Sales Game Changers | Tips from Successful Sales Leaders

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."

This is episode 246. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. Diane's segment begins at the 26 minute mark. MIKE'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Every successful person I know has been defined by difficulty at some point in their career that they fought through, that's without exception. These times are opportunities for us to power through it, to learn from it, to profit from it, this is an opportunity. It is a gift for us so don't squander it, take advantage of it." DIANE'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Awareness is the most important pivotal moment for you. When you notice something showing up for you just take a moment and notice it. That observing capacity makes it easier for you then to move and in these moments I'd just invite you to say, "What is one thing that you would do to move yourself forward?"

This is episode 245. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. EDITOR'S NOTE: We conducted this interview in February 2020. Since the show was released during the pandemic, we asked Todd what his advice is for sales professionals now. He offered the following: Show empathy in all your communications— As a sales leader, you need to give your teams ample oxygen to sustain life in the new normal. This includes being human. Some tactics to consider might include doing weekly, high-touch videos (that show you with your family) so your team sees all of you, and is reassured that we're all in this together. Additionally, be transparent. We've found that our employees like to hear from our leadership frequently, and that they appreciate the candor and open lines of communication. Remain tech-savvy—As sales professionals, we're all 100% inside sales reps now and there are incredible technologies we can quickly adopt so that we still can maintain intimacy with our customers, who by the way, are all feeling and experiencing the exact same things we are as sellers and company officers. Redefine success—We all want signed orders and uninterrupted revenue flows. However, we also need to adjust to this unprecedented time by adapt our definitions of success. Of course, sales is about bookings, but it's also about the 'building blocks' of bookings, including forging new customer contacts, implementing smart outreach campaigns, providing demonstrations of new features, and reminding people of the essence of your product's value. It's basic stuff, but it is authentic, and plants the seeds for eventual growth. Be pithy— Right now, people are starved for time, so cut to the chase. Nobody—not a single professional—can recall a time where you're simultaneously a) making the kids breakfast, b) responding to a forecast request from the board, all while c) trying to jam in a last-minute home-delivered grocery order (before your window closes). Be kind, be relevant, be brief.

This is episode 244. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. CHRISTINE'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "The biggest thing I've learned is an increased appreciation for being empathetic and really trying to understand where people are in their journey in life and how that impacts how they show up and what they can actually produce at work." IVY'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "A lot of what we're dealing with starts with a conversation. The issues that are going on in the country and how we deal with them personally and as a business in society and again, it starts with a conversation. When you understand people a little bit more, it takes a lot of that off the table of how we make decisions or not. That's part of what we've been doing more and more the past few months."

This is episode 243. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. This is a replay of the Creativity in Sales Webinar hosted by Fred Diamond, Host of the Sales Game Changers Podcast, on May 29, 2020. It featured author of Selling with Noble Purpose and Leading with Noble Purpose author Lisa Earle McLeod. LISA'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "The beauty of being in sales is you make a difference to customers every single day and you're part of the economic engine that the country needs very desperately right now. Right now, decouple your self-esteem from your ability to hit a target. Targets matter, money matters but they can't be the only source of your self-esteem right now. We owe it to the world to put forward right now the most emotionally engaging higher purpose, compassionate, empathetic, assertive sales teams that the world has ever seen."

This is episode 242. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast. Listen to Dominic Strada's original Sales Game Changers Podcast. DOMINIC'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "If you're not willing to change based on market conditions or whatever changes that day, you're going to fail. Consumers are shopping different, they're looking for different things. You're dealing with different things internally whether it's on the supply side or the people side so ask what do I need to start, stop and continue with my products, my route to market, my customer communications, my customer interaction and my people interaction."

This is episode 241. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. We conducted this interview with Matthew Pollard in February 2020 before the pandemic. Since the show was released during the pandemic, it's so valid as we need to draft interesting stories to help our customers recover from the resultant economic challenges. MATT'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "People remember 22 times more information when it's embedded into a story which makes it so much easier to sell. Block out time to write a story, perfect it, learn it and then actually put the skill into action and you'll see a transformation in your sales results."

This is episode 240. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. This is a replay of the Sales Game Changers Panel Webinar hosted by Fred Diamond, Host of the Sales Game Changers Podcast, on June 3, 2020. It featured sales leaders Frank Dimina (Splunk) and Craig Mueller (FireEye.)

This is episode 239. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. TREVOR'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "If you're going to get into sales, you've got to be prepared to handle pressure. If you're not confident it's definitely not the career for you. You always must be confident. You must be confident when you're winning and most importantly you have to be confident when you're failing. If you're not believing in yourself you're just not going to inspire anyone to purchase from you." Trevor Vale is the SVP and Global Head of Sales at Diligent. He worked at Intercontinental Exchange and Thomson Reuters Find Trevor on LinkedIn here.

