The Sales Evangelist

When your prospects find 100 new email messages waiting for them on Monday morning, if your emails give no value, your prospects will never open them. If there's nothing in the subject line or the first sentence of the message to grab their attention, your prospects will probably never even open the message. Sellers must give thought to what their first sentence is saying to uncover how their emails are performing. Preview Consider your own email inbox. You're busy. You don't have time to read every single email that arrives in your inbox. If you've got 100 new messages waiting, you're not going to read them all. You'll travel the path of least resistance by eliminating as many as possible. Email content The subject line is crucial, so your goal is to minimize it as much as possible. Get to the point quickly with as few words as possible. Make sure the first sentence of your email relates to the subject line and make sure it has nothing to do with you. Avoid statements like "I have something I want to share with you," or "My company helps clients who..." Avoid including sentences that, when you think about them, simply aren't helpful. "I hope this message finds you doing well." "I hope your quarter is going great." These are both fillers and they won't compel anyone to open the email. If you're using the same content and the same statements as other sellers, your emails give no value, and no one will open them. Truth One of the worst mistakes you can make is using a subject line that has nothing to do with the email content itself. If you bait your reader in with one idea and then switch ideas within the email, you'll probably get black-listed. At best, you'll get sent to the spam folder so you're toast forever. Do something totally different. Personalize your message and don't include a huge pitch in your first email. Think about it from your buyer's standpoint. He has countless sellers reaching out to sell him something, and many of them are sharing similar messages. What if your first sentence offered something to help him? Consider this example from Todd. He got an email from a seller who recognized that he was a CEO who had to create and give presentations. The seller provided a PowerPoint template he could use to present metrics and then another template he could use to create a sales handbook. The sender gave no information about himself or his company. The only reference was information in the signature block that Todd could access if he was interested. Value Buyers aren't stupid. If you send a helpful, beneficial email, I'll like go to your site. Even if I don't need your product right now, I'll know where to go in the future. Give something of value. Provide some education. Think of it from the buyer's standpoint. Give him something that will help him be more effective and efficient in his role. When you give value, provide something that will address a problem that your ideal customer struggles with. It doesn't even have to be something you're an expert in, and in fact, that sometimes makes it more genuine. Imagine I sell HR software to HR directors. If you send a document titled 5 Things HR Directors Should Consider When Selecting A Software, he'll smell the bias from 10 miles away. If I provide something beneficial that isn't in my wheelhouse, they'll recognize that I'm not trying to sell something. The goal is to build interaction by getting him to respond and open a dialog. Dialog If the thing you're sharing will benefit him even if he doesn't buy your product, go ahead and share that with your prospect. Just don't make it gimmicky. Give something that has value and then connect other places like on LinkedIn or over the phone. Many of us are stuck in the mindset that a single email will open the door to a deal. Focus on the content you're sharing. Focus on the type of content and how it applies to him as an individual. Then focus on how you can make his life easier. Create emails that prospects will want to open so you can build meaningful conversations and then ask effective questions. #ColdOutreach "Your Emails Give No Value" episode resources Grab a copy of the book The Transparency Sale: How Unexpected Honesty and Understanding the Buying Brain Can Transform Your Results by Todd Caponi. Try the first module of the TSE Certified Sales Training Program for free. This episode is brought to you by the TSE Certified Sales Training Program. I developed this training course because I struggled early on as a seller. Once I had the chance to go through my own training, I noticed a hockey-stick improvement in my performance. TSE Certified Sales Training Program can help you out of your slump. If you gave a lot of great presentations and did a lot of hard work, only to watch your prospects choose to work with your competitors, we can help you fix that. The new semester of TSE Certified Sales Training Program begins in April and it would be an absolute honor to have you join us. This episode is also

When you interact with your prospects, your goal should be to provide such great value that you leave people better off whether they buy from you or not. We've been talking about value all month, and today hypnotist Jason Linett talks about how people can change their thinking to grow their business. Growth isn't just about your platform but it's largely about how you tell the story to your audience. We often miss the power of a story and its impact on our potential customers. Help prospects win In almost every category, there are others out there who do the same work you do. Storytelling is the one thing that truly sets you apart from the competition so that you're no longer just a commodity. Your customers can go find another business coach or web designer, and even another hypnotist. Jason points out that he didn't get married by approaching a pretty girl at school and announcing that they were going to have children together. Instead, they built a relationship through the natural progression that occurs when people get to know each other. Look at the relationship building aspect of it. You know that you want to help people, so look for something that will help the customer. Find things you can set in motion that will help your prospects win. Suddenly, there's a collection of people out there who didn't need your entire service but they are in the raving fan category. Some of those that you helped will move forward in the funnel in order to see how you can help them even more. Ditching fear Most people don't seize this concept because they fear giving away too much. They believe that if they give away too much, people won't buy from them. Jason said that he has given away more than most people in his industry. He has also earned more than most of the people in his industry. He believes the two naturally go together. Think of it as a difference of show versus tell. I can tell you what methods may be helpful and you can research them and dig into them in order to determine whether they might truly work, or I can get together with you and actually help you do it. [Tweet "Be willing to give away your best content to your customers sometimes. Give away an abridged version that helps them along on the journey and prompts them to consider what more you might have to offer. #BuildValue"] Many people want to try an at-home version before they commit to the live "being in the room" version. Convince people to care How do we get people to care before we ever really ask them to listen? We need to think differently. It's about listening to the audience and responding to their requests. Jason calls hit pitch "The Hollywood Effect." It's based on the tendency of movies to launch you directly into some piece of the action, get you swept up into it, and then rewind to tell you the back-story. He launches into a story about murder, and about a new mother who moved into a hotel after seeing a bug in her home. By the end of her first meeting with him, she killed a housefly with her bare hand. Draw in the entire room. Get them to put down their food and listen to what you have to say. Value-first mindset Do the opposite of what everyone else is doing. If everyone else is doing things one way, let that be your cue to do it differently. As you decide how to move forward, pick the option you are most comfortable with. That's your first entry point and you should flesh that out completely and make it exactly what you want it to be. Once that piece has become a machine that's running itself, you can branch off to some other thing. Finding the time Jason suggests that there's no such thing as "finding the time." It's a game we invented to trick ourselves into not doing things we're absolutely capable of. Instead, we should use the mechanism of making time. Consider putting everything on a scheduling platform. Make use of color-coding. Choose one color for the events that cannot be changed. The number one tip is to listen. So often we catch ourselves trying to mind-read our audience instead of starting with the ask and discovering the customer's greatest need. Sometimes what they want is different than what they need. You're selling what they want, so you'll deliver what they want, but along the way, you can overdeliver by providing what they need. "Leave people better off whether they buy from you or not" episode resources You can connect with Jason at jasonlinett.com or on social media as Jason Linett. You can also grab a copy of his book, Work Smart Business: Lessons Learned From Hypnotizing 250,000 People and Building a Million-Dollar Brand. Head to worksmartbusiness.com for a freebie called the Positive Influence Power Pack that will teach you specific strategies to influence yourself and others. You've heard us talk about the TSE Certified Sales Training Program, and we're offering the first module free as a gift to you. Preview it. Check it out. If it makes sense for you to join, you can be part of our upcoming semester in A

[smart_track_player url="http://traffic.libsyn.com/thesalesevangelist/TSE_1080.mp3" background="blurred_logo" ] Building value is a critical part of any sales process, and the discovery meeting is an important step in that process. How much should you prepare for the discovery meeting beforehand? What should you know? What should you do? The insights I'll share come from the TSE Certified Sales Training Program, designed to help sales reps perform to the best of their ability, find more ideal customers, build strong value, and close more deals. What is discovery? The discovery meeting is an opportunity to learn about the challenge your prospect is facing. It's a chance to go a little more in-depth. It's not necessarily a chance to get all the information about the company or about its history. That's boring for the client who doesn't want to have to educate you. The client is likely meeting with other sellers and they aren't interested in working to educate all of them. Do your research beforehand so your discovery meeting can focus solely on understanding the prospect's true problem and understanding how you can bring value and help them learn more about what you have to offer. Research You can easily find information about the company and its history on the Internet or the company's website. If you show up to discovery seeking this kind of information the prospects will likely think less of you. I've said it before, but you also have the option to call into the company and ask the receptionist for more information. The organization may be able to share an information page or other company literature. The PR department may be able to provide the information you're seeking as well. This information is vital to the discovery meeting because it will help you have a meaningful discussion when you meet with the prospect. Understand the industry Make sure you also understand recent developments related to the industry and the company's role within the industry. If the company is in the housing industry and I discover that the housing industry is booming in states like Arizona, California, and Florida, then that will impact my presentation. If I'm selling marketing services to companies in the housing market it will be important to know that the market is growing. I'll also need to know the top challenges that companies within the housing market are facing. Then, determine how those trends will correlate to your product or service. Case studies If you have a previous or existing client that is similar to your prospect, consider sharing that information. Has one of your clients faced the challenges of growing in a high-growth market? Have you helped a client tackle some of the issues inherent in that situation? Is there a business case study I can share that helps my prospects understand the challenge they are facing? I did an episode some time back about case studies and the folks over at Gong outlined four main steps that should exist within every business case study. Identify the problem. What is preventing the client from growing? What challenges are hindering the company from accomplishing its goals? Develop a measurement. How can you measure the challenges the company is facing? How can you quantify the issue the company is facing? Determine the consequences of the company losing those deals or opportunities. Did they have to let people go or close their doors? Make a dramatic point without going over-the-top. What transformation did your product or service cause in this company? [Tweet "Case studies help companies see what you have done in the past and what you can do for prospective customers. #CaseStudies"] Prepare questions What things did the company try previously that didn't work? The more questions you ask the more you'll learn about them. Go deep. Ask them to tell you more. You may discover that they are currently working with a company that isn't providing the kind of results they need. Why don't they like the current company? Incorporate those facts into your own presentation so you can address their challenges. Find out who will be making the decision and how they will decide. Find out what their budget will be and when they are hoping to make the change. Is there an unconsidered need they aren't aware of? TSE Certified Sales Training Program This stuff works. We teach it in TSE Certified Sales Training Program and we're seeing fantastic results. If you or your team want to check out the program, we'll let you try the first module risk-free. If you love it, we'd love to have you join the TSE Certified Sales Training Program to improve your selling skills. I share this because I want to help you find more ideal customers, have more meaningful conversations, build stronger value, close more deals, and I want to challenge you each and every day to do big things. “Discovery Meetings” episode resources Try the first module of the TSE Certified Sales Training Program for free. This episode is brought t

Many sellers understand the challenge of using emails to reach out to prospects, but Chad Sanderson tells us that using brief, compelling stories in sales emails can leave a memorable impression on a prospect who is inundated with noise. Chad has worked as a marketer, seller, sales leader, and entrepreneur, so he understands the perspective of everyone listening to this podcast. Email issues Chad points out that most emails suck. We're all connected to our devices and we're constantly inundated with impressions through Facebook messages, videos, emails, LinkedIn requests, and even WhatsApp or Snapchat messages. That doesn't even include impressions you get while watching television. The only way to effectively break through the noise is to put yourself in the other person's shoes. Everything is moving at a ridiculously fast pace, so if you never slow down enough to truly consider the other person, you'll probably fail to truly connect. You must connect with people in a way that's valuable from their perspective. [Tweet "People still buy from people, so if they don't know and trust you, you must build rapport before you earn the right to talk about yourself. #BuildRapport"] Onslaught As if the crowded inboxes aren't enough, it's also true that many of the emails people send are just drudgery. Chad points to one company that has been pursuing him for several months, and as he mapped the cadence of the messages, he noted that the messages never included anything from his perspective until about email 14. The messages were always about the company. He said it happens all the time because sellers don't realize that approach doesn't work. And though he tries to be kind because he works in this world too, he sometimes has to unsubscribe because the messages aren't valuable. To make the idea simpler to understand, think about this in the context of your friends. Everybody has at least one friend that will not stop talking about themselves. Even in a social setting, people will eventually move away from that person. It's true in sales, too. People business We seem to assume that the rules are different in sales. We forget that we're in the people business and that relationships matter in sales just as they do outside of work. Sales has always been a discipline. It has always been tough. It has gotten tougher because now everyone can get to everyone else and everyone believes they have something important to say. Slow down and take a deep breath. Think about your general target audience. Instead of thinking about Donald or Chad, think about reaching out to podcast hosts who focus on B2B revenue generation. Then you'll have a little bit of context. You still won't know those people, but you'll have a good place to start. But you have to be able to reach out to prospects at scale. Personalization Chad read a report last week about a company that ran a test of 7,000 emails, personalizing half of the emails to the challenges the person would face based upon their role. Think industry/company personalization rather than individual personalization. They found that the open rates were four to five points higher on cold emails that were crafted to highlight challenges the receiver was facing. Some people argue that isn't personalization, but what we really need to do is understand the conext these people are working in and then show them something that will tap into their curiosity circuit. The next level of personalization involves those who responded to the first round of communication.Instead of researching 100 people I only have to research the 10 who indicated interest in my product or service. Stick to the rule of thumb that you'll do 15 minutes of research on an industry, 10 minutes of research on a company, and 5 minutes of research on an individual. If you can stick to that and not be distracted by dog videos or Tiger winning the Masters, you'll be able to effectively personalize your messaging. Make them curious so that they'll be waiting for the next email. Telling stories Chad related the story of a friend who went into a Men's Warehouse to get a tux. Then he used the experience to reach out to the CEO of the company to highlight how his company could help fill in some of the organization's gaps. Using his own individual experience, he crafted an email that was still only six or seven sentences long so that it fit on a mobile screen. In a B2C environment, share how that brand made you feel or how an individual made you feel. In a B2B environment, tell a story about how you've helped someone whose situation was similar to the person you're targeting. Explain how you were able to help him turn his situation around and tell him about the results you were able to produce. Tell him about the person who is like him. Although you don't know him yet, you know someone who is like him, so tell him that story. If you want to understand story structure better, grab a copy of Creativity, Inc, a book about how Pixar creates st

A sudden influx of new leads seems like a dream come true, but you often have to determine which type of customers are the best in order to assess whether it's really a good thing. If you haven't yet grabbed a copy of The Transparency Sale: How Unexpected Honest and Understanding the Buying Brain Can Transform Your Results by Todd Caponi, get it before he joins us on the podcast in the near future. In the book, he discusses the three types of buyers. The active buyer The active buyer is looking for a solution. He understands the problem and he wants to solve it. These are your inbound leads. They understand their problem well enough to initiate research to try to find a solution to the problem. They may seek a quote for your product or service, and they are proof that your marketing is working. These buyers are finding your website. These buyers are also more than likely going to commoditize you. They are likely considering three to five different vendors and because they don't have all the details about your company, they are going to try to differentiate you based on price as well as features. Although they know they have issues that they must solve, they don't care about the intricacies of your company. They simply need to solve a problem and get the best deal possible. The passive buyer The passive buyers recognize that a problem likely exists but they aren't prioritizing it. In his book, Todd compares it to the small problems at your house that need to be addressed eventually but that aren't a priority right now. Maybe the handle on your door is broken or the blinds need to be repaired. It isn't the end of the world if you fail to complete them. Passive buyers will eventually get around to solving the problem. The status quo buyers These status quo buyers are happy with things as they are. They aren't thinking about the future; they've learned to operate just fine the way things are. Imagine the guy who has a flip phone and doesn't see the need for a smartphone. He doesn't want to change, perhaps because he doesn't recognize that better options exist. Or maybe he's worried that the smartphone will be too complicated and he won't be able to learn it well. Change feels too complex, so he decides to stay with the status quo. But what if someone could educate him and teach him to use the cell phone? Challenging buyers In my own experience, many of my most challenging leads were the active buyers. You might be thinking that these are the kinds of buyers we'd most like to have, and that would be the case if they were always perfectly ready to buy. If my company was always the front-runner, that would be a great situation for us. But we're not always the front-runner, and sometimes we're simply an after-thought. The buyer is likely considering several companies before making a decision because that's how the buying department has structured its purchases. The question becomes can we persuade them to buy once we're having a conversation? Best customers From my coaching and training experience, and based upon Todd's recommendations, we've discovered that the status quo buyers are often the best ones. [Tweet "The customers who don't know that better options exist are ripe for you to educate them. #EducateCustomers"] Your job is to teach them and help them to recognize unconsidered need. Consider the book The Challenger Sale. When we can open the prospect's mind to something he doesn't know about, we can create the possibility of change. If you can reveal the problem, you can be the front-runner. Also check out the book Three Value Conversations to help you understand the education process that sellers must adopt. Managing customers You'll ultimately discover that you have all three kinds of customers in your pipeline and you must learn to manage them. The perfect buyers that are the perfect size who reach out to you? Those are the unicorns. You must prepare for all three kinds of buyers. You may even find that you're better equipped to interact with one kind of customer over another. I'd love to hear your insights about each of these kinds of customers and which you like best. "Which Type Of Customers Are The Best" episode resources Grab a copy of The Transparency Sale: How Unexpected Honest and Understanding the Buying Brain Can Transform Your Results. Also grab a copy of the book The Challenger Sale and the book Three Value Conversations You've heard us talk about the TSE Certified Sales Training Program, and we're offering the first module free as a gift to you. Preview it. Check it out. If it makes sense for you to join, you can be part of our upcoming semester in April. You can take it on your own or as part of the semester group. The program includes 65 videos altogether, and we just completed a beta group that helped us improve the program and maximize the information in it. If you and your team are interested in learning more, we'd love to have you join us. Call (561)578-1729 to speak directly to me or o

Sellers can guide prospective customers through the purchasing journey by holding prescriptive conversations with buyers. Tom Pisello launched into the topic of prescriptives because he was a product manager who was launching products in the marketplace, with a sales force that had never engaged these particular customers. In an attempt to help buyers make decisions, he created prescriptive tools that would help customers analyze their existing situation and compare it to the new product. Buyer frustration The B2B purchase decision is more challenging than ever for buyers because there are six to 10 decision makers in every decision. Buyers spend incredible amounts of time on their own gathering, processing, and deconflicting information. And 94 percent of buyers have participated in a buying cycle that just evaporated. Buyers are frustrated. About 84 percent report that the buyers' journey is taking longer than they expected. There's a big opportunity for sellers as well as a challenge for them to overcome: to help buyers through a journey that has become much tougher and longer than ever before. The problem is that most sellers show up to meetings talking about themselves: about the company, the product, the services, themselves, and the customers they are working with. Then when the competition shows up for their meeting, they do the same thing. They all sound exactly the same, so the buying process becomes a shootout. Flip it around Instead of talking about the typical things, talk about the challenges the prospect might be having. Then, use that to do some teaching about the challenges you're seeing at other companies. Then, pivot to a Socratic approach. Ask probing, diagnosing questions to identify whether your prospects see themselves in the other customers you described. Do a little bit of cooperative discovery. If you sell office furniture, start by sharing current research about what makes a good office setup. Is open office the way to go? What about standup desks? Instead of pitching yourself or your product, share information about productive office environments. Talk about the challenges of collaboration and flexible work environments. Mention health and engagement. Talk provocatively about these challenges and how they affect your prospect. The book The Challenger Sale by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson tackles this approach well. Share examples This leads naturally into you sharing stories and examples about how you've helped other customers with their office furniture needs and about how successful they've been as a result. From there you'll use the Socratic method to dig deep. Be careful how much of a challenge you present early on because it's possible that you haven't earned the right to do that. Start with something provocative, but then pivot away from the research to your questions. The goal is to move into a collaboration with the customer. Guide the customer Buyers prefer this process because you're solving a problem and uncovering problems they didn't even realize they had. But even for issues they knew they had, you're putting some numbers to them. You're clarifying how their employees will be impacted by the purchase of office furniture. That's why pivoting from research to personal is important. You're putting it into a perspective your customer can understand and telling the customer exactly what the problem is costing and how you can help solve it. You're helping them to prioritize all of these challenges and becoming a prescriptive consultant to them. As a seller, it's your moral obligation to act as a guide to the customer. Because the buyer's journey has gotten complicated, you need to provide a map of sorts so the customer knows what to expect. Then be prepared to proactively provide information to the buyer along the way. If you know the company will ask for a business case, proactively provide it. Don't wait for the customer to ask. [Tweet "Be an evolved seller who is ready for requests that occur during the buyer's journey. Inspire the customer to buy and then provide the right content at the right time. #EvolvedSeller"] Proactive sellers The buyer's journey is hard. As you're proactively providing content, you can also use smart sales enablement systems to track whether the content is being consumed. If they aren't consuming the information, they may not be as far along in the process as you think they are. You've got to anticipate every step so that you'll have the visibility to know whether you're progressing or not. Bring up your buyer's objections before they become objections. Realize that your prospects spend two-thirds of their time gathering, processing, and deep conflicting. Streamline that for them when you can. Inspiring content Marketing plays a vital role in putting together inspirational content. We must identify the content that will inspire our customers. We're not talking about content that is only about the products or services. It must be shorter, bas

