Sales POP! Podcasts: Insights from Top Experts in Sales, Marketing, Leadership & More.

'Mentalist,' according to Gilian Gork, is a marketing term. A mentalist is anyone who does something for the mind. It involves a lot of psychology, reading and influencing people, and nonverbal communication. There is no course or a formal degree to be qualified as a mentalist, and the skills a mentalist uses can vary between person. Gork considers himself "The Mentalist," and has a passion for reading and influencing people. John Golden explores more in this video interview on impacting people in the sales world.

Often, a company buys from a salesperson because that salesperson had a great pitch. It is not always because the product is better than others on the market. "You could have a great offering, but if you don't know how to sell it and pitch it, it doesn't matter what your offering is," says Justin Cohen, who tells us how to pitch to win in this video interview, hosted by John Golden.

In every industry, there is a constant 'new normal.' The new normal is change. As we get used to something, so it changes again. This creates a dynamic where we are never really comfortable with how things work. Ryan Hogarth talks about how to get ahead of the constant change in this interview with John Golden.

Cold calling has mostly gone by the wayside in the sales world, largely due to advancing technologies and new ways of doing things. However, Anthony Stears, "The Telephone Assassin," says that you can still get results by calling people on the telephone. Get to know "The Sales Assassin," Anthony Stears in this video interview, hosted by John Golden.

Customer integration at the most basic level is about having a company that can truly help the customer in every way. The salesperson becomes a valuable resource to the customers, the customer knows where to go, and who to talk to in order to get the job done. Mike Bosworth has a lot to say in this interview on customer integration, hosted by John Golden.

The sales process has been around for many years, but the addition of the marketing process has changed the way that things are done. With two different processes, companies can integrate the two, changing the process as a whole, and how the final result is ultimately achieved. If the marketing process and sales process are not connected and cohesive, it can create detrimental inefficiencies. Hugh Macfarlane discusses this more in detail in this video interview, hosted by John Golden

The stereotype of the shady car salesman doesn't fit the majority of salespeople. Most salesmen and women are honest people who are professional and decent, the stereotype isn't withstanding. However, just because the seller is honest, does not mean that they have built trust with their client. Being honest and building trust are key ways to create relationships with customers and keep them coming back to you again and again. John Golden interviews Adrian Davis on this crucial topic.

Getting sales training to stick and become the daily work practice of the salespeople can be difficult. Many pieces of training are based on theoretical situations, or encourage exploration of ideologies, but do not get down to: How do you actually do it? What is the piece that the salesperson takes away that actually makes a difference? These questions are answered and more in this video interview with Tom Haller by John Golden.

As media platforms change and evolve, some salespeople are struggling to keep up with the social media trends, and are missing out on key sales, or failing to market themselves in a way that keeps up with consumer preferences. To learn more about how to keep up with media trends, watch this video interview with Grant Leboff, hosted by John Golden.

The words uncertainty and risk can sound daunting. But, there is a way to demystify this scary topic and help people understand that uncertainty can be understood and approached. Risk management can give organizations a critical advantage over companies that ignore it, and avoid getting blindsided by situations that could be have been anticipated, managed, or mitigated. There are dozens of emerging tools and techniques for sales organizations to better understand uncertainty and risk, and use these for revenue planning. Andy Rudin and John Golden discuss sales and revenue risk in this expert sales webinar.

Think about your earnings from last year. Wouldn't it be nice if you had earned 10 times that? It's possible to unlock explosive sales growth, break through barriers of expansion, and multiply your revenue. Learn to do this with the three M's of 10x growth: mindset, mechanics, and magic. Tom Searcy and John Golden discuss how to unlock explosive sales growth in this sales expert webinar.

Host John Golden sits down with David Brock to discuss his book "Sales Manager Survival Guide". David gives us insight into what it takes to become a successful sales leader.

Host John Golden sits down with David Hoffeld to discuss his book "The Science of Selling". David offers some really important insights around buying psychology and how sellers can adapt to how buyers like to buy.

There is often very little training for salespeople on handling rejections. If a salesperson isn't able to handle how a "no" impacts them, it could impact their next call, their next activity, and can even compound into altering how they perceive their abilities. Being resilient, and knowing what to do in the face of that self-doubt is key in the sales industry. John Golden discusses this idea with Michael Licenblat.

