it may be, or “don’t listen to X, Y, Z”. So what is that?
Shama Hyder:
My second prompt would be share what is it that you have learned as a professional? What’s the one thing that you really distilled in all your years? And it may be that relationships matter, it may be that having a good mentor at work, whatever it is, share something that’s valuable. And again, you’ll notice it has nothing to do with your industry particularly. But these are two really good starting points. And you can choose either/or.
Will Barron:
Yeah. And that’s almost a full podcast, video, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn series there of, every week what’s the one thing I wish my clients knew this week? Or what’s the one thing I’ve learned this week, that could help my clients? That’s super simple. And if you’ve connected with the right people on LinkedIn and hopefully you’ve messaged them, you’ve not just spammed them a bunch of connection requests, you’ve gone back and forth with them. The engagement there is going to bring that up in the feed. And if they’re on LinkedIn regularly, you are going to be top of mind constantly. Even if they don’t watch the video, they’re going to see your face, right. And how powerful is that?
Shama Hyder:
Yeah. And I it’s funny I do these videos and people tell me all the time when I run into them, they’re like, “oh my God, I’ve seen your videos like 15 times, they pop up” and the thing is you have to play to algorithms, and right now LinkedIn is giving preferential treatment to video. So absolutely ride that wave.
Things That Can Negatively Affect Your Personal Brand · [25:20]
Will Barron:
Perfect. So a couple more things I want to ask you before we kind of wrap up here, Shama, and the first one, and this is something I’m trying to ask people more often, is there anything that you’ve done that has negatively affected your personal branding over the past few years? Is there anything that stood out, maybe it’s a cautionary tale or maybe it was just something that didn’t really massively, significantly impact it, but would be interesting for the audience?
Shama Hyder:
Yeah. You know, I would say the biggest thing again, what I said is the opposite of, it’s not staying consistent. So what’s funny, like even on Instagram, and my team really gets on me about this because I’m so sometimes busy doing, that they’re like “you got to share, share, share, share.” So now I’ve gotten better and I send my team things because we’re creating so much content all the time. But documenting that process I think is important. And so times where I’ve seen that dip is when I have not been consistent in sharing my stories and continuously building that brand.
“We live in such a fast paced world that you have to stay consistent to stay top of mind. And as we know, so much of the game of sales is staying top of mind.” – Shama Hyder · [26:48]
Shama Hyder:
And it’s so funny you say personal brand and the perception is like a celebrity or building a brand for the sake of building a brand. But really when I say personal brand, I’m much more mean like your reputation, the value you’re bringing, the community you’re building. Even, when I go a couple of weeks without sharing something and I do then, my community says, “oh my God, where have you been?” So I’m like “oh, okay”. So it’s funny, we live in such a fast paced world that you have to stay consistent to stay top of mind. And as we know, so much of the game is staying top of mind.
Being Personal Versus Professional In Your LinkedIn Videos · [27:35]
Will Barron:
And people are interested in you as well, right. And tell me if I’m totally wrong here, I think that’s still important in B2B sales. So this is clearly a business to business audience that I’ve built here. You know, probably 20 odd thousand people will listen to this audio anywhere from, well, we’ve had anywhere from kind of a thousand to a hundred thousand people will watch the YouTube video depending on the YouTube algorithm.
Will Barron:
People ask me, as much as questions I get asked about sales or how I should do this, or I want get a promotion. I get asked about this car, this GTR that I’m aspiring to own in the future. People seem to be just as bothered about my buying ridiculous things that are total waste of money, as they are with improving the sales skills, which is why they’re watching the show in the first place. So how much of a personal element should we be adding to all this, versus being the stereotype of a dude in a badly fitting suit stood there of his video going buy my products because you know, the great, how much of it should be? How, how much of ourselves should we be injecting into all of this?
Shama Hyder:
Yeah. So it’s really funny that you say that. And yes, people are extremely curious about my life. In fact, some of the Google auto searches that auto correct with my name are hilarious and I won’t even go into them. But it’s so funny. And to me, it’s not about how much of your personal life are you sharing, it’s more about how relevant can you be to your audience? I don’t think me sharing what I’m having for dinner is necessarily relevant to my audience. So I don’t share it. I will say that being said, of course, all B2B sales is also B2B to C, which is we’re human. And so even when you’re selling to a business, you are selling to a human being, and I think that’s such an important distinction.
Shama Hyder:
So many times we say, “oh, it’s B2B, it’s different than B2C”. Yes and no, because at the end of the day, you’re still buying from people you trust, you still want that experience. I do think it’s important to be personable. I do think it’s important to be transparent. I do think it’s important to be honest, that means saying, sorry when you’re sorry. That means saying thank you so much when you feel gratitude. That means letting people in a little bit so they know that you’re human, that you have a family that you care about certain things that you care about your community. And that makes people want to do business with you more. I love supporting small businesses for example, or I love supporting people that I know have a greater mission or vision.
Shama Hyder:
Of course we’re human, we’re attracted to that. So I think that’s important, but people will always be curious about a million things. And I do walk that line finely because I do think about, is that relevant? Is that going to help them succeed in the digital age, because that’s what I’m all about, that’s my brand. And here’s the craziest thing that I actually was just giving a keynote yesterday. Was it yesterday? Two days ago? Oh my God. I go through so many time zones, I have a hard time keeping up.
Shama Hyder:
So I was talking to this group, also B2B. And I told them that the biggest shift that I have seen in the last few years in B2B is that the bar is now so much higher. And what I mean by that is in B2B. And I’m sure like being in medical sales, you can attest to this. The bar was so much lower, for example, if you had a website, it was awesome because all your competitors still had old school catalogues. But you had a website, so you were winning. Now, it’s funny though, because your buyer, your B2B buyer is no longer comparing you to your competitors and saying, “well, they got catalogues, but at least this guy’s got a website.” What they’re looking at is “I just had this amazing experience at the Apple Store. Now I’m buying this. And I expect that same experience”.
“The expectations for B2B buyers are no longer different, they’re higher. They don’t care if you’re better than your second rate competitors. What they care about is, “I just had Amazon experience. I just had the Apple experience. I just had a Zappos experience. This is the experience I expect across the board.” And so that means that you really have to take a look at how you sell and how you market and how you stand out because your competition is no longer just other B2B companies.” – Shama Hyder · [31:07]
Shama Hyder:
That level of expectation, and that frictionless ness that we, as connected consumers and my team at Zen Media does a lot of research around the connected consumer, and what that really means. I mean, it’s technically all of us. How we buy, how we make decisions, B2B or B2C, how do you stay relevant? But what I find fascinating is this, the expectations for B2B buyers are no longer different, they’re higher. They don’t care if you’re better than your second rate competitors. What they care about is, “I just had Amazon experience. I just had the Apple experience. I just had Zappos experience. This is the experience I expect across the board.” And so that means there have to be some very deep cultural shifts. You really have to take a look at how you sell and how you market and how you stand out because your competition is no longer just other B2B companies.
Will Barron:
It’s funny you should say this, and we’ll wrap up with this and I’ve got two points I don’t want to gloss over. You mentioned them, which I think are really valuable for Sales Nation, everyone listening. But funny you should mention catalogues, the last company I worked for, to get a online version of the catalogue, you had to go through this massive rigmarole of who you are, what you’re doing, and then they would only send you a PDF of one particular part of the catalogue. They wouldn’t send you the whole thing because heaven forbid the competitor might get a hold of it. And this was three years ago or three and a half years ago, this wasn’t 20 years ago or whenever the internet was created 1994, 96, when they would to send a catalogue that size would be a logistical problem through the terrible dial up that everyone had.
Will Barron:
This was literally three and a half, four years ago. They would not give out a PDF version of the catalogue, because they were concerned that the competitor would have it. Everyone knew in the back of my car, my company car, I had a catalogue from each of the competitor companies and I was just a rep. So you, the corporation must have had them as well. It was ridiculous. But two things you mentioned here. One, if you’re doing video content, if you doing any content really, having a set of rules in place I think is important. And I do this to kind of not have a blurred line between the content I put out with the podcast, with the sales school, which is coming soon and everything else.
Will Barron:
For example, my girlfriend’s a doctor. I never mention her name, where she works, anything like that because she asked me not to. I don’t really record any content outside of the studio, the office or any live events that we do with the sales and podcast live. I don’t really record content when I’m in the car or around where we live or if I’m out walking or running or anything like that. So I keep all that to myself. So having a set of rules I think is perhaps useful for the audience and paradoxically, it’ll help you create more content faster if you’ve got a set of rules to go against.
Will Barron:
And the other thing, and I’m conscious of time so we won’t dive into it, but having some kind of mission or goal or something in your personal life that you’re aiming towards, where you’re trying to create business, create value, earn commissions because you want to do X, Y, and Z. I think is super powerful to include into your, your videos, your content, wherever you’re doing your personal brand. And it makes you more human. So one of my passions is educating people about science and get people excited about science. We’ve got a whole other podcast that does that very thing. And I kind of intertwine the two here because people then will be asking me, “well, what about the other podcast? Oh, I love science as well”. And it kind of makes me more human and builds a deeper relationship with those individuals who listen to the B2B sales stuff.
Shama’s Advice to Her Younger Self on How to Become Better at Selling · [34:10]
Will Barron:
And with all that said, woo, I feel like I need a breath after rabbiting through all that. I just don’t want to gloss over them. The excellent points you made Shama. I just wanted to kind of double down on them. I’ve got one final question to ask everyone that comes on the show. Your answer cannot be personal branding because this is probably part of it. So anything other than personal branding, but if you could go back in time and speak to your younger self, what would be the one piece of advice you’d give her to help her become better at selling?
Shama Hyder:
You know, as cliched as it is, and I’d heard this when I was younger, I don’t think I fully understood it until more recently. And that is the value of relationships. And I think you hear that and you think ah, yes, like meet people, get to know what they need. But what I mean by that is like today, if you look at the clients that we work with, there are people and human beings I have such high respect for. I hold them in such high esteem, and I think that is a relationship, right. There is a depth there. I love these people outside of work, and the way you do this is you invest. You get to learn about their families, you get to learn about what motivates them, what they care about.
Shama Hyder:
And I think when I was younger, I heard that and saw it more superficially. I understood what that meant as my family and people closest to me. I didn’t know what that translated to in the broader sense of that true word. Or I heard the very bro version of wine and dine. And I was like, “what’s that?” It just felt still very, to me, kind of manipulative in a way, like you have an agenda. You’re driven in that way. Well, today, what I have an understanding of now is it’s not about an agenda. It’s genuinely having that empathy and caring about someone and knowing where they’re coming from and connecting on that deeper level. And then if you end up doing business, great.
“Throughout history, whoever controlled information had power because access to information was limited. So if you had information, you had an advantage. Well, the internet changed all of that. Now everybody has information. That’s no longer the differentiator. So the differentiator becomes who can then best take that information and distill it in a way that turns knowledge into wisdom, that takes data and turns it into insight.” – Shama Hyder · [36:38]
Shama Hyder:
And I think coming from that place has really shifted my perception and my view of work. And I will say this Will, to add to your point where you were talking about, I think this is so crucial for B2B folks in general, we no longer live in the information age. And what’s fascinating is what you said, so many B2B companies, and I hear this all the time, especially from younger folks who are like, “my boss doesn’t want me to share, because they’re afraid our competitors will know.” I’m like “news flash, they already know.” So throughout history, I think what was fascinating was whoever controlled information had power. The church, for example, I mean anybody who controlled information had power because access to information was limited. So if you had information, you had an advantage.
Shama Hyder:
Well, the internet changed all of that. Now everybody has information. That’s no longer the differentiator. So the differentiator becomes who can then best take that information and distil it in a way that turns knowledge into wisdom? That takes data and turns it into insight?
Shama Hyder:
And what you’re doing with this podcast here is a great example. There is so much stuff on sales and B2B sales. It is mind boggling. But the reason you have millions of people listening and downloading this is because you are able to create that filter. You’re able to ask the right questions, bring on guests. I mean, I know you let them so thoroughly. It’s taken us a while to even get to this point, which is awesome. But see, so you have power because you are a curator, you are a filter. So as we talk about B2B and you wrap up about personal branding, it’s how can you as a salesperson be that filter for your customers. And they’re so hungry for that. Everyone has information, the key to winning now and in the future, is how can you create context and be relevant?
Parting Thoughts · [38:01]
Will Barron:
[inaudible 00:38:07]
Shama Hyder:
We work with clients around the globe. You can check us out at zenmedia.com. And of course my personal site, ShamaHyder.com. I’m on all the social platforms. So feel free to pick your poison and I’m happy to connect.
The 5-Step Cure To Low B2B Sales Motivation
Aug 10, 2022
“What’s my motivation?”
Expert Note:
“By a massive long shot, salespeople’s biggest pain point is a lack of motivation”
Kim Walsh
Salesman Podcast
Clichéd as it is, this question still resonates today. And not just with actors. But with retail workers, executives, laborers—with everyone.
For sales reps, in particular, keeping up their sales motivation day after day is often a struggle. Boredom, anxiety, hopelessness, and downright depression can all be expected in the face of a too-far-off sales goal. And for some, the harder they seem to work, the less they seem to earn.
If this sounds all too familiar, don’t worry: You’re not alone.
But luckily, there’s a way out. It just takes a bit of strategic work on your part.
This guide shows you how to overcome a lack of sales motivation using a proven 5-point framework. And with it, you can boost your numbers, blow past your goals, and achieve more success as a sales rep.
The Secret to Sales Motivation (Forget The Stupid Sales Quotes)
Sales motivation is a tricky beast.
On the one hand, it can inspire you to take on new challenges. On the other hand, it can give you the energy you need to truly test your limits. And it can be the impetus to winning record-level sales.
But there’s a dark side to motivation, too. If you relysolely on motivation to get things done, you’re only setting yourself up for failure.
