Sales Game Changers | Tips from Successful Sales Leaders

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."

This is episode 273. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. JAVIER'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Two Words. Be Deliberate. We don't have the water cooler or the coffee shop nowadays and we don't have all these physical things that we've been used to working with our customers and our business partners. Reach out to them not asking for money or their business. I found this to be rewarding for myself and I found it to be a way to develop connection. If you're in a geographic territory, it's a muscle that you have to develop. Make sure you block off time throughout the week calling on your customers and just listen, and not with any intent. Don't use empathy as a weapon. Use empathy as a tool to really see how they're going and make sure that you connect."

This is episode 272. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. NIMIT'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Tell a story when prospecting. First, take a long look at your value proposition and come up with a story to tell your prospects. Write out in your own words how you have solved a certain problem for a prospect before and then do that for another problem. Then call somebody that you called three weeks ago, they're not going to remember you, and try to actually get curious with them. Tell that story and see if that can get you farther into the process."

This is episode 271. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. JOHN'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Speak directly to your customers every day. I didn't say text, I didn't say email, speak to them. Get on the phone and talk to individuals because it's very easy to get caught up in thing like strategy sessions, building tools, being in meetings, managing up, explaining the situation to leadership and to ownership. You're going to really understand what you need to do and what your path is if you continually talk to customers on a daily basis - and I mean that if you're SVP of the largest sales organization in the world or if you're a junior salesperson just starting out. Make sure that you're talking to customers specifically on a daily basis."

This is episode 270. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. CHARLES' TIP TO SALES LEADERS: "If I really had to boil it down (how you could build yourself as a trust-based seller), I would pick "listening" and I know it sounds boring, I know it's hardly the first time anybody has ever heard this, but it really is powerful. I don't mean listening to refine the problem statement, I don't mean listening to hone into the right hypothesis, I mean listening that just pays attention to the other person, that validates them by offering up 100% focus of your mind and your attention on them. It leads to reciprocity. When you start by paying attention to the other person, that creates in them a natural response to them wanting to listen to what you have. And it's sequential. People have to know that you care and then they naturally become much more willing to listen to what you have to say. Pay attention to people for their purposes, not for yours. It's how you create trust."

This is episode 269. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. MERIDITH'S TIP TO SALES LEADERS: "Think about SEEDS, WEEDS and NEEDS. Every 30 days as a sales team sit down and I just want you to reflect. SEEDS are what are you doing that's really working. What's really growing the sales team? WEEDS are what's weighing you down. What do you need to stop doing? NEEDS are what do you need that you don't have? Color code your calendar to visually see how you're doing. Anything that's green is revenue generating; red is transforming the business to take it to another level and to get it ready for what's after this pandemic and everything else is peach. If you look at my calendar in March and April, it was far too full with peach. Now I'm very careful to balance my calendar making me far more productive and thrive. SHED THE PEACH FAST and keep moving. You are your best sales coach!"

This is episode 268. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. VICTOR'S TIP TO SALES LEADERS: "If we know that the recovery is going to be gradual, the question is how do sales professionals take advantage of this? First, look at your sales process today and think right now which meetings did I used to have that were face-to-face and where am I struggling now in this remote world, and how can I optimize that? If you have a good sense of where changes need to be made then you can start thinking about how to adopt these best practices so you can optimize it for the remote world. Start by focusing on the three most important in the middle of the sales process which is the demo of your solution, the stakeholder meeting and the proposal review."

This is episode 267. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. This is a replay of the OPTIMAL SALES MINDSET Webinar hosted by Fred Diamond, Host of the Sales Game Changers Podcast, on July 16, 2020. It featured value proposition expert and best-selling author Jose Palomino. JOSE'S TIP TO SALES LEADERS: "Value creation is answering the question how do you help your customers navigate difficult times better? I would give people three words to think about and that's fears, frustrations and hopes. "What is my customer afraid of? What are they frustrated by?" What are they complaining about and what are they hopeful for? What are they looking towards in the future? Sit down and ask yourself this very simple question, "What resources can I enlist in my organization to address those fears, frustrations and hopes in any way?" It may have nothing to do with what I'm selling; it really is about becoming that partner."

