Future-Proof Selling: Recent Episodes
Steven Norman : Author, Keynote Speaker & B2B Sales Consultant
A must-listen for B2B sales and business leaders, where Steven Norman discusses today’s world-class B2B sales strategies with global sales thought leaders, frontline sales professionals, coaches, Entrepreneurs, and industry influencers. Sales and buying have both dramatically changed... have you kept up the pace?
Douglas Cole is an Enterprise Sales Leader at LinkedIn, an advisor with start-up accelerators in Canada and the U.S., and a part-time university lecturer at The Rotman School of Management and The Schulich Executive Education Centre in Toronto. If that isn’t enough, he has also authored The Sales MBA: How to Influence Corporate Buyers.
Doug joined the LinkedIn team because he believes in their vision and values, and he’s committed to refining his craft as a leader. Doug’s team helps B2B sales organisations thrive in our digital era.
He is actively involved with internal education: as a faculty member of LinkedIn's Data-Driven University (DDU), creating professional development programs with institutional partners, and standing up a Mini-MBA for the global sales team. He’s also on the leadership team that sets direction for LinkedIn Canada.
“My career spans consulting, education, and sales. Three interests are at the heart of this journey. I like big picture thinking and analysis. That’s the consultant in me. I like distilling first principles to help others improve. That’s the educator in me. I like driving growth and rallying around a common purpose. That’s the sales leader in me. In essence, I enjoy teasing out hidden sources of meaning in our personal and professional lives.” - Douglas Cole
Key Points of our Discussion
Douglas’s new book The Sales MBA: How to Influence Corporate Buyers
- The general lack of Business Acumen in Salespeople
- The saturated knowledge economy
- Understanding the external dynamics
- Getting to know the organisational dynamics
- Nailing the interpersonal dynamics
- Becoming a strategist for the industry
- Becoming a change agent for the company
- Becoming a decision architect for the customer
- Choosing language and messaging carefully
- Behavioural economics in sales
To connect with Chris, you can find him here on LinkedIn Find More on his book: The Sales MBA here
Dr. Christopher Croner received his BA in Psychology from DePaul University, and his Masters and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.
Dr. Croner is co-author of the book, Never Hire a Bad Salesperson Again, detailing his research and practice in identifying the non-teachable personality traits common to top producers.
Dr. Croner developed the proprietary DriveTest® online sales test and The Drive Interview, both used for hiring “Hunter” salespeople. Using this method, he has helped more than 1,400 companies worldwide to hire and develop top-performing salespeople.
Dr. Croner has served as an adjunct faculty member at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology, teaching personnel selection in the Industrial Psychology Master of Arts program. His is is an active member of the Consulting Section of the Illinois Psychological Association and former Co-Program Chair of Chicago Industrial/Organizational Psychologists (CIOP).
“In 2002, I discovered there was a lack of assessment tools specifically targeting Drive in sales candidates, so I set out to develop my own sales assessment test. After years of research, development, and validity testing, I developed The DriveTest®: The only sales assessment that is scientifically designed to identify candidates that possess the three non-teachable traits common to top producers.
Want to start hiring top sales talent? Let me offer you a free DriveTest® right now. Visit: https://salesdrive.info/free-trial-request to access a free test.” - Dr Christopher Croner
Key Points of our Discussion
- Chris’s clinical psychology background and entry into sales
- The three key un-teachable personality traits that create “Drive”
- The cost and dangers of hiring on “gut feel”
- Best practice hiring processes to secure high performing hunters
- Tips to attracting high drive applicants in your ads
- Communicating culture and opportunity
- The well-constructed phone screening process
- The importance of a structured behavioural interview
- Designing the right interview questions
- The power of an assessment PRIOR to interview
To connect with Chris, you can find him here on LinkedIn Find More on Sales Drive here
Ian Koniak is an accomplished sales coach, trainer and keynote speaker who helps B2B Account Executives perform to their full potential and crush their quotas by mastering the mindset, habits, and skills needed to perform at the highest level.
Ian has been a top performing Account Executive for 19 years, with over $100M in career sales at Fortune 500 companies. He's led and developed teams, and was recently the #1 Account Executive in the Enterprise Select Division at Salesforce.
Ian is now on a mission to share his secrets to success with the sales community.
Most recently Ian worked as a Strategic Account Director for the Enterprise West Sales team at Salesforce, where he partnered with their largest customers to help them drive growth, innovation, and success on the Salesforce Platform. At Ricoh, he led a team of 10 Sales Managers and 70 reps responsible for 60M Annual Revenue across hardware, software, and services.
“After a near death experience, I started a coaching business to serve others and help them achieve incredible success. My mission is to share my learnings over 19 years in tech sales to help AE's perform their best.” - Ian Koniak
Key Points of our Discussion
- Ian’s impressive sales success story
- Discipline vs being “motivated”
- Mindset and personal development
- Getting in the habit of doing the hard things
- Steven Covey’s time management quadrant
- Selling in a recession
- Innovatively creating opportunities in sales
To connect with Ian, you can find him here on LinkedIn Or visit Ian's Website https://iankoniak.com/ to learn more
Dan Kijewski is Senior Director of Enterprise and Staffing Sales at Talent.com - a leader in the recruitment advertising and technology space. He is responsible for sales strategy, strategic planning, recruitment, marketing, product, and all activities required to grow the US Enterprise and Staffing team into a $25m+ business over the next 12months.
Dan has 20+ years of sales experience, coupled with his recruitment expertise and deep knowledge of the current market. Dan shares his valuable insight on hiring sales talent in a candidate’s market, and how both employers and candidates should approach recruitment processes in order to have the best outcomes for all involved.
“Small and Medium Sized Businesses especially (SMBs) need a plan to have a consistent pipeline of candidates at their disposal. In the current candidate market, they need to be prepared to lose people as well as learn how to bring on new candidates faster and expect these hiring challenges to continue for the foreseeable future.” - Dan Kijewski
Key Points of our Discussion
- Handling recruitment in a candidate's market
- The impact on HR leaders
- Culture and mental health focus
- The shift in how leaders need to treat their team
- Sales hiring and interview processes
- Key indicators (and red flags) to look for in an interview
- Customer success strategies
To connect with Dan, you can find him here on LinkedIn
Find More on Talent.com here
Brendan McAdams is Co-founder of Expertscape, a global directory of medical experts,
And also Founder of Kiinetics.
Kiinetics is a specialty B2B sales coaching and consulting practice with an emphasis on sales strategy and techniques, marketing, customer success and relationship management.
Brendan has particular industry experience helping healthcare technology companies advance their sales success into health plan, ACO and health system markets.
Over the last 10+ years, Brendan has helped dozens of founders recognise, attack and overcome the very common challenges unique to early-stage startups:
- Fear of rejection
- Dealing with competing responsibilities
- Handling proposals and customer negotiations
- Managing the revenue expectations typical of an evolving product roadmap
- Navigating the complexities of developing a repeatable (and standardized) implementation and successful onboarding process
Brendan has also written a book on sales fundamentals, SALES CRAFT, that outlines 50 fundamental sales skills, practices and ideas that every sales professional should consider as they work to improve their sales effectiveness.
Key Points of our Discussion
- Why Founders “fear” the sales function
- Key challenges for early stage startups
- Narrowing your ICP before building out the product
- The unique and powerful position of the Founder
- The importance of a good system and process
- Getting into the “expert mindset”
- Learning to say “no” to a potential customer
- Brendan’s sales accelerator program
To connect with, and learn more about Brendan you can find him here on LinkedIn
Discover more about his offerings at Kiinetics.com
Andy Paul has been in sales for over four decades. In his professional career I’ve sold everything from computers to small businesses to complex communications systems that sold for tens of millions of dollars to some of the world’s largest enterprises.
Andy has grown and managed large sales teams from scratch and coached average performers into being top producers. Andy closed hundreds of millions of dollars in products and services before starting his own company.
Andy is ranked #8 on LinkedIn's list of Top 50 Global Sales Experts and more than 170,000 people have signed up to follow the knowledge he shares. His hit "Accelerate Your Sales" podcast was acquired by Revenue.io in 2020. Since re-named "Sales Enablement with Andy Paul", the show continues to inspire thousands of sales professionals each week.
Andy has also written two award-winning sales books, "Zero-Time Selling" and "Amp Up Your Sales".
As a bit of an introvert, Andy was not your typical salesperson. His first employer didn’t think he’d ever succeed because they believed he was “too analytical.”
It’s his different approach to sales that inspired his new book “Sell Without Selling Out.” A proven framework to increase win rates and shorten decision cycles without the salesy behaviours that buyers hate.
Key Points of our Discussion
- Are salespeople getting better at selling? Or perhaps worse
- Ask better questions and make deeper connections
- Selling out vs “selling in”
- The four pillars of “selling in”
- How we should view and approach our careers in sales
- What type of seller is really going to make it big?
- Could processes and playbooks be a constraint?
- Properly understanding the purpose and power of discovery
- The power of small talk
- The real meaning of providing value
To connect with, and learn more about Andy you can find him here on LinkedIn
Discover more about his offerings and his new book “Sell Without Selling Out” at andypaul.com
Patrick Baynes is CEO of Nerdwise who helps sales teams “Sell More Wisely.” Nerdwise is an all-in-one sales enablement solution to accelerate each stage of the buying process from prospect discovery to outreach and acquisition. Clients get VIP access to list generation, campaign management, lead scoring and coordinated marketing activities.
Nerdwise is used by leading sales teams including Sandler Training, BTI, RAP Index, DP3 Tech, Reflective Energy, Lynk Capital Markets, TechAdvisors and hundreds more.
Patrick has been in the tech space for a long time, working at LinkedIn was his first job out of school and the perfect launch pad into the internet and software space. He was once told that if he was sliced open to see what he was made of, it would mostly be LinkedIn DNA.
Following LinkedIn, Patrick co-founded PeopleLinx, the first employee-based social marketing solution for LinkedIn. The company was acquired in 2015 by Frontline.
We discuss how companies can work smarter and grow faster by leveraging the latest marketing systems, technologies and best practices.
Key Points of our Discussion
- The challenges of choosing the right tools
- Bringing sales and marketing together
- Introducing new tools to help productivity
- Nailing the foundation of your processes
- Correct targeting and outcome-driven messaging
- Email Sequencing and automation
- Managing our conversion rates once we win a meeting with a prospect
- Reviewing and removing any unnecessary steps in your process
- Nerdwise services and software for sales teams
To connect with, and learn more about Patrick you can find him here on LinkedIn
And learn more about Nerdwise software and services here
Nicolas De Swetschin is Commercial Director and the sportsman of noCRM. He joined the adventure to lead the sales team and develop Their partnership and resale program.
Nicolas has 15 years’ experience in sales and international business development within software and value-added services companies. Management of complex sales and new business development.
Specialising in business development, international sales, channel management
account management, product marketing and sales strategy.
….Helping SMBs of any industry close more deals 🔥
Motivation and team spirit are at the heart of his philosophy. Nicolas has more than 10 years of experience in international sales in different sectors: telecoms, sport and operational oceanography (Yes, it exists!).
If you don't like CRM’s or still use Spreadsheet to manage your leads, go check and test noCRM.io and get support from Nicolas and his team to step-up your sales results.
Key Points of our Discussion
- Finding the right mindset for growth and resilience
- Dedication and training like a sportsperson in sales
- The power of peer-to-peer team development
- Remote, and international team management
- Building a strong team spirit in sales
- Delivering feedback with positive intent
- Closing and the importance of customer success
- The customer acquisition process at noCRM.io
- Team onboarding process and the “Sales Notion”
- The sportsperson mindset and soft-skill set
To connect with, and learn more about Nicolas, you can find him here on LinkedIn
For the past 35 years, Chris has been participating in software startups as a founder or at the very early stages of development. His focus has been on consistently creating and taking to market simple products that can be used successfully the first time they are touched, without taking a course or needing to read a manual.
Chris fully believes that the most powerful part of any software system is the human being that we inappropriately call a “user,” and that the value key in software is to let the computer do what it does well in order to free up human potential.
The reality of serial dialing is that the average person can’t make more than 75-100 outbound dials a day to their intended targets, which may result in 6-8 conversations with decision-makers.
ConnectAndSell can make that same number of dials in less than an hour. The result? Within 2-5 minutes ConnectAndSell allows you to speak with one of your intended targets: Conversations On Demand.
Since 2007 ConnectAndSell has helped sales representatives at nearly 1000 companies, including hundreds of technology startups and several Fortune 500 companies, overcome the challenges of getting people on the phone.
Chris’s solution helps companies grow their revenues faster than it’s practical to grow their sales teams, by allowing existing reps to have more sales conversations in 90 minutes than they would otherwise achieve in an entire week.
Key Points of our Discussion
- The problems faced in outbound prospecting
- Calls vs Emails
- Manufacturing trust using the human voice
- The danger of top talent leaving if pushed too hard
- The importance of organic growth in sales capability
- Chris shares how Connect And Sell is working within his own team
- How to handle the “Ambush” feeling of cold calling
- Chris gives some great live examples of cold calling techniques
To connect with, and learn more about Chris you can find him here on LinkedIn and learn more about the power of Connect and Sell
Joseph Fung is a graduate of the University of Waterloo’s Computer Engineering program, and is a very successful five-times tech company Founder and CEO. Joseph is passionate about Helping technology businesses hire sales professionals who deliver from day one.
His company Uvaro, is a tech sales career accelerator. Helping kickstart careers in Tech Sales across North America.
Sister company Kiite is a sales enablement platform offering sales playbooks, templates, and a bunch of free resources and tools to help sales teams better organize, and deliver results.
We discuss how to source and develop sales talent, reduce the churn, reduce ramp up times and improve productivity and sustainability.
Key Points of our Discussion
- The problem of a lack of training in new hires
- How long it typically takes a new rep to ramp
- The reality of team retention and performance stats
- The cost of making the poor hires and a lack of coaching
- Recruiting methods, the rights and wrongs
- How we should approach hiring and onboarding
- Internships and various other avenues
- Tools for building cheat sheets for your sales team
- Investing in sales enablement
To connect with, and learn more about Joseph you can find him here on LinkedIn
World renowned Corporate Storyteller and Pitch Alchemist Donna Griffit has helped over 1000 startups, corporates and investors raise hundreds of millions of dollars and accelerate their sales with a personal touch and unmatched messaging savvy, in any industry, at any phase.
“The hardest thing for a company is to explain to people what they do and why it matters. I see startups spending tens of hours – if not weeks and months – struggling to get the right words out – and ending up with messages that simply don’t get the desired results. With investors, customers or partners – you only get one shot! You must make it a good one.
