Being a “salesperson” isn’t enough. It’s time to become an industry expert with powerful insights to share with your customers. In this episode, your host Donald Kelly meets with Will Diaz, Vice President of Business Development at Arrive Logistics. Diaz speaks on the 20-week training program BDRs go through when they join the team and how that investment yields results on the sales floor.

Arrive’s 20-Week Training Process

• 4 weeks are spent in the classroom learning about the freight industry and the ins and outs of the company.

• A few weeks are spent in an ops brokering program with a sales mentor.

• Lastly, there are several weeks spent ramping up and then finally, sellers are released onto the floor.

What Are the Results?

• No one can sell something they don’t understand. Sellers also can’t take people through the sales process without knowing how each stage works or how to troubleshoot issues as they arise.

• Buyers are going to choose products and companies that provide value. Sellers that are personable and knowledgeable are part of what a company should offer.

• It does require capital to invest in a 20-week program and that’s not feasible for everyone! A company should aim to provide education and support to sellers as much as they can.

Transform the Mindset

• Sellers need to think of themselves as business consultants, not just salespeople! This means they need an understanding of the industry and current events surrounding it.

• Diaz encourages sellers to examine how they’re going to be perceived by an outsider. Prospects might look you up on social media - how do you present yourself?

• In a conversation with a prospect, the seller’s confidence and command of the situation will depend on how prepared they are to be on those calls.

“The way your people develop and how they’re going to start seeing results is going to be a reflection of how much engagement they get from you and how intentional was it?” – Will Diaz

Resources

Will Diaz on LinkedIn

http://arrivelogistics.com for career opportunities or to learn more about Arrive!

wdiaz@arrivelogistics.com

Sponsorship Offers

1. This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.

Are you struggling to close deals? Cold outreach wastes the buyer and seller's time at every stage, especially when sellers are using shallow and outdated data.

1. Your organization can overcome these challenges with technology that translates comprehensive, high-quality buyer data into real-time
   insights.

2. These deeper insights empower sales reps and teams to adopt the habits of top performers, which leads to better outcomes - like more pipelines, higher win rates, and larger deals.

3. We call this Deep Sales. And we’ve built the first deep sales platform with the next generation of LinkedIn Sales Navigator.

Try LinkedIn Sales Navigator and get a sixty-day free trial at linkedin.com/tse.

2. This episode is brought to you in part by TSE Sales Foundation.

I think we can all agree that sales should be fun. However, many times, we find ourselves in a quagmire where we’re not progressing and deals are not going the way that they should. This is why we created TSE Sales Foundation. It’s a program designed to help sales professionals just like you master the fundamentals of sales so they can radically improve their sales pipeline and close more deals. To find out more about TSE Sales Foundation and our next start date, simply go to thesalesevangelist.com/foundation.

Credits

As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Whether you’re a new BDR cutting your teeth in the industry or an experienced seller, you know how it feels to hear these 3 words: “I’m not interested.” How you respond is what defines you as a salesperson and determines your success. In today’s episode, Donald Kelly brings you data from his recent LinkedIn poll and offers a way to shift your mindset so that you can turn rejection into opportunity.

Poll: Most Successful Prospecting Channel

• 43% of sales professionals that responded to Donald’s LinkedIn poll said the phone is most effective for them.

• This beats the second-most effective channel, social media, by 15%.

Use Data to Find the Right Prospects

• Using tools like SalesNavigator, you can put your ICP into LinkedIn and use trigger events to identify sales targets that will be interested in what you have to offer.

• Identify a person in an organization that meets relevancy criteria: your product is relevant to their role and relevant to an issue they face.

• Social media can also help clue you in to trigger events. Look for blogs, posts, and other content that reflect problems your product can solve.

What Happens If They’re “Not Interested”?

• Your prospect may not want to talk to you because you’ve created an interruption, or because they already have a product in place.

• Don’t be pushy! Find out why they’re not interested and then exit the conversation. You may get pointed in the right direction!

• Meaningful outreach and meaningful conversation are key. Use your quick call to gain information.