This is episode 266. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. TOM'S TIP TO SALES LEADERS: "The more sudden, the more unexpected and the more dramatic the change, the greater is the opportunity to thrive or fail. Survival is not a strategy. Starting today and for the rest of the time that we are adjusting to this new world, I want you to pick a block of time every day on your calendar. You determine whether that's 10 minutes or 2 hours, I don't care, but I want that block of time to be something PROACTIVE. Work on your skills, take some training, reach out to people who you don't know, prospect through LinkedIn. It is the single collective biggest difference between people who are thriving and doing great against quota versus those who are barely getting there."

This is episode 265. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. BILL'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "You need to figure out a way to celebrate about your successes and your accomplishments in this new world. It used to be again, going back several quarters we were in an office, we would pull everybody together and you'd recognize someone. We still try to do a little bit of that online but I've encouraged people, "Listen, you had a great week, you got a big order in, share a bottle of wine with your loved one or significant other. Go make yourself a big dinner, turn stuff off, turn the computer off, put the phone down and use it as a way to celebrate the successes that you're having along the way." MIKE'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Empathy is the most important quality that anybody can have whether it's in sales or in life. I think that the most important thing that we can do as sales professionals as we leave this, as we go into the rest of the week, as we go into next week and as we continue in our career is to bear that in mind. Also, have an athletic approach to how we manage our business. We have to make sure that we're maximizing the time that we put towards this, that we maximize the amount that we're able to interact with our customers, the amount of information that we're able to convey, the amount of information we're able to get from those customers so we can be respectful of their time and that we can get back to them much more rapidly and quickly with good key answers to help them solve mission problems."

This is episode 264. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. ANDREA'S TIP TO SALES LEADERS: "Your reaction to yes and no must be equal. You want to get in the neutral zone so don't over-celebrate the yesses but you also don't badger yourself, beat yourself up when you get a no. More than ever, there are a lot of noes out there and more rejection. You have to stop yourself and shut down any negative self-talk about whether you feel that you didn't do a good job or whether things aren't working and get yourself off that emotional roller coaster to be most effective."

This is episode 263. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. RON'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "I'm a big believer in life balance to drive toward peak performance and it's not just about peak business performance. A big part of it is yourself. Everyone has to take care of themselves especially now. Be healthy, stay healthy, work out. It's about taking care of your family and friends and about a balance with community and different people. Practice spirituality in different ways. Everybody has a business plan for their profession and my challenge to everybody would be create a business plan for those other four areas: yourself, your family and friends, the community and spirituality. When everything comes together it's really magical what someone could accomplish."

This is episode 262. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. ALAN'S TIP TO SALES LEADERS: "Sales people need to make time for curiosity. We can't just assume that we're going to go about doing the normal stuff we do and brilliance is going to happen. Make time and even if that means you just start right now with an hour a day or an hour a week and that's all you can handle, make some time. Even during COVID you can get out, explore a little bit even if it's just in a park and as places start opening up. Wander around looking for some interesting ideas of businesses that are getting back and doing business and how those ideas could help you and your organization. The other is I'd like you to get together with your colleagues every week and pose a question that's a curious question that will spark your thinking and as a group, start to brainstorm questions like, "What do our customers really care about right now?" or, "'What if we could create the perfect new product or solution, what would be different?" or, "How could we do a better job of using technology?" or, "What would our amazing no-touch customer service look like?" or, "How do we make our customers smarter than they ever imagined possible?" Think about questions like that as a way to regularly spark your team curiosity."

This is episode 261. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. Elliott Ferguson is the President and CEO of Destination DC. ELLIOTT'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "People can see when you're happy. I gave my entire team mirrors years ago and I said, "Every time you pick up the phone, I want you to look in the mirror and look at your facial expression. I want you to smile when you're talking to them and see whether or not they see a difference in how you're talking because that's how people perceive you, that's exactly what they hear and that's really important as we're looking at developing our brand - because each of us are a brand - as we're looking at moving forward and getting out of COVID."

