The Sales Evangelist

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

So often, as sales reps, we neglect to realize that the customer journey starts with the prospect experience. Sean McDade, PhD, is the founder and CEO of PeopleMetrics; a software and services company that helps organizations measure and create a better customer experience by listening to their customers and prospects. Sean is also the author of “Listen or Die: 40 Lessons that turn Customer Feedback into Gold,” a book about how to listen to your customers, clients and prospects in order to create a better experience for them. CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE Any time that a company interacts with a customer or prospect, they are providing a customer experience. It could be a digital experience on a website, an in-person experience through a meeting with a sales rep, or customer experiences via contact centers or online chats. A great company is one that consciously manages those interactions to create positive experiences for their customers. As a sales rep, the experience you give to your prospects is very important. The prospect’s interaction with a sales rep sets the tone for the experience he can expect as a customer. This is especially true if you are selling B2B products, software, professional services, or any high-end consumer products that a prospect is likely to spend significant dollars on to purchase. A sales rep can increase the value in the sales process by answering questions in detail, by solving problems, and by reducing pain for the prospect. The metric used to measure customer experience is substantially higher for sales reps who add value over those who do not. When a prospect feels that he was lied to, or misled, at the beginning, it is difficult to recover. The great sales reps are the ones who set the tone for a great customer or client experience over the long-term. As for the sales reps who are not setting a positive tone – Sean believes they are creating the very real possibility that the client will churn in the future instead. MARKETING VS SALES Marketing sets the brand promise. They set the expectations but it is up to the sales reps to bring it to life. The prospects will remember their conversations with sales reps long after they’ve forgotten the marketing campaign. The sales rep has more credibility and is more effective, as a result, in setting a positive – or negative – tone with the prospect. POSITIVE PROSPECT EXPERIENCE PeopleMetrics measures various attributes by sending a survey to each prospect to determine the experiences that the reps create. In this way, Sean has found the prospects always feel that value has been added to their experience whenever a sales rep is able to provide these five things: Be prepared. A great sales rep is one who is super-prepared. They know the prospect inside and out; the reps don’t ask questions that are easily found online, for example. Be comfortable answering questions. A great sales rep understands their prospect’s situation and can suggest solutions. Be a good listener. A great sales rep listens more than he talks and will really understand the needs of the prospect as a result. Be knowledgeable about your product. Be able to answer questions beyond what is already available online. Be proactive. Be timely and follow-up. When you add value to the experience, the prospect will not only be a client that buys more, he will be a client that provides referrals. #Referrals CLICK TO TWEET Referrals are key, especially in the B2B market. At that level, buyers actually seek out referrals from other buyers before making big decisions. THE CONSULTATIVE SALE REP As sales reps, we sometimes feel as though we are simply taking orders when, in truth, we should aim to be more of a consultant for the buyer. The company we work for should be one that values the consultative element: providing training, experience, and hands-on opportunities for the sales reps to really learn the product well. As an example, Sean has a great rep at his company who is generally tasked with opening doors by understanding the prospect’s needs, identifying problems, and introducing solutions. On his own time, the rep learned the product inside and out to the point where he can now read the reports the analysts write for similar-type prospects. He knows the industry, the language, and the company so well that he is extremely credible as a result. The value that the company placed on his training continues to pay off. Unfortunately, a lot of smaller companies are unable to provide training, so it is up to the rep to become consultative through proactive measures. Learn as much as you can about the product and the industry and talk to account managers who are servicing similar products, etc. LEARNING YOUR CUSTOMER As sales reps, we don’t need our buyers to know all about our business. Rather, we need to learn as much as possible about theirs. We need to be able to help them see their blind spots and identify their weaknesses so that we can create a great prospect experience by providing

When you’re working to stand out from the pack, there are 3 simple things you can do to offer exceptional customer experiences. In this day and age, it is easier now that ever before to stand out by offering a great experience because so many others, quite frankly, are not. We can get almost anything we want quickly and easily. That focus on speed, however, eventually causes the quality of the customer experience to decline. Think about it. So many organizations focus on speed in order to beat their competition or to attain the numbers, that they neglect to put their customers first. While it is certainly possible to have both, it takes effort. The bar has been set low today. When we focus on the speed at which we deliver our product or service, or focus only on finding and getting new customers, we neglect the people we already have. THE BUCKET ANALOGY We neglect the people we already have that are easier to sell to … the ones who can give us referrals … the ones we can upsell ….We neglect them and waste our time running back and forth, here and there, instead. It is the bucket analogy all over again. We work hard to fill our buckets by bringing people in only to have them fall straight out the holes in the bottom. We need to be sure to plug those holes so that our hard work doesn’t drain away. One of the things we can do to show love and care and respect to our current customers is to woo them, right from the start, with a great experience. What happens too often is that we knock on doors, blast emails, and get their attention with great marketing messages. We sell them on a dream or a vision, and we deliver our product quickly. But we neglect to consider our client’s experience. EXCEPTIONAL CUSTOMER EXPERIENCES YOUR CLIENT’S NAME Dale Carnegie once said that “a person’s name is to him/her, the sweetest and most important sound in any language.” It’s true. We can be in a large crowd but if someone calls our name, we immediately turn around. We want to know who knows us. Using your client’s name in conversations creates a more personalized experience. It is as simple as “What can I help you with today, Amanda?” I know for sure, that if you are going to call my company or connect with me, I will respond much better if you use my name. Be sure to address your client the way he prefers to be addressed. For example, does he sign his emails as ‘Dave’ or ‘David’? If you aren’t sure, just ask. The simple task of asking about something that is important to him shows that you care. HOW YOUR CLIENTS MAKE MONEY If you plan to teach them how to save money, or how to bring in more money, you best know how they already do it. This is why it is important to study how various industries work and operate. If your client is a nursing home, for example, a simple google search can help you understand if the client makes more money via patient stays or from insurance payments or Medicare payments. Having a basic understanding makes the conversation so much easier. When the client knows that you understand the challenges he faces, he’s more likely to listen to your solutions. PERSONALIZED INTERACTIONS Send a thank you note at the very end of your conversation, even if it is the first meeting. “Dave, it was amazing to connect with you last week” or “I look forward to talking to you again soon, Amanda.” It doesn’t have to be elaborate or lengthy. In fact, what you say in the note isn’t as important as the fact that you took the time to send one. It is great to send an email as well, but a thank you note demonstrates a higher level of care. It gives an added touch. Additionally, the thank you note will be delivered 3 or 4 days after your conversation. It serves as a nice reminder of the conversation, and it helps you stand out. You can also personalize your presentations. Use your client’s logo and tagline in every presentation you make for them. It is another added touch that shows you care and that you are willing to take the extra step. It will help you stand out significantly over your competition. If you can combine these 3 simple things that offer exceptional customer experience with the delivery of amazing speed, you are going to be totally fine. I’m sure of it. “EXCEPTIONAL CUSTOMER EXPERIENCES” 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 March. 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 el

Sellers must understand what drives their customers and their core needs in order to help them be more effective, and conducting high-quality customer interviews is an important piece in that process. Hannah Shamji is a conversion copywriter who has a degree in Psychology and training in counseling. She likes to merge her understanding of human behavior through customer research with producing an effective customer interview. It brings about accurate feedback and insight and provides a valuable asset to your business. CHALLENGES OF CUSTOMER INTERVIEWS Focus groups are a popular way of conducting interviews, but Hannah has found them to be time-consuming and not very effective in getting pure, unbiased answers. When we ask the wrong questions, we often get empty answers. There are time constraints in creating the right questions to ask. There is a difference in just writing a question and coming up with a question that sparks the emotions of the customer to draw out the purity of their response. WHY DO CUSTOMER INTERVIEWS You want to speak to the emotional drivers of your audience. This helps bridge the gap between what you might think will sell your product or service to actually selling it. Doing these customer interviews correctly will help you answer the questions of what you should sell, how you should position it, what people care about, and what features or aspects you should focus on. In the past, I’ve done things just because they seemed like a good idea rather than being sensitive to whether it was something people wanted. An example of this was for a college class, my classmates and I had the opportunity to create an on-campus business. What created excitement for us ended up being a complete failure, and ours was one of the first companies in the school’s history to lose that amount of money. We were more concerned with our own interests rather than what the rest of the student body was concerned with. This is why it is so imperative to find out the products and services that appeal to your audience. STARTING THE CUSTOMER INTERVIEW Find your target audience and connect. This audience could be an existing customer you’ll propose something different to or a prospect you aren’t sure will be a good fit. Figure out the target market and pursue it. When Donald first started out in the business industry, he worked for several small companies that did not have a target audience and they just wanted him to go out and sell. The mentality of not having a specific audience to market to is not a good sales strategy. Once you establish who you want to market to, the kinds of questions you ask are imperative. Avoid asking “why” questions. Research shows that when people are asked “why,” they feel like they have to justify or validate their answer, which can lead to defensive answers that may or may not be accurate. Instead, ask the customer questions directly relating to the product or service. FOLLOW LEADS Ask questions to understand the customer better. Find out what drives them, what situations they have encountered in the past, and how they resolve problems when they arise. This can shed light on how the customer can benefit by investing in what you have to offer. Define an anchor. What do you want to accomplish or gain from this conversation? Follow the leads. Ask things that correspond to what the customer is discussing and try to bring about different responses to the same topic. Don’t be afraid to go deeper with responses. Listen for hints about what motivates your customer: why is he interested? Why was he willing to make the investment in your product or service? What sets you apart from competitors? To those managers working to position their companies using messaging, Hannah offers the following: Avoid pitching your product or service. This keeps the customer feelings unbiased and honest. Use these conversations as pure research to better your business. Unbiased customer answers can lead to a successful, productive and efficiently-run business. HIGH-QUALITY CUSTOMER INTERVIEWS EPISODE RESOURCES You can reach Hannah Shamji through her website at www.hannahshamji.com. She provides a guide with do’s and don’ts for customer interviews on her website. 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 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 March. 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 will give you half-off your subscription for life when you use the Promo Code: Donald

One of the best ways to show your appreciation for your customers and provide value to them is to give them your all. Tiffany Southerland is a career confidence coach who works with both young, and experienced, professionals who are ready to make their career mark on the world and who want to increase their fulfillment in the work they do each day. She helps individuals evolve, thrive, and perform to the best of their ability. A business cannot exist without clients, so it is crucial to have a solid relationship with your buyers. Tiffany serves individuals one-on-one in a group setting and believes that, if they are not happy - if they have not improved or realized results - she has not done her job. It is, therefore, very important for the success of her business that she continually better herself in order to do better for her clients. The goal is not to simply make more money but rather to help the clients. A salesperson who pushes her own agenda over the needs of her clients is likely to lose those clients. The natural by-product of happy clients, however, is increased sales. Tiffany recalls failing to launch a group program twice because she had locked herself into reaching a specific number. She was focused on that target instead of the service she wanted to deliver. Once she removed the target and focused on the experiences, services, and opportunities she wanted to provide for her clients instead, she began to see results. Her level of stress was replaced with positive energy. People began to react differently to her as a result and her new goal was reached. Our unique gifts Tiffany knew that she wanted to build her business for the sake of changing people's lives and she wanted to leave a legacy. She had to realize and believe that she was capable of doing so. She needed to believe that she was uniquely gifted to provide her services in the way her clients wished to receive it. Tiffany was serious about reaching her goal. She knew she was capable of making an impact in a way that only she was qualified to do. Tiffany believes we are all uniquely gifted because our lives are all different. We came into our particular roles in a way that no one else did, even if we are doing the “same job.” Once you internalize that concept and apply the difference to the way you do business, you begin to walk authentically and in your own unique voice. Regardless of the metrics or the sales targets, if you can show up authentically, it becomes easier to do anything. You are no longer working to fit somebody else’s mode. You will be perceived differently. People can tell when you are trying to be something you are not. Instead of thinking about making a sale, think about serving a need. If your product or service can meet the need, the entire perspective and experience for both the buyer and the seller shifts. Rather than ‘just selling,’ you are literally meeting a need. Comparison is the thief of joy It is easy to fall into the trap of comparing yourself to others in the same field and to doubt your ability to provide any unique service. Realize that you don’t have to reach a million people. Rather, you need to show up and impact just those people who need to hear your voice. We live in a world now where some people have thousands of followers. But if you have 10 people behind you - who really believe in you - that is a foundation upon which you can build everything else. Tiffany does not claim to be a celebrity by any stretch but she has a podcast audience that shares and believes in her. She, in turn, benefits when they share and connect her to others. It is impossible to be grateful and to take advantage of what you have if you are too busy comparing your achievements to others. Don’t worry about what other people have. Be appreciative of what you have. Have the right perspective and learn how to make the best from what you have been given. When Tiffany embraced this change, she was able to launch her business successfully. She was free to focus on her clients as opposed to focusing on herself and the bottom line. A call to serve Tiffany strongly believes that, regardless of industry, we are called to serve first. Focusing on metrics, for example, serves no purpose other than to appeal to our vanity. As soon as Tiffany changed her focus to the creation of a great product that would change the career trajectory of other women, she was able to truly connect with her clients. It was no longer the work she did for herself; it was the work they would do together that made the business successful. The feedback from her clients has been wonderful. They feel heard. They feel that they are getting so much more out of their experience with Tiffany than they expected. For Tiffany, that is the only result she really needs. Her clients register to improve their interviewing skills, or resumes, but they leave knowing how to clearly articulate what it is they are really good at doing and what they want in their careers. They ar

