Sales Game Changers | Tips from Successful Sales Leaders

This is episode 323. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. This is a replay of the Optimal Sales Mindset Webinar sponsored by the Institute for Excellence in Sales and hosted by Fred Diamond on January 21, 2021. It featured Alex Chappell. At the time, Alex was a sports reporter for ESPN and MASN. She is a now a sales professional at Amazon Web Services. ALEX'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Have that 1 and Oh (1-0) mindset. These are all things that I've learned with my time with the Nationals because there are so many games and if you lose or win, it's on to the next day. Maybe a game didn't go the way they wanted but that 1-0 feeling that the next day they can turn things around or how can they build off their last win in order to keep it going. Not every day is going to be a winning one, but how do you keep that momentum going? How do you stay up and not get discouraged? Going 1-0, that will to win, that passion, drive. When somebody says no, that's when the sale starts so how do you turn it around?"

This is episode 322. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. JOE'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "I hope 'think, plan, execute' resonates. For success selling to the Public Sector market, focus on the technical, the sales training and the understanding of the government since you will need all three. I am always learning about new government initiatives, new acronyms that pop up all the time and then technically it's always changing. The whole machine learning piece has really accelerated my learning. And on the sales training, I always wonder about the perfect questions and things to do."

This is episode 321. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. JAMES' TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Pre-call planning is not that complicated, you can simplify it down to just three questions you should ask yourself before you go in. First, "Why should this customer see me?" That's the valid business reason for them to meet with you so instead of winging it, just give it a little thought, it basically speaks to your value proposition. Second, "What do I want the customer to do?" The last is, "How can I add value on this encounter?" We need to make the sales call itself inherently valuable."

This is episode 320. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. JENNIFER'S TIP FOR EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Focus on what you can control, what's right here, right in front of you. Whatever business you're in, every interaction is about adding value to your partner, adding value to your client or prospect. How are you going to do that? Clear out the minutiae around you and focus on what you can control. When you do that, you're not letting it happen to you, you're making things happen. That's very positive and that's exciting."

This is episode 319. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. MARK'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "It's really important for salespeople to understand their organization's North Star. What is it that they do better than anybody else and why do you want to work there? If they really understand that, the interactions with the clients are going to be more meaningful, they're going to be more impactful and then you're going to position that team for success."

This is episode 318. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. SHELLEY'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Good active listening skills is highly energetic work. It takes a lot of energy on your part to really listen and be able to reflect emotion and context and content when interacting with your customers. When practicing validation, pay attention to when you're sensing that context, that emotional piece in your communication and try validating that emotion that you observe by speaking it out loud and checking to see if you understood that emotional context. See if it then lowers the brain activation so you can have a more constructive conversation."

This is episode 317. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. DEBRA'S TIP FOR EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Being natural when you speak is the best approach to take. We see a lot of Ted speakers these days and a lot of different ways that people are presenting. You can follow all the best practices of pausing and pace, but truly being natural and talking like you're talking to a friend about something that you're passionate about is the best way to be a speaker in pretty much all context."

This is episode 316. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. SPENCER'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "What is the quality of experience we're trying to have with customers? Do I have a message that's at the fingertips of my sellers and they're capable of delivering it and we can engage with it and measure it and know that it's being delivered properly? Then are we bringing the right mindset to help those customers come to a decision? Are we doing research before our conversations? Are we setting proper expectations and next steps? There's a lot of tactics here, there's a mindset change, there's a tool set. If you can just put all of the pieces together and just keep working at it, you can solve this. The great part here is yes, it's kind of scary but it also presents an opportunity because you can do what other people aren't doing and you'll stand out in the eyes of your customer and they will reward you with business."

This is episode 315. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. LISA'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Pre-call planning is critical. Go to www.toplinesale.com and download the pre-call plan. It's a 2-page fillable PDF I've been updating it 15 years so it's not old, it's new. You will immediately impact the quality of your calls and start to think a little more strategically about every single one of those calls. For 5X deals, this has to happen and many times it happens with the account team."

This is episode 314. Read the complete transcript on The Sales Game Changers Podcast website. SUSAN'S TIP FOR EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Start with one outreach, perhaps to that one person you've been thinking about. Drop them an email today and you'll be amazed about what that can lead to. I can't stress enough to start small, one or two actions per day but then have that 20-mile framework set up so that you're able to work within that as you move forward. These tiny little steps, all of a sudden you look back and you're like, "I'm almost at the South Pole and my 1,400 mile journey is almost over."