“A conversation is meaningful when [sellers] get intel that can help move the possibility of that deal forward. That’s critical.” – Donald Kelly

Resources

Donald’s LinkedIn poll - Feel free to reach out to him and start a conversation!

Check us out at http://thesalesevangelist.com!

Sponsorship Offers

1. This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.

Are you struggling to close deals? Cold outreach wastes the buyer and seller's time at every stage, especially when sellers are using shallow and outdated data.

1. Your organization can overcome these challenges with technology that translates comprehensive, high-quality buyer data into real-time
   insights.

2. These deeper insights empower sales reps and teams to adopt the habits of top performers, which leads to better outcomes - like more pipelines, higher win rates, and larger deals.

3. We call this Deep Sales. And we’ve built the first deep sales platform with the next generation of LinkedIn Sales Navigator.

Try LinkedIn Sales Navigator and get a sixty-day free trial at linkedin.com/tse.

2. This episode is brought to you in part by TSE Sales Foundation.

I think we can all agree that sales should be fun. However, many times, we find ourselves in a quagmire where we’re not progressing and deals are not going the way that they should. This is why we created TSE Sales Foundation. It’s a program designed to help sales professionals just like you master the fundamentals of sales so they can radically improve their sales pipeline and close more deals. To find out more about TSE Sales Foundation and our next start date, simply go to thesalesevangelist.com/foundation.

Credits

As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

The discovery call is at the heart of the sales process. If you want to make the most of it, you have to come in with a plan. In this episode, your host Donald Kelly talks with Jessica Schultz, the CEO and Founder of strategic consulting and execution firm Amplify Group. They take you from determining which prospects are worth your 30 minutes, all the way through using your disco to write a great proposal.

Fail Fast - Don’t Waste Time on a Bad Fit

• New reps often sink a lot of time into every prospect - even unqualified ones. Discovery is all about figuring out whether the person you’re selling to is a good fit.

• In tough economic times, it gets harder to close deals. Reps might be tempted to try to “make it work”, even if their product isn’t a great fit for the customer. Even if you manage to sell successfully to a “bad fit,” your customer will have a poor experience.

• Take the time to match your prospect up to your value proposition. If you don’t know your value prop or ICP, work with your sales leader!

Before Your Discovery Call

• A 30-minute meeting goes by quickly! Send out an e-mail a couple of days before the meeting. Share information about what the business offers to give your buyer an opportunity to ask you questions.

• Putting the time into doing some research about the company and its pain points shows that you value your buyer’s time, which can help set you apart.

Making the Most of Discovery

• When you’re doing your Q&A, pay close attention to your prospect’s pain points and outline solutions to them. Use these answers to help build your proposal.

• Record your calls and use a transcription service to refamiliarize yourself with your buyer before you talk with them again.

• Offer the price up front! If that disqualifies a lead, you can move on and your prospect will be glad you didn’t waste their time.

“[The discovery call] is super important. It’s your first interaction, your first impression. This is true in any relationship, and sales is a relationship – it’s like a first date. You want it to go well. Leave a good impression.” – Jessica Schultz

Resources

Jessica Schultz on LinkedIn

Amplify (https://www.amplifyscales.com/): Go-To-Market and RevOps Expertise and Execution

Sponsorship Offers

1. This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.

Are you struggling to close deals? Cold outreach wastes the buyer and seller's time at every stage, especially when sellers are using shallow and outdated data.

1. Your organization can overcome these challenges with technology that translates comprehensive, high-quality buyer data into real-time
   insights.

2. These deeper insights empower sales reps and teams to adopt the habits of top performers, which leads to better outcomes - like more pipelines, higher win rates, and larger deals.

3. We call this Deep Sales. And we’ve built the first deep sales platform with the next generation of LinkedIn Sales Navigator.

Try LinkedIn Sales Navigator and get a sixty-day free trial at linkedin.com/tse.