I’m here to help you make it a GREAT one! There’s nothing I love more than helping a company cut through their bits and bytes, cracking the DNA of their story and turning it into captivating messages that wow. Let’s make some messaging magic happen for you.”
- Donna Griffit, Corporate Storyteller
Key Points of our Discussion
- Why there's such a buzz about storytelling
- How and why storytelling was born
- The importance of structuring your messaging
- The “deconstructed user story”
- Building metaphors into your structure and storytelling
- The importance of listening in long complex deals
- Researching your customer before a meeting
To learn more about Donna and her company visit her website https://www.donnagriffit.com/ and you can find her here on LinkedIn
Scott Leese is one of the top startup sales leaders in the US. Through domestic and international consulting as a strategic advisor, he has trained an army of salespeople and sales leaders thousands strong. Leese puts his nearly two decades of sales and leadership experience to use as the CEO/Founder of Scott Leese Consulting, Surf & Sales, and Thursday Night Sales.
Scott Leese Consulting was founded with a concentration on companies scaling from $0 – $25m ARR. Armed with years of industry experience and a proven track record of success, Scott focuses on a scalable approach to: sales strategies, processes, people, and infrastructure.
Based in Austin, Texas, Scott is a 3-time winner of the Top 25 Inside Sales Professionals by the American Association of Inside Sales, 3-time author, and a highly sought-after consultant, advisor, leader, and sales trainer.
While learning both the fundamentals and higher strategy of sales, Scott Leese’s students come away motivated and empowered. He has helped create many successful organizations and has shaped thousands of individuals into highly sought after sales leaders. His areas of expertise include: sales and leadership seminars, consulting and coaching, public speaking events, conferences, sales training, and more!
Today we discuss the themes behind Scott’s new book - More than a Number: A leader’s Guide.
Key Points of our Discussion
- Scott’s new book - More than a Number
- Scaling a founder-let startup
- The approach leaders should take going in to a new role
- The seldom talked about underbelly of being the VP of sales
- Managing the pace and pressure of sales leadership
- Hiring and nurturing sales talent
- Personal branding and networking as a great recruitment tool
- Sales ops and sales enablement
To learn more about Scott and his company visit the website scottleeseconsulting.com and you can find him here on LinkedIn
Kasey is a personal branding authority and growth strategy coach who helps Founders harness the power of what makes them unique, in order to build high growth businesses with impact.
Her expertise is in early-stage growth strategy, demand generation, personal brand growth and relationship building at scale. Attract ideal customers, impress potential investors, and connect with other industry influencers.
Kasey began her affinity for the startup life by working on political campaigns where she realized she thrives in chaos, and loves the challenge of being perpetually in over-her-head.
“I founded A Better Jones with a mission and a dream to help founders build successful, high-growth businesses. And over the years, I’ve learned that my specialty is in helping founders and their teams leverage what makes them different to develop smart, scalable growth strategies that play to their strengths in every way. For years, my winding career journey made me insecure. It made me believe that my story, my work, and my expertise weren’t as impactful or impressive as those with a straight path.
Bullsh#t!
I’ve learned to harness my unusual story and my personal triumphs to build a more authentic, impactful, and inspiring personal brand that connects with my audience and builds my business.
And now, that is what I help other founders do.” - Kasey Jones
Key Points of our Discussion
- The role of personal branding for salespeople
- Building relationships and trust at scale
- The cost of failing to build your digital presence
- Company brand vs personal brand
- Targeting senior executives via LinkedIn
- Hooks in your LinkedIn descriptions and about section
- Using social media to better understand your prospects
- How to approach it if you feel like personal branding is “Bragging.”
To learn more about Kasey and her business visit her website abetterjones.com and you can find her here on LinkedIn
Adam Rubenstein is a serial entrepreneur, salesman, and sales manager. As an entrepreneur, he has centered all of his businesses around sales. While he will always use CRMs he wanted a better way to capture what matters most in sales — the human interactions. The conversations, the phone calls, the lunches.
Adam is Co-Founder and CEO of Traq365. A company that leverages AI to effortlessly convert sales conversations into objective buyer insights, improving sales processes and revenue projections, while accelerating B2B sales.
“I wanted technology to help my teams master the sales narrative. So I got my developers together and built a new sales tool for the future of sales. A system for mastering the human narrative in sales. Traq365 starts with a place to store your notes and emails, files, and recorded conversations. Then Traq365’s AI scans for opportunities, risks, tasks, highlights — things that are actionable, things that matter. And marks them as Insights.” - Adam Rubenstein
Through machine learning, the more you work with Traq365, the smarter it gets. The Insights you create with the AI build a map of the narrative you create over time - with each prospect, for every sale...the ones you win, and the ones you don’t.” - Adam Rubenstein
Key Points of our Discussion
- Overseeing sales conversations in a remote selling environment
- Reaching the buyer through over-crowded channels
- Getting more creative in prospecting and process
- Culture and professional development
- Some of Adams fundamental tips encouraged within his team
- How time-poor sales leaders can easily monitor sales calls
- AI and machine learning to gain valuable sales insights
- Creating more accurate forecasts leveraging AI
- Identifying and comparing characteristics of win/loss conversations
- Sales as a science vs sales as an art
To learn more about Adam’s company, visit his website www.traq.ai, and you can find him here on LinkedIn
Frank Cespedes teaches at Harvard Business School and for 12 years was Managing Partner at a professional services firm. He has worked with many companies on go-to-market and strategy issues, and has been a Board Member at consumer goods, industrial products, and services firms.
He has written for numerous publications, and is the author of six books including Aligning Strategy and Sales which was cited as “the best sales book of the year” (Strategy & Business), “a must read” (Gartner), and “perhaps the best sales book ever” (Forbes).
His newest book is Sales Management That Works: How to Sell in a World That Never Stops Changing (Harvard Business Review Press, 2021).
According to Frank, business development and growth are core leadership responsibilities. But the impact on sales activities of new buying processes, e-commerce, big data, and other megatrends is often misunderstood.
We discuss how to separate signal from noise and the implications for hiring, training, performance management, and relevant sales models.
Key Points of our Discussion
- Examining the non-linear buying process
- The important and often misunderstood changes in sales management
- Selling in the omni-channel buying world
- The data and metrics we SHOULD be tracking
- Sales hiring and cross-functional interviews
- Specialisation and the division of labour
- The poor ROI of sales training and development
- Leveraging inside sales
- Busting pricing myths. Framing value with pricing
To learn more about Frank, visit his website frankcespedes.com, - where you can also pre-order his new book. For more great insights you can find Frank here on LinkedIn
David Ledgerwood is Managing Partner of Add1Zero, who provide lead-to-close sales execution for B2B tech-enabled services companies ready to leap from 6 to 7 digits of revenue.
His career sales have topped US $40M, with an average deal size in excess of $150,000. David has sold software and services for more than a decade and helped several companies grow into the mid-7 figures.
David headed up Sales and Services for Gun.io for three years, during which time he booked staff, oversaw more than 100,000 hours of development, and helped 10x sales.
David’s career began in professional services at PwC where he carved out a niche as a Bash developer. If you've received a package or deposited a check, there's a pretty decent chance some piece of code David wrote was somehow involved. It was pre-web, and they were saving the world from melting down in Y2K.
David then moved into private media for a major publishing company right about when Web 2.0 started to eat newspapers and periodicals for lunch, which gave him a front row seat to disruption and honed his taste for entrepreneurial pursuits.
In 2007, David moved from New Jersey to Nashville to start a company. They got to a $500K run rate before the Great Recession “chewed them up and spat them out.” He never lost the startup bug. David moved into EdTech and built his business development chops. He moved into a COO role, consulted, mentored, and coached. In 2015, I joined Gun.io. David is back in the Founder game for his (lucky?) 13th startup.
Key Points of our Discussion
- The typical challenges for B2B services businesses trying to scale
- How David and his team at Add1Zero provide lead-to-close sales execution
- Effectively identifying your core business in a consultancy/agency setting
- Separating out software reselling and consulting services
Smart sales hiring to support a sustainable scaling process - Multi-channel outbound marketing and prospecting
- The importance of sales enablement materials and content
- Building systems to maximise call time, not proposal writing time
To learn more about David, visit his website add1zero.co, and you can find him here on LinkedIn
John Smibert is a B2B Sales Specialist, Change Agent, Challenger, Coach, Trainer and Speaker. John has led sales teams to success for over 20 years. He achieved 25 annual Sales clubs with IT Multinationals selling to large banks, telcos, Federal & State Government and the manufacturing industry.
“I work with companies who recognise the old way they sell is no longer effective and they are seeking to transform to new, more productive sales models.
I strive to be one of the most switched on old heads in the rapidly changing world of B2B sales. Specifically I help my clients to stop selling products and services and start leading their customer to positive change that enables them to reach valuable new horizons.” - John Smibert
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Wayne Moloney works with businesses and salespeople to increase revenue and profits, and gain competitive advantage.
With the rapid changes occurring in the way buyers engage with sellers, companies need to adapt their sales and business strategies, and how they engage with their customers to be successful.
Through one-on-one mentoring, coaching and online training, Wayne helps to develop and implement strategies and sales models utilising Lean principles that improve efficiencies and increase profits.
John and Wayne join me to discuss the themes found in their new book “The Wentworth Prospect,” which is a very unique and informative sales book written in the form of an engaging and entertaining novel.
Key Points of our Discussion
- John and Wayne’s new book, The Wentworth Project
- Sales Management: The required approach
- Sales Process and NOT selling the product
- Discovery and disruption
- Effective customer engagement
- Talking in the customer’s language
- Developing appropriate content along the sales process
- Tackling “No Decision” by identifying hidden decision makers and influencers
To learn more or purchase the book visit their website EDVANCE here https://edvance.sale/
For more great sales insights and content you can find John Smibert and Wayne Moloney on LinkedIn.
Robert Danger Workman is a 40-year veteran in face-to-face, day-in and day-out selling. He has published numerous sales training/human development programs and spoken to thousands of sales reps nationwide and internationally.
His consistent track record as #1 in sales includes Top Producer titles from companies with 800, 300 and 100 reps, but also includes being fired while producing consistent superlative results – for making too much money.
Robert has gone from having his phone turned off and his gasoline card seized at gas stations to purchasing Ferraris by writing a single check. Robert’s highly anticipated second book, Hired Gun II: Both Barrels, is a sales bible and an entertaining journey through the highs and lows of an outrageous and hilarious successful professional career in sales.
Robert’s latest book Selling - The Most Dangerous Game, provides step-by-step advice and the wisdom salespeople need to ensure that adversity and politics don’t destroy a high-performance sales career.
Key Points of our Discussion
- Roberts latest Book “Selling - The Most Dangerous Game.”
- Worrying hiring trends in startup B2B sales companies
- Robert’s take on “The Hired Gun”
- How salespeople can become indispensable
- Personal development to future-proof your career
- Robert shares some examples of closing big ticket deals
Robert’s latest book “Selling - The Most Dangerous Game,” offers the step-by-step advice and the wisdom salespeople need to ensure that adversity and politics don’t destroy their high-performance sales career.
To learn more about Robert, visit his website hiredgun.us, and you can find him here on LinkedIn
Celebrating the 100th Episode of The Future-Proof Selling Podcast!!!
Very pleased to welcome Tony Hughes back to the show - fitting as he was my very first guest 99 amazing episodes ago. This time he is joined by the brilliant Justin Michael for a value-packed discussion on technology, AI and taking a glimpse into the not-so-distant future of B2B Sales. Together Justin and Tony have penned a unique new book “Tech Powered Sales”, which is a mindblowing read from two of the industry’s best.
Tony Hughes
Tony is an international keynote speaker, best-selling author, professional selling educator, award-winning blogger and the most read LinkedIn Author globally on the topic of B2B sales leadership. He is co-founder of Sales IQ Global and also ranked by Top Sales Magazine as the most influential person for professional selling in Asia-Pacific.
With 35 years of sales and business leadership experience, Tony is an experienced CEO and company director having served as Director of Sales for public corporations, and as the Asia-pacific Managing Director for a number of tier-one global technology companies. He teaches 'modernized selling' within the MBA program at the University of Technology, Sydney and has taught for other universities.
Justin Michael
Over the last 20 years as a top producing technologist and consultant, Justin developed word-of-mouth only methods that have made him one of the most sought-after talents globally.
Currently serving as a Futurist for Tenbound and Vendor Neutral, he is host of podcasts Quantum Leap and Beyond Sales Development.
Justin is Co-Founder of HYPCCCYCL, the first B2B Esports community focused on go-to-market cross-training™️. Through invite-only competitions, members participate in active learning which is proven to increase hard skill retention to 90%.
Key Points of our Discussion
- Tony and Justin’s book “Tech Powered Sales.”
- Failure rates and challenges in enterprise sales
- Adapting to today’s technology in order to succeed
- The danger of misusing automation technology
- Setting up a sales team from scratch today
- The essential technologies for B2B sales
- A day in the life in the future
- Intent data and the advanced stack
- Calling (phone) automation technology
- Advanced targeting via “trigger events.”
Both Tony and Justin are very active on linkedin, follow them for more great content and insights for modern sales success now, and into the future.
Tony Hughes LinkedIn
Justin Michael LinkedIn
Stu Heinecke is a hall-of-fame nominated marketer, famous Wall Street Journal cartoonist, bestselling business author and the father of contact marketing. His Book “How to Get a Meeting with Anyone” was a huge hit, and more recently he has released a book called “Get the Meeting.”
Contact marketing is a fusion of marketing and selling in which bold and original forms of marketing are used in support of high-level sales approaches to VIP accounts and prospects.
Stu has a lot of incredible methodologies around getting in front of key decision-makers. Stu has won meetings with Presidents, CEO’s and Celebrities.
Key Points of our Discussion
- Stu’s marketing and cartooning background
- Stu shares a campaign that’s getting 100% response rate
- “Get the Meeting” through retargeting
- The “pocket campaigns”
- Contact marketing examples getting 6 figure deals
- Profile scrapes and deep personalisation
- ROI and record-breaking campaigns
- Stu’s online course How to Get a Meeting
To learn more about Stu, visit his website stukeinecke.com and you can find him here on LinkedIn
Karen Tisdell is ranked one of the top LinkedIn Trainers across Asia Pacific in 2018 and 2019. Karen began writing LinkedIn profiles in 2009, facilitating LinkedIn strategy sessions on how to reposition your career and attract the work you want. Karen has since worked with many businesses to empower employees to broaden brand footprint and attract and retain clients.
