When most people think of objections, they think of what stops a deal from progressing. Today’s episode launches the next series on The Sales Evangelist covering the ins and outs of objections. How can you be well-equipped to handle objections with confidence and knowledge? Listen in to find out! 

What is an objection?

• Many salespeople associate an objection with a worst-case scenario, but that’s not always the case. Instead, an objection can be anything that prevents a deal from moving forward, either permanently or just a few days.
• Objections tie back to the buyer not having enough information to move forward. When prospecting, come up with something so valuable they want to move forward.
• Remember, there are limitless reasons people might not want to move forward. 

Identify the objections before they become issues.

• As an industry expert, you can likely know the top issues a prospect might have before purchasing.
• If you know the objections, address them before the prospect has an issue! It streamlines the process and exemplifies your ability to tackle problems quickly.

Ask questions

• When prospects give you concerns, ask practical questions that address the underlying issue.
• One of Donald’s trainers told him to be authentic. Discovering the underlying issue puts you in a better position to address the problem and move forward.

Build trust with your prospect.

• It’s not always about who you know; it's about who trusts you.
• Being a genuine and authentic person will make people more willing to trust you.

Don’t give up right away.

• Your job as a seller is to provide as much value as possible. How can you do that if you give up right away?
• Go deep and discover what is holding the prospect back to see what else you can do to help it move forward.

Recognize that not every person will be a good fit.

• In Donald’s book, Sell It Like a Mango, he addresses this concept. 
• Just because someone isn’t a fit now doesn’t mean they won’t be a fit in the future.

This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn Sales Navigator.

The Great Resignation has become the Great Reshuffle, meaning it can be difficult for sales professionals like you to find leads and close deals. Luckily, Sales Navigator from LinkedIn is here for you! Sales Navigator from LinkedIn is the only tool that uses real-time alerts and up-to-date insights to help you know when prospects are ready to buy. And, with over 30 advanced filters, sales professionals can quickly find genuine leads with the intent to purchase.

Gain the advantage of accurate, quality lead generation data from LinkedIn Sales Navigator. You can get a 60-day free trial of Sales Navigator at www.LinkedIn.com/TSE. 

This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio.

Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real.

But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com.

This episode is brought to you in part by The Sales Evangelist Sales Training. Check out some of our upcoming programs designed to simplify selling and help b2b sellers consistently hit quota each month. Learn more here at ww.thesalesevangelist.com/upcoming-training or call 1-833-713-2343 for more information.

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. Also, leave us a rating and reviews on Apple Podcast.

Read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore their huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day trial.

Audio provided by Free SFX, 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. 

In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by Chief Revenue Officer for Service Express, Bill Golder, to learn his strategy to build pipelines and close deals. 

Many sellers struggle with building a pipeline.

• A fully built-out pipeline is never a done deal, meaning you constantly have to adapt to determine what works the best.
• There are always new problems to address, and the best companies continuously innovate to meet those needs.

What are effective pipeline strategies?

• They focus on understanding the dynamic between early-stage and late-stage pipelines.
• Many sellers think about a pipeline too holistically, but segmenting the idea of the “pipeline” into different timelines can result in more opportunities.
• To create an accurate forecast, you have to understand how many early-stage prospects will result in a late-stage pipeline.
• The dynamics between an early and a late-stage conversion might look entirely different.

Bill’s guide to implementing new pipeline strategies:

• If salespeople are reluctant to implement or don’t see the value in a new pipeline process, a data-driven approach to identify issues (and how a new strategy can solve them) will be a great tactic.
• Understand the indicators that actually lead to a conversion versus the feeling of a conversion.

Common pipeline building mistakes:

• There’s too much assumption - we assume something is important to them when it might not be.
• Sellers inherently think their product is essential, but the prospect might have other priorities or issues that make our solution much less important at the moment.
• Issues aren’t because we’ve lost; deals keep getting pushed. And that’s primarily rooted in the failure to understand a prospect’s priorities.
• Understand your late-stage prospects' attributes and identify what measures attract them to purchase.

Sales leaders have an integral role to play.

• Everyone has a unique pipeline with unique problems they might need help solving.
• As a sales manager, be well-versed in each seller’s pipeline so you can root coaching and development based on their metrics to lead to more actionable results.
• There’s a danger to generalize and preach the same message to the whole team. Instead, identify what activities best process the seller’s personal goals.

Bill’s final takeaway? Find the balance of quality and quantity in building a pipeline and know the right types of prospects you should identify. Reach out to Bill at bgolder@serviceexpress.com or connect with him on LinkedIn for more great content. 