Selling a product or service that expands across multiple industries is possible when we realize that selling to everyone takes a team effort. Phil Sweeney worked in sales while in college because he enjoyed talking with people and problem-solving. Now, just two years after graduating, Phil is still working for Negotiatus, a fast-growing tech start-up business he first joined while in school. There were only a handful of employees when Phil first signed on. Now they are at 60 employees and Phil is loving every minute of it. SELLING TO EVERYONE It was exciting, as a salesperson, to have totally green fields ahead in terms of being able to work with, and sell to, any company. Phil had to quickly learn how not overextend himself. He had to learn how to hone in on the ideal customer profile. He had to understand who had the biggest need for the platforms he offers. When Phil first joined the sales team in its infancy, the company really could sell to everyone. It was a huge undertaking. They were also faced with the challenge of being a new company with little success to promote. They were shooting from all cylinders to determine where the biggest impact was in terms of the types of companies that they were attracting. From there, they were able to focus more and more on those types of clients. Phil dedicated blocks of time to the task. For 2-3 hours each day, he would not take any calls, schedule meetings, or go anywhere. Ideally, using blocks of time outside of selling hours, Phil would focus solely on who he was going to call the next day. He used many of the brilliant resources now available such as Sales Navigator, to find the people he needed to find and to learn more about them prior to the call. SHARING THE IDEAL CUSTOMER PROFILE Now that he is part of a larger sales team, he is having conversations not only within sales but also with success teams and operating teams to understand, in their opinion, which clients have been the most successful and easiest to work with. When selling to everyone is possible, it is easy to find yourself going nowhere fast. It is hard to know the correct verbiage for each industry. Selling in the medical industry, for example, is much different than selling in the automotive industry. It can be hard to land a good appointment until you narrow your focus to the industries that work best for your company. DIVIDE AND CONQUER Success begins when the teams can focus and then specialize across multiple industries. Phil believes it is important to identify as an expert in whichever field or department you are selling to. It is massively beneficial when you can speak the same language as the people you are selling to and when you can understand their struggles. Only then can you hone in on the pain points in order to solve those problems. Phil is closing sales now within 1-2 weeks of his first meetings because he has established himself as the expert in the field with the ideal solution/product. The need for his product is real and he is positioned to offer the main solution to satisfy that need. First and foremost, Phil recommends setting goals and dedicating time to the task. Most salespeople work in teams, so use that to your advantage. In Phil’s team, they announce the number of new contacts, for example, that they hope to reach in the next two hours; it is written on a whiteboard for all to see – and then they get to it. At the end of the time period, they check in on each other. Did they get it done? Or do they need to work longer? They hold each other accountable. Get familiar with the industry. Share tips and resources. Google Alerts, for example, is an excellent tool to stay on top of specific topics in a particular industry which can help you at every stage of your pipeline. Put in the time at the top of the funnel and it will pay off when it comes time to close the deal. In this manner, Phil’s sales team is leading the pack with a 115-150% quota attainment on a month-to-month basis. As a company, they have seen month-to-month revenue growth between 15-30%. STAY HUNGRY, STAY HUMBLE Everything is measured by the week or the month; even the hourly way of team progress is measured. It all resets to zero at the end of each period, so don’t hang your hat on a certain closed deal or a really good day of selling; stay humble. You’ve got to start each day mentally fresh and hungry again. “SELLING TO EVERYONE” EPISODE RESOURCES Reach out to Phil via email at [email protected], or give him a call at 631-901-2685. He is also active on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn as PhillipSweeney. Additionally, Phil is part of The Sales Evangelist Facebook group and would love to connect with you there. 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 brought to you in part by our TSE Certified Sales Training Program which teaches you to improve your sales skills, fin

When you bring value to customers and care for your clients, you’ve taken an important first step toward generating business referrals… without asking. Stacey Brown Randall considers herself a contrarian in the sales world, because she believes that if you’re asking for referrals, you’re doing it wrong. She helps small business owners and solopreneurs generate referrals and she dispels myths about referrals. She didn’t set out to focus on referrals, but after her first business failed, she discovered that business owners have to figure out how to touch business development every day. You also have to figure out the ways in which you’re willing to do it. TONS OF OPTIONS Sellers have countless options for bringing in clients and prospects to their pipelines, but they have to be options that the sellers are willing to do day-in, day-out. When her own business failed, she asked herself what went wrong. Although there was more than one mistake along the way, she realized that she never figured out how to fill her pipeline consistently. She never found an activity she was willing to do on a regular basis. She researched and found that referrals offer an amazing way to bring in clients, and they’re often quicker to close. They also trust you before they ever meet you, and they are less price sensitive. Everything about referrals is just better. REFERRAL PIECE Stacey was determined to figure out the referral piece when she launched her second business, but all the information she could find said you had to ask for referrals. To her, asking for a referral felt like a second-cousin to a cold call. She didn’t want to do it. In order to help her second business be successful, she decided to figure out how to generate referrals without asking. Once she did that, she moved into teaching other people how to succeed in the same way. REFERRAL MISTAKES Referrals are not about you. If you ask for them, or make them part of your marketing plan and develop promotions around them, you’re making the referrals about you. Stacey discovered that the sales process has three buckets: prospecting activities, marketing activities, and referral activities. What we do to generate referrals looks different than what we do compared to prospecting and marketing. When I’m in prospecting mode, I’m looking for someone who will say yes within 30 days. With marketing, it’s a little more long-term but there is always an ultimate mindset. Referrals, however, require different activities and a different mindset. The biggest mistake people make is treating their referral process like part of the prospecting effort. Or, they think about it like marketing and make it promotional and gimmicky. GREAT WORK If you’re going to hand off the client at some point, you have to make sure it’s a great process and great client experience. Nobody refers to crappy work and no one refers a choppy customer experience. That’s a foundational piece, and none of these suggestions will work if you aren’t referrable. You must do the things that make people want to refer you. The most important person in a referral process isn’t you and it isn’t your prospect; it’s your referral source. You must understand who is referring you. ACTION STEPS Begin by pulling out your list of clients, at least from the last two years, and figure out how those clients learned about you. (Pull data from as many years as you’re willing to do the work for.) You may have this information in your CRM, or you may have to do some digging. Determine who those people are that already referred you in the past, and begin there. You’ll likely realize that you don’t have that many, and you’ll probably discover that you haven’t been intentional about building relationships with those people. Figure out what you’re doing to take care of your referral sources. Because sellers often get paid on commission, it’s tempting to move quickly from one client to the next. Sometimes sellers don’t recognize that it’s a lot of work to constantly seek the next big win. Instead, sellers can spend their time doing activities they enjoy doing for people who know that they truly care. Then, the sellers can watch clients drop in their laps. If you do the right kind of work at the right time for the right people in the right way, they will fill up your pipelines for you. #Pipeline CLICK TO TWEET It saves a tremendous amount of time and money. YOUR JOB No one wakes up in the morning thinking about ways to make your job easier. They aren’t thinking about how they can refer you. Your job is to make sure that you’re doing outreach to referral sources and that you’re being memorable and meaningful. You want to use the right referral seed planting language so that you move into their subconscious. When you take care of people, they naturally want to take care of you back. We want to be the person who is constantly giving to them so they think about us in a different way. When an opportunity arises, we want them thinking about us. It’s

The Red-headed Step Brother of Sales … Client Success; we don’t pay attention to it. But, we should. There were times, growing up in Jamaica when we would have issues with getting water into our house. The pressure wouldn’t be strong enough or a pipe would burst, and we would have to take buckets down to the community water source and haul them back home. Imagine me, Little Donald, carrying a bucket of water a quarter mile each way …and I’m sure I filled that bucket to the very top. Naturally, some will spill out as you walk along, but imagine my surprise to see the bucket only half-full when I got home … A small crack in the bucket caused me to lose most of it. What incentive would I have to go back for more? I needed to fix that bucket. Client success is the same way. Nobody pays attention to it but it is critical to the organization’s success. CLIENT SUCCESS Client success is the function of a company responsible for maintaining the relationship between the client and you, the vendor. The goal of client success is very simple: to make sure your clients are as successful as possible. This, in turn, improves your relationship with the client and the lifetime value of that client. It helps the organization in many ways. As with my bucket example, client success is the source that helps to make sure the holes in the bucket are sealed. We don’t lose water – we don’t lose customers. [02:17] Compare the lifetime value of your client to my bucket of water. The last thing you want to do is lose your customers after working so hard to get them. It would be such a waste to work for a year and a half to land an amazing client only for them to move on after only a year. Multiply that scenario across multiple clients and you’ll find yourself in a whole heap of trouble: you need to fix that bucket. You need to address client success. [03:26] I read a statistic in an article published by the Precision Marketing Group which states that86% of buyers will pay more for a product if they receive a better customer experience. This may not occur immediately but imagine a client does come on board who has an opportunity to purchase more of the licenses, or services, that you offer. Let’s use furniture sales as an example. You sold a nice desk and chair to your client. In the future, what prevents him from going elsewhere if he needs another chair? [04:11] MAINTAINING RELATIONSHIPS What if your client success team was able to actively work that account and learn the goals of the client? If you knew the client was planning to expand in six months, for example, would it not make sense for you to create an opportunity to help them reach that goal? In some companies, sales takes care of this but it spreads the sales force thin. They are asked to find new people, build value, close deals, AND actively farm the account, fix problems, and keep the client happy. You need new business to come in but you also need to maintain relationships with your current clients so they will return to you over and over again. It is virtually impossible to do it all. Something has to give and, in all likelihood, new business will stop coming in. [04:58] Again, 86% of buyers would pay more for a product or service if they receive a better customer experience. Let’s say your product is at premium value and a buyer could go somewhere else next time to get it for less. If the buyer perceives a value in the sales experience he has with you, however, he will stay with you. [05:48] CLIENT SUPPORT Client support, on the other hand, is basically a range of client services to assist clients in making cost effective and correct use of a product. This includes assisting in planning, training, troubleshooting, maintaining, updating, etc. Using the office furniture example again, the client support team helps install and assemble the desk. The client success team does not. In smaller organizations, however, sellers often do it all. Solving problems while also maintaining accounts can certainly be overwhelming. You can see how this could affect new net revenue. [06:32] The emphasis on new business causes client support and client success to be pushed to the side: they become the red-headed step children of sales. CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE Another statistic from the Precision Marketing Group states that the companies who prioritize customer experience generate 60% higher profits. Instead of hiring three new salespeople, would it not make more sense to hire two sales individuals and one client success individual instead? Hire a client success person to ensure that everyone brought on board by the sales team stays on board. Instead of losing new clients each year, keep them for five or six years – even longer. Give them an amazing experience. Help them. Guide them and fix any problems they might have so they don’t feel neglected. [07:29] It has been said that the client success team is just an appendage of customer support and it is not as important as sales. But we all know t

What is the value of giving prospects hands-on control during presentations and leave behinds? Zvi Guterman, founder and CEO of CloudShare, is here today to tell us. CloudShare is a cloud company providing IT labs as a service mainly for IT training, IT sales enablement, and sandboxing, all in the cloud. Like most entrepreneurs, Zvi got the idea for CloudShare when faced with a problem that needed a solution. In previous positions, there was always a point in the sales process when Zvi needed to build a demo or training talk. When he realized how much time and work he was spending to build that infrastructure, as opposed to actually doing the demo and closing the deal, he knew there had to be a better way. He looked but couldn’t find a service to create labs for him, so he decided to create that service. Ten years and $30 million later, Zvi has seen a lot. HANDS-ON CONTROL DURING PRESENTATIONS Zvi learned from working with his customers and users that, once a prospect is given a hands-on experience, the level of commitment from those prospects increases. It is no longer some vague idea that you are selling but rather a tangible product. When the clients understand how the software works, for example, it is easier for them to imagine using it. They are more committed and less worried because their questions are answered. It also allows sales to collaborate with the prospects on how best to utilize the product. Hands-on experiences remove obstacles and shorten the sales cycle. #SalesCycle CLICK TO TWEET A hands-on experience allows sales to move control of the demonstration to the prospect. It increases the prospect’s understanding of the product and allows them the opportunity to ask questions they may not even know they had. Onboarding then becomes super enjoyable. Begin by answering simple questions and explaining terminology. Then, proceed together to determine other areas to test, what type of specific functionality to add, or which performance issues need to be addressed. It also enables sales to personalize a timeline and success criteria for each prospect. OTHER BENEFITS OF THE HANDS-ON APPROACH Client engagement increases retention. The hands-on process increases usage and reduces the risk of the prospects buying but never deploying the product simply because they don’t have the time to install or set it up. Cases will still arise where the product is not a good match for your prospect. But looking at the big picture, you want to see the No’s. Hands-on presentations shorten the time spent on irrelevant leads because the prospects will see right away whether the product is a match for their needs. Most times, salespeople focus on leads or clients that are not going to progress. Engaging the customer with hands-on opportunities saves times and energy for everyone. Zvi insists that the demonstration parameters be the same parameters the prospects can expect when the product is deployed to their data centers. They do not optimize or otherwise tweak the demonstration. This provides true value to the customers. It also allows everyone the opportunity to enjoy the move toward deployment. The transition is smoother and the actual deployment is faster. THE DUALITY OF THE HANDS-ON PROCESS The prospects are happy with the duality of the hands-on process. On one hand, they have control of the environment. No one will interfere or touch their data. At the same time, sales is available to answer any questions and to collaborate. An in-house test lab is probably the most common scenario in many organizations but scheduling use of the lab is both cumbersome and expensive. CloudShare simplifies and reduces that cost by reducing the amount of lab time. Hands-on demonstrations are more efficient, more powerful, and less expensive. Providing hands-on demonstrations and a trial in the cloud also allows for more and more advanced scenarios. Zvi sees people utilizing all the available tools together and becoming more efficient. People are now using the data available in CloudShare to calculate the probability of engagement. They can also determine where to concentrate their efforts and to learn about new directions to take. It allows people to collaborate and get the best results. For example, if a sales rep on the east coast notices better results from a demo being used on the west coast, he can quickly learn more about it and how best to apply it. With CloudShare, team members can share improvements implement them on a global scale. Organizations become more efficient as a result. “GIVING PROSPECTS HANDS-ON CONTROL DURING PRESENTATIONS AND LEAVE-BEHINDS” EPISODE RESOURCES The best way to reach Zvi is via email at [email protected]. This episode is brought to you in part by prospect.io, a powerful sales automation platform that allows you to build highly personalized, cold email campaigns. To learn more, go to prospect.io/tse. It will help you with your outbound to expand your outreach. It allows you to set it and forget