Key Points of our Discussion
- The Edelman Trust Barometer
- Profile writing with authenticity
- Karen’s profile picture recommendation
- Addressing your customer’s needs in your profile
- Demonstrating value and expertise
- Creating content around customer feedback
- Optimising your news feed and monitoring conversations
- Why Leaders should utilise LinkedIn
- Practical tips on types of content, post introductions and hashtags
- Video editing and captioning tools
To learn more about Karen, visit her website, or connect with her on LinkedIn
Scott Milener is Founder and CEO of IntroSnap, an innovative company with a unique slant on helping sales teams and individuals get in touch with influencers, and targeted prospects that are otherwise difficult to reach. Scott and his team started IntroSnap to enable professionals to connect in a more effective and personal way, while being a force for good in the world.
Scott and his associates have been in Senior Sales roles in top SaaS firms including Oracle Marketing Cloud, TripActions, BlueShift and Lattice Engines. They saw over and over, first hand, the time and money spent by sales and demand gen and sales teams to drive pipe and increase win rates.
Each day, buyers are inundated with non-personal emails that all look the same, and coffee mugs they never asked for. The result is that buyers are harder to engage than ever before.
Tune in for a more effective and impactful way to get their attention. A must listen for SaaS sales leaders and their teams.
Key Points of This Discussion
- Today’s challenges in SaaS sales
- How many touchpoints are now in a sale?
- Winning meetings is one thing, then what?
- Discovery, personalisation and Demo’s
- How to run a great meeting, and what not to do
- Setting a meeting agenda with your customer
- How to get key decision-makers to your next meeting
- Scott shares the story behind his company IntroSnap
Learn more about IntroSnap on their website https://www.introsnap.com/
And you can find Scott here on Linkedin
Sam Capra is a sales student who has worked in the B2B sales space for 20+ years in various sales roles as a contributor, leader and trainer. Sam's experience spans across various industries from Industrial early in his career, to SaaS the past 10+ years working with Startups to Enterprise level organisations. Sam currently leads sales efforts for flexEngage, an innovative SaaS company out of Orlando, FL.
Sam decided to pursue his passion of helping others and founded Sales Samurai, a podcast dedicated to helping B2B sales professionals grow and evolve in their profession. Sam likes to give salespeople real, tactical tips they can utilise in their day to day processes.
A must listen for SaaS sales leaders and their teams.
Key Points of This Discussion
- Should we cold call a prospects mobile phone?
- How salespeople should be utilising LinkedIn
- Hiring salespeople and interviewing processes
- Targeting, discovery and qualification
- Getting to the “real” customer problems
- Deal management and navigating the buying committee
Learn more about FlexEngage on their website
And you can find Sam here on Linkedin
Joe Paranteau is a practicing Sales Director for Microsoft where he has held positions for over 17years. A keynote speaker, coach and sales thought leader, Joe has led nearly 30K sales meetings in his 28-year career with Fortune 500, SMBs, and startup businesses.
Within a five year span, he sold more than $1B in revenue, which motivated him to share his insights.
In his first book, Billion Dollar Sales Secrets, he shares fifteen themes to help inspire people to rise to meet today’s challenges, ignite their dreams and success.
Growing up, Joe was embarrassed by his thrift store clothing, and the rusted family car. His family was poor, and as a child he painted rocks to sell as paperweights to neighbors, his first sales gig at 8 years old. Joe learned to hustle hard to get ahead in life, and it’s the backbone of his success today.
Key Points of This Discussion
- Joe’s motivation behind his book Billion Dollar Sales Secrets
- The challenges Joe is seeing in sales today
- The #1 skill salespeople and leaders need to bring to the market
- Mindset and resilience: Think big, execute small
- The mental health toll of the pandemic
- Scaling up your operations and sales teams
- Tools and technologies to assist salespeople
Learn more about Joe on his website jparenteau.com
The Billion Dollar Sales Secrets book is available here on Amazon
And you can find Joe here on Linkedin
David Dulany is the Founder and CEO of Tenbound; a research and advisory firm focused and dedicated 100% to sales development performance improvement. The Sales Development industry has exploded over the past few years, however, expertise in the subject is still rare.
David has a long sales history and has put his expertise on paper in his book “The Sales Development Framework.”
Tenbound helps revenue leaders and reps hit their pipeline and sales numbers through program assessments, playbook designs, SDR and SD manager training and coaching and Events such as Sales Development Conferences, Training Programs and Webinars.
David truly sees sales development as a strategic imperative, not an entry level position or an afterthought.
His three fundamentals for building a strong and successful SDR team?
- People
- Process
- Technology
Check out Tenbound’s upcoming events, webinars and resources on their website and their current offer to take a quick sales development survey and receive a free book.
Key Points of This Discussion
- David’s background and journey into SD and his firm
- The impact the current market is having on SDR programs
- Combining tools and technology with the human elements
- The importance of a clear process for SD teams
- SDR roles as a focused career path and who is suited to the role
- Team structure and alignment with marketing
- Skills leaders need to successfully drive the SD team
- David’s book and upcoming webinars and events
A must listen for SDR’s and particularly SaaS companies with a program that might not be generating the desired ROI.
The Sales Development Framework book is available here on Amazon
And you can find David here on Linkedin
James Harper is the Founder of AgencyFlare, a gritty outbound sales agency that has learned to “punch above their weight class” when it comes to outbound sales. When James was a teenager, his step-father told him to get a sales job because James could sell anything. Fifteen years later, James realized that sales was actually his calling.
Since 2015, James has sold over $3.5 million worth of B2B marketing services and has sold two companies that were both 100% bootstrapped from the ground up. Through his career, James noticed a major lack of quality sales companies that focused on cold prospecting and lead-generation, that also had a passion for providing true actionable B2B sales content: and thus, AgencyFlare was born.
Throughout this episode we cover a lot of ground on today's best outbound practices and practical tips to help win more qualified meetings and sell with authenticity.
Key Points of This Discussion
- James background and journey into sales
- AgencyFlare and the Company philosophy
- Mistakes sales teams are making with cold prospecting
- Being genuine and more authentic in a virtual setting
- Quality vs quantity outreach and personalisation
- Cost implications of a metrics-driven approach to prospecting
- Sales team culture and how it’s overlooked
- What a good sales process looks like today
- Segmenting top, middle and end of funnel processes
- James’ virtual selling tips
- Specialisation and setting reps up for success
- Practices to get meetings with the right people
- Identifying the “real” customer pain points
A must listen for startups and tech companies who have a high focus on numbers and metrics.
To learn more about AgencyFlare here www.AgencyFlare.com And you can find James here on Linkedin
A freebie for salespeople! Subscribe to James’ monthly outbound sales report here www.outboundsalesreport.com
Known as the Heavyweight Champion of Story, Rajiv 'RajNATION' Nathan is Founder of Startup Hypeman, helping growing companies not suck at telling their story so they stand out to their audience, stand apart from competitors, and break through in their category. He was named an "Agent of Change" by Huffington Post, has given a TED Talk, and been featured in Inc, Forbes, and more. He's also a hip hop artist, yoga instructor, and host of the popular show Startup Hypeman: The Podcast.
We talk about standing out and avoiding the head to head product/feature war. He has an effective framework he calls Que PASA, it’s about narrowing in on your specific clients and their biggest challenges and then developing your messaging and approach to that.
Raj has been kind enough to share with our listeners his Que PASA pitch guide. Access your free copy here https://www.startuphypeman.com/steven
Key Points of This Discussion
- Winning customers through storytelling
- Rajiv’s Que PASA pitch framework
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- The importance of the fundamental elevator pitch
- Framing your messaging: Problem, Approach, Solution, Action
- Being careful with ROI Selling
- Rajiv’s shares his suggested discovery call format
- The typical pitch structure and how it should be done
A must listen for startups and tech companies looking to scale up their salesforce and stand out in a world where it’s difficult to win on product and features alone.
To learn more about Raj and his company visit www.startuphypeman.com
And you can find him here on Linkedin
Head of sales enablement for the APAC region, with 15 years experience at Salesforce.com. Phil and his team enable their account executives, business development teams and sales leadership to find more pipeline, execute transformational sales journeys, and become trusted advisors to their valued customers.
Aligned tightly to sales leadership priorities, they onboard new hires, coach sales teams and deliver messaging, product and skills training programs across their sales hubs in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and India.
Phil is passionate about enablement strategy, enabling enablers, and attracting more people to the noble profession of enablement.
Key Points of This Discussion
- Phil’s impressive career and journey into Sales Enablement
- Phil’s recent LinkedIn article “My Sales Enablement Lessons Learned in 2020.”
- Executive selling - establishing credibility, and gaining trust
- Why everyone needs an individual elevator pitch
- Why Leaders need to be coached to coach
- Specialisation - and the 4 key pillars involved in sales enablement
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- Curricular design and structure
- Building content/tools and assets
- Content delivery and managing a room
- Stakeholder engagement
- Understanding the needs of the customer’s customer
- Delivering sales enablement programs virtually
Excellent value for any sales or business leaders looking to launch or expand upon a sales enablement program within your company.
To learn more about Phil and Salesforce, you can find him here on LinkedIn
Alex McNaugten, Founder of “Sales Leaders” and “Apprento” is passionate about solving New Zealand’s sales and revenue operational capability gaps, and building RevOps for globally ambitious organisations who want to scale 🌏.
At only 27yrs, Alex has trained hundreds of founders, executives and sales professionals, and worked across 80+ Kiwi and Australian businesses, helping them to reduce their sales costs, speed sales cycles, maximise win rates, build out teams, expand into new markets and ultimately generate $10s of millions in new revenues through:
🎯 Strategic Sales Advisory, Revenue Operations and Sales Consulting Services
🎯 Sales Training either 1:1 for founders/execs or for teams
🎯 Sales Management training
🎯 Online, self-paced Sales Training Courses via an eLearning platform
🎯 Virtual RevOps Leadership services for eligible businesses
Key Points of This Discussion
- Alex’s career background and the birth of his business
- Three key issues that are letting B2B sales functions down
- Avoiding the common mistakes and risks when trying to scale quickly
- The problem of a lack of strategy, implementation and predictability
- The importance of a sales playbook
- The problem of salespeople ‘churn’ and hidden costs associated
- The first steps and processes to have in place when ready to scale
- The place of individuality in sales approaches today
- The danger of relying on your product and it’s features to sell itself
- Taking the best parts of what founders are doing in sales and packaging it into a playbook for the sales team
- How best to build team capability and identifying gaps
- Simple and effective things that companies can do right now
- Creating a collaborative environment and culture amongst the team
A must-listen for leaders of any B2B sales team; but in particular those in the tech space that are looking to scale.
Learn more about Alex’s company Sales Leaders and find him here on LinkedIn
Mike Maynard is a long term marketing expert of over 20years based in the UK. Mike is the MD of the Napier Agency - who are a $7million marketing and PR company focused on helping B2B tech companies.
Mike is a self-confessed geek who loves talking about technology. He believes that combining measurement, accountability and innovation with a passion for communicating, ensures Napier delivers great campaigns and tangible return on investment.
Mike began his career as an electronics design engineer, working for companies ranging from GEC-Marconi to DDA, developing products from complex radar systems to Kim Wilde’s mixing desk. Mike later joined IDT Inc, an American semiconductor company, making his move into marketing when he switched from European Applications Manager to European Marketing Manager.
In 2001 Mike acquired Napier with Suzy Kenyon. Since that time he has directed major PR and marketing programmes for a wide range of technology clients. He is actively involved in developing the PR and marketing industries, and is Chair of the PRCA B2B Group, and lectures in PR at Southampton Solent University.
Mike offers a unique blend of technical and marketing expertise, and was awarded a Masters Degree in Electronic and Electrical Engineering from the University of Surrey and an MBA from Kingston University.
In this episode we talk about the evolution of B2B marketing, current trends and the importance of sales and marketing alignment.
Key Points of This Discussion
- The background of Mike’s agency - “a baptism of fire”
- The evolution of B2B marketing over the last 20yrs
- The best and worst things that have happened in marketing
- The key components of a solid B2B marketing function
- The importance of sales and marketing alignment
- Mike shares an example of a successful sales and marketing campaign
- Targeting and ABM (Account Based Marketing) trends
- How Mike uses LinkedIn to generate leads in B2B tech
- What salespeople should be doing with marketing in today’s climate
- The impact COVID has had on print publications
- E-book campaigns and leveraging your company blog
- Getting control of your relationship with prospects
- The importance of marketing automation tools
Check out Mikes company Napier Agency and you can find him here on LinkedIn. Mike has also launched a new podcast “Marketing B2B Technology.”
David is an accomplished top enterprise practicing salesperson, currently in sales and business development and global strategic accounts at Adobe in New York. Despite his fast-paced and high pressure position he has managed to pen an excellent book “Game of Sales.”
Prior to Adobe, at AdRoll, Amazon and Google, David helped major brands leverage advertising solutions spanning search, display, video, mobile, and emerging technologies.
Before Google, David was a Business Development Executive at IBM, where he built six strategic partnerships to deliver new enterprise offerings. Also at IBM, David was part of a small strategy consulting practice where he developed and delivered partnerships, go-to-market strategy, product strategy, competitive analysis, channel enablement, business model strategy, global solution design, consulting practice development, and growth strategy.
In this episode we talk about the “Game of Sales” and David offers a lot of advice to salespeople on how to embrace and advance their careers in what is a challenging profession.
Key Points of This Discussion
- The history behind David’s book “Game of Sales”
- Tough conversations with customers and the “challenger sale”
- David’s approach to prioritisation and effective time management
- How to build an “automatic pipeline”
- The importance of understanding and mitigating risks in a sale
- The key foundations for a successful career in sales
- David’s advice on sales calls for new business
- How to avoid “Horrible Meetings”
- How to avoid a customer going “dark” after a successful meeting
- The dark side of sales - how to cope with uncertainty and change
Check out David’s book “Game of Sales” and you can find David here on LinkedIn
Karl Sice is Country Business Leader for ANZ at Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise, the multi-national communications, collaboration and network solutions corporation. He has 20+ years’ experience in leadership and business development in IT and financial services, with roles in industry powerhouses Dell, Sun Microsystems, Staples, Gartner and American Express.
Karl is an extremely passionate frontline sales and business leader with a contagious energy. This episode is absolutely packed with valuable insight and advice for leaders, take the 30mins to listen to the full episode, it’s very energising.