In the wake of artificial intelligence (AI) and technological advances, the sales field has become more digital and less personable. However, there are things that AI will never be able to recreate. Levitin uses the analogy of a sous chef assisting the head chef. A sous chef helps the head chef prep all of the ingredients and get things ready so that the head chef can put her love and personality into each dish. AI is like the sous chef for a salesperson. Technology helps the salesperson gather data and information, organize their life, etc., but at the end of the day, it is the salesperson who must finalize the sale using their human attributes. Shari Levitin discusses this concept, and others, in this video interview, hosted by John Golden.

The people who know most about an organization, the employees, play a considerable part in advocating, or not advocating, for their company. They have the opportunity to make massive changes with the things they say and share with others. Samantha Stone, interviewed by John Golden, explores employee advocacy trends.

Want to learn how to be amazing at customer service? It's actually not that difficult. Wouldn't it be nice if everyone regarded you as being amazing in sales? Or a wonderful leader? What if you could transform yourself into a person who was always amazing – in almost every area of life? "Always be amazing." That is the motto of Shep Hyken, who tells us why it's crucial to be amazing when working in the sales world. John Golden interviews Shep Hyken to discuss the difficulties surrounding being amazing, what it takes to be amazing, and the importance of consistency.

In the last decade, we have entered into a new era of selling. This has affected all areas of sales, including the sales team, the marketing team, sales management, technology and software systems, and most importantly, it has changed the way buyers buy. In order to keep up with these changes, David Meerman Scott, interviewed by John Golden, explores sales and marketing convergence.

Although sales and marketing alignment has been discussed for many years, it hasn't really reached the level at which it needs to be in today's lightning pace of commerce. Traditionally Marketing's job has been to generate sales leads, which are then thrown over to Sales, whose job it then became to close them.

Sales and marketing alignment is a much talked about problem, yet remains persistent in the sales world. This is at a detriment to many companies and organizations. As Matt Heinz, interviewed by John Golden, points out, there are tremendous benefits to unifying the sales and marketing teams.

Very surprisingly, in 2017 we're still having a conversation about Sales and Marketing Alignment. Sales is still complaining about lead quality, and many marketers are looking for a one-step lead solution. Often Marketing considers that it is responsible for causing interest in prospects, and Sales is responsible for revenue. Sales and Marketing need to be focused on a common goal–and in the end it all comes back to leads. Host John Golden interviews Dan McDade on the truth about leads.

It has long been a struggle for companies to get their sales and marketing teams to align. Throughout the last decade, there have been numerous changes in the sales world, and sales and marketing departments have not been unaffected. However, with these changes have come some complications. It has become challenging to integrate sales and marketing, and the standard method of trying to encourage integration has not necessarily been successful. Instead, Mike Bosworth, interviewed by John Golden, suggests that agreement is the way to help sales and marketing align.

Sales processes and sales strategies are important parts of selling. A sales process follows from sales strategy. A successful operation does not just come about naturally; it is something that requires planning and intense consideration from both customers and companies. And yet, many companies don't put sufficient work into creating their strategies, leaving their processes weak and unsuccessful. John Flannery, interviewed by John Golden, discusses how to create a solid sales strategy and successful sales process.

Having a solid customer strategy is a crucial part of any sales organization. If you don't have a strategy, or if your approach isn't up to par, you lose out on creating a dynamic client base. This ultimately impacts your bottom line. John Golden sits down with Jeff Tanner to provide essential tips on building and improving customer strategies.

An important aspect of selling to a group with a sales presentation is selling within the presentation. It's one thing to sell one-on-one, where the person you're selling to is going to be talking as much as you. But what does it look like when you as the salesperson are doing most of the talking? Host Golden Golden sits down with Rob Jolles to discuss How to tailor a sales pitch to a presentation, help the audience understand "WIIFM", and explain what you expect from the audience.

When selling–as with anything else–there is power in words you use. Getting the words right is the difference between the winners and the losers in sales. How much do words matter? How can what you say make for a demonstrably different outcome? The worst time to think about what you're trying to say is in the time that you're saying it. Host John Gold sits down with Phil M. Jones to discuss his book "Exactly What to Say". Phil explains how much of a difference magic words in sales can make when dealing with a buyer.

