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**The Salesman.com Podcast**

The Salesman.com podcast feed gives you the worlds best sales content.

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.

Latest Episodes:

**How To Convince A Someone To Buy From You | Selling Made Simple** Apr 14, 2022
Show notes

As a sales rep, it’s your job to convince the buyer that you’ve got the solution to their problems. But how exactly do you get a sales lead from the point of zero product awareness to enthusiastic buyer?

Today we’re talking about perhaps the most foundational of all sales techniques—how to convince a customer to buy from you. And stay tuned. We have a lot more to talk about than you might think!

Selling Mind Control

The crooked smile. The slicked-back hair. The patchy sports coat. We’ve all seen the old caricature of a sales rep before. You know the type—the one who’d step over their own mother just to close a deal. They’re one part charmer and two parts swindler.

But we in the sales industry know that grifting a lead into buying a shoddy product is worse than just bad business. It poisons your reputation. Kills any chance at repeat customers. And decimates your earning potential.

Instead, a truly successful sales rep knows value-based selling is the way to go. This form of selling prioritizes the buyer's needs. And instead of pitching them on a product at every stage of the buyer’s journey, this type of rep does their best to offer value stage by stage. They assess the situation, identify the problem, determine if they have a solution, and then (and only then) will they start closing the deal.

But even after picking out the perfect solution, they still need to convince the buyer they have exactly what they’ve been looking for.

Now, there are plenty of ways to approach this pivotal moment, the pitch. Some dig deep into emotions, others focus purely on logic. But over my career, I’ve found that a mix of the two is by far the most effective.

Today, I’m showing you my proven four-step process for convincing customers to buy from you. And with it, you’ll be able to turn even the toughest sells into enthusiastic brand evangelists in no time flat.

Ready? Let’s do this.

1: Understand Where The Buyer Is

If you’ve been doing things right up until this point—you know, researching the business, investigating pain points, asking about past solutions they’ve used, etc.—then you should already have a pretty good idea of the problem your buyer is facing.

What you need to do here is call it out. Call out the, say, inefficient teams they’ve been dealing with. Or the frustrating accounting system that no one quite understands. Or a lack of engaged customers.

Bring it all up in the pitch with your buyer. Get them to think, “This guy really understands what I’m going through.”

But don’t stop there.

The trick is not to just point out the pain. But to take it one step further by getting the lead to feel that pain.

Founder of the MEDDICC sales framework Andy Whyte put it to me like this in our interview:

*“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.”*

How are those problems impacting their work-life? Their opportunities for advancement? Their respect they get around the office?

What are those pains doing to hurt their reputation? Their finances? Their sense of fulfillment?

Hit those points and hit them hard.

2: Point Out the Barriers

Similar to picking out the pain points, this step also builds rapport and gets the buyer thinking, “Man, he knows his stuff!”

What is it that’s holding the buyer back from solving this problem on their own?

In most cases, the barriers fall into four different categories: Selection overwhelm, confirmation bias, blowback risk, and cost of change.

Let’s take a look at each.

A) Selection Overwhelm

Now, selection overwhelm is a big one. In almost any industry, you’re going to have competitors. And sometimes, it’ll be a lot of competitors.

If a prospect hasn’t solved their problem yet because they see so many potential solutions but don’t know which to choose, that’s selection overwhelm. Your job up to this point should have been to differentiate your product enough to make it clear why you stand out from the rest.

B) Confirmation Bias

Confirmation bias. This bias is essentially our tendency to stick with our past decisions and look past its faults rather than work with something new.

C) Blowback Risk

Blowback risk, which is the risk of your potential buyer looking stupid if things don’t work out. The solution to this barrier is your brand, reputation, reviews, case studies, etc.

D) Cost of Change

Cost of change. Now there will always be costs to implementing a new solution. But if you can make your buyer’s job as easy as possible, say by providing complimentary training or free support for a year, then you can help them overcome this barrier.

So during your pitch, you should pick out which barrier your prospect has been hitting in the past. And then later in step #4, we’re going to loop back and show them how you tear that barrier down.

3: Paint a Picture of Where They Want to Be

What does life look like after your buyer’s found the right solution? Are they more productive? Is their team more efficient? Are they happier? Do they sleep better at night?

Really try to paint a clear picture of what their life could be like with the right solution.

And try to cover a broad spectrum of effects—how has their productivity changed? How has their home life changed? How has their career trajectory changed?

Now obviously, you’ll want to make this picture as positive as you can. But it’s important to be authentic here. Don’t promise them a new reality that your product can’t create. Upgraded accounting software can do wonders for your bookkeeping but saying it’ll give your buyer a six-pack, 7-figure salary, and a perfect head of hair isn’t going to fool anyone.

The point here is to get them connecting the solution to their problem with a brighter, happier future.

4: Establish Yourself as the Guide

Remember those barriers to a happier life we talked about in step #2? Well now it’s time to bring in the details on how you help buyers overcome those barriers.

If they’ve been held back by selection overwhelm, hit them with your core differentiators. Confirmation bias? Show them how your solution outperforms what they have now. Blowback risk? Case studies and testimonials. Cost of change? Throw in free onboarding or even an immediate discount to reduce the risk.

But ultimately, explain that you are the connection between their current reality—with all its pain points and frustrations—and the glowing future reality we painted a picture of before.

You can get them there. They just need to let you lead the way.

The post How To Convince A Someone To Buy From You appeared first on Salesman.com.

**5 Most Powerful Sales Questions Ever | Selling Made Simple** Apr 12, 2022
Show notes

Communication—it’s a delicate art when talking with potential buyers. Ask the right questions, you’re driving enthusiasm and closing successfully. But ask the wrong ones and you’re sabotaging deals and looking like a fool doing it.

That’s why in this video, we’re covering the 5 most powerful sales questions. From discovery calls a d demos to closing like a champ, these questions are guaranteed to skyrocket your numbers and catapult you well past your quotas.

Best Selling Questions, Ever

Now before we get started, think about it for a sec—are you asking prospects the right questions?

I’m not just talking about when you first connect or on discovery calls here. But instead, the right questions throughout the entire sales process.

See, asking bad questions sinks sales.

It makes you look like an idiot. It scares off picture-perfect buyers. And it leaves leads thinking, “Why would I ever want to work with that guy?”

Now, I covered the top five sales-sinking questions in a previous video. And if you haven’t already seen it, go give it a look when you finish this video.

But what are the good questions? The ones that dig into the heart of your buyer’s pain points? That uncover the real problems they’re facing? That are built to quickly qualify prospects while driving enthusiasm, building rapport, and nudging the right leads ever closer to saying “YES!”?

That’s exactly what I’m covering in today’s video. So if you’re ready to start asking the right questions throughout your sales process, let’s jump right in.

Now, first up, like I said, is perhaps the most powerful sales question you can ever learn. And you’ll be surprised at just how simple it is.

1) “Does It Make Sense to…?”

That’s it? That’s it!

“Does it make sense to…?”

This questions is straight out of the Closing Framework from inside Selling Made Simple Academy.

What’s so great about this question is that it makes selling a collaborative process. Rather than going for a hard push to buy or even to set up a call, you’re getting input from the buyer. Are they ready to move forward? And if not, you get the opportunity to ask, “What’s holding you back?” You can then deal with any objections or sticking points directly rather than uncover them further down the sales process.

Now, this question isn’t just for when it comes time to close the deal. Instead, it can be used throughout the entire process. From setting up discovery calls and demos to getting into pricing and going over the finer details.

The point here is that this question…

Relieves buyer pressure and lets them know you aren’t going to hit them with aggressive sales tactics…

Keeps them updated on where you’re at in the sales process and which steps are next. And it…

Forces the buyer to think logically about whether they’re a fit or if they have objections.

I’m going to be going into greater detail on how this question works in an upcoming video. So if you haven’t already, hit that subscribe button now so you don’t miss it.

Now, let’s look at the next set of powerful questions.

These next four questions come directly from The Diagnose Framework, which is particularly perfect for discovery calls, demos, sales calls, and everything in between. And we’re going to start with this question…

2) “What’s Stopping You From Solving This Issue Yourself?”

There are two benefits specifically to asking this question.

On the one hand, you’re qualifying the prospect. If they can solve the problem themselves, then they’re not going to value your solution as much as it deserves. And that can cause issues down the road. On top of that, this question will also uncover any hidden obstacles that make it clear this lead just isn’t a fit.

But secondly, this question makes the value that you offer real. What’s holding you back from solving this issue? Well we can overcome that obstacle. And we can provide tangible, often quantifiable value that you can’t get on your own.

Qualifying power with a hint of driving enthusiasm. Perfect.

3) “When Do You Want to Solve This Pain?”

Timeline is such an important part of the qualification process. Do they need their problem solved sooner than you’re able to roll out your solution? If so, this isn’t a good fit.

