Sales Game Changers | Tips from Successful Sales Leaders

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."

This is episode 223. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. [EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a replay of the Webinar hosted by Fred Diamond, Host of the Sales Game Changers Podcast, on April 10, 2020.] MAJOR TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "GRIT is doing whatever it takes to get the job done, as long as it's moral, ethical and legal."

This is episode 222. 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 1, 2020. It featured sales leaders Eric Trexler (Forcepoint), Jennifer Ives (3Pillar Global) and Matt McDarby (Fidelus).] MAJOR TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Be incredibly empathetic to the challenges that they might have on their plate today, those challenges are going to be different from 8 weeks ago and be very aware of it. Do not waste your customer's time, understand where they're coming from, add value in that conversation."

This is episode 221. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast web site. We conducted this interview in January 2020. Since the show was released during the COVID-19 pandemic, we asked Sally what her advice is for sales professionals during the pandemic. She offered the following: Take care of yourself and those that are important to you - that includes your customers. What can we deliver now to help during the pandemic? Dun & Bradstreet has offered free access to specific data and analytics to assist with the pandemic response and economic recovery. Data and analytics for government are more important now than ever, the opportunity is in uncovering how we are relevant in new ways. Reach out, listen, understand the shifting priorities of your customers. Invest in yourself- take time to read/listen to that book you've been staring at (mine is John Sculley's Moonshot), take that online course to sharpen your skills, learn something new that will benefit you and your customers. SALLY'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Continue to be a learner but I also want to say that as you advance your career, take time to reach back. Share your knowledge and skills with somebody who's new to the role. We all came to our success through the help of others. Remember, you've got to give back." Sally Block is a VP Sales, Dun & Bradstreet Government Solutions. Prior to coming to Dun & Bradstreet, she held sales leadership positions at CCH Wolters Kluwer and Bloomberg BNA. Sally can be found on LinkedIn here.

This is episode 220. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast. [EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a replay of the Sales Game Changers Panel Webinar hosted by Fred Diamond, Host of the Sales Game Changers Podcast, on April 8, 2020. It featured sales leaders Paul McConville from Hobsons and Dorean Kass from Neustar.] Watch the webinar here. Listen to Paul McConville's Podcast . Listen to Dorean Kass' Podcast. MAJOR TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "The big thing for us (Neustar) and the focus for us is maintaining the connection between the team, the individual contributors, the management, the support organizations and the other components of the functional team."

This is episode 219. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. We conducted this interview in January 2020. Since the show was released during the COVID-19 pandemic, we asked Denise what her advice is for sales professionals during the pandemic. She offered the following: "This is the perfect time to practice your research, personalization and empathy, all elements of a Sales Done Right approach. Business is still getting done, but needs have changed. Make sure to take the time to find out what has changed and work to adjust to meet your prospects and customers' needs. What a great time to create trust and loyalty! DENISE'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "It's Sales Done Right. Nothing takes the place of you doing the work. Athletes practice no matter how great they are, lawyers practice before they go into the courtroom, we have to practice. We have to be good at our elevator pitch, we have to be good and know the questions ahead of time, we have to be prepared with understanding who we're talking to, we have to know how those people want to be talked to and talked with, what are the best ways. The biggest tip that I would say is do the work, prepare and do the work."

This is episode 218. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. We conducted this interview in late 2019. Since the show was released during the COVID-19 pandemic, we asked Jason what his advice is for sales professionals during the pandemic. He offered the following: Take special time and attention to care for your internal customers (employees & associates) during this time of unprecedented uncertainty. A real Sales Game Changer is concerned about BOTH internal and external customers right now. Many of your customers and prospects may be in distress and will be most receptive to creative solutions that addresses their current situation today charts a path forward in these difficult days. Double down on your website and digital marketing strategy as social distancing will likely be the new normal for some time. We conducted today's interview in Detroit, Michigan. Jason Wize is the president at MediaProNow. He's a business leader who understands sales. Prior to becoming the president of MediaProNow and founding the company, he was a sales leader at Radio Shack and JPMorgan Chase. We did the interview at TechTown, a really exciting co-working place, about 4 miles from Downtown Detroit. Jason can be found on LinkedIn here.

This is episode 217. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. MAJOR TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "We're not here to just survive. If we can adapt to these changes, we can actually thrive during this time and we can help our customers do that." Fred Diamond: For today's webinar I'm very excited to have Tom Snyder. Tom is an internationally recognized speaker and sales expert, he is the managing partner of Funnel Clarity, he's a world-renowned speaker on sales training and sales consulting practices. His company, Funnel Clarity, has customers around the globe that they do sales training and sales consulting for. He's spoken a number of times at the Institute for Excellence in Sales, he's also been a key note speaker at our award event and he's also the author of two best-selling McGraw-Hill business books. Tom, it's great to have you on today's webinar, I'm really interested to hear what you're talking about, you're going to give us 6 things sales professionals should do to be successful and productive. Let's take it over.