This is episode 313. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. TONY'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Continue to have a growth mindset. It's not what we know but what we don't that's most important. Go learn something new that's going to help you help others, whether that's a cross-functional peer, a peer in your organization or your customer. Go learn something that's going to help someone else and seek out mentors who can help you do those two things."

This is episode 312. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. ART'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "If you really believe in what you have and you feel that there are people that could take advantage of it, you are actually doing a disservice to people by not being a strong sales professional. The world needs professional salespeople, especially right now, to lead and they need to hear your message. If it's just not a fit today, no problem, at least you found out. A decision is better than no decision so again, you can do this, go out there, give it a shot. Let's make things happen. You can make 2021 your best year ever."

This is episode 311. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. KAREN CANTWELL'S TIP FOR EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Determine what your comfort level is in terms of speed and pace. What's typically called channel or VAR sales is much faster than alliances or with systems integrators. If you're one who is more inclined to the quick hit, it can be very voluminous and active, the speed could be really exciting for you. If you're more into the strategy with how to leverage the partnership for a multi-million dollar deal, then alliances with larger integrators would be the way to go. BETHANN PEPOLI'S TIP FOR EMERGING SALES LEADERS: " Follow your passion. If you don't wake up in the morning and say to yourself, "I can't wait to go to work" or solve a challenge or truly enjoy what you're doing, you won't be satisfied, it won't be a fulfilling career. Always follow your passion and don't be afraid of the career pivot. It gives you a different lens on the business. So if you aren't in channel sales yet, come on over, the water's warm!"

This is episode 310. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. BILL'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Make your number. I don't say that to just be an old-school sales manager, I say it because in that success you will achieve your goals and you will be fulfilled as an individual. Figure out how to make yourself meaningful to your customer. Make them want to call you, as you add value to their life. They'll call you, commerce will take place, you'll make your number, their problems will be solved and we can all keep this thing moving forward."

This is episode 309. Read the complete transcript on The Sales Game Changers Podcast website. ANDY'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Your courage improves as your pipeline gets bigger. The asking mindset is one way to get there. And you may need to ask 6 times! The problem is salespeople don't ask and there's a cost of not asking to you but also your customer or your prospect of not asking. Make sure you ask face to face somehow. Don't do it on LinkedIn, don't do it on the email. It's easy for them to say no and you just can't project the authenticity that you need to. Ask for some advice, ask for some coaching from them or ask for a chance. Always be clear and specific on your ask and be authentic."

This is episode 308. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. LISA'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Squeeze the Lemon. It's not about making lemonade out of lemons. It's about getting the most juice out of everything in your life. Squeeze the lemon in our sales lives by asking partners for a LinkedIn recommendation or to be used as a reference. Are you getting the most out of every networking opportunity? Are you getting the most out of every client visit? Are you preparing as you should be to ensure you get what you need to help the customer achieve their goals?"

This is episode 307. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. PATTY'S TIP FOR EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "It's really important for women in sales to take time for yourself. That's what I try to remind myself of every day when I'm in my 6th or 7th hour of Zoom – that's when you do your best work. That's when you really reflect on what it is that you need for yourself to move your career forward. Where am I stuck? What am I doing right? Taking time for myself typically means some exercise, a walk with a friend or calling my mom, and connecting with someone that I know needs me."

This is episode 306. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. MARK'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Sales professionals have an obligation to reach out to people who you know you can help. Your goal is to earn the right, privilege, honor and respect to be able to talk with that person again. When you earn this right, then you can say you had a good day because you're going to be able to come back and talk with them again and this time, you'll get a little deeper, and be able to show them the real reason why and how you can help them. Customers are craving this level of transparency, authenticity and engagement."

This is episode 305. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. JAMIE'S TIP FOR EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "One of the biggest challenges we face are limiting beliefs. Ask yourself what is the #1 obstacle that I'm facing right now that's holding me back from being truly who I was created to be personally or professionally to being my very best self? Then examine the belief that's associated with that. Ask "When did I start believing that? What happened in my life?" There are a lot of lies that we tell ourselves that you wouldn't tell your best friend. If you were treating yourself like your own best friend, you would be saying something totally different to yourself. Figure out what that is and go through the exercise of adopting a new belief is very powerful."