The trend in sales now is to provide value to your customers, but there must be some kind of exchange in the transaction, so you may find yourself asking, "When should I talk about price?" How do you bring it up? What exactly will you say when it's time to talk about it? Today we're going to share ideas that will help you provide tremendous value and ensure an effective, value-rich conversation for both parties. This is a segment from our TSE Certified Sales Training Program and we're going to share a snippet from one of our training programs and then offer some ideas based upon what you hear. It will let you learn something about selling and offer you an experiment that you can test for yourself. You'll hear the challenges that other sales reps are facing and share with you what has worked for the group members. Taboo We've been taught that it's taboo to talk about money, so many of us shy away from it. New sellers face the biggest challenge, usually because of limiting beliefs. In the past when I was selling software training classes, I didn't understand that it was worth $10,000 for customers to earn their certification over a weekend. I didn't think anyone would be willing to pay it. I didn't understand that for their $10,000 expenditure, they were going to see a $20,000 to $30,000 increase in their earnings over the course of a year. All I knew was that $10,000 was a lot of money. My self-limiting beliefs made me apprehensive, and this is a common problem for new sellers. You must believe in the product or service you're offering and the value it provides to your prospects. When you do that, you'll develop more confidence in your messages, and it won't matter what the course costs. Bring up the money Once you've identified a product you believe in, when do you bring up the money? That depends largely on the product or service that you're selling. If it's software that costs $30 a month and they won't commit, they probably weren't the right fit anyway. Let them go. If you're selling a software solution that you have to customize for the organization, you're going to need more time. You'll have to gather more information in order to give them effective pricing. If the customer can see the prices on your website, they can weed themselves out at the beginning. People who really want to learn more and have more value-rich conversations will engage. In the later conversations, we can discuss what they'll get for their investment. Addressing price We'll tap into emotion by addressing how our product or service will help them. What will happen if the client doesn't get coaching? Why do I need coaching right now? What results will I see if I get coaching? Because people make emotional decisions and then justify those decisions logically, if we build value well, the $1,500 price tag for coaching won't seem like a big deal. The return on their investment, the ability to provide well for their family, and the possibility that they will advance in their careers will justify the cost. In the case of a more complex solution, when the customer asks about price, be honest when you tell them that you can't predict exact numbers right now. If you can't yet determine all the variables and if you can't determine the exact infrastructure, explain that to the customer. Then invest the time to understand the setup and the infrastructure. Find out what challenges the prospect is facing. Be intentional It's possible that the customer is simply fishing, or in other cases that he is simply looking for a ballpark figure. In the latter case, perhaps try giving him a range for other similar clients. Don't give the customer your lowest number if you provide a range. If the cheapest you've done is $5,000 and the most expensive is $20,000, don't offer the $5,000 number. Go a little higher. Instead, offer a higher number, like $8,000 or $10,000. Once they have a number in their minds, you'll determine whether they are truly serious about moving forward. Content In this situation, effective blog posts that describe the return on investment will help your customers gather information. Especially if yours is a complex solution, you'll help them understand the components involved and what they should be looking for in a vendor. In the case of sales training, perhaps you'd have different blog posts that describe the different levels of training and the different types of service that you offer. The prospect can determine what courses are available and what his options are for in-person training, group training, or workshops. Consider, too, outlining entry-level solutions, mid-tier solutions, and a higher tier. Each solution, based upon the complexity, can solve specific problems. Research The prospect can do some research ahead of time and find answers to some of their basic questions. Because this will be an enterprise solution, he'll have to come to the table prepared to invest money. At this point, it's appropriate to talk about budget be

Human behavior plays a huge role in sales and understanding what makes people tick is one of the most important concepts sellers in all industries should seek to learn. Joe Sweeney has worn a variety of different hats over the course of his career, but he loves human behavior and he says it's the key to success in sales. Buyers You must understand why someone would buy your product. Joe's philosophy, as described in his book Networking Is A Contact Sport, is that networking, business, and sales are about giving and serving rather than getting something. People ask about the number one mistake that salespeople make, and it's believing that the process is about us. We think it's about our product. It's not. Joe gives talks all the time and he starts by saying, "You don't sell anything. What we do is help people get what they want." Instead, sellers tend to take the opposite approach and we talk about ourselves and our product. But your buyer doesn't care about that. All he cares about is whether your product can solve his needs and relieve some of his pain points. Criticism Joe said he spent a portion of his life criticizing other people because he represented a lot of high-net-worth people who did stupid things. When, for example, he encountered a woman outside a hospital dying from emphysema and smoking a cigarette, he made the connection. The pleasure she got from nicotine was greater than the pain she experienced from emphysema. The takeaway is to get good at understanding what makes people tick without criticizing them. All human behavior makes sense, even when we don't. Don't be critical of their actions. Understand people's needs and wants. Keep everything simple. 3 Common Needs Although we could all likely point to hundreds of needs, we really have three basic, common needs. We need to belong to something bigger than ourselves. We need to love and to be loved. Finally, we all want to know that our life has meaning and that we've made a difference. The greatest sales companies in the world have understood that. Perhaps our greatest need is the first one: the need to belong to something bigger. It's counter-intuitive today because with all the social media we falsely believe we're all connected but the truth is that we're less connected than we've ever been. Stated another way, we're more isolated now than ever. Need to belong The company that really understands this concept is Harley Davidson. Its number one competitor is BMW which far surpasses Harley, but Harley outsells everyone. The Harley Ownership Group, or HOG, makes its owners part of something bigger. It's about belonging. Remember the old TV show Cheers? Its tagline captures this desire. Sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name. In this technology world, we pretend that we're connected to a massive network but we aren't. Need to be loved Coca Cola marketed to this need with the ad about teaching the world to sing. It was kind of a kumbaya moment with people holding hands singing together. They portrayed the feeling that if you drink Coca Cola, you'd feel all this love. Coca Cola understood the Maya Angelou quote: People will forget what you say. People will forget what you do. People will never forget the way you make them feel. Joe asks his groups, "What are you doing to answer the needs of these people? The belonging needs and the love needs." Need to make a difference We all want to know that our lives have meaning, and Mastercard captured that with the ad campaign that assigned prices to different products. Fishing poles, $29. Worms, $3.25. An afternoon fishing with your teenagers, Priceless. Most of us approach the sales process with the sense that we have to tell people about our benefits. Instead, we should take two steps back and work to understand what makes people tick. Understand needs Work to understand your buyers' needs. The greatest companies do it and I recommend that your listeners do the same. If you're going to be really good in sales, you should wow people. If you sell office furniture, what would differentiate you from the competition? Find something personal, and then do something memorable. Little things in sales mean everything. #BeMemorable Imagine that you have a customer who likes Egyptian art. At the close of your interaction with the customer, hand him a piece of Egyptian art that you printed out. It cost you nothing, but none of the other competitors will have done that. Making money Joe suggests that sales isn't about making money. Although that's a by-product of sales, it's really about creating an environment where we can service people. You can do the same thing in education and in government. Morph your sales job into a servant leadership role. Joe's sister-in-law told him that she always assumed that business was a bunch of greedy people trying to make money. There was a negative energy around sales. Joe reframed it as a positive thing and created a forum where people can serve each other and

Sales scripts put sellers inside a box and lock them into selling a certain way, but when you throw away your sales script and do more creative, engaging selling, you'll increase your conversion. Ned Leutz runs two teams for ZoomInfo, a business data and technology company that helps salespeople get in touch faster and drive more meetings and more sales. He'll talk today about throwing away the script in your sales efforts to increase your flexibility and your success. Fast answers People are accustomed to getting fast answers without ever having to engage with a person. By the time the prospect makes contact, the salesperson with a script may prove to be less flexible than the Internet. When that's the case, there's really no need for a salesperson. Ned believes that giving a salesperson a script is the "kiss of death" and that scripts don't drive conversion or sales. Salespeople who are limited by scripts will often fail to connect with the prospect's problem. If the goal is to find mutual challenges that you can solve together, the script will be extremely inefficient. Instead of operating from a script, Ned suggests providing a map to sales reps. He believes in setting an agenda with the main goal of finding a point of mutual connection. Solving problems Ned's team starts with the question, "Why did you decide to take my call?" He says that most people don't take a call with a salesperson unless they have a suspicion that the salesperson can solve a need. About 90 percent of the time, the prospect faces a challenge that he needs help with. The other 10 percent might be a case of someone taking your call because you're just a nice person. In those cases, you'll have to work to qualify the prospect before moving forward. The question seeks to discover what caught the prospect's attention and prompted him to accept the phone call. It eliminates half of the guessing. Start with the end Begin from a point of mutual agreement. Either there's a problem that you can solve or there isn't. Once you've set that agenda, you've established an expectation for the conversation. You've earned the right to discover whether or not there's a problem you can solve. You can ask the key questions of your customer to identify the challenge. The alternative is to play a sales version of whack-a-mole in which you're constantly asking, "Is this it?" "Is this it?" You'll bore the client who will much prefer to research on his own since he'll likely perceive that you aren't listening or guiding him. Nobody is taking your B2B sales call without looking at your website first and deciding whether there is something there that catches their attention. You can assume that the prospect has done some research before accepting your call. Cold calling Ned wants sellers to throw away the script in cold calling because there's enough information readily available to sellers that they should have a pretty good story for why they are calling each prospect. When you call a prospect, it's a suspicion rather than a script. you've got a reason for calling. Your customer will have the sense that he isn't just a number on the list. Ned points out that data companies can't fix a broken sales process or a bad product. A data company can give your sellers the information they need at their fingertips to have a 90% story as to why they might be able to help a particular company. Verifiable outcomes Ned asks his managers to focus on verifiable outcomes. They'll know that a rep had a really good discovery call if they understand that the client feels some sort of pain, they understand that the client is in a current state that he'd like to get out of, and he can answer the question, "What would you be able to do tomorrow that you can't do today if you could solve this problem?" One of the worst sales questions we ask is, "If you solved this problem, how much money would you make?" Most people have no idea. Instead, ask, "If you solve this problem, how would you quantify the impact of that on your organization? Who else would be affected?" It's not important that the prospect be able to quantify it immediately. It's important that the prospect understand the impact your solution will make. That thinking will help them decide whether it's worth making an investment. Business case Ned believes that if you can get cooperative collaboration on building a business case, you know that you have a good chance of closing the deal. He points to ineffective activity as the reason many sales teams struggle. Scripts often result in ineffective cold calling, and data can hurt as well. If you spend your day calling switchboard numbers all day but you can't get a single gate-keeper on the phone, you'll have a hard time moving forward. Ned's company engages in proof of concept in which they inject direct phone numbers into an organization's system and then ask the reps to engage in the same activity they always do. They know the conversations will convert at a much higher

Many sellers discover that their perfect pitch is not working because, as they work to build value, they are appealing to logic rather than emotion. We're devoting the whole month to a discussion about building value, and some of today's information comes from the book The Transparency Sale written by Todd Caponey. Todd will visit with us on the podcast in the near future, but today we'll talk about the decision-making process and the role our brains play. Brain power Every day, we engage in activities every day that are so routine that we don't even think about them. When we drive to work, we put a seatbelt on without even thinking about it. When we back the car up, we put our arms over the seat beside us and then look backward. You're able to listen to this podcast while you're driving because you don't even have to think about driving. Todd talks about three levels of the brain, which you may have heard of before. The reptilian part, the limbic part, and the neocortex. The reptilian portion is the core or center, and it's the oldest part of the brain. It prompts us to do things without thinking. It drives our instincts. It's the part that prompts us to react to pain without thinking, and it's part of our survival. The limbic portion is more intricate and it helps deals with feelings and emotions. It helps us make decisions and motivates our behaviors. The neo- or frontal cortex is the newest part of our brain and it's associated with information and logic. It's the largest part of the brain and it ties with math and reasoning and justification. [Tweet "We make decisions emotionally and justify them logically, and it's our brain that makes it possible. #brainpower"] Sales standpoint We typically show up to our prospect meetings with PowerPoint presentations, charts, spreadsheets, and graphs of all the amazing things our product or service can do. We show up prepared to sell to the customer's neocortex -- the logical part. Remember, though, that the logic part of our brain isn't where decisions are made. Decisions form in the middle portion of the brain, where our feelings and emotions reside. You must help people make a decision emotionally, and then justify it logically. You can build value as a sales rep by using stories to tap into the emotion or pain that the prospect is experiencing. Unless there is some kind of pain, your customer won't make a decision. Status quo The reptilian part of our brain wants us to stay where we are. If nothing is harming us, why would we move? Leave things as they are. Until someone points out the reason we need to make a change and appeals to our emotion, we'll never see a need to move. If a seller use emotion to prompt the customer to move and then help him justify the move logically, he'll be much more likely to make a change. Tie the emotion and the logic together to help your prospects understand the need to make a change. Making it work I recently met a guy who sells water filtration systems in Florida. He begins by asking people whether people drink water, and many people say no because it tastes bad and it's unclean and unhealthy. He points out that taking a shower in the same water can be just as unhealthy because your skin is your body's largest organ, which presents a pain point for his prospects. The seller never mentions price or facts about his product. He focuses on the emotion of wanting to be healthy. Do it with stories or by asking the buyer questions that tap into emotion. Defining sales I define sales as helping people persuade themselves to make a change. If we try to persuade them, their guard immediately goes up. Great sellers leave the buyer in charge of the decision. If your demos are flopping or your presentations aren't working, you're probably focusing too much on logic. Don't sell to the logical part of the brain. Sell to the emotional part. "Perfect Pitch Is Not Working" episode resources Grab a copy of the book The Transparency Sale written by Todd Caponey for more information about the role our brains play in the buying process. This episode is brought to you by the TSE Certified Sales Training Program. I developed this training course because I struggled early on as a seller. Once I had the chance to go through my own training, I noticed a hockey-stick improvement in my performance. TSE Certified Sales Training Program can help you out of your slump. If you gave a lot of great presentations and did a lot of hard work, only to watch your prospects choose to work with your competitors, we can help you fix that. The new semester of TSE Certified Sales Training Program begins in April and it would be an absolute honor to have you join us. This episode is also brought to you in part by mailtag.io, a Chrome browser extension for Gmail that allows you to track and schedule your emails. It's super easy, it's helpful, and I recommend that you try it out. You'll receive real-time alerts anyone opens an email or clicks a link. Mailtag.io allows you to

Smart sellers can make social media work for them by building a personal brand, giving value, connecting with others, and growing their business. Andy Storch is a consultant and coach who is always learning new things about sales and who loves the freedom that selling provides. Though he says he still has a lot to learn, he has an advantage over many others because he's always trying new things. Because he has the confidence to experiment and discover what works and what doesn't, he has a leg up on a lot of other people. Personal branding Whether you're selling services or products, there are very few things that absolutely distinguish your offerings from other people's. In fact, customers can always find an alternative. In B2B especially, they are buying you. They want to do business with you. Relationships are so important for sellers which is why it's more important than ever to develop a personal brand. You must let people know who you are and create authority. To that end, Andy uses social media to let people know who he is, to create authority, to share knowledge, and to build authority. Attracting people As sellers, we initially think we want to get on a call with everybody, but there are a lot of people we just won't gel with. Social media attracts people who want to work with us and deflects others. In an era where everyone is creating content of some kind, we have to put our own content out there in order to build our authority. Given the amount of content that already exists, it's tempting to wonder why yours matters. Even if you're regurgitating information you learned from someone else, put your own spin on it. For some, it's blogging. Others use podcasting or YouTube. It depends on your style and where your clients are. Andy points to podcaster Chris Ducker and his business Youpreneur. In his book Rise of the Youpreneur, Chris says that if you build a personal brand, it's the last brand business you'll ever need to build because you can take it with you and evolve it into any kind of business. Five years from now, you may do completely different work, but if you've built a brand and a following, people will go with you. Building a brand Your personal brand is what you're known for. Having your own website and your own colors is the advanced part of it. Are you known for being knowledgeable, trustworthy, and someone that people want to learn from? Andy posts on social media with the goal of helping his friends discover the things that have previously worked for him. They tell him that he inspires them, and he has created a personal brand as someone who is an achiever, who helps and inspires other people. You want to be known as someone knowledgeable and trustworthy at the end of the day. People who need it Think of your content as giving information to a friend. You are putting it out there for those people who need it and want it at that time, not for people who don't. Don't worry about the judgment from people that your content isn't for. Most people are rooting for you. Even if the content isn't for them, they'll just scroll on by. Action steps Andy's primary business is B2B so he spends most of his time on LinkedIn. When he moved to this business 18 months ago he committed to posting every weekday. Over time he has gained some traction there, though it's a tough platform to engage on. Until you have a really good following of people, it's tough to get likes and comments. Start by finding an engagement group where people are in a group together commenting on each other's stuff. Be careful with this, though, because if you join multiple groups it can be tough to keep up. If you find one, it will help you build your following and gain exposure. It doesn't directly turn into sales, but it keeps him top of mind for people. You don't know who's on there and who's seeing your content. Don't put content out just for the sake of doing so, but find ways to be valuable to the people who follow you. Don't assume you'll start generating sales right away. You're serving people, you're building a brand, and long-term it will work out for you. Logistics The best practice is to schedule content, but Andy calls himself a live-in-the-moment kind of guy who decides each day what to post. He alternates between providing content that targets his ideal clients and general content that would be helpful for larger numbers of people. His target clients are less than 10 percent of his overall network, so sometimes he wants to speak directly to them, but sometimes he wants to engage a larger group. Share experiences Think back to your own experiences and knowledge. Can you turn those into posts or stories that you can tell Would you rather write or speak? You've got to put it out there are hit publish. You won't get much response in the beginning but you've got to keep doing it. When you have a fear of judgment or criticism, it grows as you let it fester. The more you take action, just like with cold calling, you buil

Even if you’ve been selling for years, it’s possible that you’ve overlooked some ideas that will help you perform better, like working to shorten the sales process with video. Today we’ll discuss some ideas that will help you shorten your sales cycle and some ways to use video to accomplish it. I’ll also share a real-life example from one of my clients to demonstrate how effective it can be. POWER OF VIDEO Video is so simple and so powerful that it’s hard to imagine that some people aren’t taking advantage of it. We’ve talked about it on The Sales Evangelist for months because it’s a powerful tool that’s available to every seller. I recently read a study that showed that 7 out of 10 B2B buyers watch a video somewhere in their buying process. So 70 percent of buyers are watching videos that are usually generated by the marketing department. But why aren’t we in sales using it as well? It’s simpler for the buyer to consume, and it isn’t difficult for us to make them. PREVALENCE OF VIDEO Videos are everywhere and we engage with them daily on Netflix, YouTube, and other places. Stories are part of our lives. We can use them in our prospecting, in our closings, and to build value throughout the entire sales process. Use video to follow up with a client or share a testimonial. Create a video overview of your product. CREATIVE USES Chaz works in the 3D printing industry, which for some of us is still rather unfamiliar. Because his product is cutting-edge, it can be difficult for him to explain what he’s doing to his customers. The emails can get long and confusing. His customers have lots of technical questions. Chaz realized that it would be very time-consuming to answer all of those questions each time they arise. When he tried to get his customers to hop on a call so he could answer the questions, they often went dark on him. He decided to use video to answer questions for his customers. It shortens the process because it’s quicker than email, and it helps him build trust with his customers. Chaz said that he can shorten the sales process with video by up to a week. If you could shave time off of each of your deals, how much more could you process? How many more clients could you obtain? Could you close more deals or earn more commission? PROBLEM-SOLVING Imagine your current customers running into trouble with the product you sold them. Instead of asking them to ship it back to you so you can troubleshoot the problem, why not use video to help them identify the glitch. You can walk them through the process and provide guidance that will help them improve the outcome the next time. Chaz uses the video to carry the customer through the process and it freed up more time in his day because he was able to help his customer quickly and efficiently so he could move on to other things. VIDEO TOOLS We’ve told you about a number of different video tools like BombBomb, Loom, Wistia, and Soapbox. There’s another called Vineyard, and probably many more that I haven’t named. Video humanizes you for your customer, and research has proven that people do business with those that they know, like, and trust. When your customer can see and hear you, you’ll be able to build trust much more quickly in addition to helping your customer. You can use video in your prospecting by following up with your prospects. Try using it in your outreach process to see what kind of results you get. We’re testing it ourselves and seeing amazing results. “SHORTEN THE SALES PROCESS WITH VIDEO” EPISODE RESOURCES Chaz is part of our TSE Certified Sales Training Program beta group, which wraps up in a couple of weeks. You can connect with him on LinkedIn, and you can watch the videos I mentioned earlier in the podcast here and here. This episode is brought to you by the TSE Certified Sales Training Program. I developed this training course because I struggled early on as a seller. Once I had the chance to go through my own training, I noticed a hockey-stick improvement in my performance. TSE Certified Sales Training Program can help you out of your slump. If you gave a lot of great presentations and did a lot of hard work, only to watch your prospects choose to work with your competitors, we can help you fix that. The new semester of TSE Certified Sales Training Program begins in April and it would be an absolute honor to have you join us. This episode is also brought to you in part by mailtag.io, a Chrome browser extension for Gmail that allows you to track and schedule your emails. It’s super easy, it’s helpful, and I recommend that you try it out. You’ll receive real-time alerts anyone opens an email or clicks a link. Mailtag.io allows you to see around the corners. You can see when people open your email, or when they click on the link you sent. Mailtag.io will give you half-off your subscription for life when you use the Promo Code: Donald at check out. I hope you enjoyed the show today as much as I did. If so, please consider leaving us a rating on

Many sellers elongate the sales process without even realizing it, and Steven Griffith is here to talk about how to take control of your time and to explain that your time management ideas are wrong. Steven is a performance coach and the author of the book, The Time Cleanse: A Proven System to Eliminate Wasted Time, Realize Your Full Potential, and Reinvest In What Matters Most. He explains how to close the performance gap and get hours back in your day. Performance research Steven discovered about five years ago that all of his performance clients were pointing to the same roadblock to their success: they didn't have enough time. He even discovered that he was feeling the same way. Technology has created more distractions and it prompts us to multi-task all the time. Our lives are moving at an incredible pace and we're all over-stimulated by toxins that steal and hijack our time. Old time management strategies worked when the phone was connected to the wall by a cord. We live by the notion that time is scarce so we're working to cram as much into each hour as we can. "If time allows" Most people have an adverse relationship to time, so Steven teaches his clients to establish a positive relationship with time so that time becomes abundant. It's a matter of viewing time as an ally rather than a foe, and working with it instead of fighting against it. Consider the phrase "if time allows." Steven routinely asks people whose time they are referring to when they use this phrase. We've conditioned ourselves to believe that time has the power to allow us to accomplish things. We buy into the idea that time is an outside thing that we're working against when, in fact, we are time. Compressing the sales cycle Steven talks about compressing a sales cycle to fit one year's worth of sales into one month. He tells the story of a real estate professional who sells luxury real estate in L.A. He had health issues in the third quarter and he was really underwater. They worked together to do a time cleanse that would help him compress his time. Steven said we all have a built-in belief system about how long a sale takes. We're conditioned by our industries to believe in ideas like slow seasons and high seasons. Our mental framework keeps us in that mindset, so we get stuck. We might go up or down by 10 percent but we'll always come back to our conditioned thermostat. Steven asked the agent if it was possible to complete a year's worth of sales in 10 months' time. Without worrying about how to do it, he simply wanted to know if it could be done. Could it be done in 8 months? Or 6? Steven worked to break apart his self-limiting beliefs about how long the sales cycle takes. By the time they got down to 8 weeks, he admitted that he didn't know how he would do it. They started building a new framework in which it was possible to do a year's worth of sales production in 8 weeks. Mandatory activities They started by identifying the activities that the agent absolutely had to do. Steven calls these ROT activities or high return-on-time activities. His biggest business-generating sales activities were his 10x10, (10 contacts by 10 a.m.) and researching the market for pre-qualified buyers. His time cleanse involved identifying different categories like technology, people, places, and others and categorizing their time. Once they had written everything down, they considered whether each activity was contributing to or contaminating his time. They identified his time there as a contaminant because his visits often turned into two-hour stays. Instead, they sent his assistant to get his coffee each day. By the end of the activity, they reclaimed 25 hours a week, 8 of which was the coffee shop. The time cleanse gives you the opportunity to evaluate whether you're doing the right things at the right times. He redistributed his time and assigned his non-revenue-generating activities to his assistant as well. Timefulness Next, Steven showed his client how to set his day up to perform. He calls the concept timefulness, which is an advancement of mindfulness. It's being present in the moment so that we stop multitasking. We maintain a single focus which can 2 or 3x our results on its own. The client put everything on his calendar, and he created a reset strategy. He set an alarm on his phone to go off every hour, and when it did, he would check to make sure that he was being mindful. If he wasn't following the plan at that point, the alarm was his cue to return to it. Sales increased After about two or three weeks, he couldn't believe how quickly the sales started coming. Like many people, he said, "I can't believe this is happening so fast." Steven cautions people to avoid that mindset because that doubt will keep things from happening quickly. The client got laser-focused on his activities that generated revenue and he developed a relationship with time that supported those activities. He didn't feel like he was fighting the clock anymore. Be

