The Sales Evangelist

The digital shift of the workplace has manifested the need for digital company culture. Digital culture is necessary to improve internal relationships at your company, but it’s integral in expanding your social reach as a company and developing a following that gives you business. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, we’re joined by Tacie Avedikian, VP of Digital Development at Little Bird Marketing, to learn how companies can embrace digital culture to develop a social influence. But first, what does Tacie mean by social influence? The original meaning has shifted a bit in terms of how people use social media. Leveraging influencers from B2C platforms like Instagram or Facebook and transferring those things into more B2B platforms like LinkedIn or Twitter is critical. The challenges of hiring new team members: In the current age, being seen online is critical in bringing in suitable candidates. Because of this digital world, company-wide social influence is vital to attract candidates and clients. You attract candidates through sharing valuable content and having employees who advocate for your company. Despite the importance of online culture, you rarely see someone from HR actively promoting on LinkedIn and advocating for their company. When you want to look for somebody, the first thing we do is look online, read reviews, and understand company values. Companies need to ensure their company and themselves are seen and available for this process. What's the first thing if we wanted to the action plan, and who should lead this? Most importantly, ensure it’s not just one person or department pushing. It’s a team effort to create a digital culture. Learn to be authentic when sharing about the company and yourself. When you create a relationship with someone and see that you're enjoying the company you work for, people get engaged and want to know more. How can I help my team to be creative and post authentic things? Many people are at home, working with their kids right next to them. This is a shared experience that creates empathy and a connection people can bond over. Develop training, make expectations to your team of what authenticity looks like, and provide opportunities for additional training each quarter or throughout the year. Companies should regularly touch base with their team on their digital culture, whether through Slack or a team chat, to engage and develop relationships. Tacie’s final advice: Realize that things are not going back to the way they were. A digitally transformed culture is going to change the influence of your audience completely. Tacie’s major takeaway? Unseen is unsold. (We had to repeat it, just one more time.) To get in contact with Tacie, connect with her on LinkedIn or email her at [email protected]. This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real. But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This course is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Certified Training Program, a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. Help elevate your sales game and sign up now to get the first two modules free! You can visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals or call (561) 570-5077 for more information. We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes, tune in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings for each episode you listen to! Read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore their huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day trial. Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder wrote by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

Many tech companies view the idea of SDRs as advantageous because they deal with the tough or mundane elements of the sales process like cold calling, making lists, and following up with inbound leads. But SDRs, with the proper training and support, can be much more. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, we’re joined by David Dulany, founder and CEO of the research and advisory firm Tenbound, to learn how you can develop your sales bench. The elements of a good sales bench: Your SDR team is a group of people who, when needed, have learned the skills necessary to jump into a full sales position when one becomes available. To understand which skills are most valuable, analyze your recruitment process and list out traits that make someone successful at your company. Are they tenacious, proactive, or require specific technical skills? Create a plan to incorporate training elements for each of those skills for your SDR team and develop ways for new hires to understand what they need to be successful right from the get-go. The biggest mistake we see with SDR teams is not establishing a solid company culture. The old hiring method was simply to churn and burn. But in today’s market, where employees need tools and equipment to be successful, it’s an incredibly inefficient and expensive process. In the modern world, culture is everything. A successful SDR team leader establishes that. To develop the ideal team culture, write down what you want to culture to look like. Once you have a semblance for your vision, integrate elements relating to it into your SDR training process. Sales is becoming an increasingly team-driven activity; the days of the lone wolf are long over. Provide a path to promotion. Certifications are a great way to break down the goals you want employees to achieve before a promotion. A ladder setup provides concrete goals for SDRs to work towards and promotion opportunities. David’s major tips: For SDRs, take the position seriously; it’s a critical piece of the puzzle. For people leading SDR teams, integrate structure, value, and opportunities within the SDR experience. Doing so will help people take the position more seriously and want to grow within the organization. To learn more about David’s approach to SDR development, check out his book The Sales Development Framework. Otherwise, visit his company website to find resources to help develop your sales bench. This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real. But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This course is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Certified Training Program, a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. Help elevate your sales game and sign up now to get the first two modules free! You can visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals or call (561) 570-5077 for more information. We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes, tune in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings for each episode you listen to! Read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore their huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day trial. Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

A challenging aspect of a salesperson’s job is business development. One way you can simplify the business development process, however, is through outsourcing. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, we’re joined by Tom Ancona, founder and chief strategist at ROCKyourcompany.com, to discuss how outsourcing can lead to new business development. The first step to outsourcing: visualize. Think about your goals. If you had a team of people to execute everything you want to do, what is that vision? Work backward from that vision to determine who will get you to that point. When outsourcing, the words “you get what you give” could not be more accurate. The results and work you get are directly related to the instruction and information you provide. Develop your vision: Pretend you’re talking to a recently hired assistant - be descriptive in what you want. The more details you provide, the better the project will be. If the project requires platforms like Sales Navigator, have at least a baseline understand of the software or platform. Hiring the right candidate can be a challenge. Selecting the right candidate might not be easy, especially at the beginning. It takes experience to find the right kind of people. The solution? Do your homework. Read their feedback from folks they've worked with. Read both the most recent and most relevant reviews to see into their current headspace and how they’ve finished similar projects. Meet with them and ask tough questions about your expectations. If they give intuitive answers and understand what you're asking, you’ve found a good candidate. Understand how freelance platforms operate: When you purchase projects on platforms like Upwork or Fiverr, some have an escrow account. You allocate the money before each project, but you have to approve the project before the money is transferred. This gives you a level of safety in that a freelancer has to complete the project. Don’t hand over passwords to your most valuable assets until you've worked with somebody for a while. Tom’s major takeaway and special offer: If you're not doing it now, look at outsourcing as a potential way to break out in your marketplace, as you’ve never done before. If you’re looking to improve your sales game with free downloadable templates, visit tomancona.com/tse for a free template download for you. To schedule a meeting with Tom, visit Meetwithtom.live to view his calendar. This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real. But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This course is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Certified Training Program, a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. Help elevate your sales game and sign up now to get the first two modules free! You can visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals or call (561) 570-5077 for more information. We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes, tune in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings for each episode you listen to! Read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore their huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day trial. Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

Working as a sales manager can be tough. Why make it more challenging than it has to be? And without the proper guidance and support, it can be especially difficult to find the right people for your organization. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, we’re joined by Frank Cespedes, senior lecturer at Harvard business school, to learn his strategy for finding and retaining top-level salespeople. There are inherent challenges to hiring within sales. Not enough people in and outside the sales function that there are challenges in hiring sales that don’t exist elsewhere. People major in engineering, accounting, and finance. There are less than 200 sales courses in the United States universities, let alone majors and programs. As a result, most learning in sales is whatever the company does. Companies on average spent 20% more per capita than they do training other positions. Most learning in sales is on-the-job learning that isn’t a challenge in other business areas. Because so much time is spent training, accelerating the productivity ramp up for new hires is crucial for hiring managers. How can you make the hiring process more manageable? Minimize the biggest hiring mistake: relying solely on one or two unstructured interviews. Research consistently shows the correlation between the ratings people get in interviews and their subsequent on-the-job performance tend to vary by .1 to .4. The perfect candidate’s chances to perform to their expected standard is about as guaranteed as a coin flip. To solve the problem, supplement interviews by including people who aren’t sales, like customer support and product design. Experience is often an important hiring criterion. But in business, there is only experience selling your product. Experience in other organizations might not indicate or guarantee success at others. The most important thing when hiring is knowing what you’re looking for. Don’t think platitudes; think the most important tasks this new person will accomplish. So what do you do? Start with the fundamentals. Performing fundamentals better than anyone else will lead to success - the who, why, and how of your customer informs you who you’re hiring for. What will the salesperson need to be good to be successful? Conversely, what might they need to be just good enough at? To determine these behaviors, consider implementing assessments or even internship positions to judge that behavior. The pandemic showed companies overpay for many tasks in the current sales model; you want to focus talent on the steps that most impact the sale rather than things like lead generation and demos. Frank’s major piece of advice to someone managing the hiring process? Know what you’re looking for, start with the buying process, and don’t require platitudes of experience. Recognize that the hiring process doesn’t end with the hire. The sooner you get someone to ramp up their productivity within the organization, the better everyone is. Read Frank’s new book Sales Management That Works: How to Sell in a World that Never Stops Changing. Want to get in touch with Frank? Visit him on his website or connect with him on LinkedIn. This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real. But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This course is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Certified Training Program, a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. Help elevate your sales game and sign up now to get the first two modules free! You can visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals or call (561) 570-5077 for more information. We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes, tune in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings for each episode you listen to! Read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore their huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day trial. Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder wrote by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

Does the thought of hiring a new salesperson fill you with fear? Do you dread the interview process and reading through resumes? In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald helps expedite the process of finding the perfect addition to your team by outlining three characteristics every seller must have. You want someone curious: When it comes to identifying prospects and their motivations, salespeople need to find the root cause. They need to dig deep, ask the right questions, and find the proper intel to manage their prospects and find sales. Curiosity is asking the right questions that lead to natural conversations. But the suitably curious don’t ask questions that might be offensive or too personal. You want someone resilient. Persistency and a continual drive to work through challenges are critical for sales. Working in sales means perseverance. The average sale takes between six to twelve touchpoints to move forward, so tenacity and stamina are necessary to succeed in any sales position. You want someone empathetic. Pushy salespeople are no longer in style (if they ever were.) Salespeople who listen and want to help the client will find far more success than a salesperson focused on the sale instead of the person. The bonus trait: You want someone creative. Thinking outside the box is necessary for sales. When problems inevitably arise (as they do in any business), you want your office filled with creative minds who aren’t afraid to think critically and solve the problem. Seth Godin’s book Purple Cow demonstrates the importance of creativity in business. This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real. But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This course is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Certified Training Program, a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. Help elevate your sales game and sign up now to get the first two modules free! You can visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals or call (561) 570-5077 for more information. We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes, tune in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings for each episode you listen to! Read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore their huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day trial. Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder wrote by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

Congrats, you just landed a sales job! But should you accept it? In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald provides his three tips to consider before you accept that job offer. Connect with their current sales team. Directly asking a sales team what their opinions are at their company is a great way to discover the company culture. They aren’t trying to sell you anything - they have nothing to gain from convincing you it’s a great place when, in reality, it isn’t. Finding the sales team is tremendously easy as well because their entire job is centered around being available. Determine what customers say about them right now. How do you go about doing this? (It’s easy.) Look through case studies and online reviews to generate names, and reach out to those people on LinkedIn. But why should you do this? It can help you get a good scope of the company and show if they consistently update their work or bank off of case studies from 2008. Look at Glassdoor and Google Reviews for the company. Nobody is more brutally honest than strangers on the internet, right? Glassdoor is a platform where current and past employees share information about working at the company. While people might exaggerate on the internet, this can help bring up any concerns you might need to consider before accepting the job. The main takeaway here is that you really want to know as much about the company as possible before accepting. Limit the surprises you might face, and you’ll be on your way to a great next step in your career. This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real. But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This course is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Certified Training Program, a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. Help elevate your sales game and sign up now to get the first two modules free! You can visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals or call (561) 570-5077 for more information. We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes, tune in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings for each episode you listen to! Read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore their huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day trial. Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

Do you wish you had a list of things to avoid when looking for your next sales gig? We brought an expert to do just that - Jasmine Black. As the owner of BrainChild PSM and with over 15 years of corporate sales experience, Jasmine understands both sides of the metaphorical sales coin. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, she gives you the inside scoop on mistakes B2B sellers should avoid to land their next job. What should B2B sellers avoid when searching for their next gig? Don’t wait for your next opportunity to fall in your lap. Learn to be assertive without being overly aggressive in interactions throughout the hiring process. Remember, you want to show how you can provide value to the organization, not just show up to the office with your resume. Position yourself as a thought leader in the organization. Tell them challenges you see and explain how you’ve resolved similar issues in the past. Or even provide a plan to utilize in the future once you have the position. Don’t engage without intentionality. When you create your own personal brand, that professional reputation precedes you. Determine how do you want to be known. Create your resume to work for you. Jasmine read an article about a man who finds a job he wants and then builds a perfect resume for that job. He then spends the next year developing the skills in that resume to know he’s qualified and experienced in the role. There are several outlets to gain knowledge and experience in a skillset like sales, such as LinkedIn and Hubspot. What can sellers do to start making themselves attractive to land that next job? Create your brand, and create it with intention. Take time to write a list of things you want to be known for - they can be things you want to improve on, something you already know, or things you might even be lacking. Record yourself saying those things, and look back at the recording - do you believe yourself? Is that what you want? If it is, great, keep going that way. If not, reroute. Networking is critical to the sales industry. If you aren’t networking, start. Jasmine’s secret to networking: What’s the awesome new social media platform Jasmine utilizes to interact with new and knowledgeable people? Clubhouse. When she seeks to network, Jasmine’s ultimate goal is developing a relationship. You should be into the quality of relationships versus the quantity of connections. Clubhouse has no visuals; it's just real names and real identities. The culture is sharing value, being participative, and welcoming - AKA the perfect networking atmosphere. Jasmine’s final piece of advice? You can have anything you want in life if you just help enough others get what they want. Get in touch on Instagram, LinkedIn, or @brainchild on Clubhouse! This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real. But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This course is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Certified Training Program, a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. Help elevate your sales game and sign up now to get the first two modules free! You can visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals or call (561) 570-5077 for more information. We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes, tune in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings for each episode you listen to! Read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore their huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day trial. Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder wrote by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

The resume is an integral part of the professional world. But while it does show off your prior work experience, it doesn’t show who you are as a person. What motivates you, or why are you applying for that specific job? Simon Tecle, VP of Sales at SyncroMSP, joins us on today’s episode to explain how you can tell your story at your next interview, sans resume, to begin the next step of your career with confidence and success. The resume is not your story. A typical interview response is to admit, “I don’t have experience in x,y, or z.” Don’t let your resume be the anchor in your conversation, especially if you know you lack the experience to capitalize on it. The hiring manager already knows you have a lack of experience, and they wouldn’t be talking to you if that was a deal-breaker. Why do we feel so tied to our resume experience? Because resumes are critical in the corporate world. However, stories convey key skills to a job we don’t put on our resume. Are you ex-military? Talk about your time management. Are you a parent? I bet you’ve mastered multitasking. Do you play sports? Talk about your will to win and competitive spirit. Overcoming traditional interviews. If an interviewer is insistent on a resume-based interview, link line items from the job description to your personal stories. A quick tip - don’t agree with the interviewer if they mention a lack of experience. It isn’t about just answering the question; it’s about responding in a way that is best for you. Simon’s other tips for sellers to remember for their next interview: Always have thoughtful questions at the end, and follow up immediately after the interview. Highlight skills and accomplishments that demonstrate both soft and hard skills related to the job description. Simon’s major takeaway? Apply to careers and jobs where you relate to the requirements of the role. Plain and simple. Want to get in contact with Simon? Email him at [email protected], or connect with him on LinkedIn. This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real. But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This course is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Certified Training Program, a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. Help elevate your sales game and sign up now to get the first two modules free! You can visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals or call (561) 570-5077 for more information. We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes, tune in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings for each episode you listen to! Read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore their huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day trial. Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder wrote by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

Going into an interview can be tough. Whether it’s your very first interview or your twentieth, the nerves never go away completely. You don’t want to sound like an idiot, right? But what if you had a cheat sheet and knew the most common questions salespeople tend to mess up? That’s exactly what we did for today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist. Today we’re joined by Kathleen Steffey, founder, and CEO of Naviga Recruiting, to learn how to answer difficult interview questions and secure your next sales gig. Question One: Anything related to your sales process. A VP of Sales might ask an interviewee about their selling process from beginning to end. Even if that salesperson knows their approach, they often just don’t know how to articulate it. If someone can’t walk through their process, a leader might think they lack depth or aren’t methodical. Think about your process in advance, write it down, and go from there. Question Two: Tell me where you came in against quota? You have to know when you came in against quota, whether it’s over or under. If a sales rep doesn’t know their numbers, it’s considered a big negative. What if your business doesn’t measure by quota? (Yes, those companies exist.) Create your own measurable goals that define success, and know if you’ve achieved those goals. Question Three: What is your prospecting strategy? Ten years ago, people could get away with merely pounding the pavement or cold calling. But in today’s marketplace, if you’re not handling prospecting in an integrated manner, you’re viewed as antiquated. Know your strategy, and if your strategy is purely through one pipeline, you likely want to reevaluate your strategy. Question Four: How do you differentiate yourself in the selling process? If you’re meeting your numbers, you might not have ever had to think about this. But the sales process has changed where you have to be creative to be successful. Show an interviewer you're different; show them your resilience and prospecting skills through your process. It wins, especially for salespeople. Find Naviga Recruiting on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and connect directly with Kathleen on LinkedIn. This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real.\ But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This course is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Certified Training Program, a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. Help elevate your sales game and sign up now to get the first two modules free! You can visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals or call (561) 570-5077 for more information. We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes, tune in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings for each episode you listen to! Read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore their huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day trial.Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder wrote by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