And conversely, are they looking to solve this problem two, three years down the line? If that’s the case, they likely aren’t motivated enough to draw up a contract now, and they may just be fishing for information (let marketing handle that).

But this question also opens up the conversation on what the buyer should expect too. How long does your solution take to implement? What’s the onboarding and training process like? And is that within their time window? If not, they can self-qualify themselves out, making things easier on you today.

4) “What Is Your Motivation to Make This Happen?”

Now, this one is especially clever in my opinion. Because beyond just learning more about what factors are driving your prospect’s decision-making, this one question also does wonders for connecting with your buyer’s emotions.

President and CEO of Whetstone Inc., Adrian Davis, put it to me like this:

“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.” – Interview with Adrian Davis, President & CEO of Whetstone Inc.

What are the factors that are driving your buyer’s need to get this done? Is it just the numbers? Or is there company status, respect, and even on-the-job fulfillment involved too?

If you take the time to dig a bit, I guarantee you’ll find there’s much more to the story than just logic. And when you engage that side too, you’ll find yourself closing more deals than ever.

5) “If We Can Solve X, Will You Commit to Y?”

Now, it should be noted here that this question should follow some sort of qualifying affirmation. Usually I pair it with, “You’re a good fit for us” first.

But essentially the value here is this: You’re in the business of exchanging value. The buyer pays for your product. And in return, they get a solution to their problem.

This question makes that even exchange of value clear. They aren’t doing you any favors by buying your product just as you aren’t doing them any by selling to them. Instead, you’re coming to this deal on equal footing.

This helps reinforce the fact that this should be a reciprocal relationship rather than a one-sided one. And it’s designed to create the foundation for an equal, dare I say synergistic, relationship.

Summary

And there you have it—the five most powerful sales questions you can ask buyers.

When you add these questions to your arsenal, and when you train yourself to ask them naturally, you’re bound to start closing more sales, building rapport, and sailing through the sales process easier than ever before.

It’s just plain smarter selling.

The post 5 Most Powerful Sales Questions Ever appeared first on Salesman.com.

**6 Things Rich People Buy That The Poor Don’t** Apr 09, 2022
Show notes

We’ve all seen the glamorous toys rich people buy—the luxury cars, the decked-out jewelry, the quintuple decker yachts. But what about the things rich people buy to grow their wealth? To become richer?

That’s what we’re looking at today—the top 6 things rich people buy that poor people don’t. And if you’re looking for a way to invest in yourself, you’d better stick around.

Get Rich Quick?

Wealth is a funny thing. Some people are born into it. Others fall ass-backward into millions. And some people, on paper, look like they should be rich someday… but end up paupered, penniless, and pissed at the world around them.

Making and spending money wisely is tricky. And a misunderstanding about what you should and shouldn’t be buying to grow your wealth is one of the biggest differences between the rich and the poor.

Which investments pay off? What purchases lay the groundwork for future success? And how can you tell the difference between an asset that expands your financial empire and one that brings it crashing down?

These aren’t easy questions. Hell, if they were, everyone would be rolling in dough.

But today, we’re pulling back the curtain and looking at six things in particular rich people buy and poor people don’t.

From physical items to organizations and yep, even ideas, we’re tackling it all.

Now, let’s give it a look.

1: Training

The best asset you’ll ever have is your own abilities. And the more you invest in bettering yourself—we’re talking mind, body, and spirit here—the better earning potential you’ll have.

Reading and consuming valuable, educational material is key here. The most successful people, for example, consume books and audiobooks ravenously. And if you’re not reading at least 10 pages a day, sorry to say it, you’re simply not doing enough.

But books and written content are just the start. And you can only learn so much by reading the static words on a page. That’s why rich people also tend to invest in training programs. Ones that provide interactive deep dives into the topics. Ones that cover skills and strategies using different media like whiteboards and video. And ones that give you the opportunity to engage with (and pick the brains of) real-life experts.

It's that type of learning experience that I modeled the Selling Made Simple Academy after. All-in-one sales training, in-depth mentoring, proven success—it’s got it all.

And on top of all that, if you can sell, you can do anything. So developing this invaluable skill should be at the top of your list.

2: Businesses

Now don’t worry, this one isn’t as out of reach as you might think.

One of the best ways of expanding wealth is by purchasing a successful business. Businesses are revenue-generating machines. And with a business that’s already well-managed, you don’t have to put in any work to keep them earning money while you sleep. It’s why business acquisition is one of the go-to investments for people with lots of money to burn.

But for those with a little less expendable income, there’s always investing in the stock market. Buying shares in companies with strong track records can dramatically scale your wealth if you’ve got an eye for the market. And with the right investments, you can create a surprisingly substantial passive income stream from dividends alone.

3: Audience

Whether you’re selling physical products or services, there’s one thing that’s common across any industry—people. You need people to buy what you’re selling if you want to make a profit.

And the savviest professionals know that spending their money on increasing their audience is a fantastic way to boost future income.

Now, you can’t directly buy sales opportunities (at least not ones that’ll actually pan out). But what you can do is invest in indirectly increasing your audience.

For example, you can purchase equipment that’ll increase the production value of your webinars. You can invest in marketing your upcoming event. You can hire on help for producing valuable and educational content you use to grow your LinkedIn network.

There are tons of ways for you to invest in growing your audience. And the more you do, the more you’ll be growing your earning potential.

4: Precious Metals

The markets these days are a bit, shall we say… sporadic. With everything going on in the world around us, your portfolio could be bringing in a return of 5% one day and getting hit with a 10% loss the next.

That’s why so many of the wealthy invest in precious metals that hold their value. These are super stable investments, unlike erratic Bitcoin or NFTs. When the market goes down, their value stays steady as a rock because they have actual, physical value.

Sure, clever investors still hang on to some super risky stocks and assets in case they pay off. But the majority of their portfolios are super safe to offset the downsides of riskier investments.

5: Intellectual Property

Rich people grow their wealth by owning a variety of ideas, systems, or other protected IPs. This could include ideas like a system for expanding your online audience, creative works like unique characters, music, or art, or patents for inventions.

Now, a smart investor will grow their wealth by licensing these assets out to others and collecting royalties or licensing fees.

For example, Salesman.org uses its own custom illustrated character designs. I can license these character designs out to another training company for some extra income. Or I can even hire a writing team and illustrator to create a comic featuring those characters to further expand my audience.

See how that works?

6: Appearance Boosters

Now I’m not talking about stupid designer clothes, diamond-encrusted watchbands, and plastic surgery. Instead, I’m talking about smart, straightforward items that enhance your appearance so you can do business better.

See, first impressions matter, especially when it comes to business. And if you show up to a sales deal wearing a stained T-shirt, there’s no way in hell anyone’s going to want to work with you.

That’s why it’s so important to buy items that imply success. “Imply” is the key word here. Because going too far the other direction (like buying over-the-top flashy outfits and jewelry) makes it seem like you’re not serious.

For example, I wear an Omega Seamaster watch to meetings. It’s a fantastic watch. And it shows that I’ve had a bit of success. But it isn’t so decked out in jewels that it could blind a prospect if it catches the light wrong.

Look successful. But don’t risk coming off as unprofessional along the way.

Summary

So there you have it! Six things rich people buy that the poor don’t.

These are all savvy investments that the cleverest wealth-growers consistently use to boost their earning potential even higher.

So focus on these assets instead of wasting away your income on the flashy cars or luxury clothes. Because when you do, you can rest easy knowing you’re truly investing in your future. Not just buying a bit of bling that won’t earn you a single cent.

The post 6 Things Rich People Buy That The Poor Don’t appeared first on Salesman.com.

**15 Signs You’re Going To Be Successful In Business** Apr 07, 2022
Show notes

Success isn’t fated. It’s *forged*. You just have to have the right qualities to make that success a reality.

Using data from more than 10,000 participants who’ve taken our SalesCode assessment, this video covers 15 traits of particularly high performers. And best of all, *you* can cultivate and develop each of these traits yourself.

Are you built to win?

We first created the SalesCode assessment as a learning tool for future-minded reps. What were their strengths? Where could they use some improvement? And what did they need to focus on to take their sales skills to the next level?

Since its initial launch, more than 10,000 sales professionals have completed the assessment. And while it’s definitely served its original purpose, this enormous chunk of data also opened up the door to something unexpected. With it, we could actually identify the **key** **traits** that high performers had in common.

Now, there were some outliers of course. But in general, the best of the best outperformed the average rabble on each of these 15 traits.

And these weren’t “born with it or without it traits” either. They were skills, mindsets, and processes that *anyone* could cultivate. From the awkward first-year intern to the seasoned professional looking to climb the corporate ladder.