If we allow it to, fear can hold us back and dominate our lives, but if we focus instead on understanding and managing fear, we can identify the source of our fear and we can improve our own performance. Kristy Ellington shares today why she believes that being fearless is a myth, and how she overcame years-old fears to unlock improved performance in her own job. Fearless Being fearless is a myth because the truth is that everyone experiences fear. Fear doesn't simply infect one section of our lives, but rather every part. We get caught up in our thoughts and emotions, and fear keeps us from doing the things we want or need to do to get to the next level. Fear causes us to focus inward instead of focusing on the client, which is really detrimental in sales. As sellers, we want to focus on our clients and how we can connect with them, but fear keeps us focused on how they perceive us, and whether they are judging us, and how we look to them. Fight or flight Fear triggers our natural fight-or-flight instinct, which diverts resources from our brains into our arms, legs, heart, and lungs. It slows down our thinking so that we can't fully analyze situations and we can't think critically. We have no available judgment and we can't find creative solutions because we're afraid. Fear hinders us in a variety of ways, but realistically it's all in our heads and it's all connected back to some unidentified source of fear that we have to address. Take action For sellers, the need to overcome fear is real, and they don't have a lot of time to do it. They have quotas to meet and they have to pick up the phone. Understand your trigger. If you're afraid of picking up the phone, unpack that fear. It's often the fear of judgment or the fear of rejection or not being professional or expert enough. You fear going off-script and looking or sounding stupid. Use this five-step process before any big presentation or conversation: Notice. Recognize the problem. Admit when you're afraid. Aware. Be aware of where the problem is: tightness in your throat or butterflies in your stomach. Make. Make the connection. Where did you first feel this problem? What's the source? A bad public speaking experience? Evaluate. Is this real right now? You have no reason to believe that anyone will make fun of you, so your own thoughts are causing the fear. It isn't real. Shift. Once you understand that your fear isn't real, you can shift your focus back to your client. Worst-case scenario If you have any kind of fear, it's always valid to determine the worst-case scenario. If you fear elevators because you fear getting stuck and being claustrophobic, ask yourself if it's real. Is it true that you really won't be able to breathe in the elevator? Is it true that the elevator is going to fall while you're in it? That's likely something you saw in a scary movie once. Fear is false evidence appearing real. Imposter Syndrome Imposter Syndrome is huge for many people, and it prevents you from asking questions for fear that you'll look stupid. It can prevent you from understanding the buying decision or the challenges that your customers are facing. People also fear saying "no" to clients who aren't the best fit for fear of what might happen. They fear failure and what failure might lead to. Maybe you don't get the promotion or you don't make enough commission to pay your bills. As a result, you end up with the worst clients on earth because you bent over backward for clients that really weren't worth the effort. Eliminating fear It's probably not really realistic to think that someday you'll be fearless. No matter what level you are in life, you'll experience fear. The fears for a sales development rep will be different for that of a CRO. You'll always experience fear somehow. If you don't experience fear somehow, you're probably not moving forward. You should be feeling fear. It's a biological response. You can't crush it or eliminate it. You must learn to manage it. When you do, you can move forward and take inspired action that's thoughtful and clear instead of action that's chaotic and desperate. Fear is really just there to protect us and keep us safe. Your brain is working to protect you from bad things that happened in the past. Our fears now are social in nature, but they manifest in the same way that physical threats did generations ago. We don't have to spend so much time being afraid of fear. Leadership fears Leaders are just as afraid of looking stupid as the rest of us, just on a different level. They inadvertently create a culture of fear because they are operating from fear. The stressors are different because they have more responsibility. As you address fears, it becomes easier to manage them. "That which we consistently do becomes easier, not because the nature of the thing changes but our ability changes." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson Fear into confidence It's possible to turn fear into confidence. You have to be comfortable with emotion because i

Salespeople need mental toughness to weather all the ups and downs of the industry, as well as the pressures and difficulties when things aren’t going well. Sometimes clients choose another seller. Sometimes a customer ends the relationship. In other cases, we do everything we’re supposed to do, and the deal still won’t close. Today Ian Wendt talks with us about one of the most difficult moments in his career and how he got through it and continued his journey. TEACHING INSTEAD OF SELLING Sales is full of challenges, and it requires a certain amount of self-motivation. For Ian, though, the greatest challenge was when he decided that he didn’t want to knock on doors. He realized that while he was really good at selling, he was even more valuable as a teacher. He needed to find a way to make himself valuable enough that he could teach other people how to sell and how to be mentally tough, which was what he was really passionate about. It’s sometimes tough for people to build a sales career that doesn’t involve knocking on doors. Finding a way to make the transition felt daunting to him. He was haunted by the fear of what would happen if he couldn’t make it work. Ian shared a quote from the book Can’t Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds by David Goggins that goes like this: “Most people don’t even start if they don’t have a guarantee.” That was Ian’s mindset at the time of the transition. PULLING THE TRIGGER Ian decided to sell for one more summer, and his regional manager used him to do some training. When Ian went to certain offices, those groups started seeing huge spikes in their performance. He was helping them close significant deals and move the needle. He started tracking his results so he could demonstrate his value. Ian asked for the opportunity to run a training program, but his leadership told him there was no such position available in the company. If, however, Ian could prove the value in his training, the company would consider creating one. Ian is a big believer that you don’t negotiate until you bring value, so that’s what he set out to do. He was determined to produce something he could negotiate with. TRACKING RESULTS Ian started tracking the offices, reps, and leaders that he was training. He tracked their metrics and their increases and the improvements in their completion rates for about three months. He visited about 11 offices and trained more than 60 reps. Once he had a binder full of information, the leaders called him in to ask what he was doing. They were seeing improvements and they wanted to hear how he was doing it. He got the leadership on board and he created a pitch for his proposed training. They jumped on board with his idea and moved toward getting started. UNSEEN STRUGGLES One of the biggest struggles for Ian was that he wasn’t directly selling anymore. He was investing his time and efforts into these offices and these other sellers, so he wasn’t selling a ton of accounts. He got a few sales, but he went from making a lot of money to making very little. Ian overdrafted his account at least four times, which was unheard of for him. He was battling the stress of the downward mindset. As a result, he now teaches that stress is the number one factor in negativity and negativity is the one thing that will destroy a sales career. Those reps that operate in fear can be completely debilitated. WHAT IF? What if I’m moving the needle but this doesn’t pay out? Or what if I have nothing to show for all my work? Worse yet, What if I don’t make enough to live off of? Ian lived with exactly that fear during the summer he spent training other sellers. He was plagued by the internal debate over whether to return to the regular sales or to keep trying to develop his training idea. RESULTS Ian put himself in a position to do work that he loves. Now he’s over all of the training and content creation for his entire company, and he gets paid really well for it. He’s grateful every day that he was able to create his own future. He recently spoke at a conference where he reminded the audience that sales will always be hard. But, he said, if you can master it, you can really control the outcome of your life. If you can sell yourself or sell a product, it will allow you to create the life you want, and maybe the life you never imagined. #Selling CLICK TO TWEET You can find a way to do work that you love and position yourself to look forward to the work week. He loves the opportunity to share what he has learned with other people, and he loves being surrounded by people who are constantly trying to develop themselves. “FEAR AND MENTAL TOUGHNESS” EPISODE RESOURCES Ian is in the process of developing a consulting and coaching program. In the meantime, he’s doing some side work with individual organizations and people. Connect with Ian via direct message on Facebook @ian.wendt, LinkedIn @ianwendt, and Instagram @iwendtster. This episode is brought to you in part by prospect.io, a powerful sales

Many of us in sales have jumped into companies without a training process or guidance; we find ourselves winging it and wondering, “Where’s my mentor?” Aaron Walker started in the business when he was 18 years old. At the age of 27, he sold to a Fortune 500 company and retired. Eighteen months later, his wife told him he was becoming fat and lazy; so he went back to work, purchased the company he first started and grew it four times in 10 years. It was all fun until the unimaginable happened in August 2001. Aaron accidentally killed a pedestrian with his car. It changed his life. He sold the business and spent the next five years learning how to deal with the tragedy. CHANGING HIS LEGACY In the process, he realized that his financial success lacked significance. He didn’t want his legacy to be “‘enough money to retire at the age of 27.” Nobody cares. He wanted to make a change. He decided to spend his life encouraging and edifying others. Aaron changed the way he did business. He started looking outward more than inward and he gathered mentors to help him. His life began to take a very different path. With the help of several mentors he has worked with for more than two decades in a Mastermind group, Aaron launched his own coaching company, View From the Top. He now leads 14 mastermind groups in eight different countries to help people live a life of success and significance. ISOLATION IS THE ENEMY TO EXCELLENCE Aaron defines a mentor as somebody who will walk alongside you for an extended period of time, as opposed to a coach who helps you get through a certain point in life. Aaron has been with some of the same mentors for more than 40 years. They help him realize where he needs to go in life. Mentors are people who have been there/done that and whose core values coincide with your own. They are the people who want what is best for you rather than what is best for themselves. For sales, in particular, mentors are crucial. Aaron believes that it is very difficult to grow and expand alone because we each have only one filter – one life experience that guides how we view things. THE VALUE OF MENTORS Other people see us differently than we see ourselves. As such, mentors can help realize your superpowers. They also help you understand your weaknesses and to see your blind spots. Having a mentor to point out what we would otherwise miss ourselves can be the very thing that puts us over the top. We have many obstacles and upper limit challenges that we need to push through. Trusted and unbiased advisors can point us in the right direction. Aaron recalls a guy in one of his mastermind groups that was putting together a course that was, in reality, absolutely terrible. Everything about it was terrible, but the group helped him tweak it and shape it into something amazing. It’s the same way in our lives. Aaron admits he lacks tact but never realized that many people viewed him as arrogant and condescending until his wife pointed it out to him. It was one of his blind spots. We need people around us who can help us out. We all know the overly confident, borderline cocky salespeople. Getting them to accept advice, to realize their blind spots and to be humble is tricky. Confidence is needed in sales but people don’t buy arrogance and cockiness. There has to be a measure of humility. A mentor can help you get there. Surround yourselves in business, in marriage, in every area of your life with mentors that you trust to help you get where you want to go. WHERE’S MY MENTOR? To find a mentor, look for someone who has been married for a long time if you have questions about marriage. Find someone who has been in business for along time if you have questions about that. Look for someone who has nothing to lose, or gain, by talking to you. Family members are often biased in that regard because they want you to have what you want to have. You want someone who will give it to you straight. You have to be willing to subject yourself to scrutiny. You have to be willing to accept the truth in order to hear the truth. That is why masterminds are so profoundly helpful – you have 8-10 people with completely different life experiences at your disposal. They can take your great idea, look at it, and point out the things about it that you might not have thought of. When you work with the same people over months or years, a pattern develops and they see it. Aaron has worked with the same counselor for decades. They talk when things are going well and when they aren’t. Over that amount of time, the counselor realized that Aaron did something completely radical about once every 36 months. This type of behavior classifies Aaron as a ‘creator developer’, rather than a ‘maintainer manager.’ A creator developer is someone who gets bored easily and who doesn’t like everything to be the same all the time. It explains why Aaron has had 12 businesses. He likes to develop and create. Because Aaron had a mentor who was able to point it out, Aaron