This is episode 216. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. MAJOR TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Empathy is the key right now." Darrell Gehrt is the Vice President of Sales, Mobile Solutions at Cvent. Listen to his podcast episode here. Randy Wood is the Vice President of Web America Sales at Akamai Technologies. Find his podcast episode here. Denise Hayman is the Chief Revenue Officer at Expel. Her show will broadcast in April.

This is episode 215. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. DONALD'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Sales is really the thing that measures how well our company is doing, you're selling or you aren't, you're winning against the competition or you aren't. You're out on the front lines, you're the engine that drives the growth here and it's very clear whether we're doing something right or not because we're selling and retaining customers." Donald Thomas is the VP and General Manager at Bloomberg Government (BGOV). Prior to coming over to Bloomberg, he held leadership positions at Dell, SRA and Ernst & Young. Donald can be found on LinkedIn here.

This is episode 214. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. [EDITOR'S NOTE: We conducted this interview in early 2020. Since the show was released during the pandemic, we asked him what his advice is for sales professionals during the pandemic. He offered the following: Empathy in these unprecedented times is a leadership trait we must exhibit with customers and employees alike. I've been coaching the team that while we need to be sensitive in this current environment, we have services that can help our clients in these trying times, and to that end, prospecting can and should continue. As trusted advisors, the message must clearly articulate on how we believe we can help vs. attempting to prey on fear, uncertainty and doubt. I'm also making it a point to conduct skip level check-ins and call 2 or 3 of my direct field reps each day to see how they and their families are doing. This gives me the opportunity to reinforce with them all we're doing at the corporate level to help, as well as gather feedback from the field on both their mindset as well as that of the customers with whom they're speaking. Finally, with everyone being remote we are promoting the use of webex to drive more engaged conversations. I'm also about to launch 'virtual office hours' where multiple times per week members of the team can log in and ask any questions they may have or simply chat with myself and their peers. CRAIG'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Prospecting can and should continue (during the pandemic). As trusted advisors, the message must clearly articulate on how we believe we can help vs. attempting to prey on fear, uncertainty and doubt." Craig Pentz is the SVP of Risk and Customer Information Sales at Neustar. Prior to coming to Neustar, he held sales leadership positions at TARGUSinfo and FRANdata. If you're a loyal listener of the Sales Game Changers podcast you might recognize Neustar, we interviewed Dorean Kass about a year and a half ago and Craig works in his organization.

Read the complete transcript on The Sales Game Changers Podcast website. RAZA'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "I think the most important thing is to not be afraid of chaos. The value that we bring as sales people to our organizations is really that ability, that courage to deal with chaos. Know that when you're out there you're not always going to have a linear response such as "I have done this, this, this and therefore, I will get that, that, that." Be able to deal with chaos and take it head on. And, in fact, use it to your advantage." Raza Latif serves as the President of NuAxis Innovations, an information technology services firm that supports a variety of major federal government clients. With over 20 years of experience in the ever changing IT industry, he leads NuAxis's Business Development and Service Delivery Teams maintaining a sharp focus on creating and delivering IT solutions for the Federal Government that maximize alignment of IT and mission objective. Raza holds a Master of Science in the Management of Information Technology from the University of Virginia, UVA, The McIntire School of Commerce and a Bachelor of Science in Electronic Engineering from the GIK Institute of Engineering. Find Raza on LinkedIN!

Read the transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. JOE'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "This is the thought I give my employees and I give my kids, and I really believe in this. Life is short. Every day counts. Whatever you do, do it 100% and do it with passion, and at the end of the day use the mirror test. Look yourself in the mirror, you can't lie to that guy on the other side, and say, "Did I give everything I could give today?" If the answer is yes, you had a pretty good day. If it isn't, then you probably didn't." Joe Alvarez is the co-owner and chief sales officer at National Office Systems, also known as NOS. It's one of the nation's largest providers of automated storage and retrieval systems, bio-metric asset protection and asset tracking and records management. NOS is headquartered in the DC metro area. Joe and his partner acquired NOS in 1991 when it was a 5 person firm. Since 1991, Joe's main focus has been to grow profitable revenues directly overseeing the sales and marketing team. Today NOS employs over 100 employees and has grown revenue on an average growth of 12% per year. Find Joe on LinkedIN!