For example, on high motivation days, you may feel bulletproof. You’re packing your pipeline full of prospects, piquing the interest of leads, and closing deals like a boss. But on the bad days, you’re erasing all of that progress. As a result, you’re missing out on perfect closing opportunities, forgetting to follow up, and letting ideal buyers slip through your fingers again and again.
So, how do you keep the sales motivation going? How can you wake up energized, enthusiastic, and eager to achieve every day?
You can’t.
Surprised? Don’t be.
We are all human. We are all prone to having good days and bad ones. And anyone who tells you otherwise is selling you snake oil.
Instead, you need discipline.
“Motivation gets you going, but discipline keeps you growing. That’s the Law of Consistency. It doesn’t matter how talented you are. It doesn’t matter how many opportunities you receive. If you want to grow, consistency is key.” – John C. Maxwell
You don’t need a sales rep motivation magic pill (because it doesn’t exist). Instead, you need a system that takes motivation out of the equation entirely. And you need a way to succeed day in and day out—on the good days and the bad.
And that’s where the Selling By the Numbers 5-Point Framework comes in.
The Selling By the Numbers Framework
The Selling By the Numbers Framework is a simple yet effective way to take progressive steps towards meeting your goals every single day.
It’s numbers-focused, yes. But it’s not overly technical.
And don’t be fooled here—this is not a one-size-fits-all approach. Instead, the Selling By the Numbers Framework is a way of reverse-engineering your goals so you can better understand the steps you need to take to achieve them.
The best thing about the Selling By the Numbers Framework helps boost your sales motivation when followed correctly. It’ll also improve your performance, focus, help you beat fear and win more business.
Here’s how.
A) Single Path to Success
A significant factor in feeling unmotivated in a sales position is not knowing whether the steps you’re taking actually lead towards a win.
Maybe right now, you’re “winging it”—you’re reaching out to prospects when it feels right, switching up your cadences on a day-by-day basis, and trying out different approaches whenever you read about them.
This attitude to setting goals isn’t going to help you crush your performance targets.
While there’s value in experimentation, this haphazard approach doesn’t let you determine what’s working and what isn’t. And as a result, you’re left wondering what you did wrong when you haven’t met your quota for the month.
The Selling By the Numbers Framework gives you clear, weekly (and even daily) goals so you can quickly know when you’re winning and when you’re failing.
And that clarity will keep you pushing forward.
B) Easy to Communicate
The framework is also simple to understand and break down for others.
But how does that keep you motivated?
On the one hand, the simplicity makes it a snap to keep sales managers and other members of your sales team onboard. A clear and quantitative end goal, regular waypoints to track progress, a focused roadmap you can refer to daily—it’s a dream for the higher-ups. And the more your supervisors get behind a plan, the easier it is for you to stay on track.
Beyond that, the framework’s simplicity also makes it great for teaching to the rest of your sales team. With more hands-on deck, you can continually refine the process to make it even more effective.
C) Forces You to Decide What You Want
This one’s important.
Money isn’t everything. It’s important, sure. And having a lot of it is certainly a reasonable goal. But feeling satisfied in sales doesn’t always have to be about reeling in a massive paycheck and owning ever crazy resources.
This framework forces you to decide what’s important to you. For example, are you looking for a way to finance a new home purchase? Do you want to demonstrate consistency and reliability to help accelerate your career? Are you trying to find a better work-life balance?
Maybe you want to work in sales, win the incentives and release the pressure by semi-retiring at 40 rather than 70. I encourage you to forget the motivational sales quotes as you go through this framework and really focus on what you want to achieve in your career.
By setting precise goals and following the plan each day, you can rest assured you’re continually working towards those goals.
D) Walk Away When You Want
Last but not least, the Selling By the Numbers Framework gives you more control over lead management.
How many times have you had to deal with a pain-in-the-butt buyer? They’re sucking up all your time. They’re rude. And to be perfectly honest, they’re probably leading you on a wild goose chase.
With this framework, you can easily refer to your plan, see if you need that buyer to hit your numbers, and if not, walk away from all the trouble.
And that kind of freedom is inspirational in and of itself.
The Downside of Not Selling By the Numbers
Beyond those benefits, there are also plenty of downsides to not selling by the numbers. Here are just a few of the biggest.
A) You Don’t Know What Works
When you don’t follow a clearly defined framework, you’re working from instinct rather than hard data.
Sure, some salespeople get lucky. Maybe they catch a windfall client out of nowhere. And perhaps they succeed against all odds using a slapdash approach.
But without a step-by-step plan, you can’t collect the data points to see what’s working and what isn’t. That means you can’t refine your process. You can’t replicate great results. And you can’t know for sure you’re on the path to success.
B) Relying on the Unreliable
To people outside of your profession, sales is all about charisma. It’s about charm, magnetism, and talking your way into a deal.
But as a salesperson yourself, you know the gift of gab can only get you so far.
A master charmer can certainly seduce some buyers into eating into their budget. But more often than not (and especially in the B2B space), a salesman that relies entirely on their charisma is a salesman that doesn’t consistently hit their numbers.
With the Selling By the Numbers Framework, you’re putting in the work every day. And that means you don’t have to bet the farm on charming your buyer into a sale.
C) Stuck in the “Work Harder” Trap
Finally, the framework lets you break free from the “work harder” trap.
Researching and trying new sales approaches every week is hard.
Guessing at what went right (and what made you fail) is hard.
Working overtime again and again to make your number is hard.
Convincing your manager that next month will be different is hard.
This framework gives you a simpler, clearer path to consistent success. No guesswork. And no more working harder, just smarter.
Breaking Down the Selling By the Numbers Framework
So, what is the Selling By the Numbers Framework?
Essentially, this framework starts from the end and moves backward to define how to get there. It does so in just five steps:
Define Your Wants
Set Your Income Goal
Determine Your Starting Point
Establish Your Waypoints
Create Your One-Page Plan
Now let’s dive a bit deeper into each step.
1) Define Your Wants
Part of what makes this framework so effective is the fact that you’re beginning with the end—what you want to achieve—and reverse engineers those results.
So let’s start there. What do you want?
The simplicity of the question is deceptive, though.
“More money,” for example, is a goal. But it’s not an end goal because it doesn’t get to the WHY of it all. Do you want more money to fund your child’s college? Do you want more money so you can be in a similar income range as your social circle? Is it all about getting that shiny new Corvette?
There are two things important here.
Dig Deep – Find out what’s truly important to you. What do you want to achieve this year? What do you want to buy, to be, to do, or to have?
Make It Concrete – The only way this framework is effective is if you can work back from a solid, non-abstract goal.
Defining your ultimate goal and keeping it front of your mind is key to staying motivated. Perhaps Jarrod Glandt, President of Grand Cardone Enterprises, put it best in our interview:
Expert Note:
“That doesn’t mean you have to have a million-dollar goal, but you have to figure out what’s important to you, and you have to figure out a way to drive towards that every day. Otherwise, you will end up lacking purpose and lacking drive and lacking motivation, and then you’re just going to be unhappy.”
Jarrod Glandt
Sales Leadership Show
2) Set Your Income Goal
Next, it’s time to set your yearly income goal.
Working backward from the want you defined in the previous step, determine how much income you’ll need to make to achieve that want.
This step is pretty easy if it’s a tangible good that you’re after (like a car). But, first, find out how much extra income you’ll need to afford that good comfortably and tack it onto your current income.
For wants that you don’t need to be fulfilled right away (like saving for your child’s college), determine how much you’d like to save per year by working backward. For example, if you want to send your child to an Ivy League school, you can expect to pay about $225,000 in tuition. Over 15 years, you’d have to save an additional $15,000 per year.
If your want is to be offered a promotion, you’ll have to do a bit more thinking. Maybe becoming lead sales rep for 3 years running is the ticket to getting noticed at work. In that case, the goal is to bring in more sales than other reps on your team.
3) Determine Your Starting Point
The next step is to take stock of where you’re starting from.
This, again, is simple—where are you now compared to your income goal?
No need to overcomplicate things right now. Just take what you’ve earned already and subtract it from the final goal.
After that, you’ll also want to take into account the givens this year. Do you have returning customers that are going to be a consistent source of recurring revenue? Are you midway through a sure-thing deal and are just waiting to collect your commission? Are you going to be losing a longtime customer?
Think about what is already scheduled for this year that’s going to impact your income and build that into the difference you calculated earlier.
4) Establish Your Waypoints
This is where things get slightly more complicated.
Now it’s time to build out the quarterly, monthly, weekly, and even daily waypoints you need to hit to earn your income goal and achieve your final want.
Try to make these waypoints as specific as you can using data from your customer relationship management (CRM) tool—more on that later. Look at historical tables to find out precisely how many touchpoints it took to close a successful sale.
For instance, your data might look something like this:
Sales target = $15,000
Average dollar value of closed deals = $1,000
Calls made = 2400
Decision makers spoken to = 480
Discovery calls scheduled = 120
Demos scheduled = 60
Proposals given = 30
Closed deals = 15
Then, break down that data into quarterly, monthly, weekly, and perhaps daily goals.
Using the data above, your goals might look like this:
*Note: As your timeline gets shorter (e.g., daily goals), the math doesn’t always translate perfectly. As such, you may want to reserve more time-intensive plans for longer timelines (e.g., closing deals on a monthly rather than weekly basis).
Quarterly
Calls made = 600
Decision makers spoken to = 120
Discovery calls scheduled = 30
Demos scheduled = 15
Proposals given = 8
Closed deals = 4
Monthly
Calls made = 200
Decision makers spoken to = 40
Discovery calls scheduled = 10
Demos scheduled = 5
Proposals given = 3
Closed deals = 2
Weekly
Calls made = 48
Decision makers spoken to = 10
Discovery calls scheduled = 3
Demos scheduled = 2
Daily
Calls made = 10
Decision makers spoken to = 2
Discovery calls scheduled = 1
5) Create Your One-Page Plan
Last but certainly not least, you need to create a one-page plan outlining the entire framework.
Important: this is not meant to be exhaustive.
Don’t treat this one-pager like the single note-card you could bring to class—crammed from edge to edge with information.
Instead, this is the boiled-down version that hits the core of each step.
Yours might look something like this.
My One-Page Plan
Want: To have enough money saved up over 15 years to pay for Molly’s tuition in full.
Income Goal: $150,000 per year
Starting Point: $130,000 + $5,000 recurring yearly revenue (additional $15,000 per year needed)
My Waypoints:
Quarterly
Calls made = 600
Decision makers spoken to = 120
Discovery calls scheduled = 30
Demos scheduled = 15
Proposals given = 8
Closed deals = 4
Monthly
Calls made = 200
Decision makers spoken to = 40
Discovery calls scheduled = 10
Demos scheduled = 5
Proposals given = 3
Closed deals = 2
Weekly
Calls made = 48
Decision makers spoken to = 10
Discovery calls scheduled = 3
Demos scheduled = 2
Daily
Calls made = 10
Decision makers spoken to = 2
Discovery calls scheduled = 1
Time to Execute: What You Need to Know to Get Started
Now that you have a better understanding of the sales motivation framework let’s dive a bit deeper into the details.
What kind of information will you need to establish your waypoints? What research will you have to do on your accounts before getting started? And what considerations do you need to include in your calculations?
The specifics will vary among industries and positions. But below are some of the most common pieces of information you’ll need to consider along the way.
A) Your List of Prospects
How many prospects do you currently have in your pipeline? How many do you need to hit your goals according to your conversion rates?
You’ll need to consider this information when building out your daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly strategies.
According to HubSpot, more than 40% of salespeople say prospecting is the most challenging part of the sales process. So be sure to factor extra time into your days for it.
B) Average Account/Order Size
How big is your average account or order size? And how much will you be pocketing as a commission?
Obviously, larger average order sizes mean you’ll have to close fewer deals to reach your income goal. But you may have to spend more time on nurturing along the way too.
C) Average Touchpoints/Time to Close Sale
Is your sales cycle long and complicated? Does closing the sale from start to finish take days, weeks, or even months? How many times do you need to talk to a prospect before they’re ready to sign on as a client?
This is another important consideration when building out your milestones. Most CRMs should make this info readily available too.
HubSpot reports that most B2B prospects will need about eight touchpoints before a sale. But every business is different, so be sure to calculate yours rather than just relying on industry averages.
D) Average Number of Sales Closed vs. Touchpoints Started
Piggybacking off the last point, you’ll also need to calculate your close rates compared to the number of touchpoints started.
This stat will be helpful in determining where you start hitting diminishing returns with your touchpoints. For example, you may find that most prospects will need six touchpoints before a sale. But do an additional two touchpoints increase the odds of closing? Or is it just wasting your time?
Understanding this information will help you plan out your daily goals and what’s needed to close a sale most effectively.
E) The Gap
This is essentially the third step of the framework.
How far are you right now from reaching your income goal? How many accounts will you have to close on to achieve that goal? How many new accounts will you have to bring on according to your conversion rate? And how many calls, emails, and messages will you need to make to sign those accounts?
F) Is This Even Possible?
This is vital—is this even possible?
Take a quick look at your team’s sales history. How many clients do you bring on per year? How does your goal compare to that average?
Ambition can be a great driving force. But goals so lofty that they’re unrealistic aren’t helping anyone. In fact, they’ll likely only end in disappointment.
So be sure your goals are ambitious, just not foolhardy.
G) Determine Your Waypoints
With all the information you’ve gathered, it’s time to build out your waypoints.
It’s essential to be exacting here. And during your calculations, be sure to factor in vacations, holidays, sick days, and other time off work like seminars.
H) Create Your One Sheet & Follow Religiously
Finally, you’ve got all the information you need to create your one-page plan.
It should include each step of the framework:
Your Ultimate Want
Your Income Goal
Your Starting Point + Your Gap
Your Detailed Waypoints
Take this one-page plan, print it out, and place it in your workspace so it’s always visible. The power of this plan is that you can refer to it whenever you want. So the more front-and-center, the better.
Wrap Up
Maintaining sales motivation is one of the biggest hurdles sales reps like you will face. Some days you may wake up energized and ready to take on the world. But on others, you may feel like Sisyphus stuck rolling the metaphorical boulder up a never-ending mountain.