If you've been guilty of bulldozing your prospects or being rude or uncaring, today must be the day you change your mindset: Don't treat prospects like a number. Although numbers are important to those of us who work in sales, we can't let them become our primary focus. They can help us measure our success and determine our strengths and weaknesses, but we can't reduce our prospects to a number. Find the balance Some organizations focus so little on numbers that they don't have any way to replicate their successes. They have no idea how many calls it takes to get to the right customer. They have no idea of their conversion rate. On the other hand, some organizations are so focused on the numbers that it becomes the primary focus of their work. As a result, they often sacrifice quality in the name of numbers. Do not lose track of the people in the process. My wife got a call from a traditional seller in a traditional selling situation last week: he knew nothing about the company except the name and the phone number. He didn't know who he needed to speak to, and it was obvious he was calling from a call center. The caller wasn't prepared and he didn't have a cadence to his call. Dialing for dollars Some companies have a single speed. They spend each day dialing for dollars and relying on phone calls to advance their numbers. They fail to realize that today's buyers are busy. They fail to approach selling from the buyer's standpoint. It never occurs to them that they could have brought value in an email. Or that they could have used multiple emails to share client testimonials or valuable tips or irresistible messages. They overlook LinkedIn as a place to connect with prospects and they miss the opportunity to provide value. They forget that they could mail something to the prospect or research who they should contact within a company. They overlook the strength of using multiple points of entry rather than just blasting the prospect with phone calls. Control your emotion When my wife told the caller that we weren't interested in doing business with him, he got upset. He's no doubt frustrated because he's doing the same activity every single day and not having much success, but it doesn't give him a pass to get upset. Sometimes you've brought value and done everything possible for your buyer, and they still aren't ready to buy. It's ok to say, "Hey, I get this all the time. Sometimes people aren't ready. Out of curiosity, is it because you guys already have someone in place or just that you're not looking to buy right now?" Once they give me an answer, I ask if it's ok for me to send podcasts or videos in the future. If they say yes, then I've left the door open. Instead of sacrificing my connection by getting angry, I keep opportunities open. Develop processes I'm a big proponent of making sure you have processes in place as you reach out to prospects. If you're treating them like a number and calling without doing any research, please stop. You're treating them like a number and they're going to respond accordingly. Offer personal touches. Take 2 to 5 minutes to go on LinkedIn and find out what the company does. Don't eat up too much of your time, just find out the key players and the company mission so you can have an intelligent conversation. Do work If you're trying to reach people the same way everyone else is, you're probably not going to have a lot of success. You're going to have to do a little bit of work to grab our attention in a busy setting. I recently got a video from someone as a form of outreach, and I complimented the person on the video. Then, I invited the person to be a guest on the podcast, and the show is going live soon. It's more work for you, but your job as the seller is to make the buyer's job easier. Don't add unnecessary complication. [Tweet "Treat people like people. Try something unique. People aren't robots and they aren't just numbers. #EffectiveSelling"] "Don't Treat Prospects Like a Number" episode resources This episode is brought to you in part by prospect.io, a powerful sales automation platform that allows you to build highly personalized, cold email campaigns. To learn more, go to prospect.io/tse. It will help you with your outbound to expand your outreach. It allows you to set it and forget it. Your prospecting will never, ever be the same. Previously known as TSE Hustler's League, our TSE Certified Sales Program offers modules that you can engage on your own schedule as well as opportunities to engage with other sellers in other industries. 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. 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 yo

We’ve all experienced that sinking feeling in sales as we near the end of another month … so how do you deal with the pressure of hitting your quarterly number? It’s not easy, especially without the proper guidance. Brian Manning, SVP & Head of Growth at PatientPing, works to help startups grow their ideas and he is here today to share insight on how to deal with the pressure of hitting your quarterly numbers. PatientPing is a care coordination platform that helps healthcare providers collaborate with one another on shared platforms. Brian has been with PatientPing for three years now. He oversees their sales, marketing, government affairs, and partnerships. From a sales leader standpoint, Brian thinks of quarterly numbers in terms of the Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) for each layer of the business: the overall company ARR, the sales team ARR and the individual sales rep ARR. WILL, SHOULD, COULD Sales reps often feel the pressure to perform and, as a leader, Brian likes to have his reps 3x their pipeline as they enter the quarter. As the quarter goes on, however, and things become more sophisticated, Brian moves on to the ‘Will, Should, Could’ method. This method involves marking each deal throughout the quarter as Will Close, Should Close and Could Close. Wills usually equal about 95%, while Should is at 70% and Could is closer to 50%. The Sales Operation Team does this for each week for each rep to provide a projection for the quarter. In this way, at any given week, the reps have a pretty good sense of where they stand in relation to their targets. Brian has found that the projections are smart and reliable. THE DETECTIVE MINDSET When sales reps feel pressure to hit their quarterly numbers, it is usually a result of a failure somewhere in the sales funnel. There might not be enough leads, the presentations may not convert into proposals, or the deals may be stuck in contract too long. It is usually one specific thing that slows them down. It almost takes a detective mindset to figure it out sometimes, but it can be done. A key factor in reducing the pressure of hitting your quarterly numbers begins with the numbers that are expected of the sales rep. The rep needs to be comfortable with those numbers. If they do not see a path toward achieving the goal set in front of them, they need to alert their manager right away – before the quarter even starts. It should not be viewed as a sign of weakness, nor should a rep fail to come forward because of pride. As a manager, Brian knows it is important to listen to his team. The territory could be bad, the ramp might be too quick, or the training may need to be improved. He does, however, require an intelligent and well-thought-out conversation rather than simple excuses. You never want to send a rep out to achieve a quota he doesn’t feel he can meet. It’s not healthy for anyone. With their detective hats on, the manager and the rep can then work together to specifically analyze the territory, the opportunity, and the various stages that the deals are in. It has the benefit of making the sales rep more effective which, in turn, increases the likelihood of hitting the numbers in subsequent quarters. EMPATHY Understanding and having empathy for the seller is important. They may be going through something personal or may just need help with the fundamentals. #Energy Management CLICK TO TWEET When the pressure is high or the number is high, it is especially important to take care of your health. Brian believes that nothing is insurmountable when you are feeling healthy and well. A seller under too much pressure – one with any type of resentment towards the product or the company – will not be a seller who gives his best. It will translate into his performance and affect the clients and the sales. When a salesperson puts his energy into dealing with the things that he can’t control – an imperfect product or lack of marketing team support, for example – the salesperson will always lose. In Brian’s experience, the number one difference between a great seller and a not-so-great seller is that the energy of the great seller goes to the areas where he has control. Don’t waste energy on things that will not help you reach your numbers, or succeed. Your energy, as a salesperson, needs to go into selling under the conditions you are in. This does not mean, however, that you should hesitate to flag issues. If there is something wrong with the product or the process, it should certainly be brought to the attention of management. There will always be that one guy who wants to complain regardless of the situation. But those reps that can focus and channel their energy into doing what is best for their client are the reps that will succeed. TRANSPARENCY There is a seesaw to transparency. When a rep is doing really well and is on track to reach his quota, his manager will see it and will know the rep is doing fine. There is no reason to stress. But if the rep isn’t doing well or th

One of my favorite topics to talk about is lack of confidence and the challenges and fear that come along with it; and, more specifically, how we can overcome it. Paul Carswell was the salaried manager of a Sherwin-Williams storefront for many years before transitioning in 2018 to become an independent Medicare Insurance Specialist. He works with clients ages 65+ to help them and to bring value to their community. Surviving on a 100% commission-based income took some getting used to. Instead of clients walking into the store, Paul had to learn how to make calls and set appointments. In order to educate potential clients on the complexities of the Medicare system, Paul also hosts educational events in the community. He uses podcasts like this one to reach out to as many people as possible. Such events help people to realize that his primary goal is to help the community rather than to simply earn a paycheck. LACK OF CONFIDENCE Moving from a salaried position to a commission-based position certainly caused some fear and trepidation. The transition of receiving a paycheck every two weeks, regardless of performance, to selling private insurance came with a steep learning curve. Paul knew he had to get out in front of people. Nobody was simply “walking into the store anymore.” Previously, his whole day had been planned out for him. Now he had an empty schedule that only he could fill. It seemed nice and relaxing for the first two weeks but then reality set in. With no paycheck coming in and no prospects on the calendar, Paul admits to feeling defeated. A lack of confidence was setting in. REGAINING CONFIDENCE Paul had to put his pride aside and get busy. Drawing from his experience as a basketball player, he knew he had to take shots if he was ever going to score. He started contacting old friends and networking – anything to populate his schedule. It didn’t matter if it was Medicare-related or not. Paul found that the more he put on his calendar, the more he was able to begin to weed out the events that would not benefit his business. Eventually, after about eight weeks of making calls and networking – still without a paycheck – he finally had a full schedule of Medicare-related events to look forward to. As a result of the changes he implemented, Paul improved his relationships with his friends by talking with them more. On the business side of things, he has increased his bookings from zero to 50 and is earning a decent income because of the work he put into it. It didn’t all come at once, however, as it did before at Sherwin-Williams. In his current role, sales is a lengthy process instead of a quick sale with an immediate exchange of goods. Learning to understand the long-term payout was his biggest struggle. As such, Paul advises everyone to stay focused on long-term goals. Keep putting up the shots. You don’t have to make every shot but you have to keep aiming. #KeepWorking CLICK TO TWEET The more people you get yourself in front of, the more you will realize how many people truly care about you and want your business to succeed. “LACK OF CONFIDENCE” EPISODE RESOURCES You can contact Paul on his cellphone at 703-342-9087 or via email at [email protected]. Paul is on Instagram @paulcarswell. He can also be found on Twitter and Facebook. His website will be up and running soon! This episode is brought to you in part by prospect.io, a powerful sales automation platform that allows you to build highly personalized, cold email campaigns. To learn more, go to prospect.io/tse. It will help you with your outbound to expand your outreach. It allows you to set it and forget it. Your prospecting will never, ever be the same. Previously known as TSE Hustler’s League, our TSE Certified Sales Program offers modules that you can engage on your own schedule as well as opportunities to engage with other sellers in other industries. 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. 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! Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

As salespeople, we’ve all faced new rejection. It feels like a punch in the gut every time. It can sometimes make you question if you should even stay in the business. Kevin Yee knows what I’m talking about. Rejection is especially hard to handle when you are new to it as Kevin was. Kevin left the pharmacy industry and now runs a high ticket closing agency of about ten team members working with B2B and B2C clients. It was risky move but after attending a sales training course, Kevin was highly motivated. He was excited to start making calls but terrified at the same time. He knew he lacked experience and that affected his confidence. Kevin wanted clients but he wasn’t sure if he was really going to be able to help them. Intellectually, he knew he could work hard and figure things out but he remained insecure. THE WRONG FOCUS He was so focused on those insecurities, that within moments, his first client had control of the call. Looking back, Kevin realizes he was trying to be someone that he wasn’t. He is naturally inclined to be helpful but he was trying to be authoritative in his delivery. He knew all the right things to say but he lacked conviction and it came across in his voice. It didn’t help that the client was also not interested in the services of a high- ticket closer. Kevin had worked so hard to put everything in his training so the rejection really hit him hard. His confidence in sales was shaken. He didn’t want to go back to pharmacy, however, so he decided to try again. TRYING AGAIN At the time, he was a one-man sales team. He had a marketing background so he set up a sales funnel for himself where he was the closer at the end. With help from his YouTube channel, the leads started to come in. It was a good problem to have. Kevin signed on a few friends to help out. Having confidence in the team’s ability to get results made it easier to reach out to more and more clients. Certainly, the best time to close a sale is right after closing a previous sale because that is when confidence is high. It has been six months since the sales funnel took off. The team has been getting better and better and Kevin has focused on getting more and more clients. He learned how to really connect with people and to be a good friend to his clients. Kevin takes the time to really learn about their businesses so that he can tackle any problems his clients may have. He knows that the most important part of any new business is marketing and sales. WORKING WITH OTHERS He and his team are currently in the process of onboarding a B2B client with six-figure packages as they continue to reach out to new clients. They strive to authentically reach out to people to help solve the closing and sales problems of their business. He believes there is a lot of opportunity on the table and is excited for the future. Kevin knows he could not have done it alone. He encourages you to reach out to others, especially if you are struggling. He believes that you have to have a giving mentality to succeed; nobody wants to work with a selfish person. Sometimes we just get so focused on our own lane that we fail to realize there are cars next to us. Kevin hopes his story will inspire others who may be ‘in the slumps’ to keep putting themselves out there, and to rely on others for help as you continue to do the same for others. “NEW REJECTION” EPISODE RESOURCES Check out Kevin’s YouTube channel at Kevin Yee PharmD, or contact him at refugeehustle.com. 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 brought to you in part by prospect.io, a powerful sales automation platform that allows you to build highly personalized, cold email campaigns. To learn more, go to prospect.io/tse. It will help you with your outbound to expand your outreach. It allows you to set it and forget it. Your prospecting will never ever be the same. Prospect.io is offering three months at half-price. Previously known as TSE Hustler’s League, our TSE Certified Sales Program offers modules that you can engage on your own schedule as well as opportunities to engage with other sellers in other industries. 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 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