This is episode 213. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. NOUR'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "You're going to meet individuals who fundamentally change both your direction as well as your ultimate destination. We call those individuals Curve Benders. Where are they? How do we find them? More importantly, how do we become one? What I want for your listeners is to look back and say, "Did I really make a difference? Was I one of those Curve Benders that changed the trajectory of someone's career, sales success, if not their life?" David Nour is a leadership adviser, executive coach and the best-selling author of 10 books that have been translated into 8 languages. His first book was called Relationship Economics, we're going to spend a lot of time talking about that. His most recent book is called Co-Create, it came out in 2017. We talked about how our listeners can get more value out of their business relationships. Nour can be found on LinkedIn here.

Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. MIKE'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "You are working at a fraction of your capability. What if you can grow your sales and income 20% a year? It's 1% more prospecting, 1% better referrals, 1% more skill, 1% better negotiation, 1% better networking, etc. You find 20 ways every year to improve 1%. If you can improve 1% a year, you will be a seven-figure sales leader in a matter of years." Mike Schmidtmann of Trans4mers is a business coach working with owners and sales leaders in the information technology field. He works with many high-profile salespeople including some who make seven figures and more. He helps them open new accounts, win new logos, and expand their share of customer spending.

This is episode 212. Find the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. ALYSSA'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Make sure that you're able to add value in every conversation - even those that have nothing to do with the solution that you sell. Find out what your buyers and prospects care about, whether that's on LinkedIn or elsewhere, and go in and help them get better at their jobs because they've spent that time with you." Alyssa Merwin is the Vice President Sales at LinkedIn and is the Head of LinkedIn's Sales Solutions business for the Americas where she leads a multi-national commercial organization dedicated to helping sales and marketing organizations leverage the power of digital selling. She was also a sales leader at CEB which is now part of Gartner. Alyssa can be found on LinkedIn here.

Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. ALEX'S FINAL THOUGHT FOR SALES LEADERS: Everyone I'm sure has heard the expression, "Life is a marathon, not a sprint" and I live that so I would introduce that people just need to understand 'what race do you want to run in' because it's certainly not a sprint and if you're in your twenties. Do you want to run a 10K, do you want to run a half marathon'? It's just calibrating your life ambition, career ambition and just understanding and having a very clear vision at that point in your life what race do you want to run in so you could prepare accordingly." Alex Bartholomaus is the President and CEO at People Stretch Solutions, a Washington, D.C. based management consulting firm specializing in sales growth consulting and C level advisory serving the mid-market throughout North America and EMEA. He's also a published author and professional speaker on the topic of sales, leadership, emotional intelligence and elite business performances. He started his career as a wine importer where he grew a family business from $1 million in revenue to $37 million in revenue over a 15-year period. Find Alex on LinkedIN!

This is episode 211. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. MARC'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Some of this might be trite but you must always be continuously improving as a selling professional. Knowing about the technology is key but it's not nearly as crucial as paying attention to your sales PERFORMANCE. You have to treat your selling profession as a true craft and keep working to get better at it. If you're not doing that, you're going to lose." Marc Gonyea is the cofounder at memoryBlue. He's an expert on inside sales having managed nearly a thousand young SDRs (sales development reps). We're talked about how to optimize phone sales and how young sales professionals can optimize their careers. Marc can be found on LinkedIn here.

This is episode 210. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. ANDY'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Get curious about everything, get curious about your customer, get curious about their industry, get curious about their business model. I find curiosity to be a really great habit for a salesperson." Andy Miller is president of Big Swift Kick, a top sales consultancy and training company. On today's show, we talked about acquiring, motivating and retaining top tier sales talent. Andy gives some tips on how you can acquire and retain your top tier talent and how you as a sales professional can take your career to the next level. Andy can be found on LinkedIn here.

This is episode 209. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. CRAIG'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Find a coach, find a mentor, find someone that you emulate and understand how they're being successful and to help you write down goals that you want to achieve. Doing these things will ensure that you will establish and then stay on the right path when times get tough." When we interviewed Craig Mueller, he was the VP of Federal Sales at FireEye. He has since been promoted to VP of Public Sector. Prior to coming to FireEye he held sales leadership positions at Cisco and BMC Software. He was listed as a mentor of past podcast guest Paul Skurpski with XTIVIA Craig can be found on LinkedIn here.