Moving to a virtual workplace means companies can hire better and faster while reducing employee cost and turnover. But are there benefits to returning to the brick-and-mortar model of 2019? In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald interviews Dan Fantasia, founder of the sales career advancement company Treeline Inc. to discuss what sales professionals look for in their 2021 work environment. What are sales professionals looking for in 2021? Most employees prefer virtual roles over in-person. So if you’re thinking of reintroducing your company to the office, you might want to reconsider. If someone is sold on the remote option, they might start looking for a new opportunity. The pros and cons of having a brick-and-mortar company versus operating remotely: In a virtual job, it’s more challenging to build camaraderie outside the office. However, there are ways to facilitate this relationship. Dan’s company participated in a virtual wine tasting, and they start each morning with a zoom call to stay aligned and promote communication. The pro of remote working is the removal of commuting. Companies no longer have to compete for employees with companies in a particular area - they can hire across the United States. However, this is a double-edged sword, as competing companies are equally able to contact employees with new opportunities. What should employers be aware of that salespeople want in their 2021 work environment? Just because your company is virtual doesn’t mean you can lowball a candidate. They have an entire world of opportunity now and can just look elsewhere. Don’t be stuck on the decision to go back to an in-person model. You might have to pay for a building people don’t use, but if your employees work better remotely, the payoff will make the decision worth it. There are risks of virtual work depending on the position, the most pressing being if your employees are mature enough to work virtually. However, between a virtual company and an in-person company, the virtual company can source candidates from the entire country to ensure that the person thrives in that type of environment. Virtual companies offer a diversity of regional cultures, which can develop new perspectives in your employees. Dan’s advice for sellers and companies: Corporations should be open-minded and take advantage of the virtual opportunities. You’ll find immense payoff with a virtual model. For candidates: Look for your next opportunity when you’re still employed. You want the longest runway possible to have the time necessary to consider your options. When you’re employed, you won’t have to accept the first offer out of desperation but can instead move towards an opportunity you want. If you want to get in contact with Dan, email him directly at [email protected], or you can visit his company website. This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real. But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by NetHunt CRM. NetHunt CRM is a sales automation tool that lives inside Gmail. It covers a full set of features to manage leads, nurture customer relations, monitor sales progress, and automate sales and marketing workflows. With native-like Gmail and G Suite integration, you can access your CRM data, launch bulk email campaigns, and set up automated sequences from the comfort of your inbox. NetHunt helps move leads down your sales funnel and never lets a valuable prospect go untouched. NetHunt CRM offers TSE listeners a 40% discount for the first three months along with free user training and a dedicated Customer Success Manager with any pricing plan. Try NetHunt CRM today at https://nethunt.com/tse. This course is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Certified Training Program, a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. Help elevate your sales game and sign up now to get the first two modules free! You can visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals or call (561) 570-5077 for more information. We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes, tune in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings for each episode you listen to! Read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore their huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day trial. Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are

Are you trying to find your first sales job or looking to stand out from the competition to land that first gig? Look no further, because on today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald Kelly shares three strategies to find your first sales job. Strategy One: Befriend recruiters for the type of jobs you’re trying to land. Recruiters have a vested interest in finding great people - it means they get more money. So don’t be afraid of interacting with them! To find the right recruiters, go to any recruiting website to see which industries specific people recruit for. Search for them on LinkedIn, connect with them, and see which companies they hire for. Once you find the recruiters and build a relationship, you’ll have an opportunity ready for you when looking for your next career step. Strategy Two: Network, network, network Your network is your net worth. If you go on social media and ask your network for job recommendations, you’ll get a ton. Not all of them will be good, but there will be opportunities with potential for you to explore. If you already have a job and don’t want your employer to see it, direct message your connections in the space you’re looking to move into. Find the movers and shakers in your community, introduce yourself, and see if they’re able to direct you to someone who can help you. Strategy Three: Connect with people within your target company. This strategy, taken from Jacob at Sales for the Culture, will help you land a sale or job with a specific company or industry. Find a company on LinkedIn, reach out to any recruiters specifically for that company, and introduce yourself. Reach out to employees in the department or position you’re looking to get in and connect with them. You’ll be amazed how willing people are willing to advise and help get you where you want to go. With these strategies, you’ll have a relationship with the recruiter, information from your connections, and relationships with the people at your target company. Sounds pretty good, right? This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real. But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by NetHunt CRM. NetHunt CRM is a sales automation tool that lives inside Gmail. It covers a full set of features to manage leads, nurture customer relations, monitor sales progress, and automate sales and marketing workflows. With native-like Gmail and G Suite integration, you can access your CRM data, launch bulk email campaigns, and set up automated sequences from the comfort of your inbox. NetHunt helps move leads down your sales funnel and never lets a valuable prospect go untouched. NetHunt CRM offers TSE listeners a 40% discount for the first three months along with free user training and a dedicated Customer Success Manager with any pricing plan. Try NetHunt CRM today at https://nethunt.com/tse. This course is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Certified Training Program, a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. Help elevate your sales game and sign up now to get the first two modules free! You can visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals or call (561) 570-5077 for more information. We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes, tune in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings for each episode you listen to! Read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore their huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day trial. Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder wrote by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

Before the pandemic, salespeople could hear and learn from their peers through unscheduled interactions. But with water-cooler conversations at an all-time low, how can we continue to learn from our team members? On today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, we’re joined by Zach Ballenger, co-founder of Casted, to discuss how companies can continue to foster spontaneous conversations in the virtual office. What is learning in osmosis? Learning by osmosis uses that desktop chatter you don’t expect to hear. It’s walking by your coworker right when he gives an excellent pitch or when you casually see how your colleague organizes her work on her computer—organic learning through unscheduled interactions. A lot of salespeople don’t want to go back to an office post-pandemic. While there are many benefits to virtual work, losing the ability to develop unscheduled conversations is one element that is unfortunately lost. What are the benefits of osmosis learning? It facilitates unexpected growth opportunities. With an in-person office, nuances such as handovers and explanations provide context for growth, especially for those newer in the industry. Overhearing information can inform potential training and opportunities to perform better. What can we do to foster osmosis learning in some way in a remote environment? Have colleagues shadow each other throughout their workday. They might learn something new by watching the tasks they perform each day completed in an entirely new way. Create pop-up zoom meetings for employees to work together, even if they aren’t directly working together on anything in particular. Start a Discord server for anyone who plays games or shares a hobby to build relationships outside of the office. What tip do you have for a sales rep who feels they miss that type of learning? Let someone know you want that element integrated into your workday. You can rely on management to help start this process, but don’t be afraid to ask your other coworkers and colleagues. Are you interested in learning more from Zach? Reach out to him on his company website or connect on LinkedIn. This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real. But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by NetHunt CRM. NetHunt CRM is a sales automation tool that lives inside Gmail. It covers a full set of features to manage leads, nurture customer relations, monitor sales progress, and automate sales and marketing workflows. With native-like Gmail and G Suite integration, you can access your CRM data, launch bulk email campaigns, and set up automated sequences from the comfort of your inbox. NetHunt helps move leads down your sales funnel and never lets a valuable prospect go untouched. NetHunt CRM offers TSE listeners a 40% discount for the first three months along with free user training and a dedicated Customer Success Manager with any pricing plan. Try NetHunt CRM today at https://nethunt.com/tse. This course is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Certified Training Program, a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. Help elevate your sales game and sign up now to get the first two modules free! You can visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals or call (561) 570-5077 for more information. We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes, tune in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings for each episode you listen to! Read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore their huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day trial. Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder wrote by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

The pandemic changed the way we sell. Or even how do we sell? Using LinkedIn as a resource for BDRs and SDRs to make sales, even during COVID-19, can help lead you to success. Today on The Sales Evangelist Donald is joined by Amanda Staffon and Jason Behnke, former business development representatives at BlueGrace Logistics, to learn how they used LinkedIn throughout the pandemic as a tool to supplement and advance their sales process. Selling in a difficult time While the pandemic threw a wrench in everyone’s professional lives, an opportunity was created: to help those in need. Amanda and Jason found themselves focusing even more on building relationships and being available for their prospects. With COVID-19, the necessary questions have shifted from understanding company strategies to understanding if their basic needs are being met as an organization. Prospecting today Now that the end of COVID is in sight, salespeople are running at high speeds to make up for the lull of 2020. Rotating between phone calls, email, and LinkedIn outreach help ensure your prospects receive your message. Plus, it’s helpful to use multiple platforms in our newly-found virtual economy. People are no longer as receptive to a direct approach. However, authenticity and patience are high in demand - prospects want a conversation, but at a slower pace. The upside? Salespeople can learn more about their prospects’ goals and needs. AKA, you can guide them to the product that best suits their needs. Now more than ever, it’s essential for empathy to drive the communication between the seller and the prospect. Develop casual conversations Because people are spending more time at home, prospects might be open to phone calls during odd hours. And with the sudden shift to virtual work, sales reps have opportunities to hold more casual conversations, thus developing their relationship. The omnichannel approach (providing great customer service across multiple platforms and channels) is more important than ever. Face the objection No matter what you do, some people just don’t want to be sold to. When a prospect has this objection, Amanda encourages honesty: tell your client you want to know how the pandemic affected their company to help ease their challenges. Empathy and authenticity are two important traits a salesperson can develop, especially on LinkedIn. Take advantage of LinkedIn features like voicemail messaging to demonstrate authenticity to your prospect. Commenting on other peoples’ content is a good strategy for LinkedIn; interacting with their posts and other commenters can begin a great conversation. “How BDRS and SDR Should Use LinkedIn During COVID19!” episode resources You can reach both Amanda and Jason via their LinkedIn accounts. Go ahead and connect with them! If you are interested in more sales stories, you can talk to Donald about it. Reach him via these channels: LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, about any sales concerns. This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real. But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by NetHunt CRM. NetHunt CRM is a sales automation tool that lives inside Gmail. It covers a full set of features to manage leads, nurture customer relations, monitor sales progress, and automate sales and marketing workflows. With native-like Gmail and G Suite integration, you can access your CRM data, launch bulk email campaigns, and set up automated sequences from the comfort of your inbox. NetHunt helps move leads down your sales funnel and never lets a valuable prospect go untouched. NetHunt CRM offers TSE listeners a 40% discount for the first three months along with free user training and a dedicated Customer Success Manager with any pricing plan. Try NetHunt CRM today at https://nethunt.com/tse. This course is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Certified Training Program, a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. Help elevate your sales game and sign up now to get the first two modules free! You can visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals or call (561) 570-5077 for more information. We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes, tune in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings for each episode you listen to! Read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore their huge online library. Regis

President and Co-founder of BombBomb Darin Dawson joins us on today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist to discuss the importance of utilizing video in sales after COVID-19. Running sales marketing and customer success for his video platform company gives Darin key insights to make your post-pandemic sales successful. The importance of video for sales in the post COVID era: The pandemic taught us how to create a new and different customer experience: video. Even once the pandemic ends, people might not be keen to leave the video approach because people can be unique, creative, and (most importantly) themselves. Any business can replicate and develop new features, but there is no way to replicate people. And video allows people to capitalize on the people and the relationship you’ve built with your prospects. Video is personal, not personalized. Relationships aren’t built over text on a screen: Use video for the back and forth dialogue typically done through text. Video capitalizes on a salesperson’s relationship-building skills and helps them stand out from the competition. Sending a video is asynchronous, meaning the prospect can watch the video on their time, send it to coworkers or decision-makers, and even view it multiple times. While video is now used mainly for initial outreach, you can and should experiment with sending video throughout the sales process to capitalize on the face-to-face interaction video provides. Where has Darin seen video used to increase sales post-pandemic? Video builds better relationships, which can later accelerate sale expansion down the line. Communication is more than verbal; nonverbal is just as important. And you can find nonverbal communication through video. Your videos don’t have to be a formal sit-down. Videos can be short, informal, and meant to build relationships with those you’ve already talked with. For founders, directors, and managers, consider sending videos internally to encourage and congratulate your employees. Darin’s biggest takeaway? People are your best asset. And you need to capitalize on that by providing a fresh and exciting customer experience. Connect with Darin on LinkedIn, but make sure to connect with a personal message! If you’re interested in more sales stories, you can talk to Donald directly. Reach him on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook about any sales concerns. This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real. But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by NetHunt CRM. NetHunt CRM is a sales automation tool that lives inside Gmail. It covers a full set of features to manage leads, nurture customer relations, monitor sales progress, and automate sales and marketing workflows. With native-like Gmail and G Suite integration, you can access your CRM data, launch bulk email campaigns, and set up automated sequences from the comfort of your inbox. NetHunt helps move leads down your sales funnel and never lets a valuable prospect go untouched. NetHunt CRM offers TSE listeners a 40% discount for the first three months along with free user training and a dedicated Customer Success Manager with any pricing plan. Try NetHunt CRM today at https://nethunt.com/tse. This course is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Certified Training Program, a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. Help elevate your sales game and sign up now to get the first two modules free! You can visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals or call (561) 570-5077 for more information. We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes, tune in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings for each episode you listen to! Read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore their huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day trial. Audio provided by Free SFX.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

Today on The Sales Evangelist, we’re joined by the Founder and Dean of The Non-Sleazy Sales Academy, Annie P. Ruggles. Annie has spent the last decade harnessing her Hulk-like disdain for hard sales and tacky self-promotion to help others sell their services without feeling slimy, queasy, or untrue to their ethics. And on today’s episode, she’ll explain how we can maneuver these tactics for sales in a post-COVID world. How do I ensure that my business will succeed in a post-pandemic world? Change areas of your selling that aren’t right for your message and delivery. You no longer have the excuse of COVID to keep those bad habits. Consider the post-pandemic a clean slate to look at your selling procedures and identify where more education or skill is needed. We tend as small business owners to sell and manage our sales folks to sell to people exactly like us. Cast a wider net. Balance your emotional storytelling with the details and KPIs. What are some other things salespeople do that may be subtly eroding trust with a prospect? If you can throw your sales script out the window, please do. The typical 30-minute discovery call no longer works: How do you know if you're the right fit for them if you blab the whole time? Instead, ask, without any fluff, what is the most important problem we could solve together? And how will you know if we're successful? What can I do for my business to thrive? Do more to rise against the horrible reputation of selling. We can have literally anything brought to us in minutes, yet we still have this idea that selling requires a ghoulish, predatory behavior. Whoever you are or whatever your personality is, you’re a salesperson if you deliver value and receive profit. That includes parents, coaches, teachers, and many other professions you might not consider. If you're telling your story, how do you know how much emotion to bring? What she doesn't want to do is come off like it's all about her. So she's not going to share personal or painful details, but she will share her story, the emotions she felt, and why that experience helps her understand the prospect’s needs. Dial down the detail, dial up the emotion; it helps cast a wider demographics net. Annie’s major takeaway? Post-COVID, we crave connection more than ever. Be a genuine individual. Be present, be honest, and listen. Learn when to close your mouth and listen. Especially after sharing the price point, we tend to babble and fill the space. Do not fill the space - that’s their thinking space, and you should respect it. Did Annie impact you? For those in an education space, visit her website. Otherwise, connect with her on LinkedIn and Instagram. If you’re interested in more sales stories, you can talk to Donald directly. Reach him on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook about any sales concerns. This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real. But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by NetHunt CRM. NetHunt CRM is a sales automation tool that lives inside Gmail. It covers a full set of features to manage leads, nurture customer relations, monitor sales progress, and automate sales and marketing workflows. With native-like Gmail and G Suite integration, you can access your CRM data, launch bulk email campaigns, and set up automated sequences from the comfort of your inbox. NetHunt helps move leads down your sales funnel and never lets a valuable prospect go untouched. NetHunt CRM offers TSE listeners a 40% discount for the first three months along with free user training and a dedicated Customer Success Manager with any pricing plan. Try NetHunt CRM today at https://nethunt.com/tse. This course is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Certified Training Program, a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. Help elevate your sales game and sign up now to get the first two modules free! You can visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals or call (561) 570-5077 for more information. We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes, tune in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings for each episode you listen to! Read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore their huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day trial. Audio provided by Free SFX.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot

Here’s a fun fact: Only 33% of decision-makers feel their organization is ready to get back to in-person work. What does this mean for the sales professional? In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald shares three insights salespeople should remember as we adjust to the inevitable post-COVID return to office work. Over the next four to six episodes of the podcast, you'll hear Donald talk with different sales leaders, authors, and sales coaches about what you need to know as we get back into the office full time. Only a third of decision-makers feel their company is ready to return to the office. This Market Watch article details this statistic and that many decision-makers feel going back to the office will be unpredictable and potentially chaotic. What should the salesperson expect when they come back to the office? Sales may slow down, and your sales process might take longer. Those decision-makers will have many fires to put out with the return to the office. They’ll have to ensure employee safety, implement new protocols, and return to their typical job as well. Meaning they might not have as much time to devote to your sale. What can you do as a seller? Overplan. Don’t assume the sale, but ensure the sale. Map out the whole sales process to visually see what needs to happen to the deal or project to get implemented quickly. Communicate. And, whenever possible, over-communicate. Keep your prospect engaged and involved in the process to prevent them from becoming distant. Communicate through multiple channels to ensure top-of-mind thought. Don’t go overboard, but make sure you’re available and easy to find. Consider utilizing text messaging. It's quick, it's easy, and virtually everybody has their phones on them at all times. The purpose of over-communicating is not to get something or finish a sale; you communicate to bring value. Become a digital seller, not a lone ranger. This article from the Harvard Business Review stresses the importance of being a digital-savvy sales professional. As the use of digital tools and analytics grows, Field Sales Reps will need more than just impersonal skills to be successful. The old profile of a “lone wolf” sales professional is giving way to a team player who can collaborate with others. Donald’s final takeaway: If you think the buyer will clamor over you for your product and service, you need to change that mindset. From the wise words of Stephen Covey: Seek first to understand, then to be understood. If you’re interested in more sales stories, you can talk to Donald directly. Reach him on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook about any sales concerns. This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real. But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by NetHunt CRM. NetHunt CRM is a sales automation tool that lives inside Gmail. It covers a full set of features to manage leads, nurture customer relations, monitor sales progress, and automate sales and marketing workflows. With native-like Gmail and G Suite integration, you can access your CRM data, launch bulk email campaigns, and set up automated sequences from the comfort of your inbox. NetHunt helps move leads down your sales funnel and never lets a valuable prospect go untouched. NetHunt CRM offers TSE listeners a 40% discount for the first three months along with free user training and a dedicated Customer Success Manager with any pricing plan. Try NetHunt CRM today at https://nethunt.com/tse. This course is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Certified Training Program, a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. Help elevate your sales game and sign up now to get the first two modules free! You can visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals or call (561) 570-5077 for more information. We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes, tune in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings for each episode you listen to! Read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore their huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day trial. Audio provided by Free SFX. Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

On today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by Austin McCulloh, consultant and founder of Austin McCulloh Advising. Austin shows people how to prospect virtually, whether using LinkedIn, Facebook, or other methods to take advantage of online opportunities. During his professional career, he’s learned that what's between your ears is your biggest obstacle, not who’s in front of you. Overcome your mental challenges. None of us are perfect, so stop trying to live up to an impossible standard. Some salespeople spend an hour researching before a main call only to get a prospect voicemail. How much excitement and energy do you have now to make that next call? Have a counsel or advisor around you - people you can bounce ideas off. Especially those better than you. Read The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz to understand and overcome your own self-limiting beliefs. Develop a process. Some salespeople feel out a sale as it goes because they believe that’s what a successful salesperson can do. In actuality, a developed sales process is what brings confidence and success. A big pro of virtual prospecting: You can look at and update a google doc while maintaining eye contact with a prospect. What are some of the things salespeople tell themselves that prevent success? The belief that age prevents success. Those new to an industry or career often think they can’t work with someone older than themselves. From Austin’s firsthand experience, people genuinely don’t care about your age. They care about how competent you are and doing what you say you’re going to do. Read anything by Ed Mylett - Competence comes from doing what you say you're going to do. Austin tips to keep himself motivated: He writes down what he needs to do each day and keeps track of it quantitatively, meaning he can clearly measure his completion percentage. Some days the percentage will be higher than others. But if you consistently control what you can on a day-to-day or week-to-week basis, you're going to be a more competent person. Austin’s advice for the new or incoming salesperson: If you already have the job, figure out if it’s the job you want to have. If you don't believe what you're selling, it's going to be tough. People stereotype right off the bat. So whether it's not having the proper clothing or the right look, don't put yourself at a disadvantage right away. Want to connect with Austin? Find him on LinkedIn and his company website. If you are interested in more sales stories, you can talk to Donald directly. Reach him on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook about any sales concerns. This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real. But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by NetHunt CRM. NetHunt CRM is a sales automation tool that lives inside Gmail. It covers a full set of features to manage leads, nurture customer relations, monitor sales progress, and automate sales and marketing workflows. With native-like Gmail and G Suite integration, you can access your CRM data, launch bulk email campaigns, and set up automated sequences from the comfort of your inbox. NetHunt helps move leads down your sales funnel and never lets a valuable prospect go untouched. NetHunt CRM offers TSE listeners a 40% discount for the first three months along with free user training and a dedicated Customer Success Manager with any pricing plan. Try NetHunt CRM today at https://nethunt.com/tse.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

Today on The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by Junior Germain - intern extraordinaire at The Sales Evangelist. When he’s not hitting the books at BYU-Idaho, you can find Junior assisting the TSE team in all things social media, PR, and marketing. Today’s episode is a quick Q&A, where Junior asks Donald his questions about one topic: what do I need to do to succeed in sales? Question 1: How do I overcome mental fatigue as a salesperson? When people tell you no, view it as a part of the sales game. (Meaning they aren’t rejecting the person; they’re rejecting the role.) That person might be in the middle of cooking dinner, watching a great Netflix show, or preparing for work. If you try to make a sale (especially when inconvenient for the prospect), you’ll inevitably get rejected. Question 2: How do you overcome the fact that you’re interrupting their daily schedule? You’re providing a helpful service or product - something of worth to your prospects. Your job is to help them realize that. You don’t want to convince people that you have a product they need; you want people to convince themselves. At the end of the day, a sales job isn’t about getting people to like you; it’s to deliver a message to solve a problem. And it’s a tough gig. Question 3: What can I do to turn a no into a yes? Ask questions. Learn about their hesitations to help guide the conversation to a sale. Sometimes people won’t understand the offer, so the salesperson has to help them understand. Give them a menu option. List out a few common reasons someone might not be interested in your product, and use that to address their specific concerns. The key takeaway: understand your product or service. If you’re selling pest control products, you want to know what bugs are likely to be a problem, where they’ll be, and how they’ll present themselves in a house or yard. And since you probably didn’t learn pest control in school, it’s your job to fill the gaps in your knowledge. You can connect with Junior on LinkedIn and keep an eye on The Sales Evanglist’s social media as well to see Junior’s work. This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real. But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by NetHunt CRM. NetHunt CRM is a sales automation tool that lives inside Gmail. It covers a full set of features to manage leads, nurture customer relations, monitor sales progress, and automate sales and marketing workflows. With native-like Gmail and G Suite integration, you can access your CRM data, launch bulk email campaigns, and set up automated sequences from the comfort of your inbox. NetHunt helps move leads down your sales funnel and never lets a valuable prospect go untouched. NetHunt CRM offers TSE listeners a 40% discount for the first three months along with free user training and a dedicated Customer Success Manager with any pricing plan. Try NetHunt CRM today at https://nethunt.com/tse. This course is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Certified Training Program, a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. Help elevate your sales game and sign up now to get the first two modules free! You can visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals or call (561) 570-5077 for more information. We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes, tune in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings for each episode you listen to! Read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore their huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day trial. Audio provided by Free SFX.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

New sellers struggle to make sales because they lack the skill and experience to ask well-crafted questions and build rapport with their prospects. In this episode of The Sales Evangelist, guest Tony Morris tells us the five ways for new sellers to sell like pros. As an author, podcaster, entrepreneur, and speaker for sales conferences worldwide, Tony knows how any beginner in the sales world can stand out. Follow the 80/20 rule (but in the proper order) Sales reps should apply the 80/20 rule when talking to prospects: listen 80% of the time and speak 20% of the time. (We have two ears and one mouth, so use them in that order.) Many salespeople use the 80/20 rule, but reversed. Tony’s first tip for new sellers: talk less and listen more. When you encourage your prospect to talk more, you learn more about their needs and how you can help them. Ask the right questions. What makes a bad question? Any question that prompts a one-word answer. These questions are impersonal and don’t provide insight into the prospect’s journey. Instead, ask what Tony calls the “killer questions:” questions that allow you to understand what the prospect is looking for, what they’ve seen in your competition, and how you can help. Sales managers should encourage their teams to ask open-ended questions. The goal is to hold a conversation, not an interrogation. Treat people how they want to be treated. Remember the childhood The Golden Rule? Treat people how you want to be treated. In sales, throw that out the window. Follow the Platinum Rule: treat people how they want to be treated. You don’t respond to clients the same way every time because they all have different perspectives of what that looks like. Pay attention to how they want to be treated, and respond accordingly. Be interested, not interesting. Top salespeople are genuinely curious and interested in their prospects. Your job is not to sell but to serve by helping them buy what is most appropriate to their needs. Genuine interest will transform regular customers into ambassadors who recommend you to their friends, family, and colleagues. Be The Challenger The book The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation by Matthew Dixon challenged Tony’s perspective on sales. Tony initially thought sales to be about relationships. However, this book shows most successful salespeople share insights to make their prospects think differently. Do the basics brilliantly. We over-complicate the sales process. The basics are pretty simple: schedule meetings, prepare questions to preempt objections, build rapport, understand problems, and develop solutions. For example, you need to offer multiple touchpoints. If they are genuine prospect, connect with them on LinkedIn, comment on their post, send them articles of interest or a copy of your book. Once you know how to do things the right way, you’ll want to keep going. The more you get good results, the more these actions become habitual. Connect with Tony Morris via his LinkedIn, and you can also check out his website, Tony Morris International. If you are interested in more sales stories, you can talk to Donald directly. Reach him on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook about any sales concerns. This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real. But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by NetHunt CRM. NetHunt CRM is a sales automation tool that lives inside Gmail. It covers a full set of features to manage leads, nurture customer relations, monitor sales progress, and automate sales and marketing workflows. With native-like Gmail and G Suite integration, you can access your CRM data, launch bulk email campaigns, and set up automated sequences from the comfort of your inbox. NetHunt helps move leads down your sales funnel and never lets a valuable prospect go untouched. NetHunt CRM offers TSE listeners a 40% discount for the first three months along with free user training and a dedicated Customer Success Manager with any pricing plan. Try NetHunt CRM today at https://nethunt.com/tse.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

Today on The Sales Evangelist, we’re joined by Shufflrr CEO and co-founder James Ontra to discuss the importance of storytelling in sales. What’s Shufflrr? They help companies transform humble PowerPoints into invaluable business assets. Even better, your entire company can present and share from those same decks. It’s a paradigm change in presentation management that’s long overdue. Why are presentations so important? Presentations are an integral part of the business world. From product information to case studies to introductions, companies communicate to each other through presentations. We typically think of presentations as a single document, but it’s more nuanced than that. Every presentation is a story, and every slide is a scene. Within Shuffler, you can drag and drop slides to create custom stories, and your entire company can present and share from those same decks. Meaning, those coworkers presenting in London or Hong Kong will be unified with the same platform. How do we tell better stories? Most modern presentations are slapped together to supplement basic information. (Remember that college lecture that made you fall asleep every Monday and Wednesday morning?) You want your slides to follow, not force, the conversation. Emotional storytelling conveys the experience when the time is right; that’s the difference between a $1 billion and $2 billion sponsor or whether or not you make your sale. If you move your audience, you’ve made an impact. There’s nothing worse than indifference. Applying storytelling to sales. People buy emotionally and justify logically. The key to effective presentations is to determine which components emotionally drive you and your product or service. You probably have dozens of disorganized sales and marketing presentations. James recommends you put them in one place and decide which ones can best tell your story. (AKA exactly what Shufflrr will do for you.) Consistent presentations throughout your organization will help you achieve your goals. The typical funnel: sales make a PowerPoint and then send it to marketing for their blessing. Shufflrr gives you marketing-blessed PowerPoints to pick from that ensure brand consistency. James’s final takeaway: Your presentations tell your company’s story, and each slide is a scene. Once you figure out which scenes appeal emotionally to your audience, use those across your company. This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

On today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, we’re joined by coach, speaker, and presenter Francois Lupien. From Tae Kwon Do Canadian champion to a top real estate agent to serial entrepreneur, Francois has worn multiple hats and now dedicates himself to helping entrepreneurs increase their net worth and accomplish their goals. Today, he lets us know why sales are important and his approach to doing it right every time. But first, why are sales so important? Nothing happens until a sale is made, regardless of the field. A sale is needed for a business, just like fuel is needed for any car. For the client, you are an essential cog in the wheel. There are many problems and many solutions, but the salesperson’s job is to ensure the solution is brought to the problem. As a salesperson, you need to be Sherlock Holmes: inquisitive, curious, and 100% focused on the person in front of you. Genuine interest in the client is your first role. Francois’s tips to be excellent in sales: Questions are the answer. If you aren’t getting the answers you want, change your questions to get the right answers. Do not make assumptions as a salesperson - you will fail. Ask questions to find out what the prospect wants. The salesperson’s job is to serve the people, even if they aren’t the perfect fit for the sale. If you remain professional and helpful, they’ll be impressed and give referrals to more prospects. Use active listening to figure out what information you need from the prospect. A phrase that brings sales “I can help you with that. It’s very common with the people that I deal with. If I can show you how to solve your problem, will you work with me?” His parting advice: His go-to method - describe a scenario and ask the client if the scenario describes them. Never ask to close or make the person join when they’re in that stressful environment (AKA when you tell them the price.) After stating the price, link your service back to their end result - exceeding their expectations and future pacing. Once they’re back in a yes mentality, move forward and make the sale. One major takeaway? Listen to the people who’ve been in your situation. Success leaves clues. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel and embrace the experience of others. Connect with Francois on LinkedIn and at his website howtobecomemore.com to schedule a free call with him! This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real. But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by NetHunt CRM. NetHunt CRM is a sales automation tool that lives inside Gmail. It covers a full set of features to manage leads, nurture customer relations, monitor sales progress, and automate sales and marketing workflows. With native-like Gmail and G Suite integration, you can access your CRM data, launch bulk email campaigns, and set up automated sequences from the comfort of your inbox. NetHunt helps move leads down your sales funnel and never lets a valuable prospect go untouched. NetHunt CRM offers TSE listeners a 40% discount for the first three months along with free user training and a dedicated Customer Success Manager with any pricing plan. Try NetHunt CRM today at https://nethunt.com/tse. This course is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Certified Training Program, a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. Help elevate your sales game and sign up now to get the first two modules free! You can visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals or call (561) 570-5077 for more information. We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes, tune in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings for each episode you listen to! Read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore their huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day trial. Audio provided by Free SFX.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