That’s why it’s so important to take motivation out of the picture using the Selling By the Numbers Framework. With this framework, you can rest easy knowing you’re making strides towards your goals every single day, even on your worst days.
And ultimately, it’s what you need to be happier, more successful, and more motivated as a salesperson.
As sales coach Beth Benatti Kennedy put it in our interview:
Expert Note:
“Resilience is actually moving forward. It’s dealing with those challenges but being able to say I have the toolkit, so I can move forward. [Resilient salespeople] not only handle the challenges, but they also hit their numbers, and they also have very high career satisfaction.”
Beth Benatti Kennedy
Salesman Podcast
Salespeople - Stop Trading Time For Money! | Selling Made Simple
Aug 09, 2022
A lot of sales reps I work with have been caught in the time/money trap – what they make is DIRECTLY tied to how much they work. But the great thing about sales is you can create a “flywheel” system that SCALES UP your ability to earn without requiring more of your time.
And if you put in a bit of effort, your flywheel system will pay off BIG TIME.
What Is The Flywheel?
Let’s talk about what a flywheel is. Literally speaking, a flywheel is a heavy wheel that, when turned, continues revolving over and over again thanks to its size and momentum.
Think of the Price is Right. You know the big, heavy wheel at the end that keeps spinning and spinning? Like that.
Now what does this have to do with sales?
Well when you first start out in this job, it takes a LOT of effort to get things rolling. Making those first few sales, building up your network from scratch, getting into the groove with your processes—it’s a ton of work.
But once you DO start making progress, your flywheel starts spinning on its own momentum.
And that means:
You can ask for referrals
People in the industry already know you before you even reach out
Your sales process gets refined and improved
You can farm/upsell current customers rather than having to do lots of cold outreach
Simply put, everything gets easier.
You don’t have to work as hard to see results. And that means less effort for better outcomes.
The flywheel does all the work for you.
How Do You Get Your Flywheel Moving?
How do you get your flywheel moving? And just as importantly, how do you get it moving faster?
Well we’ve got three strategies covering just that. And we’ll start with…
1. Impetus
As the old saying goes…
“The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best time is today.”
Procrastination is wasted time. And the sooner you start doing something, anything for your future, the more that investment is going to pay off.
On top of that, it takes a LOT longer than you think to build a successful business or brand—7 to 15 years according to some experts. Do you want to be raking in the spoils of your success when you’re 35 or would you rather be on your way to 60?
If you’re looking for low-risk, high-reward things you can start doing TODAY to get things spinning, start spending more time with social selling. Interact with industry experts on LinkedIn. Connect with others you’ve met or talked to over email. Start building insightful, valuable content of your own.
But no matter WHAT you do, just do SOMETHING.
2. Focus
I’ve seen so many reps fall victim to having too many irons in the fire. It seems like a good idea at first, right? Diversify your approach. Casting a wider net yields more fish. Yada yada.
But what they don’t tell you is that you have a limit to the amount of energy you can spend. There are only so many hours in a day. You only have so much work you can do before you snap. And life, at least one worth living, isn’t just about the work.
So what you need to be doing is focusing your flywheel.
Stop spending time and energy on the tasks that don’t drive results. Don’t send in that RFP for a deal you’re never going to get. Cut out the in-person meetings that you’re always ditched on. Find what ISN’T WORKING. And get rid of it.
On the other side of that, double down on what IS working. Find the one channel that’s driving the most sales, whether it’s cold outreach, upselling current customers, targeting inbound leads—whatever.
And then hit that channel HARD. Get good at it. Like really good. And spend the majority of your efforts on knocking that channel out of the park.
Once you start seeing some really killer success here, only then should you think about getting your other flywheels going.
3. Scale
Your time is best spent on the activities that scale your earnings, that multiply your value without multiplying your work.
These are the activities that you can perform across your clients without having to deal with any guesswork.
For example, how are you following up with first-touch leads? Are you just emailing them randomly whenever they pop into your head? Or are you following a strategic cadence that’s proven effective?
The second option is of course going to be the best. When you follow a system, a framework, you don’t have to spend time guessing, hemming and hawing. Instead, you just follow the steps, 1…2…3…4… And because it’s so systematized, you can knock out MORE follow up work in LESS time than if you handled things randomly.
The hard part is knowing where to start with cadences. But not to worry, I’ve got you there too.
This is one of the starter cadences you’ll find in the Selling Made Simple Academy. Feel free to use it as a jumping off point for your leads too.
Day 1 – Connect on LinkedIn
Day 3 – Email – Case study for a related business using your product
Day 10 – Email – Link to a “how-to” blog post that focuses on a common problem in their industry and how your product can help solve it
Day 12 – Call > Voicemail to explain that you’ll send an email > Email link to another case study and reference your call in the email
Day 14 – Email – Provide some hard data on the buyer’s problem that they might find useful
Day 20 – Email – Straight forward ask for a meeting
Day 25 – Call > Voicemail > Email asking for a meeting
No one ever said sales is easy, especially when you’re first starting out.
But when you create a flywheel sales system, you make selling 10X simpler by being able to earn referrals, build trust at a distance, refine your process, and upsell current customers.
SPIN Selling: 4 Steps To Predictable Sales Success
Aug 08, 2022
In sales, no two scenarios, and neither two customers are alike. So sales professionals have to cut through the clutter and get to the heart of what a client wants.
The best way to do this is by asking the right questions—questions that help salespeople build a strong rapport with sales prospects.
Following the SPIN sales methodology can be a good step in the direction where you can use sales questions with the most impact, easily overcome objections, and close more sales.
What Is SPIN Selling?
The SPIN sales technique makes it easier for sales reps to close deals. It identifies the core stages of questioning that a salesperson must go through to convert a prospect.
Neil Rackham introduced the sales training methodology in his 1988 book titled SPIN Selling. Based on data collected from 12 years of research and 35,000 sales calls (!), he outlined a framework for developing and timing structured questions sales reps should ask to close a deal.
The SPIN acronym represents four categories: Situation, Problem, Implication, and Need-Payoff.
Here’s a breakdown of each category, along with SPIN selling method you can use to learn more about your target customer, build trust, and eventually close the deal.
1) Situation
This stage of the sales process is all about gathering information. You ask situation questions during the opening stage of a sale to better understand the prospect’s current situation.
The purpose here is to understand the prospect and their exact situation (hence the name) and whether it aligns with your offering.
Situation Questions:
How do you achieve X?
What process does your organization use for X?
What is your role at the organization?
Do you have a person responsible for X on your team?
What do you currently use for X?
Why did you choose these tools and how often do you use them?
Do you have a solid strategy in place for X?
2) Problem
The problem stage of your sales call involves identifying pains and problems that the prospect experiences. Questions here are asked during the investigation stage to probe the prospect’s frustration and pain points.
You want to bring the prospect into an awareness that they have a problem or highlight the problems they need to solve. Once you know the problems and issues, you’ll use them later to drive the sale forward.
Problem Questions:
What’s the biggest challenge you face with X?
How much time do you spend on X?
How much money are you paying for your tools to do X?
What are the common points of failure for this process?
Are you happy with your current vendor?
Is your current product always reliable?
How many people are currently working on X in your organization?
3) Implication
Implication involves underscoring why the prospect should focus on solving their problems. In addition, these questions highlight the potential impact of the discovered issues and issues that aren’t addressed.
Your purpose here is to relate the prospect’s frustrations with the previous stage’s problems when demonstrating the value of your product or offer.
Implication Questions:
How much money and time did you lose during your last outage?
If it wasn’t for (challenge), how much time do you think you would have saved?
What happened the last time X failed?
How does (problem or issue) affect your KPIs?
How do your team members feel about your current tool?
Are you happy with the efficiency of this process?
4) Need-Payoff
This stage is all about leading B2B sales prospects to your desired conclusions on their own instead of you telling them how your product or service can address their pain points.
In the closing phase of the sale, you ask the prospect how important or urgent it is for them to solve the problem or issue and hand and tie the light on the benefit of solving it. You want the prospect to consider how valuable a real solution to their pain points would be.
Need-Payoff Questions:
Do you think your team members would be more productive if they had more time?
How can you simplify X?
What do you think will make a good tool for your organization?
Would your team like a tool that does X, Y, and Z?
If you find out that you can double your productivity by switching products, would you?
What do you think your team needs to succeed?
How productive do you think your organization would become if you gave your team the right tools?
Understanding the 4 Main Stages of SPIN Selling
Rackham and his team also details the four main stages of the SPIN selling method in his book. Let’s take a look to get a better understanding of the sales process methodology.
Stage 1: Opening
The opening stage involves introducing yourself to your prospect.
This should be a warm, polite, and gradual process instead of you immediately rushing into a sales pitch about why your product is the best on the market. Stop talking about your features and benefits. Stop being the traditional sales pest.
You don’t want to overwhelm or annoy your prospect; focus on establishing rapport and trust.
Stage 2: Investigating
Once you successfully engage your prospect in a conversation, you can start investigating. Focus on the common customer needs. Ask the SPIN selling questions you just learnt.
Your chances of selling your product or offering to a prospect you don’t know are slim to none. It’s a hard fact. You don’t know what your prospect wants, needs, what they are willing to pay, and other critical questions that can help you tailor your sales pitch according to them. So how can you make them see value in your product?
That’s why the investigation stage is all about discovery and asking questions that can help you learn more about your prospect. Getting this right will guide you on the remaining steps of the sales funnel.
Stage 3: Demonstrating Capability
At this stage we’re accelerating through the buying process, you’ve established trust with your prospect and know about their needs, preferences, and likes and dislikes. Next, you start demonstrating the main capabilities of your product, where you highlight your offering’s best features, advantages, and benefits.
When dealing with end-users, you want to focus on the descriptive elements of your product that make it functional and unique. On the other hand, emphasize your product’s advantages and how it’s better than what your rivals offer when talking to decision-makers. Decision-makers are more interested in benefits and the overall value provided by a solution.
Stage 4: Obtaining Commitment
In the obtaining commitment stage of SPIN selling, you want to overcome objections and get your prospects to commit to a purchase.
Objections fall into one of two categories: value or capability objections. While value objections stem from the prospect’s belief that your product isn’t worth their money and won’t guarantee a stable ROI, capability objections stem from a premise that your product isn’t going to help them solve the biggest problem.
Both objections won’t bode well for your deal if you don’t eliminate them effectively.
Under the SPIN methodology, the best way to deal with objections is to prevent them from arising in the first place. Then, by asking the right questions, you can get the prospect to see your product’s value on their own.
Additional Tips to Succeed at SPIN Selling
According to Neil Rackham, “the best selling isn’t at all about your products and what you can offer. It’s very much about the customers and their needs. ”
Keeping this in mind in your sales training, here are a few additional tips to help you master the SPIN sales methodology:
A) Get Specific
The best SPIN selling questions aren’t too generic or vague. You want to be as specific as you can and avoid beating around the bush. For example:
Bad Sales Question: What would your team members do if they had more time?
Good Sales Question: How do you think your team members would perform if they got six extra hours every week?
Get it?
B) Customize Questions—But Don’t Go Overboard
Your SPIN selling questions should be customized for the specific prospect you’re having a conversation with.
As mentioned, no two prospects are the same. If you ask everyone the same set of questions, it’ll only come off as insincere and monotonous. It’s why SPIN Selling emphasizes getting to know your customer before pitching your product or service.
While you want to ask thoughtful questions, asking more questions isn’t necessarily better.
The best tactic is to adopt a minimalistic approach, so the entire selling process is efficient and valuable for your prospects. Ask a select few questions at a time—and make sure they count.
C) Listen and Adapt
When questioning prospects, you want their answers to fuel your approach. In addition, you want to use them to learn more about your prospect and improve yourself.
Think about how you can incorporate the information into your next sales call. It’s also good to consider whether you’re getting any customer feedback that can help you sell more effectively to other people.
D) Demonstrate Expertise and Authority
What makes you an expert in handling your prospects’ pain points? How can you ensure the client sees your expertise without deviating from the process?
Figuring out the answer to these questions is critical to establishing your credibility, which, in turn, will help you close deals faster and more effectively. Play to your strengths, but always keep your prospect’s requirements a top priority.
How I Design My Ultra Productive Selling Days | Selling Made Simple
Aug 06, 2022
Being productive is a major pain point in sales. I should know—I used to be lazy, procrastinate, and flake out all the time. But today I run a 7-figure sales training company, produce TONS of quality content, and still have time for coaching calls, hobbies, and a family life.
How? I’m tyrannical about how I plan and execute my days. Here’s how I do it.
1. “Does it Make the Boat Go Faster”
Only do “what makes the boat go faster.”
There was a rowing team in Great Britain that had a big audacious goal—they wanted to win the Olympics in two years. And to achieve that goal, they did something a bit unorthodox. They relentlessly asked themselves, “Does this make the boat go faster?”
It wasn’t just equipment they scrutinized. Though they tore that apart too. No, it was training, strategy, mentality, sleep schedules, nutrition, motivation. Everything that came into play was examined and evaluated. And if it didn’t make the boat go faster, guess what? They got rid of it.
At the end of two years, they had a completely redesigned team… and a gold medal.
If you want to be ultra productive and close more deals, you need to focus on what makes the boat go faster. Prospecting leads to sales. Gossipy emails don’t. Building your network makes the boat go faster. Facebook posts don’t.
Get relentless with it. Because if it doesn’t make the boat go faster, you shouldn’t be doing it.
2. Time Block
Organization is the heart of productivity. And when it comes to how you complete your mission-critical tasks, it should be no different. That’s where time blocking comes in.
Rather than getting to the real impactful tasks whenever you can, start scheduling them directly into your calendar.
But be deliberate here. Choose times and windows that you KNOW are realistic and that you can stick to. Because to maximize your productivity, you need to stick to those timelines like your life depended on it.
No handling other little tasks while you work on a big one. No spending an extra half an hour of unscheduled time on it. No fudging the numbers.