You might find that prospects are not going to change their position unless they have a sense of urgency. The incumbency position is very strong, and may even consist of continuing to do nothing. Sometimes we're not trying to take the business away from a competitor–we're just trying to get someone to start a new behavior. To get them to change, a sense of urgency must be created, or an existing sense of urgency tapped into. Host John Golden sits down with Andy Gole to discuss Urgency Based Selling and how you can create urgency in your buyer.

One of the fundamental sales steps that is often missed by organizations is collaborative strategic sales planning. It's all about engaging your sales team to come up with the key activities required to grow your business. Host John Golden sits down with Joe Micallef to discuss the necessary elements of collaborative strategic sales planning and how to avoid common mistakes that companies make when planning their sales strategy.

Most people call the place that produces revenue "the sales department", but if you really think about it, selling is the activity that gets you to a result. For that reason Shawn set out to develop not just sales departments, but selling organizations. Host John Golden sits down with Shawn Karol Sandy to discuss the culture, behavior, and strategy you need to adopt in order to create a successful selling organization.

For a company, selecting software platforms for business operation is a major undertaking. What are the vital questions that must be answered, and what points should be addressed? Host John Golden sits down with Gabriel Gheorghui to discuss the process of how to select the best software for your company.

When Barbara Weaver Smith talks about whale hunting, she's talking about hunting for those big customers and big deals. It requires a skill set all to itself, with a coordinated, trained team—much like the Inuit people in the ancient practice of actual whale hunting. Listen to Barbara and host John Golden as they discuss how to strategically approach the biggest whales. Building relationships with big accounts requires a collective effort from your team to provide the resources needed for these accounts.

Social selling has revolutionized the sales world. It is no secret that the use of social media to engage with buyers and close deals has opened a new world of opportunities for salespeople. However, navigating these changes and utilizing social selling to its maximum potential can be a struggle. Listen in as host John Golden sits down with Julio Viskovich to discuss how sales people can adapt in a digital age.

Host John Golden talks to Bruce Wedderburn of Integrity Solutions who has over 20 years of global experience in the sales performance improvement industry building, coaching and directing sales teams and distribution channels to surpass growth targets. John and Bruce discuss the vital topic of coaching and training on the centerpiece of sales—the sales conversation—and Bruce shares some powerful research into the profound reaches of the various aspects of the sales conversation.

In the last decade, many things have changed about sales coaching and how to apply it correctly to get useful results. One thing that has mostly stayed the same is that there are lots of methodologies out there. What's different, however, is the degree of integration of these methodologies. Salespeople and reps learn the methods, but then they quickly go by the wayside without reinforcement and encouragement from the sales managers. Listen in as host John Golden sits down with Matt Darby, founder of United Sales Resources, to discuss the art of sales coaching.

Do you know how to open doors in sales? Perhaps you've got a good grip on the sales process. You have your elevator pitch, you've worked on boosting charisma and conversation skills, and you put in the time to go above and beyond for your clients. You can't utilize all of these skills you've worked hard on crafting if you can't open the door and get new clients. Chief Door Opener Caryn Kopp sits down with host John Golden to teach you some practical steps to open doors in sales.

John Golden sits down with Andrew Grant to talk about his book "The Innovation Race: How to Change a Culture to Change the Game". The word "culture" gets thrown around a lot, and companies discuss culture at length. What does it really mean to inject culture into a company? Does it simply mean deciding on a radical fashion trend for all employees? John and Andrew explore these topics and key insights on how to create a successful business culture.

Ago Cluytens, Sales Trainer, Coach & Consultant For Tech, Financial & Professional Services of RAIN Group, dives deep into the subject of sales management best practices.

Sales executive expert Meridith Powell talks with John Golden about her new book "Owners Redefining Responsibility". She explains some of the background about why this book was necessary and what the genesis of it. Her biggest reason, CEO's want to know how to build a culture that gets employees wanting to get engaged and take ownership of organizations. Then employees were saying what do I need to do to make sure I can hold on to my job and not lose my career.