Selling is honorable, and we should be proud of the work we do because nothing happens until somebody sells something. Today Harry Mazier talks to us about the importance of selling and how every organization must practice the fundamentals of selling in order to do it well. It begins by understanding the importance of being a sales professional. Relationships The short attention span of today's buyers means that there will always be room for relationships in selling. [Tweet "There's an adage that says that when all things are equal, people want to buy from their friends. And when all things aren't equal, people still want to buy from their friends. So make friends. #RelationshipSelling"] It's perhaps the best sales lesson you'll ever hear. Necessity It sounds basic to say that nothing happens until someone sells something, but it's true that if we don't sell, we won't eat. Sales is the lubricant of our economy. It doesn't matter how good your manufacturing is, how precise your accounting is, how deep your R&D is, everything begins when someone convinces a prospect to say, "Yes, I'll take some." When the deal closes, the gears begin moving and everything takes off from that point of agreement. Failure Fear of failure prevents people from selling. You might drive past a prospect's business 12 times and always find a reason not to stop: no parking places, it's too early, or it's too late. To get past that reluctance, you must suck it up and knock on the doors. Then, once you get in front of that customer, you must know what you're talking about. Emerson said that nothing great was ever accomplished without enthusiasm. You must be enthusiastic and excited. If you're not excited about what you're doing, do something else. Be smart. Don't tell them how much you know. Tell them how much they need to know to get where you want them to get. Selling is convincing someone else to agree with your opinion. But don't overstay your welcome by speaking too much. There's a story that Samson slew 1,000 Philistines with the jawbone of an ass, but twice that many sales are killed every day with the same implement. Resource Your role is to provide the necessary information and be convincing. The best salespeople don't sell, they help people buy. Selling is instructional and informational. Be a friend and a resource to your customer. Sales is an honorable profession that has taken a lot of hits -- many of them self-inflicted. Salespeople are a resource to our economy and they really are helpful to customers. People choose sales for a variety of reasons like interactions with people and independence. Of course, income opportunities are part of it as well. Negative view For a long time, sales was perceived as little more than one person taking unfair advantage of another. Salespeople have lived through that era and have established themselves as a resource rather than an impediment. Avoid being self-deprecating. Don't refer to yourself as "just a salesman." Sell with integrity every day so you can improve and help your customers. Don't put artificial limits on your own success or settle for good enough instead of good. Stories Relevant stories can help sellers sell. Rudyard Kipling said that if history was taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten. People love stories, so rather than giving facts, features, and benefits, incorporate a story into your sales presentation. Do it consistently and do it as well as you can. Read and listen and stay attuned to the people around you. Harry recorded countless anecdotes in preparation for writing his book, Story Selling: Sage Advice and Common Sense About Sales and Success. If you don't use a story to provide proof, selling will be more difficult. But the story won't stand on its own. You must give your very best effort. Stories aren't the answer alone. You must support it with your work and effort. Do the best you can every day. Remember the 10 powerful 2-letter words: "If it is to be, it is up to me." You can find excuses and blame, but ultimately it depends on you. Sellers Don't think you're not in sales. Everyone is in sales from the moment they get out of bed in the morning. You are persuading or influences, negotiating or communicating. Don't run from it. Embrace it and learn to be better. Grow by failing. It's not how often you get knocked down; it's how many times you get back up. Get back up and learn what's effective and learn to communicate. Be true to yourself and embrace the opportunities you have as a salesperson. "Selling From The Heart" episode resources You can connect with Harry at [email protected] or at (404) 853-1063. Grab a copy of his book, Story Selling: Sage Advice and Common Sense About Sales and Success This episode is brought to you by the TSE Certified Sales Training Program. I developed this training course because I struggled early on as a seller. Once I had the chance to go through my own training, I noticed a hockey-stick improvement in

If you're giving your customers things that you value instead of focusing on things that your customer needs or wants, you should be aware of the 5 things you get wrong when it comes to building value. We're dedicating the month of April to a discussion of building value, and we're starting with the fundamentals of building value. 1. We fail to solve the problem. People will only change if they see a distinct need for it, and sometimes our customers don't even recognize that they have a problem. Or, in other instances, they may have found a solution or a band-aid to the problem that seems to be working. People don't fix things that seem to be working. Your job as a seller is to ask the right questions to help them consider or see the importance of addressing their challenge. Once you're able to help them identify the problem, we must provide a clear solution to help them address it. Donald Miller has a wonderful three-step process that lays out exactly how you can move through the process. If the buyer doesn't have confidence in your ability to guide him through the solution, you're likely going to lose the deal like I did when it happened to me. 2. We focus on what we like. I've taught this principle over and over again as the platinum rule: treat others the way they would like to be treated. It's a step up from treating people the way that you'd like to be treated. Don't focus on features or benefits that you like. Focus on things that the buyers like. Buyers may choose to work with you for a variety of reasons, but not all of your product's features will be important to the buyer. Not all of your service's benefits will matter to him. Once you've identified the problem that the buyer needs to address, and you've given the buyer a clear plan, avoid the urge to give the buyer things he doesn't need. Give him the things that are important and necessary for him and nothing more. You may have 100 features, but the buyer likely has one problem that is costing him a lot of money. He needs the feature that will solve that problem. Yes, he'll get much more than that with your product or service, but focus on his main problem to start. Over time you can educate him about additional features. 3. We don't listen to the customer. This ties closely to number 1 because we often continue talking even after the buyer has agreed to buy. Our conversations and discovery meetings are intended to help us discover things about our prospects. It's not intended to be a lecture. Sometimes sellers believe that if we're talking, we're winning, and that simply isn't true. Think of it like dating: you want the other person to perceive that you're interested. Studies indicated that you shouldn't talk more than 30 percent of the time, and that will only happen if you come prepared with meaningful questions. That will help the buyer express himself and his challenges. Once you've listened, you can pitch to the one thing he needs the most. 4. We think we must have the lowest price. This issue emerges frequently with sellers who think that value means having the lowest price, but it simply isn't true. I've lost deals before to companies that were bigger and more expensive than my own product or service. When I looked back, they didn't care that we were cheaper. They were concerned that I didn't focus on their problem and show them a clear path to solve it. They didn't have the conviction that I was the one who could best help them. If you've done a fantastic job of identifying their problem and you've helped them find a solution, they'll see the value in what you're offering. If, for example, their problem is costing them $50,000 a year but your solution will cost them $5,000 a year, that's a good saving for them. [Tweet "Lowering your price doesn't necessarily build value. Solving a problem builds value. #BuildValue"] Show me that you understand my problem and that you have a solution. Then show me that you've solved this kind of problem before. That will give me, as a buyer, confidence in you as a seller. 5. We believe that more is better. We often mistakenly believe that offering our customer more is better because it's a way to increase value. You might be giving away so many add-ons that your company loses money. In the future, your customer will likely expect the same kind of discounts and bonuses. If the customer stays with you for only a year, you will have lost the client before you could recoup your losses. Resist the urge to give away everything for free. Enjoy the silence in your conversation. Don't jump out and start talking too quickly. They may not be looking for more value but rather just contemplating the purchase. Keep things simple for your buyers and remember that less is often more. We know a lot more than our buyers about our product, and they don't need to know everything that we do. Avoid these mistakes and you'll have much better success building value. "Building Value" episode resources You've heard us talk about

Sellers have a bad reputation as people who are artificial and only concerned about themselves, but in order to succeed, you must focus on selling from the heart. Larry Levine has spent 30-something years in the trenches of B2B work, and he recognized some glaring weaknesses in sales teams he worked with. He values authenticity and he points to it as a big disconnect for many sellers. But it isn't just sellers. Think about how many times you've run into a friend you haven't seen in a while, and you toss out the phrase, "we should do lunch." It doesn't usually mean anything other than "I'll see you when I see you." Sellers must pay attention to their words. Use your words The words genuine, authentic, value, and trusted advisor prompt the follow-on question: "What does that mean?" Start by leading an authentic lifestyle. Think about this: When you say you're a salesperson or an SDR, you're already behind the 8-ball already in the minds of your clients and prospects. For every great sales professional, there are 10 that give the sales world a bad name. When you deal with the people in your personal life, are you genuine and true to who you really are? Most likely you are. So why can't we play that same role when we're dealing with our clients and prospects. [Tweet "Address the misalignment that exists between who you are at work and who you are after 5 p.m. Be genuine and authentic with the people in your business just like you are in your personal life. #AuthenticSelling"] Building relationships Many sellers maintain a certain amount of distance in their relationships with their clients. In his book, Slow Down, Sell Faster, Kevin Davis asked how it's possible to sell something to someone if you don't spend time figuring out who they are? What makes that person tick? What do they care about? Sellers try to move their prospects through the sales funnel as quickly as possible instead of investing the time to understand. Listen with intent and help them do their jobs. You'll be surprised to find that things actually speed up. Vulnerability If you don't build a relationship throughout multiple steps and influencers, it will be difficult to sell anything. People will buy from people they know, like, and trust. People are beginning to understand that it's ok to bring your heart to the sales world. It's ok to be genuine and real. But in order to do that, you have to be vulnerable, which goes against what we believe about sellers. If you asked your prospects what they truly desire in a seller, what do you think they'll say? Maybe someone who is honest and who can solve their problems. At some point, you'll hear them say "I want them to be sincere and show up after the sale." Conversations Have a conversation like you would with your friends. Memorizing scripts may make you sound too robotic. It isn't that scripts are bad, but we must make the verbiage in the script our own. If you can't align to it, you'll struggle with it. Imagine if you understood the person you were reaching out to. What are the issues and challenges they are facing. If you're calling a VP of sales to set up a demo for software, find out the issues that VPs of sales struggle with. Offer three issues that are most common for sales teams. Ask your prospects which of those three topics he can most closely align with. The truth is that even tenured sales reps are going about this the wrong way. Instead of the phone call being focused on setting a meeting, focus the call on starting a conversation. Sales leaders Time and patience matter. Your organization wasn't built in a day. You took a series of small successful steps to get where you are. The same is true for your sales process, but no one has time or patience for it. No one wants to slow down. Larry recalls deciding one day to focus on quality over quantity. He focused on opening at least two new conversations with two people he didn't know every single day. His phone skills improved and his mindset did, too. Sellers who are allowed to focus on quality over quantity may find that they enjoy their roles a bit more because they are connecting with people. Foundations Larry's first mentor freed him from the pressure of memorizing his prospecting script word-for-word, and instead encouraged him to understand the foundation of the script. Once you've done that, make it your own. Get back to humanizing what we've previously dehumanized in the sales world. There's a time and place for technology, but human-to-human matters. Technology can't replace every human aspect. Larry warns against being an "empty suit with commission breath." Once leadership realizes that there's a human on the other end of the sale rather than just a bunch of dollars and they set out to solve problems, watch what happens to the level of your relationships and referrals and profits. Avoiding sameness In a crowded field, in order to rise above the sea of sameness and be seen in a different light and stand out from the sales wolfpac

Sellers are understandably focused on the closing of any deal but it’s important that we keep things in perspective and don’t make the closing an event. The truth is that every transaction has a beginning, a middle, and an end, but we often get so focused on the closing that we unnecessarily freak ourselves out. This conversation comes from our TSE Certified Sales Training Program, our sales coaching program that helps sellers maximize their effectiveness. SALES PROCESS The sales process naturally builds toward a close where the client signs the deal and then everyone celebrates. Our challenge as sellers is to avoid the temptation to make the closing the entire focus of the sale. Focus throughout the sale on building value. Initiate conversations that address your prospects’ challenges and difficulties. Realize that you’ll never get to the closing if you don’t effectively address the buyers’ objections. Help the buyer feel confident in this deal by sharing stories that provide value and dispel your customers’ objections. Instead of waiting for your customer to offer his objections, bring them up on your own terms as a way of building trust. Red flags won’t go away simply because you ignore them. They don’t typically diffuse themselves, and your decision to wait until the end of the process to address them could cost you your deal. GROWING PROBLEMS Like many other relationships in life, struggles between buyer and seller don’t naturally disappear over time. In fact, problems often get bigger and worse as we fail to address them. A single demo for your client won’t magically offset all his concerns, so don’t wait until then to address his objections. If he has concerns about your product or service, it won’t likely matter how good your demo is: you won’t overcome his hesitation until you address the problems. Start early in the process. Diffuse problems as they arise. Every sales relationship offers a certain amount of risk, and your job is to minimize that for your prospects. #SalesObjections CLICK TO TWEET ADDRESSING FEARS Whether you’re selling water, computers, or houses, your buyer doesn’t want to part with his hard-earned cash until you’ve addressed his fears. He may want a new house. He may even need a new house. But he has fears of his own: What if he can’t afford this house? What if an unforeseen issue comes up? How much will hurricane insurance cost? Help him minimize those risks and fears throughout the process. That way, when he gets to the end of the transaction, those fears won’t be an issue. PROSPECTING Hubspot reported recently that as many as 40 percent of salespeople don’t like prospecting and about 30 percent struggle with closings. As a result, we tend to make closings a big deal in our own heads because we’ve worked so hard to find a prospect and get to this point. Instead of viewing it as a huge event, we should think of it as a natural byproduct of the sales process, and we should move the buyer smoothly through to conversion. Conversion begins the moment I start building value for my prospect. If I focus on blind-side challenges and identifying key problems, I can address objections early and minimize the risk that my deal will fall apart. My goal is to eliminate any reasonable doubt about whether I’m the right vendor for the prospect. PITCHING YOURSELF If you’re able to identify the companies your prospect is currently working with, you’ll be better able to pitch your own strengths against theirs. You can identify the competition’s weaknesses and use those to make your case. Share stories about past clients who have left that company to work with you and explain why they made that choice. Build one-on-one conversations into your process as often as possible so you can clarify any questions as they develop. Once you understand the big issues that will likely sabotage your deal, you can help everyone get to the same page. Follow your demonstrations with an email outreach offering to address any new questions the prospect has. Avoid pushing objections to the end of the process. Make objections and questions a constant part of your dialogue so that you minimize any risk toward the end of the deal. Strive to create a smooth experience for your customer. “DON’T MAKE THE CLOSING AN EVENT” EPISODE RESOURCES You’ve heard us talk about the TSE Certified Sales Training Program, and we’re offering the first module free as a gift to you. Preview it. Check it out. If it makes sense for you to join, you can be part of our upcoming semester in April. You can take it on your own or as part of the semester group. The program includes 65 videos altogether, and we just completed a beta group that helped us improve the program and maximize the information in it. If you and your team are interested in learning more, we’d love to have you join us. Call (561)578-1729 to speak directly to me or one of our team members about the program. This episode is also brought to you in part by mailtag.io, a Chrome brows

One of the most important questions you’ll answer is “Why should I do business with you?” and it’s vital that you get it right when you do. When the question comes, you’ll be tempted to point out how long your company has existed, how great your product is, and how great your customer service is, but those answers won’t likely work. Sales From the Street tackles actual problems that sellers are facing and allows a sales rep just like you to provide an answer that worked for him. LOADED QUESTION People frequently get on Reddit seeking advice about how to answer this question. I love checking in there because it gives me a great opportunity to connect with sellers and share my own insights and expertise. They frequently listen to the podcast after our interaction and it presents a great opportunity to grow my business. If you haven’t checked Reddit for a page related to your own industry, you definitely should. “Why should I do business with you” is a loaded question, and I’m going to answer it in two different ways. When I was a young seller, I was quick to point out the features of my product and to preach about why we were the best company, but it never addressed the client’s true issue. INITIAL CONVERSATION Your answer to the question will largely depend on whether this is the first time you’ve spoken to this person. Do you have a relationship already, or this your very first contact? If you’re speaking to the customer for the very first time, he may be testing you to see how you’ll respond. You could play a seller’s version of whack-a-mole and blindly try to guess the right answer, but as a sales professional, that’s not how you want to operate. Instead, take control of the situation. Your first priority should be to find out why she is asking this question in the first place. You can respond with a listicle or with a question of your own. Or, consider this: “You know, David, when people ask that question it’s usually one of three things. To see if we have the proper expertise Testing whether I’m quick on my feet. To determine whether we can solve their problem. Which one of those are we dealing with David?” His answer to your question will help you understand how to proceed. TAKE CONTROL Make it your mission to understand your prospect’s situation and determine whether you’re a good fit. #SalesMatch CLICK TO TWEET Ask questions about the sales process that will help you determine what the customer is seeking. Take charge of the sales process by controlling the conversation. If the prospect is wasting your time and has no intention of hiring you, you’ll determine that more quickly rather than wasting time on a deal that will never close. If the prospect is interested, he’ll answer the question and you can continue from there. Pose a question in response to his question. Ask him why he’s inclined to ask that. If he indicates that his company has encountered other sellers who couldn’t solve its problems, then you’ll know how to respond. ADDRESS THE CONCERNS “I don’t ever want to do business with you if I can’t solve your problem. We want to make sure we’re a fit. I don’t want to waste your time or mine.” “If you are open to it, I’d love to see what you’re doing now to see if we can help you just like we’ve helped many other companies in the past.” You can even mention at some point that you’d love to be honest enough to acknowledge if the two of you aren’t a good fit. That will keep you on the same page. Your customer expects you to rattle off a list of features and benefits. They expect you to be a submissive seller. They may not realize that as a professional seller, you’ve helped a lot of people, and you’re an expert at doing so. You’re going to stay calm and confident. SURPRISE THE CUSTOMER If, on the other hand, this is a customer that you’ve worked with for some time, he may be truly trying to determine whether he should work with you. Your goal is to communicate to him that you’re the best at solving his particular problem. You’ve done it for thousands of other clients, you’ve run the protocols, and you know you’re the best. You can turn the tables on the customer at that point. “Why should you not do business with me?” Be confident. Make sure you understand why the customer is asking the question. “WHY SHOULD WE DO BUSINESS WITH YOU?” EPISODE RESOURCES This episode is brought to you by the TSE Certified Sales Training Program. I developed this training course because I struggled early on as a seller. Once I had the chance to go through my own training, I noticed a hockey-stick improvement in my performance. TSE Certified Sales Training Program can help you out of your slump. If you gave a lot of great presentations and did a lot of hard work, only to watch your prospects choose to work with your competitors, we can help you fix that. The new semester of TSE Certified Sales Training Program begins in April and it would be an absolute honor to have you join us. This episode is also brought to you in

The marketplace is crowded, so if you understand how to instantly increase the perceived value of your offer, you'll be better able to differentiate yourself from your competitors. Bob Britton got his start in business as an auto mechanic and he had an opportunity to buy an existing business. He figured owning a business couldn't be that hard, so he jumped in, assuming he could do a better job than the people he had been working for. He endured a season of failure but eventually started to improve as he learned the sales game. He realized that auto repair involves selling something that no one wants to buy, that no one is prepared to buy, and that no one ever has the money to buy. He grew the business from a one-man show to a multi-million dollar business and then went on to other things. Communicating value If you can't clearly communicate your value and what sets you apart from everyone else, you're competing constantly on price. It's the only way people know how to measure. But if you're a value proposition, people will focus less on price and more on what they're getting. It's up to business owners to figure out what those value propositions are. Begin by understanding what value really is. What you think is valuable is probably 27th on your prospect's list of what's valuable. [Tweet "The thing we get wrong over and over again is that we don't take time to think our way through all the different things that our customers could consider valuable. #SellingValue"] Consider even the smallest thing that might be considered valuable. Look beyond the obvious things like saving time or money because everyone claims to offer those. Starting point Understand that perception is everything. When you're creating your value proposition, if your prospect believes it's important, it is. Perception is everything. That determines how we start. Begin by looking at the business drivers which are often saving money and making money. But drill down deeper. Why would a customer use your offer? What does the customer really care about? Think of things like operating cost, downtime, uptime, labor cost, customer retention, market share, productivity, profitability, time to market, lifetime customer value, and any number of other concerns. Asking good questions Too many salespeople "wing it" when it comes to this process. They don't think about the questions they ask and they rely on general ones instead of working to be specific. People will give us a limited amount of time and effort. Ask specific questions that move people in a distinct direction. Many sellers will ask about concerns, but that's too general. Limit the question instead. What is your number one concern? Being specific will give you a lot better information from the customer because they'll talk about the thing that is top of mind. Then, flip that around. Ask your prospect the one thing that he hates about your industry. It takes some guts to ask this, but the information you get back will be the most valuable feedback you've ever gotten. Bob asked people the number one thing they hated about auto repair on his way to building a million-dollar company. He used all that feedback to differentiate himself from his competition. Digging deep Your clients can give you information that will help you tweak your business and increase your revenue. You won't have to push harder. Your clients will give you a to-do list that will help you improve. Be willing to ask what your current clients dislike about working with your business. It will feel intimidating but they won't crucify you. They'll help you identify the things that are keeping them from buying more. You may not need to dump more money into your business. You may not need to increase your leads but rather to just improve your close rate. Next steps Once you've identified the business drivers, identify some sort of movement. People won't change unless your offering is significantly better than the status quo. People don't buy offers; they buy new things. What's your movement? Increase, improve, accelerate, reduce, enhance, balance, free up, eliminate, minimize, revitalize, shrink, maximize. What kind of movement can you offer your clients? Then add metrics to your value proposal to make it stronger and more believable. Avoid using round numbers which sound less credible. When Bob was running the auto repair business, while everyone else was charging $87 an hour, he charged $98.68 an hour. When people asked how he came up with that number, he said that he figured out with his accountant the exact minimum he could charge to deliver the best service. It's a psychological effort that will surprise your customers and shift their thinking. It will position you as different than everyone else. Do your homework. Don't wing it because it won't give you the results you desire. Prepare People may throw little tests out at you to see how you'll respond. If you aren't prepared, you'll end up losing credibility because you don't