2. This episode is brought to you in part by TSE Sales Foundation.

I think we can all agree that sales should be fun. However, many times, we find ourselves in a quagmire where we’re not progressing and deals are not going the way that they should. This is why we created TSE Sales Foundation. It’s a program designed to help sales professionals just like you master the fundamentals of sales so they can radically improve their sales pipeline and close more deals. To find out more about TSE Sales Foundation and our next start date, simply go to thesalesevangelist.com/foundation.

Credits

As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

There’s no point in building pipeline if your buyers get dragged down by an overcomplicated sales process. Offering information on a streamlined, shareable platform just might be your business’s Holy Grail! In this episode, your host Donald Kelly meets with Gal Aga to discuss the challenges of supporting buyers at all stages of the sales process so that your deals actually CLOSE.

Current Challenges B2B Sellers Are Facing

• Selling SaaS is complex. You’re often working with lots of stakeholders who may not have much context for what you have to offer, so they don’t understand why it’s important.

• We rely on a lot of decades-old technology. E-mails are difficult to keep straight, but this is still the main way sellers and buyers keep track of where they’re at in the sales process.

• Top sellers don’t sell, they help buyers buy. Your buyer is your “champion”; they’re willing to go to bat for you. The process shouldn’t be what’s holding them back.

What Does a Digital Sales Room Offer?

• It’s a workspace that gives you and the prospect a place to keep information straight. 

• It allows you to embed videos, summaries, case studies, ROI, and proposals. This makes it easy for the buyer to seamlessly bring in other stakeholders.

• Mutual Action Plans enable sellers and buyers to share information at every stage of the process.

• Use it for FREE. Not a free trial – your free Digital Sales Rooms can help you close deals as an individual, even if your business isn’t on board (yet).

The Benefits in Practice

• Buyers have an easier time “choosing” you. Due to buyer complexity, buyers increasingly gravitate towards self-service to reduce the amount of time they spend going back and forth with a seller.

• Multithreading allows your “champion” to take the information you give them and bring only the relevant information to their stakeholders. 

• Buyers and sellers have the opportunity to mutually control the process, rather than relying on keeping up spreadsheets and mutual action plans.

• Buyer visibility. 95% of the time your buyer spends discussing and decision-making with other stakeholders isn’t visible to you. With a Digital Sales Room, you can see who is viewing the information and use this context to offer information and build the right relationships.

“We’re generating unique data points. Today, a lot of things that help you in forecasting are from a revenue intelligence platform, call recording, things that people said, and all that. You’ve already heard it. We’re bringing the asynchronous part… and you can take all of these data points into your CRM and use them to build better forecasting.” – Gal Aga

Resources

Aligned: Customer Collaboration Platform

Mutual Action Plans with Aligned

Sponsorship Offers

1. This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.

Are you struggling to close deals? Cold outreach wastes the buyer and seller's time at every stage, especially when sellers are using shallow and outdated data.

1. Your organization can overcome these challenges with technology that translates comprehensive, high-quality buyer data into real-time
   insights.

2. These deeper insights empower sales reps and teams to adopt the habits of top performers, which leads to better outcomes - like more pipelines, higher win rates, and larger deals.

3. We call this Deep Sales. And we’ve built the first deep sales platform with the next generation of LinkedIn Sales Navigator.

Try LinkedIn Sales Navigator and get a sixty-day free trial at linkedin.com/tse.

2. This episode is brought to you in part by TSE Sales Foundation.

I think we can all agree that sales should be fun. However, many times, we find ourselves in a quagmire where we’re not progressing and deals are not going the way that they should. This is why we created TSE Sales Foundation. It’s a program designed to help sales professionals just like you master the fundamentals of sales so they can radically improve their sales pipeline and close more deals. To find out more about TSE Sales Foundation and our next start date, simply go to thesalesevangelist.com/foundation.

Credits

As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

You know you need to personalize your outreach, but you keep getting bogged down in trying to write the perfect e-mail or phone script. If you’re trying to write quick, to-the-point e-mails that actually get opened, you’re in luck. In this episode, your host Donald Kelly opens up a great collaborative conversation with Michelle Craig and Tom Slocum. Between the three of them, they bring a variety of opinions and offer specific tools to add to your arsenal for 2023.