Work on the SINGLE task from start time to finish time. No more, no less.
Time blocking requires discipline. A hell of a lot of it. But when you get the system down, you’ll find yourself finishing big tasks faster and fitting more of them into your day.
3. Capture Tasks
We’ve all found ourselves realizing something important needs to be done only to forget about it completely by the end of the day. And by the time you realize it, it’s way too late to do anything about it.
That’s why it’s so important to have a task-capturing system.
Now we at the Selling Made Simple Academy actually have a whole system dedicated to this. It’s called the Bucket Productivity Framework. And if you’re interested in learning more about it, head over to the link in the notes.
But for now, here’s a quick overview.
You essentially want to capture tasks that come up throughout the day on a pad of paper you keep with you at all times.
Then once your day is almost through, take a minute or two to go through your list and define the next steps for each task. This will make it 20X easier to do later.
After that, you’re going to organize each task into one of four buckets: Urgent & Important, Not Urgent & Important, Urgent & Not Important, and Not Urgent & Not Important.
The Urgent & Important tasks you’ll handle yourself first thing tomorrow. The Not Urgent & Important ones can wait.
But for the Urgent & Not Important, you should delegate to someone else. And for the final bucket, Not Urgent & Not Important, just don’t do them. They don’t matter!
Again, there’s a lot more to be said about this system. So if you want to learn more, be sure to click over to the full explainer in the show notes.
4. Use the Power of “NO”
So much of your productivity losses are tied up in performing meaningless tasks you get assigned by others. A pointless meeting you agreed to attend, a 20-minute coffee break with a colleague when you should be on the phones, an hour-long video call when a simple email would do.
There’s so much time wasted on unnecessary engagements, especially when the information you need from it can be covered a simpler, faster way. Worst of all, a lot of the time you don’t even enjoy these engagements! So to recap, you’re:
Barely getting anything out of it.
Wasting time you could be spending on driving sales.
Hating being there anyway.
Rather than put yourself through that, get more comfortable saying no. “No” might seem like it’s costing you something when you say it. But the opportunity cost of saying “yes” to something that doesn’t move the boat forward is far higher.
5. Sprint AND Marathon
And finally there’s understanding the concept of the sprint AND the marathon.
On the sprint side of things, you should always be moving relentlessly towards completing something. Sprint to finish this video. Sprint to create the best YouTube channel for B2B sales reps. Sprint to retire early.
Whatever it is you’re doing with your life, always have a goal. And always look for ways to achieve it faster.
On the other side of things, you need to understand your limits. That’s where the marathon comes in. If you burn the candle at both ends for too long, it’s going to lead to burnout, exhaustion, and other life priorities that don’t get the attention they need.
The solution here is what’s called The 20 Mile March. It’s a concept developed in the book Great by Choice by Jim Collins. It describes how enterprises that last the longest tend to self-impose a rigorous performance mark that they hit with amazing consistency.
In the book, Collins equates it to hiking across the United States by marching 20 miles a day, every day. No more, no less. You don’t go further on great days. And you don’t go less on terrible ones. And at the end, the 20 mile marcher will ALWAYS beat out the opportunist that does the opposite.
The march imposes order amidst disorder, discipline amidst chaos, and consistency amidst uncertainty.
So chase down your goals relentlessly. But keep things to a reasonable limit. And remember that consistency always drives the best results.
Replay: How Buying Emotions Are Made And How To Create Them In Others
Aug 05, 2022
In this episode of The Salesman Podcast, Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett talks about how buyer’s emotions and feelings are formed in the brain, regardless if it’s positive such as happiness, or negative, such as remorse. We cover some sales training nonsense on the topic of influence and Lisa debunks a few more sales myths in this episode.
You'll learn:
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Featured on this episode:
Host - Will Barron
Founder of Salesman.org
Guest - Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett
Researcher of Psychiatry & Psychology
Can we go up on today’s episode of the Salesman Podcast?
Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett:
Your brain makes emotions, emotions don’t happen to you. They are made by your brain for particular situations that you’re in. Your brain is always regulating your body. And your body is always sending information back to your brain. And you feel that information from the tug of your lungs, expanding, the rush of your blood through your veins, the feeding of your heart.
Will Barron:
Hello, my name is Will Barron and I’m the host of the Salesman Podcast. The world’s most downloaded B2B sales show. On today’s episode, amazing episode, we have Dr. Lisa, she’s the author of How Emotions Are Made. And that’s exactly what we’re diving into in today’s show. We’re diving into how the buyer emotions are made in their brain, whether it’s happiness, whether it’s buys malls, whatever it is. We also dive into how to influence over people’s emotions and we call that some of the nonsense that sales trainers have been talking about influencing other people and their emotions over the decades. Lisa dives into that and the book’s a whole tonne of it. Everything that we talk about, and this episode is available at the show notes at salesman.org. And with that said, let’s jump right into it.
Can Humans Control Their Emotions? · [01:52]
Will Barron:
And we’re going to talk some science, we’re going to talk emotions, and we’re going to hopefully be able to discuss where, well I’m going to call buying emotions come from. So that might be happiness. If you buy the right product, it could be the fear of missing out, if there’s an offer a deal in place, it could be unfortunately regrets or buyer’s remorse. I want to dive into where all these come from, then hopefully how we can help buyers have better buying experiences moving forward. So before the obvious question of where the heck do buying emotions come from? I want to tee things up with asking you, are we in control of our emotions? Because sometimes it seems like I can choose to be happy. I can choose to change my state of mind, but sometimes emotions come in crushing it and hits us like a car crash, I guess, a car wreck. So are we in control of the emotions that we feel?
“Your brain makes emotions, emotions don’t happen to you. They are made by your brain for particular situations that you’re in. Your brain is automatically constructing emotions out of a set of ingredients. And you have control over seeding your brain with those ingredients to make emotions more automatic in an effortless way, but control in the moment as in stopping feeling one thing and in order to cultivate a different feeling is extremely hard I would say.” – Dr. Lisa Feldman · [02:17]
Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett:
Well, that’s a really hard question actually. That could be answered in many different ways. I guess the answer would be, yes, you are more in control than maybe you think you are, but that control looks very different than what you think it does. So your brain makes emotions, emotions don’t happen to you. They are made by your brain for particular situations that you’re in, your brain is automatically constructing emotions out of a set of ingredients. And you have control overseeding your brain with those ingredients to make emotions more automatically in an effortless way, but control in the moment as in stopping feeling one thing and in order to cultivate a different feeling is extremely hard I would say. If you’re very physically worked up, you can change the meaning of that worked up feeling and therefore change the emotion, but calming your body down is actually extremely hard to do for anybody.
Do We All Have The Capacity to Feel The Same Emotions? · [04:10]
Will Barron:
Sure, you’ve touched on something here that I wanted to come to the end of the show or later on the show, but we’ll address it now. These feelings that we feel, does everyone feel the same feeling? And then from societal, I guess, norms put a label on it, of I feel butterflies. And so I feel nervous, excited versus other people might feel butterflies and have a different association with that feeling so they feel a different emotion. What I’m asking is all emotions ubiquitous, and we all feel the same. They can be categorised, or do we add a layer on top of emotions that changes what they actually feel towards personally?
“So your brain is always regulating your body and your body is always sending information back to your brain. And you feel that information from the tug of your lungs expanding, the rush of your blood through your veins, the beating of your heart.” – Dr. Lisa Feldman · [04:21]
Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett:
So your brain is always regulating your body and your body is always sending information back to your brain. And you feel that information from the tug of your lungs expanding, the rush of your blood through your veins, the beating of your heart. You experience those sensations. As simple feelings of affect, feeling worked up, feeling calm, feeling pleasant, feeling unpleasant, those aren’t emotions, they’re simple feelings of mood or what scientists call affect. They’re always with you every waking moment of your life. Your brain’s job in part is to link the sensations from your body and these affective feelings to the words going on around you in the world in order to give them meaning so that your brain knows what to do next. And so it’s more than just labelling. What your brain is always doing is categorising sensations to give them meaning a way to think about it as like this, your brain is trapped in a dark silent box called your skull.
Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett:
It’s receiving sense data from the world like changes in light, changes in sound, pressure, changes in chemicals. It doesn’t know what the causes are of these changes. It only receives the outcomes of those causes, so when there’s a flash of light or a loud bang, say a loud bang, what is it? Is it someone slamming a door? Is it a car backfiring? Is it thunder? Is it a gunshot? Depending on what caused that bang your brain would do different things to keep you alive and well. But your brain doesn’t know what caused the sound. It only know it’s receiving the outcome of some change, but it doesn’t know what the change is. Similarly, when your brain receives sense data from your body and there’s a tug in your chest, is it hum, anxiety? Is it heartburn from having eaten too much? Is it the beginnings of a heart attack?
“This is what philosophers call a reverse inference problem. You get the answers, but you don’t know the question. You have to figure out what caused these changes. And so that’s what your brain is always doing. It’s asking itself. “The last time I was in a situation like this, where I had these internal sensations and this feeling, what caused it? What did I do about it?” – Dr. Lisa Feldman · [06:50]
Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett:
What is it? Your brain doesn’t know what it is. It’s only receiving the outcome of some cause. This is what philosophers call a reverse inference problem. You get the answers, but you don’t know the question. You have to figure out what caused these changes. And so that’s what your brain is always doing. It’s asking itself. “The last time I was in a situation like this, where I had these internal sensations and this feeling, what caused it? What did I do about it?” It’s asking what is similar to the present moment in my past and things which are similar in some way are a category.
“Happiness for you is not the same thing each time you feel it or regret each time you feel it is not the same thing because your brain is constructing each moment on the fly in a particular situation. So, in some situations, when you’re happy, you smile, in some situations when you’re happy you cry, in some situations when you’re happy you might you pound fists with someone. You do different things, your body does different things.” – Dr. Lisa Feldman · [07:43]
Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett:
So your brain is basically forming categories to guide your action and create your extended emotional experience out of the sense data. So the question you’re asking me, does everyone in the world feel the same thing? The answer is no, but happiness for you is not the same thing each time you feel it or regret each time you feel it is not the same thing because your brain is constructing each moment on the fly in a particular situation. So in some situations, when you’re happy, you smile, in some situations when you’re happy you cry, in some situations when you’re happy you might you pound fists with someone, you do different things, your body does different things. You feel different things. When you’re happy, depending on the situation that you’re in. So it’s not the same, even for you from moment to moment.
The Brain’s Unconscious Reactions to Different Types of Emotions · [08:38]
Will Barron:
This is fascinating because we’ve never ponded on the idea before. And just you bringing that back to me adds different frames of references of what emotions are, which is amazing. And how much of this then is conscious versus subconscious or unconscious in this?
“Everything that you experience right now, your brain is able to use in the future to help construct another experience. So in a sense, we’re always cultivating our past as a way of controlling our future.” – Dr. Lisa Feldman · [09:18]
Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett:
Mostly unconscious. So your brain is all of this meaning-making is occurring under the hood really automatically. In fact, it takes me much longer to describe it to you than it actually takes for it to occur. So when you asked me before, how controllable are your emotions? Well, the meaning making part is easier to control if you think about control over the long-term, meaning everything that you experience right now, your brain is able to use in the future to help construct another experience. So in a sense, we’re always cultivating our past as a way of controlling our future. So the best way to control your emotions is to give your brain a good, flexible set of options that it can use to construct your emotions with. And then your brain will be very flexible in how it does this on the fly with very little effort from you.
Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett:
So can you think of it a little bit like exercising, you invest a lot of energy and then you replenish that energy because it’s a really good investment in having a healthy brain in the future. And similarly, you can construct new experiences for yourself, cultivate new situations, curate new feelings. And that is effortful. But what it does is it’s an investment in having a flexible brain that will control your emotions in a way that’s more tailored to the situation.
Chemical and Neural Activities in The Brain and How They Affect How We React to Emotions · [10:39]
Will Barron:
What is or I’ll put this a different way. How much of this is brain activity and feedback from the body versus a chemical a cascade in the brain where once it starts literal chemical reactions are happening. And so it’s difficult to put a stop to it in that moment.
“There’s a whole system in your brain of neurons. Their only job is to control other neurons. That’s what we call attention. You experience attention from a subjective perspective. “Am I looking at this thing? Am I concentrating on this thing?” But attention from a neurons perspective is anything which makes it fire more or less.” – Dr. Lisa Feldman · [11:30]
Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett:
Well, here’s the thing, all chemical, all neural activity in the brain is both chemical and electrical. Neurons communicate by chemicals. I mean, if you didn’t have those chemicals, the neurons could not possibly talk to each other. There’s a whole system in your brain of neurons. Their only job is to control other neurons. That’s what we call attention. You experience attention from a subjective perspective. “Am I looking at this thing? Am I concentrating on this thing?” But attention from a neurons perspective is anything which makes it fire more or less. So you put a stop to the firing of some neurons by other neurons basically. And it’s always possible to turn the dial up or turn the dial down on an assembly of neurons, it’s just that your body takes longer to adjust to the neural signals.
“You have these moments where you know nothing is wrong, but you’re still worked up anyways. And you really would really, really like that worked up feeling to go away. But it won’t it’s because your body is just slower to listen to those signals from your brain.” – Dr. Lisa Feldman · [12:00]
Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett:
So it can feel like, you have these moments where you know nothing is wrong, but you’re still worked up anyways. And you really would really, really like that worked up feeling to go away. But it won’t it’s because your body is just slower to listen to those signals from your brain.
How Salespeople Can Make Their Customers Happier By Helping Regulate Their Nevours Systems · [12:40]
Will Barron:
Amazing. Okay. So that’s the baseline there. How do we, and we can very quickly move into the world of manipulation I’m not interested in that. I’m more interested in creating a better buying experiences. And I’m sure some of this works better in person than it does over a Skype call or over a phone call. But is there anything we can do as salespeople, as business leaders to make our customers happier, where we engage with them over the perhaps obvious stuff like, perhaps I’m assuming this is the case, but smiling seems to be somewhat contagious. And that hopefully affects the emotions of the people that are engaged with. Is there anything like that, that we can do to I guess, get people to mirror our own emotions?