Today on The Sales Evangelist, Donald gives three tips to consider before your first BDR role. Success doesn’t happen overnight, but using Donald’s tips will pave the path to your success as you begin your sales career. Don’t take it personally. There will be times people hang up on you are simply not interested - it happens to everyone. But don’t let that unmotivate you! There will also be times putting yourself out there, and engaging with the prospect will be what makes the sale. Even if a prospect isn’t interested, recognize they’re rejecting the offer and not the salesperson. Follow up more than you think you should. 80% of sales require five follow-up calls after the meeting, yet 44% of salespeople give up after one follow-up. Why is that? Salespeople are often afraid of how they’re presenting themselves if they contact a prospect multiple times in a row. Even worse, the salesperson might have their feelings hurt after a nonresponse. Avoiding these mentalities is key to developing sales. From the wise words of Donald Kelly, “follow-up, follow-up, follow-up.” It’s important to develop a process. Have you ever run across another salesperson who just seems like they have everything together? You only see half the picture. You only see the results of their effort. You don’t see the reading, practice, and organizational work that developed their sales process. As a new seller, you will not have developed a refined process that works for you; that simply happens with experience and exposure. Malcolm Gladwell’s book “Outliers,” says you need 10,000 hours of work to be good at something Here’s a bonus secret: If you want to succeed as a BDR, talk with someone in that role who has developed their process. Take the time and ask them what they would do if they were in your shoes. They’ll probably say to listen to The Sales Evangelist, but they’ll also give helpful advice that can help launch you from point A to point B. This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real. But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by NetHunt CRM. NetHunt CRM is a sales automation tool that lives inside Gmail. It covers a full set of features to manage leads, nurture customer relations, monitor sales progress, and automate sales and marketing workflows. With native-like Gmail and G Suite integration, you can access your CRM data, launch bulk email campaigns, and set up automated sequences from the comfort of your inbox. NetHunt helps move leads down your sales funnel and never lets a valuable prospect go untouched. NetHunt CRM offers TSE listeners a 40% discount for the first three months along with free user training and a dedicated Customer Success Manager with any pricing plan. Try NetHunt CRM today at https://nethunt.com/tse. This course is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Certified Training Program, a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. Help elevate your sales game and sign up now to get the first two modules free! You can visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals or call (561) 570-5077 for more information. We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes, tune in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings for each episode you listen to! Read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore their huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day trial. Audio provided by Free SFX. Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

A salesperson usually has a list of questions they want to ask a prospect. After all, understanding the prospect and their business is necessary to know if and how you can help them and their business. But often, these questions come across as overly prying. How do you fix this? By using Donald’s four tips to avoid sounding like you’re prying in their business. Build rapport before you ask questions. The private information you need will come only if the prospect feels comfortable. You don’t have the authority to ask those questions when you first start interacting with a prospect. The key? Don’t ask about the weather - surface-level questions don’t build the relationship you need. Ask more profound questions and provide thoughtful engagement to show the client you care about their result. Let them know you’ll be asking tough questions. Think back to episode 1275 and episode 452 about rapport building and rule-setting, respectively - these elements are critical to establishing before asking questions. Give a prospect everything they need to know before starting, and they’ll be much more likely to be okay with it. Be mindful of your question phrasing. The way you phrase questions or statements will change the impact of the question. Softening questions by providing your reasons for the questions will make a prospect more likely to react positively and give a thorough answer. Educate them enough before you ask the question Enter the room as a professional to be treated as a professional. If a client recognizes someone as an expert, they’ll be more willing to divulge information. Share relevant statistics that link to your question - it shows you know what you’re talking about, especially if you apply that statistic to your end result. Put these points together, and your questions will not come across as prying; because you’ve done the research and methods to build a relationship with your prospect and show you deserve answers to your questions. This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real. But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by NetHunt CRM. NetHunt CRM is a sales automation tool that lives inside Gmail. It covers a full set of features to manage leads, nurture customer relations, monitor sales progress, and automate sales and marketing workflows. With native-like Gmail and G Suite integration, you can access your CRM data, launch bulk email campaigns, and set up automated sequences from the comfort of your inbox. NetHunt helps move leads down your sales funnel and never lets a valuable prospect go untouched. NetHunt CRM offers TSE listeners a 40% discount for the first three months along with free user training and a dedicated Customer Success Manager with any pricing plan. Try NetHunt CRM today at https://nethunt.com/tse. This course is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Certified Training Program, a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. Help elevate your sales game and sign up now to get the first two modules free! You can visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals or call (561) 570-5077 for more information. We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes, tune in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings for each episode you listen to! Read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore their huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day trial. Audio provided by Free SFX. Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

Today on The Sales Evangelist, we’re joined by David Garcia. The current CEO of the pre-employment background check company ScoutLogic Screening, David’s 25 years of experience in B2B sales and marketing has made him well-accustomed to asking the right questions. With a specialty in big enterprise deals, David developed a strategic sales method to optimize his success chances. He’ll share some of that methodology by telling us four things to consider when drafting sales questions based on a customer’s personality. Rethink your role in the sales process. Sales is shifting away from a sales-driven approach. Consider yourself more akin to an intelligence agent. (Think Carrie Mathison from Homeland.) Why is this important? Because sales today is 80% research and 20% asking questions. Salespeople are versed in researching a company: check reports, Twitter feeds, social media; you can learn a lot that way. But when David says research, he means to learn about the buyer - the person on the other end of the call or table. You know this, one of the best ways to build rapport with someone is to find a common interest. Discover your prospect’s learning style. You need to uncover what that person’s learning style is or how they absorb and give information. We all have four primary learning styles: listening, visual, reading, and tactile and touch. David recommends finding out either from others through research or even asking the prospect directly. Find your prospect’s personal win. This tip is the most critical, and it’s important to remember that your prospect’s personal win might not align with their business objective. When crafting the value proposition, you want more than to get the organization’s goal. You want to provide a way the prospect can keep building bricks towards their personal win, whatever it may be. Strategize the questions you ask. In the age of zoom, people have less time than ever to answer questions. Buyers don't want to give you a lot of information anymore; they want solutions. They want to know that you're coming with expertise and advice. Think about what’s most important: where are they at in the sales process? What's going to move them to the next step? What is David’s major takeaway? Do your homework upfront. Grab pieces of information when you can; even a half-hour of research on a buyer will make you a better salesperson. Want to get in touch with David? Email him at [email protected] This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real. But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by NetHunt CRM. NetHunt CRM is a sales automation tool that lives inside Gmail. It covers a full set of features to manage leads, nurture customer relations, monitor sales progress, and automate sales and marketing workflows. With native-like Gmail and G Suite integration, you can access your CRM data, launch bulk email campaigns, and set up automated sequences from the comfort of your inbox. NetHunt helps move leads down your sales funnel and never lets a valuable prospect go untouched. NetHunt CRM offers TSE listeners a 40% discount for the first three months along with free user training and a dedicated Customer Success Manager with any pricing plan. Try NetHunt CRM today at https://nethunt.com/tse. This course is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Certified Training Program, a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. Help elevate your sales game and sign up now to get the first two modules free! You can visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals or call (561) 570-5077 for more information. We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes, tune in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings for each episode you listen to! Read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore their huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day trial. Audio provided by Free SFX. Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

On today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, we’re joined by David Goings, self-professed sales nerd and current SMB team lead at LogicGate. David believes in making an impact in the prospect’s sales journey. Sales, at its core, should bring a positive impact to your customer’s lives. You might do that through your products and services. But also, sometimes it's just in the experience that you have with the customer. From an inbound perspective, you need to consider where the customer may be in the buying process. With an inbound conversation, the prospect may have already identified that problem internally. In an outbound conversation, you may have just pique someone's interest. But the prospect is still identifying the problem. David’s Three Tips to Avoid Conversations Feeling Like an Interrogation Change your mindset. You need to come in and understand that your job is to help the other person, not to make a sale. You morally can't pitch products and solutions until you know the prospect’s current situation and goals. Set expectations for both you and your prospect. It all starts from humans wanting to know what's next. For any kind of business setting, especially a first conversation, ease the customer’s mind and let them know what will happen in the conversation. Bring a perspective. Young professionals have a hard time feeling they belong in the room. They're not an expert. But while they may not be an expert in their industry, they’re experts in buying technology, in their customers, and their customer’s stories on how we've impacted them. Here’s a bonus tip: ask layered questions to understand your customer’s needs. David uses the TED acronym: tell me, explain to me, describe to me. David’s advice for the sales professional: The way we do things as sales professionals in the sales process can be the differentiator for us. Unpack and understand your “why” as a sales professional. If you can get behind your “why,” it positively impacts the customer. Read “Selling with Noble Purpose” by Lisa McLeod. Want to get ahold of David? Reach out on LinkedIn (and be sure to congratulate him on his recent job change.)Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

Sometimes we have in our minds that we ask stupid questions. This mentality creates roadblocks, and these roadblocks stop us from getting the information we need to help our clients in a way they need to be helped. In today's episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald shares with you what you can do to overcome this thought and how you can prepare to ask the right questions. The American Dream is Dead Donald asked everyday people a question: do they believe the American Dream is dead? Those initial nerves that come with asking strangers big questions turned to excitement when those strangers animatedly responded, “no, the dream isn’t dead!” (just more difficult to achieve.) What did Donald learn from the experience? Questions we might be nervous to ask often come lead to the most success. Some of the reasons you don’t ask meaningful questions: You are self-conscious. You focus back on yourself because you think it might sound bad. You think the question might be too rude, against social norms, or that you don't want to come off as pushy. You think you should already know the answer to the question. The person is an executive, so you don't want to bother them. How should you ask the question, even if it’s “stupid?” Ask any attorney; you don't ask a question if you don't know where the answer will lead. In a sales scenario, you need to figure out where you want the conversation to go. The more confident you are in the topic, the less stupid a question will be in your mind. To ask the right questions, you must understand the problems your prospects face. The takeaway here is that you should study and understand your client’s industry and business to understand the intricacies they face. Our parting thoughts? Know where your question will lead, make sure your questions are simple and don't ever think it's stupidMentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald Kelly gives us the scoop on one major closing question you’re neglecting to ask. But first, let’s picture this scenario. Dave is a salesperson who has been working with his lead, Bob, for three months. His sale is in the bag; he gave a fantastic presentation, his sales engineer answered every question the prospect had, and Dave sent them a proposal. Despite going through every step in the process, Dave didn’t get the result he wanted; he got hit with the “we’re going to need some more time to think about it” conversation. Where did he go wrong? It’s simple - there’s one question he forgot to ask. The ultimate question: Would I make this purchase based on the same information I know if I were the buyer? Sales is shortsighted - we’re focused on our pipeline. Dave was focused on meeting his quota, impressing his manager, and making sales rather than his prospect’s needs. How can you ask this question to improve your sales strategy? Habit #5 of “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” - Seek first to understand, then seek to be understood. Consider the context of the buyer. What business problem are you solving for them? Look at the industry they’re in and their relationship with the software to make informed decisions. Did you give the buyer a parachute in case things go south? Did you give them an out? Not every deal will close - that’s just a given. But asking this question will provide you with more predictability with closings. If we are more diligent in asking questions and analyze the deal from the buyer’s standpoint, your sales will increase. Donald’s ultimate takeaway? Start the conversion process earlier. Ask your prospects, “based on what you know, do you feel confident moving forward?” If you fix any problems early, the prospect will have a higher degree of confidence at the end of the sales process. Connect with Donald on LinkedIn and let him know if this helped close more deals.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

On today’s episode, we welcomed Michael Reddington, a certified forensic interviewer and President of InQuasive, Inc. His company integrates components of effective interview techniques with current business research to show others how to use the truth to their advantage. The topic for today? Why listening is critical to sales. Why is listening important? Humans aren’t meant to be good listeners. It’s difficult for us to sideline our egos and focus on the goal instead of the people while in conversation. Because it can be a rarity, actively listening while in the sales environment (or any environment) can be the differentiator between you and your competitors. Key steps to listening: Limit variables during an interaction. There can be distractions in your mind and environment that prevent you from listening. Have a good plan going into the conversation. This can limit distractions and result in more efficient and positive discussions. Michael’s three points to enhance listening: Have a plan - Focus on what you have instead of what you don’t. Limit your own internal monologue to focus on the conversation at hand. Be patient and let the conversation come to you - When people are stressed, they tend to fall back on what they know. For sales situations, this is likely your product or service. Dominating the conversation in this manner can result in turning a prospect off the sale. Listen for intelligence, not information - The traditional sales methodology was to listen for specific pain points and use those points to place a prospect in a particular box. However, this method ignores the nuances of the sales situation. The reasoning behind a motivation is just as, if not more, important than the motivation itself. How can you use listening to differentiate yourself in the market? Research shows that only about 14% of the factors we believe to be differentiated are actually different in the market. So, how can you stand out? Prospects often expect a salesperson to sell their product, not provide value. When interacting with a prospect, think about how you can provide a clear value to them. Not only will this surprise them, but the unsolicited nature of the value opens the door for more robust communication. Teaching is the most essential part of selling. Michael’s main takeaway? Let the conversation come to you. Learn more about the programs and services Micahel offers at InQuasive, or find him on LinkedIn.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

In this episode, Donald Kelly shares ten questions to ask the prospects when you are meeting them for the first time. What problems are you trying to solve today? Your goal is to get deeper and to figure out the problem the prospect is trying to solve. Why is that a particular problem right now? This allows the prospects to vocalize what they think the problem is. What’s the source of that problem? This will help the prospects think of the source of their problem if there is any. What would happen if you don’t do anything today? Ask them this question to put the decision back. Don’t use this question right off the bat. Only use it when you’ve already established some rapport. Why is it a priority today? It allows you to figure out why there’s an urge to solve the problem. Why hasn’t it been addressed before? This question allows you to probe deeper into the problem of the prospects. What would a successful outcome look like in, say, for example, six months from now if we work together? It paints the bigger picture that you are both on the same page and that you’re already visualizing the partnership. If you don’t choose our services today, do you have another plan in place? What have you done in the past, and what were your primary roadblocks from that? Have you purchased a product/service similar to what we’re offering before? This gives you an insight into the solutions that they’ve entertained and used before. What are the potential challenges you can foresee when it comes to getting a solution like this? Allow them to visualize the potential roadblocks along the way. Some prospects are scared of roadblocks, but when they can visualize it, they can see where the error lies and what actions they can take to address the error. These are all simple and great discovery questions. They might be basic questions, but these will allow you to dig deeper into the root cause to address the real problem. “10 Powerful Sales Questions BDRs Can Use in a Discovery Meeting” episode resources Speak with Donald directly for more sales talks. Reach him via these channels: LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, about any sales concerns. This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? The pain of sales reps continually reaching out with phone calls and emails and not receiving a response is real. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation. All text messaging is not equal. Customers respond to people, NOT BOTS. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in conversions. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by NetHunt CRM. NetHunt CRM is a sales automation tool that lives inside Gmail. It covers a full set of features to manage leads, nurture customer relations, monitor sales progress, and automate sales and marketing workflows. With native-like Gmail and G Suite integration, you can access all the CRM data, launch bulk email campaigns, and set up automated sequences right from your inbox. NetHunt helps to move your leads down your sales funnel and never let the valuable prospects go untouched. NetHunt CRM offers TSE listeners a 40% discount for the first 3 months along with free user training and a dedicated Customer Success Manager with any pricing plan. Try NetHunt CRM today → https://nethunt.com/tse This course is brought to you in part by TSE Certified Sales Training Program. It’s a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. It will help them elevate their sales game. Sign up now and get the first two modules free! You can go and visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals also call us at (561) 570-5077. "We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our 2 mins survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes so tune in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings to every episode you listen to. You can also read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore this huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day free trial. Audio provided by Free SFX. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder, written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