Key Points of This Discussion
- Karl’s career journey in the world of Tech
- Tips on moving into a new leadership role in technology today
- The “colleagant” opportunities in today’s business operations
- Shaping a culture rather than focusing on results
- The importance of extracting input from all of your team members
- Managing the pressure of tech business leadership
- Bursting out of the 13 week bubble and planning longer term
- Using your CRM data as an informative reverse coaching tool
- Effectively working with your superiors and offshore stakeholders
- We talk about people, recruiting and hunting for the right attitudes
- People management 101 - no surprises, trust and transparency
A must-listen for current or aspiring leaders of any B2B sales team; but in particular those in the tech space will get a lot out of this.
Learn more about Karl’s company Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise, and find him here on LinkedIn
Thomas Vanderkin is Global Account Manager for Lenovo, responsible for some of the largest Telcos and Solution Integrators. Over the years as a ‘hobby’ he has also developed a wildly popular personal brand - Vanderkinverse. His videos and reviews appear on YouTube, LinkedIn, and other social media channels with millions of views, and over 30,000 followers on LinkedIn.
Thomas began his career at GE Capital leasing PCs, then moved to Wachovia mortgage division, and then to the IBM Personal Computer Division, which was later to become Lenovo. He has held various roles in Lenovo including software engineering, project management, and sales. He has several technology articles published and two U.S. patents.
In this episode we talk about how his personal brand came to be, why the content is so popular, and how his brand supports his career in sales.
Key Points of This Discussion
- Thomas’s background and personal brand
- How Thomas’s huge LinkedIn following emerged
- The business benefit of building a personal brand
- Developing a rapport with people over social media
- Tips for salespeople to begin and improve their social presence
- A deliberate approach to building a quality network
- Leveraging other channels alongside LinkedIn
- Tom asks me about my own experience with LinkedIn
- Tom’s final thoughts and advice for salespeople starting out on LinkedIn
Check out Tom’s YouTube Channel here, and find him here on LinkedIn
Dan Pfister has been a marketer for over 20 years and has spent thousands of hours testing and implementing a very wide variety of sales growth strategies.
In total they’ve generated over 50,000 customers and have allowed him to work with brands like Fidelity Investments and Tony Robbins (see below).
Though many strategies have generated outstanding results for Dan, nothing in his experience has generated revenue faster or more predictably than WinBack. It was the strength and reliability of WinBack that motivated Dan to found Strategic WinBack and become an evangelist for this under-valued and under-appreciated sales strategy.
During this discussion Dan shares his expertise and advice on best practice WinBack, backed by some very compelling numbers and statistics.
Key Points of This Discussion
- The value of winning back past customers
- The cost of customer losses to companies if left unaddressed
- The best way to approach and re-engage with customers
- How to best utilise the information your past customers offer
- Are there customers that we should just let go?
- WinBack vs prospecting new customers
- WinBack ROI statistics
- Why aren’t more companies employing WinBack as a strategy?
- Why past customers are in many ways your best prospects
Learn more about Dan’s company Strategic WinBack, and you can also find him here on LinkedIn.
Andrew Sykes is founder and CEO of Habits at Work, a training company based in Chicago that arms revenue-responsible teams with conversation skills and high-impact habits. He is a master of conversation who helps salespeople and organisations sell more, faster, and keep customers happy, longer.
He grew up in South Africa where he qualified as the youngest actuary at the time and, starting at the tender age of 22, built one of that country’s largest healthcare consulting businesses. As a professional salesperson of 25 years, Andrew has studied and practiced the art of habit creation in organisations and in his own life.
This work culminated in the Behavioral Research and Applied Technology Laboratory (BRATLAB), whose team of psychologists and actuaries seek to understand which habits really matter to sustain high-performance and organisational growth, and how to help people to practice those habits.
He co-authored The 11th Habit, a book that shows how to design a company that makes it easy and natural for employees to prioritize and care for themselves, and perform at the highest level as a result. Andrew is a Lecturer of Entrepreneurship at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and part of the Kellogg Sales Institute Executive Education Team where he teaches the award-winning course “Entrepreneurial Selling,” ranked by Inc. Magazine as one of the “Top Ten” courses in the United States.
Key Points of This Discussion
- The importance of conversation mastery in the age of technology
- How the art of conversation can give salespeople a winning edge
- Recognising the different types of conversations
- The power of the reconnaissance conversation in sales
- Andrew shares some examples of best practice approaches
- Respecting the buyer and listening before we pitch
- The concept of the pathway conversation
- The key components of a milestone conversation
- What Andrew believes the future of sales looks like
- Leveraging powerful customer feedback
You can find Andrew here on LinkedIn.
Doug Brown is a highly acclaimed revenue growth expert in revenue expansion, and sales optimisation. He began working for his family business at the age of three, and has since started and built over 35 companies.
During college at Berklee College, Northeastern University, and Salem State University, Doug supported himself by selling music equipment to colleges, universities, corporations, and some of the world's biggest bands such as Aerosmith, Boston, Billy Joel and The Eagles among others.
He served over 12 years in the US Army, during which he was awarded the battalion's most distinguished soldier award graduating 2nd his class.
Doug then became the top-selling sales representative for a 2-billion-dollar company and went on to start his own consulting and auditing company. Across 14 countries Doug has consulted, coached, advised, and trained thousands of people in business, including Enterprise-Rent- Car, Nationwide, Intuit, Proctor and Gamble, and CBS.
His greatest professional success has been increasing a company's close rate by 862% and revenue growth by 116% within four months.
Doug also served as an independent president of sales and training for companies of Tony Robbins, Chet Holmes, and Russ Whitney. His efforts have collectively generated over 500 million dollars in sales - his last client generated 3 million dollars in new sales in 5 weeks and had an increase in revenue of 15 million dollars over the past 5 years.
Currently Doug helps companies with $5M+ in sales revenue to expand and optimise. He also helps other B2B business coaches and consultants to grow their business – to achieve a higher profit and to enjoy their life.
Doug’s book Win-Win Selling, unlocking your Power of Profitability by Resolving Objections became an international bestseller in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, and the Philippines. It’s a unique must-read for anyone who sells, or wants to communicate on a higher level and have win-win outcomes. Doug has also developed a quiz to help salespeople determine their objections-handling style and how it could be improved.
During this podcast, Doug shares his practical perspectives on objection handling and getting to the root of the problem with your customers.
Key Points of This Discussion
- About Win-Win Selling and resolving objections
- Dealing with the human side of an objection
- How people’s belief system can invoke objections
- How salespeople should get curious and not offended
- Doug shares some examples of getting to the real problem
- A more successful approach to cold calling
- Choosing language based your customer’s language
- Tracking numbers, metrics and following up
Patrick Butler is CEO of Information Security Specialists Loop Secure. He has had a long and successful 13 year career with the company, having started out as an account manager in sales, and working his way up to the C-suite. You could say he knew the business like the back of his hand...until COVID hit suddenly and forced rapid change.
Patrick joins me on the Future-Proof Selling Podcast to share the Loop Secure journey of how they reacted to the pandemic, and the steps they took to transform their business in a very short space of time.
What did they do to pandemic-proof their business and outshine competitors?
Key Points of This Discussion
- Patrick’s Company Loop Secure
- What Patrick and his company did to survive the shock of COVID
- Steps to pandemic-proof and remote work-proof a business
- When pivoting, who should be involved in the decision-making process?
- The impressive reactions of Loop Secure team members
- Webinars as a means of communicating new offerings
- The situation for Loop Secure now, six months on
- The importance of alignment between all divisions
Click through to learn more about Loop Secure, and you can also find Patrick on LinkedIn.
Michael Humblet is obsessed with designing, building and scaling sales engines. Founder of Chaomatic, a company focused on unlocking and maximizing revenue growth, and trusted by over 230 companies.
He is a seasoned sales strategist who served in a number of different Sales Leadership functions. Michael Humblet is the host of The Sales Acceleration Show, the sales and marketing focused Q&A show on how to accelerate your business.
Following a recent video Michael shared called The Truth Behind Sales - Dealing with the lake of rejection, we got together to discuss the techniques and qualities salespeople need to keep swimming and find success, despite all the “NO’s” we experience on a daily basis.
Key Points of This Discussion
- The three keys to a great salesperson
- Danger of progressing deals too quickly
- The two questions every salesperson should ask themselves
- Sending prospects deliberate and specific information in steps
- Building trust - especially in large corporate deals
- The impact of the freedom of choice
- How do salespeople deal with the fear of “No”?
- Focusing on the “why now?” and “next steps.”
Visit his website for more about Michael, and you can also find him on LinkedIn.
Michael Haynes is the Founder and Principal Consultant at Listen Innovate Grow. He has also penned a fantastic book of the same name which is a guidebook to help startup’s and SME’s acquire and grow new B2B customers.
For over 20 years, Michael has worked with companies ranging from micro-businesses to large corporates across Australia and Canada to develop and implement customer strategies and programs to drive business growth.
Particularly in these trying times if you’re struggling to make risk-averse buyers want to buy, need tips on retaining customers, or need to develop more sought after business offerings, this is a valuable episode.
Key Points of This Discussion
- How SME B2B’s should go to market in the ‘new normal’
- Understanding the risk assessment and decision making process
- Recognising opportunities, and being growth oriented in a changed market
- The three levels of listening
- Sales and marketing alignment in executing changed strategy
- Balancing existing customers, and new client acquisition
- A client of Michael’s who is cutting through with innovation
- Creating, or adjusting the business plan with adaptability
- Empowering effective leadership mindset and team culture
- Effectively implementing change and overcoming roadblocks
- World-class change management and execution
- Michael’s playbook Deciphering the business buyer
Visit the Listen Innovate Grow website for more about Michael and his company, and you can also find him on LinkedIn.
I am joined by Tim Sleep and Sean Garvey of Odgers Berndtson, Australia’s fastest-growing retained Executive Search firm. Recently the company conducted a study where they asked 50 country, regional and global Managing Directors of Software and Services companies about their last six months’ experiences in Australia and New Zealand.
They collated their findings into a whitepaper titled Technology Sector MD Insights - The opportunities and challenges of the crisis. How is it affecting our business?
A very pertinent topic for our discussion, and high value for all leaders, especially those in the technology sector.
Tim Sleep
Managing Director Aus & NZ - Odgers Berndtson
Specialises in the technology and professional services sectors, helping build exceptional Non Executive and executive leadership teams. Over 25 years’ experience in senior executive roles across retail, IT and professional services.
Sean Garvey
Partner & Head of Technology Aus & NZ - Odgers Berndtson
Leads the execution of assignments at the Country leadership level for Software Vendors, and has worked extensively building executive leadership teams for System Integrators, Digital Platforms, and Telecommunications companies. Sean has over 20 Years’ experience in executive search, during which time he has worked for the largest multinational firms.
Key Points of This Discussion
- The nature and scope of the technology sector study
- The raw honest concerns of sales leaders and country MD’s
- How decision-making processes have changed, and who’s buying
- How are teams managing their sales activity?
- Balancing underperformers against underperformance
- Mental health awareness becoming part of the weekly cadence
- The extent of leader empathy towards their team
- Communication fatigue - even during lockdown
- Cracking the code of innovative new ideas
- The benefits of executives being more available
- Is face to face really better than online? How teams are finessing the zoom world
- Death of the hero leader
- The qualities of an effective leader today
- Headcount versus productivity
- Some of the best remote management ideas that were shared or observed during the survey
Learn more about Tim and Sean and download their whitepaper here.
Master storyteller, author and sales mastermind Mike Adams returns to the Future-Proof Selling podcast with...you guessed it, a plethora of valuable experiences and insights around the concept of story-listening in sales.
Mike is an expert facilitator and story consultant who has helped numerous national and international companies, across many industries, to tap into story-powered sales.
Before working at Anecdote, Mike was the CEO of The Story Leader and had leading marketing and sales roles at Schlumberger, Siemens, Halliburton, Spotless, and GM Minerals and Energy.
Mike has sold more than $1 Billion worth of products and services and has spoken at many major conferences around the world.
Key Points of This Discussion
- Mike’s early emergence into sales
- The epiphany of recognising storytelling as a problem solving tool
- Listening to your customers comments in order to seek stories
- Changing the nature of sales conversations
- Having a deeper conversation with your customers
- An example when story-listening won Mike a multimillion dollar deal
- The consequence of sticking to standard sales talk
- Stories that help your customers close deals
- Handling objections as a story-listening opportunity
- Anecdotes program for sales organisations - “Storytelling for Leaders.”
Visit the Anecdote website to learn more about Storytelling for Leaders, and you can find Mike on LinkedIn.
Pree Sarkar is an executive recruiter, career coach, author and keynote speaker. LinkedIn rated him in the Top 1% Recruiters for Search Excellence and Talent Pipelining. Prior to recruitment, he was a top performing account executive and sales director with Fortune 500 companies, including Xerox and FedEx.
Since 2008 he has been advising leaders and professionals at global technology companies and pre-IPO start-ups to help them build winning teams and great careers.
We really need to up our game and fight smarter and harder for the roles we really want. How can sales executives and management manage their careers more proactively.
Key Points of This Discussion
- Current trends in career management
- The impact of digital transformation on sales careers
- The the keys of a solid 2020 career management strategy
- How to best present yourself on LinkedIn
- Managing your career through COVID
- Tips on demonstrating significant value in your CV
- Pree’s 4 step recruitment process
- The importance of a strong personal brand
- Creating a ‘market map’ or career prospecting list
- How to approach your prospective future employers
- The two pillars to consultative interviews
- Creating interview influence and connecting with your employer
- What not to do as an employer conducting interviews
- The most powerful way to communicate value in an interview
Visit the website to learn more about Switch and you can find Pree on LinkedIn.
Jeroen Corthout from Antwerp, Belgium is Co-Founder of leading CRM Software Salesflare, developed specifically for small to medium B2B. The company is known for making CRM ‘human.’
We discuss what’s important in a challenging tight market, and how salespeople can take this as an opportunity to become more productive in a remote selling environment.
Some Key Points of This Discussion
- Jeroen’s background and launching Salesflare
- The complications for Salespeople trying to utilise a CRM
- Efficiently curating information yet making CRM human
- How Salesflare works by populating contacts and reducing data entry
- Creating audiences and automated email sequences
- Prospecting and following up in a personalised way at scale
- Requesting reviews and valuable feedback from customers
- Why remote selling is really a great thing for the industry
- Maximising productivity through remote selling
- Leveraging data to create opportunities
- The biggest issues salespeople face with remote selling
- How remote selling can help us be more human and authentic
- What SaaS and tech companies can do now that face-to-face events are gone
- Virtual event software options and opportunities
- The challenge of building pipeline in an economic downturn
- Jeroen’s personal advice on wellbeing when working from home
Visit the website to learn more about Salesflare and you can find Jeroen on LinkedIn.