This is episode 260. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. MELINDA'S TIP TO SALES LEADERS: "Focus on what you can control and right now there's not a lot people can control except for their attitude. You can control your response to your customer. So whether or not your customer had budget last week and all of a sudden their budget got snatched back, you can't control that. Be pleasant to deal – make sure that they can hear the smile on the other end of the phone or they can actually see your smile and face on the Zoom call. It's important that you embrace as opposed to react."

This is episode 259. Read the transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. CHRIS' TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "If you haven't read The Challenger Sale go do it right now. If you have read it, go back and re-read the section on "A New Model for High Performance," in Chapter 2. It talks about the value that you bring when you bring insight to your clients. If you've read The Challenger Sale, go back and read that part. If you haven't read it, go read it. Bringing value to customers who are struggling right now will set you apart." WILL'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Practice doing Question Trees. Think about the bold open-ended question you want to ask, then think about the possible answers they could give you, and then think about what your response will be, given those answers. That's going to empower you not only to be prepared to ask the question but to respond to the answers. You do that today, you are going to get to the honest answers you deserve as a sales professional in order to move your deals forward or out."

This is episode 258. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. KLYN'S' TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Check in with your gut and ask "are you actually a professional?" Because if you are a professional what's happening right now isn't going to stop you. You're going to do the growth work, you're going to do the trainings, you're going to get educated and you're going to leverage it. Recognize what was that superpower that got you to be called a professional and then what is that extra thing you need to reach out and then go for the vision? What I want you to understand is what made you a professional and keep doing that."

This is episode 257. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. JAMES' TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Study your customer, study the prospect, know what their organization stands for, what their mission statement is. If you're going to be talking to an individual, a CIO for instance, go do your research on the internet. See if they've spoken on any webcasts. What's top of mind for them? Then mash it up against what your company stands for, what your value propositions are, the outcomes that you're trying to help your customers achieve. Curate your message, train yourself on a message, get a full command of it because when the lights come on and you get in front of that customer, albeit virtually nowadays, they're going to make a judgement on you. If you don't have the ability to allow them to differentiate you from your peers, you may never get that second call."

This is episode 256. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. [EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a replay of the OPTIMAL SALES MINDSET Webinar hosted by Fred Diamond, Host of the Sales Game Changers Podcast, on June 18, 2020. It featured Executive Coach & Leadership Program Designer/Trainer David Morelli.] DAVID'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "We're all feeling a sense of loss right now, including some of the highest performers. The best way to overcome it is to focus on what you can do for other people, not what you can do for yourself. As soon as you're self-centered you're untethered, but as soon as you become, "How can I help other people?" you tend to get a sense of purpose, similar to a vision. Start acting on that and you'll end up in a lot better spot."

This is episode 255. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. PATTI'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Dive deep into successes and your losses from the past year. Think deeply about what got you the wins but also take a look at the losses and start thinking about what could you do with those existing opportunities that you did not get DIFFERENTLY. Maybe you need to move yourself up the totem pole, or you need to have a better value proposition BUT don't say your business is lost because people are going to be looking for more help right now. You have an opportunity to take a deep look across your base to see how you can provide value to those you didn't get as customers in the past."

This is episode 254. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. MARK'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Sit down and intentionally write down a plan for what you need to achieve in the short term but also what you might need to do for the long term. We don't know if we're at the end of the first inning or the seventh inning here so we're going to need long-term mindset with a lot of short-term goals." PRAMOD'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Do something every day to up your game. You're not commuting to work, you're not driving, you got some extra time, so read. Sales is a sport and you need to continually learn and get better."