Sales leaders who neglect their own workload in an effort to help their sellers solve problems will find themselves falling behind, so it’s vital that sales leaders stop falling for the reactive trap. You hired your sellers to handle their assigned responsibilities and to solve problems. When your sellers distract you with problems, you’ll have less time to focus on sales plans or strategies. You won’t have time to conduct meetings or create reports because you’re trying to keep deals from falling apart. DISTRACTED LEADERS In his book, The Sales Manager’s Guide To Greatness, Kevin Davis talks about all the ways that sellers can distract their sales managers from their own workload. The problem with this kind of distraction is that the sales leader’s responsibilities are to grow the department or the business. The business will suffer if sales leaders aren’t freed to do their own work. Additionally, you’re teaching your sellers bad habits and cheating them of the opportunity to learn to solve their own problems. This is why many leaders feel stretched too thin. LIMITED GROWTH Sellers who never learn to solve their own problems will limit their teams’ productivity. Your team will never have extraordinary growth because you’ll always be limited by your own ability to solve everyone else’s problems. The sellers will never learn to solve problems, and they won’t learn to focus on solving problems for their customers. Instead, they’ll focus on features and benefits. Additionally, they won’t be able to function as well in your absence, which means they will struggle any time you aren’t available. So what will happen if you decide to take vacation? IMPROVING SELLERS Sellers will only improve if they learn to solve their own problems and handle their own accounts. As each rep learns to handle his assigned responsibilities, you’ll be freed to focus on other things that will improve the team as a whole. You may be tempted to think that you’re helping your sellers accomplish more, but the truth is that they’ll never learn to manage their own schedules and their own time if you consistently help them manage it. Kevin points out that your involvement won’t likely encourage them to use their time for other tasks. Realistically, your sellers will simply be freed to do things like check social media or email. Forty percent of sellers don’t like prospecting, so they won’t likely do it if they don’t have to. They are likely bringing you problems they don’t want to handle themselves. TEACH PROBLEM-SOLVING Kevin suggests asking two questions of your sellers: What have you done to solve the problem so far? What do you think ought to be done? Your sellers likely have basic problem-solving skills; otherwise, you wouldn’t have hired them. If this isn’t the case, you might have to start by making sure you have the right people on the bus. Perhaps we’ll discover that the rep didn’t really qualify the prospect in the first place. Maybe the rep isn’t talking to the decision-maker. Assuming those things aren’t true and that the buyer suddenly backed out of the deal, you must discover what caused the problem. ROOT CAUSE Coach the rep to ask questions that get to the root cause of the change. Teach your rep to use the 5 whys to figure out why the prospect changed her mind. It’s tempting for sales leaders to try to “save the day” and be the hero. Instead, you need to teach your seller to act as a guide to the prospect and teach your seller how to frame the customer as the hero of the situation. Consider identifying team leads who can help your sellers when they encounter problems. Maybe a senior sales rep can help answer questions or coach your sellers in weekly sales meetings. Schedule coaching sessions where you can teach your team members how to use these techniques to identify why their deals are disintegrating. Help them identify the common objections so they’ll be prepared when they encounter them. Sales leaders must help their sales teams to work independently to maximize the efficiency of the team and the company as a whole. #SalesCoaching CLICK TO TWEET BUILD REPLACEMENTS No doubt you hope to be promoted someday and you’ll need someone to take over your role so you can advance. Allow them to be part of the dialogue when you’re addressing issues in your area. Provide reassurance that it’s ok to try things and make mistakes. If you have a hard time saying “no” to your sellers, make yourself unavailable to them. Insist that they begin working on the problems themselves. If they make a mistake, you can still step in if you must, but give them a chance to try solving the problems. Take the time to coach your sellers. Make sure you give commands, give guidance, and give them room to run on their own. Whether you’re a sales rep, a sales leader, or a business owner, use these concepts to improve your efficiency and your output. “STOP FALLING FOR THE REACTIVE TRAP” EPISODE RESOURCES Grab a copy of Kevin Davis’ book, The Sales Manager’s Gui

Regardless of your industry or your product, relationships are the currency of your business, and though you can love people without leading them, you can’t lead people without loving them. Ty Bennett is an entrepreneur who fell in love with the speaking and training development aspect of building a sales team and it led him to write books on the topic and start a training company called Leadership Inc. Ty points out that we’re in the people business and we’re interacting with, networking with, leading and influencing people every day. The care, investment, and love you have for people will communicate that you have their best interest in mind. Those relationships engender trust, foster accountability, and build a level of commitment that you want in your team. And love drives it. MISSING LOVE Many business books never discuss love, perhaps because it isn’t considered a business-centric word. Ty addresses this issue in his new book called Partnership is the New Leadership. He interviewed a guy on his podcast named Tim Sanders who wrote the book Love is the Killer App but this hasn’t always been a business word. Traditionally it has referred to personal relationships but when it drives your actions and when you’re coming from a place of service and contribution, that’s where love exists. Leadership is much more effective there. SOFT LEADERS Some people believe that leaders can’t be perceived as soft, so they shy away from the idea of loving the members of the team. If you’re too soft, after all, you’ll be walked on. If you were to line up 10 people and evaluate the production level of those people, you’ll find a relationship to how they feel about their manager. Statistically, most people will tell you that they hate their bosses, and also that people join companies and they leave bosses. People also show up differently when they are in the right frame of mind; when they feel supported; when they feel heard; and when they have opportunities to win. When people feel like part of a team, the commitment level changes drastically. #TeamCommitment TRAINING TO LEAD If you’re seeking to develop this kind of leadership without being perceived as soft, focus on being interested rather than interesting. Rather than figuring out how to stand out and making it all about you, focus on the other person. Great leaders are those who truly care about other people and become adept at asking questions. They have a genuine curiosity about people. They want to know what drives them and what’s important to them. As you get to know your people on a deeper level, it speaks volumes to your team members. Now take things a step further and focus on hearing them. Don’t forget the idea that people support what they help create. Give your team a voice. Welcome their feedback. Those efforts demonstrate that you care about what they have to say and you’re listening rather than simply issuing marching orders. You’re demonstrating that you’re confident enough in who you are to allow them to be part of the process. We no longer live in the era of top-down leadership where I tell you what we’re going to do and you implement it. Social media has changed us psychologically and it has given each of us a voice. INVEST IN PEOPLE Go above and beyond for your people. Do things that are not in your job description. Give more time, more energy, and more of yourself into your relationships. Reach out in ways that are meaningful to each person. No doubt each of us can think of someone who has invested in us this way. As leaders, those investments change our relationships. When you invest in people they become family. Ask yourself whether people would ever say that about you. This level of investment can be difficult because we’re busy. We have so much on our plates that it’s hard to think outside our own agenda. It can also be tempting to focus on the things we have to do and ignore the things that we could do but aren’t required to do. At the same time, we have to shift our mindset. Maybe we need to listen to a podcast or hear a story from a different leader. Maybe we need to find a leader who can open our eyes to different approaches. Perhaps read a book. FOLLOWING THE MANAGER Although every industry is different, Ty interacted with sellers recently who told him that their loyalty was to their manager, not to the company. The product matters a lot less to them than the manager does. If you’re seeking to become this kind of manager, start by carving out one-on-one time for your people as often as possible. Come in five minutes early and ask one of your people to come in five minutes early. Make time for it. Find time to connect with your people with no agenda. It’s just to show that you care. Ty also recommends reading The Go Giver, one of a series of books about adopting a giving mentality on the way to greater success. Relationships change when people invest in them. When a leader invests, it will impact the relationship in a huge way. “YOU CAN’T LEAD

Stories pack a lot of power for sellers when used in the proper sales framework, and the good news is that stories are everywhere. Today we’re sharing an excerpt from TSE Certified Sales Training Program that addresses how you can effectively use stories in your own sales. UTILIZING STORIES Stories have existed since the dawn of time. Early cave drawings told stories of cavemen hunting, and those stories have been passed down. It’s true of cultures and of the Bible. Stories paint a picture for us. Stories exist in movies, songs, social media, and books. It all points to the fact that we love stories. Society loves stories because that’s how we make sense of the world. Imagine you’re meeting with a prospect for the first time. Instead of talking about your widget and your certification, which could be boring, share a compelling reason for your prospect to do business with you. Instead, share a problem and a solution to help me understand. STORY STRUCTURE Stories have a beginning, a middle, and an end. The beginning explains the problem so that the prospect can understand it and it introduces characters. The second part is the build or the escalation of the problem, where it seems that all is lost. The third part is the breakthrough. It’s the payoff or the climax. It’s where everyone lives happily ever after. USING STORIES EFFECTIVELY It’s important to understand when to use stories. Use them to reinforce a point or to help them understand the importance of your product or service. In the case of CRM, imagine a client who has been using Excel for years and he doesn’t understand the importance of upgrading to a better CRM. You can begin by explaining that you understand why he is hesitant to invest in something that he might not actually need. Then tell a story of another client who successfully used Excel as her CRM for years. The problem emerged when she hired a sales rep who wasn’t as familiar with the process as she was. The sales rep failed to log some of his contacts, and they didn’t follow up on the lead. The potential client chose another provider because the company didn’t remember to follow up. In this case, it cost them $5,000. If this happens multiple times a month, how much will it cost you? We gave this client an opportunity to test our CRM for 30 days, and the company doubled its earnings as a result. The ability to log calls automatically and schedule appointments easily changed the company’s output. CONTEXT Instead of bogging the prospect down with nuts and bolts, provide context for the power of your product or service. #StorySelling CLICK TO TWEET Consider using a free trial, too, to make the transaction less overwhelming. Don’t make yourself the hero of the story. Craft the story so that your prospect is the hero because he tried the new CRM and it made a huge difference for his organization. Apply these ideas and let me know how they worked. If you already knew them, stay with it. “STORIES ARE EVERYWHERE” EPISODE RESOURCES This episode is brought to you by the TSE Certified Sales Training Program. I developed this training course because I struggled early on as a seller. Once I had the chance to go through my own training, I noticed a hockey-stick improvement in my performance. TSE Certified Sales Training Program can help you out of your slump. If you gave a lot of great presentations and did a lot of hard work, only to watch your prospects choose to work with your competitors, we can help you fix that. The new semester of TSE Certified Sales Training Program begins in April and it would be an absolute honor to have you join us. This episode is also brought to you in part by mailtag.io, a Chrome browser extension for Gmail that allows you to track and schedule your emails. It’s super easy, it’s helpful, and I recommend that you try it out. You’ll receive real-time alerts anyone opens an email or clicks a link. Mailtag.io allows you to see around the corners. You can see when people open your email, or when they click on the link you sent. Mailtag.io will give you half-off your subscription for life when you use the Promo Code: Donald at check out. I hope you enjoyed the show today as much as I did. If so, please consider leaving us a rating on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or wherever you consume this content and share it with someone else who might benefit from our message. It helps others find our message and improves our visibility. If you haven’t already done so, subscribe to the podcast so you won’t miss a single episode. Share it with your friends who would benefit from learning more. Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

For business owners looking to scale their efforts, there are important factors involved in building a remote sales team, and implementing them can mean the difference between success and failure. Liam Martin runs three companies related to managing remote workers: TimeDoctor.com, Staff.com, and his passion project, which is a conference on building and scaling remote teams. His organization helps companies monitor their remote employees’ productivity and efficiency. He points to the fact that, early in his career, he waited too late to build a sales team, which is the meat-and-potatoes of his business. CREATE SOLUTIONS Founders of a company have an understanding of the product or service that most sales reps won’t have. Founders may recognize as many as 10 different problems that you could tailor your product around or have meaningful conversations around. Sales reps won’t necessarily recognize that many problems, so they may not have access to as many meaningful conversations. The key, then, is hiring a proper sales manager. Sometimes the founder’s ego causes him to believe that he can effectively run a sales team, and he doesn’t recognize his shortcomings. You must take a hard look at yourself and determine whether you’re truly a good sales leader. When Liam recognized that he wasn’t a good sales manager, he fired himself and hired a proper sales manager. Be honest enough to determine what you can best do for your organization and then do that. HIRING PROCESS Liam’s company has three different stages of hiring remotely. He suggests that many remote teams aren’t as effective as the leadership believes they are. Liam points to the bullpen or the area where junior employees are grouped together in a single workspace. The idea is that the employees will train and work together and benefit from one another’s experiences. Remote employees don’t have a bullpen so it’s impossible to pick up nonverbal selling techniques that some employees are successfully using. Everyone is disconnected, so very often these sales teams won’t hit quota despite their training. As a result, they leave the company. To solve the problem, Liam’s company works with remote salespeople for about a month. During that time, he has to either close an inbound deal or generate some kind of outbound activity. Based on that success, the company decides whether to invest more into the employee. He says that although it’s an expensive system, building a remote sales team is ROI positive. SELF-MOTIVATED ACTIVITY Successful remote employees must be self-motivated. Once the company hires a new remote employee and decides to invest in him, the company flies him to the sales manager in Canada where he will train in the office for three months. The employee will either hit quota by the end of three months and will have a job, or he will not hit quota by the end of that time, and he will go home without a job. From that point, the system rewards good salespeople financially. Successful sellers will earn more with this company than they will at other companies. At the same time, the pay structure is such that unsuccessful sellers won’t be able to survive. The first three months, then, are critical to the seller’s success. Creating the bullpen experience has helped the company’s remote sellers be more successful. Additionally, the company allows any employee to jump in on any Zoom call to ask for help or guidance. The key to building a remote sales team is to find a way to share best practices of elite sellers. Have a plan. It isn’t enough to hire good salespeople. #RemoteSalesTeam CLICK TO TWEET MASSIVE INVESTMENT Liam points to a need to identify those sellers who can talk the talk but can’t walk the walk. Because the company is making a massive investment into its new hires, it must be able to quickly determine which employees are likely to be successful and which ones are not. On average, his company has found that it can take anywhere from three to six months to determine whether an employee will be successful. Its goal is to shorten that period when possible. The company would prefer a clear “yes” or “no” to a “maybe.” The more time it spends dealing with an employee who is a “maybe,” the more money it invests without fully knowing whether it will get anything in return. “BUILDING A REMOTE SALES TEAM” EPISODE RESOURCE If you want to learn more about building or scaling a remote team, visit runningremote.com. It’s a conference being held in Bali, and if you’ve never been to Bali, it’s another great reason to go. If you’d like to get in touch with Liam, he’s excited about his interactions on YouTube right now, and you can find him at youtube.com/runningremote. After consuming the content, feel free to ask questions in the comments and he’ll be happy to respond. You’ve heard us talk about the TSE Certified Sales Training Program, and we’re offering the first module free as a gift to you. Preview it. Check it out. If it makes sense for you to join, you

Many sellers struggle to connect with their customers, but on today’s episode, Jacquelyn Nicholson addresses how to genuinely build rapport with any prospect. Jacquelyn is an enterprise seller and one of the inaugural members at Alpha Sense where she acts as an evangelist for the company and its work. WORLD OF SALES Jacquelyn landed in sales after a strange recession in Chicago prevented her from finding a job as an engineer for a defense contractor. She moved to New York and took a job as a sales engineer. Sometime after, she found herself heading a project for Johnson & Johnson and reporting directly to the vice president of the division. He told her to put together the very best team possible and trusted her to get the job done. During the course of the project, she made two unexpected realizations. She discovered that she didn’t like buying from salespeople because she thought they were horrible. Secondly, she discovered that she really missed sales. She didn’t like salespeople because they talked nonstop about how great their technology was. She found herself wondering, “Do you even know what I do? Do you even care?” “At the same moment, I was drawn back to the world of sales and also slightly repulsed by what I saw in the sellers I knew.” She decided then to return to sales, and she vowed that she would never be that kind of seller. SOLVING PROBLEMS Jacquelyn discovered that people buy things from people who can help them solve their problems. If I have a problem and you can solve it, I’m going to buy your stuff. But I also have to be able to trust the person I’m buying from. People buy from people they trust or they like, and they can spot fake people. Sucking up isn’t the same, and customers quickly learn to spot genuine people. She determined that the key was getting to know the people she was selling to. Learning about their problems and the things they care about. That only happens after you build rapport. The problem, she discovered, was figuring out how to do that at scale. The good news was, she discovered, that it doesn’t take additional time to be authentic. Researching to understand your client’s problems takes time, but kindness doesn’t. If you’re already having a conversation with someone, it doesn’t take any additional effort to have genuine curiosity about them and their role in the company. #SalesRapport CLICK TO TWEET SEGUE INTO SALES Jacquelyn realized that she wasn’t going to land in a quota-carrying role until she got some experience in front of customers. She ventured into the consulting world and she gained experience solving client problems and earning their trust. She loved the idea of solving problems instead of simply pushing products. Jacquelyn also realized that her time managing a project for Johnson & Johnson taught her that executives aren’t any different than anyone else. Many sellers struggle to have the confidence to approach them, but she said she was fortunate to learn early on how to interact with them. She counsels sellers now to be respectful of their time. Executives are short on time and short on people who want to be helpful to them for who they are rather than for what they can do. Don’t put them on a pedestal. Don’t become a “yes man” for executives. They are often surrounded by “yes men” who don’t want to rock the boat, but what they often need is real insight. Initiate a conversation around something relevant that matters to the executives. BAD RAP Sellers have gotten a bad rap from some of the bad behaviors of our predecessors, but the world has changed an awful lot. Consumers now have the ability to do extensive research before they ever reach out to a seller. Sellers must honor the time they have put into the process. At the same time, you deserve to be treated as more than just a vendor. If your customers don’t treat you with a certain amount of respect, you always have the option to walk away. Sometimes you have to fire prospects. TAKING RISK There isn’t a lot to be afraid of anymore. Jacquelyn faced a rare and aggressive form of leukemia and survived it, so she calls herself “fearless on another level” now. She defines success as being the best person she can possibly be. She wants to be the woman her husband would marry again; the seller her boss would hire again; the mom her kids are proud to introduce to their friends. If you constantly define your success in terms of other people and what they think of you, you’re doing it the wrong way. HELP Jacquelyn believes that help is always available. Sometimes you’re the one giving the help and sometimes you’re the one seeking it. Don’t be afraid to keep your eyes and ears open for the help that’s available. We have a tendency to believe that we have little to offer, but the truth is that you intrinsically have value because you’re you. Be aware of those who can help you, and those that need your help each day. Sales is a noble profession because we’re selling something that will help someone else. “HOW T

Sometimes business leaders find themselves wanting to make sure that their team members get everything exactly right, but unless you’re willing to let them mess up, they’ll likely never learn. Perfect situations don’t exist. Imperfection is a factor in life, but it’s also where our growth happens. MAINTAINING CONTROL Control often gives us the sense that we can force everything to work. As a result, we avoid letting our team members try things their own way because we fool ourselves into believing that our way is always the best. In my own story, I landed an appointment with a huge organization, and I invited the CEO of my small company to go along. I wanted his support, but I also wanted to show my boss that I was working hard. I wanted him to see the opportunity I had landed. Most importantly, I wanted him to support me through the unknown parts of the appointment. If I found myself struggling in the conversation, I knew he could help me out. Turns out he took over the whole show. Instead of acting as a ride-along on my appointment, I was the tag-along. I had been talking to the client for months, so he felt a little bit ambushed. I had promised him one thing and then given him something completely different. Instead of a meeting with a sales rep, he found himself sitting in a meeting with an executive that he wasn’t really prepared for. MY PLAN I imagined myself leading off the meeting and asking for his input along the way. I didn’t imagine it becoming his return to the glory days. Because I wasn’t operating from a playbook, there was no real structure. The deal did close, but it was challenging. If you find yourself asking why it’s a big deal, the problem was that it eroded my confidence as a seller. Sometimes, because CEOs and entrepreneurs started out selling their own product or service, they have a tough time letting that go. They see a problem and they address it themselves because it’s how they operated before they hired sellers. My CEO misunderstood my request for help and he took over the meeting instead. In a previous episode, Kevin Davis talked to us about the challenges that sales managers often face, and the book he wrote, The Sales Manager’s Guide to Greatness, that addresses many of those issues. LEARNING PROCESS When I finally had the opportunity to go on meetings myself, I fell into a habit of mimicking what I had seen my CEO do. I shared the same stories, even though they weren’t my own stories, but I hadn’t gained an understanding of the problem I was trying to address. Because there wasn’t any substance to my conversations, my opportunities started falling away. I wasn’t having a problem keeping things in my pipeline, but I was struggling to get them to close. The old adage of the butterfly struggling to get out of the cocoon applies here: the struggle makes the butterfly stronger. If you were to cut open the cocoon so he could easily slip out, he would never develop strong wings that would help him fly. You’ll never set the vision for your company moving forward if you’re busy doing the work that you hired your sales team to do. A BETTER OPTION We should have developed a gameplan before going into the meeting. By deciding who would say what and how we would build rapport, we could have avoided the awkward meeting with the client. My CEO could have reviewed the questions I was planning to ask to ensure that I was properly prepared. Then, he could have assured me that if I got into trouble, he’d be there to help. That scenario would have allowed me to at least try running the meeting. The sooner you prepare your sales team to operate on their own, the more room you’ll have to grow your company. Coaching is the correct answer. As you grow a more experienced sales team, you can add to is, and you can create repeatable success. You will have to let them mess up. That doesn’t mean you ignore any train wrecks that are happening, but you can help them understand where they went wrong so they won’t make the mistake again. Specify roles and responsibilities before the meetings so your team will learn to fly on their own. HELICOPTER MANAGER Sometimes, in the role of coach, it’s tempting to give your team members the correct answers so they’ll learn more quickly. Don’t do it. Helicopter managers tend to erode the team’s confidence and they actually lengthen the learning process by creating people who rely heavily on their help. When they discover the answers on their own, the learning will be more meaningful. Send us your stories about helicopter managers so we can all learn from the experience. “LET THEM MESS UP” EPISODE RESOURCES You’ve heard us talk about the TSE Certified Sales Training Program, and we’re offering the first module free as a gift to you. Preview it. Check it out. If it makes sense for you to join, you can be part of our upcoming semester in April. You can take it on your own or as part of the semester group. The program includes 65 videos altogether, and we just completed a