This is episode 238. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. This is a replay of the Sales Game Changers Panel Webinar hosted by Fred Diamond, Host of the Sales Game Changers Podcast, on May 27, 2020. It featured sales leaders Tamara Greenspan (Oracle) and Tim Atkinson (ACS Group). Listen to Tamara Greenspan's Podcast. Listen to Tim Atkinson's Podcast . TIM'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "From Mahatma Gandhi. 'Keep your thoughts positive because thoughts become words. Keep your words positive because words become behavior. Keep your behavior positive because behavior becomes habits. Keep your habits positive because your habits define your destiny.' I'm an attitude guy, I talk about it all the time, I believe in it all the time, I try to live it all the time in terms of positivism with my team and clients. Words, habits, behaviors become destiny. That's what it's about."

This is episode 237. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. RAKHI'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Map out your short- and long-term goals and think about what you need to get there. I have acquired experience in sales, business development, financing and sales strategy and now my organization actually technically sits underneath marketing. I'm getting all of these different experiences and I encourage people to think about what you want your long term goal to be and how you want to fill your tool belt." Rakhi Voria is the Director of Global Digital Sales Development at IBM. Prior to coming to IBM, she was at Microsoft. She is Forbes contributor and is passionate about advancing women in sales. Learn more about the IES Women in Sales Leadership Forum.

This is episode 236. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. This is a replay of the Sales Game Changers Panel Webinar hosted by Fred Diamond, Host of the Sales Game Changers Podcast, on May 20, 2020. It featured sales leaders Gary Milwit (JG Wentworth) and Expert Sales Trainer Bob Greene. BOB'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "What's my advice for sales professionals today? First thing I would do is pick up the phone. When you're having a conversation with your prospects, just pick up the phone and say, "I'm calling to see how you're doing. I want to understand your business and what challenges you're facing." Once your prospect realizes that it's not a sales call and that it's a caring call that's huge because now you have an opportunity to hone your phone skills and build rapport the same time."

This is episode 235. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. Victor Hoskins is the President CEO of the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority. Prior to taking over this role he had a similar position with Arlington County. On today's program, he details the steps he and the team took to win one the biggest economic deals ever seen. VICTOR'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "First, if you listen to the client you can't lose. A lot of people do not hear the pain points, a lot of people do not pay attention to the client, they're so busy selling their product they're not listening to the client. The client has a need, find that need out. The client has pain, find that pain point and cure it. And second, you do nothing alone. Sales is a team sport. "Do not go out alone, do not pitch alone because you need somebody observing while you're working and you need somebody working while you're observing."

This is episode 234. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. This is a replay of the Sales Game Changers Panel Webinar hosted by Fred Diamond, Host of the Sales Game Changers Podcast, on May 13, 2020. It featured sales leaders Dan Cole (The Spy Museum) and Steve Richard (ExecVision).] DAN'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "If you feel your empathy to your customers is getting stale I would say take a day or a week off because nothing's changed in sales. Empathy should always be a part of what we do whether we're in a pandemic or not. It is what is going to allow us to move our business forward."

This is episode 233. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. MAJOR TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "The solution is us, sales professionals. We are the remedy and our employers need us to sell their way out of this. That means we don't have the luxury of burying our heads in the sand and waiting for this all to be over, we need to do something now. We really don't have a choice. We need to take key actions now. Some salespeople are afraid to reach out to prospects and clients now but sales is not to be feared but rather revered. If your heart is in the right place, you'll never be wrong which means you should have no fear of making calls to prospects and clients right now."

This is episode 232. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. This is a replay of the Sales Game Changers Panel Webinar hosted by Fred Diamond, Host of the Sales Game Changers Podcast, on May 6, 2020. It featured sales leaders Patrick Devlin (Meridian) and Jennifer Fisher (WorldStrides). PATRICK'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Somebody said we're all on the same boat with this thing but I'm a sailor and I'll say that we're not in the same boat, we're in the same storm. The situation on anybody else's boat might be very different than yours so try to really tune into that. You have some customers that are flourishing and you have some that you think might be but they're not. The economic impact is not equal and you really do need to understand that."

This is episode 231. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. This is a replay of the Sales Game Changers Panel Webinar hosted by Fred Diamond, Host of the Sales Game Changers Podcast, on May 1, 2020. It featured The Honesty Guy, Steven Gaffney. MAJOR TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "In any crisis, there are 8 stages that people, teams and organizations go through but the best ones move from crisis reaction to crisis growth. One way to ensure this is to develop Consistently High Achieving Teams. These teams produce consistently high achieving performers."