Host John Golden sits down with Andy Paul to discuss how to cuts through the noise of excessive mediocre sales tips in order to get to the effective sales advice that will make a difference for your sales in 2018. The first piece of advice that Andy provides is this: if it seems "hypey" just turn around and walk away. There are people, however, that will give you good, solid sales self-development advice, that is well thought-out, based on experience, and on which you can rely. Listen in to see how you can improve your sales by understanding fundamental sales advice.

Art Sobczak is the author of the book Smart Calling: How to Eliminate Fear and Rejection from Cold Calling. Let's face it, when most of us hear the phrase "cold calling" they normally do associate it with fear and rejection, and generally a horrible experience. But there is a way to calm and confident cold calling, as Art shows us in this telling interview.

Content marketing has hit the ground running in recent years, with more salespeople and sales organizations producing digital content and written media. It has the potential to be a very successful marketing strategy if done correctly. John Hall, interviewed by John Golden, discusses the influence of content marketing, how to break through the noise, creating IDEA content, and explains why distribution is so crucial.

As a salesperson, you're in one of three places at the end of the year for your sales quota: You're desperately trying to make quota. You've made sales quota and you're happy and relaxing. Or you're nowhere near quota... unless the largest bluebird ever falls out of the sky. Why is it that this last category is the biggest and doesn't seem to improve? Host John Golden sits down with founder of No More Cold Calling Joanne Black to discuss the real factors that matter when it comes to achieving your sales quota. Joanne gives us amazing insight into why companies need to invest on improving the sales skills of their sales team instead of relying on technology.

Why is a sales process important? Host John Golden sits down with Lisa Magnuson to tackle the topic of how a sales process is one of the most important subjects in sales. Unfortunately most companies only pay it lip service or something that's done once and remains the same instead of being dynamic. Yet the one important statistic about a sales process is that it actually improves sales results. If you build a sales process based on best practices and use it, sales will almost certainly improve.

There are many who argue that online sales training isn't worth the time or effort. However renowned sales thought leader, author and veteran sales trainer Dr. Richard Ruff begs to differ and has become one of online sales training's leading proponents. Host John Golden sits down with Richard to discuss the advantage of utilizing online sales training to maximize sales efficiency.

The annual sales kickoff is a great opportunity to network and meet new colleagues, learn new things about the sales industry, and maybe even relax a little bit. But, often times, this long weekend is packed with so much information, that many salespeople leave without solidifying that knowledge. And, even if they do take away concrete points, the implementation often falls quickly to the wayside. Julie Hansen, interviewed by John Golden, explores sales kickoff meetings and how to make the most of them.

Growth marketing is a new way of structuring the marketing team and holding them accountable to increase revenue and company growth. The idea involves the alignment of sales and marketing, as well as coaching and strategizing for higher management. Sujan Patel, interviewed by John Golden, explains growth marketing, how to examine the current playing field, and how to differentiate your company from others.

Host John Golden sits down with Gordon Tredgold, author of FAST: 4 Principles Every Business Needs to Achieve Success and Drive Results, to understand why he chose 4 basic principles in his book. In the interview he goes over each in detail to help you achieve success through: Focus, Accountability, Simplicity, and Transparency.

What makes a perfect close? According to James Muir, author of the bestselling book The Perfect Close, salespeople have learned many manipulative-style closes over the years. The net effect is that prospects, not feeling comfortable with them, don't do anything at all--in fact, 60 to 90 percent of sales cycles end in no close. Listen in as host John Golden sits down with James Muir to give you tips on how to make the perfect close.

Great sales managers are hard to come by. Sales managers have a very important job in the sales world. They manage a team of sales reps. They serve as a coach and a trainer. They monitor data and statistics, and a variety of other things. It can be challenging to know which aspect of sales management to focus on when trying to improve from an okay sales manager to a great sales manager. Kevin Davis, author of the Sales Manager's Guide to Greatness, has some concrete actions that you can take as a sales manager to improve as he sits down with host John Golden to share his insight.

The economic outlook is an important thing to consider, especially at the end of a year. As we enter the New Year, economist Dr. Thomas Potiowsky reviews what's ahead. This is important for salespeople so that they can orient themselves and prepare for their upcoming year. It's helpful to know what is going on in the sales market, as well as the business world as a whole. John Golden interviews Potiowsky on these topics.