This is episode 208. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. BOB'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Sales professionals will always be successful if they leverage the insights they get from customers into value for them, for their customers and for their company. Salespeople are in a unique position to leverage that knowledge to help senior management in their organizations. In the hotel industry that gives them influence and the ability to influence design and capital expenditures at hotels. Leverage that and you're always going to position yourself well within any organization." Bob Gilbert is the President and CEO of the Hospitality, Sales and Marketing Association International, known as the HSMAI. We've interviewed other sales leaders from the hospitality market such as Frank Passanante (Hilton), Telesa Via (Kimpton Hotels), and Melissa Riley (Destination DC). Bob can be found on LinkedIn here.

This is episode 207. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. FRANK'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Embrace the suck. Some of the territories that look really challenging or some of these projects that look really difficult, while hard and while challenging, can be the ones you're most proud of and produce the greatest results. If you take on one of these challenging roles, if you are successful in that role, you'll be legendary," Frank Dimina is the VP of Public Sector at Splunk. Prior to coming to Splunk, he held sales leadership positions at Check Point Software and was at a number of startups typically in the cyber space. Frank can be found on LinkedIn here.

This is episode 206. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. JUSTIN'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "It ties back into the power of attitude, and belief in yourself and assuming the sale will happen. I always tell my team members I don't care what sales business you're in, be assumptive and get to the close. If you don't go for the close it's never going to happen. If you get over the fear of rejection by making sure you're going for the close you're going to find success." We're doing today's show in Downtown Detroit, Michigan with Justin Lee. He's the Regional Vice President of Client Service for Rock Connections. Rock Connections is part of the Quicken Loans family of companies. Check out our previous show with Adam Stalmack from Rock Connections. Justin can be reached at [email protected]

This is episode 205. Read the complete transcription on The Sales Game Changers Podcast website. ADAM'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Don't ever quit. The other part of that is don't stop learning. Don't stop honing in on your craft and sharpening your skills, getting better. Keep finding out what makes it work and then tailoring it to what you do." We're doing another show from Downtown Detroit, Michigan. Adam Stalmack is the Regional Vice President of Sales for Rock Connections, which is part of the Quicken Loans family of companies. He's been here for 15 years. Find Adam on LinkedIn!

This is episode 204. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. LARRY'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Create your own way of keeping score. If all you're thinking about is hitting quota, if all you're thinking about is hitting your month, hitting your year, hitting your quarter, hitting whatever those goals are, you'll have those days where it's very challenging to find success versus if you say, "There are different things beyond just making the sale." There's the showing up at the time that you said you were going to show up, remaining focused for the amount of time that you said you were going to remain focused on this task, and making the outbound activity that's necessary, for example." Today's show was recorded in Ann Arbor, Michigan where Thomson Reuters is based. This is the second of two interviews we've done with Thomson Reuters sales leaders. Larry Goeckner is a Sales Director at Thompson Reuters, where he's been his entire career. Find Larry on LinkedIn!

This is episode 203. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. ROB'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Don't rely on others to motivate you. Take personal responsibility for your own growth and development. That's bigger than just sales, that's about building a career. What can you learn that's new? How do you go out and find something that maybe is that game changer for you?" Today's show was recorded in Ann Arbor, Michigan where Thomson Reuters is based. This is the first of two interviews we've done with Thomson Reuters sales leaders. Rob Beattie is the Vice President for Sales and Retention in the Thomson and Reuters Tax Professionals Group. He was the 2018 American Association of Inside Sales Professionals Executive of the Year. Find Rob on LinkedIn!

This is episode 202. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. UMAR'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "I want to share with people and I hope they get it in their hearts is that change is possible, change happens very quickly, you can make that change permanently. With technologies from applied neuroscience, neurolinguistic programming and others we have a deep understanding of how to create that change quickly and make that change permanent." Umar Hameed is the developer of the NeuroBoosterz, a tool to help sales professionals optimize their performance by improving their mindset. Here is the link to the app website: NeuroBoosterz - Software for your mind (https://neuroboosterz.com/) He is an expert on changing human behaviors and he's worked with sales teams around the globe to help them improve their performance. He's an expert on Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) and its applications in business and sales. Find Umar on LinkedIn!

This is episode 201. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. PAUL'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Impact your own success. Don't rely on having that great sales engineer - you become the sales engineer. If you're a sales consultant and you really understand your product and you can deliver value to that company, they will view you differently." Paul Skurpski is the VP of Sales at XTIVIA. He was the VP of Sales at PVBS, which was purchased by XTIVIA in March of 2018. PVBS launched in 2003 and Paul has been the VP of Sales from Day 1. PVBS is well known in the Microsoft world. This is one of the first interviews we've ever done with a business owner who took over the role of VP of Sales and has had tremendous success. Find Paul on LinkedIn!