Your Subject Line

• Short subjects or posing as though you’re sending an internal e-mail are reaching a point of saturation.
• Describe what’s in the e-mail in as few words as possible. Avoid gimmicks like emojis, using the person’s name, etc.

The Body of the E-mail

• The first line is sometimes more important than the subject line! People are reading on mobile and even smart watches! Garner interest without seeming like spam.
• Outline the problem and tie it back to your solution, but keep it short and sweet. This isn’t school - there’s no need to reach a minimum word count.
• If your organization demands that you follow a particular model, test new ideas on your own time and bring your findings to your leaders to see if you can change things up.

Your CTA

• Try a soft CTA - instead of demanding a meeting, try something like “Would you like to learn more?”
• Many buyers can’t afford to spend 30 minutes in a meeting. Focus on getting them to reply to you without putting pressure on them.

“Newer sellers get caught up in best practices, templates, frameworks, ‘this-is-the-way’, and forget that it’s a human on the other end of the e-mail, cold call, or LinkedIn message. Sure, different personas might have preferred communication styles, but each person is going to have different preferences.” – Michelle Craig

Resources

Michelle Craig on LinkedIn

Tom Slocum on LinkedIn

Uniphore.com Conversational AI & Automation

TheSDLab.com Outbound Strategy that accelerates your growth 

Sponsorship Offers

1. This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.

Are you struggling to close deals? Cold outreach wastes the buyer and seller's time at every stage, especially when sellers are using shallow and outdated data.

1. Your organization can overcome these challenges with technology that translates comprehensive, high-quality buyer data into real-time
   insights.

2.            These deeper insights empower sales reps and teams to adopt the habits of top performers, which leads to better outcomes - like more pipelines, higher win rates, and larger deals.

3.            We call this Deep Sales. And we’ve built the first deep sales platform with the next generation of LinkedIn Sales Navigator.

Try LinkedIn Sales Navigator and get a sixty-day free trial at linkedin.com/tse.

2. This episode is brought to you in part by TSE Sales Foundation.

I think we can all agree that sales should be fun. However, many times, we find ourselves in a quagmire where we’re not progressing and deals are not going the way that they should. This is why we created TSE Sales Foundation. It’s a program designed to help sales professionals just like you master the fundamentals of sales so they can radically improve their sales pipeline and close more deals. To find out more about TSE Sales Foundation and our next start date, simply go to thesalesevangelist.com/foundation.

Credits

As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

It’s never been more important to make the most of your outbound leads. Hopefully you already have a clear ICP and you personalize your outreach, but how do you turn your hard work into measurable results? In this episode, your host Donald Kelly and guest Ari Brinson get into a great conversation about how Brinson’s team was able to boost meeting numbers through effective personalization.

  Boosting Conversion Rates for Outbound Leads

• Work on creating accurate customer personas to make sure you’re connecting with the right people – otherwise BDRs are wasting time and energy.
• The sales landscape is changing: potential buyers are less likely to jump into buying and less willing to open up content that doesn’t seem tailored to them.

  Show Me You Know Me (Sam McKenna method)

• Make sure your value proposition is scaleable to the prospect you’re connecting with.
• The first three sentences of your e-mail and your CTA at the end are the most important. Personalize them to your prospect in a way that makes them want to meet with you.
• Frame the urgency for the buyer - what is the cost of inaction? Don’t personalize just for the sake of personalizing – that WON’T work.

  Tips for Adding Personalization that Works

• Tailor your message to the leader or buyer, not just the organization. 
• If you can’t find information about the business, see if you can find their sales leaders on LinkedIn to see what they’ve been posting.
• Make connections on LinkedIn to get your foot in the door, NOT to pitch! If you pitch right off the bat, you come off as “salesy”.