So today, I thought I’d share those 15 traits we discovered after analyzing our SalesCode assessment data. And hopefully, doing so will give you a clearer roadmap to which skills *you* can cultivate to boost your sales success.

Sound good? Let’s jump in.

I’ve organized the 15 qualities into 3 distinct trait types—beliefs, actions, and sales skills. And the first trait type we’re talking about is…

**A) Beliefs**

Beliefs. These are the ideas and qualities that underpin everything these individuals do, how they look at the world (*and* themselves) as a whole.

And trait number one is…

**Comfortable Talking About Money**

Businesses run on money. And high performers recognized that conversations about money are a given in sales. Rather than clamming up, beating around the bush, or getting defensive, these individuals approached money conversations like just any other step in the sales process

**Extroverted**

They’re *energized* by conversations. And they’re curious about other people. While this one can be hard to “learn” on your own, there are plenty of strategies introverts can take to increase their extroversion too.

The point is, a “people person” tended to fare better in sales than those who abhorred social contact.

**Optimistic Outlook**

They have an optimistic outlook on life.

While high performers weren’t necessarily *blinded* by their optimism, they did tend to see the silver linings and hope for the best. Optimism in sales is crucial because it keeps you energized to go out there, do the hard work of prospecting, and stick to your cadences.

It also has the added benefit of building rapport and enthusiasm in buyers too.

**Solid Self-Esteem**

It takes a lot of confidence to approach a cold prospect. And it takes a healthy self-esteem to withstand the hangups and no’s of those who aren’t interested. The best performing reps need to have a solid self-worth to excel in this industry.

**Personal Accountability**

They hold themselves accountable.

High performers know that they make their own success. They make mistakes, sure. Who doesn’t? But they take ownership of those mistakes. And they know that doing so is the only way to learn and get better at what they do.

**B) Actions**

Actions. What do these successful people do? How do they spend their time? And how do they handle interacting with others?

The first trait here is…

**NOT a people pleaser**

There are some industries where it pays to be a suckup. Sales is not one of them. High performers know how to get on a buyer’s good side. But they also know when to push an issue and give an assertive “no.”

When it comes to sales, nice guys finish last.

**High emotional intelligence**

Emotional intelligence is a rep’s ability to 1.) control their own emotions and 2.) respond effectively to the emotions of others. High emotional intelligence makes it easier to manage buyers, connect with prospects, and build rapport.

And no surprise here—high performers had more developed emotional intelligence skills too.

**Assertive**

Knowing what needs to be done and **executing** on that knowledge is the best way to close deals and avoid future hassles. In the world of sales, being assertive means being able to bring up issues before they turn into serious problems, turning down buyers that aren’t a great fit, and, of course, asking for the sale.

It’s no wonder this is one of the most common qualities among high performers.

**Strong goal setting**

Sales is a numbers game. And the better you are at setting, tracking, and achieving those goals **on time**, the more of a high performer you’ll be.

**Productivity**

Success in sales isn’t for the lazy. You need to be self-disciplined enough to hit the ground running every day *and* keep that momentum going and going. High performers will be pros at using productivity strategies like creating task lists for the next day, having dedicated focus periods, and confining distracting tasks to certain points throughout the day.

And the last trait type we identified was…

**C) Sales Skills**

Believe it or not, you’ve got to have sales skills if you’re going to be good at skills. Who knew, right?

And that means being good at…

**Objection Handling**

Buyers are going to have objections to purchasing your product. That’s not the problem. The problem is *how* you handle those objections. High performers come to pitches with answers ready to a prospect’s major concerns. And The best ones also know how to turn an objection into an opportunity for building enthusiasm.

**Influence**

Sales isn’t just about the product you’re hawking. It’s also about the subtle things you can do to demonstrate your expertise and influence their decision. High performers do exceptionally well at showing their authority. And as a result, they can sway their success rates in their favor.

**Industry Expert**

Similar to the last point, high performers appear knowledgeable, confident, and influential. More than just talking the talk during a pitch, they’ve built up dedicated media presences on sites like LinkedIn. They put out regular and insightful content. And that brings potential buyers to *their* doors.

**Storytelling**

Storytelling is an essential component for tapping into the emotions of the buyer. And when it’s incorporated into the pitch, it drives success rates through the roof. High performers are exceptional storytellers. And they know when and where to use their skill to its fullest.

**Negotiations**

Negotiations are tense. Hell, *anything* money-related tends to be tense. But high performers know exactly how to handle these situations effectively. And because of their adept skills in this department, both parties, the seller and the buyer, always leave negotiations happy.

**Summary**

So there you have it! 15 traits of particularly high performers, taken straight from data gathered from 10,000 sales professionals.

And if you’d like to see which of these sales success traits that you have, then this link to grab your free SalesCode assessment.

It will show you the traits that you have, those that you don’t and it’ll even give you feedback on your overall strengths, weaknesses and how you can improve your chances of success, .

It’s free, takes 10 minutes to complete and it might change your life.

And don’t forget—anyone can cultivate and develop each of these traits for themselves, no matter their level of experience or what kinds of skills they have today. All it takes is persistence, hard work, and of course, some quality sales training.

The post 15 Signs You’re Going To Be Successful In Business appeared first on Salesman.com.

**How To Get A Sales Job (With No Experience)** Apr 05, 2022
Show notes

If you have a good handle on what you’re doing, sales can end up being an incredibly lucrative career. But how do you get started? How do you get your foot in the door?

What a lot of people don’t know is that you don’t have to have direct sales experience to land a quality sales rep position. All you have to do is follow the four tips in this video on how to get a sales job with **zero** experience under your belt.

**Your Dream Sales Job**

You need to master a lot of different skills to excel at sales. On the technical side of things, managing a wide range of sales enablement technologies is key to closing more deals in less time. CRMs, prospecting tools, video conferencing and demo software—these are all par for the course in lots of sales positions.

But the technical stuff can all be learned on the job. The other skills, the soft skills, the people skills, and the self-discipline—these are the *real* underpinnings of sales success. And if you can cultivate these skills before landing your first sales role, you’re going to move up the ladder and boost your earning potential *much* quicker.

Best of all, *you don’t have to have a background in sales* to get into the industry. All you need is a bit of tenacity, some hard work, and a strategic approach to impressing employers.

In this video, I’m pointing out four ways you can get your foot in the sales door without having any experience in the biz. This video is meant specifically for newcomers to the field. But even seasoned reps can apply these principles (especially numbers three and four) in order to advance their careers even further.

Alright, enough chit-chat. Let’s dive into the four tips.

**1: Show How Your Existing Skills Are Applicable**

First up is showing how your existing skills are applicable.

No one is a completely blank slate. And you might be surprised just how much your past experiences, both professional and personal, can go a long way towards making you seem more hirable for a sales role.

For example, have you ever worked in retail? If so, you’ve probably had to deal with lots of face-to-face customers, both friendly and off-putting. To be successful in a position like that, you’ve got to have some decent people skills and at least some degree of emotional intelligence.

Both these qualities can do wonders for improving your ability to sell on the job.

Or maybe a past employer offered a service that required a lot of door-to-door cold calling. A summer job like this is great for building up resilience to rejection, which happens quite a bit in sales.

**Put these experiences and skills on your resume**. A knowledgeable sales manager will understand just how valuable they can be.

Tip number two is where the real hard work begins…

**2: Be Happy to Work From the Bottom Up**

Be happy to work from the bottom up.

Sales isn’t like other departments. If you’re in HR or IT, for example, climbing the corporate ladder is all about seniority. Who’s been there the longest? And have they put in enough time in the department to warrant a raise?

With sales though, a lot of your progression speed depends on skills. What do your numbers look like? How *hungry* are you? And how well can you do your job?

That’s why it’s so important to be willing to work from the bottom up. Even if you start in a regular old sales development role, with enough hard work on your part, you can be in a surprisingly decent account executive role in as little as six months.

And that’s when you can *really* start scaling your income.

So don’t brush off the “lower” roles—they can be a fantastic launchpad for the rest of your career.

**3: Increase Your Visibility**

Increasing your visibility.

Salespeople need to be seen as subject matter experts if they’re ever going to win big. And that means putting out plenty of thought leadership content to demonstrate that expertise.

Platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter are great for this. The better your content is, the more it’ll get shown to potential buyers in your chosen industry. And you can use those connections as leverage when applying for a sales position.

For instance, say you’ve been writing valuable content about accounting software, and you’ve built up a strong following because accountants find your content educational. If you then reach out to an accounting software’s hiring manager and show them how thousands of their customers actually follow you on LinkedIn, there’s no **way** they’re not going to at least sit down with you for a conversation.

Social selling these days holds some serious weight. And the more visible you are to the right people, the better positioned you’ll be to land a quality sales job.

**4: Jump Into Quality Training**

Jump into sales training. And not just any training. But **quality** training.