This is episode 230. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. Jim Van Stone is the President of Business Operations and the Chief Commercial Officer for Monumental Sports and Entertainment, the company behind the Washington Wizards NBA team, Washington Capitals NHL hockey team, and other teams and enterprises and the arenas where they play. EDITOR'S NOTE: Since we conducted this interview before the Pandemic of 2020 hit, we asked Jim what his advice is for sales professionals during the pandemic. He offered the following: The evolving landscape is an opportunity to provide clarity of your brand: stay true to your foundational principles and let those guide your decision-making. Consistently showcasing your value will help you weather systemic changes. People expend resources - time, money or loyalty - based on its connection to a return on investment. Give them something to value. This is the time to qualify and quantify your stretch goals and look at them with fresh eyes. Don't be burdened by past norms; it's all a clean slate now. Trying to fit within previous models is a waste of effort, so choose to be bold.

This is episode 229. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. This is a replay of the Sales Game Changers Panel Webinar hosted by Fred Diamond, Host of the Sales Game Changers Podcast, on April 28, 2020. It featured sales leaders Jeffrey Wolinsky (WTOP) and Brian Ludwig (Cvent).] MAJOR TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "What are you doing to be a good friend to the people that you have relationships in life that are mutually beneficial? Think about that and apply that to sales. Friendships are built on like experiences – we've had like experiences with our clients that continue to renew from us year after year. How do we continue those like experiences – by having some version of contact, touching, relationship talking, whatever it is, continuing like experiences that take place through situations like this. You get value out of spending time with somebody, you get value out of advice from a friend, you get value out of laughter from a friend, you get value out of something that a friend does. Apply that to business, they get value out of what they buy from you so first, apply the friendship method of like experiences, create lasting friendships"

This is episode 228. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. EDITOR'S NOTE: We conducted this interview before the Pandemic hit, so it's pretty impressive how good the social distancing was below. Since the show was released during the COVID-19 pandemic, we asked Amtower what his advice is for sales professionals during the pandemic. He offered the following: Make certain your profile is totally up-to-date and accurate. You may want to add your contact info if you want people to reach out; Find information worth sharing with those in your 1st network. Post these on you profile. If you go to the Home page (LinkedIn navigation bar top left) you have two options for sharing: as a post or as an article. If you are simply sharing an article, put the link to the article in the "Post" section. You can add a few lines if you want to point out key points in the article. This will be shared with your 1st degree network via their "Home" pages It's a great time for account-based marketing. Reach out to those in your key accounts and personalize the message, which should encourage a response. If possible, then move the conversation to Skype or Zoom. MARK'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "The main thing you have is your reputation so maintain that every day. I don't do things I can't tell my wife and children, period. Same thing with my customers, I'm not going to say, "Sure, I can do that." I will say, "No, let me aim you at somebody who can help you who's much better than I am" or, "That's just not what I do at all, let me find somebody." I have a network of experts around me that cover literally every aspect of doing business with the government, I'm comfortable referring them. You should also build that type of network."

This is episode 227. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. This is a replay of the Sales Game Changers Panel Webinar hosted by Fred Diamond, Host of the Sales Game Changers Podcast, on April 21, 2020. It featured sales leaders Mike Durso (Veeam and Connor Marsden (Salesforce). MAJOR TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "How do we stabilize our customers today? How do we help them shift to some of the new realities we have to deal with? We're trying to help our customers normalize. How do we get them to the point where they can continue to operate their business, that they can plug their gaps that they have digitally and create a new steady state as we go through this virus."

This is episode 226. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. This is a replay of the Webinar hosted by Fred Diamond, Host of the Sales Game Changers Podcast, on April 17, 2020. The guest is Mark "The Sales" Hunter. MAJOR TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "There's still three levels of sales. Repeat, Get and Create. Repeat are your existing customers that come back and buy from you time and time again or maybe a referral. This is business that's coming to you because you've done something with somebody before. Focus now on the Repeat. You've got to double down your efforts here."

This is episode 225. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. We conducted this interview in February 2020, hence the poor social distancing below. Since the show was released during the COVID-19 pandemic, we asked Diane what her advice is for sales professionals during the pandemic. She offered the following: Take really great care of yourself. Nutrition, Sleep, Movement, etc. Keep sourcing yourself with positive and visionary messages from inspiring, motivating and wise leaders (like IES provides.). What your mind focuses on is what you create. Spend time envisioning the future with your clients. What do you see is possible over the horizon? What can you do now to make the future a reality? DIANE'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "When I think about selling I even change the word, I say I'm just going to go care about somebody today, I'm going to care about what they need and hopefully there's a good fit for me and my company."

This is episode 224. Read the transcript at on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. This is a replay of the Sales Game Changers Panel Webinar hosted by Fred Diamond, Host of the Sales Game Changers Podcast, on April 15, 2020. It featured sales leaders Susan Lee (MOI), Christopher Ware (NAIOP) and Joe Alvarez (NOS). MAJOR TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Empathy starts from the top down. It starts from the president of the company and it goes all the way down. Communicating, connecting, letting people know that we understand, "We're challenged just like you're challenged in your business" is everything to the empathetic part of supporting your clients."