Aaron McCormick should have been a casualty of his upbringing, “destined,” as he says,” to be crippled by almost every externally imposed and therefore, self-imposed limitation you could imagine.”
Raised on the south side of Chicago, in poverty by a single mother with no education, deserted by a father who was likely an undiagnosed bi-polar schizophrenic, and tightly controlled by an extreme fundamentalist religion that allowed no personal freedom whatsoever, including getting a college education or playing sports, Aaron ultimately defied those expectations of failure.
In fact, he succeeded spectacularly! With no college education, beginning in his low twenties, he became a hugely successful corporate enterprise software salesman, making millions of dollars for his employers and himself, climbing from company to company until he was honored with the prestigious “Best of IBM” award bestowed on only 1% of the company’s 400,000 employees. Along the way, he also earned an MBA (without an undergraduate degree!)
We discuss Aaron’s life and sales approach in depth :
- His early life and challenges.
- The unlimited opportunities of the sales profession.
- Having the right mindset and looking inside yourself.
- Being the sovereign of your own life.
- Aaron’s sales philosophy which saw him generate massive success.
- Being the CEO of your territory.
- Prioritising opportunities systematically.
- Getting inside your prospect’s head and uncovering their pain.
- Focusing your efforts on the best and biggest opportunities.
- Doing deep research on fewer prospects.
- Crafting effective and concise messaging.
- Running the Discovery meeting.
- Analysing the audience.
- Identifying the Assassin in the room.
- Dealing with fear and the current lockdown challenges.
Discover more about Aaron and his book Unbounded.
Tom Pisello, The ROI Guy, is a serial entrepreneur, popular speaker and author, focused on value marketing and selling.
Tom's new book, Evolved Selling - Optimizing Sales Enablement in the Age of Frugalnomics (available on Amazon) is a follow on to The Frugalnomics Survival Guide - How to Use Your Unique Value to Market Better, Stand Out and Sell More (available on Amazon).
Some Key Points of This Discussion
- Why Tom focuses on ROI.
- Why we need to build and quantify value.
- The power of Discovery assessments in building the business case for change.
- Walking into customer interactions with a hypothesis of their potential problems.
- Aspects of "The Challenger" sales and how to implement it effectively.
- The power of Socratic dialogue to help customers become more aware
- Closing for a Discovery meeting vs a Product Demo
- How slowing down early in the sales process actually speeds up the whole sales process
- How sellers must help customers to buy
- How there are still positive opportunities in this difficult market
- How Mediafly helps companies to guide customers, turbocharge presentations and produce business cases to be more effective.
- Why pain is a stronger motivator than gain.
Check more about Tom’s company and latest book Evolved Selling and the Mediafly solution for presentations.
Karen Tisdell is ranked one of the top LinkedIn Trainers across Asia Pacific in 2018 and 2019. Karen began writing LinkedIn profiles in 2009, facilitating LinkedIn strategy sessions on how to reposition your career & attract the work you want. Karen has since worked with many businesses to empower employees to broaden brand footprint, attract & retain clients.
Key Points of our Discussion
- Using LinkedIn to build touchpoints with our potential clients.
- Substituting face to face contact with digital interaction.
- LinkedIn as a demand generation tool.
- The right approach to nurturing prospects on LinkedIn.
- The explosion in LinkedIn activity since lockdown.
- Key LinkedIn functions for salespeople.
- Researching our prospects and relevant content.
- Using LinkedIn messages.
- Focusing on customer problems not our solutions.
- Presenting ourselves as industry experts not sales professionals.
- LinkedIn prospecting cadence.
To learn more connect with Karen on LinkedIn
Jason Cutter, CEO of Cutter Consulting Group, is an author, podcaster and sees himself as a sales success architect for companies and individuals. Even though he didn’t have a sales upbringing or background (his bachelor’s degree is in Marine Biology), he knows what it takes to be successful in sales. His new book – Selling With Authentic Persuasion - is focused on helping anyone in sales transform from Order Taker to Quota Breaker.
In This Discussion:
- What authenticity means in the sales profession.
- Self-awareness and being human in sales.
- The keys to long term sales success.
- Jason’s journey into sales and his early experiences.
- The importance of our intention.
- People don’t buy drills, they buy holes!
- Uncovering underlying customer needs.
- The Sales Success Iceberg.
- Why even top performers need ongoing coaching and development.
- A high level overview of Jason’s new book Authentic Persuasion.
Jason’s Links:
Main Hub/Link: www.jasoncutter.com
CCG Website: https://www.cutterconsultinggroup.com/
Authentic Persuasion: https://authenticpersuasion.com/
Paul Ross is an author, speaker, Master Hypnotist and Master Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming. He teaches already successful 6 and 7 figure professional salespeople and entrepreneurs how to easily add multiple 6 figures to their revenue through the power of subconscious selling.
This is a really interesting episode that delves into the modern sales techniques top sellers are using, that can leave traditional sales methods well behind.
Key Points of our Discussion:
- Reframing what we sell away from products to decisions and good feelings.
- Why we should consider ourselves ‘decision service technicians’.
- How most sales presentations are boring and don’t engage customers.
- How to get audiences focused.
- How we can align ourselves with our customers vs being in an adversarial position.
- Techniques for destroying objections.
- Utilising pattern interrupts.
- Reframing cold calling to sharing opportunities.
- Reframing prospecting conversations.
- Qualifying leads effectively.
Check more about Paul Ross and his book at the following links.
To learn more about Paul Ross visit his website and find his book Subtle Words That Sell on Amazon.
David Masover is a global sales thought leader and sales process expert. He is also the author of several sales books. David is back on the Future Proof Selling podcast to discuss his four level sales process that has made a significant positive impact on the organisations he works with.
Some key points of our discussion:
- Getting field input into your sales process.
- Involving other key stakeholders.
- Process iteration and buy in.
- Implementing new sales technology.
- Sales coaching and reinforcement.
Learn more about David and his company via his website, and/or connect on LinkedIn
Qwilr was co-founded in 2014 by designer Dylan Baskind and ex-Googler Mark Tanner, who were friends since high school. Dylan became frustrated when trying to win new business — he wanted to make sure he was putting his best foot forward but found it risky to put so much time into each proposal, meaning days of waste if he didn’t win business. Mark saw the coming future of productivity tools during his time at Google and together, they agreed to work on a new way to create, design and send proposals and business documents.
Prior to starting Qwilr, Mark Tanner worked as a Business Development lead for Android & Google Play.
Have you considered how important the presentation of a quote or proposal can be to a sale?
Key points of our discussion
- The challenges of traditional proposal generation methods
- How Qwilr has re-imagined proposals leveraging the cloud
- The importance of the “engagement” phase of the sales process
- Improving conversion rates with effective proposals and collaterals
- The challenges of reaching members of the buying committee
- Using interactive proposals to progress B2B deals
- Thoughts on effective remote selling
- How Mark manages his global sales team
For more about Mark’s company visit Qwilr
Contact Mark at mark@qwilr.com or connect with him on LinkedIn
BillWooditch’s journey started out as a long-haired, beer-drinking failure. Crippled by fear, he couldn't seem to sell water to a dying man in the desert. His biggest fear of all was selling himself short and not living up to his full potential.
By adjusting, adapting and mastering the art of authenticity, empathy, and relentless activity, he transformed fear from being his worst enemy, into his greatest secret weapon.
Bill became the top salesman at a Fortune 500 company in less than 2 years, a top producer for two consecutive years at the 6th largest insurance brokerage firm in the world, and then went on to create his own multi-million-dollar company.
He’s also the author of “Always Forward” and “Fail More,” a Wall Street Journal bestseller.
We discuss :
- Bill’s personal story and how he turned his life around.
- The importance of momentum.
- How his success was driven by relentless focus on activity, execution and personal improvement.
- The importance of maintaining activity even when you have success.
- Being present and alleviating uncertainty with clients.
- Being proactive when working-from-home.
- Key methods from Bill’s two books.
- Having ‘Walk Away Power’.
Find out more about Bill at www.billwooditch.com.
Mark McInnes is a prospecting expert and Australia's leading social seller. He has just written an outstanding book on outbound sales called Tactical Pipeline Growth, Winning the Outbound Battle for New Business. Mark has extensive frontline experience and has written the book for frontline sellers to be successful in today's market.
We discuss
- Designing the right outbound cadence
- How often and which channels should we use
- Targeting tech decision makers
- Crafting the right messages
- Mark’s eight week prospecting plan
- How Mark gets a 60% response rate
- How to leverage “Public Signals”
- Effectively researching prospects and companies
- Avoiding the feast and famine of sales
- Key outbound metrics
Connect with Mark on LinkedIn, visit his website and find his book here.
Renee Zamora is a guru on virtual sales management and the author of Part Time Sales Management. He is the founder of Sales Manager Now, a virtual sales management practice supporting small business. He previously had 27 years in sales and sales management.
Key Points of our Discussion:
- Rene’s early sales career and transition into his own business
- How a good manager can insulate you from company challenges
- The challenges small businesses have setting up their sales structure
- The concept of virtual sales management
- How virtual sales management works
- The value proposition for small businesses
- The power of delegation to your sales team vs micromanaging
- The importance of building trust with your team
- Top tips on working remotely
Learn more about Rene and his company here :
Web page: salesmanagernow.com
Part-Time Sales Management (book):
Twitter: salesmanagernow
LInkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/renez/
Bill Cates is the author of the new book Radical Relevance, a method for getting the attention of our prospects and customers. Bill has been an entrepreneur for almost 40 years. He has started, built, and sold two successful book publishing companies.
After the sale of his second publishing company, Bill devoted the last 25 years to the art and science of relationship marketing. He has three books on the topic of referrals: Get More Referrals Now, Don’t Keep Me a Secret, and Beyond Referrals.
We discuss
- The importance of narrowing your message.
- The neuroscience of getting our customers attention.
- Why we should develop separate messages for different targets.
- The power and importance of referrals.
- A "Referral Process Masterclass".
- The anatomy of effective prospective emails.
Learn more about Bill at www.ReferralCoach.com and his fantastic book Radical Relevance
Mark McInnes is a prospecting expert and Australia's leading social seller. He has just written an outstanding book on outbound sales called Tactical Pipeline Growth, Winning the Outbound Battle for New Business. Mark has extensive frontline experience and has written the book to help frontline sellers be successful in today's market.
Some Key Points of Interest
- The confusion about how to prospect today
- How to have high value conversations
- Being persistent with their outbound and how to do it
- How to get 60% conversion rates on your prospecting
- The Quality vs Quantity debate
- Understanding your Compelling Story
- 13% of salespeople get 90%+ of the prizes
- When business gets difficult, the gaps start to show
- How Mark applies his military background to sales
- Mark’s five Pillars of prospecting framework
- How to target and craft effective messaging
- The #1 too you must be using in your cadence
To learn more about Mark Connect on LinkedIn and/or Visit Mark's Website
Larry Levine is an expert in B2B sales in the technology industry. With over 27 years experience, Larry knows what it takes to be successful in the sales world and now shares his expertise by coaching other B2B sales professionals.
Larry is the author of ‘Selling from the Heart’ and is a firm believer that pushy sales tactics should be shunned in favour of transparent customer relationships. Larry expands on this throughout the episode.
In this episode Steven and Larry explore:
- What being authentic means to Larry and how to provide substance to your customers
- Larry opens up about his challenges with understanding how his clients viewed him as a sales professional
- Why your online persona should translate to how you engage with people in the real world
- How improving your writing skills and starting a blog can help to build your network and credibility
- Understanding modern branding tools like social media and setting realistic expectations around brand growth
- Stepping up your game when it comes to creating first impressions with potential customers
- Vulnerability and how it can work in your favour within the sales space
- Being genuine first up to prevent issues further down in the business relationship
- Larry’s final points on how to sell from your heart
You can check Larry out in the links below -
Larry Levine - Website
Larry Levine - LinkedIn
Alana Brittain has had a distinguished sales career in the healthcare and technology industries and is currently a Sales Leader for LinkedIn Australia. Alana wrote a great article “Top 5 Tips for New Parents Returning to work”, which created a lot of interest. Here is an excerpt from the article
“Choosing to return to work after having a child can be a very personal choice. For some it can be weeks, for others years. It completely depends on what your priorities are and what works for you and your family. After having my daughter eight months ago, I decided to start working again after three months. And it was an eye opener.
Despite all the planning and organisation before my daughter’s birth, I completely overlooked everything that is impacted after the big event, particularly the fact that both motherhood and work are demanding, tiring, and stressful experiences.”
In this episode Alana and I discuss:
- The anxiety of having a new role and taking maternity leave
- The challenges of life after the event
- The feedback, positive and negative, when returning back
- Realising you can’t do it all and how to make trade-offs that work
- Getting better organised at work
- The importance of communicating with colleagues and your outside support team.
- Managing your back-up resources effectively
- Importance of delegating outsourcing
- Dealing with sleep deprivation
- Coping with feelings of guilt
- The importance of opening up the discussion on this topic
Check Alana out here https://www.linkedin.com/in/alanabrittain/
Scott Leese works with both domestic and international companies on sales strategy, process, people, pitch and more, with a focus on companies scaling from $0 - $25m ARR. He spent his entire professional career building and scaling sales orgs at SaaS companies. He has a proven track record of lifting organizations to new heights with limited resources allocated to the task at hand.
He also founded Surf and Sales in 2018 to provide an alternative to standard sales conferences by providing deeper learning, meaningful relationships, and an experience that will transform you and your career or business.
He wrote an Amazon #1 best-selling book on sales called: Addicted to the Process, How to Close Transactional Sales with Confidence & Consistency- that was released in 2017. It made the list of Book Authority’s 100 Best Sales Books of all time.
Some key points of our discussion:
- Why Scott says “sales is the garbage can of jobs”
- How becoming a sales professional is a platform for employment security
- Scott’s personal journey and battle with health during his 20s
- The importance of process and not focusing on results
- Scott’s method for uncovering problems, building pain and creating urgency
- The opportunity we have right now to develop our skills
- How sales success sometimes leads to corner cutting and bad habits
- The importance of not skipping steps in your process
Find out more about Scott at https://scottleeseconsulting.com
and find his book at https://scottleeseconsulting.com/get-the-book/
So many organisations undertake sales training expecting behaviours to change and results to turn around but it rarely happens. But usually within a month the sales team falls back into ingrained habits and sales managers are busy as ever managing the business.