If you want to kill it in sales, you’ve got to be always improving. And that means digging in, developing new skills, and refining the ones you’ve got.

Now, there are a fair amount of sales training programs out there. But they’re not all made equal. And some are going to offer you more value than others. On top of that, some training programs only teach you a narrow range of the skills you need to be successful.

That’s why I developed the Selling Made Simple Academy. This training program is designed to take your sales skills to the next level and truly crush it. Inside, we cover four distinct and equally important aspects of sales success:

Understanding Your Market

Getting in Front of Buyers

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If you can show a sales manager that you’re committed to improving your sales skills, or better yet, have *already* completed a quality training program, you’ve got at least an interview in the bag.

**Summary**

And that’s all there is to it! With enough elbow grease and go-getter mindset, you can break into a lucrative and fulfilling sales role without having any direct experience. Just…

Show How Your Existing Skills Are Applicable

Be Happy to Work From the Bottom Up

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Jump Into Quality Training

That’s all there is to it. Now remember, this is all just to get you started. If you want to start raking in some serious dough, you need to be committed to improving your skills. To getting **better**. And not every year or month. But every. Single. Day.

It’s tough work, I know. But if you keep at it, you can achieve real professional fulfillment and earn more than you ever thought possible, I promise.

The post How To Get A Sales Job (With No Experience) appeared first on Salesman.com.

Say Less And Get More From A Sales Pitch | Salesman Podcast Apr 04, 2022

Show notes

On this episode of the Salesman Podcast, Brant Pinvidic explains how to structure the first 3 minutes of your sales presentation so you can say less and get more from your sales pitch. Brant has over 20 years of experience in creating, and directing TV shows and movies. In this time Brant has developed some of the most advanced pitch and presentation techniques that he now teaches to people from all walks of life. You'll learn: Sponsored by: Free SalesCode assessment Learn your strengths and weaknesses in an instant. Taken by over 10,000+ of your competitors. Don't get left behind. Take the free assessment Featured on this episode: Host - Will Barron Founder of Salesman.org Guest - Brant Pinvidic Pitch Presentation Expert Resources: Brantpinvidic.com Brant on LinkedIn Book: The 3-Minute Rule: Say Less to Get More from Any Pitch or Presentation Transcript Will Barron: Hi, my name is Will, and welcome to today's episode of The Salesman Podcast. On today's show, we're looking at how you can say less and get more from your sales pitches. Today's guest is Brant Pinvidic and Brant has spent over 20 years in creating, directing TV shows and movies. Will Barron: In his time, Brant has spent, he has developed some of the most advanced pitch and presentation techniques. And now teaches this to people in all walks of life. His book, Three Minute Rule, Say Less and Get More From Any Sales Pitch Presentation. We'll link that in the show notes. It's available on Amazon and everywhere else. And with that, Brant, welcome to the show. Brant Pinvidic: Here I am. Here I am. That's a great intro. I should bring you with me on the road. Will Barron: I don't know about that. My intros are somewhat sloppy, but we try and do this as live as possible with the audience now. It's just a [inaudible 00:00:44]. Brant Pinvidic: I like it. Will Barron: Right. Brant Pinvidic: Yeah. Will Barron: Good man. All right. Well, let's jump into it. Let me give you a bit of a scenario here. As we get into this idea, which is totally in line, you may be familiar with this, you may not be. Totally in line with what we do over at Salesman.org, which is our branding is making selling simple. So I think we're going to be on the same wavelength for a lot of this stuff, right? You Only Have 7 Seconds To Grab Your Prospects Attention During a Sales Outreach · [01:03] Will Barron: But let's say Sam the salesperson, he has now earned the sales presentation. He's done his cold calls. He's done his call emails. He's in the room, so to speak. So the prospect is even just like a little bit interested in hearing what they've got to say, because they wouldn't share their time with them otherwise. Will Barron: With that said, Brant, how long does Sam have to really grab the attention of the person in the room that he's presenting to? Is this like two seconds? Seven seconds? Or have we got a little bit longer to really grab the attention of the prospect? Brant Pinvidic: Yeah, listen, I would say in a fun soundbite is to say you have 10 seconds to get the attention. But if someone's giving you an opportunity, getting their attention isn't important as getting them the information. If you're advertising it in your marketing and that kind of stuff, the cold calls, you have very little bit to get their attention. But that's a whole other world. “The science says that people will say and come up with a yes or a no in their mind incredibly quickly, within 10 seconds of meeting you.” – Brant Pinvidic · [02:07] Brant Pinvidic: The world that I really deal with is that you have an opportunity to present your business product or service to somebody and you want them to say yes. That is the goal. And the truth is the science of it is that people will say and come up with a yes and no in their mind incredibly quickly. Within 10 seconds, they'll usually start with a yes or no. Brant Pinvidic: And then if they've said, “No, I don't think this is right for me.” Then your job is to try to overcome that, which is a very unpleasant place to be. So really the science behind what the three minute rule does for you, is it helps you to elongate that process so that they're not saying yes or no in their mind, until at least you get in the valuable information. Brant Pinvidic: And if you do it right, and if you do it perfectly, and you lead people with proper storytelling, you could extend that to three minutes. Where now they've got all the valuable information, so now they're starting to think, I like this. I want to do this. Or maybe it's not right for them, whichever. What you don't want to do is have people thinking like, nah, this isn't going to work. I don't like this person. I don't believe what he's saying, which is the most common. And then trying to win them over, which is the hard thing to do. Brant Pinvidic: And anybody listening now will know that someone's come to pitch or present or ask you to do anything, and just think about how you've got that yes or no in your mind right away. And they'll ramble on and it's like, yeah, no, it's still a no. And that is the core. And there's science behind, it's called approach motivation on why people are driven to engage with things. Brant Pinvidic: And it's a level of storytelling and leading your audience piece by piece that in Hollywood, we sort of perfected that. It's why you'll sit and watch an hour and a half or two hour movie, because the story is told in segments that lead you to the next segment. And in a sales process, it's the same thing. And that's, I think where people struggle the most. Will Barron: Yeah. I think people struggle in the fact that they will perhaps understand this idea of the hero's journey or these different archetypes of stories. Everyone's seen Lord of the Rings. We could break that down into this story archetype and these step by step processes. Your Prospects Don’t want to Know About Your Company · [03:58] Will Barron: But then when they come to a presentation, the first thing they do is go, oh, well, our business is this size and we serve these customers. And you can see the people in the audience, essentially the prospects, just metaphorically slapping their hands on the forehead because they don't need to know any of that. They don't care about any of that stuff. Brant Pinvidic: No. Will Barron: So how do you- Brant Pinvidic: I'll give you a great example of that. Will Barron: Sure. Brant Pinvidic: Is it was an investment opportunity that came around. My partner thinks it's a great idea. He sent me their webinar and I already had my chequebook out. I was going to write a check. I mean, it's a simple business, a car washer thing. I'm in. Brant Pinvidic: But the people doing the webinar and the presentation got on board