  “Now, more than ever, the economic environment that we’re in is exposing that a lot of times [sales] is a long-term play, not a short-term play. And with quality in and outbound [leads], I think those complement each other rather than are inverses of each other.” – Ari Brinson

Resources

Ari Brinson on LinkedIn

  Sponsorship Offers 

1. This episode is brought to you in part by TSE Sales Foundation.

I think we can all agree that sales should be fun. However, many times, we find ourselves in a quagmire where we’re not progressing and deals are not going the way that they should. This is why we created TSE Sales Foundation. It’s a program designed to help sales professionals just like you master the fundamentals of sales so they can radically improve their sales pipeline and close more deals. To find out more about TSE Sales Foundation and our next start date, simply go to thesalesevangelist.com/foundation.

Credits

As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

It’s time to start seeking the wisdom of our industry leaders to build pipeline. In this episode, your host Donald Kelly talks with Radhika Shukla about her years of experience bringing teams to success in sales. Her approach is equal parts methodical, data-driven, and human-centric. Listen in as she shares the proven methods she uses with her team to find new leads and convert them into happy repeat customers.

 Start the Planning Process Early

• Identify “big bets” that you need to win. These are new leads that are great fits for your business that you are going to prioritize.
• Collaborate with different people in your organization who operate at all stages of the customer satisfaction process.

 7-Step Method for Lead Qualifying

1. Start with your ICP. Create a customer profile and become familiar with the industry and common pain points.
2. Ask the right questions. Think of asking effective questions and staying curious rather than jumping straight to solutions.
3. Qualification criteria. Don’t be misled by following the wrong criteria – know what your criteria are from an early stage. 
4. Two-way qualification. From the early stages all the way through the end, give your customers a way to evaluate whether your company is bringing them value.
5. Progress through the sales cycle. Take a structured approach to help you keep track of where you are at with your clients.
6. Data analysis. Become a data-driven seller. The more reports you can get your hands on, the better you can assess your pipeline.
7. Rigorous, regular pipeline review. Revise your plan every 2-3 months. Things change and you may learn new things.

 Prospecting to Triple Your Pipeline

• Invest in targeted research and networking to identify prospects.
• Network shamelessly. Don’t be afraid to seek referrals from your regular clients.
• Engage in multi-channel prospecting. Don’t stick to one type of prospecting: e-mails, social media, and phone calls will all reach different people. 
• Follow up with your customers. Keep a regular cadence of connection with customers.

 “You have to focus on understanding your target market, your industry trends, the complete scenario. It’s very important to understand your customer’s business, but also the customer’s customer – how they go to market and how they sell their products and services to their customers. That deep understanding, often people miss.” – Radhika Shukla

 Resources

Radhika Shukla on LinkedIn

Sponsorship Offers

1. This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.

Are you struggling to close deals? Cold outreach wastes the buyer and seller's time at every stage, especially when sellers are using shallow and outdated data.

1. Your organization can overcome these challenges with technology that translates comprehensive, high-quality buyer data into real-time
   insights.

2.            These deeper insights empower sales reps and teams to adopt the habits of top performers, which leads to better outcomes - like more pipelines, higher win rates, and larger deals.

3.            We call this Deep Sales. And we’ve built the first deep sales platform with the next generation of LinkedIn Sales Navigator.

Try LinkedIn Sales Navigator and get a sixty-day free trial at linkedin.com/tse.

2. This episode is brought to you in part by TSE Sales Foundation.

I think we can all agree that sales should be fun. However, many times, we find ourselves in a quagmire where we’re not progressing and deals are not going the way that they should. This is why we created TSE Sales Foundation. It’s a program designed to help sales professionals just like you master the fundamentals of sales so they can radically improve their sales pipeline and close more deals. To find out more about TSE Sales Foundation and our next start date, simply go to thesalesevangelist.com/foundation.

Credits

As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Salespeople and leaders alike have access to great tech to simplify and streamline their processes. Tech, however, isn’t everything – if a seller isn’t spending much time selling, they’re still not going to hit quotas. In this episode, your host Donald Kelly talks with Tiffani Bova about shaping the employee experience to drive success.

The Connection Between Employees and Growth

• Employees drive revenue. 

• Even though powerful tech is out there to help you sell, a salesperson only spends 28% of their time selling and 54% of salespeople miss quotas.

• If sales reps don’t have the right tools and spend all their time doing administrative work, they’re not providing an excellent customer experience.