Very few sales managers coach and even fewer coach effectively. John Hoskins shares with us the secrets to driving lasting change in sales organisations through effective and ongoing coaching systems.
Some Key Points of this Discussion:
- The challenges of coaching in today’s environment.
- The importance of coaching in driving lasting change
- Allocating time to coaching and feedback
- The 70/20/10 coaching framework
- Building a coaching plan
- Having a sales system to coach to
- The importance of “ride alongs” for on the spot coaching, call planning, call execution and call post-mortems
- The five levels of salespeople and how managers can categorise their team
- Approx 50% of our salespeople are “technical tellers” who talk too much and lose control of the sale
- The five levels of sales management, and how most managers are stuck in the buddy, parent or boss model
You can find more about John, his company and books here LinkedIn | Website
Learn how Matthew Barnett - Papa Bear at SaaS company Bonjoro tripled his response rates with one sales technique. Matthew was originally an accomplished British Industrial designer & Artist, who turned everything upside down to launch a tech company in Sydney Australia. After a couple of false-starts, Bonjoro was born from a sales hack for his first business, where Matt would send every new lead a personal video to delight and surprise them.
When customers started asking how they could do the same thing, Matt and the team decided to go all-in on the idea, and 3 years later Bonjoro has snowballed with customers and team all across the globe.
Matt’s love of building great products is only surpassed by his total commitment to building great business culture, and Matt asserts that Bonjoro’s “customers as friends” culture has been the main driver for the business’ success. His goal is to be the next Zappos, to be most loved brand in the world.”
Key Points of Our Discussion :
- How Matt discovered the power of video email.
- How video gets roughly 3x response rates.
- Why video is more effective than voice mail and regular email.
- The importance of trust.
- The importance of relationships and connecting.
- The effectiveness of authenticity and personalisation in sales.
- How opening the sale well can improve your close rates and referrals.
- Bonjoro’s own internal sales process.
- The importance of taking care of existing customers.
Check out Matt and Bonjoro out at www.bonjoro.com and on LinkedIn
This is an amazingly energetic and value-packed episode. Dale Dupree has had an incredibly successful sales career and employs a number of innovative strategies to get customer attention and then create loyal-for-life customers.
Dale is the leader of The Sales Rebellion, host of the Selling Local podcast and known to many as the Copier Warrior. Dale brings a unique and creative approach to the sales space that encourages taking risks to get noticed and to secure new sales opportunities.
Dale passionately believes in practicing what you preach, even if it means making mistakes. This is an approach that Dale shares vigorously throughout his sales coaching platform ‘The Sales Rebellion’.
In this episode Steven and Dale explore:
- Dale’s positive approach to prospecting and how he maintains that outlook in everything he does across the sales space
- Understanding that someone is filtering your emails before reaching the prospect and using this knowledge to get beyond that first stumbling point
- The crumpled letter trick, its origin and how it works?
- Dale shares some further obscure techniques that will increase your response rate
- What Dale means when he says that his pipeline is alive?
- How to approach a live opportunity and understanding that the buyer is just as prepared going in as the seller
- Dale’s final thoughts on sales processes
You can check Dale out in the links below -
Dale Dupree - LinkedIn
Dale Dupree - Website
Tune in to part 2 of my discussion with Andrew McCarthy - Head of New Business for LinkedIn ANZ. During our first discussion we talked about setting your sales team up in a work from home paradigm and how Andrew and his team have approached this transition. Today we get into the nitty-gritty at a sales level in this climate and how field salespeople can be just as effective from home.
Andrew McCarthy has had a distinguished sales and sales leadership career, for the past seven years he has fulfilled several key roles for LinkedIn both in Australia and the US, and is currently the Sales Leader for New Business for LinkedIn’s ANZ business.
Some topics we covered include :-
- How field salespeople can be just as effective remotely.
- How the transition of the sale process towards digital/social/video has been happening already.
- Some timeless fundamentals of sales that remain the same.
- Leveraging digital clues and research to be effective.
- Taking the opportunity to accelerate our learning during the current crisis.
- How to look for useful trends and events online.
- How customers are more available and open to calls at the moment.
- Opportunities for salespeople to invest time in their own development.
Check Andrew out at https://www.linkedin.com/in/awmccarthy
David Masover is a global sales though leader and sales process expert, he is also the author of several sales books
We discuss :
- The challenges of not having a sales process.
- The risks of leaving your success up to individual sales capabilities.
- The disconnect between the CRM and what’s really happening in the field.
- Designing sales process effectively.
- Defining sales stages in more detail.
- Qualifying components.
- Getting customers to Discovery workshops.
- Putting a timing dimension on pipeline stages.
Learn more about David and his company here https://davidmasover.com/
Andrew McCarthy has had a distinguished sales and sales leadership career, for the past seven years he has fulfilled several key roles for LinkedIn both in Australia and the US, and is currently the Sales Leader for New Business for LinkedIn’s ANZ business. Of course Andrew interacts with many sales leaders across various industries so has some unique insight on key strategies organisations are adopting in the current challenging environment. He also shares some of the things he and his team are undertaking at the moment.
Some topics we covered include :-
- How focusing on timeless sales fundamentals has guided Andrew through his career.
- Managing sales teams in the Working From Home environment.
- The challenge for field salespeople to manage without face-to-face customer contact.
- The importance of sharing across the team.
- The internal factors sales leaders need to be focusing on now.
- The weekly cadence Andrew is now using with his team and the experimentation he has gone through.
- Approaching customers with compassion.
- Progressing deals without face to face contact.
- Managing morale and motivation.
Check Andrew out at https://www.linkedin.com/in/awmccarthy
How should salespeople prepare for and approach C-level execs in order to get their attention?
Jacques Sciammas has held many C-level roles at several global corporations, where he was responsible for making executive buying decisions for over 25 years. Through his company, Selling To Executives, he now consults to and coaches sales organisations on how to effectively navigate the buying committee, and successfully sell to the C-suite.
Master the art of executive selling and avoid no-decision outcomes.
Key Points of Executive Selling:
- Why we should meet at C-level.
- How to cut though the noise and get the attention of C-level executives.
- Researching and preparing our messaging.
- The three main focuses of an executive
- Mistakes salespeople are making.
- Goal setting for C-level meetings.
- Preparing for C-level meetings.
- How to identify if a meeting was successful or not.
- Avoiding 'No Decision' outcomes.
- Putting yourself in the executive’s shoes.
Drawing on his corporate executive experience, and representing the executive buyer’s perspective, Jacques conducts interactive workshops and keynotes to global sales teams, on how to successfully prepare, access and credibly engage with a client Executive. His extensive corporate experience includes EVP at Berkshire, CFO at Charles Schwab’s $2 billion Retail Division, Director of International Operations at Standard & Poor’s, and Director of Capital Programs at TWA.
Learn more about Selling To Executives
“Engaging in value co-creation with your customers strengthens your relationship with them and enhances your product offerings and services.”
Alana Brittain joins me on the Future Proof Selling podcast to talk sales hacks from the perspective of an accomplished millennial. Alana has had a distinguished sales career in the healthcare and technology industries and is currently a Sales Leader for LinkedIn Australia.
Alana brings with her an infectious energy as we discuss the complexity of corporate sales, the importance of connection and relationship-building skills and her concept of co-creating value with our customers.
Some Key Points of Our Discussion :
- Alana’s beginning in the sales world.
- The increased complexity of corporate sales.
- The expansion of stakeholders we need to cover.
- The emergence of millennials in decision-making roles.
- The importance of relationship-building skills, not just having relationships.
- Co-creating value with customers.
- The importance of authenticity in sales to better connect with our customers.
- Using storytelling effectively in the sales process, and the associated pitfalls.
- Leveraging data effectively to help us be more productive.
Follow Alana on https://www.linkedin.com/in/alanabrittain/
Mike Weinberg is a highly respected global sales thought leader. He was named by Forbes magazine as a top sales influencer, he is the author of three Amazon #1 best sellers including his recent blockbuster Sales Truth - Debunk the Myths. Apply Powerful Principles. Win More Sales.
Some key topics we discuss:
- Don’t believe everything you read about sales especially from the online experts.
- Sorting through the noise of advice and vendors all claiming a magic bullet to grow your sales.
- Despite the noise, not everything has changed in sales
- While we need to adapt and leverage new channels, the fundamentals of sales remain the same.
- How to leverage new technology and techniques to enhance what we do.
- How we should look at social as a channel to reach potential customers.
- There is no shortcut or ‘easy’ button.
- The importance of managing your calendar.
- How we should be driving new business.
- Why pipeline is the lifeblood of your business.
Learn more about Mike here: https://mikeweinberg.com
Sales Truth: https://mikeweinberg.com/salestruth-book/
Dale Dupree is the fearless leader of The Sales Rebellion, host of the Selling Local podcast and known to many as the Legendary Copier Warrior. Dale brings a heartfelt, unique and creative approach to the sales space that encourages vulnerability, honesty and authentic human interaction.
Dale passionately believes in practicing what you preach, even if it means making and admitting to mistakes. This is an approach that Dale shares vigorously throughout his sales coaching platform ‘The Sales Rebellion’
In this powerful episode Steven and Dale explore:
- Dale's background in the copier industry and what inspires him to bring creativity to the sales space
- Avoiding assumptions about clients or the marketplace to prevent limitations
- Using your personal brand creatively to show authenticity and to resonate with your customers
- His late Father's influence on Dale's career and life values
- Dale’s relationship with depression and navigating the sales space while dealing with mental illness
- The Sales Rebellion and the philosophies behind the project that are helping to create a movement and community
- Being willing to succeed in your workspace and being confident in making the choices to support you along the way
It was an absolute pleasure talking to Dale, he is a rockstar. So clear and passionate. You can check Dale out in the links below -
Dale Dupree - LinkedIn
Dale Dupree - Website
Shawn Finders grew up as one of North America’s top tennis players, traveling around the world competing to be the next Andre Agassi. He was told at age 23 that he had to decide to try and become a tennis professional or get an MBA and go down the education route.
Shawn is now the CEO of autoklose.com a sales automation platform that is used by 3000+ sales professionals around the world. He specialises in generating leads and sales strategy implementation. Throughout this interview Shawn provides his first hand experience for improving sales strategies in a way that benefits all parties.
In this episode Steven and Shawn explore:
- How Shawn went from playing pro tennis to becoming a sales entrepreneur
- The issue with poor quality data and how Shawn is working to provide higher quality data to all of his clients
- A look at whether companies are wasting money on data
- Shawn's perspective on prospecting and the sequences sales professionals should follow
- Employing a 7-8 touch sequence and techniques to make the process effective and build trust with prospects
- Understanding your potential prospects and why this is an essential first step
- Shawn's approach to email structure, subject lines and engaging new prospects
- Using video in email sequences and how effective it can be
- How to act on live prospects and ensuring the process is working
- Adapting the cadence for larger deals with bigger companies
- A humorous approach to closing
- Shawn shares some extra tips around the sales sequence
You can check Shawn out in the links below -
Shawn Finder - LinkedIn
Shawn Finder - Website
Taking over underperforming sales teams can be a huge challenge, management want fast results, the team will be looking to you for direction and no doubt changes will need to be made. But what is the best way to approach this problem?
Kent Eimbrodt is the General Manager for Bullivants. He is a high-achieving professional and an exceptional business leader. Kent has vast experience in creating vision, employee engagement and bringing strategy to life.
With over 30 years experience in the sales space, Kent’s wealth of knowledge is a trusted resource to improve team confidence, and guide them towards reaching their goals.
We discuss the importance of a solid and defined value proposition, and the power of customer data. Kent suggests using Alex Osterwalder’s Value Proposition Canvas to precisely determine your customer profiles, define the most important components of your offerings and achieve product/market fit.
Kent elaborates on this and more during the interview.
Key points of this discussion
- How Kent started in the industry and the experiences that have helped shape his career
- Kent’s move to Finland to take on the role as a Global Sales Director and his insight into approaching a new role
- Gathering insight from clients to shape an understanding of market needs, in order to provide a customised service
- Ignoring the core issues of an under-performing team by focusing in on issues with pricing and product
- Supporting and building enough confidence in your team to communicate price increases
- Training your team to be adaptable and to provide solutions to improve clients businesses and save them money
- Integrity in pricing and helping your team to understand pricing strategies
- Kents final thoughts on sales team ethics
You can check Kent out in the links below -
Kent Eimbrodt - LinkedIn
Bullivants - Website
I very much enjoyed being interviewed by Elizabeth Frederick on the "Let's Talk Sales" Podcast for Criteria For Success. We deep dive into the challenges of sales Leadership and what is required of the modern leader to really elevate their career and the success of their team.
The theme for September was the sales playbook. This is something I'm passionate about and truly believe is critical for today's sales organisations. Elizabeth and I discuss this and much more on sales leadership.
Key Points of our Discussion on Leadership & Sales
∙ Long-term pressures on sales leaders
∙ Competitive advantage - and how it's transient at best
∙ Importance of specialisation
∙ MoF Strategy
∙ Recruiting and promoting the right talent
∙ Mastering sales storytelling
∙ How my book 'Future Proof Sales Strategy' can help sales leaders and managers, and assist in beginning to construct the sales playbook.
Larry Levine is an expert in B2B sales in the office products / copier sales category. With over 27 years experience, Larry knows what it takes to be successful in the sales world and now shares his expertise by coaching other B2B sales professionals.
Larry is the author of ‘Selling from the Heart’ and is a firm believer that pushy sales tactics should be shunned in favour of transparent customer relationships. Larry expands on this throughout the episode.
In this episode Steven and Larry explore:
- Larry shares the intriguing story behind what inspired him to write his book 'Selling from the Heart' and how the insights have helped him to gain success with client relationships and sales
- Embracing soft sales skills to build trust with prospects and prolong your business partnerships
- The key concepts of selling from the heart and how becoming introspective can improve your sales skills and approach
- Larry’s approach to improving himself for both his sales career and personal growth
- Asking questions and using your customer relationships to learn lessons that will improve your career
- How the digital age may be causing a disadvantage when it comes to building an authentic relationship with your clients
- Through role play, Larry shows ways to have a more engaging and unique conversation with clients that goes beyond the typical sales pitch
You can check Larry out in the links below -
Larry Levine - Website
Larry Levine - LinkedIn
Carman Pirie is the co-founder of Kula Partners, an agency built to help leading manufacturers digitally transform marketing and sales to deliver more leads, close more prospects, and grow their competitive edge.