Many small business owners and sales reps face challenges with closing, and there are five closing mistakes that will prolong your selling cycle. I met Chala Dincoy at the Eastern Minority Supplier Development Council ROAR Conference, and today she’ll talk to us about the mistakes that can delay or prolong your selling cycle. Chala is an elevator pitch coach who helps people get into the room. Then, once they’ve landed a sales meeting, she helps them close it faster. The greatest challenge, she said, is getting the appointment because people don’t stand out. About 86 percent of buyers think you’re the same as your competition. Now she teaches reps how to get through the noise and stand out. Interestingly, she pointed out that many companies don’t use titles like “sales rep” on their business cards anymore because it puts people off to see that someone is in sales. THOUGHT LEADERSHIP If you aren’t targeting a specific industry or interest group, you’re always in the wrong room because you’re too generic. Your message is too generic. #SpecificMessaging CLICK TO TWEET That’s the first closing mistake. The second is you haven’t specifically addressed the customers’ pain points. So now you’re in the wrong room and the wrong people are in the room with you. You end up talking to lower level managers who pass you off over and over. As a result, you’re never able to get to the influencers that you need to reach. The real trick, then, is to change your marketing so that you’re in front of decision makers all the time. Since Chala’s sweet spot is diversity businesses, she works to get in front of conferences where those people are gathered. She has their business cards and they are talking to her at conferences. This is the kind of marketing you should do, via speaking, networking, blogging, and any other kind of thought leadership. BRANDING Your branding is one of the tools that gets you into the room. Sheryl Sandberg is a celebrity in the business world, and you can do the same thing in the world of your target. Chala recalls being at a recent conference where five people hugged her as she got off of an elevator. Though she didn’t know them, she says it’s a sign that you’re becoming known in your industry. Once they know who you are, it’s really easy to land an appointment. It’s easy to invite them to an executive round table and for them to say yes. Realize, too, that though everyone might be able to benefit from what you’re selling, not everyone needs it. We all sit in chairs, for example, but I may not need the kind of chair you’re selling. PAIN Seventy percent of humans purchase based upon pain, so if they have a problem, they buy. The flip side is that only 30 percent of people will buy if you’re selling based on improving something. Chala is fond of the saying, “No pain, no sale.” The third mistake is trying to sell something without addressing pain. Stories have to be about the pain. When you’re in a presentation, offer case studies of pain. Your elevator pitch has to be based on pain. And all of it has to be the same pain. We must niche down and focus. Stop talking about yourself. No one cares how many offices you have or how many awards you’ve won. Your prospects only care about the pain. THE PURSE You must have both the budget and the authority in the room with you. Failure to do so is mistake number four. We often call it the purse and the pain. If the pain doesn’t have the purse, no decision can be made, and vice versa. As an extension of that, lower level managers may talk about a different kind of pain that company leadership will. If you base your entire presentation around one person’s pain, especially if that person isn’t the decision maker, your presentation will miss its mark. You must have both people in the room. Finally, avoid leaving without a next appointment. You must establish a next step with your prospects. If they tell you they can’t commit to a date because there are other stakeholders involved and they don’t know all the schedules, then set a date to get a date. In other words, schedule a day that you’ll call to set up the next appointment. If they aren’t willing to give you a date, it’s a really strong indicator that they aren’t going to buy. Stop talking about yourself and connect with their pain points. “CLOSING MISTAKES” EPISODE RESOURCES You can connect with Chala at LinkedIn or at repositioner.com and you can take a quiz to determine how good your elevator pitch is. We are currently in the Beta portion of our new TSE Certified Sales Training Program. The first section is about prospecting, the second is all about building value, and the third is about closing. This episode is brought to you by the TSE Certified Sales Training Program. If 2018 wasn’t the best year for you, check out TSE Certified Sales Training Program. We can help you out of your slump. If you gave a lot of great presentations and did a lot of hard work, only to watch your prospects choose to work with your comp

As you move closer to the end of a deal, you'll likely encounter more objections, and identifying key stakeholders is the secret to overcoming those challenges. As you move into deeper conversation with the prospect, you may not realize that there are other people involved in the process, even if you aren't directly interacting with them. Your job as seller is to find out who they are. Today we'll help you understand who those key stakeholders are, how you should work with them, and how you can prepare for the process. Initial interest Imagine you have an initial conversation with someone who is interested in your lawn care business. You generated some interest and they expressed a desire to know more. You'll naturally address how you've helped other people in the past and take other steps to build value. At this point, you'll want to find out who else will be involved in this conversation. Typically, though, sellers neglect to ask that question. Ideally, you should find out whether the prospect has made a decision like this before. If so, has it been a long time? You do this kind of work on a day-to-day basis, but the prospect doesn't. He needs guidance, and you can help him move forward. Identifying stakeholders Avoid making him feel as though he isn't competent to make the decision. Instead of asking him who should be involved in the next call, ask it this way: "At this point in the conversation, my clients typically invite other people into the conversation." Instead of asking whether he'd like to invite others in, I would simply ask him who he would like to invite into the conversation. He might identify the CFO or the decision maker. Next, I would point out that, in order to make sure the next meeting is as valuable as possible, I'd like to know whether I can connect with some of those stakeholders to find out what they'd like to hear. If he has an objection, reframe the request so that he's the one making the contact with his stakeholders on your behalf. Keep him involved in the process so he feels comfortable. Cast of characters The first stakeholder is your decision maker. He tends to be the person that sellers most often keep their eyes on because he's the one that will do the final sign-off. But he may not get involved until later in the process. The decision maker may expect the influencer and the champion to do all of the hard work. Second is your influencer or the person who has the ear of your decision maker. She may be the right-hand person of your decision maker, or she may just be someone who has a connection with him. In some companies, this may be an administrative assistant, and sales reps must be mindful not to overlook these people. These executive assistants often wield much influence with the leadership. My wife worked in a similar position once, and her recommendation often depended on how the sellers treated her when they called into the office. End users are the people who will use the product or service you're offering, and they're the ones you'll likely interact with the most. We must make sure that they understand us and that we understand them. The buyer will sign the check to close the deal. If he doesn't like the deal, he will likely have key influence in it. The champion is the person who likes you and who brought you into the fold. She invited your team to consider the possibility of hiring you. The champion We recently did an entire episode about the importance of the champion. The discussion centered around the fact that sellers often focus so intently on the decision maker that they neglect the champion. In actuality, though, the champion is the one that you'll interact with the most, and he'll be the one that has the most interaction with his team. He's the one that wrangles the group through the decision-making process. He's the quarterback, but he must have your support in order to succeed. If he doesn't have it, he may lose the desire to champion your cause. [Tweet "Focus on your champion at least as much as you focus on your decision maker. Perhaps even more. #SalesChampion"] The knights The dark night doesn't necessarily have interest in your product or service. He's usually the member of the organization who is a little bit apprehensive, and it's in your best interest to discover who he is and why he is a dark knight. The champion, of course, is your white knight. He will tell the company why it should hire you. He believes so strongly in what you have to offer that he'll work to sell you internally. The white knight will likely recognize the dark knight, so you can ask him who it is and what his concerns are. Gather as much intel as you can about the dark knight so you'll know how to address his potential objections. Handling the dark knight Make sure you have a conversation with the dark knight prior to the meeting. Present information to Doug that addresses those concerns and ask him during that conversation whether there is anything specific he'd like to see

As you're working to expand your reach and grow your network, recognize the importance of building diversity into your network so you'll be better positioned to succeed in your industry. I met Sharon Manker at the Eastern Minority Supplier Development Council ROAR Conference, which connects minority-owned and women-owned businesses with Fortune 100 companies. Sharon has worked in supply chain for two decades, in both the for-profit and the nonprofit sectors, in utility and now in healthcare. In her words, she negotiates for a living. She also works to engage diverse suppliers in a woman-owned, veteran-owned, minority-owned system. Small business challenges Many small business owners lack the vehicle to connect with the right decision makers. They don't know how to meet the people who actually influence the contracts. When they discover their limitation, they often observe that they just didn't realize how it impacted their work. As a supply chain person, Sharon works to connect qualified suppliers to the businesses who need them. She also works to connect those same businesses with her business stakeholders. To that end, she attends events and even hosts events that allow people to connect and build relationships. The trick is to recognize that as you're working to connect with the decision makers, there are people along the way who can help you do exactly that. Diversifying suppliers When you aren't able to attend these events, Sharon points to other opportunities to connect with people: chambers of commerce and councils, just to name two. You'll be positioned to find corporate partners there. You'll encounter people who are actively engaged and ready to increase their supplier diversity. Even if you attend these events and find out about developments that are 24 months away, future gains will happen. Put in the work now and build relationships now. Benefits of partnership Many corporations prioritize working with small businesses because they have committed to certain diversity goals, such as spending a certain amount of their operating expenses with diverse suppliers. In some states, in fact, this diversity is mandated. This demands a pool of Minority Business Enterprises, Veteran Business Enterprises, and LGBTQ enterprises that can help meet the needs of those businesses. It can't be a last-minute effort, either. You don't want to wait until you're in an emergency situation to begin vetting partners. Those organizations must proactively work to find the best option in every category to provide the product or service they need. Some corporations connect with small businesses simply because they value giving back to entrepreneurs and small businesses. If you're an entrepreneur or a seller listening to this, find groups like this to connect with, because if you can land a large contract, you can eat pretty well for a while. If you balance your regular prospecting with your networking events while you work to connect with large corporations, you'll more easily keep a steady flow of connections. #CorporatePartners Strategic plan Create a strategic plan for your business. In your case, your plan for success is that failure is not an option. Instead, when you fail, you learn a lesson, and you repeat that until you get to a successful outcome. You can't give up. You must stay positive. There won't always be immediate opportunities, but building a network of resources or opportunities provides some security. Then, if you don't have a resource or an opportunity for those organizations, you could always help connect them with another partner that you've met and added to your network. We've talked recently about the need to focus on a champion rather than only focusing on the decision maker. Your network will help you accomplish that. You may bypass a champion on your way to connecting with a CEO, but the champion can be a much quicker connection. You can build a relationship with him more quickly, and then he can help you get to the CEO. Intentional communications When you're building relationships, be mindful of your communications. Some people are very aggressive in their approach, but they often overlook all the other restraints that these decision makers are facing. They want to do a deal now, but they aren't mindful of the other projects these professionals are working on. There are hierarchies of communication in every organization. There are also barriers to entry. Your champions can't advocate for you if you're perceived as aggressive or pushy. The vetting process may take weeks, and you must be willing to exercise patience. You don't know about all the things that the organization is working on. Be strategic. Recognize the structure in each organization. People will notice the way you communicate. Be prepared When your network does call on you for your product or service, make sure you are ready and able to give your brief, to-the-point presentation. Make sure you're being active so you'll stay positioned

Sales constantly evolve and sellers who want to be successful must effectively map and create multithreaded relationships in order to close more deals. Peter Chun talks today about the importance of multithreaded relationships and the challenge for reps who must establish them. Peter fell in love with the convergence of sales and data and has found a personal passion for it. He loves strategizing about how to close deals and about how to help your company scale and grow. Evolving sales The biggest obstacle for B2B sellers right now is the evolving face of sales. Buyers are more sophisticated, and they have more information at their fingertips. They do a lot of research before they even engage with a salesperson. Additionally, the number of stakeholders within B2B deals is increasing, with research indicating that complex deals often include 6 to 10 stakeholders. The big challenge, then, is finding and creating multithreaded relationships because too often they are single threaded. Many reps, either because of laziness or lack of awareness, fail to establish more than one relationship within a deal. They rely on a single relationship to get the deal done. Multithreaded relationships Being multithreaded doesn't simply refer to your customers. It's important that sellers create multithreaded relationships within their own companies as well. Who else, besides your prospect, needs to be part of the conversation you're having? Who else on your team has relationships that can be leveraged to build a solid foundation? One of Peter's reps teaches his reps to always do discovery because it keeps them aware of the details of the deal and helps them to stay relevant. If you're multithreaded, you have other contacts that can help you move a deal forward. Unnecessary risk Even when you believe that you have the juice to close a deal, you leave yourself open to risk if you fail to be multithreaded. You may, in fact, be connected to the right person, but that doesn't mean there aren't others who can help move the deal forward as well. Many reps simply haven't been coached to do this well. Sales leaders must coach them well and teach them how to have a multithreaded perspective. In the case of a complex account, there may be hundreds of employees. There may be years of history between you and your prospect making it difficult to know where to even start. Peter says that visually mapping the process will help you keep track of your efforts. Who are you talking to? Where does each employee sit? Who does each employee report to? What are the relationships within that organization? Becoming multithreaded In order to establish a multithreaded perspective, begin by figuring out all the people you already know. Start with who you've met or spoken to in the organization. Step two is to identify all your targets or the people you'd like to talk to. Third, add the executive team. Include the CEO and any executive leadership that you think is relevant to the conversation. You can then figure out who reports to whom and who is pursuing specific initiatives. The goal is to drive consensus across the organization, so I must identify the leaders who can move this initiative forward. [Tweet "Multithreaded relationships demand that you're constantly adding to your map, even if you'll never actually speak to some of those people. #Multithreaded"] Recognizing your prospects' initiatives demonstrates an interest and it suggests that you're more than an order-taker; you're paying attention to the details. Common mistakes Some managers get so focused on their numbers that they fail to develop a real strategy. As soon as organizations allow their sellers to be a little more strategic, they'll find that their activities are much more scalable. Account mapping has been around for a long time, but now we have the technology to use a more systemized approach to it and tie it into our CRM. Young sales leaders simply haven't been exposed to enough deals to think that way. But great sales leaders think that way naturally. Help your less tenured sellers learn to think that way. It's easy to get overwhelmed with this idea but begin with your top account. Implement the three steps with that account, will help you begin really moving your deals. Build the discipline within yourself and your team to be multithreaded. Even if you're certain it will close, you can still consider who else you have access to. When you're multithreaded, you have more options when your contacts go dark. Remember to focus on internal and external connections. "Create Multithreaded Relationships" episode resources You can connect with Peter on LinkedIn and you can sign up for LucidChart and check out their sales templates. This episode is brought to you in part by our TSE Certified Sales Training Program, which teaches you to improve your sales skills, find more customers, build stronger value, and close more deals. The next semester begins in April. If you're not familiar with the

No matter what business you're in or what product you're selling, downturns happen, so today we're talking about how to prepare your sales pipeline for an economic downturn. We're here at the Eastern Minority Supplier Development Council's ROAR Conference, which is connecting minority-owned and women-owned businesses with Fortune 100 companies. Joel Burstein says that companies should be most aware of an economic downturn when the economy is good. The downturns in '01 and '08 were preceded by markets that were really, but they grew so quickly that they weren't sustainable. When things seem too good to be true, they usually are. Consider the internet At one point, everything was successful. It didn't matter what the product was. The reality of the world at that time was that 22-year-olds owned five properties. If you drive your car as fast as you can for as long as you can, your car will eventually break. The economy is the same. The time to prepare for the economic downturn is when the economy is good. You do that by diversifying your clientele and diversifying your business. Clients who are looking are still engaged. You don't necessarily have to take your foot off the gas; you just have to think outside the box. Talk to clients Ask your clients how their world is going. They will have indicators, so if you ask them what signs they are seeing, they may be able to share signs with you. Realize, too, that not everyone's downturn is equal. Some people's downturn started in '07 while others started in '08. What happened is that we missed it. Your perspective depends on where your market falls. Some people are struggling today. It isn't that they're struggling tremendously, but their business is down. Perhaps it only lasts one quarter, or maybe it stretches into two or three quarters. Once that happens, it begins to have an impact. Have engaging conversations with your existing clients about what's happening in their markets. Because their markets are different than yours, you'll gain insight into the overall economy. Two-fold benefit Imagine an entrepreneur with a digital marketing company who has decent-sized clients. If she stays in touch with them she can accomplish two things: She can do some reconnaissance work. She can deepen her relationships. At some point, you sell without selling. You have to be in the relationship mindset rather than the selling mindset. You'll develop a deep understanding of what your client is facing and struggling with. Your client will remember you as the one who cared about how they were handling the downturn. Preparing for downturn Certain industries will survive recession better than others. Energy is a great example. Oil is another industry that survives recession well, as evidenced by the Texas economy while the rest of the country was in a downturn. People still need oil, and we forget that it's used to make milk cartons. It's also used for the oil and gears of manufacturing machinery. Healthcare is another example. Hospitals have tremendous numbers of vendors because they are like self-sufficient cities. Unemployment could negatively impact healthcare, but the government tends to step in so that people don't go without care. Ask yourself which adjustments you'll make in order to survive the recession when it happens. Identify ways to gain traction in those industries that can survive recession. Add those behaviors to your daily, weekly, and monthly behaviors. Larger companies The EMSDC offers a great opportunity to expand a middle-sized business to a larger business. Because larger businesses have more funds, they survive a bit better than small ones. If all of your businesses are about the same size, some of those will fluctuate. Some of them will go out of business. It's the nature of the industry. There's a reason we talk about companies being too big to fail. When you engage in the right behaviors, you introduce that diversity into your business. It's a matter of making an effort to prospect in a certain area or to call on certain people or ask certain people for referrals. Many entrepreneurs get stuck waiting for business to come in. If I can get out there and start having conversations with people I'm targeting, I can control my destiny a little better by choosing who I will target. Networking When the economy shifts, you need to have a great network of people you can reach out to for different things at different times. If I don't know people, I can't do that. Networking is a big thing. Speaking engagements are, too. In our case, we can't always orchestrate large training opportunities but we can convince people to sign up for workshops or boot camps. It allows us to build our brand, stay connected to our customers, and it offers additional streams of income. Joel said he leverages his LinkedIn so that his existing contacts can introduce him to people he doesn't know. People typically don't leverage it properly, but what if you knew all the same people your clients

Sales leaders who can solve the most common sales problems will increase their productivity and improve their performance. Today, Charles Bernard explains how a disciplined system for selling and managing can remove barriers to performance for sales leaders. Bernard founded ‘Criteria for Success,' an organization that develops online sales playbooks and provides leadership and sales management training. Charles was a top performer in his division with General Electric and has run several businesses as well. Caught in the middle Charles believes that the number one issue facing sales managers today is the feeling of being caught in the middle between the CEO/Management and the sales team. Sales managers must bring in the numbers, on one hand, while acting as a micromanager on the other. He compares it to having a target on his front side with another on his back. Charles finds that pressure from above is unfiltered and passed directly down onto the sales teams, whether it's justified or not. And, he says, the sales teams hate that. If management feels that something is wrong or that people are not doing their jobs, for example, it is the responsibility of the sales manager to balance the push/pull of the situation. She must absorb the pressure in order to adapt the message - without losing the importance behind it - to empower the team. Passing the pressure from management to the team does nothing to motivate or incentivize sales. Many times, leaders fall into the trap of thinking they must have all the answers for how things should be done. An enlightened manager should be able to pull the boss and the team together. He should encourage conversations that promote transparency and foster teamwork. Charles prefers for his sales teams to hear directly from the bosses and he often facilitates meetings to allow for such interaction. It allows each side to learn the concerns of the other and to work as a team. Pulled in different directions Charles cites the challenge of staying focused as another common issue facing sales managers. Don't engage in too many meetings or with multiple different initiatives. Lack of focus prevents the managers from spending time in the field and with their sales teams. It was a struggle but Charles eventually learned how to say ‘No’ to those who people who weren't impacting sales. Charles recalls numerous instances where he was asked, for example, to intervene with an upset client. He had to put his foot down and direct those calls to others in the organization better equipped to handle such situations. It is understandable that sales managers want to prove their worth to the company. But it is a mistake to do so by getting involved in matters that do not pertain to their job or to assist with sales if the team is underperforming. It only serves to further scatter the focus a sales manager needs to succeed. The purpose of the sales manager is to be available to the team. It must be the priority. [Tweet "If you are constantly running back and forth putting out fires, you may feel busy, but non-sales related activities do not increase the bottom line. #SalesFocus"] Inability to set goals Sales managers often don’t have the time to spend on the proper vetting of the forecasts. As a result, they are often unable to create realistic forecasts and to set goals. The need for realistic forecasting is obvious. The problem arises when the decisions made on that forecast - where the growth is coming from, how much we will grow, what the profits will be, and how the funds will be reinvested - are very linear and rigid. There isn’t a lot of thought behind it. Charles believes that people should not think about what they are going to sell in a year. People tend to miss things like backlog, which is probably going to give you the most wind behind your sails. If forecasting in 2018 for 2019, for example, you must see all the deals that didn’t close, at the individual and team sales levels. You want to know what stage they are in because that backlog will give you a jump on each quarter. What is your backlog going in? What is your backlog coming out? If you begin with a strong backlog of unclosed business and put that into your forecast, you can then see where you are short and what you need to do each quarter. It is very important to have a notion of forecasting that includes backlog. Without it, you are already behind at the start. Sales advice Rank your sales team. Who are your A’s? Who are your B’s? Rank your customers. Who are your partners and who are your advocates? Who buys on a whim, or transactionally? Build a playbook. Take all the knowledge in the company and make it available for everyone to access. "Solve The Most Common Sales Problems" episode resources Charles can be reached via email at [email protected], or you can call him at 212-302-5518. Charles can also be found on LinkedIn. This episode is brought to you in part by our TSE Certified Sales Training Program, which

If you paint a picture for your customers of where they are now versus where they want to go, you can help them make a buying decision. Show them how the positive change will happen, or what might happen if they don’t change. It will allow them to logically justify an emotional decision. Jeffrey Gitomer was my first ever guest and he taught us something interesting on that very first podcast: People love to buy but they hate to be sold. Think about that. Nobody wants to feel tricked or manipulated. That is the last thing that you want to do as a sales rep. You want to help them to buy. Your job is to guide clients through a process that educates them. Become an artist The key is to paint amazing pictures that feel so real and so vivid that your clients can see the value being offered. Imagine we have presented our business case and the prospect is loving it. They know it is amazing but they will naturally start to compare it to their current situation. What are we doing? What are our sales reps doing? How much time are they spending? Are we wasting time? It is time to paint the picture for them. Asking ‘why?’ Toyota once used the ‘Five Whys’ concept to get to the root of a problem; to fix the real issue of any problem instead of the surface-level problem. As an example, suppose I take my car into the shop because I have a flat tire from hitting a pothole. As a sales rep, there are many things you could sell me. I need a new tire, for sure. Do I also need glasses so I can see potholes in the future? Maybe I didn’t see the pothole because I was speeding. Perhaps I was late and I need to buy an alarm clock. What if I was running late because I am not disciplined enough to properly prioritize my day? Will a new tire or a pair of glasses help with the root of my problems? No. When it comes to your prospect, once he agrees with your business proposal and realizes that he is in the same scenario you're describing, that is the time to share with him how you can deliver. Paint the picture that directly represents his business and his situation. Ask him what you need to know. Do you feel the scenario that I’ve presented fits your situation? Why do you think that is the case? What have you tried before to address this same problem? What are your goals? Become a consultant Become a consultant that will help solve their problems. You’ve already painted a picture with your business case. Once you have your answers - once you have more details - you can effectively execute the demonstration. Know your client’s timeframe and budget. Go over who will be involved in the process and the criteria for future decisions. Everything discussed during the buyer’s journey needs to be referenced during the discovery call as well. It helps make the closing that much easier. [Tweet "Paint the picture of where your clients are now, why they shouldn’t be in that situation, and how your product or service can help them. #SellSolutions"] Underpromise and overdeliver If I know I can deliver 4x, I often promise 3x because it is a simple fact that my clients will be much happier if they accomplish more than they expected. You can help the prospect realize that the decision is theirs. It is not being forced upon them and it is not manipulative. Rather, with your help, they realize where they are and the challenges they face in moving forward. We have had meaningful and educating dialogue that provided solutions and opportunities for change. The buyer’s decision is now up to them. "Paint a Picture" episode resources We are currently in the Beta portion of our new TSE Certified Sales Training Program. The first section is about prospecting, the second is all about building value, and the third is about closing. This episode is brought to you by the TSE Certified Sales Training Program. If 2018 wasn't the best year for you, check out TSE Certified Sales Training Program. We can help you out of your slump. If you gave a lot of great presentations and did a lot of hard work, only to watch your prospects choose to work with your competitors, we can help you fix that. The new semester of TSE Certified Sales Training Program begins in April and it would be an absolute honor to have you join us. This episode is also brought to you in part by mailtag.io, a Chrome browser extension for Gmail that allows you to track and schedule your emails. It's super easy, it's helpful, and I recommend that you try it out. You'll receive real-time alerts anyone opens an email or clicks a link. Mailtag.io allows you to see around the corners. You can see when people open your email, or when they click on the link you sent. Mailtag.io will give you half-off your subscription for life when you use the Promo Code: Donald at check out. I hope you enjoyed the show today as much as I did. If so, please consider leaving us a rating on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or wherever you consume this content and share it with someone else who might benefit from our message.