In this episode, Jose Quiroz joins Donald Kelly to talk about the easy ways to make new LinkedIn connections without sounding spammy. Jose Quiroz is an immigrant, an entrepreneur, and a business guy. His mentality is always veered into finding opportunities and creating opportunities. For Jose, it’s more about creation than consumption. He has a lot of experience with the family business and regional operations as his dad started a janitorial company. After college, he got into the corporate world and fell under the Director of Digital Marketing sphere. Jose’s unique selling proposition is adapting the digital strategy and the digital language to the overall brand strategy. He helps business owners understand how they can leverage digital strategies to scale up their operations. Building connections Businesses can find a third party who can do their massive lead generation for them. At that point, connecting isn’t about building relationships. Connecting then becomes a numbers game. This means that you’re not creating rapport, and you probably won’t see the long same long-term benefits as well, and you’d probably tend to see the quality drop and diminish a little. This approach is effective if there’s a need for an immediate lead in the business. The first mistake that salespeople make on LinkedIn is that they try to figuratively get to the wedding chapel right away without doing the first dates and the video calls. Salespeople cannot pull the trigger way too soon without building the needed rapport first. Avoid the spammy approach For Jose, it may not be a matter of time but rather a matter of communication. Based on a stat that Jose read in the past, there’s an average of 10 exchanged messages for most Tinder matches. The messages may have been sent within a day period, a week period, or within an ‘X’ amount of period. The same philosophy can be applied on LinkedIn. It’s not about waiting for a time frame before you feel the need to nurture the prospects. It’s more of the need to engage the prospects and connect with them as individuals. You need to build that qualitative feeling and see the communication build-up. If you sense that the prospect is starting to get a little cold, then back off a little bit. Use the time to research materials and sources that are beneficial for the prospects. Your goal is to build rapport so that the prospects would trust you, buy into your confidence, your expertise, and eventually do business with you. LinkedIn today isn’t just about hearing new job openings and other career moves. LinkedIn is now a platform for personal development, identifying concepts, taking in the best practices, and others. People are now on LinkedIn to consume information that is valuable to them. Salespeople can use this to their advantage so that they can use that intent and give the prospects what they’re looking for. Determine your goals People go into LinkedIn to generate sales but aside from that, you need to be specific with your goals - is it to increase connections or is it to move on to direct messaging. It’s also important to determine the value of direct messaging because that’s what everything is leading towards. If you can get people engaged in your LinkedIn messages then you can bypass the different funnels and you’re able to get them where you need them. Salespeople are missing the direct message feature because of the shiny syndrome object. Everyone wants to find that funnel that they can automatically turn on and will already do the heavy lifting for them. They are focused on finding solutions that they miss the opportunity, that is the direct messaging. Another effective approach is by engaging with prospects first. Identify your prospects and see what their activities are on LinkedIn. Figure out if they’re posting original content, curate content, and other habits they have on the platform. Use the available information you gathered in starting a conversation with them and building rapport with them. Send a connection request once you’ve engaged with them. There’s a lot of targeting that you can do but to reach out individually is another story. The rule of the thumb is: engage before sending a connection, send a connection, keep the engagement going, and carry on the conversation. A video attached in the conversation is effective but in a certain timing of the conversation. Get to a comfortable level with the person you’re speaking with first before you send an audio or video. “Easy Ways to Make New LinkedIn Connections Without Sounding Spammy” episode resources Follow Jose Quiroz on LinkedIn. You can also check out his podcast here. Speak with Donald directly for more sales talks. Reach him via these channels: LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, about any sales concerns. This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? The pain of sales reps continually reaching out with phone calls and emails and not receiving a response is real. 85% of peop

Join us in today’s episode as Doug C. Brown and Donald Kelly talk about the best practices for finding hot B2B prospects on LinkedIn. What are salespeople doing wrong on LinkedIn? Doug Brown often sees a lot of people on LinkedIn who are making prospecting a complex process. The other mistake is that they’re not clear on their target audience. Sometimes, it’s not the sales reps fault because they’re trained to prospect in a certain way. On LinkedIn, however, one has to think differently. Instead of targeting many people at once, it’s better to start narrowing at the top of the funnel and getting more focused going down. Narrowing down prospects means that you’re able to pick 25-30 ideal target customers from your list of 100 people to prospect. Think of the ultra-high quality prospects that you would love to do business with because the challenge on LinkedIn and other prospecting methods is the follow-up. The power of follow-up is huge and impactful and this process has to start from the first conversation or from the first connection. Prospecting today The prospecting game has changed because of the birth of the Internet but the basics of prospecting is no different then as it is now. The basic concept of prospecting is still building relationships. The difference in today’s sellers and buyers is the information. Sellers then had all the information. Today, buyers can access the information with a few clicks of their mouse or scrolls of their phones. Sometimes, they even have more knowledge than the sellers. In terms of selling and prospecting, the buyers don’t care about what the sellers know. Rather, the buyers care about what they need, what they want, and what they have to have. Sellers need to build the relationship and we need to make the prospects feel valued in the relationship. If you don’t build the relationship then you won’t get as high a conversion rate or a closing rate. The goal is to sell based on value, and by value, it means what your prospects value. Building the right way Sales is very much like wooing a person you like. You give them flowers, you do your best to impress them, and more. The same is true for your prospects. You want to build a business relationship with them so you also need to let them know that you care about them and you want to help them solve their problems. Asking permission will get you a long way. Before you start asking questions and digging information on LinkedIn, try to ask permission first. You will have higher chances of getting answered and replied to if you get their permission first. Join the groups where the people you’ve reached out to are frequenting. Start answering questions in the group and position yourself as an expert. You also have to use offline methods as well when following up and engaging with your prospects. “LinkedIn: Best Practices for Finding Hot B2B Prospects on LinkedIn” episode resources Follow Doug C. Brown on LinkedIn. Speak with Donald directly for more sales talks. Reach him via these channels: LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, about any sales concerns. This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? The pain of sales reps continually reaching out with phone calls and emails and not receiving a response is real. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation. All text messaging is not equal. Customers respond to people, NOT BOTS. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in conversions. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by NetHunt CRM. NetHunt CRM is a sales automation tool that lives inside Gmail. It covers a full set of features to manage leads, nurture customer relations, monitor sales progress, and automate sales and marketing workflows. With native-like Gmail and G Suite integration, you can access all the CRM data, launch bulk email campaigns, and set up automated sequences right from your inbox. NetHunt helps to move your leads down your sales funnel and never let the valuable prospects go untouched. NetHunt CRM offers TSE listeners a 40% discount for the first 3 months along with free user training and a dedicated Customer Success Manager with any pricing plan. Try NetHunt CRM today → https://nethunt.com/tse This course is brought to you in part by TSE Certified Sales Training Program. It’s a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. It will help them elevate their sales game. Sign up now and get the first two modules free! You can go and visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals also call us at (561) 570-5077. "We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our 2 mins survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes so tune in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and

Join Donald Kelly and Jon James in this episode as they talk about how to use the ‘Ask me Anything’ strategy to land more LinkedIn appointments. Jon James is the CEO of Ignited Results, a digital agency specializing in leveraging LinkedIn to get more sales opportunities. They work with their clients and help them with their LinkedIn marketing to get more meetings with prospects. The challenges on LinkedInPart of the challenge is the failure of not identifying who they’re connecting to, which is the driver in terms of who you end up on a call with or having the opportunity to ask someone for a call.  Salespeople need to start with good targeting.  Jon James recommends having a Sales Navigator to target the types of people who can be your ideal prospects. With Sales Navigator, you can target teams or companies with a certain employee count of revenue mark.  The LinkedIn outreach process Before you begin the outreach, you first need to look at your profile and make sure that it’s good to go. Check out the significant areas you need to focus on - the headline message, your headshot, and your background image.  A great headline is critical since it’s one of the top reasons that help people decide whether they’d accept your connecting request, and if they’re already connected, it will help them decide if they turn into a meeting.  Include in your headline your professional credentials/job title, put a client-facing solution statement. A one-liner that would explain how you help clients. Then, follow it up with something personal. Your statement in your headline is your way of building rapport with the prospects before you even met them for a meeting. Structure your LinkedIn messages There are four things to remember when it comes to LinkedIn messaging - hook, relate, bridge, and call to action.  Hook - mention their name and their industry. Relate - mention the issues they’re possibly dealing with. Don’t throw your pitch. Just relate to their problem.  Bridge - mention your solution to them.  The number one metric you want to judge on LinkedIn is conversation, and the conversation comes from engagement. The Ask Me Anything videos are a great way to start a conversation.  “How to use the ‘Ask Me Anything’ Strategy to Laned More LinkedIn Appointments” episode resourcesCheck out Jon James and follow him on LinkedIn. Speak with Donald directly for more sales talks. Reach him via these channels: LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, about any sales concerns. This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? The pain of sales reps continually reaching out with phone calls and emails and not receiving a response is real. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation. All text messaging is not equal. Customers respond to people, NOT BOTS. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in conversions. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com.This episode is brought to you in part by NetHunt CRM.NetHunt CRM is a sales automation tool that lives inside Gmail. It covers a full set of features to manage leads, nurture customer relations, monitor sales progress, and automate sales and marketing workflows. With native-like Gmail and G Suite integration, you can access all the CRM data, launch bulk email campaigns, and set up automated sequences right from your inbox. NetHunt helps to move your leads down your sales funnel and never let the valuable prospects go untouched.NetHunt CRM offers TSE listeners a 40% discount for the first 3 months along with free user training and a dedicated Customer Success Manager with any pricing plan. Try NetHunt CRM today →  https://nethunt.com/tseThis course is brought to you in part by TSE Certified Sales Training Program. It’s a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. It will help them elevate their sales game. Sign up now and get the first two modules free! You can go and visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals also call us at (561) 570-5077. "We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our 2 mins survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes so tune in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings to every episode you listen to. You can also read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore this huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day free trial. Audio provided by Free SFX. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder, written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers b

LinkedIn is a platform that opens many opportunities. In this episode, Daniel Disney joins Donald Kelly as they talk about how you can use social selling to turn LinkedIn into a lead, sales, and revenue-generating machine. Daniel Disney released his second book called, The Ultimate LinkedIn Sales Guide: How to Use Digital and Social Selling to Turn LinkedIn into a Lead, Sales, and Revenue Generating Machine. The book is a comprehensive guide on LinkedIn for salespeople, sales teams, and businesses that want to get the most out of LinkedIn. Generating leads on LinkedIn Everyone can play the social selling game on LinkedIn. You can create viral content, grow your audience, grow your brand, and you can end up with a ton of leads. The downside is that not all of these leads are good leads, they’re not your target customers, and they’re not likely going to convert. Common mistakes salespeople make on LinkedIn #1: Keeping a weak profile. At least 80% of teams that Daniel has trained with have profiles that aren’t optimized. Their profiles are not customer-focused and are just poorly written CVs. #2: Not sharing good content. Instead of sharing valuable content, they reshare company blogs that don’t add a contribution. They are sharing weak content with their audiences. #3: Sending bad messages. Salespeople make the mistake of sending out terribly written sales pitches and spam messages en masse, in high quantities, in hopes that something comes back. Common mistakes: Bad profile Bad content Bad messaging Today, the way buyers now buy has changed and the information they now have before making a purchase has changed significantly. Rewind 15 years ago and decision-makers didn’t have access to the internet and didn’t have access to all the information that we now have. There were no media reviews, no Google, and all these other things. Buyers were then at the mercy of their salesperson to provide them with the necessary information. Buyers today have standards and what they need from salespeople has changed significantly as well. Salespeople have to step up their game if they want to stay above the prospect or their customers. Generating leads on LinkedIn Make your profile more customer-focused. The customers and prospects don’t want to hear about your accolades and other achievements. What they want to hear is how you’re going to help them and how you can be an agent to help them get to their goals. Make your profile fully-focused on your target audience. There are two kinds of leads: the outbound and the inbound leads. There are things that you can do that will have people come to you and there are things you can do that will create opportunities for you to go to them. Start by connecting with relevant decision-makers in the industry on a regular basis, ideally about 10-20 connections everyday. You also need to begin sharing relevant value-giving content to your audience to grow your network. Share some thought leadership pieces, share the stories of your journey, share your knowledge and experiences, and more. You don’t need to be an expert to be successful on Linkedin. What you need to do is be authentic and share your journey with your audience. Your goal is to give as much value to your content as much as possible. The Key to LinkedIn Messaging The key to LinkedIn messaging is hyper-personalization. It’s not enough that their names are there nor is it enough to mention their company. If you want to get more responses on LinkedIn, you need to make the message about them. Do your research, read through their profile, look for their pain points, find something relevant to include in your message. Use video messaging to show that you really want to speak to them as well. “LinkedIn: How to Use Social Selling to Turn your LinkedIn into a Lead, Sale, and Revenue Generating Machine!” episode resources Follow Daniel Disney on LinkedIn. Speak with Donald directly for more sales talks. Reach him via these channels: LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, about any sales concerns. This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? The pain of sales reps continually reaching out with phone calls and emails and not receiving a response is real. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation. All text messaging is not equal. Customers respond to people, NOT BOTS. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in conversions. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by NetHunt CRM. NetHunt CRM is a sales automation tool that lives inside Gmail. It covers a full set of features to manage leads, nurture customer relations, monitor sales progress, and automate sales and marketing workflows. With native-like Gmail and G Suite integration, you can access all the CRM data, launch bulk email campaigns, and set up automated sequences right from your inbox. NetHunt helps to move your leads down your sales funnel an

LinkedIn is a powerful platform and you can use its features to your advantage. In this episode, Ollie Whitfield talks about how to use LinkedIn voice messages and videos to schedule more appointments. Using LinkedIn voice message for effective appointments The LinkedIn voice message is something new and not many people have seen it before. That’s why many are prompted to open it and listen to it. LinkedIn voice messages show that you’re giving effort; it’s a slightly elevated way of showing your desire to build a connection with others. Showing your face or letting other people hear your voice improves your outreach. A mere text cannot convey your body language or your tone. A video message allows the prospects to see your mannerisms and that helps in building trust between people and implores them to do business with you. Improving your video messages or voice messages on LinkedIn Think of it as a very targeted approach. You can’t send video messages or voice messages to everyone. Pick the right people to send the messages to. Instead of going through all the other channels, take it directly to the decision-makers and have a great chat with them. Make it a seamless conversation. Make sure not to send a voice message right off the bat. Set the expectation first. You can send a written message first, a heads up that you’re sending a voice note on a certain subject. Lay the foundation first before sending the voice or video message so that they know what’s coming their way. Ollie also curates content and posts it on LinkedIn. He takes note of the people who engage with his posts, lists the name of the people who engaged that fall under this ideal client profile, and then connects with them. Following up these people with a video makes the outreach personalized. Research the people you’re going to send videos to. Don’t jump into doing videos right away. Do your research and think of what you’re going to say before you make the video. “LinkedIn: How to Use LinkedIn Voice Message and Videos to Schedule More Appointments” episode resources Follow Ollie Whitfield on LinkedIn. Speak with Donald directly for more sales talks. Reach him via these channels: LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, about any sales concerns. This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? The pain of sales reps continually reaching out with phone calls and emails and not receiving a response is real. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation. All text messaging is not equal. Customers respond to people, NOT BOTS. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in conversions. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by NetHunt CRM. NetHunt CRM is a sales automation tool that lives inside Gmail. It covers a full set of features to manage leads, nurture customer relations, monitor sales progress, and automate sales and marketing workflows. With native-like Gmail and G Suite integration, you can access all the CRM data, launch bulk email campaigns, and set up automated sequences right from your inbox. NetHunt helps to move your leads down your sales funnel and never let the valuable prospects go untouched. NetHunt CRM offers TSE listeners a 40% discount for the first 3 months along with free user training and a dedicated Customer Success Manager with any pricing plan. Try NetHunt CRM today → https://nethunt.com/tse This course is brought to you in part by TSE Certified Sales Training Program. It’s a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. It will help them elevate their sales game. Sign up now and get the first two modules free! You can go and visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals also call us at (561) 570-5077. "We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our 2 mins survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes so tune in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings to every episode you listen to. You can also read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore this huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day free trial. Audio provided by Free SFX. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder, written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