With over 3 decades experience in marketing and communications, Carman is a wealth of knowledge. He shares with us his learnings and insights from the B2B marketing and sales space, and gives us valuable examples of successful sales and marketing alignment outcomes.
In this episode Steven and Carman explore:
- Carman’s story and how he got to his industry position today
- Carmans political background and how his experience running for an election translated to the sales world
- The evolution of B2B marketing and Carman's takeaways from the process
- What a good modern B2B function looks like and where to align goals and priorities
- The challenges of sales and marketing alignment in organisations
- Identifying verticals from an account list and how to best utilise them
- Carman talks through some use cases for B2B manufacturers
- The key initiatives that B2B marketers should be taking to be more effective
You can check Carman out at the links below -
Carman Pirie - Website
Carman Pirie - LinkedIn
In this episode I am interviewed by Marcus Cauchi for The Inquisitor Podcast.
Marcus and I share a passion for sales recruitment. Attracting top sales talent, and effective sales hiring and management is critical to our success as leaders.
How can leaders become the type of manager top salespeople want to work for?
I share some of the ups and downs of my career that ultimately shaped how I approached my work as a salesman, and as a sales and business leader.
Marcus and I also delve deep into the all important MoFu (middle of the funnel) sales strategies with some real life examples and actual questions all salespeople should be asking their customers.
James Muir continues his engaging commentary on The Future Proof Selling podcast for Part 2 of “The Perfect Close.” If you missed the first episode it’s a must-listen for salespeople and their leaders that left listeners wanting more. In Part 2 James shares the secret magic closing phrases that are 95% successful and only take five minutes to learn.
James is the founder and CEO of Best Practice International and the bestselling author of the #1 book on closing sales – The Perfect Close. With over 30 years experience in sales as well as having served in every role; James has become a highly valued sales resource.
James has extensive background in healthcare where he has worked with some of the largest names in technology and healthcare including HCA, Tenet, Catholic Healthcare, Banner, Dell, IBM and others.
In this episode James and I explore:
- Preparing your expectations for a meeting and having a back up plan or approach
- The two questions that are 95% successful for the perfect close
- Exploring the differences between add-ons and fallbacks for different situations
- Adjusting the pace to meet that of the prospects while still making advancements
- How to handle a customer that's being aggressive in pacing to avoid skipping steps in the sales process
- Tactics for controlling the pace of the sale and gaining insights into the potential timing for a sale
- Diverting the early price question towards discovery and ultimately not making price the focus
- The importance of not setting your anchor low early on in the sales process
For the chance to get a free audiobook copy of James’ book ‘The Perfect Close’
- Go to Twitter
- Use the hashtag - #growthacumen
- Tag @SteveN_Coach1 and @B2B_SalesTips
You can check James out at the links below -
James Muir - Website
James Muir - LinkedIn
Joining me on the Future Proof Selling Podcast this episode is James Muir, Founder and CEO of Best Practice International, and the bestselling author of the #1 book on closing sales – The Perfect Close. With over 30 years experience in sales as well as having served in every role; James has become a highly valued sales resource.
James has extensive background in healthcare where he has worked with some of the largest names in technology and healthcare including HCA, Tenet, Catholic Healthcare, Banner, Dell, IBM and others.
In this episode Steven and James explore:
- How manipulative sales techniques could be killing your sales
- James’s personal perspective on closing and what it means to him
- Definitions for advances and continuations in the sales space
- Problems that may arise from clumsy closing
- Being smart with closing techniques to avoid tarnishing clients trust
- The importance of intent over technique
- The secret weapon that sales people don’t realise they have
- 3 questions you should ask to put your core planning to the test
- Examples of how James provides value to clients
- A look at the customer's potential actions and how to build engagement to drive a sale
- Understanding what you can and can’t control in the sales space
You can check James out at the links below -
James Muir - Website
James Muir - LinkedIn
Kara Atkinson is a Headhunter of 18 years, CEO of ‘The Sales Recruiter’ and founder of ‘SPARC The Sales Leader Network’. SPARC was launched in 2019 and is a network for elite sales leaders.
Kara works with CEOs and Senior Executives in medium to large organisations who are seeking to build dynamic, high performing and collaborative sales teams to deliver stable sales excellence.
In this episode Steven and Kara explore:
- How to retain and develop a top performing team
- The on boarding process and how it can be improved
- Hiring high performers and expectations around hitting targets
- How to keep high performers on the team by thinking outside of the box
- Using recognition with high performers to keep them inspired and on target
- How building workplace culture and spirit helps to recruit and retain people
- How sales leaders can make the most of social media
- Not taking your high performers for granted
You can check Kara out at the links below -
Kara Atkinson - Website
Kara Atkinson - LinkedIn
Jason Bay and I discuss the challenges with crafting the right messaging to build engagement, and start a conversation.
Jason and his team have written hundreds of cold email sequences and sent thousands of emails for their clients. Their biggest challenge was always coming up with a process that was repeatable but effective.
Jason developed the REPLY Method that allows you to scale up and improve the effectiveness of your messaging.
The REPLY Method focuses on WHY prospects buy. What are their job responsibilities? What challenges do they experience on a regular basis that relate with your product or service? What do they need to see in an email or hear in a cold call to WANT to respond?
The majority of salespeople don’t have a closing problem. They have an opening problem. The REPLY Method removes the mystery of what to say in your cold outreach so you can schedule more meetings and close more deals.
In this episode we explore:
- The challenges with crafting the right messaging and building engagement
- Volume vs quality of messaging
- Using the right amount of personalisation in email copy and what research shows is the best formula
- Jason's guide to writing an impactful subject and opening line
- Jason's REPLY method framework and how to best implement it
- The importance of knowing how to troubleshoot a flawed campaign
- Asking prospects for feedback to improve your campaign
You can check Jason out at :
Jason Bay - Website
Jason Bay - REPLY Method
Jason Bay - LinkedIn
Denis Champagne is an expert on the voice and many aspects of sales and prospecting. Denis joins me again on the Future-Proof Selling podcast to talk what can be adopted from the world of elite athletes and applied to the sales domain, as well as becoming an ongoing learner to get ahead of the pack.
Some key points from this discussion:
- Sellers facing the challenge of weak pipelines
- The danger of cutting corners to make up numbers each quarter
- Denis’s insights from training with Australian squash champion Heather Mckay and how they apply to the sales landscape
- Ensuring that upper management has the best interests of everyone, including staff and clients
- Why putting in the hours and volume of work is essential to growing sales skills
- How to have the confidence to jump on a sales call at any moment
- Denis’s guide to call preparation and planning
- The balance between using multiple touch points or over-contacting leads
- Why you need to keep learning in order to succeed in sales today
You can check Denis out at the links below -
Denis Champagne - LinkedIn
Denis Champagne - Website
David Shepherd is the ANZ Country Manager for HubSpot. He's had a remarkable career and progression with the company, he joined the company nine years ago when they only had 150 employees compared to 3000 now.
So much value from David in this discussion as we cover a lot of ground in this discussion.
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How customers are more demanding than ever.
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The importance of personalisation in prospecting.
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Why we need to have strong pipelines so we don’t need to chase deals that don’t meet key criteria.
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Making it easy for customers to buy.
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Understand the why of your customers.
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How salespeople should be leveraging social.
Daniel Priestley is a super successful global entrepreneur, international speaker and best-selling author. He is an expert on personal branding and one of the founders of Dent Global.
In this episode we run through the framework from his book, Key Person of Influence, which helps to position us as go-to thought leaders in our industry.
I actually did the KPI test before this interview and Daniel and I reveiw my scroes across Pitch, Publish, Product, Profile and Partnership. Some really great insights for me and my business which I think you will also find useful.
Check Daniel out here.
https://www.dent.global
http://www.keypersonofinfluence.com/author/daniel/
Salespeople have a tremendous opportunity to stay and out in front of customers and get a jump on their competition by developing their own thought leadership.
Bernadette McClelland, steps us through how we need to overcome our own mental barriers and put ourselves out there.
We also need to be looking at customer problems from a psychological angle, what is 'behind the problem', why is the customer voicing this problem? Bernadette shares methods for asking the challenging questions.
Procurement & Sales do not need to be in conflict. Dealing effectivey with the procurement function is often key to success in major accounts. Thomas J. Williams is an expert in dealing with procurement and shares with us strategies he has used and taught for many years.
Tom is the founder and CEO of Strategic Dynamics Inc, a firm which helps sales organisations sell more effectively by markedly improving their new hire candidate assessment process, sales productivity and business acumen.
He is also the co-author of The Seller’s Challenge: How Top Sellers Master 10 Deal Killing Obstacles in B2B Sales. Think of it as a “tactical field manual” about what top-performing sellers do – how they research, plan and implement activities that maximize their chances of winning. And he recently released another co-authored book, Buyer-Centred Selling, which provides sellers strategies and tactics that help the buyer address eleven dilemmas likely to slow and obstruct the buying process. The reader will discover quickly that buying and selling are inextricably connected in their focus on helping the customer buy.
https://strategicdynamicsfirm.com
https://www.amazon.com/Buyer-Centered-Selling-Modern-Sellers-Collaborate-ebook/dp/B07X8XW5BS
Making the most of every opportunity is critical in B2B especially where opportunities involve serious investment of time and resources. George Bronten is a Sales Effectiveness Pioneer. We talk about George’s sales journey and how he came to realise the importance of both PROCESS and METHODOLOGY. We discuss why reps that have great results elsewhere might not achieve great results for you and what we can do to make sales performance far more predictable.
George is the CEO and Founder of Membrain, the leading Sales Enablement CRM that enables B2B sales teams to execute their sales process, coach for higher results, and build predictable growth.
https://www.membrain.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgebronten/
Mary Henderson shares her personal branding journey which started in the year 2000. From the start she was very strategic and deliberate in developing her brand. This fuelled a super successful sales and management career where she created hypergrowth and led teams to the heights of success. She has since established herself as a Personal Branding authority.
Mary shares with us how building our personal brand can help us stand out to customers and position us for the roles that we want. She also shares how to go about it, and how important it is to narrow in on our specific expertise.
We also cover why it's critical for leaders to work on their personal brand, and to do it while they are in their high level corporate roles.
An understanding of psychology is critical to success in business, in managing ourselves and working with customers and other stakeholders. Bernadette Mclelland in this discussion shares how understanding yourself first is the foundation for understanding others. We explore the importance of understanding what is underlying our and others motivations, why we say what we do and why we act like we do.
The sales profession is always subject to pressure and change, Bernadette has identified Resilience, Resourcefulness and Responsibility as key attricutes to foster to deal with these ongoing challenges.
Hiring and keeping top sales talent is a hot issue. Kara Atkinson is "The Sales Recruiter" and is a thought leader on recruitment and retention best practices. Kara talks about how we can make our organisations and ourselves as leaders attractive to top talent.
The personal branding of a sales leader is a big factor and one that many sales leaders are not leveraging, Kara gives us some critical advice in this area and many others. From positioning our JDs more effectively to the whole hiring process to the onboarding experience, it all plays a factor in getting what Kara calls 'sales virtuosos' into our business.
As well as being the CEO and founder of her own recruiting firm she also heads up the Sparc Network, a sales network exclusively for elite sales leaders.
Please check Kara out here.
https://www.karaatkinson.com
https://www.karaatkinson.com/sparc-network
This podcast was featured first on the Business Essentials podcast
Many business functions have completely changed in the last 20 years including marketing, customer experience and supply chains. Yet the sales function has stayed very much the same, resulting in poorer business returns.
Business consultant Steven Norman says that with so much information at the customers' fingertips, it's getting harder to sell. A paradigm shift is needed for many sales teams to achieve more tailored and professional sales skills.
For more episodes from the Business Essentials podcast, go to https://omny.fm/shows/business-essentials
There is a lot of glamour and attention in the sales world around prospecting, outbound and winning new business, but we all know the real profit is in serving and growing our existing customers. It is at least six times more expensive to win a new customer than it is to grow business with existing customers. Everyone understands the benefits but how do we effectively go about it?
Darrell Hardidge is the bestselling author of The 10 Commandments of Client Appreciation and The Client Revolution, defining the roadmap to No.1 position. He is the founder of Saguity which helps design customer service metrics and processes for major corporations and private companies. They havecompleted over 750,000 end-user interviews focused on defining what creates service excellence, particularly in a challenging economy.
Darrell shares with us how high customer satisfaction leads to strong business growth and helps us get away from price pressure. A must listen for all Sales and Business leaders.
Check Darrell and his company out at the links below.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/darrellhardidge/
https://saguity.com
We are using our voice in Sales all the time but are we using it effectively? Using your time diligently and using your Voice effectively, were the two most overlooked areas of the sales profession according to sales legend Zig Ziglar. Denis Champagne is an expert on the voice and many aspects of sales and prospecting. We discuss using the Voice effectively and a range of other sales topics.
Denis Champagne hails from Montreal, Canada and is the Founder and President of Lotus Communications, Denis has helped many companies improve their sales and marketing performance.
Check Denis out at the links below.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/denis-champagne-47419a2/
https://lotuscomm.com
Jason Bay and his team have written hundreds of cold email sequences and sent thousands of emails for their clients. Their biggest challenge was always coming up with a process that was repeatable but effective.
Jason developed the REPLY Method that allows you to scale up and improve the effectiveness of your messaging.
The REPLY Method focuses on WHY prospects buy. What are their job responsibilities? What challenges do they experience on a regular basis that relate with your product or service? What do they need to see in an email or hear in a cold call to WANT to respond?
The majority of salespeople don’t have a closing problem. They have an opening problem. The REPLY Method removes the mystery of what to say in your cold outreach so you can schedule more meetings and close more deals.
Check Jason out at :
https://blissfulprospecting.com
Customers buy from people they Know, Like and Trust.
Daniel Priestley is a super successful global entrepreneur, international speaker and best-selling author. He is an expert on personal branding and one of the founders of Dent Global. Daniel shares with us how customers connect with people much more than they connect with companies or brands. There is a huge opportunity for salespeople to become trusted in their industry by building up their personal brand and leveraging social media, video and other tools. Salespeople tend to underestimate their value and according to Daniel they are sitting on a mountain of value for their customer audience, it is matter of getting that value out there in front of the right people.
Check Daniel out here.
https://www.dent.global
http://www.keypersonofinfluence.com/author/daniel/
The massive shift to subscription-based SaaS solutions has totally changed the way customers buy technology but have sales leaders transformed themselves and their sales processes to effectively meet this challenge?