• Salespeople aren’t in control of the pitfalls in their tech, but they can help sales leaders understand what isn’t working.

The Employee Journey

• A lot of energy is often put into improving the buyer’s journey. But the salesperson’s journey needs to match.

• The more back-end work the employee has to do per each step of the buyer’s journey, the lower their job satisfaction will be.

• Identify the steps in the seller’s process, and ask if things can be automated, streamlined, or eliminated.

Getting Promoted vs. Showing Leadership

• The higher up you get promoted, the more long-term you should be setting your sights. The C-suite should not be focusing on the day-to-day.

• Great sellers get promoted, but selling and managing are two different skills.

• Engage with employees about what their struggles and needs are. Try to offer solutions, and if you can’t, at least you’re aware of the situation.

“We do not have a technology problem. We have a people and process problem.” – Tiffani Bova

Resources

The Experience Mindset by Tiffani Bova on Amazon

https://www.tiffanibova.com/experiencemindset/

Tiffani Bova on LinkedIn

@tiffanibova on Instagram

Sponsorship Offers

1. This episode is brought to you in part by TSE Sales Foundation.

I think we can all agree that sales should be fun. However, many times, we find ourselves in a quagmire where we’re not progressing and deals are not going the way that they should. This is why we created TSE Sales Foundation. It’s a program designed to help sales professionals just like you master the fundamentals of sales so they can radically improve their sales pipeline and close more deals. To find out more about TSE Sales Foundation and our next start date, simply go to thesalesevangelist.com/foundation.

Credits

As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Whether you’re tired of receiving the same “pitches” all over LinkedIn or you’re a self-professed introvert like our guest Ben Lai, you know there’s a way to use LinkedIn to sell without selling out. Today on the Sales Evangelist podcast, Ben and host Donald Kelly tackle bringing humanity back to social media.

Connection Requests: Being Other-Centric

• Your messaging should communicate that you care more about the person than the sale.
• Be courteous and authentic. Don’t use the same lines as everyone else – show others who you are.
• Identify a commonality that builds trust. People will then check out your profile, so if your message and profile are incongruent, you’ll lose that trust.
• If you have a limited market, personalize each connection request or meeting request, depending on what makes sense for you.

Meeting Requests: Personal AND Commercial

• Before you reach out, give them a little bit of breathing room (about 1 week) after getting your connection request gets accepted.
• Find a conversational thing to ask them about, or find something of value to give to the person without them having to do business with you.
• Letting the meeting come about naturally makes your target more likely to respond.

Follow Up:

• People are busy and don’t always respond right away.
• Some people you reach out to will want to reward your perseverance. If you don’t follow up, you seem like you don’t care.

“If you’re out there to genuinely help people, you’re going to come across that way in the wording and in all of your mannerisms, whereas someone who is annoyingly persistent is predominantly self-centric. They’re only thinking about closing the sale.” – Ben Lai

Resources

SalesEthos.au - individual or team sales coaching

Sponsorship Offers

This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.

Are you struggling to close deals? Cold outreach wastes the buyer and seller's time at every stage, especially when sellers are using shallow and outdated data.

1. Your organization can overcome these challenges with technology that translates comprehensive, high-quality buyer data into real-time
   insights.
2. These deeper insights empower sales reps and teams to adopt the habits of top performers, which leads to better outcomes - like more pipelines, higher win rates, and larger deals.
3. We call this Deep Sales. And we’ve built the first deep sales platform with the next generation of LinkedIn Sales Navigator.

Try LinkedIn Sales Navigator and get a sixty-day free trial at linkedin.com/tse.

This episode is brought to you in part by TSE Sales Foundation.

I think we can all agree that sales should be fun. However, many times, we find ourselves in a quagmire where we’re not progressing and deals are not going the way that they should. This is why we created TSE Sales Foundation. It’s a program designed to help sales professionals just like you master the fundamentals of sales so they can radically improve their sales pipeline and close more deals. To find out more about TSE Sales Foundation and our next start date, simply go to thesalesevangelist.com/foundation.

Credits

As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.