ow do you deal with uncertainty as a salesperson? It’s definitely a tough thing that can wipe some people out. Tom Libelt has been a salesman for almost 20 years; inside sales, outside sales, retail, large corporations – you name it. He has a couple of his own companies as well and is currently focused on the marketing of online courses. Tom credits just getting up every morning and going to work as the secret to his success. And, he never leaves anything half-finished. You don’t have to accomplish ten million things in one day – aim for two or three. It is amazing how much you can achieve in a year if you just check two or three items off each day. You could record an album, get a degree, open a store … In this way, Tom has been able to 5x his company in just three months. PLAN AHEAD He says the trick is to plan ahead the night before so as not to lose your focus, momentum, and energy trying to figure it all out the next morning. When Tom is in the middle of a really fun project, he sometimes will let it set overnight just so he can enjoy it again for another day. Leaving something overnight, however, also just bugs him the whole night; he can’t stop thinking about it. He wakes up looking forward to finishing it. In his experience, completing a great project first thing in the morning establishes the work flow for the rest of the day. You will already be in the mindset to get things done. DEALING WITH UNCERTAINTY Dealing with uncertainty is especially difficult as a salesperson. We hear ‘No’ more than anyone else in any profession. It can be a real roller coaster ride: Got a sale! … No sale…. Almost got a sale …hot lead! … nothing. It is especially hard when there is a target to hit. The ride can last two or three weeks before it lands on a sale. It’s a grind sometimes and it can chip away at your confidence – and increase your uncertainty – if you don’t have the experience to handle it. As a salesperson, Tom defines uncertainty as a feeling that nothing is working. It is that moment when the negative thoughts start to take over and you begin to worry. It is when the confidence and experience you need to know you will be okay are not there. Those moments are fueled by fear and the worst decisions are often made as a result. Imagine trying to close a deal and being terrified of what might happen if you fail. The client can sense that fear and you will not close that deal despite all your abilities. The wrong value and emotions are transferred to the client. Clients don’t buy when they are scared. You wouldn’t want a hesitant doctor – you want a confident doctor. It is the same with sales. PROJECT CONFIDENCE We have to project competence, confidence, and professionalism. Tom isn’t concerned whether or not his clients like him but he does want them to trust and respect him. Tom is of the belief that although having a strong opinion may not always earn you friends, it will earn you respect. Clients don’t want someone who is trying to cater to everyone; they want someone who is confident and able to fix their problem. Tom and his no-nonsense approach have closed many sales. He doesn’t tell his clients what they want to hear. He tells them what they need to hear. Respect comes from being honest. Trust comes from delivering. #Deliver CLICK TO TWEET Sometimes the respect comes automatically because you are working for a well-established brand name but only you, as a salesperson, can earn trust and confidence. If you are dealing with uncertainty, if you had a poor showing in 2018 for example, Tom believes that 99% of the time it stems from a lack of prospecting. You have to prospect to fill the sales funnel. Sitting around waiting for the phone to ring is a recipe for uncertainty. THE FUNDAMENTALS If you follow the fundamentals, you can succeed. You have to make a start and you have to put in the work. Just because someone hung up on you one time doesn’t mean it will happen every time. Don’t let uncertainty keep you from continuing to try. I especially like working with novices because they aren’t afraid. It is the flip side of experience – they haven’t failed enough times to be afraid to try again. Tom also believes that, as a whole, we have become soft. Instead of cold calling or going door-to-door, we now have technology that allows us to stay at our desk. We no longer have to deal with brutal weather or slamming doors. Stop asking for permission. Instead of asking your manager how to best handle a call, or what you should do next, Tom says to just do it! The worst thing that could happen is that the client will say ‘No.’ If that happens, and it will sometimes, just move on and try again. You never know what will happen unless you do it, unless you keep trying. You can’t score unless you step up to the plate and swing the bat. Sales needs momentum. Tom realizes that, in the past, he wasn’t always the most successful salesperson. He knows there were times when he slacked off on prospecting, especially after a hav

If you find yourself hesitant to tell people that you work in sales because you think anyone can do it, today we’re discussing the fact that You are Important as Well!! The year was 2011. I was a recent college graduate working for the first company in my professional career. I was attending a fine dining networking event when I ran into an old friend. The old friend, it turns out, had decided to take on Wall Street after graduation and was now the head of finance for a multinational company in Miami. It sounded like he was doing great. “Hey! Donald! It’s great to see you! What are you doing these days?!” I clammed up because I didn’t want to tell him that I was in sales for a medical company. I was ashamed of saying I was a sales rep because, early on, it felt to me like anyone could do sales. [0:00] Change your mindset It took me a while to realize that not just anyone can do well in sales. And I want to help you change your mindset, too. I want you to understand that you are important as well! Many professional careers - medical, law, finance - require college degrees. They are critical jobs with important tasks. Sales, however, doesn’t carry the glamour it once did. Many of us don’t even wear a suit to work anymore. Rather, it is believed that anyone who can “sell” can get a job in sales. We sit behind a computer and make phone calls … we are pushy people, bottom feeders, and we lack the ability to do anything else. [03:19] That is how I used to feel. Now I know better. Money In sales, we have an unlimited level of income. After executives, sellers earn the highest incomes. As a salesperson, it is your job to bring money into the organization. Money is the lifeblood of any company, even for non-profits. Finance, HR, tech, even the CEO - none of them can do their job without money. The company cannot grow without money. Every department needs money but only sales can deliver it. [04:38] Certain jobs, like sales, are an asset to any company. Other positions - ones that earn a paycheck every week without bringing money into the firm - are liabilities. [06:21] Salespeople are so important to the bottom line. The information we have is needed in board meetings because everyone wants to know what the sales pipeline looks like. They need to know. [06:52] Education Sales can be an easier field to get started in because it doesn't require a lot of technical training. [Tweet "It is also true that your capacity to perform well as a salesperson will increase significantly with education. #SalesEducation"] It is why I do this podcast. It is why I offer training and how I am able to help companies, and their sales teams, do better. Understanding individuals, understanding the industry, and understanding the sales process is all part of training. It increases our education. Schools are now spending time and effort to offer sales training as a degree because they recognize the power of the sales role. They recognize how critical sales is to any organization. The prestigious capabilities of sales is returning and it is exciting. [07:33] Believe in yourself I am ashamed sometimes for ever doubting myself but I learned from it. I learned and I improved and I was able to perform better as a result. Now I understand what I am truly capable of bringing to an organization and I understand how valuable I am. Have the strong and firm knowledge and belief that you are important. Listening to this podcast, for example, shows that you have taken an interest in learning something new. Improving yourself improves the entire profession. [09:19] I was fortunate enough the other day to be thanked by a regular listener who credits this podcast with helping him succeed. He took some of the things he has learned from our guests and from the books we’ve recommended and is currently enjoying a sales incentive trip for doing so well in 2018. [10:00] Recognize that you are important. You are a professional sales rep with a skill that many people do not have. Work for a company that validates your contributions and offers a product or service that you feel strongly about. Keep learning and keep growing. Earn that unlimited income. I want you to be successful and to find more ideal customers. Build stronger value, close more deals. Do more each and every day. [10:56] “You are Important as Well!!” episode resources 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 brought to you in part by prospect.io, a powerful sales automation platform that allows you to build highly personalized, cold email campaigns. To learn more, go to prospect.io/tse. It will help you with your outbound to expand your outreach. It allows you to set it and forget it. Your prospecting will never ever be the same. Prospect.io is offering three months at half-price. Previously known as TSE Hustler's League, our TSE Certified Sales Program offers modules

On today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, we talk to Alex Quin about how to step up our game, get back up when we get knocked down, and what to do when everyone tells you no. Alex is an investor who focuses on projects that he is passionate about, whether they be in entertainment, media, or fashion. His current projects include a globally-distributed clothing company based in Miami and several content creation projects bound for Netflix and Amazon. As a public figure, Alex has had the opportunity to work with many brands that use his image and likeness for promotions and commercials. As an entrepreneur with several successful projects that garnered a lot of media attention, Alex became an influencer despite initially wanting to remain behind the scenes. [01:28] HARD WORK AND CONSISTENCY Some view his achievements as an overnight success. Alex doesn’t agree. He knows it took many years of hard work and consistency. Yet people tend to focus on the finished product. Consider social media for example. We want to portray ourselves positively and in the best light, which can come across to others as a perfect life. But social media is just the highlight reel. It doesn’t show the downfalls, the difficult times, or the moments of self-doubt. When all the hard work is glossed over, it is easy to be fooled into thinking that you are the only one not succeeding. In reality, everyone makes mistakes. But those mistakes can become opportunities to learn. [03:16] Alex cites money, or rather the lack of it, as his biggest challenge. He started an advertising company using money he earned working in the fast food industry. No job was too small. If he needed to clean bathrooms in order to afford computers or camera equipment or to pay the rent on a small office, he did it. It was a difficult journey and he worked with a lot of people who let him down. [04:46] HOW TO HANDLE ‘NO’ As sellers, many of us enter the industry assuming everyone will be nice, or at least polite. So rejection really hurts. It takes a while to understand that they aren’t necessarily being mean to us but that maybe we are just not offering a good fit for what they need. So how do we handle ‘no?’ We need to be realistic. We can get so involved in our project that we lose the outsider’s perspective and fail to see our own shortcomings. Maybe the prospects are saying ‘no’ because there is a flaw in our presentation. Maybe we aren’t doing something right. We need to re-evaluate ourselves and keep an open mind. Is the feedback coming from a negative perspective or from a constructive criticism perspective? If you are continually hearing ‘no’ – what is the common denominator? Find out why you were rejected. It is the least you can do for yourself. Find out what part of your pitch caught their attention and what part turned them off. [05:38] Study your project. What do you need to do – what might you need to change – to get a ‘yes’? The founder of Starbucks had hundreds of rejections, as did Walt Disney. They both learned so much throughout the process that when the ‘yes’ finally came – they were ready. A ‘no’ is an opportunity to learn because it points you in the direction of improvement. [07:33] MENTAL HEALTH Learning to handle rejection is also extremely important from a mental health perspective. Depression is real. It is often overlooked but it happens. As entrepreneurs, we deal with a lot of negatives and the only way to keep a positive outlook is to turn those negatives into positives. Maybe things are falling apart so that you can build them back up in a better way. Maybe the structure was wrong or the foundation was crumbling; this is your chance to fix it. Entrepreneurs are not successful simply because their one crazy idea took off. They are successful because they worked consistently at that idea. [08:56] It can be confusing when you see all the young kids on social media making so much money. You have to realize that most entrepreneurs aren’t successful until their mid-30’s or mid-40’s. You are not in competition with other people. As an entrepreneur, you are in competition with yourself. Your success depends upon your abilities: your ability to be organized, to be focused, and to care for your mental state. It is your achievement when it works and it is your fault when it doesn’t. Think of it as a race. Don’t focus on the competition, or the people behind you, or next to you. Focus on what you can do this time to make it better than last time. Focus only on the finish line and go for your personal best. [10:04] Think about your outreach. Can you improve your email? Is your offering good? Maybe it is all great but the timing just doesn’t work for your client. LEAVE AN OPEN DOOR Alex recalls working on a huge proposal for a global brand a few years ago. He spent three months researching and building strategy but didn’t get the deal through no fault of his own. He and his team had done everything they could have possibly done. The client loved it

Sales professionals who lose track of the fundamental tasks involved in selling don't perform as well, so we've created the TSE Certified Sales Training Program to help sellers stay focused on what's important. Sales includes many tedious tasks that, done together, help sellers be successful. The TSE Certified Sales Training Program focuses on fundamentals because we want to help you be proficient at selling. Golf game Golf demands precision. Small adjustments to your club or your stance can completely change your swing and where the ball lands. It's a tedious game, and the professionals who play it every day practice the same shots over and over to become proficient at it. If they don't practice it repeatedly, they won't perform well on the course. [03:19] TSE's Certified Sales Training Program intends to do the same thing for sellers. Our goal is to help sellers focus on the small, fundamental tasks on their way to becoming proficient. I spoke to a VP of a major organization about fundamentals and why we miss them sometimes; things like prospecting, asking the right questions, building rapport, listening, building value, and closing. When we don't do the fundamentals, we don't succeed. Experienced sellers I've come across many people who are experienced sellers that suddenly clam up and struggle to do things like prospecting. Fear paralyzes them and their pipelines dry up as a result. [04:02] I typically discover that they never truly understood the fundamentals, so when they started to struggle, it wrecked their confidence. The TSE Certified Sales Training Program is different than anything we've offered in the past. It's 12-weeks long, and it's broken up by month. Each month, we tackle the core struggles sellers face. The first month addresses prospecting. The second deals with building value. The third area is conversion or closing. Each month includes four modules and each module includes 30 minutes worth of video. After you watch the videos, you can engage with the coaching groups to address what you learned. At the end of the week, you apply the principles you learned, and test the results. We include role-playing and shared experiences. At the end of the entire course, you're certified. Now you can go and share what you've learned with others in your organization. We're launching a Beta test of the program and we're inviting about 20-25 people to participate with us. They'll help us work out the kinks before we publicly launch the program. Role play If you're looking to improve your own fundamentals, role play is an important tool. Even if you've been selling for a long time, role-playing helps you improve your interactions with customers. A recent guest on the podcast shared that his company shares information among all the team members, tests new ideas, and then evaluates to see how successful it was. When they stumble upon a successful idea, they apply the new concept to their own process. They role play and practice it because they realize that you can always improve and you can always learn. [07:50] Study Listening to this podcast is a great way to continue to learn about sales. In addition, you should engage in personal sales study of your own. In the case of TSE, we can't always discuss concepts in depth because we have a limited amount of time. Consider listening to audiobooks as a way to expand your knowledge base. If you don't already have Audible, take advantage of the 30-day free offer available to the TSE audience to listen to books while you do other things. If you prefer, you can use Overdrive in conjunction with the public library to get access to free audiobooks. Either way, invest 30 minutes each day to increase your knowledge and capabilities on your way to being a more effective seller. [09:05] Practice Practice what you learn. Try all the things you role played and read about and then be intentional to implement new ideas into your process. Practice them to see what kind of results you get. We're excited to share the new program with you, and we'd love to talk to you if you or your team are interested in joining us. "TSE Certified Sales Training Program" episode resources Check out Audible and Overdrive to help you maximize your growth by learning more about sales. 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 brought to you in part by prospect.io, a powerful sales automation platform that allows you to build highly personalized, cold email campaigns. To learn more, go to prospect.io/tse. It will help you with your outbound to expand your outreach. It allows you to set it and forget it. Your prospecting will never ever be the same. Previously known as TSE Hustler's League, our TSE Certified Sales Program offers modules that you can engage on your own schedule as well as opportunities to engage with other sellers in other industries. This episode is bro