LinkedIn is a huge platform that’s great for prospecting. The question is, once you’ve connected with a prospect, what should you do next? Join Donald Kelly and Ahmad Munawar as they talk about what you should do next once you’ve connected with the prospects. What to do next after connecting? Keep pitching until they say yes. Even if the prospects don’t say yes, send them a contract or a payment link. The challenge in LinkedIn or in any other platform is to game the system. This means wanting to get everything from the platform by doing the least amount of work possible. This method, however, rarely results in any positive outcome. This is true for email outreach, for LinkedIn, and for advertising. Many salespeople and entrepreneurs see LinkedIn as an automated lead generation tool but this isn’t how LinkedIn works. What works in any business and in sales is relationship building. It’s not even about getting the prospects to like you, rather, it’s about getting the prospects to trust you. Building Relationships Relationship building is about conveying to the marketplace your expertise and why you’re worthy of the conversation. In Ahmad’s coaching program, they call it the Medicaid Pipeline. It means that clients don’t talk to strangers unless there’s a good reason to do so. That LinkedIn connection request does not qualify as a good enough reason to guarantee a conversation. Our job as sellers and salespeople is to make the prospects believe that there’s something here for them to look at. Follow the 80-20 rule. Talk about the script, the closing pattern, and the strategies 20% of the time and spend the rest talking about the prospects’ beliefs and how they feel about the offer. In Ahmad’s team, they talk about the client during their sales meeting. They don’t talk about the tactics, they talk about client success. It helps their sales reps to have bulletproof confidence when they talk to prospects the next time around. Believe in what you’re selling Sales reps need to believe in what they’re selling. You need to be the vehicle in which that belief can be communicated to the marketplace. Gone were the days where you can just be good at sales and building relationships. Today, you also need to be very strong in product knowledge. If you want to make money in today’s economy, you need to become the expert that your clients want to engage with. If the customer has a leg up on you in terms of their knowledge and understanding of the problem then they don’t need you for anything. Be the expert in the conversation. As a sales rep, your goal is to publish. You have a treasure trove of knowledge from all that outreach and prospecting. Use that knowledge as lead indicators. Publish your expertise and evangelize your offering into the marketplace. “LinkedIn: Once You've Connected With a Prospect, Here's What You Should Do Next” episode resources Connect with Ahmad Munawar via LinkedIn. Speak with Donald directly for more sales talks. Reach him via these channels: LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, about any sales concerns. This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? The pain of sales reps continually reaching out with phone calls and emails and not receiving a response is real. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation. All text messaging is not equal. Customers respond to people, NOT BOTS. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in conversions. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by NetHunt CRM. NetHunt CRM is a sales automation tool that lives inside Gmail. It covers a full set of features to manage leads, nurture customer relations, monitor sales progress, and automate sales and marketing workflows. With native-like Gmail and G Suite integration, you can access all the CRM data, launch bulk email campaigns, and set up automated sequences right from your inbox. NetHunt helps to move your leads down your sales funnel and never let the valuable prospects go untouched. NetHunt CRM offers TSE listeners a 40% discount for the first 3 months along with free user training and a dedicated Customer Success Manager with any pricing plan. Try NetHunt CRM today → https://nethunt.com/tse This course is brought to you in part by TSE Certified Sales Training Program. It’s a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. It will help them elevate their sales game. Sign up now and get the first two modules free! You can go and visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals also call us at (561) 570-5077. "We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our 2 mins survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes so tune in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings to every ep

How does being human on LinkedIn help you improve your sales game and increase revenue? In today’s episode, Ellis Stone joins Donald Kelly for a great conversation about being human on LinkedIn and what it means. LinkedIn is such a powerful platform for professionals, but everyone in the space is using it effectively. One of the issues that many are facing is that they’re not human enough on LinkedIn. Making human connections on LinkedIn People on LinkedIn aren’t being authentic and instead of being themselves, they try to emulate others. Sales reps are too used to utilizing scripts and sending them out to hundreds of prospects. We don’t have much success with scripts because buyers know that it’s not coming from you. The truth is, people buy from people. It’s difficult for companies to scale and track custom messages for every prospect. That is why companies opt for scripts or automated messages. There is nothing wrong with using scripts, especially if you’re new to the sales game, but if you’re already a few years into sales and you’re still using scripts then you’re lazy selling. You’re not researching the prospects, you’re not trying to get to know the person, and you’re looking at them like they’re just numbers. Ellis tells his team to use their personality when they sell, talk, and write, because sales reps have a better chance of building connections when they’re authentic. Be successful on LinkedIn LinkedIn now has a video messaging feature that everyone can use. It makes connecting much easier because they can see your face, your gestures, and they can hear the sincerity in your voice. A video can go a long way. It’s not all about the prospect on LinkedIn. You must build your brand on the platform. Make your profile page genuine. Make sure that when people are checking you out, they’re able to gauge you and relate to you. Don’t be afraid to put yourself on LinkedIn. Don’t be too professional in a way that everything needs to be perfect. Post some videos that show a relatable human side. Be interactive on LinkedIn. Join group talks, comment on people’s posts, like others’ posts, ask questions, and more. People in the same industry will eventually see your comments and questions and will check out your page. Be vulnerable. Connect with people and be honest in your approach. If you want to learn, then put that in your message. People want to help others learn things about their space so ask questions. No matter how or how big the opportunity is, aim to always say yes. Enjoy your job. People don’t buy products; they buy energy. So have that energy whenever you make the call and give your pitch. “LinkedIn: Being Human on LinkedIn” episode resources Connect and follow Ellis Stone of LinkedIn. You can also check out Sales for the Culture, an organization that aims to help black people into tech sales and help the ones already in there to go to the next level. Speak with Donald directly for more sales talks. Reach him via these channels: LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, about any sales concerns. This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? The pain of sales reps continually reaching out with phone calls and emails and not receiving a response is real. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation. All text messaging is not equal. Customers respond to people, NOT BOTS. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in conversions. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by NetHunt CRM. NetHunt CRM is a sales automation tool that lives inside Gmail. It covers a full set of features to manage leads, nurture customer relations, monitor sales progress, and automate sales and marketing workflows. With native-like Gmail and G Suite integration, you can access all the CRM data, launch bulk email campaigns, and set up automated sequences right from your inbox. NetHunt helps to move your leads down your sales funnel and never let the valuable prospects go untouched. NetHunt CRM offers TSE listeners a 40% discount for the first 3 months along with free user training and a dedicated Customer Success Manager with any pricing plan. Try NetHunt CRM today → https://nethunt.com/tse This course is brought to you in part by TSE Certified Sales Training Program. It’s a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. It will help them elevate their sales game. Sign up now and get the first two modules free! You can go and visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals also call us at (561) 570-5077. "We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our 2 mins survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes so tune in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings to every episode you liste

LinkedIn is a platform that allows professionals to network and connect with others in their industry. In this episode, Donal Kelly talks about the three LinkedIn strategies that provide results. The issue here is that there are too many people on LinkedIn, and when we find people, we start pitching right away without adding value to them. Ensure that you are engaging and not just going to the platform pitching and pitching. Three LinkedIn strategies you need Make sure that you are sharing content. , Create videos that you can share., Utilize the LinkedIn polls., Share your ideas/contents You know a lot of information about your industry that you need to share with other people. The goal is to become a thought leader and an expert in your own space. Tribal Impact saw that 55% of decision-makers use LinkedIn content to evaluate potential partners. Important people are looking at your content and the value that you add to every post you share. So make sure that you’re sharing content relevant to your ideal customers. Think of what your prospects are thinking but would never say to anyone and write a post about it. This content is relatable to many customers in your sphere. Create videos to share on social platforms, especially LinkedIn Videos are five times more likely to increase your engagement on LinkedIn than any other type of content. Recreate your content and make it into videos. Use hashtags when sharing your video content for more visibility. You can also use videos and send them via private messages. It makes your messages more personalized and increases your chances of engagement. Utilize LinkedIn polls Polls are like sharing a little message and then asking people for their opinion on the matter. Tribal Impact said that they saw 115% higher engagements in their polls for the last six months compared to other content they posted. Don’t just ask any questions. Make sure that your questions add value. Try to engage everyone who answers the poll and use hashtags in your post. “LinkedIn: Three LinkedIn Strategies Providing Results” episode resources Speak with Donald directly for more sales talks. Reach him via these channels: LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, about any sales concerns. This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? The pain of sales reps continually reaching out with phone calls and emails and not receiving a response is real. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation. All text messaging is not equal. Customers respond to people, NOT BOTS. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in conversions. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by NetHunt CRM. NetHunt CRM is a sales automation tool that lives inside Gmail. It covers a full set of features to manage leads, nurture customer relations, monitor sales progress, and automate sales and marketing workflows. With native-like Gmail and G Suite integration, you can access all the CRM data, launch bulk email campaigns, and set up automated sequences right from your inbox. NetHunt helps to move your leads down your sales funnel and never let the valuable prospects go untouched. NetHunt CRM offers TSE listeners a 40% discount for the first 3 months along with free user training and a dedicated Customer Success Manager with any pricing plan. Try NetHunt CRM today → https://nethunt.com/tse This course is brought to you in part by TSE Certified Sales Training Program. It’s a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. It will help them elevate their sales game. Sign up now and get the first two modules free! You can go and visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals also call us at (561) 570-5077. "We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our 2 mins survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes so tune in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings to every episode you listen to. You can also read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore this huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day free trial. Audio provided by Free SFX. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder, written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

Sales objections happen all the time but with the health crisis today, it’s a standing question of how the pandemic may impact your customer’s sales objections or how it has already impacted them. Join Donald Kelly and Chris Mele as they talk about the pandemic, customers, and sales objections. Being in a software company means that the people you’re working with are former executives from other software companies as well. It’s a very complex environment and so people are critical of the academic principles and the things they adopt because there are real things that work for a software company and there are those that don’t. For Chris Mele’s experience, how they price, package, and license their technology has a direct connection to the sales force. The impact of the pandemic on sales objections One of the biggest changes is the aversion to risks and this comes in many different forms. Buyers today are more risk-averse, especially when it comes to new relationships. Salespeople and companies start seeing the transaction size compress. People are no longer very keen on allocating cash. With the pandemic, people are more stressed and thus more uncertain. It’s a tough selling environment. Unless you’re in the industry where you’re selling tools such as Zoom and other related tools. Why are there objections? Price isn’t the only reason people aren’t buying. There are many companies today that offer premium prices that are doing well. There are a few companies that raised their prices and while they have fewer customers coming in, they’ve been able to isolate who they’re serving and they’re able to substantiate that premium value. Salespeople can destabilize the deal when you use word nuggets around the pricing, implying flexibility, at the early stages of the sales dialogue. Handling objections In the B2B perspective, there are many things that you can do outside of the price that you are charging. If people aren’t buying because of the price then you need to start evaluating your offer. Ask yourself what it is you’re offering and if you need to offer all of that. If you can offer just half of it then do so. Never look at your cost, instead, look at the value that you’re offering. Figure out what it is that you’re offering and the people to whom you’re offering. Make sure that you can name them. You may have a mix of customers you’re selling to pre-COVID and this group may include big and small enterprises. With the pandemic, you are losing some of these customers so it’s critical that you become very specific to the people you’re offering your products to. Even if the company falls down, you as the salesperson can still adopt. You may see the need to change the pricing a little bit or create your own little rules. The challenge here is to make sure that each salesperson isn’t changing the landscape entirely. Even when a customer meets two sales reps from the same company, their core offer and pricing should be the same. Pricing is an important part of the dialogue because it represents money that’s being invested. Sales reps have to be transparent and be upfront about the pricing early on the sales dialogue. “Objections: How the Pandemic May Impact Your Customer’s Sales Objections” episode resources Follow Chris Mele on LinkedIn. You can also check more of his books and activities on his website. Speak with Donald directly for more sales talks. Reach him via these channels: LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, about any sales concerns. This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? The pain of sales reps continually reaching out with phone calls and emails and not receiving a response is real. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation. All text messaging is not equal. Customers respond to people, NOT BOTS. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in conversions. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by NetHunt CRM. NetHunt CRM is a sales automation tool that lives inside Gmail. It covers a full set of features to manage leads, nurture customer relations, monitor sales progress, and automate sales and marketing workflows. With native-like Gmail and G Suite integration, you can access all the CRM data, launch bulk email campaigns, and set up automated sequences right from your inbox. NetHunt helps to move your leads down your sales funnel and never let the valuable prospects go untouched. NetHunt CRM offers TSE listeners a 40% discount for the first 3 months along with free user training and a dedicated Customer Success Manager with any pricing plan. Try NetHunt CRM today → https://nethunt.com/tse This course is brought to you in part by TSE Certified Sales Training Program. It’s a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. It will help them elevate their sales game. Sign up now and get the first two modul

As part of the sales process, you can expect objections from everyone you’re speaking with, including your prospects. Join us in this episode as Donald Kelly and Matthew Pollard answer the question, how can you prepare for your prospect’s most likely objections? Matthew Pollard’s first book was entitled, The Introvert’s Edge: How the Quiet and Shy Can Outsell Anyone. It focused on selling as an introvert. His most recent book is entitled, The Introvert’s Edge to Networking: Work the Room. Leverage Social Media. Develop Powerful Connections is a sequel to the previous book, and it’s focused on how introverts can out-network their extrovert counterparts. Many believe that extroverts have an advantage over introverts, but Matthew believes that this thought is just in peoples’ heads. The truth is, there’s no disadvantage. It’s just that the path to success for introverts and extroverts is different. What is networking? Networking is about fostering long-term relationships with champions and momentum partners. They are the people who sing your praises and have high-level credibility. They are the people who share your work beyond the networks you currently have. Preparing for objections A system is an external process and if something goes wrong, it’s not a personal attack on you. It’s just that there’s a part of the system that broke and you need to fix it. Introverts need to realize that externalizing and having a structured system in networking sales allows them to treat each objection, not as a personal attack. Introverts also need to have a plan and a structure of what they want to say instead of getting stuck in their heads for thinking of what to say and ending up not articulating the best version of themselves. Focus on receiving objections. Introverts often get stuck in their heads when they get an objection and then they end up not knowing what to say. Objection handling cushion is a way for extroverts to emotionally regulate and for introverts to work out what they say. Select a story to tell. It’s critical that you know the three major problems of your prospects and to have one story for each of these major objections. So, think of the three major objections and the three major stories. You can embellish your story to make it more interesting. Try to improve it everytime you retell it. People remember 22x more information when embedded into a story. For introverts, it activates the reticular activating system of their brain and creates an artificial rapport with the customers. Tell a story that is well-rehearsed and well-practiced. Introverts don’t believe that they can do it so they don’t gravitate toward it right away. The people who make plans and make the right preparations are the ones who succeed. It’s not about being introverted or extroverted. It’s about doing the right preparation. “Objections: How Can You Prepare for Your Prospect’s Most Likely Objections?” episode resources Follow Matthew Pollard on LinkedIn. You can also check more of his books and activities on his website. Speak with Donald directly for more sales talks. Reach him via these channels: LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, about any sales concerns. This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? The pain of sales reps continually reaching out with phone calls and emails and not receiving a response is real. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation. All text messaging is not equal. Customers respond to people, NOT BOTS. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in conversions. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by NetHunt CRM. NetHunt CRM is a sales automation tool that lives inside Gmail. It covers a full set of features to manage leads, nurture customer relations, monitor sales progress, and automate sales and marketing workflows. With native-like Gmail and G Suite integration, you can access all the CRM data, launch bulk email campaigns, and set up automated sequences right from your inbox. NetHunt helps to move your leads down your sales funnel and never let the valuable prospects go untouched. NetHunt CRM offers TSE listeners a 40% discount for the first 3 months along with free user training and a dedicated Customer Success Manager with any pricing plan. Try NetHunt CRM today → https://nethunt.com/tse This course is brought to you in part by TSE Certified Sales Training Program. It’s a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. It will help them elevate their sales game. Sign up now and get the first two modules free! You can go and visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals also call us at (561) 570-5077. "We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our 2 mins survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes so tune in on

Women are doing great things in the sales industry. In this episode, Donald Kelly is joined by an amazing woman, Nadia Rashid. Listen as Nadia shares how to overcome the most common objections in B2B sales. Nadia Rashid is the SVP of Sales for Seismic on the East Coast. She manages all the teams from the commercial mid-market all the way through enterprise and global. Defining Objections For Nadia, objections are obstacles. These are the concerns that prospective buyers convey. Objections are buyers’ concerns that salespeople need to overcome. The objection is almost needed in sales because it allows the buyers to do a clear assessment of what’s in the market. It’s also a good indicator between a good salesperson and a great salesperson. How you react to objection when it’s thrown at you shows how much experience you have. Overcoming objections Nadia teaches sales reps to ask difficult questions in every call - are there any concerns? Is there any reason we shouldn’t move forward to the next step? These questions help sales reps ensure that there is a sales relationship built and that there are no surprises. Nadia categorizes objections in several areas, an example of which is the top of the funnel objections. These are objections during the actual sales cycle such as the lack of budget, the lack of resources, cost justification, and competing priorities. When there’s an objection, it’s important to take a pause. While others feel that it’s uncomfortable, this pause allows the buyers to gather their thoughts. Do the five-second rule for assessment. Nadia also asks sales reps to listen to other top sales representatives and learn from them. Oftentimes, they learn two things from these great sales reps: to actively listen and to ask a lot of open-ended questions to understand and validate the good stuff. Think of objections as a four-step process. Ensure that you’re listening. Always validate and ensure that your buyer/the person you’re talking to understands what you’re saying. Respond accurately. There’s no need to lie; if you don’t know the answer tell them honestly. Confirm that you’ve resolved the objection. An open dialogue is much more collaborative and better received. Come from a place of concern. You need to care about what it is that you’re solving for the prospect and how your solution is going to impact them. As sales reps, it’s critical to listen well and ask open-ended questions to trigger the buyers to think. Open-ended questions allow you to see if there is an opportunity there and see how engaged the prospects are. “Objections: How to Overcome the Most Common Objections in B2B Sales” episode resources Follow Nadia Rashid on LinkedIn. Speak with Donald directly for more sales talks. Reach him via these channels: LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook about any sales concerns. This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? The pain of sales reps continually reaching out with phone calls and emails and not receiving a response is real. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation. All text messaging is not equal. Customers respond to people, NOT BOTS. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in conversions. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by NetHunt CRM. NetHunt CRM is a sales automation tool that lives inside Gmail. It covers a full set of features to manage leads, nurture customer relations, monitor sales progress, and automate sales and marketing workflows. With native-like Gmail and G Suite integration, you can access all the CRM data, launch bulk email campaigns, and set up automated sequences right from your inbox. NetHunt helps to move your leads down your sales funnel and never let the valuable prospects go untouched. NetHunt CRM offers TSE listeners a 40% discount for the first 3 months along with free user training and a dedicated Customer Success Manager with any pricing plan. Try NetHunt CRM today → https://nethunt.com/tse This course is brought to you in part by TSE Certified Sales Training Program. It’s a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. It will help them elevate their sales game. Sign up now and get the first two modules free! You can go and visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals also call us at (561) 570-5077. "We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our 2 mins survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes so tune in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings to every episode you listen to. You can also read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore this huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day free trial. Audio provided by Free SFX. Other songs used i