This is episode 304. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. CHRIS' TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Listen and learn. On the listening side, one technique I've used is wait until someone finishes the last word that they've said, envision that last letter before you interject. We all go into sales because we like to talk, but you should always practice listening. It helps you be a trusted adviser and be open minded about learning. You can learn anywhere, from books, from people, from people above you in the org, from peers, from people on your team." MEG'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Keep yourself healthy, both mentally and physically. Start thinking about next year. How you can change things up next year knowing what we're going to be facing. Finally, have some fun. It's the holiday season!"

This is episode 303. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. LANCE'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "There are two books on the top of my bookshelf - "All the Places You'll Go" and "Green Eggs and Ham." If you look up the amount of objections that are in "Green Eggs and Ham," you'll find there are 73 and the main objection is, "I don't like green eggs and ham." But the first objection is "I don't like Sam-I-Am." The first objection of the book is, "I don't like the salesperson!" You have to work on your likeability factor. I came out of Dale Carnegie Training and the book How to Win Friends and Influence People doesn't say you have to like anybody, it says you have to have a likeability factor. I urge all sales professionals to be conscious of that and to keep working on it."

This is episode 302. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. GRETCHEN'S TIP FOR EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Tune into yourself. Behavior management is more important than just results for sales managers and salespeople. Behaviors are everything from activities to how you are conducting the sales conversation. For example, make sure that you are doing customer call planning and debriefing. If you do not have a manager that is frequently available to help with that, partner up with a friend. Have an accountability partner to help you change your behaviors."

This is episode 301. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. SEAN'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Celebrate micro victories. On a daily basis, it could be hitting your target for calls, your number of connects, or it could be a campaign that just generated some number of responses. In sales it's too easy for us to look at the scoreboard as the definition of success and I think that now more than ever there's a lot of things that we can be celebrating and it's incumbent on us as leaders to acknowledge and to celebrate those things on a daily basis." BRIAN'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Set realistic goals. We're back to work in a different way so don't let COVID or work-from-home and all the changes be your excuse. How can I be better than everybody else that is using this as an excuse? Let it drive you to create that value, create that ability to be able to connect because you're going to strive to do a little bit better than the people you're competing against."

This is episode 300. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. ALEX'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "It's so easy right now to stand out from the crowd, you just need to do a little bit of being present. We all have people that we know and who know us and we care about them, we need to communicate that care a little bit more and that is what puts you in the top 5 to 10%. If you care without communicating it, nobody knows you care and they can't benefit from it even though they want to, even though they need to. Show that you want to help and see what happens. It will be good."

This is episode 299. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. ANITA'S TIP FOR EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Give yourself some time to just ask yourself, "What could I be doing right now to help me be better at sales?" The one skill that I know that most high-performing sales professional have is they're always good at is asking good discovery questions so that's one that I'm constantly harping on, if you need an example. So say to yourself, "I need to get better at asking discovery questions so now I'll go look online or look on LinkedIn for some ideas on how to do that."

This is episode 298. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. MONICA'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "While we're all in a pandemic together, there's a lot of different ways how that's affecting people. I think that's equally as important to bring that same empathy to your customers and your prospects so if you get somebody on the phone and they seem distracted, they seem like they might have something else going on, a child walks in the room, offer to take the meeting the next day. Understand that people are going through a lot right now and enter every conversation with empathy, compassion, understanding then preparing for it." ROSIE'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "First, understand what motivates you and why you want to be successful. Second, find the right balance between seller development, your understanding of the product and the time that you spend with your customers, and your planning and preparation. If you could find the right balance among those three things and take a proactive approach, it's going to help you with your success. Third, remain positive because we are all fortunate to be in these positions where we can be having conversations like this about how to be successful and it's important to see the big picture."

This is episode 297. Read the complete transcription here. BRIAN'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "If you're going to bring your highest energy into your sales, work, life, and relationships, you should get more involved in hearing other people's stories because it will help you tell a better story yourself. You're sharing your story in order to build relational trust which is a reciprocal emotion, you give it to get it. Even though you're talking, you're doing so in a way that's very much about the other person. If you're going to be of service to others, you have to listen and don't ever want minimize the behavior and act of listening. Listening is the best gift you can give your customers."

This is episode 296. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. AMY'S INSIGHTS FOR EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "See your career as a jungle gym versus a ladder straight up. Especially for women in sales and women in really any role, our careers take winding paths. There is almost never a straight up type of career path so it's taking on a different mindset and then set an action that says, "I'm going to see my career as this very holistic thing, it's not just this small slice point in time here." You are trying out different things on the jungle gym. You might be going sideways, you might be going up, you might actually be going down, it's a different visual and a different approach that says, "I'm going to take on different things in my career to build skills and not necessarily just be focused on what's the next rung up on the ladder."