Pauline “Muffin” Grayson is a graphic designer who believes we shouldn’t let anything get in the way of our passion, and she has a single message for us: Don’t ration your passion. Pauline has a degree in fine arts. After school, she stumbled into freelancing and surface pattern design; the design for gift wrap and greeting cards. You may know her from her designs on petitelemon.com and Shutterfly.com. PURSUE YOUR PASSION Pauline describes passion as doing something you absolutely love without letting anything else get in the way. For Pauline, that is design. She says she is just not happy unless she is doing it. It is who she is as an individual. Yet sometimes, societal expectations seem to limit us from pursuing our passions. I remember telling people that I was in sales and getting the distinct impression from them that they assumed it was only because I couldn’t find anything better to do. I wasn’t living up to their expectations despite that I was doing what I truly loved to do. Pauline can relate. As a stay-at-home mom, many people wrongly assume she chose to do so because she couldn’t do anything else. Pauline is passionate about being a mom, but she is also passionate about design. So she found a way to do both. It makes her a better mom and a better designer as a result. Many people abandon their passion because they fail to set goals. As a young girl on a dairy farm in Idaho, Pauline learned that hard work pays dividends. She says she is not the best designer out there but believes that her hard work and her goal to continually improve is what sets her apart. DON’T BE AFRAID TO TRY Fear is often not even based in fact. We worry about what might happen and create a false reality as a result. It is helpful to have someone to discuss your goals and aspirations with; someone who can keep you grounded and on course. Set goals high but also set reasonable timelines to reach them. Pauline recalls a time when she met the owner of Betty’s Beds, someone she really wanted to work with. Fast forward a year after their initial encounter and Pauline never heard back from the owner. But rather than letting it go, or being afraid to reach out, Pauline sent them an email. They have been working together now for some time and Pauline has seen her designs on blogs, magazines, and HGTV. DON’T GIVE UP Pauline could have concluded from the year-long gap in communication that the owner simply didn’t want to work with her. Instead, she chose to understand and empathize that they are busy with their work and their families, or that maybe the timing wasn’t right, etc. Pauline chose to share and offer value and it paid off. There is room for everyone to be successful. Find people who do what you do and ask them for advice. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. #AskQuestions CLICK TO TWEET From doing this podcast, for example, I’ve been introduced to many more people and opportunities than I ever would have if I hadn’t put myself out there. You have to get out and share. Do what you love and put it out there for people to see. FINDING YOUR PASSION Pauline always had an interest in art but as a young girl on a dairy farm, all she really knew was that she liked to draw. It wasn’t until high school, with the encouragement from her art teacher, that she started taking art classes. Soon afterward, she attended a business conference where she heard a graphic designer speak. The spark was lit. She knew that was what she wanted to do. She remembers being awful in so many of her classes. It just didn’t click until her very last class in college but she worked at it and eventually figured it out. She began working as a freelancer, designing gift bags for Target, after being laid off from her first office job when the company was bought out. With the confidence she gained from seeing her products on display in a huge retail setting, Pauline started a blog to post more items that she had designed. It was there that she got the call from Petite Lemon and Shutterfly. Put yourself out there. Don’t worry about whether it will be liked by everyone or not. Do what you love. “The work you do while you procrastinate is probably the work you should be doing for the rest of your life.” To Pauline, that is the best piece of advice because that ‘other thing’ that you choose to do may just be your passion. Find a way to do what you love. Be happy! “DON’T RATION YOUR PASSION” EPISODE RESOURCES You can reach Pauline “Muffin” Grayson at muffingraysondesign on Instagram or through her website at www.muffingrayson.com. You can also find her on Pinterest and LinkedIn. 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. They are offering a 14-day free trial, and half off your subscription when you use the code Donald at checkout. This episode is brought to you in part by prospect.io, a powerful sales auto

Today we’re talking about how to Plan, Prepare and Refuse to Give Up with podcast host, branding expert, and author Henry Kaminski, Jr. Henry is the founder of Unique Designz, a full-service design, branding and digital marketing agency dedicated to helping authority brands; coaches, consultants, influencers, speakers and authors to scale their expertise and personal brands into profitable business models. Henry started twelve years ago as a freelance graphic designer, eventually growing his business into a mature, boutique brand development agency. His average client is typically worth $50-100K over a calendar year. But Henry remembers not so long ago when he was working for Fiverr. As sales reps, we know how it feels to want to get to the top as quickly as possible. We think it will be easy but then it is not long before we hit the hiccups. PLAN AND PREPARE Henry says it all comes down to preparation. He credits himself with once being the worst salesman on the planet. These days, Henry follows a very specific, tried and true script that he practices on a weekly basis. He does not deviate from that script and, as such, he is closing more and more sales. People perceive our value based on the questions we ask so planning ahead of time what to say is key. As Henry says “asking stupid questions only gets you stupid answers.” You will be perceived as an amateur. As a brand strategist and brand developer, Henry wants to position his clients to become subject matter experts. He wants people to be on the edge of their seats whenever one of his clients is speaking. It is all about positioning and that comes with preparation. Do your research on your client. Know as much about them before you make the call. This is a lesson Henry learned the hard way. You have to know the answers to the questions but you will want to challenge the person that you are speaking to. There is no value in telling the client what they already know. Let your client know that you may ask them some tough questions – questions they maybe haven’t about thought before. Be sure they understand that your intent is not to pry but to get to the root of the issues in order to be the most helpful. BE INTENTIONAL Henry became intentional with his desire to start his own business after Hurricane Sandy blew through New Jersey and wiped out two of his biggest clients. Henry tried to continue living the lifestyle to which he had become accustomed but with a revenue loss of a quarter of a million dollars, it just wasn’t possible. At the same time, Fiverr entered the design world and disrupted the entire industry. Henry couldn’t beat them so he joined them. But it wasn’t a sustainable position. He remembers a $120 paycheck for over 90 hours of work and he remembers earning $5 for six hours of revisions on a business card. And he remembers telling his wife that they needed to make a change. She got out the laptop and said, “Let’s get to work.” Henry started working with a mentor, Russell Brunson. He couldn’t afford to pay for the coaching program but he couldn’t afford not to, either. So he maxed out his credit card and got on the phone with Russell. At the end of the one-hour call, they were both crying hysterically as Henry was hired on the spot to help with Russell’s first book launch. That gave Henry the confidence boost he needed. It was the biggest sale he ever made and it led to another job with Russell a few months later. More importantly, Henry received the most important tidbit of insight from Russell. Despite all his fancy websites and great designs, Henry himself was nowhere to be found on any of it. His big personality was hiding behind the logo. That has all changed now and Henry doesn’t regret it for a minute. He has found his lane. Content creation and working one-on-one with the clients is where he wants to stay. GET SEEN As a podcast host, myself, I can relate. People came to my webpage and listened to my podcast, but if they wanted to see me, they couldn’t. It was all stock photographs. I had to put myself out there. I had to make myself available for my audience. We shouldn’t diminish ourselves. We need to put ourselves first and refuse to give up. I used to be intimidated and afraid that maybe I didn’t look good on camera or that seeing my brand was better than seeing the real me. Rather, your personal brand is just an offset of your business. If you are shy and timid, it will show in your messaging. Don’t be afraid of yourself. Even the bigger brands, according to Henry, are coming out of their shells. The only difference between you and everybody else is you! You have to invest in your personal brand. It’s critical. REFUSE TO GIVE UP Henry credits his unwillingness to give up to his parents who tried for 16 years to become pregnant with Henry. His Mom would call him her ‘miracle baby.’ Henry believes that hearing that story while growing up – that his parents refused to give up for over 16 years – is what fuels his drive now. There a

Is it possible to have a “perfect day” in sales? Phone calls from prospects just as soon as you walk into the office … demonstrations are set … proposal reviews are awesome; everything is smooth sailing. What would it take to have that perfect day in sales? Do we have control over any of the elements? I think so. In this episode of The Sales Evangelist, I will share something valuable that I learned over the weekend that can help us all accomplish the perfect day in sales. [0:00] Perfection doesn’t happen by accident There was an awesome older lady in our congregation who recently passed away. During the eulogy, her daughter shared a story about her mom who was, apparently, quite a perfectionist. She always looked great. Everything was always on point. One day when the daughter was leaving for school, the mother noticed that the daughter had only ironed the front side of her skirt. As the daughter explains, she didn’t see any reason to iron the back of the skirt because she was going to be sitting down at school, nobody was going to see it. It just didn’t matter. Her mother disagreed and told her, “Perfection doesn’t happen by accident.” [02:46] She was right. If you want something to work out well, it isn't going to happen by accident. The perfect job, the perfect marriage - the perfect day in sales - do not happen by accident. You have to do something to make it work. None of us will be perfect but we can get close. We can get results if we put in the work. Michael Phelps, for example, imagined in his mind the perfect swim meet before every competition. He knew what it would feel like to win - to have the perfect race. He practiced for perfection and it is no accident that he became the best swimmer in the world. [03:33] Michael Jordan, Lebron James, Serena Williams, Oprah Winfrey, Steve Jobs, Usain Bolt, Mother Teresa ... They are all arguably the best in their chosen fields because they put in the work. Aim for the perfect day Imagine the most amazing appointments and demonstrations on the schedule. Proposal reviews, closing calls, deals closing left and right … It can happen. It won’t be perfect, maybe a few will need to reschedule, but it will be pretty darn close. [04:56] Certainly you’ve noticed the sellers in your organization who always seem to have the perfect day; everything always seems to work out for them. How do they do it? They are prepared. They know that the perfect day in sales will not happen by accident. Do all you can now to have appointments for next month. Maybe that means going early to the office to respond to the leads that came in overnight and get ahead of the competition. Make the calls. Make the follow-ups. Do the work so the results will come. The perfect day in sales will come. Perfection requires sacrifice It takes time and it takes sacrifice. You have to be willing to sacrifice the ‘now’ to earn enjoyment later. [05:25] I could spend my entire lunch break chit chatting with my buddies in the break room every day, or I could give up one or two of those days and focus on returning emails, or reaching out to folks on LinkedIn instead. [06:40] We just published our 1,000th episode. That is five years worth of content and we’ve been fortunate to be covered by Huffington Post, Hubspot and Entrepreneurial Magazine. Some people might think that we just got lucky. But in truth, it happened because we put in the work. When this first started, I also worked a full-time day job. I used my lunch break to schedule podcast interviews. Then, I would find park my car near a spot with good WiFi and record interviews with my guests over Skype. I could have easily decided that it was too time-consuming or too much work. I could have chosen to hang with my buddies over lunch. Instead I made the necessary sacrifices and it paid off. [07:04] Sacrifice, not luck As a salesman, I became of the top performers in my company. Again, not because I was lucky or because management liked me more. It was because I went to work early, I studied the sales content, I understood the sales process. I learned from the different departments and I made sure I knew what was happening in the industry. To educate myself, I studied past deals and read case studies. I knew what the directors wanted and I knew what my competition was doing. I called more people and set more appointments. [08:26]/ Again, perfection doesn’t come by accident. My company and my podcast aren’t perfect but we are striving for it every day. We put in the work towards reaching the perfect result, the perfect company, the perfect podcast. Put in the hustle. This is not a New Year’s Resolution type thing that lasts a few months. It has to be a desire. You have to want to achieve the perfect day in sales. If you don’t know where to start, look for the people in your group that are succeeding and ask them for advice. If you can’t find anyone like that, come to me. I am always more than happy to share what I’ve done, what I see clients do, how I h