How do you get past objections? To make it more specific, what can you do if you can’t address your prospect’s objections during a call? Natasha Davis joins Donald Kelly in this next episode on objections. Natasha Davis is a brand strategist, and she recently released her second book entitled, Unleash Your Millionaire Mindset and Build Your Brand. The book talks about the business from top to bottom and all the in-betweens. It’s about the things we’re afraid of and the things we don’t usually talk about. As a brand strategist, it’s her brand to look at a company from the top to the bottom and all the in-betweens. Natasha wasn’t always the entrepreneur. She started her working career as a nurse doing emergency and trauma, and she loved her job. She got bit by the entrepreneurship bug, and when she realized she couldn’t shake it off, she dipped her toes in it. After a while, she realized that she likes being an entrepreneur, so she made the shift and went from being a nurse into what she is now. Sometimes, salespeople are so passionate about what they could give that they forget that objections are part of the business. In this era, businesses need to scale and keep scaling. Companies need to think big, build momentum, and scale fast. Addressing Objections with Prospects Not being prepared for the objection is painful for a business. Document the objections. Whenever you get an objection, don’t just leave it in your head. Document what the objection or rejection was, create a document, and build responses to the objection/rejection. Most times, the reason for the rejection is because we failed to give them enough information for them to make the decision. Without ample information, people just eventually end up saying no. Many sales reps get too excited about what they offer. We forget that it’s not about us - it’s about them. It’s always about what the prospects need, about the solutions that work for them, and it’s about their pain points. Your goal is to tone down the pressure of selling to have that natural conversation where you’re giving out information to help your prospects. A lot of times, businesses struggle around process and performance. People are core to a business, but the process or the system is also as critical. Without a process/system in place, your people would be working in chaos. Use the right approach Keep learning and keep putting things together. That allows you to take a step back and start identifying the needs of the prospects from the point of hello, from the point of the first contact, whether it’s an email, on social media, or other platforms. Know the pain points before entering into a conversation instead of offering everything you have like a buffet. People don’t want that many options. Start the conversation by asking the why by determining their reasons for reaching out and knowing their trigger points. Know your products like the back of your eyelids. You need to break down your products and services into bits that prospects can understand and appreciate. Establish a transactional relationship at the beginning of the conversation. Still, you can’t enter into the price conversation before you’ve established an agreement that the solution you offer is what they’re looking for. It will help you set up that transactional relationship if you have the basic information pinned down. So, put up basic preliminary questions in your online appointment. While it is not wrong to have a red carpet concept for your business, you need to remember that you’re not meant to service every person in every industry. There’s only a certain subset of people you’re meant to service. “What to do If You Can’t Address Your Prospect’s Objections During a Call” episode resources Follow Natasha Davis on LinkedIn. You can also check out her website. Speak with Donald directly for more sales talks. Reach him via these channels: LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, about any sales concerns. This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? The pain of sales reps continually reaching out with phone calls and emails and not receiving a response is real. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation. All text messaging is not equal. Customers respond to people, NOT BOTS. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in conversions. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by NetHunt CRM. NetHunt CRM is a sales automation tool that lives inside Gmail. It covers a full set of features to manage leads, nurture customer relations, monitor sales progress, and automate sales and marketing workflows. With native-like Gmail and G Suite integration, you can access all the CRM data, launch bulk email campaigns, and set up automated sequences right from your inbox. NetHunt helps to move your leads down your sales funnel and never let the valuable prospects go untouched. NetHunt CRM offers TSE

The idea of objections is always common in sales. You can’t get away from it but how do you handle objections? How can you handle price objections in this new COVID world? What’s your view on objections? Objections have always been in sales; these objections are not going anywhere. The real point, however, is the why. Why are you getting these objections? What are you trying to achieve? Sales reps need to figure out the why of the objections to be able to move around them. The sales process isn't only about getting your goal which is closing the deal. It’s about slowing down and understanding the journey. It’s about determining the reason why the prospect is talking to you and why they took the initial call. We should remember to ask the why for every part of the sales cycle. Overcoming objections It comes down to having confidence in yourself as a seller and this comes from experience in getting knocked down several times and the experience of getting those wins. Sales reps need to ask the difficult questions but you also need to have the knowledge behind it so that you can answer any questions that may be thrown at you. Aside from the confidence in yourself as a seller, you also need to have confidence in whatever you’re selling. You need to do due diligence on your part to understand the products available. Prospects today respect you more if you ask questions and don’t stop at the surface level. They respect you when you do all the steps in the process. Buyers only buy from people who are checking all the boxes and asking the right questions. Building confidence The first step to building confidence is by giving yourself grace and it comes with time. Believe in yourself that this is a journey and you’re not supposed to be good at day one. It’s critical to take the time to invest in various self-promotions. Kristi was able to be a part of an organization that has its own sales methodologies. Take different pieces along the way with your own experience to build your own way of selling. It also helps to be part of an organization where you really believe in your products or services. Overcoming objections in this age Aside from knowing the why, it's also good to have that gut instinct. Use your gut instinct to judge people’s character to understand what it is they’re really saying. Do your research. There are a lot of companies that are doing their studies and publishing articles on how COVID has affected them. Find the things you need that will start the conversation. Sales is a matter of being there for your prospects and clients. We live in a world where there is so much content out there, we have all the advantages compared to the sellers years back. Do your part, sift the information available and share the ones that you know can add value to your prospects. At the end of the day, people like to be told what to do when it’s done the right way. “Objections: How Can I Handle Price Objections In This New COVID World?” episode resources Check out Kristi Strickland and follow her on LinkedIn. Speak with Donald directly for more sales talks. Reach him via these channels: LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook about any sales concerns. This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? The pain of sales reps continually reaching out with phone calls and emails and not receiving a response is real. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation. All text messaging is not equal. Customers respond to people, NOT BOTS. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in conversions. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by NetHunt CRM. NetHunt CRM is a sales automation tool that lives inside Gmail. It covers a full set of features to manage leads, nurture customer relations, monitor sales progress, and automate sales and marketing workflows. With native-like Gmail and G Suite integration, you can access all the CRM data, launch bulk email campaigns, and set up automated sequences right from your inbox. NetHunt helps to move your leads down your sales funnel and never let the valuable prospects go untouched. NetHunt CRM offers TSE listeners a 40% discount for the first 3 months along with free user training and a dedicated Customer Success Manager with any pricing plan. Try NetHunt CRM today → https://nethunt.com/tse This course is brought to you in part by TSE Certified Sales Training Program. It’s a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. It will help them elevate their sales game. Sign up now and get the first two modules free! You can go and visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals also call us at (561) 570-5077. "We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our 2 mins survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes so tune in on

Sales isn’t sales without objections. As a sales rep, how will you overcome objections? In this episode, Donald Kelly talks about the basics of sales objections. The basics in sales objections An objection is defined as an expression or feeling of disapproval, an opposition or reason of disagreeing. From the buyer's perspective, objections are when the buyer has disapproval or maybe they don’t agree with something. Common disapproval in sales training is when the potential clients say that they don’t believe that the training can help their team. There’s truth in that objection but sometimes, the reason may just be because you have interjected yourself into the buyer’s situation or they may be uncomfortable with the situation moving forward. One of the things that most people don’t like about salespeople is that they can come off as being pushy sometimes. When we’re being pushy, the buyers or prospects won’t be in a state where they’d be ready to listen and be interested in the products or services offered. Even if that product can solve their problem, at that moment, it’s not something they value. Salespeople need to understand that objection and why they’re getting it in the first place. You can’t take the objection at face value because the buyers don’t necessarily understand the value of what’s being shared with them. Salespeople should back down in the first objection. Instead, learn to take a step back. Give them a menu or options. Reach out to them and try to determine the reason for their objection. An objection doesn’t mean that they won’t do business with you. Don’t make it a lost deal right away. Find more ways to build value and show them that value. Approach all the other decision-makers in that organization too. The goal is to go past the objection and let them see the value of your product or service. Stand out from the competition by being creative and by being persistent. A No now doesn’t mean that it’s a No forever. You can check out Ciara. It’s a company that helps you figure out effective ways that your team has been using to move past objections. “Sales Objections 101” episode resources Speak with Donald directly for more sales talks. Reach him via these channels: LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook about any sales concerns. This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? The pain of sales reps continually reaching out with phone calls and emails and not receiving a response is real. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation. All text messaging is not equal. Customers respond to people, NOT BOTS. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in conversions. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by NetHunt CRM. NetHunt CRM is a sales automation tool that lives inside Gmail. It covers a full set of features to manage leads, nurture customer relations, monitor sales progress, and automate sales and marketing workflows. With native-like Gmail and G Suite integration, you can access all the CRM data, launch bulk email campaigns, and set up automated sequences right from your inbox. NetHunt helps to move your leads down your sales funnel and never let the valuable prospects go untouched. NetHunt CRM offers TSE listeners a 40% discount for the first 3 months along with free user training and a dedicated Customer Success Manager with any pricing plan. Try NetHunt CRM today → https://nethunt.com/tse This course is brought to you in part by TSE Certified Sales Training Program. It’s a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. It will help them elevate their sales game. Sign up now and get the first two modules free! You can go and visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals also call us at (561) 570-5077. "We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our 2 mins survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes so tune in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings to every episode you listen to. You can also read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore this huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day free trial. Audio provided by Free SFX. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder, written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

For many, 2020 has not been a good year. If 2020 left you feeling defeated then do the work to overcome it. In this episode, Chris Williams talks about how you can do that. Moving forward in 2021 2020 was hard for everybody regardless of social status. It was a hard heart and mind-bending process. For Chris, there are three things that matter: You need to be yourself. In this time when money and the market are getting pushed, it’s difficult for people to figure out who you are. Eventually, you start to become someone else. You start to see other people on social media and you aim to become more like that person. You need to stop that and anchor down to who you are and what your core values are. Whatever your metrics are, whatever your numbers are, it’s not about the money. It’s about what you know that you’re good at and being able to anchor to that. A good handle on that will give you assurance and confidence. Have an actionable plan. You need to put up an actionable plan that leans on your strength. This may mean that you need to read a book, listen to a podcast, or other amazing resources you can get your hands on. Pick up resources that will give you actionable stuff that you can do. This is about clearly defining the list of things that you can do every single day. You need to have a community that supports you. You need to be with people with hearts, souls, and minds. People are inherently social beings. We have cultures, religious affiliations, political parties, and more. We need to anchor to a group of people who share the same beliefs and interests that we have. Don’t consume just any information available out there. Instead, lean in on the experts that provide the information that you like to consume. “If 2020 Left You Feeling Defeated, Do the Work to Overcome It'' episode resources Follow Chris Williams on Facebook and Instagram. Speak with Donald directly for more sales talks. Reach him via these channels: LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook about any sales concerns. This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? The pain of sales reps continually reaching out with phone calls and emails and not receiving a response is real. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation. All text messaging is not equal. Customers respond to people, NOT BOTS. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in conversions. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by NetHunt CRM. NetHunt CRM is a sales automation tool that lives inside Gmail. It covers a full set of features to manage leads, nurture customer relations, monitor sales progress, and automate sales and marketing workflows. With native-like Gmail and G Suite integration, you can access all the CRM data, launch bulk email campaigns, and set up automated sequences right from your inbox. NetHunt helps to move your leads down your sales funnel and never let the valuable prospects go untouched. NetHunt CRM offers TSE listeners a 40% discount for the first 3 months along with free user training and a dedicated Customer Success Manager with any pricing plan. Try NetHunt CRM today → https://nethunt.com/tse This course is brought to you in part by TSE Certified Sales Training Program. It’s a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. It will help them elevate their sales game. Sign up now and get the first two modules free! You can go and visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals also call us at (561) 570-5077. "We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our 2 mins survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes so tune in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings to every episode you listen to. You can also read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore this huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day free trial. Audio provided by Free SFX. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder, written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed and Produced by Bright seed and Hill.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

What does being one of the best sellers in history entail? In today’s episode, Donald Kelly focuses on Oprah Winfrey as one of the world’s best sellers in history. Getting to Know Oprah Winfrey Oprah Winfrey was born on January 29th, 1954 and her parents are Vernita Lee and Vernon Winfrey. She had her first speaking gig in front of the congregation at church, where she spoke about Jesus and how he rose from the dead on Easter Sunday. It was the beginning of her knowledge that this was something she could do. Oprah began writing and selling her speeches when she was 12. At one point, she earned $500 from selling her speeches. Structure and Expectation Oprah’s father gave her structure and expectation that allowed her to excel. She got a scholarship to Tennessee State University and was invited to the White House as well. Oprah’s success stems from five elements: She is relatable and she knows how to build relationships Her creativity and willingness helped her act even in difficult circumstances She’s a hard worker She thinks big and she continues to push herself Oprah is selfless On being relatable and building relationships Oprah allows herself to be vulnerable and she values her authenticity regardless of whether there’s a camera or not. She shows empathy to everyone she interviews. Instead of just asking the questions point-blank, she sees the humanity of every person and asks them like a fellow human being instead of a reporter. Oprah isn’t afraid of making mistakes and owning them. The same is true for sales: it is impossible for salespeople to be perfect in everything we do. Making mistakes is part of the process and being honest about your mistakes makes you a relatable salesperson. That’s the kind of salesperson people often gravitate to. On being creative and having the willingness to act Oprah doesn’t just sit and wait for things to happen. She takes action and turns things around. In sales, you may find yourself in a difficult situation sometimes. Instead of groveling about it, you need to act and make the best out of the situation. On thinking big and pushing yourself forward Oprah wanted to become an actress but wound up in the journalism industry. She did not, however, stop aiming for her dream until she became the lead in the film, The Color Purple. Sales reps can learn from Oprah Winfrey and her elements to success. Sales representatives may sometimes feel the need to offer things with strings attached in order to get ahead but that’s not always the best option. The door will still open if you are generous and give more to other people. The goal in sales is to help others and to give them solutions. “The Best Sellers in History Series - Oprah Winfrey'' episode resources Speak with Donald directly for more sales talks. Reach him via these channels: LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook about any sales concerns. This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? The pain of sales reps continually reaching out with phone calls and emails and not receiving a response is real. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation. All text messaging is not equal. Customers respond to people, NOT BOTS. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in conversions. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by NetHunt CRM. NetHunt CRM is a sales automation tool that lives inside Gmail. It covers a full set of features to manage leads, nurture customer relations, monitor sales progress, and automate sales and marketing workflows. With native-like Gmail and G Suite integration, you can access all the CRM data, launch bulk email campaigns, and set up automated sequences right from your inbox. NetHunt helps to move your leads down your sales funnel and never let the valuable prospects go untouched. NetHunt CRM offers TSE listeners a 40% discount for the first 3 months along with free user training and a dedicated Customer Success Manager with any pricing plan. Try NetHunt CRM today → https://nethunt.com/tse This course is brought to you in part by TSE Certified Sales Training Program. It’s a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. It will help them elevate their sales game. Sign up now and get the first two modules free! You can go and visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals also call us at (561) 570-5077. "We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our 2 mins survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes so tune in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings to every episode you listen to. You can also read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore this huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day free trial. Audio pro