Saying goodbye to a legend is difficult, but we can move forward living by the principles they teach us and the lessons we learn. One of the best selling business books of all times is Think and Grow Rich; it changed my life. It transformed the way I think about money and about the opportunities I could create. The person I received the book from is also important to me. It was from someone who was like a father to me. He came into my life when I was 14 years old and helped mold me into the person I am today. Dennis Rosebrough Dennis, Denny, Dad...I learned a lot from him. He was a true hustler, a real entrepreneur - always looking for something. He grew up the youngest of five kids in a poor family but always had a determination to make something of himself and for his family. As an X-ray technician, Denny went into the business of providing mobile x-ray machines. The company grew from scratch into a multi-million dollar organization, employing and helping hundreds of people. His son, Andrew, currently runs the organization and has been a best friend of mine since we were kids. Principle One: See people as people It doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from, your race or your color. Denny had a heart of gold. Treating everyone equally was his strong suit. He came from a poor background and moved into a position where he could afford to take care of himself and his family. Regardless of where he was in his life, he was kind to everyone. He just connected with people. He reached out to those who were different. He was always humble and eager to learn. I remember a time when I was 16. My family was going through some financial difficulties to the point where we were evicted from our home. My mom and brother moved in with one relative but because of the location of my school bus stop, I moved in with another relative. I slept on a bunk bed in their laundry room. When Andrew found out, he talked to his Dad. Denny, without even thinking about it, invited me to move in. Both my Mom and I remain super grateful for their guidance and assistance. I was loved and cared for and welcomed into the family. It was a lesson in learning to look at other people as individuals and to help them and to care for them. I think it is a lesson that can apply to how we, as sales reps, entrepreneurs, and business owners conduct ourselves as well. Principle Two: Be willing to give Sometimes we don’t give to others because we don’t see anything for us in return. Denny didn’t think that way. He would give regardless. He once gave his car to a woman at his church who had five grandkids and an unreliable car. He had the means to do so, of course, but that doesn’t detract from the fact that he gave without expecting anything in return. He gave without any desire for compensation but received so much in return just the same. Give willingly. Give without expectation or strings attached. Give from the heart. Principle Three: Dream big After high school, I moved back in with my family for a few months before leaving to serve on two-year mission trip. When I returned home from that trip, Denny took me out to dinner and gave me a book. It was his testimonial - how he started his business, the vision he had for his life and for his family, and his experiences. He wrote it all down and he shared it with me because he had faith that I could have the same success. It is also when he gave me the, now very tattered, Think and Grow Rich book. Denny taught me that I needed to plan and that I needed to have vision; a higher vision for my life. We often have a low level of thinking where we doubt our ability to achieve bigger things in life. But Denny, and that book, helped me see otherwise. It helped me in college, and it helped me in my performance. Then, it helped me run for student body president, helped me in my business career, and it helped me in sales. It helped me have a higher level of thinking. I realized that I could be successful too. It helped me to think and grow rich. I saw where Denny had come from and how much he achieved. I wanted a life and a family like his. I want to be be able to help others the way he did and to see people for who they are. Principle Four: Work Hard Denny taught me to work hard. He taught me about business. He hustled and he worked and he stayed up late and took the odd shifts as his company grew. Denny passed away this weekend and I know his spirit will remain in the many things he has taught us all, the individuals he has touched, and the legacy he has left behind for his family. At the time, I encourage all of you to think about the legacy you will someday leave behind. I hope the principles I learned from Dennis can help guide you along your path. "Say Goodbye to a Legend" episode resources This episode is brought to you in part by our TSE Certified Sales Training Program, which teaches you to improve your sales skills, find more customers, build stronger value, and close more deals. The next semester beg

Sales differentiation helps salespeople win more deals at the price point they want, and today Lee Salz talks about building a framework that will allow you to personalize your sales. Sales reps in every industry must differentiate themselves in today's market. It's crucial for sellers to have room to "color" the sales process. Origins When Lee was a kid, he had a job as a pickup and delivery driver for dry cleaning. The guy he worked for didn't own a dry cleaning business; he simply knew it was a hassle to drop off and pick up your clothes. He developed a contract with a couple of different dry cleaning firms and he charged a premium for the service. The idea took off, and Lee was intrigued by the idea that he was able to add a 40 percentage point premium by differentiating the service. He didn't actually put the idea into play until his 50th birthday after he had learned a lot about the industry. Philosophy of differentiation Lee said the philosophy translates for every possible seller. No matter what industry you're in, what size company you're in, whether you sell products or service, whether you sell B2B or B2C, and it doesn't even matter what methodology you use in your sales. The premise is simple: win more deals at the prices you want. Differentiation around what you sell Differentiation around what you sell relies on the ability to translate your passion to the person sitting on the other side of the desk. If you can't communicate your own passion about your differentiators to the person on the other side of the desk, you might as well not have anyone sitting there. The idea is to build passion and help salespeople communicate it in a meaningful way. You want your customers to believe they must have what you're selling. [Tweet "Companies have an obligation to share their differentiators with their salespeople and to explain how to position them with buyers. #SalesDifferentiation"] It's a responsibility that falls to marketing, business owners, and sales leaders. Marketing and sales differentiation Marketing differentiation is one-directional communication for the masses. Think trade shows and websites. It screams to the marketplace, "Hey! Look at us! We're here." It demonstrates all the available potential. Sales differentiation is two-directional communication with an individual, specific buyer. It takes all of the potential and personalizes it to an individual specific buyer. Everyone buys for a different reason so if you leave all the capabilities out there and rely on that to drive buyers, you'll fail. You must have salespeople who gather all the potential and bring it to the individual level. [Tweet "Solution is often used haphazardly, but it means you take what someone is looking to accomplish and align it with what you offer. #SalesSolutions"] Add those two things together and that meets the definition of solution. Two differentiation workshops It doesn't matter what you're selling. Make a list of your most common competitors who also sell what you sell. Work with your team to do the analysis. Answer two questions: Why do you win? Why do they win? Make a list of the decision influencers, the people commonly involved in the decision to buy what you sell. Again, answer two questions: What is keeping them up at night relative to your offering? Given what is keeping them awake, how can you help? If you engage your team in these two workshops, you'll get a series of differentiators that will serve as raw material to work with. From there, develop a communication strategy that helps you build passion around those differentiators. Differentiation around how you sell Every interaction between a seller and a buyer provides an opportunity to offer meaningful value that your competition doesn't provide. Consider this: Would you prefer a restaurant with outstanding food and mediocre service or mediocre food and outstanding service? Most people will choose the outstanding service. That means you could have the best product features and functions but your failure to differentiate how you sell could cause you to lose. From that very first phone call to the time they sign on the dotted line, you have an opportunity to build a great experience. Customer service vs account management Don't equate the two as the same. Customer service occurs when your client asks you for something. The measurement of success should be timeliness and accuracy in the response. It's the proactive set of activities and behaviors that you'll provide that adds value in the relationship that has nothing to do with the product. Look at every touch point to find every opportunity to do something different that your client will find meaningful. Recognizing your competition Your true competition exists in your battle to earn face time with your prospects. No executive has the responsibility to meet with salespeople every hour on the hour. In order for us to earn that meeting, we have to create intrigue in the first moment. Imagine operat

Sometimes sales professionals get it backward, and they fail to understand the need to worry more about your champion than your decision maker. Today Garrett Mehrguth talks to us about the importance of your champion in your sales deals, and why we shouldn't lose sight of his importance. Sometimes there's great value in changing the defaults we learn as salespeople. We tend to become so obsessed with the decision makers that we overlook the champions, who are arguably the most important person in the whole scenario. How decisions are made Salespeople sometimes focus so greatly on getting a close that we neglect the fundamental truths involved in selling. In fact, we alienate people and we become our own worst enemy. It isn't price; it's me. Most often, we are the reason that deals don't close. It's a direct result of who we speak to, who we don't speak to, the way we end a conversation, the way we treat people, how well we prepare. We must have transparency and honesty to admit that often we're the reason we don't close a deal. Salespeople are quick to take credit for successes and slow to take responsibility for failures. #SalesTruth Garrett believes that if we would build our resources and our marketing toward decision makers, we would drastically improve our conversion rates. How deals emerge Once a decision-maker recognizes he has a need, he might send a subordinate to a conference to talk to vendors. He might instruct the person to get three quotes and then bring his two favorites to the decision-maker. Once that's done, the two will make a decision together. He might suggest filling out 10 forms on the way to finding three good options. The pair will whittle those to two good options before making a decision. The problem is that if you speak over the champion or speak through the champion or speak around the champion, you alienate your greatest ally. Why you need the champion The champion is your greatest asset while you're not in the room, so if you alienate that person, you're losing an important ally. You alienate the person who could potentially go to bat for you once you hang up the phone. Good decision-makers make decisions by asking the champion whether or not he could work with that agency. So who truly puts their butt on the line? It isn't the decision-maker, because he has a fall guy. The champion is the one who needs the information, the emotional support, and the resources to make a good decision. If you honor the champion with amazing intro calls, lots of sales resources, and well-prepared meetings, you give him the ammo to pitch you internally. [Tweet "Internal sales champions are far more powerful than outside reps trying to close deals. #SalesChampion"] Why the decision-maker shouldn't be your focus In five years of working with marketing teams, Garrett has never heard anyone mention targeting the champion. Instead, we treat decision-makers as though they have some kind of supernatural power. The decision-maker is never the point of contact. If he isn't the point of contact, and he isn't the one who will be working with the agency you choose, he isn't the one to target. Remember that everyone is selling to the decision-maker, including the champion. The decision-makers job is to discern the best fit for his champion. So even if he likes a certain agency better, if that agency can't work with his champion, it won't matter. Deal retention is far more important than closing deals. Even if you manage to close a deal, if you don't treat the champion well, you won't renew it. You won't get referrals from it. In Garrett's mind, there isn't a single aspect of the process where the decision-maker is more important than the champion. Avoiding absolutes He acknowledges, too, that absolutes are dangerous. It's certainly not true that the decision-maker should never, ever be considered. Instead, let's work to change the fundamental hypothesis that we as marketers and sales reps enter relationships with. If we spend more time building rapport with the point of contact, you will drastically improve your close rate because you are building confidence and comfort with the most important voice in the room. You need a champion who will give you a voice during moments when you aren't in the room because that's often when deals are decided. You won't close $150,000 contracts while you're in the room. It happens behind closed doors, and you won't likely be there when it does. Shifting focus to champions Give your champions resources to bolster their confidence. Make that your primary goal. Your champion is likely scared to death of going to his boss with a recommendation. His discernment and character will be judged by the referral he makes. Anytime you give a referral to someone, your own judgment is on the line. Challenge things that other people won't do. Put your neck on the line by offering evidence and claims that protect the champion when he goes to his boss. You take the risk so your champion doesn'

Sometimes the logical approach doesn't make sense, just as in the story of David and Goliath it seemed impossible to believe that the shepherd boy could beat the giant. In sales, we sometimes have to be a bit irrational. We must think outside the box. Today we'll discuss how unorthodox thinking can help us take down some pretty significant giants. It can also help us win some pretty decent accounts. Logical approach When the giant Goliath demanded that the Israelites send out their best warrior, it didn't make sense for them to send David. He wasn't the fastest or the biggest. He was a little farm guy tending sheep, and he wasn't the typical warrior type. Too often in sales we default to the same logical approach that sales reps have been using for years. Instead of thinking outside the box, we choose the most rational solution to the problem. Imagine you're selling TVs and you're meeting with a client that has a good idea of what they need and what they want. It's possible, though, that the client's perception of the problem may not even be the real issue. Worse yet, their solution to the problem may not be the best one. In the case of David and Goliath, if the Israelites had sent the best warrior into battle to try to outperform the giant, the best warrior would likely have been killed. Unorthodox approach David used an approach that had never been used before. He used a sling and a stone to take down the giant, and the approach was unexpected. In the situation with the client and the TV, he may assume that he needs a TV because it has always been the best solution in the past. Perhaps, though, the best solution is a projector, but the client doesn't realize it's even a possibility. What if you forget about the TV for a minute and consider other possibilities: smartphones or tablets, or even podcasts. If the goal is for the client to find a form of entertainment, TV isn't the only option. [Tweet "Instead of giving the client exactly what he says he wants, offer possibilities that he may not even be aware of. #SolveProblems"] Sales reps who ask the right questions can differentiate themselves. They can challenge the status quo and help the buyer to see us in a different light. Risky decisions I was reading a book called Selling to the C-Suite and the author mentioned that executives will often make risky decisions if there's a clear plan for that decision. Most executives routinely get what they want. In many cases, their team members fail to offer unique proposals because they are afraid of getting fired. In this case, an educated seller may propose an option that's a little riskier than just selling the executive a television. The executive may be so busy running his business that he hasn't researched TVs or other options. Your goal should be to inform yourself about the industry, the client, the type of business, and the problem. Come to the table as an expert and offer unique ways to solve the client's problem. Memorable actions David explained to Saul that because he had killed lions and bears in the past, he was equipped to take down a giant. If Saul was seeking a victory that would make the opponents his servants, wouldn't it be worthwhile to consider David's proposal? David accomplished exactly what he said he would, and the result is a story that has survived for thousands of years. Will your clients remember you and your heroic efforts or will you be just another sale rep? Will you be the one who offered them a cheaper price? Or will you be the one who offered a unique approach that turned the organization around? Studying industries Know your client's industry well. Study it. Understand the business left and right. Instead of trying to sell to 10 million different industries, focus on the top three or five and master those industries. Become an expert in those niches. Then focus on those people. That doesn't mean you won't sell to those other industries. It simply means that you won't focus on those industries. Invest your efforts into the industries that will give you the best bang for your buck. Read industry magazines, and watch YouTube videos. Spend time on activities that will help you become more effective. When you do, you'll stand out from the competitors. Because you'll bring different ideas, different strategies, and different tactics, you'll earn the respect of your prospects. Bring resources, examples, and share your past experiences with your prospects. Explain to your clients why they must choose the option you're offering. “David and Goliath” episode resources This episode is brought to you in part by our TSE Certified Sales Training Program, which teaches you to improve your sales skills, find more customers, build stronger value, and close more deals. The next semester begins in April. If you're not familiar with the TSE Certified Sales Training Program, it's a program designed to help brand new sales reps, as well as those who have been selling forever. The 12-week module offer

It's impossible to overstate the importance of being a great leader when you're working to build a team or an organization into something that will change the world and make things better for people. Today's guest Andrei Mincov founded Trademark Factory in 2013 to help entrepreneurs secure the legacy of their brands and preserve their hard work. Teams As you grow your team, as you grow your business, as you grow your dream, as you grow your vision, there comes a time when the leader can't come up with all the ideas. In order for the organization to grow, leaders need team members who help generate ideas and who provide initiative to improve things. You'll likely have some team members who simply have marching orders or tasks. Others will be responsible to help you move the organization forward. Those team members will have to have vision. They'll operate from your inspiration. Hiring Finding those visionary team members is different than hiring task-based team members. Andrei uses small, unique tasks to help make hiring decisions simpler. He might, for example, offer a jpeg with a typo or error in it and ask prospective employees to find the error. The intention would be to measure the candidate's attention to detail. He might also ask the candidate to build a video or a graphics project. This process helps him narrow the field because not every candidate is willing to jump through the required hoops to get the job. It also helps him determine who actually has the necessary skill set to accomplish the work. Without poring over countless resumes and applications he can narrow the field to the best candidates. If candidates aren't excited enough, in the beginning, to show you what they can do for you, how excited will they be after they are hired? [Tweet "It's hard to hire from a bunch of unknowns, but it's much easier to select employees from a smaller number of candidates you've already seen in action. #HiringLeaders"] Growth Leaders must have a compelling vision in order to grow a company. They should also likely have a track record of successfully accomplishing goals. Conveying thoughts and messages won't be enough to lead well. Leadership demands action and results. People will follow leaders who have vision and a successful track record. The better your business and the better your track record, the more likely you are to attract great people to surround you. Andrei shared that animals in the zoo don't care about ticket sales. They care about food and comfort and safety. Your team members are similar in that they care about basic things like provision and comfort. While you probably want them to have full ownership in your business, they likely never will. Your role is to provide enough vision for them to recognize that aligning themselves with your goal will benefit them personally. Building Smaller companies often fail to see that they are capable of building something that matters. They may have a really cool team or a really cool business and they assume it's a fluke. They don't take themselves seriously enough to worry about protecting their businesses. What steps would you take to protect yourself and your business if you knew that you would definitely succeed? This issue boils down to leadership, because if you don't have a vision of growing your company into something substantial, you'll miss an opportunity. Great leaders like Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos know that they are building something that can change the world. They are building something that will help a bunch of people do a bunch of great stuff. When you have a vision toward the path to greatness, people will follow you. Do something that people will remember years from now. "Being A Great Leader" episode resources You can connect with Andrei and his team trademarkfactory.com. If you have a brand you're interested in protecting, you can schedule a free call with the team to determine the next steps in your process. This episode is brought to you in part by mailtag.io, a Chrome browser extension for Gmail that allows you to track and schedule your emails. It's super easy, it's helpful, and I recommend that you try it out. You'll receive real-time alerts anyone opens an email or clicks a link. Mailtag.io allows you to see around the corners. You can see when people open your email, or when they click on the link you sent. Mailtag.io will give you half-off your subscription for life when you use the Promo Code: Donald at check out. This episode is also brought to you by the TSE Certified Sales Training Program. If 2018 wasn't the best year for you, check out TSE Certified Sales Training Program. We can help you out of your slump. If you gave a lot of great presentations and did a lot of hard work, only to watch your prospects choose to work with your competitors, we can help you fix that. The new semester of TSE Certified Sales Training Program begins in April and it would be an absolute honor to have you join us. I hope you enjoyed the show