In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, we discuss the immediate steps you can take to begin growing your influence. Whether you are in sales or not, everyone, at one time or another, needs to increase their influence. I’m reminded of a coworker of mine who really knew how to connect with people. Tom had that ability to influence others. He just understood people and prospects and he knew how to speak to them. He could point out potential problems before they became problems. As such, when he spoke, his clients listened. He was respected. My guest today, Stacey Hanke, is here to talk about how we, like Tom, can grow our influence. [00:01] Stacey is the author of two books, a Certified Speaking Professional, and CEO of StaceyHanke, Inc. Stacey and her team work with directors, to C-Suite, and with sales professionals to make them more aware of the level of influence they really have versus they level of influence they believe they have. They accomplish this with keynotes, with mentoring, and through workshops. They increase awareness by giving practical how-to advice so their clients know how to use both verbal and non-verbal methods of influence every day of the week. [03:25] INFLUENCE: WHAT IT IS AND WHAT IT ISN’T Stacey has worked with a lot of individuals and organizations over the past 16 years. And though she sees it happen quite often, Stacey believes that influence is not something that you should turn on and off. For example, you’ve got a high stakes phone conversation, meeting or sales pitch and you decide to ‘turn it on.’ There’s nothing authentic about that. There’s no integrity to it. [04:46] Influence is when your verbal and non-verbal communication remain consistent at all times and in all situations. It is congruent with your priorities and purposes. Influence is having the ability to move people to take action long after the interaction has occurred. It takes discipline and hard work. It is hard because we often get caught up with worrying about how we are perceived. Will they like me? Am I going to say the right thing? Switch your thinking. What is important to my client? What is their experience with the topic? Why is this conversation happening? To really drive home the value of your product or your service – whatever you’re trying to influence the person to act on – it first has to resonate with the client. [05:36] So, be genuine. Stacey recently helped a client to realize that he was putting more time into marketing materials and PowerPoint slides than into the actual delivery of the product. It is not the experience his clients were looking for. [06:46] FEEDBACK: WHY YOU NEED IT. As a sales rep, one of the first steps to increase your influence is to ask for real feedback. You have to plan for it and ask for it. Ask someone who you can count on to tell you the truth to listen to you as you practice. Ask them to listen, pay attention and give you feedback. When you can prepare in this way, the person providing the feedback is more likely to be direct and constructive with their comments. We don’t need to be told how great we are. We have to figure out our weaknesses in order to grow. It takes discipline to handle feedback and even more discipline to act on it. Don’t sabotage yourself by asking a subordinate or someone who is likely to tell you what you want to hear, instead of what you need to hear. Put your pride aside. Strive for honest answers. [07:39] Stacey has encountered many in her workshops who are hesitant to pursue feedback. She attributes this to the stigma that surrounds feedback as meaning you’ve done something wrong. Feedback instead means that you are already doing well. You wouldn’t be in the position you are in if you didn’t know what you were doing. Feedback provides opportunity to become even better. It encourages constant growth. [09:41] LEADERSHIP In a study conducted by Joseph Folkman of over 51,000 leaders, it was realized that leaders who frequently ask for feedback rank in the top 86% for leadership effectiveness. On the other hand, leaders who rank in the bottom 15% for leadership effectiveness are in the bottom 10% when it comes to asking for feedback. [10:20] So how does this translate to working with a prospect? Stacey reaches out to her clients every three or six months to find out what has been working for them during that time. She frequently asks her clients why they continue to work with her team. What keeps them coming back? Then she flips the coin. What can her team do to make things easier? How can they provide more value on a long-term basis? This allows the client to tell you how best to upsell them by letting you know what other services they might want or need. Your clients can disappear at any point but if you deliver the value that you promise and you truly care about your clients, then the ability to upsell based on their feedback provides a service to them. [11:31] Being influential is not the same as being manipulative. The more you pra

Sometimes small problems grow into much bigger problems, and without emotional intelligence to help you address misunderstandings, these problems can affect your relationships with prospects and clients. Have you ever met up with a friend who suddenly became upset but, to you, the thing they were upset about wasn’t a huge problem? When you react, it becomes something bigger, and before you know it - you are arguing with each other without really knowing what you are even arguing about?! You can have similar situations with a prospect. The client loses interest, or maybe, becomes so upset they no longer want to do business with you ever again. [0:00] What happened? Why does it go wrong? The answer: Emotional intelligence. These situations affect both sellers and buyers, so our TSE Certified Sales Training Program will help you identify these problems before they escalate. The TSE Certified Sales Training Program is designed to help sellers at every level, from new sellers to seasoned professionals. The course has three main sections of four modules each. Tackle each section on your own or participate in a group. [01:58] Surface-level problems I was running a meeting last week when one of the committee members had an issue outside the topic we were discussing. The challenge she proposed began to derail the entire meeting. What was I to do? I realized that it was a surface-level problem rather than a true issue. We decided, therefore, to have a one-on-one discussion to address it instead. Turns out, there was so much more she wanted to talk about than what was originally mentioned during the meeting. If I had entertained the issue during the meeting, it would have derailed the entire event for the entire group. [02:43] No money was involved, but imagine a similar scenario when working with a client. A client or prospect presents you with a surface-level problem. Then, because of a lack of emotional intelligence, people focus on that problem instead of the underlying issue. [03:37] Emotional intelligence Suppose your client says they will not renew their contract. They might be upset because the project was late. Perhaps they are downsizing. Or maybe they no longer have the budget for it. Those are not the true issues. [Tweet "When we lack emotional intelligence, we focus on the distractions instead of the core issue. #EmotionalIntelligence"] Emotional intelligence is the capacity to be aware of, to control, and to express one’s emotions, and to handle interpersonal relationships judiciously and empathetically.[04:22] Empathy In Stephen Covey’s book, The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People, empathy is defined as seeking first to understand, then to be understood. Back to the client who is no longer interested, we have to dig deeper to find out the true reason for their decision. Someone with a high level of emotional intelligence is able to see things from the prospect’s perspective. Rather than take the lack of interest as something personal, they are able to investigate and realize the core issue instead. It's tempting to think about how the decision affects me: What did I do wrong? How will this affect my commission? Instead, as the seller, we need to think about the buyer. What will happen to the buyer? Why did he change his mind? Is this the real issue? What caused him to feel upset or frustrated? What changed? It could be that the buyer didn’t get their second round of funding and now has to do some trimming. The service you provide is still important to them but it is not mission critical to the function of their organization. That is something, as a seller, that you would want to know. [06:11] When you put yourself in the buyer’s shoes and seek to understand, you may find other ways to be of assistance. Is there something else you can do? Is there another value that you can bring? Maybe you can introduce them to someone else in the industry. Bring value When you focus on being helpful instead of on selling your product or service, you have attained a high level of emotional intelligence. Recognize that it is not about you, or your bottom line. It is about serving your client. [07:02] People sometimes lash out or seem angry. Perhaps they had a bad morning or an argument with their spouse. Maybe that team member who annoys you so badly is having trouble paying his bills. Your job is to not react to surface level issues. Your job is to understand the true source of the problem so that you help to find a solution. Your job is to bring value to the situation. Don’t simply react to the emotions. Be a problem solver instead. [08:32] Emotional intelligence is something you can build on. It will help you tremendously in the early stages of the sales process. Put yourself in your buyer’s shoes. Connect on a human level and realize that your client is not just the CEO or the marketing director. He is a human being with goals. When you recognize that, you will create a foundation of trust. Then, if something d

There’s a single characteristic that distinguishes effective sellers from the others, and it’s grit. It separates those who work hard and effectively from those who don’t. It distinguishes those who go above and beyond the call of duty from those who do not. GRIT Those of us in sales need to have grit. Grit is courage. It is resolve. It is a strength of character. To have grit is to have rock solid mental toughness. If you can be rock solid, right now – at the beginning of the year – you will be so much more effective and efficient. [01:39] Consider the new hire whose resume looked fantastic, but who shows up with no drive or passion for the work. Sometimes we pass by individuals with higher levels of grit simply because their GPA wasn’t as high or their resume was lacking. [02:34] I have a problem with that. I know some very smart people who lack the level of grit needed to take advantage of their intelligence. They end up in mediocre jobs. It seems like a waste of talent. On the other hand, we see folks without the necessary level of education who have passion and grit. They have the ability to do more and work harder than the average person. DESIRE How? Where does their level of passion and perseverance come from? [03:16] I believe it has everything to do with their level of desire. There was a low point in my life when I was faced with homelessness but I had the drive to make sure that my family was taken care of. There are certainly people who are smarter than I am or who have more experience than I do, but I had the grit to create this podcast series. I was determined to make it happen and I hustled. [04:06] I had the desire and the perseverance. There were difficult times, of course. I didn’t always know if it was going to work. But we pushed through. Can grit be taught? Can mediocre individuals on your team get it? Yes. BE POSITIVE “I can’t do it.” “I can’t make that call.” “It’s not going to work.” If you can’t, then you won’t. But if you say you can – then it is more likely that you will. Things move for people who have the desire to make things move. Perseverance means you will do whatever it takes to make something happen because you want it to happen. You have to push through the tough spots. Use the right words. Instead of “maybe I’ll get a sale,” or “I hope I get a sale,” try “I will get a sale today!” Obviously, realistic goals are important: Is it possible? Can I do it? I’m sure you can make a million dollars in sales in a day – but is it likely? Maybe not. But it is certainly likely that you will find the right client today or close a deal today. [06:22] VISUALIZE SUCCESS Think about what you need to do to make it happen. If you tell yourself that it isn’t possible from the very start, it’ll never happen. When you feed yourself failure, your whole subconscious and whole body react. You will only get back what you put in. [07:02] Think about how to reach your goal. What will you do? What will you say? And what are the steps necessary to succeed? Set the entire process up in your mind; from what you will say, to what the email will say, to when you are going to call. Tell yourself that the clients will be interested, they will want to set up an appointment, and you are going to get the demonstration. Visualize it all. If you can’t see it, you can’t achieve it. [08:24] ACT You need to practice. Perfection doesn’t come by accident. It has to be deliberate. Be specific. [09:01] You will get the appointment or that meeting with the CEO when you decide the steps to take and then practice those steps. Before you get on the phone, for example, think about what you need to talk about and what questions you need to ask. Know why they would want to talk to you! What challenge can you solve for them? [09:52] In this way, if you get thrown an objection, you will automatically know how to handle it. You’ve already visualized the entire conversation. You can’t wing it. Winging it only gets you winging-it results. [10:32] People with grit have a vision. They know what they want and they are determined to get it. They practice achieving it and set a plan to do it. Then they do it, and do it, and do it again until it happens. SUCCEED Will you have perseverance this year? Will you push through the tough times, or will you just give up? I encourage you to look past any shortcomings you’ve had. Make 2019 the year that we accomplish greatness. The theme for the year is Empire Building, whether that be your sales empire, business empire, or family empire. Let’s build it! You are the only person who can stop you. [11:19] “GRIT” EPISODE RESOURCES Check out Grit by Angela Duckworth. This episode is brought to you in part by prospect.io, a powerful sales automation platform that allows you to build highly personalized, cold email campaigns. To learn more, go to prospect.io/tse. It will help you with your outbound to expand your outreach. It allows you to set it and forget it. Your prospecting will never ever be the s

In our work with sales reps, sales teams, and sales managers, we encounter many people who believe that sales coaching doesn’t work, but many of them fail to realize that there are 5 common mistakes sales managers make when coaching. Steve Richard, founder of ExecVision, shares how to avoid those mistakes, and he suggests you start by recognizing that there’s a difference between coaching and training. COACHING Training is teaching someone to do something new that the person doesn’t know how to do. Coaching is helping someone do something that they do know to the point of mastery. If we expect a rep to embrace a certain behavior, we have to train him. If we don’t, that failure is on us. [04:37] Then, after we’ve trained him, we have to overcome the “forgetting curve” which is a function of our brain’s tendency to purge information. Coaching is the act of training iteratively, focusing on the person, and repeating that behavior until it becomes second nature, like tying a shoe. Consider whether your organization is struggling with any of these mistakes. 1. FAILING TO DEFINE WHAT GOOD LOOKS LIKE. We must give our teams a definition of what a call should look like. Include the key things you want them to say, the behaviors you want them to exhibit, and give them a target. Give your team members total clarity on what you want them to do. [06:11] Develop consistency among your team members so you can hit bigger numbers. Also, build a team of people who will identify these steps. Include managers, senior executives, and representatives from operations, enablement, and sales. A varied team can ensure that these decisions aren’t being made by people who haven’t made calls in a while. Check out the book Cracking the Sales Management Code: The Secrets to Measuring and Managing Sales Performance for clarification about metrics. Learn the difference between activity metrics that you can control — things like making phone calls and sending LinkedIn connection requests — and objectives like having conversations with people which you have less control over. Aside from simply giving your team members goals, give them a roadmap to achieve them. [08:32] How many activities should they achieve in a week to achieve their goals? Many organizations have salespeople who are “unconsciously competent,” which means they don’t know why they are successful. Though it’s not bad, it’s impossible to scale. You can’t pair a new employee with someone who is “unconsciously competent” and expect her to learn the right way to do things. 2. NEGLECTING TO TRAIN BECAUSE OF TIME. Most every sales leader intends to coach his team. [10:26] Managers typically know they have to be more consistent as a team, and they know that the way to do that is through coaching. But they also universally say that time is the thing that prohibits them from doing it. They have the greatest of intentions, but something always gets in the way. 3. MISUNDERSTANDING HOW TO TRAIN CORRECTLY. It’s shocking to think of the amount of money that is spent on sales rep training. Sales managers, however, typically receive very little training. Many of them have never been taught to coach the right way. Think, for example, of a sales manager who observes a call and then immediately launches into constructive feedback. Basically, he tells you all the things you did wrong. When the sales rep hears it, his system sends a hit of the stress hormone cortisol, which triggers the “fight or flight” response. [11:46] The sales rep either defends himself by digging in his heels or he puts up a wall and stops listening. In either case, it’s not good. People don’t change their behavior when cortisol is present. They change when dopamine is present. Sales managers must coach in a way that motivates sellers to learn and change. #SalesTraining CLICK TO TWEET Instead, try the model that Jim Kennan recommends: observe, describe, prescribe. Leave the judgment on the shelf. Listen to the call. Recount what the rep did during the call. Then ask a question that prompts the seller to figure out what he could have done differently to improve the call. People value more what they can conclude for themselves than what they’re told. 4. LACKING OBSERVABLE MOMENTS. If sales reps can’t listen to recordings of their calls, they’ll have no way to improve their performance. [18:45] They will only have vague ideas of what they think they did during the call. During the 80s, the Japanese beat us in the auto industry because they were continually improving their operational efficiency. Adopt the continuous improvement mindset that served the Japanese so well. 5. MAKING TRAINING AD HOC. Your organization’s training must be habitual. It must be part of the rhythm of the company. Make your training such a part of the process that it becomes the gospel. It can be as simple as listening to 5 minutes of a call with a rep and asking for reflections. It will do good things for your company. Instead of feeling like sales man