and they spent the first nine minutes telling me who they were. Let me do our introductions and he did his for a couple of minutes. And then he passed it to his partner. He did his. Telling me where they live, where they went to school, what they did, their family. And it's just like, you guys want to make a personal connection with me and make me feel like … And I haven't written it yet. I haven't gone in, all because of that. Brant Pinvidic: Because then for the next, and I sort of watched the next 15 or 18 minutes, but I was off doing other things and I wasn't really paying attention. And my brain was like, I kind of don't like these guys. Not even overtly. I just was kind of like, eh. I don't even know why am I interested in this? And I just phased out. And so I didn't jump on it. Will Barron: For sure. I feel like it's almost a sign of someone, and not in respect to this deal that you're talking about there because obviously I have no idea about them personally. But when I see salespeople do it before they come through our training, or before they listen to shows like this, episodes like this, it's almost a sign of being an amateur versus a pro. How to Use Storytelling to Keep Your Prospect’s Attention · [05:46] Will Barron: Because you only have to do that five, six, seven times before then you start to see the room. And surely, most people have enough emotional intelligence to go, okay, this isn't working. I need a better strategy. So with that said, Brant, how do we story tell and keep attention? Is there a structure? Is there a framework? How do we go about doing this? “What I teach in the book is called the WHAC Method. And it stands for what is it? H is how does it work? A is are you sure? And C is can you do it? And those are the four tenets of any proper story or any pitch or presentation.” – Brant Pinvidic · [05:53] Brant Pinvidic: So what I teach in the book really detailed, is called the WHAC Method. And it stands for what is it? H is how does it work? A is are you sure? And C is can you do it? And those are the four tenets of any proper story or any pitch or presentation. Brant Pinvidic: The very first thing is what is it? People want to talk, like you said, they want to talk about the size of the market. They want to talk about their background. They want to talk about their history. They want to talk about the problem that people are facing. And it's like, that is not where people want to be. Your mind naturally gravitates to what is this? And if you've ever had somebody droning on about something and you've said to yourself, “Could you just stop, stop, stop? Just tell me what this is? Tell me how this works?” And that's the structure. Brant Pinvidic: So it's what is it? Which is literally, what do you do? We are an electric vehicle company that makes controllers that make your electric vehicle company go faster, whatever it is. It's what is it? I got to know what we're doing. Brant Pinvidic: And then how does it work is literally what is the process? You're an app that connects social media influencers together to sell products. It's like, okay, well, how does it do that? Oh, it's based on this function. You have to have a million followers. What are the structures? How does it actually work? Brant Pinvidic: After that, after I, as the audience understand those two things, now I'm open to validating it. Now I'm open to seeing that it's real. And that's, are you sure? Does this make sense? Is there a market? Have you done this before? Do you have the patents? What is the, are you sure? How do you get your audience to believe that this is possible? Brant Pinvidic: And then, and only after I believe and buy into those three pieces, then I care about you. Who are you? Can you actually do it? When is it available? When will the technology be ready? Have you ever done this kind of thing? Do you have a full-time job? Will this be your part-time job? Any of the actual physical elements about you and your company. Brant Pinvidic: And the WHAC Method ironically is almost a percentage of value. Half the job is what is it? If I'm looking at this carwash investment and I don't really think car washes are a good investment, nothing else matters. If I like car washes, I think this is a good idea, I'm halfway there. Brant Pinvidic: And then it's like, okay, how does it work? Well, we are buying 13 different car washes. We're going to rebrand them, spruce them up, raise the prices. And here's how we're going to do it. You're like, okay, I actually like that process. Now I'm 80% of the way there. Okay. Brant Pinvidic: And if car washers are increasing and the market's good and it always flows cash flow, which is what they would do in their are you sure section. If they, at the very end of it go, the only problem is we've never run a car wash before. I wouldn't be like, oh, that's it. I'm done. I'm out. Oh, sorry. I can't do it. My brain goes, well, we can hire management. It's not that difficult. Depending on how much I liked it, I'd be like, oh, don't worry about it. You'll figure it out. “The less you say, the simpler you make your presentation, the more desirable it will be, and the more drawn people are to you.” – Brant Pinvidic · [09:18] Brant Pinvidic: So that's literally, maybe 5% of it if all the other pieces sink. And that structure is very hard for people to grasp because they want to tell all of the information at once. They think the more they say, the more information they give, the better they're doing. And what I teach is it's the exact opposite. The less you say, the simpler you make your presentation, the more desirable it will be. And the more drawn people are to you. It's just, that's the way it is now. The Things You Should Focus Most On At The Beginning of a Presentation · [09:31] Will Barron: Why? And this might be a mindset thing or a psychological thing. Why do you think people are drawn to throwing up the goal, aspirations, thoughts, opinions, the strategy, all this stuff? When it doesn't really matter at the beginning of a presentation, why? Because I want to do it as well. Why do we all want- Brant Pinvidic: Yes, of course. Will Barron: To do this? Brant Pinvidic: There's two main reasons. And this is one of those things that in my seminars, a lot of times I used to have this as a small piece. And now I actually will almost take a full day to go through this because it's so painful for people. Is that the two main reasons that you do this is you understand value better than anybody. You have perfect understanding is what I call it. Perfect understanding. Brant Pinvidic: And the other one is confidence. Okay? The two pieces of it are perfect understanding means you have lived with your idea at every level. Every nuance makes sense. It's like when you watch your favourite movie. You see every directorial turn, every breath by the actress. Every twist and turn and scene is absolutely perfect. Because it's your favourite movie, you've seen it 15 times. Now you're seeing all the elements. Brant Pinvidic: Someone who watches it the first time, watches it as a total movie, summarises why they like it. And it gets bigger and bigger and bigger and more nuanced as they go. So what happens is you genuinely believe the value of the retail reselling of your product later on to opening up the other market. You see that as clear as day, it is perfectly obvious to you. Brant Pinvidic: And so you have all of this value based in all of these things that nobody can understand yet, because you didn't understand it instantly. It took you time to get to the place where now you know it so well. Now that you know it so well, it all has value. But you have to go back to the beginning to be like, hey, I need to give you the foundation of understanding of the conceptual elements. Then I have to build you the process of building value in this business. Then you could start to see the other tentacles that join it and the future and all of the other things. Brant Pinvidic: And so for you, it's very hard to know what are the foundational pieces of value if you don't take a step back and put it in this WHAC format. That's really what you need to do is to get back to the basics. And even though it feels like, oh my God, this is so important, and I'm not saying it right away. Brant Pinvidic: It's like, I have to say, I promise you will get to say all the important things. But the first three minutes is not the place for all of those things. Your meeting could last an hour, but only with a person who's engaged and you got to bring them there. “People ask me to train their salespeople to b…