When you're scaling an organization, it's important that you're able to measure the quality of your leads, pipeline, and sales talent. It important for business owners as well as sales reps, because simply adding people to the organization won't necessarily result in more sales. Today Rob Kall talks about the numbers that we might not be measuring and the importance of that data in helping your organization grow and improve. Although they aren't commonly measured, these data are the true drivers of your organization's success. Soft things Many sales leaders believe that the solution to any sales struggle is to throw more bodies at it. Though that option may work sometimes, it comes at a cost. Eventually, you'll find that you aren't getting that much more out of the machine despite the added personnel. In response to that problem, Rob and his company spent a lot of time looking at how you can move to tangible measurements instead of making decisions based upon gut feelings. They have identified 5 metrics to improve your company's performance. 1. Lead quality Leads are not created equal. If I have 1,000 leads and a 2 percent conversion to close, that's a super easy way to measure. But if I get a referral from my rich uncle, that's probably a much easier sale than calling someone who has never heard of my business or product. We fail to pay attention to these factors, but they are important. Unfortunately, they can also be difficult to determine. Begin by creating a baseline. If you find that of 1,000 leads you generated in the last period, you were able to generate 20 sales, you can measure a 2 percent conversion. [Tweet "Figure out where your leads come from. Once you've identified that, you may determine that the conversion rate for a particular lead source is higher than the others. #LeadSource"] You can also evaluate your leads by industry and location. Once you understand those conversions, you can identify the leads that are not likely to close and stop wasting your time on them. 2. Prospecting effectiveness Prospecting results in a lot of "no" responses. The only thing that really matters is engagement. As a rep, you must get a certain amount of engagement every day. Some people do it with sheer numbers. Others send fewer contacts but they personalize the ones they do send. Whichever approach you use, make notes every single time an activity results in something. When you do, you'll begin to recognize patterns. Your numbers might look great, but if the outcomes aren't there, those numbers don't mean as much. 3. True pipeline Rob points to a concept he calls a critical deal. Some companies do pipeline reviews on a weekly basis but others do it on a daily basis. It's a chance to see how well deals are progressing. Consider the following three factors: Is it a big deal that matters? If it's a $500 deal when typically your deals average $10,000, you probably shouldn't even look at it. Is the significance there? Is it a deal that is unlikely to close? Consider the probability. Has something happened that would make you think it's less likely to close? If you've had no communication with the customer or other indications that the deal may stall, consider those. If these three factors aren't there, you probably should focus on other deals. Move the critical deals forward and think about your deals in a structured way. 4. Product knowledge On the rep side of the issue, reps must have product and industry knowledge. When you're just starting out, you won't have as much knowledge as those who have been there for years. How well does this rep know the industry and the product? How does he compare to other reps? Those with the best product knowledge won't necessarily be the best performers. You can't possibly know every single factor of the industry. You simply must know enough to be credible. Those who haven't reached that minimum threshold will struggle until they do. Consider also closing ability or the ability to look at the last part of the deal. When you get to the last stage of a deal, what happens? How often do you win? You'll see patterns if you track this rate. Does one rep have more of a killer instinct? 5. Engagement ability If you are able to generate a lot of engagement, you're probably a good communicator. You're probably good at providing valuable information to the prospect. Instead of measuring how the prospect responds to it, measure how much engagement the rep is able to generate. Technology The reality is that your sales team probably includes a few people who don't have the right product knowledge and a few people that don't have valuable leads. You may have a few areas where your marketing team is spinning its wheels. When you start addressing some of these shortcomings, you start to see amazing results. By fixing the one thing that's screwing you up, you unlock the potential for your sales organization. Team mood As a sales leader, you probably have a gut feeling about your team's morale. Y

Very often, sales reps find themselves frustrated and hemmed in by the mistakes small company sales leaders make. I had a conversation last week with a sales rep who was frustrated because his company had no real plan or guidance for how it would achieve the owner’s vision. The owner expected Herculean efforts by the rep, but eventually the rep stopped performing and left the company to escape the pressure. In many cases, unless the owner corrects the mistakes, the cycle starts all over again when a new rep joins the team. HONEYMOON Many of us in small organizations understand the excitement of entering a new role only to discover that the reality was different than the idea you bought into. The sales rep I mentioned was never good enough to accomplish what the boss was hoping for, because there was no plan in place to help him succeed. Because the rep wasn’t as successful as the boss expected, he was moved into a different role. The rep continued in a sales support role, but his demeanor changed. His excitement disappeared. He wasn’t giving as much of himself to the company because he was discouraged by all that had happened. Eventually he left the role and moved into a much better position. MISSING PLAN Entrepreneurs certainly have the freedom to set their own vision for their companies. It’s their responsibility to establish where the organization will go, but they must also determine how it will get there. Imagine an owner who sets a goal to make $1 million. He wants the best sales reps to come into his organization and help him carry out that plan. He hires a successful sales rep from another company where there is already a proven sales process and proven guidance to help him succeed. The owner expects the sales rep to execute at the new company the same way he did at the previous one, except there’s no structure in place. If the rep didn’t take the sales job expecting to have to reinvent the wheel, he’ll likely be frustrated by the lack of any kind of process. If he’s a new seller, he may not have the resources or the experience to help build a sales process from nothing. As a result, he’ll be frustrated and burned out quickly because he doesn’t have the necessary tools to be successful. Without a change in the owner’s approach, every sales rep who walks into this same situation will likely end up leaving. MISTAKE 1: FAILING TO FIND THE BEST CUSTOMER If you don’t identify the best potential customer for your business, the sales rep will constantly have to switch gears in an effort to pursue different prospects. He’ll struggle to gain traction because he’ll be chasing too many possibilities. He likely won’t have any idea what works and what doesn’t, because he’ll be spread too thin. Have a clear definition of the customers you’ll pursue, and how you’ll connect with them. If you haven’t already determined who your ideal customers are, give your sales reps additional time to figure out which customers are worth pursuing. MISTAKE 2: FAILING TO UNDERSTAND BASIC METRICS If you aren’t tracking certain metrics within your company, you’ll have no way to determine which efforts are working and which ones are not. Begin by determining which KPIs you’ll use to evaluate the effectiveness of your sales reps. How many deals do they close? The number of appointments they set? How many demonstrations do they schedule? How many contacts do they locate? I recommend you focus on outcome-based KPIs. It’s ok to track the day-to-day activities that produce important outcomes like demonstrations scheduled or deals closed, but I wouldn’t judge your employees on those metrics. Avoid measuring vanity numbers like the number of calls made and instead evaluate meaningful numbers like the number of appointments that resulted from those calls. Determine what kind of realistic result your rep should be accomplishing. Should he be closing $6,000 worth of deals each month? Once you know that, you can help your reps ramp up. Once you have a trajectory, plan, or path to follow, your sales reps will be able to duplicate their results over time and eventually hit even bigger goals. #SalesGoals CLICK TO TWEET MISTAKE 3: FAILING TO GUIDE YOUR TEAM Once your team has an understanding of the ideal customers and how to find them, you must give your team a clear expectation of what to say. Prepare your team for the questions they must be prepared to answer and the objections they’ll likely hear. Develop resources like downloads or podcasts or articles that will help your sales reps educate themselves. Accumulate resources that your reps can share with your prospects. If you don’t help your sales reps succeed, they will move on to another company. Then, you’ll find yourself in the same mess again. Don’t make these same mistakes. Develop a plan to help your team succeed. Check out the TSE Certified Sales Training Program for help building a successful team and an effective process. “MISTAKES SMALL COMPANY SALES LEADERS MAKE” EPISODE RESOURCES Th

Salespeople don’t like to hear the word “no” but Andrea Waltz is going to help you change the way you look at that response so that you’ll find yourself trying to go for no. Andrea and her husband struck out on their own about 19 years ago. They did sales workshops and trainings for big companies, and they found that their rejection piece was the thing everyone loved. This was a problem and a solution that affected everyone no matter what business they were in. In this replay of a 2017 episode of The Sales Evangelist, Andrea offers the following advice to those dealing with rejection. IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU. Although it’s true that the rejection isn’t personal, it’s hard to avoid internalizing that rejection. It’s normal to respond emotionally when someone tells you no. If, however, you allow rejection to take control of your sales process, you end up with mediocre results because you’re little more than an order-taker. GO FOR THE NO. Eventually you’re going to have a conversation with someone, so rejection is always a possibility. Andrea’s husband had an experience once selling menswear, and his manager asked him what the customer said no to. Her husband pointed out that the customer bought everything he recommended and didn’t say no to anything. The manager then asked, “Well then how did you know he was done?” As sellers, we tend to sell to our own wallets, but if we could get comfortable being told no, it’s possible that we’d be even more successful. We must get used to hearing “no.” HELP STRUGGLING SELLERS. “No” doesn’t mean never; it means not yet. “No” is the beginning of a negotiation. If you call on someone who is happy with the current supplier, that won’t necessarily be true forever. You must stay in touch and follow up even when people tell you “no.” Encourage your sellers to continue the follow up. It’s easy to lose track if you don’t use your CRM. There’s also an interesting phenomenon around getting a “yes.” Everyone celebrates that “yes.” Contrast that with the person who makes 20 phone calls and gets nothing but “no.” Consider that a lot of those “no” answers can turn into “yes.” Don’t just reward results; reward activity. #GetUsedToNo CLICK TO TWEET Track your “no” answers. Set a “no” goal. If you get permission to follow up, you absolutely must do it. MANAGE “NO.” Sellers must learn to distinguish the different kinds of “no” answer. When you avoid hearing “no” you don’t get good at handling rejection emotionally. When you get used to hearing “no” you learn to distinguish the “no” answers that could potentially turn into a “yes.” Get permission to follow up with that qualified prospect. At worst, ask if you can check back in a few months to see if anything has changed. You can also try to figure out what the “no” is by figuring out how you got to “no.” You have nothing to lose at this point, so try to figure out why it wasn’t a good fit. Figure out why people are saying “no” and figure out how you can mitigate that in the future. TALK TO THE RIGHT PEOPLE. If you’re getting a large number of “no” answers, determine whether you’re talking to the right people. Consider that maybe you aren’t contacting qualified leads. Maybe your presentation needs a few tweaks. If you’re only being proactive, you’re only dealing with the “yes” answers. People usually have to be contacted multiple times before they say “yes.” They are often hesitant to change, so if you’re changing a service but the prospect doesn’t want to make a change, that’s why multiple contacts are necessary. Add value. Get them accustomed to the idea. CHANGE YOUR MINDSET. Understand that you don’t just have to focus on “yes.” That mindset shift forces you to let go of being perfect. People have been conditioned to believe that “no” and failure go together. When you avoid “no,” you miss opportunities for some big “yes” answers. We want to give people permission to believe that it’s ok to get a “no.” Create a “no” awareness. “JUST GO FOR NO!” EPISODE RESOURCES Learn more about these concepts by visiting GoForNo.com. You can also grab a copy of their book Go For No!: Yes Is the Destination, No Is How You Get There. This episode is brought to you in part by our TSE Certified Sales Training Program, which teaches you to improve your sales skills, find more customers, build stronger value, and close more deals. The next semester begins in April. This episode is also brought to you in part by mailtag.io, a Chrome browser extension for Gmail that allows you to track and schedule your emails. It’s super easy, it’s helpful, and I recommend that you try it out. You’ll receive real-time alerts anyone opens an email or clicks a link. I hope you enjoyed the show today as much as I did. If so, please consider leaving us a rating on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or wherever you consume this content and share it with someone else who might benefit from our message. It helps others find our message and improves our visibility. If you haven’t alread

Following up means reconnecting with the prospect, and it's crucial that you understand why and how to follow up. Many of us dread the follow-up portion of our job because we fear being a nuisance. When we do it effectively, though, it can be the key to more deals and more success. Follow up Follow up builds trust with your prospects. When you tell them that you're going to follow up with them, they expect to hear from you. Failure to follow up suggests that you're not dependable or perhaps you found another prospect that is more valuable. You must keep your promises because trust leads to success. People do business with people they know, like, and trust. [Tweet "At the end of every single interaction with your prospect, you should have some form of follow-up in mind. #FollowUp"] Next steps Create a meaningful process that will help move your prospects forward. Decide what you need to do next and establish a clear next step for every single appointment. When you meet for the first time, schedule a next step that will allow a deeper dive with that prospect. Let your prospects know that there will always be a clear next step as long as you two are a good fit for one another. Ask your prospects what they would like to do next. Based upon their answer, you can schedule your next step. Be prepared to offer some options for meeting days and times. Do NOT leave the meeting with a general statement that the prospect will follow up with you. Better to have a specific sense of whether the relationship is moving forward than to be left wondering. Effective strategies For most sellers, none of this is new material. We KNOW that we need to follow up. Once you've created the next step, use Google Calendar to create a notifications that will remind each of you about the meeting. Even if your prospect indicates that the time isn't right for your product or service, have a follow-up in mind that will allow you to reconnect with him after the fact. Stay in touch. Keep your prospect moving in the right direction. "Why and How to Follow Up" episode resources Check out the book 15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time Management by Kevin Kruse. This episode is brought to you by the TSE Certified Sales Training Program. If you put in a lot of hard work in 2018 but weren't able to close many of your deals, we can help you fix that. We have a new semester beginning in April and it would be an honor to have you join. Visit thesalesevangelist.com/CST. If you haven't already done so, subscribe to the podcast so you won't miss a single episode. Share it with your friends who would benefit from learning more. This episode is also brought to you in part by mailtag.io, a Chrome browser extension for Gmail that allows you to track and schedule your emails. It's super easy, it's helpful, and I recommend that you try it out. You'll receive real-time alerts anyone opens an email or clicks a link. Mailtag.io will give you half-off your subscription for life when you use the Promo Code: Donald at check out. I hope you enjoyed the show today as much as I did. If so, please consider leaving us a rating on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or wherever you consume this content and share it with someone else who might benefit from our message. It helps others find our message and improves our visibility. Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

If you struggle with sales and the challenges that go along with it, you aren’t alone, and today Ted Ryce shares how he overcame his own struggles and how you can overcome sales plateaus. Ted has been a health and fitness professional for the past 17 years in Miami Beach. He has worked with tons of celebrities, CEOs, multi-million dollar companies and personalities like Richard Branson and Robert Downey, Jr. He now has a health, fitness, and personal development podcast called Legendary Life Podcast. Ted figured out early on that he actually is a salesperson. Sales never came easy for him and so today, he shares with us the challenges he faced and how he overcame them so you can learn from his experience. Don’t undersell yourself Ted poured a lot of effort and resources into the fitness industry, and though it helped, he hit a plateau where he wasn’t getting more clients. For the money he invested, he expected to have a mile-long waiting list. He was in desperate need of new clients when a guy expressed interest in training with him. Ted saw it as a chance to grow his client list and raise his prices. Looking back, he realizes that because he didn’t have confidence in his business or his cost, he didn’t justify the cost to his prospect. Determine your value, and stick to it. Differentiate yourself Once you play the price game, everyone loses, including other people in your industry. You have to differentiate yourself and have a reason for charging as much as you do. You must explain it so that the prospect can understand the cost. Have a reason for charging more, not coming from a place of being awesome but in a way the prospect can understand. In Ted’s case, he realized there would always be people who would work for less money, so he started to highlight how his training was different. He offered a holistic approach that included sleep and other physical and health challenges, and he specialized in injuries. He also had a background of working with CEOs, so he marketed himself accordingly. Sell what the client wants Don’t sell yourself or what you want to sell. Sell exactly what the client wants. Ted worked to determine exactly what his clients needed, and then he sold them exactly that instead of selling what he wanted to sell. He also made peace with the idea that some customers would need something different than what he was selling, so he would be willing to refer them out. Match what you do with what someone else needs. [Tweet "When you value your product or service in the right way, price no longer becomes an issue. #Value"] Reach more people Once you’ve narrowed your message, find ways to reach the people who can benefit from your product or service. This is a great way of selling yourself without selling yourself. Go out there and do more presentations. Do a podcast. Eventually, they will look at you as a leader in your industry. People will apply the things you’re sharing, and if it helps them succeed, they will view you as a subject-matter expert. Take things step by step. Stay at it. Take lessons and courses. Listen to podcasts. Stay on course to make consistent improvements. In 3-6 months time, you’re going to see major changes. Stay consistent, keep at it, and don’t give up. "Sell Value" episode resources You can connect with Ted on the Legendary Life Podcast, and check out the Be The Change group. This episode is brought to you in part by our TSE Certified Sales Training Program, which teaches you to improve your sales skills, find more customers, build stronger value, and close more deals. The next semester begins in April. This episode is also brought to you in part by mailtag.io, a Chrome browser extension for Gmail that allows you to track and schedule your emails. It's super easy, it's helpful, and I recommend that you try it out. You'll receive real-time alerts anyone opens an email or clicks a link. I hope you enjoyed the show today as much as I did. If so, please consider leaving us a rating on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or wherever you consume this content and share it with someone else who might benefit from our message. It helps others find our message and improves our visibility. If you haven't already done so, subscribe to the podcast so you won't miss a single episode, and share with your friends! Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

One of the biggest challenges in business is keeping that constant flow of new customers in the pipeline. How you brand yourself and your company is imperative in producing growth and recurrent revenue. Johanne Wilson is co-founder of a Florida-based design agency called COOL Creative. COOL stands for Create Out of Love. Their branding comes from a creative and design standpoint. Challenges in sales Every company experiences challenges when it comes to sales. Understanding those challenges and learning effective ways to overcome them can increase your sales. It can also clarify your target audience and reveal how to best go about reaching them. Find effective ways to pitch so you can have a healthy flow of clients and client work. When you do, you’ll create active, recurrent clients that return again and again. From a fashion standpoint, offer enough product and keep it updated and fresh. The customer will keep coming in to purchase product and will create recurrent revenue. Change product release times and inform the customer of new releases to keep him engaged.. Strive for constant communication with the customer in order to drive sales. Solutions to challenges Maintain consistent growth within your business. On the agency side, COOL Creative developed a growth plan that would move the sales needle. For example, making an investment in the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program provides tools for creating an effective growth plan. Johanne realized that she was spending too much time on client work and not enough on the sales side of her business. As the business leader, she realized she was spending a lot of time on design because she was comfortable with it. She was not investing enough time in the sales side. She learned that in order to be a good business person, you have to become a good sales person as well. You must familiarize yourself with the aspects of business that you aren’t comfortable or familiar with. Prioritizing sales On the fashion side, pushing more on advertising, marketing, social, communication, and partnerships with influential people like celebrities can all help drive sales. Right partnerships can lead to other agencies funneling clients your way. Work smarter, not harder. Identify the areas that need more attention and push toward making those a priority. As an entrepreneur, Donald neglected the sales facet. But once he made sales a priority, everything else fell into place. As a business leader, sales is a necessity. Nobody knows your business better than you. Nobody can sell it better than you. It can be hard to let go of the things that got you into business in the first place. Identify the areas of business that aren’t as strong. Invest more time and energy into those areas. Business will become healthier and you will be able to serve clients better. Understand your clients’ issues and the strategies you will use in solving them. Then attach a price tag to those solutions. When you and the client see amazing results from something you helped him with, it’s rewarding. Bringing a client’s idea to life or bringing a business objective to life makes it all worthwhile. Create Out of Love (COOL) speaks for itself when these instances occur. Results of changes Growth is always a good indicator for having made positive changes. You don’t have to do anything drastic: small changes can have big rewards. What are you focusing on? If your head is always down working on the deliverables, which is important, you must make sure there is a strong person on the sales side to keep the engine moving. Speaking to the creative entrepreneur, don’t forget why you are in business. While it is the creative piece that got you started, you have to get good at the business side, too. This includes sales, accurate bookkeeping, and meeting with other professionals to make sure that the business stays in good standing. "Constant Flow of New Customers" episode resources You can reach Johanne Wilson online at www.coolcreativeinc.com. Here you can link to the online shop, Instagram @CoolCreativeinc, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. This episode is brought to you by the TSE Certified Sales Training Program. If you put in a lot of hard work in 2018 but weren't able to close many of your deals, we can help you fix that. We have a new semester beginning in April and it would be an honor to have you join. Visit thesalesevangelist.com/CST. If you haven't already done so, subscribe to the podcast so you won't miss a single episode. Share it with your friends who would benefit from learning more. This episode is also brought to you in part by mailtag.io, a Chrome browser extension for Gmail that allows you to track and schedule your emails. It's super easy, it's helpful, and I recommend that you try it out. You'll receive real-time alerts anyone opens an email or clicks a link. Mailtag.io will give you half-off your subscription for life when you use the Promo Code: Donald at check out. I hope you enjoyed the

Stories provide a powerful opportunity to connect with your prospects, and story selling can push you across the line and even make you more successful than the competition. They can even help you overcome a less superior product because people respond to good stories. Stories as a lifeline Good stories can separate you from your competition. I'm putting together a workshop right designed to help business owners understand the power of stories in the selling process. Many of them are trying to land big contracts without great stories. I call this process edutaining, and it differentiates those who do it well. After all, anyone can talk about their product or service. Not everyone can explain how it solve problems for clients. Not everyone can give specific examples of the difference their product or service made. Your prospect wants to hear why it matters. He doesn't care about your software or widget; he cares about what it can do for him. [Tweet "When you share the story of your widget and the problems it has solved for other people, your buyers will engage. You'll build a connection with your buyer that will make him want to hear more. #StorySelling"] Focus on "why" I'm helping a client build a huge presentation for a corporation her company has done business with in the past. She'll be educating these buyers about her company and its offerings. As she prepares, she's trying to determine what exactly she should say. We're working to provide the "whys" of her company instead of focusing on the "what." Rather than address what they do, what they offer, and what they can create, she'll focus on why they've done those things. Why did you start the company? What makes you passionate about solving this issue? Why do clients seek your products? When she told me the story of why she started the company, she came to life and her excitement pulled me in. She told me about her first client and the series of events that launched the whole company, and she pulled me in. It didn't matter to me that she had been in business for 15 years. The buyers Think about your buyers. Spend time thinking of examples of the ways you help your customers solve problems. Ask yourself what your buyers are most concerned about. Think back to an experience when you helped a client solve an important problem or prevent a crisis for their own customers. Then, weave that into your presentation. In the case of this client, her company had suffered a bad experience because of a product delay, and she was concerned about how to handle the situation. To take the fear out of the incident, she decided to tell a story that directly addressed it. She acknowledged that her organization isn't perfect, and then she addressed how they had fixed the mistakes that happened in the past. She emphasized her company's desire to never make the same mistake twice. "Story Selling" episode resources The TSE Certified Sales Training Program addresses how to provide value to your buyers. We discuss the importance of teaching and educating them using stories, and you can be part of it. This episode is brought to you in part by our TSE Certified Sales Training Program, which teaches you to improve your sales skills, find more customers, build stronger value, and close more deals. The next semester begins in April. This episode is also brought to you in part by mailtag.io, a Chrome browser extension for Gmail that allows you to track and schedule your emails. It's super easy, it's helpful, and I recommend that you try it out. You'll receive real-time alerts anyone opens an email or clicks a link. I hope you enjoyed the show today as much as I did. If so, please consider leaving us a rating on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or wherever you consume this content and share it with someone else who might benefit from our message. It helps others find our message and improves our visibility. If you haven't already done so, subscribe to the podcast so you won't miss a single episode, and share with your friends! Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