Many leaders avoid adequately training their team members because of a single looming question: What if I train them and they leave? They structure their businesses so that multiple people work on a single project while other projects sit undone. It costs them money and productivity. If you're one of those managers, I'll offer you a different consideration: what if you don't train them and they stay? We're devoting the month of January to the topic of mental toughness, and today's topic is directed at business and sales leaders as well as sellers. Leaders When team members aren't trained well, they won't be effective at their jobs. When team members aren't effective at their jobs, the manager will have to help them do their jobs in addition to doing his own. Leaders who fear employee departure often choose not to provide the necessary training, but the reality is that many of those untrained employees end up staying in their jobs. [3:37] What if they stay with you and they don't know what they are doing? Financial considerations Imagine your employee makes $40,000 a year. Are you willing to pay him $40,000 despite the fact that he doesn't know what he's doing, and then require someone who is making $60,000 a year to help him do his job? Maybe you'll eventually fire the person because he isn't performing. [04:23] When you let someone go, you may end up paying unemployment benefits, and then you'll incur the cost of hiring someone new. Whether you use an agency or review the resumes yourself, you'll have to invest time trying to find someone who already has training. Cyclical Even if your new hire does have sales training, she won't know your process. She won't be able to perfectly understand your organization, so she won't immediately be effective. If you choose not to provide training, you'll be back in the same cycle three months after you hire her. [05:04] You will have spent countless amounts of money to avoid spending money on training. You'll suffer from lost opportunity and lost revenue. Long-term benefits Imagine you have three employees. After you train them, one of them leaves your organization. First of all, consider why the person is leaving. Is it possible that you're not paying enough? Does your organization lack direction for its employees? Don't miss a chance to evaluate why people are leaving. [06:36] Even if you have a great situation, people may still leave. They may have to move out of state for family reasons or something else. People don't stay in one place forever. If one leaves, you still have two great employees who are giving you money back. If you don't train them, you'll likely lose thousands in sales because they aren't good at their jobs. Do the math When I was a young seller, I worked for a company that spent probably $7,000 training me to be an effective seller, and I'm thankful for it. After my training, I landed a $30,000 deal as one of my first big successes. [07:52] You don't have to be a scientist to understand that $30,000 is a good return on $7,000. If you invest in your people, they'll love you, they'll stay with your company, and they'll earn you more money. For sellers When you're considering your next organization, find out what kind of sales training they provide. Even if you're a seller with a 10-year track record, it's ok to consider training programs at prospective companies. [08:58] If they don't offer coaching or continuing education, that might be a red flag. If they aren't willing to invest in you, consider other organizations that will. Do it yourself Sales leaders might consider providing the training themselves as a way to save money, and it might be true that they're able to do it. For me, though I'm able to change my own oil and cut my own hair, I don't do it. [10:21] Just because we're capable of something doesn't mean we're the best person for the job. Consider the opportunity costs and the cost for you to stop your own work in order to train other people. If sales is the most important unit in your organization, if it's the lifeblood of the company, why not continue to educate your team. Give them podcasts to listen to or books to read. Don't hurt your company by trying to save a dime. "What If I Train Them And They Leave?" episode resources This episode is brought to you in part by prospect.io, a powerful sales automation platform that allows you to build highly personalized, cold email campaigns. To learn more, go to prospect.io/tse. It will help you with your outbound to expand your outreach. It allows you to set it and forget it. Your prospecting will never ever be the same. Previously known as TSE Hustler's League, our TSE Certified Sales Program offers modules that you can engage on your own schedule as well as opportunities to engage with other sellers in other industries. 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,

We all have some kind of fear, but when we discover what causes fear and how to overcome it, we can discover new opportunities and success. Fear can prevent us from experiencing amazing things in life, or pursuing new business opportunities. We suffer through anxiety and difficulty when dealing with these fears. But no more! James Moffat, CEO and Founder of Visibility Impact guides new entrepreneurs and people wanting to start businesses by providing them with the tools and information they need to grow their business with proper exposure. He accomplishes this through a number of programs to drive results. His clients achieve bigger goals in a shorter amount of time and gain visibility. [02:00] Self-limiting I used to have a fear of talking to important people. I felt like I wasn’t worthy of their time or attention. It was a fear I quickly had to learn how to overcome in order to succeed in sales. When I finally understood that I was speaking with other human beings, people who were maybe just as nervous about talking to me as I was about talking to them, it made all the difference. I was the only limiting factor to my success. [10:37] James and I will talk about fear. What is it? How can we overcome it? What can we do on a daily basis to conquer fear instead of allowing it to conquer us? The Effects of Fear Many of us in sales have fears that hold us back and cause inaction. James defines fear as a worry about the unknown. It has a physiological effect not only on your mind but on your body as well... cold sweats, stress, etc. [05:10] Common fears among salespeople include worrying about what to say during a cold call, worrying about having enough product knowledge, and worrying about how prospects may react. Many of us also fear giving our first presentation to a real audience. Is my content relevant? Will people even listen to me? [05:48] Overcoming fear Overcoming these fears - or at least accepting them and learning how to cope with them - is necessary for success. You don’t have to suddenly like what it was you once feared; you may always dislike cold calling for example, but you must learn how to deal with it. We often find ourselves assuming the worst before we even begin. We have negative thoughts instead of positive ones. Controlling Fear Using cold calls again as an example, James still doesn’t particularly enjoy making them but he found a way to make himself feel more comfortable about it. He took the time to learn more about the person prior to the making the call. James spent time on their website, learned about their business, and visited their LinkedIn profile. James would also coordinate the time of the call via email. This allowed for a more relaxed introduction and eradicated the fear James had about interrupting a prospect with an unexpected phone call. [08:37] Using these techniques, James was able to turn a cold call into a warm call. Reducing negative outcomes Once the negative possible outcomes are reduced - once the number of unknowns is reduced by planning ahead - the level of fear is reduced. We may not conquer the fear, but we will have it under control. James recalls a situation, outside of sales, when he was atop a tall building with a friend and found himself convinced that he had a very real fear of heights. His friend disagreed because James has no such fear when traveling by airplane. It is not a fear of heights but a fear of falling. When James feels safe, he is not afraid. This lesson applies to sales. When we change the paradigm and view our fear from a different perspective, we gain control over it. [11:48] Moving Beyond your Comfort Zone James introduced a new concept to his Facebook group in order to help people overcome their fears. He didn’t want people to join without being known, so he required a short introduction from all new members via a 40-second video. The videos are posted to the group for comment which in turn stimulates discussion and comments. It creates immediate visibility among the group members. The video requirement was beyond the comfort zone of many participants, but to James, that is the whole point. We have to embrace change and technology. Do it once and it becomes easier each time thereafter. [16:27] You can not find success by remaining in your comfort zone. Learning to move beyond is when remarkable change can begin to occur. Training wheels Think back to when you first learned to ride a bike. You were certainly afraid to fall and probably did fall several times. But the more you tried and the more you trusted the person who was teaching you, the better you became. You overcame the fear. Use the resources around you. Ask the senior sales reps how they overcame the fear of cold calling or the fear of rejection. How do they introduce themselves? What steps do they take to make themselves comfortable? Think of them as the training wheels on your bicycle. [20:32] “What Causes Fear and How to Overcome It” Episode Resources Please check out Visibi

It's The Sales Evangelist 1000th episode and Stephen A. Hart from the Trailblazers.FM Podcast is conducting the interview while Donald Kelly answers the questions. This podcast started five years ago after Donald attended sales training to try to improve his performance. He started seeing some gains, and he figured the very least he could do was tell other people what was working for him. He realized along the way that he would get to interview great guests like Jeffrey Gitomer who would share a wealth of information and he was hooked. Donald wanted to share sales content that would help himself and others at the same time. Blessings and opportunities The greatest benefit to a podcast like this is the relationships you build. There's a camaraderie and people want to help each other. [05:50] Perhaps it's because the medium is so new, but a lot of podcasters are connecting with each other to share experiences. People have become like family, and many business opportunities have emerged from it. There's a whole crew of people in the background who help create the content, and it's blessing people along the way. After Donald jumped ship from his full-time job in 2015, this lifestyle business allowed him to travel and speak in different parts of the country, and it all stemmed from the training and consulting that has developed. 10,000 hours The podcast is officially five years old, which amounts to about 10,000 work hours. According to Malcolm Gladwell's theory that it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert, Donald is officially an expert podcaster now. The story started when Donald was working at a software company in Boca. His plan was that at the three-year mark, he wanted to go back to grad school for an MBA. [10:11] The other alternative was that he would launch a startup. TSE started as a hobby because Donald had done B2C in high school and college. Now, he transitioned to B2B, but he didn't know how to talk to people or set up business opportunities. His company provided training and he discovered a love of teaching and an excitement about the content he had learned. He paired his love of teaching and his desire to be the center of attention, and it was a perfect marriage. Edutainment allowed him to educate and entertain at the same time. Birth of a podcast Jared Easley introduced Donald to the world of podcasting despite the fact that Donald knew nothing about it. He started by listening to Seth Godin's Startup School, a podcast that featured Seth guiding 30 entrepreneurs through the process of launching a dream business. [11:46] He was still debating startup or college, and he realized that a startup didn't have to mean developing a product. Donald didn't see how the podcast was going to make money, but he launched it as a hobby. The platform existed six months before the podcast did, but Donald recalls that he had to get over the worry and just pull the trigger. He had to stop worrying about how it would sound and what people would say about it. He eventually decided that he had something valuable and he needed to share it. When he got out of his own way, the money started coming in. When Donald started producing content that benefited the people around him, people started to raise their hands and seek his help. [Tweet "Done is better than perfect. #TakeAction"] Lessons learned Donald calls episode 1 cringe-worthy. He says he was nervous and afraid throughout it. He was self-conscious about his voice, and he didn't own his personality. [15:29] Donald also wishes he had done video much sooner. He was afraid of the comments people would make and that fear kept him from producing video. Donald also wishes he had known that people don't know what you have to offer until they know what you have to offer. He was afraid of sounding pushy, so he was apprehensive about sharing what he knew. Take more action. Get out of your comfort zone. Get out of your own way. Despite the late start to the video world, TSE is getting into video now, so it's better late than never. Rejection Donald points to the burned-ship theory that dates to sailors who were either going to burn the ships and win the battle or die on the seashore. There was no escape. If you've burned the ship, there's no alternative, so you have to make it work. Those men are the master of their own destiny. Although Donald could still be employable in the sales realm if necessary, he doesn't want to use that as a parachute. [19:27] The "no's" can't hinder him. He either has to conquer or die. He realizes that the "no's" aren't personally directed at him. Your "why" Donald's desire to provide for his family drives his passion and his motivation. He wants to make things happen so that his family never has to be in the predicament of being homeless again. [21:50] Those dark moments such as the first lull in listenership can plague podcasters. Although numbers are great for measuring, Donald got too focused on the numbers. He started to compare too much and

Your morning routine has the power to start the day off right, which makes it crucial for you to make sure yours is effective. Whether you’re listening to music, educating yourself with podcasts, exercising, or engaging in spiritual activity, you’ll find that you accomplish more when you engage in a regular routine. BRAINPOWER Scientific research suggests that our brains work best in late morning. If we lay in bed scrolling through social media, we’re missing crucial time in our day. [04:29] We should take advantage of that time to engage in productive activity. Even if you don’t consider yourself a morning person, make sure that when you do get out of bed, you win the morning. #DailyRoutine CLICK TO TWEET TAKE CHARGE Instead of starting your day focused on the negatives in the day, take charge of your perspective. Because you know what will happen in the first hour of the day, you’re in charge of your day. [05:23] By acting instead of being acted upon, you’re taking charge. If you get an email from your boss who suddenly wants a report by noon, you may find yourself stressed and short-tempered. On the other hand, when you’re in control, you’ll respond better and be less likely to get stressed out. You won’t do anything in your day until you’re ready to do it. OWN YOUR MORNING There’s no limit to the ways you can take control of your morning. Besides reading, journaling, and exercising, you can also work on a side hustle. When I was still working for a software company, I did my podcasting in the morning. [06:23] It was something I enjoyed, so I didn’t mind doing the work. Now that podcasting is my work, I use my mornings to write my book. I’ve discovered that by taking control of my morning, I find clarity on things I’ve been thinking about and answers to problems I’ve been trying to solve. ACCOUNTABILITY Test the idea for a week. Begin by adding tasks to your calendar. [08:43] If you’re planning to exercise or read, write those activities on your daily calendar. Then, find an accountability partner who will follow up with you. Ask your mentors and others to follow up with you. At the end of the week, you can measure your results to see how effective they are. If a week isn’t long enough, test it for a month. “START THE DAY OFF RIGHT” EPISODE RESOURCES This episode is brought to you in part by Maximizer CRM, personalized CRM that gives you the confidence to improve your business and increase profits. To get a demonstration of maximizer, go to the sales evangelists.com/maximizer. Click on the link to get a free demo of what Maximizer CRM can do for you. It integrates your marketing campaign as well as your CRM, and it works whether you’re a small organization or a large one. 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. They are offering a 14-day free trial, and half off your subscription when you use the code Donald at checkout. This episode is brought to you in part by prospect.io, a powerful sales automation platform that allows you to build highly personalized, cold email campaigns. To learn more, go to prospect.io/tse. It will help you with your outbound to expand your outreach. It allows you to set it and forget it. Your prospecting will never ever be the same. Previously known as TSE Hustler’s League, our TSE Certified Sales Program offers modules that you can engage on your own schedule as well as opportunities to engage with other sellers in other industries. 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