Full show notes at the publisher

Stop Persuading And Win More Sales | Salesman Podcast Apr 01, 2022

Show notes

On this episode of the Salesman Podcast, Andy Paul explains why you should stop trying to trick your prospects and why you should focus on winning more sales. Andy is the host of the “Sales Enablement with Andy Paul” podcast and author of “Sell Without Selling Out: A Guide to Success on Your Own Terms”. You'll learn: Sponsored by: Free SalesCode assessment Learn your strengths and weaknesses in an instant. Taken by over 10,000+ of your competitors. Don't get left behind. Take the free assessment Featured on this episode: Host - Will Barron Founder of Salesman.org Guest - Andy Paul Sales Enablement Expert Resources: Andy on LinkedIn Book: Sell Without Selling Out Andypaul.com Transcript Will Barron: Hi, my name is Will, and welcome to today's episode of the Salesman Podcast. On today's show we'll look at why you need to stop persuading if you want to win more sales. And today's guest is Andy Paul. Andy is the host of the Sales Enablement With Andy Paul podcast, and author of Sell Without Selling Out, A Guide To Success On Your Own Terms. And with that, Andy, welcome back again to the show. Andy Paul: Will, thank you for having me. Will Barron: You're more than welcome, sir. I'm glad to have you back on. We just had a nice tune wag before we click record. Tonnes of value in that conversation… Andy Paul: We did. We did. Stop Persuading Prospects · [00:30] Will Barron: … so I appreciate that mate. But, let's get into the topic. Let's not diddy daddle too much. Let me ask you this mate, we're going to talk about how not persuading prospects, this is going to seem a bit backwards to the audience until it kind of pans out. We're going to talk about how not persuading prospects is going to win us more deals. But, isn't the whole point of working in sales, being a salesperson, to persuade a prospect, to make a purchasing decision, so that we get some nice commission checks in our back pocket at the end of the quarter? “I don't believe that our job fundamentally as the sales people is to persuade someone to purchase our product. I think that our job as sellers is to listen to our buyers, to understand what are the most important things to them, both in terms of the challenges they face and the outcomes they want to achieve, and then help them get that. And I think that when you have that mindset and that perspective, what your job is, you use a different set of actions to get to the end result.” – Andy Paul · [01:07] Andy Paul: Well, we certainly want the commission checks. The question is how do we get there? Right? So yeah, no, I don't believe that our job fundamentally as the sales people is to persuade someone to purchase our product. I think that our job as sellers is to listen to our buyers, to understand what are the most important things to them, both in terms of the challenges they face and the outcomes they want to achieve, and then help them get that. And I think that when you have that mindset and that perspective, what your job is, you use a different set of actions to get to the end result. Why Salespeople Stubbornly Continue Trying to Persuade Prospects · [01:40] Will Barron: And that makes total sense, right? Everyone who's listening to the show right now, Andy, have just gone, “Yeah, of course.” But why is that common sense, but it doesn't get implemented? It doesn't happen for a lot of sales people that way. Andy Paul: Well, I think a couple things. One is, I think people come into the profession with this idea of how they have to act to be a salesperson, which they picked up through maybe people that they know that are in sales, but certainly through popular culture, and so on. The way sales people are persuaded, or excuse me, portrayed for ages. But then most importantly, it's really how sellers are socialised and educated about what their jobs are. And in most cases they are told, “This is your job. Your job is go and persuade someone to buy your product.” And it's like, all right, well, you can push. But, the alternative is, maybe I can exhibit some leadership and inspire the buyer and influence the choices and trade offs the buyer makes, and achieve the same result perhaps with greater predictability and in less time. Will Barron: So, the audience will know this by now, we do this show as live as we possibly can. I'm choking, choking on air, literally as I- Andy Paul: You're choked up by what I just told you. Yes, I know. Will Barron: It upsets me. It upset to me Andy. So, excuse me. With that mate, with that, we'll try and cut this out after the show, of course. Andy Paul: That's fine. The Root Cause of Pushy Sales Behaviours · [03:12] Will Barron: Oh man. Okay. So with that, who is to blame? Are we blaming individual sales people here for not having agency over their own kind of profession, over their own career, over their own actions? Is this media and Hollywood. Obviously there's a stereotype of the used car sales person out there that we can perhaps lean into as well. The Wolf Of Wall Street, these kind of shows and films. Or, is it sales management? Or, is it the customer who's accepted this behaviour for long enough that it's then becoming ingrained as the correct way to do things? If we have to blame someone, who are we going to blame? Andy Paul: If we had to blame someone, yeah. It's not the individual salesperson. If anything, it starts at management, right? Is increasingly we see managers, when I said increasingly, is use this great technology that's available for sales. And instead of using it to sort of fundamentally reset how we engage with our buyers, what it's typically in the hands of most managers being used to reinforce these previously bad behaviours that existed in sales, these pushy salesy behaviours. In fact, perhaps using the technology to amplifying those behaviours. And so I think it starts, blame maybe too strong a word because this is part of a tradition that's going on for a long time. But, we haven't used the tools available to us to, so I said, sort of fundamentally rethink and reset the relationship we have with buyers. How to Rethink The Way You Sale From Less Persuading to More Leading · [04:45] Will Barron: So the salesperson's listening to this now, they're driving along, their rocking and rolling. They're excited about you being on the show, Andy. They're going, “Okay, that makes sense. But I already do a discovery call and I already I listen to some of Andy's podcasts and some of Will's podcasts. I already ask some, what I consider decent questions. But, I still find that the buyer has like status quo. There's confirmation biases of decisions they made in the past. There are other elements that like hold them steadfast in this position where I know that if they leverage our product, they buy into what we offer, we can help them.” How does that salesperson who's listening right now, who perhaps, I think you've used and I'm mirroring your wording here carefully, Andy, they are persuading buyers having done discovery to get the deal, to get them over the line. How do they need to rethink the process and perhaps do less persuading and more leading? What practically does that look like? Andy Paul: Well, what practically looks like for discovery is, in hands of most sellers, the way they're trained is, okay, you've got a playbook for discovery. You've got these questions we typically ask to this persona within this ICP. You should expect to get this type of answer. Based on receiving this type of answer, this is how you respond. And what happens then is discovery turns out being like a survey taking, right? I collect some amount of information, but I don't understand a thing, right? I know this information, but I don't understand why it's important to the buyer. And this is the big gap that exists in discovery oftentimes is, I sort of know what they sort of think, but I don't really understand why. I don't understand what's most important to them in terms of the challenges they're trying to face. Andy Paul: I haven't helped them think more deeply and broadly about that challenge with the questions I'm asking because I was just gathering information. Rather than using questions as a way to help the buyer think differently about the problems they're trying to achieve or the problems they're trying to solve and the outcomes they can achieve. So, there's a gap between knowing something and understanding it is a big difference, and it requires going deeper with the question. So in my book I lay out in a chapter on curiosity is layout six question types that if you use them in combination is you will surface eventually what is most important to the buyer. And then when you that information, when you know what's most important to the buyer, then you can say, “Okay, now I can work with the buyer because we know what the target is. We know what the real target is. I can work with the buyer now to try to influence the choices and trade offs they make about how to achieve their desired outcomes.” The Process of Getting The Buyer to Understand What You’re Selling Instead of Trying to Persuade Them · [07:20] Will Barron: So is it a case of getting the buyer to understand where they are, and you go through this process as well, right? Allowing the buyer to then, or enabling the buyer, helping them with your industry expertise. Clearly you've probably sold this product more times than the buyer has bought it. Get them to visualise, understand where they could be. And then is our job then to enable the buyer to see how they get from one place to another? As opposed to have a stick behind the back of the head, whacking them to get from the start line, to the end line. “If you're doing a persuasion based sales approach, you’re pushing the buyer. And I think sales is really a leadership role. What you're trying to do is you're trying to help the buyer understand what's most important to them. But then you're going to inspire them to go on this journey with you to co-create what this vision of success will look like when the buyer invests and uses your products and your services. Because, really when the buyers make a purchase decision, what are they buying? They're not buying the product. They're buying the vision of what that product can do for them and the outcomes they can achieve.” – Andy Paul · [07:52] Andy Paul: Yeah. Right. I mean, so just fundamentally you can even break down even further and say, “Look,” if you're doing a persuasion based sales approach, it's pushing, right? You're pushing, pushing, pushing the buyer. And I think sales is really a leadership role, right? What you're trying to do is, you're trying to help the buyer understand what's most important to them. But then you're going to inspire them to go on this journey with you to co-create what this vision of success will look like when the buyer invests and uses your products and your services. Because, really when the buyers make can purchase decision, what are they buying? They're not buying the product. They're buying the vision of what that product can do for them and the outcomes they can achieve. And I think that's more fundamentally a leadership aspect than a push, push, push aspect. Will Barron: So, let's see if we can go practical with this. So I know when I'm selling our Selling Made Simple academy training programme, right? I do what we're describing here and I'll start one place and I'll say, “Well, the training's going to allow us do this. It's going to free up your time. It's going to do this. It's going to do that.” And then I'll allow the prospect to, and I call them a prospect loosely, because usually they're fans of the show already. There's a bit of relationship already there. So, perhaps a few steps ahead of what the audience might be with their potential customers. The Importance of Trust and Credibility When Trying to Win More Sales · [09:43] Will Barron: But then we get to the point of, “Well, what do you actually want to achieve? Forget your sales target. Let's go beyond that and let's see where you need to be in five, 10 years, what you need to earn to get to that point.” And then you see their start to open it wide and you can then go, “Well, okay, well our training maybe can help with this or maybe it can't help with this.” And we go down the kind of giving the solution to the problem, right? And again, I'm conscious I'm coming from a perspective of the audience. By the time I get on a call with them, whether it's a sales leader, the VP of sales, to sell our training product, they already know everything about it. They already know all about me. There's a layer of trust rapport there. So, with that said, Andy, what do we do if we're selling something like office furniture or accounting software, or something like this where there's perhaps, and maybe you can help me with this, but instantly I'm struggling to come up with some grand vision for the cheap office furniture that I'm selling. You know what I mean? Versus what I just described of a transformation, which is going to change both your career, but perhaps your personal life as well. Andy Paul: Not every price, you had that vision on the first call, right? So, there's a process. You have to build this connection with the buyer as a human being. You have to build a level of credibility and trust, which you talked about. You've built through your podcast with your audience and the people you're talking to, is what they've done is said, “Look, okay, we've built that connection.” So I talk about four pillars of selling in, in my book, connection, curiosity, understanding, generosity. You've built that connection, that trust. So now what the buyer says, “Look, I'm going to open the door to your influence Will, right? I have this trust in you. I'm going to enable you to come in and sort of stick your nose into our business to really learn what is most important to us. What are the outcomes we're trying to achieve.” “If you go in from a position of trust, you're going to be able to go much deeper and get deeper and better insights into what the buyer's trying to achieve than you would without trust.” – Andy Paul · [11:21] Andy Paul: And as you know, I mean, when you talk to sellers, two people can ask the same question and get two dramatically different answers, based on the connection and the trust that they've built up with that buyer. So that's why starting with that human connection is so important, leads into your curiosity. We use our curiosity to explore the things that are unfamiliar to us. Well, again, if you go in from a position of trust, you're going to be able to go much deeper and get deep and better insights into what the buyer's trying to achieve than you would without them. Why You? How to Create a Seamless Buying Experience That Gets the Buyer To Choose Your Product or Service · [11:32] Will Barron: How much of the practical skill of doing this, Andy, comes from building trust, building rapport, having the buyer going into the conversation with them seeing you as someone who can often value as opposed to a pesky salesperson who's just trying to suck money from their pocket, right? How much of this comes up from framing the conversation? How much of it is enabled by framing the conversation up as, this is a consultative call, as opposed to a, I don't know, maybe you wouldn't do this on a cold call. You'd use your cold call…