“When people smile for the purpose of trying to get me to smile, really what I want to do is give them the finger. Honestly, I don’t like being manipulated that way. And I don’t think people like being manipulated actually.” – Dr. Lisa Feldman · [13:20]
Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett:
Yeah. So I have to tell you that the more I learn about this, the more I think that smiling is… One day I’m going to write a book called the tyranny of happiness, I think. When people smile for the purpose of trying to get me to smile, really what I want to do is give them the finger. Honestly, I don’t like being manipulated that way. And I don’t think people like being manipulated actually. So here’s what I would say.
“The best thing for a human nervous system is another human. The worst thing for a human nervous system is also another human. So if you want to make your customers more comfortable and able to engage in the kind of thoughtful weighing of pros and cons, so that they’ll be satisfied with a purchase that they make, your job is to help regulate their nervous systems.” – Dr. Lisa Feldman · [13:45]
Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett:
We are social animals. We regulate each other’s nervous systems, in a way you could think about the best thing for a human nervous system is another human. The worst thing for a human nervous system is also another human. So if you want to make your customers more comfortable and able to engage in the kind of thoughtful weighing of pros and cons, so that they’ll be satisfied with a purchase that they make, your job is to help regulate their nervous systems.
“The way I describe this is body budgeting. Your brain is running a budget for your body. It’s not budgeting money, it’s budgeting salt and glucose and water and oxygen, and all the things your body needs to run.” – Dr. Lisa Feldman · [14:17]
Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett:
The way I describe this is body budgeting. Your brain is running a budget for your body. It’s not budgeting money, it’s budgeting salt and glucose and water and oxygen, and all the things your body needs to run. And we make deposits into that body budget by sleeping and eating, and we make withdrawals.
“When you’re giving a client a lot of information and they have to process that information and make a decision, that is expensive, metabolically speaking, and you can make that process more expensive or less expensive for them, depending on how responsive you are to them.” – Dr. Lisa Feldman · [14:47]
Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett:
The two biggest most expensive things your brain can do is move your body like when you’re walking or getting out of bed in the morning or exercising and learning. So when you’re giving a client a lot information and they have to process that information and make a decision, that is expensive, metabolically speaking, and you can make that process more expensive or less expensive for them, depending on how responsive you are to them. We can make metaphorical deposits and withdrawals in other people’s body budgets. So rather than smiling, I would suggest, first of all, breathing at a good, slow pace because we mirror each other’s breathing patterns.
“The one way to calm your body down is to breathe in a very paced way. And actually, Navy SEALs use this in order to calm themselves down.” – Dr. Lisa Feldman · [16:30]
Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett:
So if you and I were actually in a room together and we liked each other and we trusted each other, our physiological signals would would synchronise. If you’re really worked up, I would become really worked up, if you’re really calm and you’re breathing at a really good pace, then I would become calmer and pretty that a good pace. We’re not aware of doing these things, but it’s very, very possible to influence people that way. So, for example, when I was training to be a therapist, a million years ago in another life one of the things I learned to do was breathe at a pace of about six to eight seconds, because the one way to calm your body down is to breathe in a very paced way.
“If you want to have a successful selling episode, whatever that means to you, you probably want to do it in a way that leaves your client or customer feeling not happy but comfortable, comfortable, which means that you reflect back what they say, you pace your own breathing. So they pace their breathing, and you basically make it a less metabolically taxing event.” – Dr. Lisa Feldman · [16:48]
Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett:
And actually Navy SEALs use this in order to calm themselves down. It’s really the only way that we know of that you can lower your heart rate, bring your body back down into a more comfortable range. So what I would suggest is if you want to have a successful selling episode, whatever that means to you, you probably want to do it in a way that leaves the person, leaves your client or customer feeling not happy but comfortable, comfortable, which means that you reflect back what they say, you pace your own breathing. So they pace their breathing, and you basically make it a less metabolically taxing event.
Will Barron:
So you’ll have experiences, I’m sure, but you may not be consciously aware of all the training that’s gone in the past with sales training. So perhaps 10 years ago, we would talk not way, I wasn’t involved in this. This is one of the reason I started the podcast, how people like yourself on to actually unwrap the science behind some of this. But last sales training was about mirroring the person that you’re engaging with and all these weird tricks and hacks and kind of things. Then he went to more of a discussion. I want to get your thoughts on this in a second on things like discussing newer neurons, but it would be a non-scientist talking about mirror neurons, trying to use anecdotes and metaphors to describe some of that. They don’t know what they’re talking about.
Lisa’s Shares Her Thoughts on the Effectiveness of Mirroring Other People’s Body Language · [18:20]
Will Barron:
So this is why this is really interesting to me to talk about the actual science of why perhaps some of this may work, may not work. What are your thoughts on the likes of the African seal, the effectiveness of mirroring body language, things like this, and are mirror neurons relevant to any of this whatsoever?
Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett:
Mirror neurons don’t exist. There’s nothing in your brain called a mirror neuron. There are neurons in your brain that do what mirror neurons are supposed to do, but they are in many, many, many parts of your brain. There’s nothing special. So what I’m trying to say is the function is there, but there are no special neurons that perform this function. Okay? Your brain has the capacity to change the firing of its own neurons. If I ask you to imagine a McIntosh apple of the sort that you eat, so in your mind’s eye, can you imagine a red apple that you would eat? And can you imagine picking that apple up, fighting into the apple, hearing the crunch of the apple, maybe tasting maybe it’s some tart with a little sweetness. Can you imagine that in your mind’s eye?
Will Barron:
I can, and it’s probably happening what you’re trying to be capping of. I’m slightly salivating as you describe it.
Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett:
Yeah. Why do you think you’re salivating? Because your brain has changed the firing of your neurons. Your brain is changing. If we had your head in a brain scanner, we would see that portions of the visual system in your brain would be very active even though there actually is no apple. Just by merely saying the word apple, this conjures an image in your head, your brain upon hearing me talk about the crunch and the taste, is actually changing the firing of neurons without the apple there to actually make you salivate, to prepare, to digest the apple when you eat it. Your brain is basically what we would call simulating. This is what scientists called simulating. It’s a fancy word for a bunch of things we do every day, but this is actually how it’s exactly the same process that your brain undergoes when it’s making sense of information from body in the world.
“So when you see someone smile or you see the raise of an eyebrow, or you see someone move, what your brain is doing is simulating to prepare to deal with that person’s action.” – Dr. Lisa Feldman · [20:49]
Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett:
So when you see someone smile or you see the raise of an eyebrow, or you see someone move, what your brain is doing is simulating to prepare to deal with that person’s action. That’s what so-called motor neurons do. But every neuron in your brain, you can think of acting in that way. It’s not something specific to the neurons that are in that little spot. And I guess the thing to say is this, that it is true that if you stick two people in a room who don’t know each other, but through the course of conversation, they trust each other, they like each other.
“That kind of mirroring if you actually deliberately try to do it, people notice and they think it’s weird.” – Lisa Feldman · [22:02]
Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett:
It’s true that they will spontaneously mirror each other’s actions. Let’s say, well, you put your hand up to your face. I might put my hand up to flick my hair and then let’s say, I flicked my hair, I flick my hair and I look to the right. You might also slightly turn your body to the right. I mean, people don’t mirror in an exact way, but there is probabilistically speaking some… But that kind of mirroring if you actually deliberately try to do it, people notice and they think it’s weird.
Will Barron:
Of course, it’s super weird, isn’t it?
“When you lose someone that you love, when that person leaves you, you break up or they die, you feel like you’ve lost a part of yourself because you have, you’ve lost someone who was tending to your body budget, and now you have to do it on your own.” – Dr. Lisa Feldman · [23:03]
Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett:
Of course it’s really weird. But however, I can assure you that when you’re trying to calm someone down and help them, we’ll put it this way. I worked out with a coach for 15 years. Monday, Wednesday, Friday morning. Okay. I am much more efficient in my workout when he’s there, than when he isn’t there. It’s not just because he’s telling me what to do. I’m actually stronger when he’s there and I can do more when he’s there. And it’s because he’s providing body budgeting support for me in a way that I’m not consciously tracking. When you lose someone that you love, when that person leaves you, you break up or they die. You feel like you’ve lost a part of yourself because you have, you’ve lost someone who was tending to your body budget, and now you have to do it on your own.
Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett:
And it feels painful because it is, it’s harder. The kind of mirroring that you want to do with someone you don’t know very well would be more like staying calm, modulating your voice, modulate your breathing. And that will make it easier for them to do the same if they get worked up and you follow them, that just leads to a cycle of everybody getting worked up as opposed to taking a step back and taking a deep breath.
“If you keep your nervous system calm, you’re basically providing support for the other person’s nervous system.” – Dr. Lisa Feldman · [24:40]
Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett:
With little kids like with babies, actually, even with my daughter, sometimes I don’t depend on mirroring. I get her to come to me. I give her a hug and I actually breathe slowly. And I get her to pace my breathing, which when she was a baby, all I needed to do was put her on my chest and breathe. And she would calm down just by my breathing. Now that she’s 22, I can just say to her, “Do you want to hug?” And then we stand there and we breathe together for a minute. And then she feels she’s calmer. And then you can’t obviously you can’t do that with a customer. But what you can do is if you keep your nervous system calm, you’re basically providing support for the other person’s nervous system.
How to Leverage The Power of Storytelling to Influence Your Customer’s Emotions · [24:58]
Will Barron:
Okay. The weird manipulative used car sales techniques of the past are a no go which is approved, that message is approved on this podcast. Is there novel way to perhaps influence a person’s emotional state, which you just did to me. Should we be using perhaps stories and storytelling to do that?
“Stories, convince people. So what you’re trying to do is get someone to be immersed in a narrative that you’ve created, and that immersion must involve simulation.” – Dr. Lisa Feldman · [25:28]
Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett:
Yes. Storytelling that allows simulation. That allows the person to… I mean, if you notice in both books, I’ve written, I use stories. I could throw data up on a screen, but that’s not going to convince anybody except maybe another scientist. And even then I would say stories, convince people. So what you’re trying to do is get someone to be immersed in a narrative that you’ve created, and that immersion must involve simulation. A person won’t feel part of the story unless they’re simulating it in the way that I just showed you with the apple.
Will Barron:
Because I guess we’ve also then got to be careful not to be telling stories where we’re getting someone to simulate. For example, a lot of sales training is based around this idea of making the buyer feel loads of pain, and then giving them a solution. Now, my experience, having experimented with all kinds of different sales techniques training and all this is, if you make someone feel really bad, they feel really bad. And then you’ve got to try and shift their emotions from one place to another. It’s far easier to go into a conversation, being upbeat perhaps storytell and use positive case studies, as opposed to, again, this might be considered more manipulative of this is the worst thing that’s going to happen. This and this as this and this. And I find that that leads to then buyer’s remorse as opposed to a happy customer on the other end of it.
Things Salespeople Should Avoid Doing to Prevent Customers From Getting Into a Negative Emotional States · [26:44]
Will Barron:
So is there anything that we’ve definitely spoken about so far least there’s anything that we should avoid doing to stop people getting into a bad emotional state, as opposed to what we’ve talked about so far is trying to get people into a good one.
Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett:
Yeah, well, I think there were a couple of things, well that come to mind and I’m going to talk to you as a scientist, but I’m also going to talk to you as a consumer. I’m a kind of person who has relationships with the people that I buy things from. And I’m very loyal actually. So I will always go back to the same shop, even if something’s a little more expensive there. Not like exceedingly expensive more, but just even if it’s a little more, I’ll go back to that place because I know that person is going to help me in the long run. If I trust that person, I’m much more likely to buy from that person, I’m much more likely to take a risk that I normally wouldn’t take with a purchase and so on. I think you have to understand what your goal is, what your goal is as a salesperson. Is your goal to make a sale in that moment?
Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett:
Is that the goal or is the goal to build a relationship with a customer where you will make sales over time to that person? I’m sure sometimes it’s one and sometimes it’s the other, but you have to think about what is your goal? Is it a short-term goal or a long-term goal? That’s the first thing that will help you. And the second thing is, remember that your brain, the brain of a person, your brain, my brain everybody’s brain is guessing what negative feelings mean. Those negative feelings aren’t emotions. When your body budget is flush, you feel good, when your body budget is taxed, you’re running a deficit because maybe you’re thinking really hard or you’re physically taxed in some way. What is stress? Stress is just your brain preparing for a big metabolic outlay. That’s it? Cortisol is not a stress hormone.
“Your brain doesn’t know what the negative feeling is about. It has to guess. That customer can guess it’s you. So you have to be really careful when you create a negative feeling in someone because they might attribute the cause to you as opposed to the scenario that you created.” – Dr. Lisa Feldman · [29:02]
Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett:
It’s a hormone that gets glucose into your bloodstream because your brain is predicting. You have a big metabolic outlay that can mean dragging your ass out of bed in the morning. That can mean going to the gym, or it can mean just learning something new and having to reason your way through a complicated purchase. Your brain doesn’t know what the negative feeling is about. It has to guess. That customer can guess it’s you. So you have to be really careful when you create a negative feeling in someone because they might attribute the cause to you as opposed to the scenario that you created. But let’s say you want someone to simulate negative consequences in order to avoid them. I would do that by inviting them to do it with you to say, if you really think that this is an important thing to, you say, “Can we do a thought experiment?”
“And one of the reasons why we have so much trouble staying in the present is that our brains are very, very good at mental time travel.” – Dr. Lisa Feldman · [30:29]
Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett:
I want us to imagine this kind of a future let’s imagine these things happen. So you’re basically inviting them to take a little imaginary journey with you. This is something that human brains do exceedingly well, we can simulate into the future, simulate into the past. That’s called memory. So imagination memory are both based in exactly the same computation, which is this simulation, ability to conjure experience independent of our immediate circumstances. And one of the reasons why we have so much trouble staying in the present is that our brains are very, very good at mental time travel.