This is episode 295. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. ALICE'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "A free way to show gratitude is by making an introduction. There is no rule that you can't make an introduction just like there's no rule that you can't send a little thank-you note. That is a great gift, when you can make a very thoughtful introduction to someone that they might need to know either because they want to change their career or needed a resource. Or it's just someone that they've admired for a long time or someone that you just think they should know."

This is episode 294. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. NERTILA'S INSIGHTS FOR EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Never be nervous, just believe in yourself, never think there's anything that you can't do. Never think of gender or anything as an obstacle. Always think about your successes, your strengths, what you're good at, what you love, what makes you happy and be confident about it. Talk about it, go for it, there's really nothing that you can't achieve. It sounds cheesy but it's really like that."

This is episode 293. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. This is a replay of the SALES GAME CHANGERS LIVE Webinar sponsored by the Institute for Excellence in Sales and hosted by Fred Diamond on November 18, 2020. It featured University of Virginia Darden School of Business professor Tom Steenburgh. TOM'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Make it new. The question is, "How do I refresh my sales approach in a way that makes it better?" Because of the pandemic I'm forced to do things in a different way so is it possible for me to make it better? Then my life goes back to normal, if you have made it better keep doing the new thing and if it hasn't become better, go back to the old one but always try to make it new because that's how we learn and grow and get better. Ask yourself, "Maybe there's some possibility here that I haven't been exploring" and it might get you unstuck."

This is episode 292. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. MIKE'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "There are five different ways to respond to an objection with the acronym READY. You can REVERSE an objection, hit it right back at them with, "That's exactly why." The reason a Reverse is so powerful is because the reason you're against it is the reason you should be for it. You can EXPLAIN what happened and that's a perfectly reasonable answer, it's not an argument, it's just, "Let me explain what this is. You can ADMIT something. Occasionally there will be a bad piece of news, they're going to look at how you DENY that. Vehemently, strongly, affirmatively deny that that happened. Finally, ask WHY. It buys you some time and it gives you more information."

This is episode 291. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. This is a replay of the WOMEN IN SALES Webinar sponsored by the Institute for Excellence in Sales and hosted by Gina Stracuzzi on August 20, 2020. It featured LinkedIn Sales Leader Alyssa Merwin. ALYSSA'S INSIGHTS FOR EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "There's never been a better time to be a woman in sales. Women tend to have high emotional intelligence (EQ) and to be empathetic. These are the times when our strengths will really shine through. I think if we can spend time on controlling the controllable and leaning on our strengths, we will get through this and hopefully be in a better position on the other side."

This is episode 290. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. HOWARD'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Work the funnel from the top down. If you don't get your prospecting over in the morning or set time of the day, you'll get all the way till the end of the day having worked on proposals all day, it's 6 o'clock and your prospecting time got crowded out and then you go a quarter later and your pipeline is empty. You really want to work the funnel from the top down to do your best to avoid those feast and famine quarters, it's way too easy to do the in-front-of-you work of writing proposals and qualifying leads but you've really got to force yourself. After you close the deals that are closable that day, go right to the top of the funnel and work from the top down so that you're not having a famine quarter next quarter. JASON'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "I always encourage my sales team and sellers to focus on the customer first and prioritize those engagements directly with the customer. Look for new ways to engage, don't let a day go by where you're not at least texting, calling, maybe setting up a Facetime chat, whatever it is. There is an opportunity to really stay engaged more frequently now than ever before but it's not going to come in the form of a one hour sit-down followed by an hour long lunch or maybe a golf game. I'm sure some of those things are happening on an ad hoc basis but in general you need to think in shorter spurts and just engaging in meaningful yet quick and effective ways."

This is episode 289. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. MERRICK'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "If you're selling to someone and their style is different than yours, one of you is going to leave that interaction exhausted and it better be you because it takes energy to flex. Do you want your customer flexing, or do you want to be the one who is flexing? Notice how if you are imposing your style on your customer, you're focusing on YOUR needs, not on THEIR needs."