Full show notes at the publisher

How To Sell Like A Copywriter | Salesman Podcast Mar 30, 2022

Show notes

On this episode of the Salesman Podcast, Andrew Bolton explains what a copywriter is and how the art of copywriting can make you a much better seller. Andrew has been a copywriter for 12 years. He’s worked with some big brands and plenty of tiny ones too. He teaches copywriting on the Creative Advertising & Creative Writing courses at the University of Lincoln and is the author of bestselling book ‘Copywriting Is: 30-or-so thoughts on thinking like a copywriter’. You'll learn: Sponsored by: Free SalesCode assessment Learn your strengths and weaknesses in an instant. Taken by over 10,000+ of your competitors. Don't get left behind. Take the free assessment Featured on this episode: Host - Will Barron Founder of Salesman.org Guest - Andrew Bolton Experienced Copywriter Resources Andrew’s LinkedIn Book: Copywriting Is…: 30-or-so thoughts on thinking like a copywriter Book: On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction Book: Read Me: 10 Lessons for Writing Great Copy Book: A Self-Help Guide for Copywriters Transcript Will Barron: Hi, my name is Will, and welcome to today's episode of the Salesman Podcast. On today's episode, we're looking at how you can sell like a copywriter. Today's guest is Andrew Boulton. Andrew's been a copywriter for 12 years. He's worked with some big brands and plenty of tiny ones as well. He teaches copywriting on the creative advertising and creative writing courses at the University of Lincoln. And he is the author of the best selling book, Copywriting Is…: 30-or-So Thoughts on Thinking Like a Copywriter. With that, Andrew, welcome to the show. Andrew Boulton: Hello, thanks for having me. Will Barron: I'm glad to have you on mate. Copywriting is something that is top of mind for me at the moment as sales people move from, I guess, 20 years ago before I was in sales. I imagine you could knock on doors, you could pick up the phone, you could… The gift of the gab and a bit of a silver tongue probably open up quite a few doors, whereas the world we live in now, whether you are emailing, texting, creating content, whatever it is to get attention in the marketplace, clearly copywriting fit into all of this. What is Copywriting and How Can We Use It To Improve Our Sales Processes? · [01:05] Will Barron: So with that said, though, I think there's going to be at least a few members of the audience, Andrew, that are unfamiliar with the term. Can you tell us just to get us started what copywriting is, if there's a definition of this, and then I guess what the goal of copywriting is for a salesperson, someone who needs to generate meetings and get deals done. Andrew Boulton: Yeah, of course. I think there's probably going to be more than a few people who aren't necessarily immediately familiar or very familiar with the term. And you mentioned at the start, I teach on a creative advertising course and a creative writing course, people who are very much young people who are primed to kind of go into those careers where copywriting is a very big part of kind of the industry and very few of those students know what copywriting is. “Copywriting is simply using words to drive action.” – Andrew Boulton · [02:10] Andrew Boulton: So sadly, I think it's one of those things that sort of slips under the radar. I think in essence, if you ask me to kind of summarise what it is, it's the business of kind of communicating about your brand, communicating about your product, ultimately trying to persuade your audience to do the thing you want them to do. It is kind of using words to drive action. Andrew Boulton: So regardless of what your business is or what your brand is or how you think or what you think kind of the big drivers and the big sort of pullers are within those organisations, words, and copy and your messaging and how you present yourselves and how you kind of communicate, what makes you good and sort of worthwhile comes down to copywriting. Whether you're currently using a copywriter or not, copywriting is kind of one of those big pillars that props up the effectiveness of how your business speaks to the people that you want to turn into customers and keep as customers. The Art and Science of Copywriting · [02:50] Will Barron: For sure. Okay. So when we talk about persuading in sales, there is this constant battle. And I'm flipping on this. I go from one side to another. I've got a background in science, I've got a degree in chemistry, I'm a public scientist. So if there is data, if there's science, if there's a way to systemify things, I'm all in. Will Barron: But persuasion a lot of the time is leaning into people's emotions. There are many uncontrollables when we're going about persuading or influencing or lodging a prospect one way or the other. So with that said, is copywriting… Again, this is cliched in sales, but I don't know if it translates to copywriting. Is copywriting a science? Is it an art? Is it somewhere down the middle? Can it be measured? How do we know… I guess what I'm asking is, is it an art, is it a science? Then can we measure the effectiveness of copywriting? Andrew Boulton: I suppose in the same way you ask the question about sort of sales in general, yeah, it's a combination of those things and it becomes a very sort of dangerous and self defeating business if you feel compelled to kind of pigeon hole into one thing. So if I copywrite purely based on sort of science and data and what the spreadsheet tells me is likely to persuade people, you end up with something that probably lacks a lot of the kind of the heart and the human voice, that all good kind of messaging and communication requires. Andrew Boulton: Equally if I sat down and wrote a poem because I'm feeling it especially somehow artistic and creative, it might be very a beautiful writing, but it's very unlikely to do the thing I needed to do. So I think if you are looking for sort of the answer to that, it's kind of one thing propped on another. And usually in the process of copywriting, you probably start with some harder evidence or somewhat kind of concrete data to lean upon, even if it's nothing more spectacular than a relatively detailed view of who your customer is and what sort of motivates them. Andrew Boulton: But then I suppose it is still very much a kind of creative job, even if your starting point is based on insight and based on human truth, you then have to do something with that that makes it something people are going to want to read and want to notice and feel like they recognise and appreciate the voice. Because that's the only way you're ever going to kind of land that message. “I could have all the data and the evidence, the facts and the science I like, if I don't sort of come up with a voice and a method of communicating that data such that people are going to care about watching or listening or kind of engaging with, then all of that has kind of been a waste.” – Andrew Boulton · [04:45] Andrew Boulton: I could have all the data and the evidence and sort of facts and the science I like. If I don't sort of come up with a voice and a method of communicating that that people are going to care about watching or listening or kind of engaging with, then all of that has kind of been a waste. I think when we talk to the students about copywriting and persuasion in particular, you try and train them that you can't just be expected to kind of pull these answers out of your own head. Andrew Boulton: If you take on this sort of first person perspective and just think about what would or would not persuade or engage you, then you are giving yourself a very limited frame of reference. And I think we try and introduce them as much as possible to some of the big thinkers in terms of sort of behavioural science. Richard Shotton and Choice Factory is a huge part of what we do, is training people to be creative advertisers. Andrew Boulton: Thaler and sort of the whole nudge theory with stuff we introduced, what Rory Sutherland is saying and Alchemy is a particularly important book for sort of the way we teach it. So I think it's one I've given you a really long and unhelpful answer that says I don't know. I think it absolutely has to be both, but what I do know for certain is if you try and do one or the other of art or science, it's very likely that either attempt would fail. The First Step to Writing Perfect Copy · [06:05] Will Barron: Sure. So what is the… I think you might mentioned it then in your answer Andrew. But what is the starting point for all of this? Is it coming up with our ideal bio persona? Is this something that we need to document? Is this something we need to do by interviews, customer interviews, and find out who those individuals are rather than making assumptions about who they are? And then we, I don't know, do we visualise them as we're typing away writing copy of what they would want to receive in their inbox? What do we need to do before I guess we start putting the metaphorical pen to paper. Andrew Boulton: I think it's one of those things where I'm always really reluctant to kind of ascribe a process or any kind of universal process. Because what works for one creative or what works for one salesperson is going to be really, really different for another. It is about what produces the best results and the sort of most comfortable experience or most rewarding experience I suppose for you. Andrew Boulton: I think yeah, of course, you sort of need to know something about your target, your prospect, your consumer. Whatever language you use within your organisation, it all boils down to fact it's a person. It's a person who lives a real life, has got real sort of challenges, real needs, real motivations and we have to start understanding them. So I'm certainly not against sort of data and I certainly recognise the value of what data can do. But that data often needs translating into something that is real and human. Andrew Boulton: And I've certainly worked on briefs where there's been sort of a fantastic volume of kind of insight and data, but no real attempt to make it as something that I could translate into a real person living a real life. So again, I suppose it feeds back into the art and science question again, isn't it? There is no point in sort of putting a huge amount into the science of this understanding and this portrait you create of consumer if you don't then go back it up with some real life interaction and some real experience of who these people are and what their lives are, and ask them to have an honest conversation with you. Andrew Boulton: I mean, like a lot of your listeners, I've sat in on sort of consumer testing sessions and I've seen a bunch of people, sat around a table, being asked questions. And the same bunch of people I've sort of chatted to either before or after the session and found them very ordinary, very sort of typical, real people speaking in the way real people do and you put them around this table and they behave completely different. “The first step before writing anything is about going into the natural environment for your customer and your audience, just observing it and being part of it and sort of experiencing it as much as possible. I think that is as valuable, if not more valuable than all the stuff you can do with your spreadsheets and your data and your modelling.” – Andrew Boulton · [08:40] Andrew Boulton: And it becomes less a representation of kind of real human beings living real human lives and more about you are a subject in a study and you are going to kind of behave as if your answers or your responses are somehow being evaluated, which I suppose they are. So I think something about going into the natural environment for your customer and your audience, just observing it and being part of it and sort of experiencing it as much as possible in the way they do. Andrew Boulton: I think that is as valuable, if not more valuable than all the stuff you can do with your sort of spreadsheets and your data and your modelling. But I think as a copywriter and anyone who's trying to kind of reach and persuade an audience, you will be really foolish to sort of turn your back on anything out of principle. I think you've got to sort of try it and see what kind of results it produces. Andrew Boulton: I suppose the other part of your question is, can you measure it? Can you measure the effectiveness of persuasion? Well, on one very basic level, yes, of course you can. If you put certain copy into a certain ad in a certain place, and we sell 10 lawn mowers instead of two lawn mowers, I suppose on a really sort of basic level, you can attribute that to the effectiveness of persuasion and sort the whole sort AB testing model we see on a lot of digital advertising where it's simply a matter of the arrangement of words, this arrangement of words that performs that arrangement of words. Andrew Boulton: And sometimes we never particularly understand why arrangement A outperforms arrangement B. But again, I think you've got to be really wary in terms of performance of just basing it on the numbers, on the spreadsheet, on what's that column doing. That can only be a part of the story. And it goes back to conversation, it goes back to kind of understanding who your audience are, not on a theoretical or an empirical level, but on a real human level. Andrew Boulton: And that's when you start to learn the conversations they have, the conversations they want to have and what they want from you. This mistake that so many brands make go out and just start talking straight away about how great you are and what you do and how you do all these things better than everyone and you never kind of stop to consider, “Well, what is it that our audience actually kind of cares about? What do they want from us?” Copywriting is the Perfect Alignment and Arrangement of Words · [10:35] Will Barron: I love this. And tell me if this is something that you commonly say. You came out with it almost flippantly, but I think it's amazing. You called copy an arrangement of words. Am I, who's a beginner in this, trying to over complicate this whole conversation? And should we think about it more as an arrangement of words to drive an action, as opposed to art, science, data and everything else that I'm trying to tie into the conversation? “The word story and storytelling has been badly battered by the world of marketing. It's been misused and has almost been ridiculed slightly because of the very sort of pretentious, very over elaborate ways people have used it. But fundamentally, that's what you are trying to do. You're trying to kind of create these narratives because human beings deal in stories. We engage with stories, we sort of frame our own lives in stories and we tell ourselves stories in order to live. All of these things are really, really true.” – Andrew Boulton · [11:47] Andrew Boulton: Yeah, and you're absolutely, and I think that's like anything in this business, like anything in sort of sales or marketing or advertising, it's so easy and it's so tempting to kind of over complicate stuff, which are of fundamental sort of human conditions. And the word story and storytelling has been sort badly battered by the world of marketing. Andrew Boulton: It's been misused and has been almost kind of ridiculed slightly because of the sort of the very sort of pretentious, very over elaborate ways people have used it. But fundamentally, that's what you are trying to do. You're trying to kind of create these narratives, human beings deal in stories. We engage with stories, we sort of frame our o…