“You want to create the context for the person to come to that realisation themselves, that yours is the best solution. If you try to just tell them that, they might believe you, but they might not. The thing is if they come to it themselves, they will be more satisfied with the purchase afterwards.” – Dr. Lisa Feldman · [31:00]
Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett:
So you can invite your customer to do mental time travel with you, and you can invite them, if you present, let’s just say for myself, if somebody presented their product to me as the only solution to a problematic outcome, I probably wouldn’t believe them because there’s always more than one. You want to create the context for the person to come to that realisation themselves, that yours is the best solution. If you try to just tell them that, they might believe you, but they might not. The thing is if they come to it themselves, they will be more satisfied with the purchase afterwards.
Why Consuming Glucose Tablets Before a Meeting Cannot Change The Outcomes of a Negotiation · [31:19]
Will Barron:
Perfect. Right. I’ve got two slightly more ridiculous questions that I’m intrigued to know the answers of Lisa. And then we’ll wrap up the show with these number one, it seems like this could be actually studied. I doubt it’s ever been studied. But with this idea of the metabolic deficit and the brain requiring so much energy to process thoughts and say, we’re going into a big negotiations, lots of learning and guessing and putting together numbers perhaps. Again, this is not practical, but I think it’s interesting to ponder on, perhaps. Could you give someone a glucose tablet or something like that before in negotiation? And would that change the outcome of a negotiation if we did it like 200, 500 times?
Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett:
Well, people have done those experiments and the answer is no. And the reason why is that circulating glucose in your blood, we don’t know exactly what that does to the glucose levels in your brain. And that’s actually really what’s important. What’s important is how your brain is metabolising as much as what your body is doing. So I would say if you want to be effective, the best thing that you can do, let’s say you want to be effective tomorrow. Like today, you and I, I knew we were having this conversation today, and I don’t really know that much about sales from a technical standpoint. I know about sales as a consumer. So I need to be sharp for this conversation. So the best thing that I could do is get a good night’s sleep last night, just what I did.
The Power of Proper Sleep, Hydration, Healthy Eating Habits, and Exercise In Preparing For Negotiation Meetings · [33:18]
Will Barron:
Just about to ask you, perhaps a better way, a best that would be if someone had a power nap before a meeting, or we did a 9:00 AM meetings versus 10:00 PM meetings after some pizza margaritas, which would be probably more effective. So that’s common sense right. Although I guess common sense, isn’t always used as commonly as what it should be.
“If you want to be in control, as in control, as your nervous system will possibly allow, you have to make sure your body budget is solvent. And if you’re running a deficit and you say, drink coffee, what you’re doing is borrowing energy from tomorrow that you will spend today. And at some point, we all need to do that at times.” – Dr. Lisa Feldman · [33:44]
Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett:
True, but I would say, get enough sleep, be well-hydrated. Again, it sounds really crazy, but when people ask me, “What can I do to control my emotions, what’s the best thing that I can do.” I’m like, “Get enough sleep, keep yourself hydrated, eat healthily and exercise.” I know I sound like a mother and I’m a mother. But I’m speaking to you as a neuroscientist. If you want to be in control, as in control, as your nervous system will possibly allow, you have to make sure your body budget is solvent. And if you’re running a deficit and you say, drink coffee, what are you doing when you drink coffee? And I say this as a committed coffee lover and tea lover. I actually don’t drink coffee anymore, but tea, I still drink.
Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett:
But I love caffeine as much as the next person, but when you drink caffeine as you might be doing right now, well, as you pick up that cup. What you’re doing is borrowing energy from tomorrow that you will spend today. And at some point, we all need to do that at times. But at some point, you, the deficit will catch up with you and you will feel really unpleasant to the point of feeling distressed and maybe even getting sick. So the point is just having a glucose tablet is not really going to help you, but being hydrated, getting enough sleep, eating healthfully, those things actually will in the long run on average, be better for you.
Caffeine Consumption and How It’s Affecting Your Brain and Body Performance · [34:57]
Will Barron:
Love it. It’s funny you mentioned this. I actually did a podcast about caffeine consumption a few months ago, because it’s almost a stereotype that business people, leaders, salespeople drink a lot of caffeine to try and stay on their game and stay focused. And so we did a whole show on the science of it, and how is blocking different things. And does what you describe. And I guess in a layman’s term of is Robin tomorrow for today. So I’ve [inaudible 00:35:21] on caffeine in literary months now, and makes that initial kind of a weak period of headaches after the fact of giving it up, which was alarming to me, that it physically had an effect on my brain.
Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett:
Yeah, do you know why you have those headaches? You had those headaches when your brain is controlling your body. It’s controlling your body by prediction, not by reactions. So when I talked to you about the apple and you start to salivate it’s because your brain was preparing you, it was predicting there would be an apple, and it was preparing you to digest it. When you drink water and what your thirst is quenched by water, you take a drink and you drink a glass of water. You have no more thirst. Actually it takes 20 minutes for the osmolarity of your blood to change for water, to get to your brain. So for 20 minutes, you’re not thirsty, but yet the information hasn’t made it to your brain yet that you’re hydrated. How come you stopped feeling thirsty? It’s because your brain predicted the consequences of drinking water, because it’s had gazillions of opportunities to learn that.
Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett:
And similarly your brain is really always, always predicting. So if you have coffee every morning at the same time, your brain knows it’s can predict, because you’ve had this coffee every day at the same time. Coffee has chemicals in it that will constrict the blood vessels in your brain, actually everywhere. So your brain in anticipation, dilates the blood vessels just before you’re about to drink the coffee. But if you don’t have the coffee to keep the blood vessels stable, they stay dilated and you have a headache.
How Emotions are Made, Both In People and in Animals · [37:40]
Will Barron:
Love it. I love it. The show is now powered by colour malty. Not quite as interesting or as nice. I quite like the routine of making a nice cup of coffee in the morning. That ritual is important to me. But I’m conscious of time at least, I’ve got one final question for you. It’s on topic of emotions, but it’s completely off topic with sales. It’s a selfish question. We’ve just caught a golden retriever puppy. Now he looks like he’s happy when he hangs out with me. What I want to ask you though, is, am I projecting an emotion that perhaps a dog does feel? Does it feel onto it? Because I see his tail wagging as is his face almost jumps up at the sides.
Will Barron:
And I know that there is kind of a science that shows that dogs, animals that have eyebrows that move in ways that humans can recognise. I’ve done better. We’ve been socialisation for humans as we kind of I was also a domesticated wolves over the years. So my question is Lisa, when my puppy comes over and when he’s not biting me at all moments, when he’s just chilling, is he happy? Or am I projecting these kind of feelings or thoughts that humans have onto this animal? That’s perhaps it doesn’t have a consciousness.
Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett:
Yeah. I talk about this in my book, How Emotions Are Made and it’s, I think a widely misunderstood chapter. So here’s the thing. You don’t recognise anything in anybody. Your brain is guessing. When I raise my eyebrows or I widen my eyes or I frown, or I scowl, your brain is guessing what that means. You’re not recognising emotions in me. So 30% of the time when people are angry they scowl, which means 70% of the time when they’re angry, they’re doing something else with their face. They might be concentrating. You might’ve just told them about Joe, they might have gasp. There are all kinds of reasons why people scowl. So when you’re angry, you scowl 30% of the time. But sometimes when you’re angry, you cry, sometimes you frown, sometimes you smile. You might even laugh when you’re angry.
Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett:
And then you also scowled at other times. So your brain is guessing. It’s guessing what a movement means in a particular situation. And then it’s checking on its guesses to make sure that you’re right. So your brain is predicting, “What I’m going to do next?” And if you predicted well, then you probably means you guessed well. Same thing with your dog. Same thing with your dog. But I will say about the dog though, is that the dog’s brain is not the same as a human brain. The dog has these simple feelings of affect. The dog can feel calm. It can feel worked up. The dog can feel pleasant. It can feel unpleasant. I have a puppy too. I got it. I mean, one of the first things we did, like everybody else that we know of actually during COVID was we got a puppy.
Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett:
We thought we were being so clever. Everyone else thought they were being clever, too clever and unique. And we were very similar to everybody else. So we got this puppy and this puppy is she’s very affectionate. Does she love me? She’s attached to me because I regulate her body budget and she regulates mine. So she will come and lay on my feet. She likes to be close to me. I also know she is attached to me because I feed her. I feed her and she feels, and I make her comfortable. I pet her. So I am the source of body budgeting for her. And she is the source of body budgeting for me. That’s also true for your puppy. We experience that with each other as love. But the difference is that I have a concept for love and you have concept for love and all the humans in your life have a concept for love so they can feel love because they can take those simple feelings and transform them into something more. Your dog’s brain can’t do that.
Will Barron:
You’re sure because that’s really disappointing, Lisa. It’s depressing me.
“Does happiness exist in a dog is an unanswerable question. The question is, do you experience your dog being happy? And the answer is yes. And if you ask the question, does your dog experience happiness the way you experience happiness, the answer is no.” – Lisa Feldman · [41:52]
Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett:
No, no, it’s not disappointing. The point is that if you make emotions, then the question of does X have an emotion? Let me say it differently. Does happiness exist in a dog is an unanswerable question. The question is, do you experience your dog is happy? And the answer is yes. And if you ask the question, does your dog experience happiness the way you experience happiness, the answer is no.
Will Barron:
Because he’s a dog.
Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett:
Yeah, because he’s a dog. But he’s attached to you. He can feel pleasant in your company, he can feel unpleasant, he can feel worked up, he can feel calm. And his brain is trying to predict what you’re going to do. And mainly his whole job in life is to right, arrange things so that you’ll feed him or maybe take him on a walk.
Will Barron:
Love it, love it. I thought that was a slightly off topic question, but you’re right. Probably 80% of the audience has recently got a puppy. So maybe it’s more relevant than what I thought it would be.
“When you are interacting with a customer, you are not reading that person’s emotions, you are guessing, your brain is guessing. And it’s probably a good idea to be humble about the quality of your guesses. Even someone who feels like they are excellent at reading people, their brain is just guessing and you can be wrong.” – Dr. Lisa Feldman · [42:50]
Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett:
Well, here’s the point though, to get back to the sales. When you are interacting with a customer, you are not reading that person’s emotions, you are guessing, your brain is guessing. And it’s probably a good idea to be humble about the quality of your guesses. Even someone who feels like they are excellent at reading people, their brain is just guessing and you can be wrong.
Parting Thoughts: Lisa’s Books and How to Reach Out to Her · [43:11]
Will Barron:
Love it. Okay. We’ll wrap up the show with that Lisa. I really appreciate your time and your insights on this. With that tell us about, well, we’ve covered one of the books, tell us about both of them and where we can find out more about you as well.
Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett:
Okay. You can find out more about me at my public website, lisafeldmanbarrett.com as much just my name.com. There are two books that you can find out about on that website. The first is How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain. Which is available worldwide. The second book is just new in the U.S. and we’re coming out in the UK in March called Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain. So ow Emotions Are Made is a pretty standard popular science book. It’s about 300 pages long. It explains a lot about how emotions work, how you can control your emotions, some about how your brain works more generally.
Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett:
Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain is a little book of essays. It’s really written for people who don’t think of themselves as that interested in science. But what it does is in seven and a half little essays, it communicates some really cool ideas and facts about how brains work. So you can talk to your friends and, or maybe your customers and kind of wow them with some cool neuroscience tidbits. But it also invites you to think about what kind of a person you are or want to be given that you have this kind of brain that you have. It’s a very quick read may husband calls it the first neuroscience beach read.
Will Barron:
Love it. Well, I’ll link to both books at your website, everything else that we talked about in this episode of the show over to salesman.org. I will give myself a quick plug, which not done for a while. Regularness will note, I host a novel podcast called Excited Science, where we try and get people excited about science. So maybe we can chat on there in the future Lisa. I’ve not plugged that on this show for a while, so I’ll plug it right there. And with that Lisa, I want to thank you again for your time, your insights on this. Absolutely fascinating. You’ve cleared up a bunch of old sales training nonsense as well. I think that’s really valuable for the audience and I want to thank you again for joining me on the Salesman Podcast.
Setting Sales Goals That Lead To SMASHED Sales Targets | Salesman Podcast
Aug 03, 2022
Here you are—another year gone by.
And you almost, aaaaaalmost hit your sales goal this time!
Just like last year. And the year before that. And the year before that… But this year is going to be different. Maybe it’s the world rapidly changing around you. Or maybe it’s you getting another year older.
But this year, it’s time to get serious about setting sales goals and adapting your sales process.
And I’ve got just the framework to help. In just eight steps, you can map out where you want to be next year, strategize the steps you need to take to get there, narrow down which goals are a good fit, and more.
Ready to go? Let’s hit it.
Setting Sales Goals: Why It Works
Why should you be setting your own sales goals? And just as importantly, why should you start setting your goals strategically so that you don’t give up on them four months into the year?
As it turns out, setting sales goals is one of the easiest low-investment, high-return wins sales reps can make.
Here’s why setting your own sales targets is such a game-changer.
A) A Clear Path to Success
First and foremost, setting sales goals gives you a clear, indisputable path towards achieving massive professional success.
We can all agree that if you don’t know where you’re heading, it’s going to be a real pain to get there. And setting well-defined goals lets you plan out your path to success milestone by milestone.
What’s more, when you continually improve upon those goals (e.g., “I’m going to close 5% more deals than last year”), you’re creating the impetus you need to keep moving forward. And that means less career stagnation and consistent forward progression.
Having a clear path to success is also valuable for sales managers and sales teams too. When you can effectively communicate your sales cycle and where the sales revenue is going to come from, management will get off your back and allow you to get on with your job.
B) It Lets You Plan Ahead
Setting sales metrics (that are reasonable, mind you) also gives you a better indication of what lies ahead.