This is episode 288. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. This episode was hosted by Gina Stracuzzi, Institute for Excellence in Sales Women in Sales program leader. CYNTHIA'S INSIGHTS FOR EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Female-led sales teams are 50% female, they tend to be more female than male-led sales teams which are only 25% female. There is a huge benefit of having a female sales leader because she brings in more women in sales to her team, so if you are a C suite or a CEO out there and you're thinking, "How do we attract more women in sales, start with having female sales leaders? Women in sales know that they are being highly sought after and when they look at the leadership team of your organization, if they don't see anyone that looks like them they're going to pass and go onto a company that does represent them. Women hold 1 in 5 leadership positions and only 1 in 4 mid-level sales manager roles, which if you talk about overall sales leadership for women, it is 89% male, 11% female. We have a huge opportunity to advance women in sales not only on the individual contributor level but on the manager and leadership level as well."

This is episode 287. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. BILL'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "You can't focus 18 hours of your day on work. You really need to take time out and spend time with your family and friends and really balance that. If you don't balance your life, it will lead to a terrible outcome. As a sales professional, as you drive into another next sales goal and continue building a big pipeline, please remember to stay close to your partners, your customers and your family and friends."

This is episode 286. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. GENE'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "I want you to take three different prey mindsets that you tend to have and change them into predator mindsets. If you tend to think about other people's opinions of you, think how would you change that into focusing more on your effort, your attitude, your aggressiveness. If you're afraid of rejection, if you're thinking too much about the numbers, if you compare yourself too much to your neighbor, change that prey mindset into a predator mindset. Start with three simple examples and then you could move on throughout your life. Any area you want to get better at, you could apply the same approach and it will work, guaranteed. As we always say, whether it's sports, business, school or life, mindset makes the difference."

This is episode 285. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. SHELLEY'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "To get ahead, go to your direct manager and ask them what does success look like at the end of the day, at the end of the week, at the end of the quarter so that you know what's expected? When there's clarity around expectations, it's easier to be accountable. When I really know what's expected of me, it's easy for you to come back and hold me accountable when you and I both articulated what the outcome is supposed to be."

This is episode 284. Read the transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. ROB'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Find a way to affect your reality, not accept your reality. I'm a big student of history, I love quotes, there was a commander of the French Army in World War I named Ferdinand Foch and he famously said once, "My center is giving away, my right is in retreat, situation excellent, I shall attack." I try to bring that type of mindset every single day no matter what's happening, "Okay, my center is giving away, attack." Bring that sort of, "How can I impact what's in front of me?" There are certain things you can't control, put them aside, find the things you can do something about." LARRY'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Now, more than ever, we need to engage. Looking at what's possible, if there were no constraints, if everything was at your disposal what would you do? It's amazing when you get that kind of ideation going and then you start looking at what could actually do?" Incredible innovation that comes from engaging with people other than who you typically would."

This is episode 283. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website here. AMY'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "To build sales agility, you have to bust old patterns maybe with the help of a coach or your sales leader, finding the things that are no longer working for you in your sales life. Is there a routine that used to work that no longer works? Is there something that is your stuck point? Second, understand "strategic feed," which is the ability to simultaneously look forward into the future and also be able to work backwards from that with milestones to help you move forward. If you can do this with your clients, help them see into the future but also help them get momentum in the short term, you are going to help them be more successful. Finally, rethink your revenue streams. Take a really tough, hard look at your pipeline. What opportunities are stuck? You may need to rethink where your revenue streams are coming from. Where in your territory, where in your book of business do you need to be rethinking?"

This is episode 282. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. MICHELLE'S' TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "If you're stuck in the middle of a crisis, if you're feeling anxiety, to change your perspective be mindful of the limitations that it's creating. You're feeling anxious, "I can't do this right now because I'm overwhelmed", cut out the unnecessary obligations. Take a look at your week, your day, figure out how many hours you're doing for each thing and then when you come up with a number of what you need to be your productive time, break that up and write down what you want the outcomes to be and get comfortable with saying no. Don't just think about it. Write it down! You don't have to get in people's faces, you just have to say no to the things that are not serving you personally and professionally."

This is episode 281. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. CARL'S ' TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Do good to yourself and do good to others and when I say do good to yourself, take care of yourself. I don't look as old as I perhaps am because I take care of myself. Feed yourself well, exercise, have healthy habits and then you've got to have healthy relationships. Go out and do good things for others and good things will happen to you."

This is episode 280. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. CHRIS' TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Find out something specific about your best prospects and customers. Do your homework and connect with them on something that in this case has nothing to do with their position or their company first. Not only will they likely become a customer at some point but they're going to be a great referral source for you. I've been doing that for quite some time and it has not let me down. Don't get me wrong, you go through downturns and people sometimes can't buy certain things at those times but I encourage people to go out of their way to get to know the person that you're talking to in something more than just what they do, something that drives who they are as a person."