Winning By Design is a company that are experts on the SaaS sales model and were recently acknowledged as the #1 B2B Sales Consultancy by G2Crowd. We talk to the head of Winning By Design's European business, Andy Farquharson, about these changes and some of the best practices we should all be looking at.
David Shepherd is the ANZ Country Manager for HubSpot. He's had a remarkable career and progression with the company, he joined the company nine years ago when they only had 150 employees compared to 3000 now.
During that time David progressed from an entry level sales role through to sales management and is now running a substantial whole Country operation.
We talk to David about how he has navigated his career and overcome various challenges as the company exponentially grew, constantly transformed and continues to evolve. Surviving and thriving in this environment takes a lot of resilience, David' shares the learnings and wisdom he has picked up along the journey.
Buyer Enablement is a concept that has gained momentum in the past couple of years. It helps us develop strategies to deal with modern complex buying processes.
Buying committees are expanding and customers have more information than ever; but often they don't know how to get buying decisions through the approval process. If we can adapt our sales approach to helping the customer solve these challenges we will be much more effective.
Kevin Dixon is the founder and CEO of Boxxstep, a B2B sales buyer relationship management platform, and is a buyer enablement expert.
Please check out Boxxstep here
Thomas J. Williams is the founder and CEO of Strategic Dynamics Inc, a firm which helps sales organisations sell more effectively by markedly improving their new hire candidate assessment process, sales productivity and business acumen.
He is also the co-author of The Seller's Challenge: How Top Sellers Master 10 Deal Killing Obstacles in B2B Sales. Think of it as a “tactical field manual” about what top-performing sellers do – how they research, plan and implement activities that maximize their chances of winning.
We discuss navigating the Buying Committee and Stakeholder Management at length, Tom has great experience and insight in this area.
We also dig into dealing with gatekeepers, who Tom calls 'VPs of Access', Tom recommends a professional and respectful approach and gives us some great straightforward tips.
Secrets to sales hiring, effective qualifying and the importance of ongoing self-development with Marcus Cauchi.
90% of technology will be sold through the channel by 2026 (Forrester). But do we have enough priority on getting our channel sales approach right? So what does great channel sales management look like and what are the implications of getting it wrong? Marcus Cauchi co-wrote the book "Making Channel Sales Work" and is a global guru on channel sales. He has helped hundreds of vendors and channel partners to transform their business over the past 16 years.
Marcus was so engaging I had to split the interview into two parts, both filled with hard hitting and high value content. Enjoy part 2 here and look out for the first instalment if you haven’t listened already.
Please check Marcus out here.
https://www.sandler.com/blog/author/marcus-cauchi
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandlerchannelsalesexpert/
90% of technology will be sold through the channel by 2026 (Forrester). But do we have enough priority on getting our channel sales approach right? So what does great channel sales management look like and what are the implications of getting it wrong? Marcus Cauchi co-wrote the book "Making Channel Sales Work" and is a global guru on channel sales. He has helped hundreds of vendors and channel partners to transform their business over the past 16 years.
Marcus was so engaging I had to split the interview into two parts, both filled with hard hitting and high value content. Enjoy part 1 here and look out for the second instalment.
Please check Marcus out here.
https://www.sandler.com/blog/author/marcus-cauchi
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandlerchannelsalesexpert/
Jack Kosakowski is the CEO of Creation Agency(US Division), a B2B marketing agency helping fast growing tech companies and some big brands drive their business forward with innovative digital strategies.
Jack is an expert and pioneer of Social Selling and shares a framework for how B2B sellers should be approaching social.
All sales leaders need to be incorporating social into their plans and make sure their team is well-equipped to be effective social sellers.
To learn more about what Jack is up to, please check out Creation Agency and Jack's other venture skillslab.io, a hub with various resources for every hungry sales and marketing professional with a passion for expanding their knowledge in the ever-growing marketing and sales industry.
https://www.creationagency.com
https://www.skillslab.io
John Smibert is one of the top sales thought leaders out there. He digs into the importance of deep discovery and how we need to hold back talking about our products, company and capabilities until the time is right. John challenges us all to go through the whole first meeting with a customer without talking about ourselves.
Offering insight to customers that drives positive business outcomes for THEM is critical to sales success today, John calls this process 'Selling via Positive Disruption,' and outlines five areas we need to master around this concept. John also shares real world examples and relevant stories that really drive the point home.
John is the founder of Sales Masterminds APAC, the head of the Strategic Selling Group plus the Sales Leadership Forum. Check out some of John's wonderful interviews with top sales leaders here, absolutely every important sales topic is covered.
http://strategicsellinggroup.com
Matt Macnamara is an impressive, hardworking frontline SDR who certainly knows how to prospect effectively. Matt employs many creative strategies to stand out to his prospective clients. Combining this with an ironclad commitment to daily activity, guarantees his outstanding prospecting success. Matt also has a mindset of becoming the 'Mayor' of his territory which is a very motivating concept.
If you'd like to improve your prospecting effectiveness you will surely get a lot out of this interview.
Also check out Matt on LinkedIn and his Youtube channel, a lot of insightful and engaging content here. You must watch 'Cold Calling Excuses', very funny.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattmacnamara
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQB_2J-34GgbuHlKOm0buWA/videos
Andy Paul is one of the world's top sales thought leaders with 168,000 followers on LinkedIn. He is also an accomplished author of two well known sales books.
One of the big themes in Andy's work is "It's how you sell, not what you sell", so we delve into that topic in our discussion.
We also cover how groupthink permeates the sales profession with various concepts becoming fashionable but without the empirical data to support it. We discuss Discovery, and how it is an overlooked; but very critical part of the sale.
Matt Michalewicz has spent his whole working life in the AI field. He is a serial entrepreneur who is currently the founder and CEO of Complexica, an amazing Australian tech company at the cutting edge of AI solutions for the Sales function.
Matt shares what's going on in the world of AI in general, and then narrows in on how it can assist the sales function. Many companies are applying this technology already, and it's clear that we will all be following suit very soon - or risk being left behind.
The Complexica solution, called Larry, helps your salespeople visit the right customers at the right time, and assists them with the best talking points in order to improve your productivity. Sales reps (especially those with busy territories) just don't have the time to fully research every call manually. Larry does it all for you, and provides relevant advice directly to your tablet or phone.
Check out a video here that outlines the Complexica solution.
Pleased to have talked with Jim Beach in an interview discussing the seven steps to a Future Proof Sales Strategy and other key insights.
I’m interviewed by Brian G Burns on his popular sales podcast “The Brutal Truth About Sales and Selling Podcast.”
I touch on how the sales function in B2B has been overlooked in many ways over the past decade. Considering the rise of the customer experience function and how much marketing has developed - sales hasn’t had the same attention. Companies are finding it more and more difficult to differentiate themselves. A sustainable competitive advantage is now a very transient thing.
There are challenges in dealing with a numb customer who is bombarded with information - how do we get their attention and bring value. The no decision issue and the problem that companies are training their sales teams on products; but not about solving customers problems, engaging with them and asking the right questions.
We talk about the processes I apply when working with companies and sales leaders to overcome these challenges and more!
I thoroughly enjoyed being on the other end of the interview, thank you Brian, I hope all the listeners enjoy it also! Leave me your comments.
“No Decision” is one of the biggest problems that sales teams face today with 58% of deals ending up nowhere (SBI survey). We go into depth on this topic and how to address the problem in my podcast with Calum Kilgour and John Bissett from Slingshot Edge - a company that provides Weapons Grade Messaging for your Sellers & Marketers.
We also discuss methods for replicating your rockstar reps; you know that top 10-20% that generate most of your sales?...How do we get the other 60-70% to perform better?
Calum and John have garnered much attention in the sales world over the past year with their very creative videos on LinkedIn, they’re absolutely worth checking out.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/calumkilgour
https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-bissett-395b026
http://www.slingshotedge.com/
It was a pleasure to speak with Jeff Davis about the challenges between the B2B Sales & Marketing functions. Jeff is an expert in this area and has some great tips and solutions to help align everyone involved.
Please check out Jeff’s fantastic work here:
Speaker website - meetjeffdavis.com Podcast - TheAlignmentPodcast.com Blog article - "How I Achieved Alignment With My VP of Sales As a Marketing Leader"
A must listen for anyone selling high value or business-critical solutions. Do you and your team want to master the art of high-level executive selling? Here is a great place to start with advice from one of the best going around.
We all know we need executive buy-in for our proposals but what is the best way to go about it? What is the best way to get the attention of a CEO, CIO, CMO etc? How do we engage them most effectively? How should we manage the follow up actions?
The answers to all these questions and more in this in-depth interview with Mr. Steve Hall, Australia's leading C-Level Sales Authority. A must for all sellers of complex solutions.
Companies rarely understand the real reasons why they win and lose deals. Most analysis is conducted internally around the meeting table where inherent bias and guesswork rule. Cian McLoughlin shares with us the benefits of doing thorough and independent Win-Loss analysis and how to get the real Customer's Voice. Getting this right can really help sales leaders make changes to their approach, and prioritise development areas for their sales team.
Cian McLoughlin is the author of Rebirth Of A Salesman, and founder of Trinity Perspectives, a sales consulting firm specialising in Win-Loss Analysis.
Mike Adams has just written a book called Seven Stories Every Salesperson Must Tell. This book really blew my mind, and I think it’s a missing link for a lot of sales organisations and a lot of salespeople.
How do we get customer's to open up and share their pain points?
How do we get them to trust us and engage on a deeper level?
How do we get to that point where we can highlight the flaws in their status quo without offending them?
Many salespeople know that this is the key to being successful in large deals but very few can actually do it. Sales storytelling can be a great method for addressing these important components of the complex sale.
Mike steps us through why storytelling is so powerful and how to do it effectively, all along the way teaching us through his powerful stories. Time absolutely flew by in this discussion as Mike was so incredibly engaging.
Max Altschuler is a pioneer of modern sales. He founded Sales Hacker and wrote the seminal book on leveraging sales technology, "Hacking Sales." After Sales Hacker was acquired by Outreach.io he became the VP of Marketing for the company. He recently wrote another book sure to be a classic, "Career Hacking for Millennials."
We talk about the evolution of sales technology over the past decade which has been nothing short of breathtaking. Max gives us advice for sales leaders trying to prioritise, figure out where to start, and how they can get the most leverage out of sales tech.
We then shift gears and discuss working with Millennials; which is getting more and more critical every year. Max is millennial himself and has some great advice for companies and leaders on getting the maximum out of today's workforce.
Keenan is one of the most clear-headed and straightforward sales thought leaders out there. He recently launched an amazing book called 'Gap Selling' which is creating a huge amount of buzz, something you all have to check out.
In his own very direct and energetic style Keenan shares his thoughts on what's going on with sales leadership, sales coaching, how we should be thinking about our customer's business challenges and be building powerful business cases for change, and much more. Keenan's company, A Sales Guy, recently did a survey which revealed that 84% of sales managers say they are coaching but only 42% of salespeople say they are coached! I got a lot out of this discussion and I am sure you will too.
There are direct links between CX success and company growth and profitability. Everyone seems to be investing in this area but not many are getting it right. Chris Connelly, VP Customer Success Management, SAP Asia Pacific Japan, is one of the pioneers in this field, he also previously held the role of Customer Success director for Salesforce, so has a lot of authority on this topic.
We cover how to set up and make the Customer Success function really work for a business and produce results. The interface with the account teams and others is critical so we spend some time here. We also cover the broad range of potential key success metrics and how to give your team the right goals. And there are plenty of real life examples covered in this discussion.
Tamara Schenk is the Research Director at CSO Insights, the research division of Miller Heiman. Tamara recently wrote a book on sales enablement, which is called Sales Enablement: A Master Framework to Engage, Equip and Empower a World-class Sales Force.
Sales Enablement is a fast growing discipline with 59% of sales organisations currently reporting a sales enablement initiative or function compared to only 19% in 2013. We discuss what sales enablement is all about, the key trends emerging and what's critical to make it work.
Jordan Mara is a master prospector and an all around expert on modern sales strategies. He is the founder of Coho Sales Consulting, the world's leading sales training and enablement business for SaaS startups.
A lot of investment has been pouring into outbound lead-generation teams but most companies are achieving poor results. Old volume-driven outbound prospecting approaches focused on how good our products and company are just don't cut through anymore and produce ever-diminshing returns. Companies also potentially damage their brand by aggressively calling into accounts without proper preparation and co-ordination with other sales functions.
Jordan draws on his track record of success to share with us what's really working today and how you can achieve great lead-gen results with a high quality, research-driven approach.
Donal Daly and I talk about the big challenges facing sales organisations today and what the best organisations around the world are doing to stay ahead of the pack. Donal shares real life client case studies and gives us many expert tips on what we need to be focusing on. Some great insight from a real industry leader.
Donal is the author of the best-selling book 'Digital Transformation in a Customer First World'. He is also the Chairman of Altify, a company with an incredible history of pioneering in the sales industry and committed to 'Elevating the world's most successful sales organizations'.
Michele Buckley is the Global Sales & Marketing Advisor for the Software and Tech Industry at Gartner. She shares details from her latest research on how buying decisions are getting made in large accounts for Software/Saas and Tech products. She talks about the increased complexity of buying, managing risk in our deals and the importance of leading with business outcomes in all of our customer interactions. Some excellent advice for anyone in this field.
Victor Antonio is a renowned and compelling global keynote speaker on sales and management. A fantastic storyteller and sales thought leader, Victor has written 13 books on sales and motivation, has posted over 800 YouTube videos and enjoys a huge global following.
Victor is a leading advocate for augmenting our sales teams with technology and talks about his recent book, Sales Ex:Machina, How AI is Changing the World of Selling, which is mind-blowing on its own.
He also gives us some great ideas on how critical the sales function is as companies face increased competition and commoditisation. We also talk about how salespeople can generate insight and really bring value to their clients. Victor also laments the poor quality of presentation skills he observes amongst the sales profession.
Tony shares his thoughts on effective prospecting, how to personalise our messaging to potential buyers and how we must leverage insight to progress the sale. He also gives us real life examples of how these approaches should be used in the real sales world.
Tony also gives us some great advice on how sales teams and salespeople should be leveraging technology so they can be more effective and focus on what really matters.
Tony J. Hughes is a bestselling author and the most read person in LinkedIn on the topic of B2B sales leadership. He is also rated as the most influential person in professional selling within Asia-Pacific by Top Sales World and ranked as the #1 sales blogger by both Top Sales magazine and by Best Sales Blogger Awards.
Discover more about Tony on his Website or via LinkedIn