Some people perceive that there is a power struggle between the men and women in the sales industry. In this episode, Lorraine Ferguson talks about leveling the playing field for women in sales. Getting to know Lorraine Ferguson Lorraine Ferguson started her career in sales back in the 80s with a startup technology company. She never thought that she’d see herself in sales. Back then, there were still no women in sales. She was young and inexperienced then. So, she followed what the other salesmen did. As a woman in a male-dominated career, she often felt intimidated by the men she met. She felt like she wasn’t taken seriously and there were times when she was only asked to take notes or to go and bring the boss. As a young girl, she was taught that being good meant accommodating others and knowing her place. She didn’t realize that the principle stayed with her. She found herself buying into the buyer system. Women not Glamorizing Sales There is a negative stigma in sales. Many women don’t see sales as an effective career. Another challenge is that we weren’t told about sales as a potential career. It’s not something that your guidance counselor talks about. Most times, men are hired because the people in the leadership roles are also men. Sometimes, they don’t even think about women as a good fit for sales. It’s a combination of mindset, what we think, and what those who are hiring think when they are looking for a good candidate. Many are also looking at sales as a stepping stone or a last recourse. This isn’t a good thing for women since women have so many natural strengths that are needed in the sales profession today. Womens’ natural talents in sales To be successful in sales today is much more than just knowing your own products and services. It’s about your ability to connect and understand other people. Buyers today are expecting salespeople to know about their own business as much as they know their own products and services. Women have the ability to connect the dots and figure what the problem is. Women are good listeners and are able to come up with empathic solutions. When it comes to selling, it’s critical to be quiet, to listen, and to ask the right questions. Women tend to be more concerned about others. They have the natural ability to put themselves in the background. Women in sales Women need to work a little bit harder to prove themselves. Sometimes, they need to prove themselves to the person they’re working for. The organization is a huge help for women. It’s critical for the organization to have a selling process that fits women like a glove. Women like roadmaps, they like to have direction. When they follow a process, they are able to have personal presence and they’re more likely going to win a deal. Often, the right system for women is when there’s no pressure. Women need to work on their personal presence. They need to put a system in place. Change the things that prevent them from achieving more. Learn to take control of the conversation. Lorraine’s Sandler Training helps salespeople develop a mutual agreement between your objective and what the customer/client wants to cover. Having the upper hand in the conversation allows you to have more confidence. Even with the slow progression in sales in terms of perceiving women, still, women have come a long way. Many women are becoming more successful in sales. “Leveling the Playing Field for Women in Sales” episode resources Follow Lorraine Ferguson on LinkedIn. Speak with Donald directly for more sales talks. Reach him via these channels: LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook about any sales concerns. This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? The pain of sales reps continually reaching out with phone calls and emails and not receiving a response is real. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation. All text messaging is not equal. Customers respond to people, NOT BOTS. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in conversions. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by NetHunt CRM. NetHunt CRM is a sales automation tool that lives inside Gmail. It covers a full set of features to manage leads, nurture customer relations, monitor sales progress, and automate sales and marketing workflows. With native-like Gmail and G Suite integration, you can access all the CRM data, launch bulk email campaigns, and set up automated sequences right from your inbox. NetHunt helps to move your leads down your sales funnel and never let the valuable prospects go untouched. NetHunt CRM offers TSE listeners a 40% discount for the first 3 months along with free user training and a dedicated Customer Success Manager with any pricing plan. Try NetHunt CRM today → https://nethunt.com/tse This course is brought to you in part by TSE Certified Sales Training Program. It’s a course designed to help new and struggling seller

Women are strong willed individuals who can thrive in the male-dominated sales industry. Today’s guest will help us understand how women can thrive in the male-dominated sales industry. Thriving in the male-dominated industry Cherilynn Castleman released a book entitled, What’s in the C.A.R.D.S: Five Post-Pandemic Sales Strategies. She’s been in sales for over 25 years and was able to experience the global financial crisis in 2008 first-hand. When she first started selling, salespeople used to spend 20% of their time building relationships and 80% on sales. This book talks about doing the opposite. 80% of the time should be spent building relationships while the other 20% should be focused on sales. The book is about how to connect and build relationships with other people. It’s about collaborating with clients and becoming more emphatic. The Perfect Time to be a Woman Harvard Business Review released a study in May 2020 that women outsell men after a crisis. Women, by nature, are emphatic, collaborative, and open-minded creatures. The best time for women to go into sales is right now. For Cherilynn, there are three levels of listening: Restaurant listening - it’s when your brain thinks a 100 miles a minute. You think of what food to eat or what food you had last week. A lot of salespeople sell this way. They’re very knowledgeable, so when their client starts talking, the sales reps are already answering every question in their heads. Reflective listening - We’re taught this in school. It’s when sales reps reflect what it said back to the clients. They’d reflect the conversation and then they present their pitch. Empathic listening - this is listening between the lines and listening to the words that weren’t spoken. You do this by muting your brain and taking deep breaths. This will allow you to focus on what’s being said and what’s not being said. It allows you to connect to the people talking on a deeper level. The 4 Fs Ask people about the four Fs: Ask them what it was like for their first day of the pandemic. Were they worried about their job? About their production? Ask them what it was like the first time they were doing what they’re doing now. Then, listen carefully. Ask them about their failure. Ask them about their future. Ask them about their finest moments. Any sentence that starts with an ‘I’ is not being empathetic. When you talk to clients, always be present and be where they are. Be with their frustration and then allow them to formulate a solution with you. It’s not that people hate Zoom calls; it’s more like they hate the way you run Zoom calls. You have to be authentic. Women are okay with being a little bit vulnerable as opposed to men. Make yourself relatable. You don’t necessarily have to be formal and take on that sales voice every time you jump on Zoom. Pause, figure out your superpowers, and leverage them. Right now, sales is about being open-minded, about being strategic, and about helping the clients come up with a vision. “How Women Can Thrive in the Male-Dominated Sales Industry'' episode resources Connect with Cherilynn Castleman via LinkedIn. You can also check out her website. Speak with Donald directly for more sales talks. Reach him via these channels: LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook about any sales concerns. This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? The pain of sales reps continually reaching out with phone calls and emails and not receiving a response is real. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation. All text messaging is not equal. Customers respond to people, NOT BOTS. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in conversions. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by NetHunt CRM. NetHunt CRM is a sales automation tool that lives inside Gmail. It covers a full set of features to manage leads, nurture customer relations, monitor sales progress, and automate sales and marketing workflows. With native-like Gmail and G Suite integration, you can access all the CRM data, launch bulk email campaigns, and set up automated sequences right from your inbox. NetHunt helps to move your leads down your sales funnel and never let the valuable prospects go untouched. NetHunt CRM offers TSE listeners a 40% discount for the first 3 months along with free user training and a dedicated Customer Success Manager with any pricing plan. Try NetHunt CRM today → https://nethunt.com/tse This course is brought to you in part by TSE Certified Sales Training Program. It’s a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. It will help them elevate their sales game. Sign up now and get the first two modules free! You can go and visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals also call us at (561) 570-5077. "We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our

It’s a common problem among workers in many industries. The question remains, why are women sellers paid less than their male counterparts? Let’s talk about this subject in today’s episode. Being in a woman in sales Jaunai Walker has been in the sales field for almost 20 years. It was her first job after she finished grad school. By 2007, an opportunity opened up and she landed a role in medical sales. Women being paid less isn’t only because of other factors but also because of ourselves. Jaunai suggests that it’s critical to learn to look at ourselves as women and see what we put out there. For most women, the stigma about what salespeople are remains in the back of their heads. Another factor is that at the interview part, women sell and promote themselves less than men do. Women don’t want to be seen as boastful, so they present themselves as heart-centered as they often do themselves a disservice. Women are seen as less confident compared to their male counterparts and because of that, they are often seen as less competent. Women also don’t ask or negotiate as much because women don’t want to be seen as pushy. Jaunai feels like that’s because of the fear of not being enough. Bridging the gap Women have these different personalities. They take on different faces when they’re at home or when they’re selling. There is a need to bridge the gap between the two. Bridge the gap between who women are out there and who they are in every aspect of their lives. It’s a proven fact that women are better closers than men so women have to channel that confidence. Don’t be afraid of a sales career. Everything you have right now from every industry wouldn’t happen without being sold. Even those things that aren’t seen, like ideas. Women have to be bold so it’s time to claim it. It’s critical to stand out and step up. “Why are Women Sellers Paid Less Than Their Male Counterparts?'' episode resources Follow Jaunai Walker on Linkedin. Check out her sales program, Perfect Your Pitch: Irresistible Sales Conversations that Convert for Heart-Centered People Who Have Heart Centered Businesses. Just give her a beep on LinkedIn! Speak with Donald directly for more sales talks. Reach him via these channels: LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook about any sales concerns. This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? The pain of sales reps continually reaching out with phone calls and emails and not receiving a response is real. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation. All text messaging is not equal. Customers respond to people, NOT BOTS. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in conversions. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by NetHunt CRM. NetHunt CRM is a sales automation tool that lives inside Gmail. It covers a full set of features to manage leads, nurture customer relations, monitor sales progress, and automate sales and marketing workflows. With native-like Gmail and G Suite integration, you can access all the CRM data, launch bulk email campaigns, and set up automated sequences right from your inbox. NetHunt helps to move your leads down your sales funnel and never let the valuable prospects go untouched. NetHunt CRM offers TSE listeners a 40% discount for the first 3 months along with free user training and a dedicated Customer Success Manager with any pricing plan. Try NetHunt CRM today → https://nethunt.com/tse This course is brought to you in part by TSE Certified Sales Training Program. It’s a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. It will help them elevate their sales game. Sign up now and get the first two modules free! You can go and visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals also call us at (561) 570-5077. "We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our 2 mins survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes so tune in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings to every episode you listen to. You can also read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore this huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day free trial. Audio provided by Free SFX. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder, written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

Imposter syndrome is common among salespeople, and it chooses no gender. In this episode, however, let’s learn how imposter syndrome affects women in sales. Melissa Oakes truly believes that she changes people’s lives. Although many don’t share the same thought, being able to bring people back to a time in their lives where they were happiest is a huge accomplishment. In the Hair Club, her team gets to help people feel good about themselves every day. It’s not just about the hair; it’s about what people can do for themselves to make their lives better. From having a better hair day to having a better life. Starting Hair Club It started out as a Hair Club for Men where almost all the salespeople were men. Melissa was one of the first female consultants. She also shared the negative stigma of salespeople then. Personally, she didn’t want to become a salesperson due to that stigma. When she did get into sales, into a male-oriented industry, she felt like she always had to overcompensate. She felt like she needed to do things right because she had something to prove. The Imposter Syndrome Imposter syndrome leaves you feeling doubtful and dealing with other negative emotions. Doubting whether what you do is enough; whether you are good enough. It was a challenging time for Melissa because it prompted her to take things personally. When she faces objections, she takes it as an attack. For men, they can just move on. The same isn’t true for women. Melissa always got into her own self-talks and eventually she realized that her doubts were making the sales process more about her and less about the person sitting in front of her. She realized that she couldn’t help other people if she remained in that state. The rejection she experienced didn’t motivate her. Instead, it piled up a lot of doubts in her head. Going over that state not only helps you as a salesperson, but also the people you’re trying to make an impact for. Melissa learned to turn that No into a Not Yet. It helped her follow up with someone and make sure that she is in contact with them, building relationships and connections with them. She learned to focus her attention on the people she’s helping and on what she could do for them. It’s important for new salespeople to be genuine and be authentic to themselves. Sales is about making connections so be genuine in your own way, and build connections in a way that works for you. Giving quality service is about finding out what the person needs from you or how your business/service/products help them. We need to care more and show that personal connection. We also need to celebrate the little wins because that will get you out from whatever feeling you’re in. “How Imposter Syndrome Affects Women in Sales” episode resources Follow Melissa Oakes on LinkedIn. Speak with Donald directly for more sales talks. Reach him via these channels: LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook about any sales concerns. This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? The pain of sales reps continually reaching out with phone calls and emails and not receiving a response is real. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation. All text messaging is not equal. Customers respond to people, NOT BOTS. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in conversions. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by NetHunt CRM. NetHunt CRM is a sales automation tool that lives inside Gmail. It covers a full set of features to manage leads, nurture customer relations, monitor sales progress, and automate sales and marketing workflows. With native-like Gmail and G Suite integration, you can access all the CRM data, launch bulk email campaigns, and set up automated sequences right from your inbox. NetHunt helps to move your leads down your sales funnel and never let the valuable prospects go untouched. NetHunt CRM offers TSE listeners a 40% discount for the first 3 months along with free user training and a dedicated Customer Success Manager with any pricing plan. Try NetHunt CRM today → https://nethunt.com/tse This course is brought to you in part by TSE Certified Sales Training Program. It’s a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. It will help them elevate their sales game. Sign up now and get the first two modules free! You can go and visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals also call us at (561) 570-5077. "We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our 2 mins survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes so tune in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings to every episode you listen to. You can also read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore this huge online lib

Sales is a huge industry and it’s big enough for both men and women. However, the number shows that there are few women in this career. In this episode, we will talk about the reasons why we need more women in sales. Women in Sales Women are the best in sales. There are very few women in sales then and the number hasn’t improved much over the years. As a woman or a salesperson in general, you need to think of what you’re selling and how your buyers are. There are many categories where women are the primary decision-maker and buyers. Companies should see the need to have a salesforce to represent who the buyers are and 50% of the buyers are women. This is especially true for categories where products are more female-oriented. Having more women in sales also promotes diversity of thoughts, thinking styles, and perspectives. For the last 25 years, there have been more women in sales. There are also industries where women are the dominant sellers. In most times, it’s up to the manager if they give women the opportunities to be out there and represent the product. The truth is, it’s not just about having more women in sales. It’s more about the broad scope of diversity. That includes gender and race. What you need to be in sales Sales is not just about having graduated college. Sales is about understanding relationships. You don’t need to graduate with triple masters to be equipped with soft skills. You can be a great salesperson even when you didn’t have an MBA. Tiffanni stumbled into selling by accident. Her mother didn’t have the most positive response the first time she told her that she wanted to get into sales. It was later on that her mother realized that everything worked out for her in the end. There is a gap between men’s and women’s pay. There’s also a gap of pay between language and race. If you are a manager, you need to line up your team and see if there is a gap and how much the gap is. It’s time to shore it up and decrease if not totally eradicate the gap. Tiffanni was courageous and she followed what she believed in even when she had to give up a current position to be able to move further in her career. She kept stretching herself and kept learning more. Most importantly, she took the responsibility for her decisions. She’s now in a different part of her career. Instead of keeping moving forward, she’s now in the contribution mode. She helps others by sharing her journey. For beginners, it’s imperative that you understand the process, know yourself and the things you’re good at and use these things to your advantage. “Why We Need More Women in Sales” episode resources Connect with Tiffanni Bova via LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. You can also read her book, Growth IQ, and follow her podcast called, What’s Next with Tiffanni Bova. Speak with Donald directly for more sales talks. Reach him via these channels: LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook about any sales concerns. This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? The pain of sales reps continually reaching out with phone calls and emails and not receiving a response is real. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation. All text messaging is not equal. Customers respond to people, NOT BOTS. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in conversions. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by NetHunt CRM. NetHunt CRM is a sales automation tool that lives inside Gmail. It covers a full set of features to manage leads, nurture customer relations, monitor sales progress, and automate sales and marketing workflows. With native-like Gmail and G Suite integration, you can access all the CRM data, launch bulk email campaigns, and set up automated sequences right from your inbox. NetHunt helps to move your leads down your sales funnel and never let the valuable prospects go untouched. NetHunt CRM offers TSE listeners a 40% discount for the first 3 months along with free user training and a dedicated Customer Success Manager with any pricing plan. Try NetHunt CRM today → https://nethunt.com/tse This course is brought to you in part by TSE Certified Sales Training Program. It’s a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. It will help them elevate their sales game. Sign up now and get the first two modules free! You can go and visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals also call us at (561) 570-5077. "We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our 2 mins survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes so tune in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings to every episode you listen to. You can also read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore this huge online library. Registe