This is episode 279. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. ELIZABETH'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "I'd encourage everyone to ask how your customers are different as a result of doing business with you. Carry that story in your heart, carry that story into your conversations with customers, carry that story throughout your colleagues and your boss internally and you will be amazed at the self-fulfilling loop of fulfillment, of connection and ultimately performance you create for yourself. If you are a new sales professional and are selling a new product, ask for stories about how it made a difference to customers. Start sharing those, you'll ignite your own frontal lobes and the frontal lobes of your customers."

This is episode 278. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. his is a replay of the CREATIVITY IN SALES Webinar sponsored by the Institute for Excellence in Sales and hosted by Fred Diamond on September 30, 2020. It featured three young sales professionals who were finalists for the Jay Nussbaum Rising Sales Professional Award to be given out on October 16 at the IES Sales Excellence Awards. PEER TIPS TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: Andrew Bailey: Attitude will drive your efforts either positively or negatively. In the world of sales it's up and down, you'll have some great years. A the end of the day, it's how you respond and your outlook to it. If you have a negative attitude, you'll be getting negative results. Jihad Abdur-Rahman: In everything you do, just be consistent. If you feel like it's a great idea, if you had a high return on investment just be consistent. Everything you do from X amount of calls to emails to whatever systems you use, don't just do it a few weeks or a few days. Do it on a consistent basis and you'll be successful. Brandon Steele: Always try to go the extra mile whether it's with a customer or whether it's learning something new to try to help you out in sales. That's the only way I think you'll try to separate yourself from the pack and start being really successful."

This is episode 277. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. This is a replay of the WOMEN IN SALES Webinar sponsored by the Institute for Excellence in Sales and hosted by Gina Stracuzzi on September 22, 2020. It featured Expel Sales Leader Denise Hayman. DENISE'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "I love the word 'imagine'. If you are helping someone imagine a better outcome, not only are you problem-solving with them but you are taking them to a better world. It means that you've asked them enough questions that you can say, "Can you imagine a world where that is different? Can you imagine where those problems that you just talked about go away? What does that look like?" Sales professionals need to work on getting customers to feel that emotional connection, getting them to really feel the difference between just a regular conversation and one where you leave them feeling, "Yes, I can see a better thing, I can get there!"

This is episode 276. Read the complete transcription here. MIKE'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Understand how your actions, your products or your services impact the customer's desired outcome. As a team, understand how what you're doing impacts the team that you work with and for extra credit - and we do this all the time at Verizon and particularly the public sector - how your solutions or your actions impact the societal benefits of what's happening. Show up for your communities that you live in, that you work in, that you educate in, think of things that you can do whether inside or outside of work to do something positive and proactive for someone else in need. It is extremely rewarding for everybody involved and it really keeps you grounded in what you may think to be big problems. Other folks in this country, in this day and age have much bigger problems. Be that shining light and help someone else get to a better place."

This is episode 275. Read the complete transcript on The Sales Game Changers Podcast website. STEVE'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "I never think of what I'm doing as selling even though I'm a sales professional and all I do is sell. I always approach sales from a technical perspective, when I worked for IBM I approached it as a technical expert. I'm a technical expert around bookkeeping now so I know what questions to ask them about how they pay their people and how they pay their bills. When they're sitting there, they're thinking, "This doesn't sound like a sales call." Become a technical expert in what you sell. The other thing to think about when you're selling is that no one's driving the cheapest car made, there are cheap cars but everyone buys for value, it depends on who they are and how they define value. Sales is never about money, it's always about problems so as you go forward, if you can solve the problems of your clients, you'll sell in any market, in a good market and in a bad market."

This is episode 274. Read the complete transcript here. TOM'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Be prepared to seize the moment when it is in front of you. When Johnny Carson introduced me to perform to 26 million people, I knew exactly what I was going to say and I knew exactly where I was going. I seized the moment and that's another thing that salespeople have told me through the years as well as great athletes. A baseball player is hitting .142 and he's about to go back to the minors and all of a sudden, he's up with bases loaded. If he seizes this moment, his whole life is going to change. Sales is the same to you what the Tonight Show was to me. If you're in position to meet that customer with the huge deal that's going to turn your whole life around and you're not prepared for it? That's silly."