If, say, you need to close on 12 accounts this quarter, that means you need to aim for four accounts per month. If you’ve only closed two in the first month, that means you’ll have to work extra hard to close five in the other two months.
Setting annual sales goals based on numbers rather than more a subjective sales goal like “improving customer lifetime value” enables you to directly track progress too.
Added to that, your goals also help identify your busy seasons, your lulls, and when you should focus on other goals like filling your pipeline, streamlining your processes, or even taking a vacation.
C) Feel More Fulfilled at Work
Last (but certainly not least), setting and achieving your sales objectives boosts your confidence, teaches you self-management, and increases your proficiency on the job.
All these perks allow for faster upward mobility which often leads to greater satisfaction.
Don’t forget—achieving sales goals is often directly connected to bonuses and raises. And as we all know, compensation has a huge effect on overall job satisfaction.
The Setting Sales Goals Framework
Now that we’re agreed on why setting sales goals is so important, let’s jump into the how of it all.
How do you set sales objectives? Is there a sales goals template you can use? What do I need to do to set me up for success this year?
I developed The Setting Sales Goals Framework to answer these questions (and more).
With this framework, you can evaluate your priorities, identify areas of improvement, establish impactful goals, and set yourself up for your best year yet.
Plus, it’s made up of just eight simple steps.
What Did I Achieve Last Year?
What Were My Biggest Disappointments Last Year?
What Did I Learn Last Year?
How Do I Limit Myself & How Can I Stop?
What Roles Do I Play in My Life?
Which One of These Roles Is My Major Focus for Next Year?
What Are My Goals for Each Role?
What Are My Top 3 Goals for Next Year?
1. What Did I Achieve Last Year?
The process starts with an act hated with a passion by some and absolutely adored by others—bragging.
If you achieved something this year, you can do the same this year too.
What were your finest moments over the past 12 months? When did you feel unabashedly proud? Or when did you receive praise from a supervisor, coworker, friend, or partner?
Start with your professional accomplishments like if you hit your revenue targets and sales activities. But don’t stop there. Reach into your family and social life too.
Here are a few questions to get your accomplishment juices flowing.
Did you hit your sales target? Did you get closer than you have done in the past?
Did you move house? Did you decorate or repair your current home?
Did you start a new sales job or get a promotion? How much money did you earn in the last year? Did you pay off a debt?
Did you get married? Have a child? Did you get through a rough family patch?
Did you finally start to get fit? Are you exercising more than the previous year? Did you start to treat yourself to more enjoyable things? Did you read more books? See more friends?
Celebrate Your Accomplishments
You should force yourself to celebrate the wins no matter how small they seem.
There are two reasons for this.
First, you’re essentially rewiring your brain to associate completing goals with good feelings. When we skip the celebration phase of the productivity cycle, our brains get wired to associate completing a task with simply starting the next one.
There’s no reward here. And that’s going to make it harder to stay motivated and care about actually achieving your goal.
Added to that, this stage of the framework helps you balance your perception of yourself. You’re pulling up the celebrations that have been forgotten and weighing them against the losses in the next step.
The cool thing is that often when people go through this part of the worksheet, they find that they are doing far better than they thought they were.
Setting Sales Goals Pro Tip: Start a wins journal. Any time you get a compliment, a slap on the back, a “Great work!” or any other indication that you accomplished something important, write it down. Doing so helps you identify wins more easily and makes this first step much easier.
“One of my favorite things that I recommend to my clients is to create a journal. Call it your wins journal. So every time you have a win, small, medium, or large, write it down. Like, “Woohoo, celebrate! Today I talked with John DOE at Google, and he’s always super excited about bringing our stuff into his company.” Write that down. So when you do get caught in these anxious moments, go back to your wins journal, like, “Oh yeah, that happened. That was real.” Remind yourself that you are good at what you do. You are enough, you’ve got this. – Interview with Michele Molitor, Coach, Hypnotist, & Imposter Syndrome Expert
2. What Were My Biggest Disappointments Last Year?
Next up is the opposite of the last step.
When did you feel like your abilities fell short of your expectations? When did you not stack up? And when did you miss the mark?
Writing out your disappointments shouldn’t be all doom and gloom. There is actually a lot of value in documenting your disappointments. For instance, it can be quite cathartic. I personally have always felt a great weight lifted from my shoulders every time I write down what went wrong rather than trying to pretend it didn’t happen.
Did you fail to hit your stretch goal? Did you make less sales calls than you planned? Did your last monthly sales goal right down the crapper?
Most people are more comfortable with their failures than their successes, and so they tend to keep them around, like cozy old friends. But when we hold onto our disappointments and don’t celebrate our wins, our self-perception becomes unbalanced.
Instead, you need to accept that your failures are a reflection of who you were a year ago. They are not reflective of what you’re capable of right now or what you’re going to be capable of six months from now.
Think of it as a garden. Pointing out our disappointments is like weeding the soil we’ve planted our seeds of achievement in, giving them the environment they need to grow.
Document Your Disappointments Too
Just as you started a wins journal in the last step, it’s important you document your disappointments as well.
Here are some questions ask yourself to get you thinking about any downsides of the past 12 months.
You didn’t hit your sales target, or you didn’t get the bonus you wanted
Your debt got bigger rather than smaller
You didn’t find that man or woman you wanted to bring into your life
Your dreams didn’t come through
Expectations were not fulfilled
You lost someone close to you
Your clothes are fitting a little tighter, but you’ve not gained any muscle
You were hoping to go on an awesome holiday away, but things didn’t work out
You wanted more time to yourself, but it didn’t happen
Write them down throughout the year and come back to them once it’s time to set new goals.
Setting Sales Goals Pro Tip: Be honest with yourself. Nothing good comes from sugarcoating the past. If you lie to yourself about your disappointments, you’re preventing yourself from avoiding those disappointments in the future and becoming a better, more successful sales rep.
“What I teach people is, just change one word around, from the prospect to I. How could I have made them believe that they were ready to buy? How could I have made them understand the price was right? How could I have made sure that they had everybody there? If you can change that one word and put the onus on yourself, you’re going to learn from your failures, and those failures are going to start to diminish.” – Interview with Harvey J. Eisenstadt, Trainer, Speaker, Mentor, & Author
3. What Did I Learn Last Year?
Now is the time when you put the two previous steps together.
You achieved some spectacular wins. You ran into some unexpected disappointments. So, what did you learn from each?
What was the secret to your successes? What worked and what didn’t? And why were you able to achieve what you did and what caused you to fail when you did?
Take the time to move through both your wins and disappointments journals and find the lessons in each. And then, ask yourself these questions about those lessons:
What would’ve worked better?
What was the lesson I should have learned?
Have I actually learned this lesson yet?
Is there any evidence to prove that I learned it? What is the evidence?
Answering these questions gives you an opportunity to take on bigger challenges. If something failed last year, your answers to these questions give you an opportunity to learn what you can do differently next time to increase your chance of success.
Asking the REAL Questions
Struggling to find the lessons? Ask yourself these questions to tickle your brain a bit.
What do I need to change in the way I operate to have success faster?
Do I need more discipline?
Have I been honest with myself and others?
Am I taking care of myself as well as I need to be?
Do I face problems head-on, or do I put my head in the sand?
Do I let other people support me, or do I avoid getting feedback and help?
Do I support other people as much as I should?
Do I need to be more proactive in chasing my goals?
Do I need to say no more often and focus on what really matters?
As you learn from previous mistakes, you reduce the chances that failure happens again. And you also increase the chances of good events happening.
When you do that, you are changing the climate that you’re growing your seeds of success in. You’re increasing the amount of sunshine and rain. And you’re reducing the frost and pests killing your plants.
You’re cultivating success in your life.
Setting Sales Goals Pro Tip: It’s vital that you learn to find a lesson in EVERY failure. That’s why it’s so important to jot down your disappointments over the past year. And that’s why this step is so important for setting sales goals that lead you to professional success.
“I don’t care if you’re buying something or selling something. The easiest thing to do is give up and walk away. But if you can keep learning a lesson, asking why, wondering why, go back to your team, regroup with them and decide how to be bigger and better and stronger together; it’s a formality that the byproduct is success.” – Interview with Derek Daly, Author & Motor Racing Legend
4. How Do I Limit Myself & How Can I Stop?
We are often our own worst enemy. And in many cases, the things that are holding us back the most are things we do to ourselves.
This crucial step of The Setting Sales Goals Framework is meant to help you identify where these self-imposed roadblocks are. Because once you do, only then can you overcome them.
Ask yourself these four questions to uncover your own limiting beliefs and behaviors.
How Do I Limit Myself?
You may come up with tons of different reasons here. And I want you to make note of every single one of them.
For instance, you may think:
I don’t plan and think ahead
I’m lazy
I believe what other people say about me
I don’t stand up for myself when my customers push me around
I don’t follow through on what I say I’m going to do
I spend more than I make
I don’t ask for what I want
Write them all down here.
What Has It Cost Me to Do So?
Next, analyze what each of those limits is costing you.
This step of the process immediately throws everything into perspective. And as a result, you’ll soon be able to identify that 20% of the issues once removed will give you 80% of all the benefits.
In What Ways Have I Benefited from Limiting Myself?
What are the upsides of limiting yourself?
Don’t be fooled here. There are always perks to limiting ourselves. If there weren’t, we wouldn’t be doing it in the first place.
Some of the benefits you come up with may be:
Living an easier life
Avoiding having too much expected of you
Living in ignorance and not having to face up to your issues
Increasing the chance that people approve of you
Having something to blame everything that goes wrong on
Having the excuse that you could “do better if you really tried” when things do go wrong
If I Knew How, Would I Be Willing to Stop Limiting Myself?
The final step is to ask yourself, “Am I willing to stop limiting myself in these ways?”
I don’t want you to worry about whether you think you’re going to be able to stop limiting yourself. Instead, ask yourself – “If I knew how, would I be willing to stop limiting myself in this area?”
If the answer is yes, then this should be a goal of yours moving forward.
Setting Sales Goals Pro Tip: Adopt an abundance mindset. An abundance mindset lets you see the vast potential in the world rather than being held down by scarcity and fear. And that means you can set better, more ambitious sales goals for yourself.
“We have abundance on this planet. The only limitations that are set, are set ourselves in what we believe we’re able to achieve in a world full of abundance. Literally when you open your mind to that understanding, then why wouldn’t you want to go out there and get every single thing you can. Because you know everything you could ever want and more is right here in one place. And it’s nothing new. It’s just a matter of you getting your hands on as much of it as possible.” – Interview with Ryan Stewman, Sales Coach & Business Consultant
5. What Roles Do I Play In My Life?
Next up, it’s time to define your roles. And not just your roles at work. But all of your roles in life.
Answering the question of “what roles do I play in my life?” allows you to get an overall view of all the aspects and responsibilities in your life. And doing so sets you up to identify which roles you want to focus on in the year ahead.
There are three benefits to identifying your roles.
1: It Provides Direction
Identifying your various roles lets you see how you’re being pulled in different directions.
For instance, I think of my roles as a salesperson, entrepreneur, Brazilian jujitsu competitor, partner to my girlfriend, and a member of the Baron family. Spending a lot of time at the gym, training, and competing in Brazilian jujitsu can be fulfilling. But the reality is that it’s pulling me away from my financial goals as a salesperson.
As you can see here, some goals in certain roles may work in tandem while others will pull away from each other.
2. It Generates Balance
On the flip-side of that, if I spent all of my time in the role of salesperson and entrepreneur, what would be the point?
Sure, I love selling, sure I love building the business. But they are just a vehicle to affording to do everything else I want to do in my life, which includes being a great partner and family member. It is very easy to spend too much time and attention on one area of your life and not enough time where it really matters.
3. It Gives Role Dichotomy
You can hold multiple roles in your life. And you can act differently within those roles. This is called role dichotomy.
For instance, I can’t take the aggressive version of me from a Brazilian jujitsu competition onto a sales call. If I do, I won’t close any deals. But I can dial back that part of me and tap into my emotional intelligence and calmness when I’m in my sales role.
Setting Sales Goals Pro Tip: You can’t just have one role. No one is just a salesperson, a parent, or a partner. We all play different roles in our lives. So be sure you’re really digging deep to find which ones you play.
“We can’t be workaholics, no extreme is good. So we want to be able to relax, recharge, have fun. Therefore, finding time to be inspired and do things you love has again, positive domino knock-on effects to the rest of your life as does having lots of energy because your health is good, having healthy relationships at home and in your family.” – Interview with Matt Anderson, Author, Coach, & Speaker
6. Which One of These Roles Is My Major Focus For Next Year?
Now it’s time to pick out which of your roles you’d like to focus on.
Of course, I would like you to prioritize your sales career as your main focus over the next 12 months. But the reality is you may have other things that are more pressing right now.
And that’s fine. As long as your sales role is at least second on your list of priorities, you’re still going to be able to crush your sales target. In fact, if you are for example, massively obese, fixing the role of being healthy and being there for your family will also have a massive effect on your sales performance too as you lose weight and get in shape.
If you’re having a hard time figuring out which role to choose, ask yourself these questions:
If you could put one problem behind you, once and for all, what would it be? Which role does that relate to?
In which role do I want to not just make progress, but get to the end game of?
Which role has the biggest impact on my overall happiness right now?
Which aspect of my life is the biggest drain on my energy and willingness to take risks? Which role does this fall under?
Understand the Zigzag Trap
So, why do you need to focus things down at all? Can’t you just work on achieving all your goals at once? The answer here is no.
Remember the old saying, “If you don’t make sacrifices to achieve your goals, then your goals themselves become the sacrifice.”
Imagine that you have two major roles in your life, and each one of these roles is an island with lots of treasure on it. You start off the year, right in between the two islands treading water.
Now, you can only swim in one direction or the other, towards one island or the other one. What most people do is zigzag between the two islands for decades on end and never make any real progress toward achievement in either role.
But the most focused and successful individuals understand this trap. So they swim over to one island, collect the treasure, and then swim back to the other island and collect the treasure there as well.