Full show notes at the publisher

**The Perfect Elevator Pitch – Best Examples and Templates** Mar 29, 2022
Show notes

Selling is all about communicating value. And if you *can’t* communicate your product’s value, your potential buyers sure as hell aren’t going to be itching to work with you.

Mastering an elevator pitch is one of the most effective ways to quickly and effectively pique your prospect’s interest and set the foundation for a successful sale. And crafting your elevator pitch is exactly what we’re talking about today.

The Pitch

More than most professions, sales reps know that time is precious. And everyone—whether it’s a secretary, executive, career buyer, or even coffee deliverer—*everyone* takes how they spend their time seriously.

If you’ve ever cold-called, you know what I’m talking about. Have you *ever* been through a morning of cold calling where you haven’t been hung up on? Someone who doesn’t see the value of your pitch won’t even waste their time letting you finish.

Now for sales, that presents a bit of a conundrum. How the heck do you communicate your product or service’s value with such a small sliver of your prospect’s time?

That’s where the elevator pitch comes in. The elevator pitch is meant to quickly and effectively tell your prospects what it is you do and how you solve their problems. But a well-crafted elevator pitch isn’t just helpful when you’re stuck in a room with someone for 20 or 30 seconds. It can also boost your cold-calling success rates, refine your messaging for follow-up emails and meetings, or even inform your final pitch strategy when it comes time to close.

So, what does a great elevator pitch look like? Well, let’s jump in and see.

**1: The Clean Open**

Now, the very first step of an elevator pitch is to map out your opening.

This step is all about being clear and straight to the point. So be sure to cut the crap, nix the industry jargon, and toss aside any and all buzzwords here.

Essentially, you want to create a *single sentence* that tells your prospect what you do, who you can help, and how you can help.

To accomplish that, all you have to do is follow a simple yet *incredibly* effective formula…

**“I Help X Do Y By Z.”**

For me and the Selling Made Simple Academy, mine would look something like –

“I help sales professionals find and win more outbound sales using simple selling frameworks and one-on-one mentorship. We’re trusted by 2,000+ students.”

That’s it.

And *anyone* can use this formula. “I help small businesses stay compliant and reduce their liability by providing accredited and experienced tax consultation.” “I help dog owners’ pets look their best by offering boutique grooming services.”

See how easy that is?

When you start with a clear, value-driven statement using this formula, you’re setting the stage for prospects to better understand and internalize the next step…

**2: The Story**

Stories aren’t just for passing the time during your off-hours or putting the little ones to sleep. They’re actually *powerful* selling tools.

See, humans are hard-wired for stories. The earliest evidence that we’re storytellers goes back tens of thousands of years. And studies have shown that messages wrapped in a well-constructed story are more likely to be understood, recalled, and internalized.

That’s why the next step in your pitch is to tell your prospect a story about a past customer you helped. Nothing too long-winded, of course. Just enough to get your prospect thinking about how you can accomplish the same results for them too.

Now, a few guiding principles here.

**A) Cater the Story to Your Prospect**

Cater the story to your prospect. The more relevant the story is, ideally in the same industry, the more it’s going to resonate with your prospect.

**B) Explain Their Reality**

Explain the reality that the hero of your story currently lives in. Tie it into the world of the person who is receiving your elevator pitch.

**C) Identify & Agitate the Pain**

Identify and agitate the pain. In the story, describe a problem a past client had that’s similar to your prospect. Inefficient team? Unmet sales goals? Whatever it is, it should cause your prospect’s ears to perk up. “Hey, that’s what *I’m* dealing with.”

Research here is helpful. But if you haven’t had the time and this is a fresh contact, you can touch on problems that are common throughout the industry too.

After that, dig into the pain points of the problem. Is it bruising their reputation? Are they missing out on promotions because of it? This “twisting of the knife” so to speak really helps the prospect connect with the subject in the story and makes the effect more powerful.

**D) Point Out Success Barriers**

Point out success barriers. What stopped the customer from taking action once they decided to solve the problem? Was it an overwhelming number of possible solutions? Cost of change? The risk of the solution not working out?

Touch on these barriers too. And if possible, focus specifically on ones you know the prospect has dealt with in the past.

**E) Illuminate the End Result & Connect the Gap**

Illuminating the end result and connecting the gap. How did the story’s subject feel *after* solving the problem? Were they able to achieve or even outperform their goals? Did they finally get that raise? Did they earn the respect from the C-suite?

What we’re doing here is getting the prospect enthusiastic about the future. They *too* could feel those things, achieve those results, and earn that respect.

And **you** are the one that helped them get there.

If you’ve done a good job at getting the prospect to relate to the story, they’ll feel compelled to reap those same benefits for themselves.

And once you’ve done that thanks to a compelling story, all that’s left is…

**3: The Call-To-Action (CTA)**

After you’ve given prospects a clean summary of what you do and told a quick story to really drive your value home, it’s time to inspire action.

What do you want your prospect to do now that they’re aware of you? Should they head over to your website? Buy your product outright? Or just give you a call when they’re interested in the benefits your services have to offer?

Be sure you’re closing your pitch with a clear and direct call to action. And if the situation calls for it, punctuate the CTA with an ask—

“Does it make sense to jump on a quick call tomorrow morning?”

If you’ve done everything right so far and the buyer’s a fit, a final ask is the best way to push them over the edge from prospect to a full-blown qualified lead.

**Summary**

When you create and practice an elevator pitch built on this model, you’ll not only never be at a loss for words when someone asks, “What do you do?” on the way to the fourth floor. But you can also use it in nearly all cold-outreach methods, follow-up communications, and even final pitch strategies.

All it takes is…

**Crafting a Clean Open –** Crafting a clean and direct opening using the “I help X do Y by Z” formula…

**Delivering a Relevant Story –** Delivering a relevant story that resonates with prospects and clearly demonstrates your value…

**Giving Prospects a CTA –** And giving your prospects a tangible call-to-action like getting in touch, setting up a demo, or even outright buying your product.

Simple. Effective. And versatile. This is the elevator pitch to rule all elevator pitches. And with it, you’ll be well on your way to upping your sales game faster than ever.

The post The Perfect Elevator Pitch – Best Examples and Templates appeared first on Salesman.com.

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