Salespeople often adopt a commodity selling mindset instead of a value-based mindset, which leaves them making less money than they could have made. They find themselves asking, “how low can you go?” Jonathan Dale works with RS&I, a nationwide company with nine branches throughout the United States. They have become the largest distributor and sales agent of dish networks. Anyone wanting the ability to resell dish networks must go through RS&I to do so. They also own HughesNet, one of the largest satellite internet providers. Jonathan manages the Vivint portfolio. As a sales leader, he teaches sales reps how to keep the sales process simple by breaking it down. Jonathan has had so many different experiences with both sellers and partners. It brings a whole other level of complexity to his role as a sales leader. Focus on value He remembers knocking on doors to sell home security systems for a company called Pinnacle. It is where he learned the ‘Art of the Sale.’ Although he didn’t particularly love it, he admits that he did learn from it. The following year, after several failures, he fully understood the sales process and realized he was a salesperson. It required taking a step back and looking at sales in a whole new way. Jonathan believes that salespeople commonly place a stigma on sales, or have a mindset about it, that prevents them from being successful. It is a mindset that they have to sell based on price. Jonathan’s biggest struggle when training new reps in the home security industry is teaching them to become more of a value salesperson versus a commodity sales rep. He wants them to pitch the overall value of the service rather than diluting the service. Let the customer decide what the spending habits will be. The opportunity for a sales rep to make the most money is when the customer is comfortable with where he wants to be. Often times, as sales reps, we want to fit each customer into the same size box. Yet, at the end of the day, if we try to force that fit, we lose money. Forcing our clients into a package that they do not need only leads to chargebacks. Don’t compete on price Jonathan works with over 350 different retailers that take Vivint as a secondary, tertiary, and even fourth line sale. It is a struggle to get them to understand that he doesn’t want them to compete on price. Instead, he wants them to have a conversation about the value of the service and let the customer decide if the product fits their needs. Sales reps, however, are prone to touting the price because it seems easier. Jonathan made an interesting transition two years ago which was actually detrimental for a few months. He moved from home security sales - a totally valuable sale - to satellite sales which was more of a commodity. He realized he was losing money because he wasn’t committed to the value of the product. Often times, sales reps want to take the path of least resistance - the easier sale. If you can provide the customer with benefits, instead of simply selling features, you create value in your product. By allowing the customer to then determine his spending habits, your earning potential is maximized. Don’t lead with your own wallet When I sold training classes for $10K a class, the most money I had ever had in the bank at one time was $3,000. It made no sense to me. I just couldn’t understand why someone would spend that much money. As a result, it definitely limited my ability to sell. I needed to realize that my clients would get a huge return on that $10K investment - that there was a value to what I offered. [Tweet "Don’t assume what the prospects can, or cannot afford, based on your own wealth. #SpendingHabits"] We don’t know their spending habits or capabilities. Instead, believe that your product is the best in the industry regardless of what the competitors offer. Know that your prospects will pay for it because it is the best product available. Keep it simple Keep it simple, silly! K.I.S.S is an acronym that Jonathan keeps in mind when he teaches the retail process to his sales reps. Look at the product in total. Do not ‘product spew,’ meaning, do not lecture your prospects on every single detail of the product because that is not what they need. Instead, sell the benefit of the product. Increase the value of the product by explaining the ways it can serve the customer. When the question of price arises, turn it back around and ask the customer what he feels it is worth. If all went well - if the sales rep has created significant value in his presentation - the customer will be pleasantly surprised when presented with the cost because he has placed an even higher value on it. Commodity selling means to provide the customer with the necessary scenarios to imagine for himself the benefit of your service. Know that value should exceed cost Everyone wants to know what's in it for them. They want to know the biggest return they can get on any investment. As sales reps, keep that in mind. The sales pi

As sales reps, we all want to know how to turn a ‘No,’ to a ‘Maybe,’ to a ‘Yes!’ Tamara Thompson is the owner of a creative video production company that brings compelling stories and brands to life; from events to influencers to business owners. It is for those who need marketing assistance or who seek to broadcast their authority across different social media platforms. Video is her forte’. She is very passionate about it and has directed several documentaries. Tamara started using a video camera at the age of 7 and followed her dream into film school before launching her own business, Serious Take Productions, in 2012. She is now focused on building her sub-brand, Broadcast your Authority, to help empower more female business owners – from taking the stage, to gaining media exposure, to implementing video that will attract and keep attention. Tamara knows full well that receiving a ‘No’ in sales is inevitable. She used to take it personally until she read The Four Agreements, a book which she credits with changing her life. MOVING BEYOND ‘NO’ Now, she views ‘no’ with a different mindset. That ‘no’ can turn into a ‘maybe’ and then into a ‘yes’ when you have the mentality and are able to think abundantly in order to handle rejection. Taking rejection personally only allows it to spiral out of control into negative feelings about one’s abilities. The more positivity flows around you, however, the more you are able to deal with objections. To handle the conversation, you have to be able to listen to why they are saying ‘no.’ It is a preemptive process. It is the preemptive way of thinking when entering into any conversation: don’t expect a ‘no,’ but recognize that it may happen and be prepared. When facing ‘no’ as an answer, it is time to discover why the hesitation exists. In this way, you can provide a different solution that caters better to the needs of your clients. As the owner of a professional video company, Tamara knows she has the one-up in many situations simply because, in order to build a relationship with her clients, she needs to know exactly what entices them most and what they need most. As an example, Tamara recalls hosting a ‘sale from the stage event.’ It’s a selling opportunity to a massive amount of people who are then invited to ask questions and to sign up for video retreats. One woman, in particular, had many questions about her unique situation. Tamara was able to zero in on the specific hesitations of the prospect and cater to her needs as a result. Relating to the prospect and fully trying to understand the reasons behind any hesitation is how Tamara is able to turn a ‘no’ into a ‘yes.’ LISTENING She doesn’t view ‘no’ as a rejection or a lack of interest but rather as a call for more information. A weak seller might give up but a great seller will try to be helpful, to relate, and to listen. When you truly care about the people you are working with and for and want to build a relationship with them, it is easier to steer conversations toward ‘yes.’ Once you understand the struggles and objections, it is easier to respond properly. Tamara is passionate about her business. She is confident that listening and empathy can go a long way in helping sales reps close deals even if they are not particularly passionate about their product. New sellers sometimes don’t know what to listen for. Tamara recommends doing research on any person you hope to speak with. Take time to learn their lifestyle and interests and what their brand and business look like. Then tailor your questions accordingly. The right questions – the right amount of interest in what the prospect is already doing – can open them up to tell you more. Find out why they do what they do and where they want to go. Most prospects are passionate about their business and when they are hesitant to make a change, you can hear it in their voice. Once you understand their goals, you can help them past the hesitation. BEING PERSISTENT If a hesitant ‘no’ is still the answer, Tamara recommends follow-up. Aim for a ‘maybe’ even if it means following-up multiple times, or several months later, because people are busy and can’t always respond the first time. Once the prospect realizes that the sales rep is attempting to provide a solution and to help versus just trying to make a sale, it opens doors. Persistence and the ability to listen to the real concerns of any prospect are Tamara’s key pieces of advice. Give prospects the opportunity to understand what it will really be like to work with you. #ProspectExperience CLICK TO TWEET The more they can see the value in what you offer, the more ‘no’ moves to ‘yes.’ “HOW TO TURN A ‘NO,’ TO A ‘MAYBE,’ TO A ‘YES!’” EPISODE RESOURCES Check out Tamara’s video content and learn about upcoming events on the Director Tamara Thompson Facebook page. You can learn more about compelling videos, event videos, and influencer and speaker trailers produced by Serious Take Productions at www.serioustakeproductio

On today's episode, I share why sellers must stay focused on their customers, and why AT&T customer service caused me to switch providers. My phone was disconnected. I couldn’t receive calls from my clients or from my family. This episode goes beyond sales and is more than just another episode. People matter Salespeople sometimes forget that people matter, so let my experience with a disconnected phone serve as a direct reminder about the need for quality customer service. Too often, large companies don’t seem to care about small individuals. As such, I feel a moral obligation to use my platform to share this incident so that others may benefit from my experience. Brand loyalty I remember back in 6th grade when my mom got me a pager from BellSouth. I felt like the coolest kid on campus. My friends could reach out to me and I could send messages to them; it was all very exciting. I got my first prepaid cell phone in 7th grade, also from BellSouth. I became an AT&T customer when they acquired BellSouth and I had no complaints. Eventually, I moved to the Nokia phone with text messages and minutes - and, of course, I chose AT&T. When I moved away to college, I tried to take AT&T with me but there weren’t a lot of cell towers back then so it couldn’t happen. They released me from my contract and I signed on with Verizon. Verizon was fine but I was excited when AT&T expanded its coverage and I could use them once again with my new iPhone. My family and I used AT&T for everything. It was a sad day when we moved and had to switch to Comcast but it was exciting when we were eventually able to switch back once again. We understand that companies grow, things happen, and changes are made. We didn’t like all of AT&T’s new ideas but we rolled with the punches and kept moving. A lot of plans have changed in the industry. There is a different structure to leasing phones now, for example. They also offer a prepaid plan where, if you pay off your phone, you have unlimited use for just $45 a month through an automatic bank withdrawal. Sounded good to me! Text notifications let you know when the amount will be withdrawn from your account so you can prepare. It was all running smoothly until we noticed some fraudulent activity on our bank card during the holiday season. We decided to cancel the card and apply for a replacement. You can see where I’m going with this … No customer loyalty About two weeks later, AT&T disconnected my phone, so I called them right away. I certainly accept responsibility for my share of the problem but let me tell you what happened. Because my plan had ‘expired,’ they had cancelled my services - without notifying me. Additionally, the prepaid plan that I had enrolled in was offered only as a limited promotion. To obtain the same plan again would cost me $65 a month. The money was not the issue. The principle certainly was. The customer service representative told me that because the plan had expired, I could not renew it despite that I had never canceled it. My years of loyalty as an AT&T customer were meaningless. What was my incentive to stay with a company that did not return the same level of loyalty, or care, toward me? I didn’t have time to argue. Since I needed my phone for work, I agreed to the higher plan, but only while I courted new companies, namely T-Mobile. I raised the question on social media and found not only that people seem to love T-Mobile but, at the same time, there have been an increasing number of dropped calls with AT&T service. It is definitely time for a change. Two-way street The lesson behind this story: remember that your customers and your clients are people. Cultures change and some companies get stuck in archaic ways of thinking. [Tweet "When a company chooses to rest on its laurels instead of seeking ways to continually improve, customers will leave. #CustomerExperience"] They will move to businesses that give them attention; ones that are more nimble and flexible. Don’t let your business model be stuck in the past, unwilling to deviate from the old standard. Are you flexible? Do you bend to help your customers or do you expect them to bend toward you? This month, as we focus on client success and customer service, I urge you to evaluate the way you treat your clients. Are you putting the people who pay you first? “Why AT&T customer service caused me to switch providers” episode resources This episode is brought to you by the TSE Certified Sales Training Program. If you put in a lot of hard work in 2018 but weren't able to close many of your deals, we can help you fix that. We have a new semester beginning in April and it would be an honor to have you join. Visit thesalesevangelist.com/CST. Check out BombBomb, Loom, Wistia, and Soapbox to help you make emotional connections with your prospects by embedding videos into your emails. If you haven't already done so, subscribe to the podcast so you won't miss a single episode. Share it with your friends who would benefi

As sales reps, we often forget that we can show our customers love through effective onboarding. We invest so much of our focus on getting new customers that we don’t necessarily think about how we can deliver an awesome experience once they’ve committed. Jamie Masters has been a business coach for over 10 years. She has interviewed close to 500 millionaires and billionaires in business in order to learn what they actually do, as opposed to what is written about them in books. As a result, she has extensive knowledge about how successful people run their businesses. THE NITTY-GRITTY DETAILS She says business is never pretty and certainly never perfect. But there are many cool ways, she has learned, to make the nitty-gritty details easier, better, and less stressful. Many entrepreneurs and salespersons are visionary, big-idea thinkers who sometimes find themselves frustrated when they try to implement their ideas. It is imperative that they find someone who can help accomplish all the minor details; to help with the nitty-gritty. Jamie used to work as a project manager – she identifies as a Super Geek – but yet even as the owner of her company, she struggles when dealing with details. She just hates it. Her right-hand operator, however, has no problem handling details, for which Jamie is eternally grateful. Business owners and salespeople, generally speaking, have many similar qualities. Most of the time, for example, the owner is often the salesperson for the company, particularly in the beginning. It can be difficult, however, to concentrate on the visionary quality and relationships of the business without having to worry about dropping things. BACKUP PERSON Having a backup person who can help with the nitty-gritty details provides that opportunity. The freedom to maneuver without worry makes a huge difference. Jamie knows from experience that people are usually super-excited about a sale at the beginning. But if important details are dropped as the process moves along, the customer will begin to have reservations and will doubt the legitimacy of the product and the sales rep. There are ways, however, to automate the sales process which will not only allow you to keep your customers but will impress them. If you are successful in sales, the process will only repeat itself – hopefully, many times over – so why not put a system in place to make it easier for everyone? When a company is organized, when it has a great system in place, it is exciting, as a sales rep, to execute the vision. It is exciting to share a level of expertise with your clients. It makes the clients feel important and valued as well. THE PROCESS If, for example, you can’t find the onboarding documents to send to your new client, or you don’t know which revision to send, it only creates confusion and unnecessary stress for everyone. As a business coach, Jamie’s clients begin by walking through each step of their current process to evaluate what works and what doesn’t work. Each piece – every email, every document – is analyzed from the viewpoint of a prospect and a client. Are the forms up-to-date? Are they relevant? Jamie learned of many instances when a client was turned off by the onboarding experience despite the broad value of the product or service. They simply would decide to look somewhere else. If money has not exchanged hands yet, however, you are still in the sales process. Onboarding does not begin until a payment has been processed. She prefers to frontload the payment and to begin the onboarding experience after. Handshake deals require a lot of work up-front but offer no guarantee. Of course, it does depend on the industry. It is important to know and understand the differences between those requiring high-touch and those that are low-touch, for example. YOUR STRENGTHS Jamie’s operator keeps things running smoothly and makes sure Jamie is doing what she needs to do. Salespeople don’t always think about the benefit of having an assistant but they should. Jamie believes it is important to decide how much you are willing to invest in the onboarding of your customers. If you are dealing with high-touch sales, for example, the number of nitty-gritty details can be overwhelming. In some instances, it can involve sending welcome packets and gifts. It just depends on how you want to set it up. Jamie usually sends a welcome packet to increase the level of touch. Her customers also have the opportunity to follow up with a person via an online forum. It enables her to gain as much information from the client as possible so that she can, in return, ensure that she meets their needs. LOVE LANGUAGES The 5 Love Languages is a book with an online quiz that Jamie recommends. It will let you know if the use of love languages is appropriate for your industry. Jamie discovered that, for a business coach, it is completely appropriate. Each person thinks differently about things. Some clients might love to receive gifts, for example. Jamie send

As entrepreneurs, many of us run into difficulty, especially when we are just starting out. The key is tobe bold and take action. Dr. Tye Caldwell is the CEO, co-founder, and visionary behind the success of ShearShare. Realizing what the future could hold for both the beauty and barber industries, he created a platform for licensed professionals to move from working in their homes to working in salons, barber shops, and spas. This created not only opportunities to work in places where they could be classically trained, but created an opportunity for increased income as well. Dr. Caldwell has been in the industry for 25 years. He’s an instructor with a doctorate degree in professional barbering and cosmetology and co-owner of an award-winning salon. Dr. Caldwell is also the author of Mentored by Failure, a best-selling book about how to be successful in the industry. CHANGING DYNAMICS When he approached his wife, Courtney, with the idea for ShearShare, she admits to being hesitant. He reminded her how they used to have stylists on a waitlist who wanted to work at their salon, but that it was no longer the case. Instead, he had stylists who just wanted to rent a space for one or two days a week. Courtney liked the old-school way when stylists signed a long-term contract and became part of the team and the culture. But her husband was persistent. He knew he’d rather collect some money on the empty chairs than none at all. It was a success. Everyone loved the experience and flexibility. So much so, that they began to call other salons to find spaces for stylists who were traveling. Word got out quickly. More and more stylists called looking for spaces where they could work by the day. Fast forward three years and the Caldwells knew they were on to something. The beauty industry, as a whole, has been archaic for years, according to Dr. Caldwell. With only four ways to actually work – by commission, by renting a booth, in a salon, or as an employee, stylists were unable to work where and when they needed. ACCESS OVER OWNERSHIP The Caldwells wanted to change that and they knew technology was the key. These days, because of advancements in technology, people can press a button to get a ride, to have food delivered, or to rent a room in someone’s home instead of a hotel. The beauty industry needed to be more on-demand as well. Because they both serve on advisory boards for beauty schools and barber colleges, the Caldwells knew it was something the next generation wanted. ShearShare is the first mobile app that allows a stylist to rent a salon or barber shop space by the day. Taking three years to fully develop and implement the idea allowed them to realize the different ways it would, and would not, work. The industry is fragmented in some areas which made it difficult. Barbers differ from salon stylists who differ from cosmetologists, for example. The Caldwells had to consider the viewpoints of the various professionals and they had to consider both sides of every issue from an owner, and user, viewpoint. TAKING SHAPE Once they listened to what the stylists and clients really wanted, the app began to take shape. Users, for example, want to know that the stylist is licensed and how long the stylist has been in the industry. Users also want to see pictures of the salon, read reviews, and see map locations. The Caldwells had no idea, however, about how to start a business or find investors. They only knew that the app they wanted to create hadn’t been created yet, so they drained their savings account and hired someone to build it. Looking back now, Courtney is glad they spent three years as a concierge service. It allowed them time to learn the questions that stylists always asked as well as the expectations of the host salon. They learned the required data that the app would eventually need to succeed. The app works similarly to an Airbnb app in that the Caldwells are paid a percentage of the booking fee whenever a stylist reserves a space. Word-of-mouth is the best way to grow in the beauty industry so the Caldwells visited salon owners and attended many stylist events to fan the flames of interest. DETERMINATION The fear of rejection never entered into their minds because they knew rejection was simply part of the process. Instead, they were determined not to quit. Many entrepreneurs sit on their ideas because they are waiting for approval from someone else. The Caldwells understood from the start that not everyone would sign on right away, or realize their vision. It is easy to give up when those around you don’t share the same dream. Once they plant a seed of doubt in your mind, it is easy to talk yourself out of trying to achieve your dream. The one-percenters of the world take that next step. It is how we know the name Oprah Winfrey, or Tyler Perry, for example. They are the people who kept with it. They moved past the rejection and the negative comments. Look at the people who are doing successful things and

Emotional connections are an important part of life but sometimes sales professionals forget that those emotional experiences can help us make genuine connections with our prospects. In some cases, those emotional connections can help us close more deals. On Valentine’s Day, we’re sharing some ideas for ways that you can build emotional connections with your prospects. TSE CERTIFIED SALES TRAINING PROGRAM The TSE Certified Sales Training Program began as a result of my inexperience as a seller. I wasn’t a great sales rep, but I went through training that transformed me. I created TSE Hustler’s League, which was my own version of a sales training program. Since then, that program has evolved into the TSECSP. You can take the course alone or with a group to gain from group coaching. The new semester will begin in April. CONNECTING WITH BUYERS Salespeople often overlook the importance of connecting with buyers on an emotional level. People make decisions emotionally, but they justify them logically. #EmotionalConnection CLICK TO TWEET At some point in your life, you were likely interested in someone but you were afraid of letting that person know. You might have even been rejected by that person. Imagine your buyers in that scenario. They encounter emotional experiences daily. They have problems and challenges daily that they need help solving. If you step into that role, you have an opportunity to create emotional connections. BEST CLIENTS Think back to those clients you’ve successfully brought on board. Perhaps they were afraid of losing their jobs if they couldn’t solve a problem at work. Or afraid of losing track of invoices. Or unable to follow up on opportunities that came through their pipelines. They likely signed on with you because you were able to demonstrate to them how they could solve a problem. You created a connection by helping them. SENDING EMAIL If you’re sending email as part of your prospecting process, are your subject lines boring? “Join us for a free webinar.” Your prospect doesn’t care about your webinar. He cares about his problem. He doesn’t care about your business or your product until you show him how it can help him. Tap into his struggles to help him care about your business. If you’re dealing with finance directors who are frustrated with the invoicing process, try this subject line: “Dave, are you frustrated with these invoicing situations?” That may not be exactly his struggle, but if the rest of your ideal customers are struggling with this issue, it’s likely that Dave is, too. If Dave is, in fact, frustrated with this issue, he’ll likely click on your email. When he opens it, the first line will include his name, and will immediately tie back to that subject line. “We’ve helped more than 10,000 finance directors solve the problem of not being able to process invoices on time. We’ve helped them avoid miscalculations and lost invoices.” PROVIDING SOLUTIONS Once you’ve made an emotional connection with your buyer, you can offer the solution to his problem. Then, after you’ve explained the remedy you offer, you can invite him to join your masterclass or webinar. It’s possible that your prospect won’t respond to the first email because he’s busy, but you can grab his attention with email number two. When you demonstrate your understanding of his pain and his challenge, he’ll likely feel connected to you. USING VIDEOS Videos help you build emotional connections because the prospects can hear and see your emotion. Tools like BombBomb, Loom, Wistia, and Soapbox allow you to embed videos directly into your email so that your prospects have an opportunity to make a human connection. That 20- or 30-second video allows them to hear and see your emotions. You can share an experience you had in the past or a solution you’ve provided to a previous client. Sellers who do this well throughout the pipeline can tap deep into emotions. It’s one thing to tell a prospect that you can save him $50,000. It’s quite another to talk about the extra fees that a company is needlessly paying each month because of missed reports and missed opportunities. People lose their jobs over those kinds of issues, and VPs feel the pressure to fix those problems. When you can demonstrate how your company can prevent those people from losing their jobs over missed reports and missed opportunities, that $50,000 savings feels more personal. BUILDING VALUE Build value in your stories and demonstrations. Tap into their frustrations. Reiterate their challenges and explain how you can help them tackle those challenges. Work to build emotional connections. This stuff works, which is why we share it here. “EMOTIONAL CONNECTIONS” EPISODE RESOURCES This episode is brought to you by the TSE Certified Sales Training Program. If you put in a lot of hard work in 2018 but weren’t able to close many of your deals, we can help you fix that. We have a new semester beginning in April and it would be an honor to have you join. Visit th