When you’re focused on one main role at a time, you become far more efficient in your goal achievement.
Setting Sales Goals Pro Tip: The multitasking myth applies to larger goals, not just daily work. There’s been plenty of research that the most successful people don’t multitask. Instead, they focus on a single objective. Apply that same logic to your goals.
“It’s basically been proven that multitasking is a myth. So stop it. Do one thing at a time. And I think that it’s very useful to have a practice where you figure out, okay, what do I need to get done today, what are the most important priorities, and then just do them one at a time.” – Interview with Scott Ingram, Founder of Sales Success Media
7. What Are My Goals for Each Role?
This is where things start to get serious.
Now we’re going to put together goals for each role. What do you want to accomplish as a sales rep that you couldn’t last year? How would you like to improve your family life? What do you need to do to feel more in control of what you’re accomplishing socially?
Try to come up with five to ten goals for each role. And ask yourself the following questions about each goal along the way to make sure it’s the right goal for you.
If I accept this challenge, will I make sure it happens?
Am I hoping I will achieve this, or is it actually possible to achieve it?
Is the goal specific and measurable?
Does this goal match my values?
Are you willing to be responsible for achieving this goal no matter what?
That last question is incredibly important. Because if you’re not willing to do whatever you need to achieve the goal, you’re not going to be responsible for achieving it. And as a result, it will never happen.
For all of your goals, no matter what the role, you must feel motivated to give it your best shot. Otherwise, just scribble it out and replace it with a few more potential ones.
SMART Sales Goals Defined
It’s essential that your goals are as specific as possible. And setting SMART sales goals is the best way to ensure your goals meet those requirements.
So be sure your goals are SMART:
Specific – What exactly does achieving your goal look like?
Measurable – What are the quantifiable metrics you need to meet or fulfill?
Achievable – Is this even possible (be honest)?
Relevant – Is it even important compared to my role and my other goals?
Time-Bound – When exactly does it need to be achieved by?
Setting Sales Goals Pro Tip: When choosing goals, listen to your heart. Cheesy as all hell, I know. But when you choose goals that are connected to your emotions, you’re 10X more likely to have the motivation you need to follow through.
“This is why goal setting isn’t very effective for most people, it doesn’t get us to change action, it’s our emotion that gets to change action.” – Interview with Matt Anderson, Author, Coach, & Speaker
8. What Are My Top Goals for Next Year?
Finally, it’s time to narrow down your goals. At this point in the framework, I typically have about 20 or 30 goals total, spread out across my different roles. But then I have to pick out the top five I think are going to be the most impactful.
One reason we narrow things down here is that you just can’t focus on achieving 20 to 30 goals at a time. Remember the zigzag trap? When you split your attention among so many goals, you’re setting yourself up to not achieve any of them.
But another reason we’re narrowing things down is there are often going to be larger goals that cancel out the small ones. For instance, if I want to build up an emergency fund, buy a new car, start investing, and earn a million dollars next year, the million dollars goal will make the other three irrelevant.
See how that works?
The 3-Part Test
So, how do you narrow your goals down? Well, there’s a handy little three-part test I like to use that does wonders.
When evaluating your goals, think:
Do your goals fit your major role focus? Do they all (in one way or another) support that role?
Do they fit with each other? Or are they pulling you in opposite directions? If so, you’re never going to be able to achieve both.
Does each of your roles have a goal? Frontloading one or two roles with all your goals is a surefire path to burnout. But spreading your goals across roles will keep you focused.
After you’ve narrowed down your goals into four or five, you’ve done all the hard work! Now, it’s up to you to stick with them.
Setting Sales Goals Pro Tip: Focus on getting maximum benefit. What you’re looking for are goals that have an unequal upside. That means you can put a 60% effort into it and get out a 95% benefit. They’re the “easier” wins.
“For people who want to achieve extraordinary results right now, it’s actually not about working longer hours. It’s actually about being clear on what are the 20% priorities or activities that if I focus on those things, that drives 80% of my results. How do I start investing my time throughout the day instead of spending it.” – Interview with Geoff Woods, Co-Founder & President of ProduKtive
Wrapping Up
Setting sales goals is one of the most important sales success skills. In relatively little time and for not much effort, you can implement the eight steps in The Setting Sales Goals Framework to plan out strategic, effective goals for the whole year.
All you need to do is:
What Did I Achieve Last Year?
What Were My Biggest Disappointments Last Year?
What Did I Learn Last Year?
How Do I Limit Myself & How Can I Stop?
What Roles Do I Play in My Life?
Which One of These Roles Is My Major Focus for Next Year?
What Are My Goals for Each Role?
What Are My Top 3 Goals for Next Year?
Running through this process alone will make an incredible difference in your life. You’re going to feel more motivated, focused, and driven to succeed. And best of all, you’ll have a clear, achievable path to success, both personally and professionally.
So now that you know how to set them, your first goal is simple… just get started.
How to Sell Against Competition: Convert Your Competitors Accounts To Your Own | Salesman Podcast
Aug 01, 2022
In the minds of many reps, competitor buyers are off-limits for prospecting. After all, why waste time with a buyer that’s already entrenched with someone offering a similar product?
But as it turns out, competitor buyers are some of the best prospects you can target. They’re more qualified, they’re budget-ready, and they’ve already got a buying process in place for your product.
That being said, these leads can be harder to win over, too. They’re more loyal, resistant to change, and they take a bit more convincing on why your product is superior.
So, how do you sell to competitor buyers successfully?
This guide dives into how to sell against a competitor to bring on their existing clients. Inside, we take a look at a proven four-step framework. And we also investigate why these leads can be so lucrative in the first place (and how they can skyrocket your commissions in no time).
Why Sell Into Competitor Accounts?
Before we get into how to sell against a competitor, let’s look at why you should consider selling to their buyers in the first place.
At first glance, the prospect of selling to your competition’s buyers can seem like a failed cause. Existing customers are loyal. They’re already familiar with your competitor’s products. And they’re resistant to change (the “don’t fix what ain’t broke” mindset).
That all adds up to harder sells, wasted time, and fruitless effort… right?
But as it turns out, there are plenty of benefits of selling to your competition’s buyers. And once you’ve developed a system for converting them that actually works, you can start to reap those benefits.
Potential Benefits (When You Do It Right)
So, why go after your competitor’s buyers at all? Below are a few of the biggest benefits of making the leap.
They’ve Already Demonstrated Product Interest – One of the hardest parts of bringing new customers on is demonstrating how your solution addresses their pain points. It’s why retaining repeat customers is 5X more valuable compared to finding new buyers, according to Invesp. Existing customers already see the need. And so do your competitor’s buyers. As a result, you don’t have to spend days and weeks explaining your product’s value—they already understand it because they’re already working with a similar product.
The Budget Is Settled – In addition to already demonstrating product interest, a competitor’s buyers have already allocated the space in their budget. When there’s already space in the budget, you don’t have to work as hard to justify spending extra. Instead, you can simply swap out your expenses with those of your competitors (if they’re comparable, of course).
Their Buying Process Is in Place – Last but not least, your competitor’s buyers know how this all works. They’ve done it before. The approvals, the training, the onboarding, the ongoing support—they get it. And they’re far less likely to be turned off by how extensive the buying process may be. For you, that means an easier sale and less feet dragging along the way.
Why It Can Be So Difficult to Pull Off
The perks are clear—your competitor’s buyers are more qualified, more price-friendly, and more efficient than bringing on new clients. What’s not to love about that?
But there are also some downsides to going this route too. Namely, converting these buyers can be a tough sell. At least in some cases. Here’s why.
Loyalty – If a buyer has stuck with a brand for years, you may have trouble overcoming loyalty. Loyalty is a powerful purchasing motivator. InMoment found 77% of consumers say they’ve held relationships with specific brands for 10 years or more. And 61% go out of their way to buy from them. That can make it especially difficult to bring loyal customers over to your side.
Lack of Differentiation – Piggybacking on the last point, a buyer isn’t going to make a shift unless there’s an especially compelling reason to do so. How do you address needs better than the competitor? Are you faster? More feature-rich? Do you provide more value for less investment? If you can’t demonstrate why you’re better or even if you’re better, you’ll have little luck in closing a deal.
Change Hesitancy – Finally, individuals are change-averse. But businesses and organizations are even more resistant to rocking the boat. Change is scary. And there’s risk involved in working with a new vendor. It’s up to you to show how partnering with your business addresses those risks and provides more potential benefit than the potential detriment of signing on.
The Competitive Takeover Framework
Now that we understand both the perks and difficulties of acquiring this type of buyer, let’s look at how to sell against competition.
How do you convince a loyal customer to come on board when they’re already loyal to another company? The trick is to address unfulfilled needs, establish some buy-in, overcome objections, and drive urgency.
The best way I’ve found to do just that is by following what I call The Competitive Takeover Framework.
This framework is composed of four simple steps:
Find the Gap
Get Agreement
Eliminate Self Doubt
Answer “Why Now?”
And when implemented effectively, it will persuade even the staunchest potential buyers to do business with you.
1. Find the Gap
The first and arguably most important step to master if you’re wondering how to sell against lower priced competition is finding and exploiting “the gap.”
To explain, the only reason a potential buyer would switch away from their current vendor to you is because they have an unmet need. Maybe that need is a specific feature. Maybe it’s more advanced technical support. The list of potential needs is limitless.
But in the end, those unmet needs typically translate into hassle for the buyer. And if you can reduce that hassle, you’ve just found the most powerful change motivator of all. That is the gap.
The gap occurs between the end of the competition’s sales cycle and the end of your sales cycle. You can think of these ends as the status quos after implementing each solution.
Take a look at the graph below for a better idea of what the gap looks like.
See how the gap is defined by where the buyer is now versus where they could be after implementing your solution?
The goal is to identify how your product can alleviate the buyer’s pain points in a way their current solution cannot. With the gap, you’re building a solid foundation that you can use to demonstrate how the buyer’s life stands to benefit from switching. And it’s the logical reasoning you need to convince them to make the change.
A Few Notes on the Gap
As you’re identifying and leveraging your buyer’s gap, there are a few things you need to remember.
The bigger the gap is, the easier it’s going to be to convert the account. Essentially, a bigger gap means you have more value to offer. And if that gap is small, the risks of changing vendors to your company might outweigh the benefits.
The process of navigating the value gap is slower but less painful than implementing the original solution.
Once this process of change has happened, the next value gap is between the second sales cycle status quo and then the third. As you go further along (i.e., third to fourth, fourth to fifth), the value gap tends to shrink. Therefore, converting an account that has been converted many times over is tougher than converting an account that has only been sold into once.
Gap Building Questions
Now that you know what the gap is, let’s talk about how to identify it with your buyer.
There are two questions you should ask during this stage:
What pain points are you experiencing with your current solution?
Are those pain points actually important to you?
Let’s get more in-depth with each.
With the first question, you are getting your buyer to both acknowledge that there are unaddressed pain points and coaxing them to let you know what those unmet pain points are.
In the real world, that might look something like this:
Seller – “I’m curious, when you tried to increase the number of sales that your team is making (remove pain) by using in-person sales training (benefits of a product), how did it go?”
Buyer – “It worked well at first, but then quickly everybody went back to their old ways, and revenue stagnated again.”
After that question, we’re going to further qualify that this is a gap we can sell into by asking a downplay question.
The question might look like this:
“Perhaps everyone selling as they always have (pain point just uncovered) isn’t that important to you because you’re hitting all your targets already (reason it might not be important)?”
This question is invaluable at uncovering information. If the buyer fights back and tells us that this pain point really is an issue for them, then we know we’ve found the gap. If, on the other hand, the buyer agrees with you that the pain point isn’t that big of a deal, they’re probably not worried about it, and so it’s going to be difficult to close a sale with them.
Pro Tip: After identifying the buyer’s unmet pain points in the first question, don’t jump right in explaining why your solution is superior. Doing so undermines the decisions the buyer made in the past. And that can lead to reactive discussions where they’re feeling defensive—not a very sales-receptive position.
2. Get Agreement
Having highlighted the gap, it’s time for a simple—yet essential—step for getting buy-in from your prospect. And it all hinges on a very peculiar human quality.
See, once you get a single “yes” out of an individual, all the “yes” responses that follow are easier to earn. The pill gets a little less jagged and easier to swallow each time.
That’s why you must get the buyer to verbally agree that the gap you’ve uncovered is truly worth the risk and the pain of change. If they say no, then they’ve just disqualified themselves as a potential buyer, taking a lot of extra work off your plate. If they say yes, then they’re a good candidate and worth trying to convert them into a buyer.
So the question is, how do we get the buyer to verbally agree to make a change?
There are four steps in particular here:
The “What” Question
The “Confirmation” Question
The “Reversal” Question
Get Agreement
Step 1: The “What” Question
This question is designed to defy the buyer’s expectations that they’re about to get hit with some manipulative sales pitch. Instead of being pushy and off-putting, we’re going to probe a little bit deeper into their needs.
This question may look something like this:
In regard to (the pain), what would you like to see happen with it?
It’s a simple question. But it’s open-ended enough to bring to light some very serious pain points and solutions that you may not have uncovered otherwise.
Step 2: The “Confirmation” Question
Next up, we’re going to ask a question that confirms you’ve heard the buyer correctly about their pain points and desired solutions. Something like this:
What I’m hearing you say that you want is (repeat what they said). Have I got that right?
There’s quite a bit of subtlety in this question. On the one hand, you’re confirming that what you’re hearing is what the buyer wants, not what you’ve already pitched. This gives the buyer more agency and connects their wants to your product implicitly.
Beyond that, you’re also demonstrating to the buyer that you are invested in their needs and that you’re listening—fantastic for building rapport.
Step 3: The “Reversal” Question
Here in particular, the buyer will begin dreading what they think is ahead—the pitch. That unbearable time when talking to a rep where they feel they’re being manipulated, cheated, and coerced into a sale.
But what you’re going to do here is play off those expectations by asking the opposite of what they’re thinking. You’re going to ask them
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