This is episode 253. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. TODD'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Be your best self and that means different things to different people wherever you are in the world and depending on your personal situation. Be aware that your sales leaders are highly conscious of those folks putting in the extra effort - now is the time where legends are made. These markets really reveal the grit and are testimony to the winners in any organization. That's an opportunity for those of you who are moving up into the right in your career." TREVOR'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "You have to believe in what you're doing, If you're a seller, you have to believe that what you're doing is going to help your customers. Reflect on that belief, reflect on what you do and the product you sell. If you're not, take time to reflect on that and put yourself in a position to find something that you can believe in and can actually get behind."

This is episode 252. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. TODD'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "First, go to everybody in your organization and say thank you and find something that they did that helped you close a deal. Second, call every client you've got, don't email them and say, "Checking in, how are you feeling?" No, call them. Pick up the phone and Zoom them if you can, most people are thrilled to have some different human contact, you might be really surprised. Third, don't stop self-development. Read, read, read. Start a book club. Call your clients and say, "How would you all like to read this book with me?" I have clients doing that right now and it's another way to bring them together."

This is episode 251. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. VINCE'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Crisis does not build character; it reveals it and this pandemic has made us a better team, I saw some people who are not necessarily in official leader capacity step up, grab some people who were newer, put them under their wing, talk to them every day, help them through deals. These are the people you want to go to battle with, these are the types of people that you want in you organization because you know if they can be there in the difficult times, they'll make even more hay during the good times. That was a great surprise." BOOMER'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Are you going to be 1% better tomorrow than you were today? If you're not, change that. The best advice I've ever had in life is don't give up and always improve and realize that we're actually experiencing something that we're going to look back on as a game changing experience in our lives both personally and professionally. If you're not looking at it that way, do something different so you can look at it that way."

This is episode 250. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. This is a replay of the OPTIMAL SALES MINDSET Webinar hosted by Fred Diamond, Host of the Sales Game Changers Podcast, on June 4, 2020. It featured entrepreneur and coach Marissa Levin. MARISSA'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Make a list of what you should start and a list of what you should stop doing. Focus on the things you can control such as your diet and the food that you're taking into your body. Are you exercising and getting fresh air? Are you calling people to feel connected to them? What about the content that you are digesting? We all need to focus on bringing in positivity and identifying the things that we must take out of our lives. And, it's so important to ask for help. You do not need to go through this alone at all."

This is episode 249. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. COLLEEN'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "The people that are going to make it and thrive and win the future as we call it, are now saying, 'This is good, I'm being forced to learn how to use new skills, new technology. I'm learning to adapt and flex.' They're actually seeing that this is setting them up for future success. The others fall into what you call external locus of control. It's 'Woe is me' and these are generally the victims of the world. 'None of my prospects are buying, I have the worst prospects, I don't have a good product.' Their perspective is, 'I can only be successful and happy when external circumstances line up.' It's all perspective. If it is to be, it's up to me. Resilient people, they take control. 'I've got to do more activity, I've got to learn new skills, I need to be more consistent and asking for referrals, I need to practice more. Their whole mindset is, 'I'm not going to focus on what I can't control, I'm focusing on what I can control."

This is episode 248. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. This is a replay of the OPTIMAL SALES MINDSET Webinar hosted by Fred Diamond, Host of the Sales Game Changers Podcast, on May 14, 2020. It featured sales motivational speaker Alan Stein, Jr.] ALAN'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "As sales professionals, we need to do everything in our power to get rid of blaming, complaining and making excuses. Those three things will never ever do anything to improve your performance, improve your situation and they're certainly not going to help you improve your sale. Anytime we blame, we complain or we make an excuse we're actually taking responsibility off of ourselves and we're putting it on someone else. Sales professionals and high performers don't do that. We all need to live by a code of extreme ownership."

This is episode 247. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. CAM'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "One actionable thing sales professionals should take it is to reach back out to their last 3 managers to thank them. Check in and ask them for one bit of advice. Ask them, "You know me, if I am working to improve myself, what do you think I should do?" Since they're not your managers anymore they'll probably tell you what that area of opportunity is. I've done that recently [laughs] it was quite insightful. I got a lot of good feedback."