This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn Sales Navigator.

The Great Resignation has become the Great Reshuffle, meaning it can be difficult for sales professionals like you to find leads and close deals. Luckily, Sales Navigator from LinkedIn is here for you!

Sales Navigator from LinkedIn is the only tool that uses real-time alerts and up-to-date insights to help you know when prospects are ready to buy. And, with over 30 advanced filters, sales professionals can quickly find genuine leads with the intent to purchase.

Gain the advantage of accurate, quality lead generation data from LinkedIn Sales Navigator. You can get a 60-day free trial of Sales Navigator at www.LinkedIn.com/TSE. 

This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio.

Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real.

But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com.

This course is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Certified Training Program, designed to help new and struggling sellers master sales fundamentals and close more deals. Help elevate your sales game and sign up now to get the first two modules free! You can visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals or call (561) 570-5077 for more information. We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey.

We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings for each episode you listen to! 

Read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore their huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day trial.

Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

We've learned multiple perspectives in our series over forecasting that help create a more accurate and beneficial forecast. But how can you take your efforts to the next level? In this episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by the Director of Enterprise Sales at Envoy, Sarah Lash, to discuss proper forecasting techniques from both a selling and management perspective. 

There are significant forecasting issues:

• Some people rely too much on the map and aren’t listening to what’s happening in the business.
• On the flip, some people listen too much to intuition without diving deep enough.
• From a management perspective, sales reps might provide you with a shadow pipeline (data entered into an incorrect pipeline), forcing you to identify those issues.
• There is also the problem of the intraquarter revenue - opportunities that open and close in the same quarter. How should we factor those into forecasting?
• Whether you’re a rep or a manager, lack of communication will distinguish the most accurate forecasting.

Don’t just focus on the data; focus on the right data:

• The “I need X amount of pipeline to get to this number” mentality has positive and negative effects.
• Similarly, a purely cause and effect mentality does not do justice to the nuances of selling.
• Instead of waiting for a prospect to say a specific phrase to indicate the likelihood of purchase, integrate information beyond your personal experiences with the selling process.

Have a mutual action plan:

• Creating an example that establishes a “good’ reference point is essential for sellers to understand what actions result in the most buy-ins.
• When creating a mutual action plan, start backward. For example, what is the timeline the prospect would like something to be implemented? 
• Then, ask what steps need to be taken before that date to reach the end result?
• Remember, it’s not just evaluating pricing but determining if there are technical, legal, or security issues that need solving. 
• Create a calendar based on these milestones, and as a seller, you can use this to gain information.
• Finally, determine what could go wrong and establish how to address those.

Forecasting involves a balance of data and intuition: 

• It’s a combination of 50/50, but it’s never so explicitly balanced. The beauty is the combination of the two, in whatever capacity each deal necessitates.
• To practice intuition with her team, Sarah conducts a large-deal review call with her organization each week to hear sellers talk about deals to learn and grow with one another.
• When interacting with a prospect, set expectations from the beginning. For example, ask someone if you can ask multiple questions.
• Disarm the prospect as much as possible. You want to understand why milestones, behaviors, and expectations are the way they are.

Sarah’s final takeaway for sellers? Be confident you know your craft because confidence is your ability to be the partner your customer needs. To find more content and information from Sarah, connect with her on LinkedIn or visit Envoy’s website to learn more about what they do.

This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn Sales Navigator.

The Great Resignation has become the Great Reshuffle, meaning it can be difficult for sales professionals like you to find leads and close deals. Luckily, Sales Navigator from LinkedIn is here for you!

Sales Navigator from LinkedIn is the only tool that uses real-time alerts and up-to-date insights to help you know when prospects are ready to buy. And, with over 30 advanced filters, sales professionals can quickly find genuine leads with the intent to purchase.

Gain the advantage of accurate, quality lead generation data from LinkedIn Sales Navigator. You can get a 60-day free trial of Sales Navigator at www.LinkedIn.com/TSE. 

This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio.

Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real.

But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com.

This course is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Certified Training Program, designed to help new and struggling sellers master sales fundamentals and close more deals. Help elevate your sales game and sign up now to get the first two modules free! You can visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals or call (561) 570-5077 for more information. We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey.

We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings for each episode you listen to! 

Read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore their huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day trial.

Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Forecasting (and really all parts of selling) grows more successful when you communicate value. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by Tom “The ROI Guy” Pisello. As an entrepreneur, speaker, and author of the book Evolved Selling™: Optimizing Sales Enablement in the Age of Frugalnomics, Tom specializes in value to get the most out of your efforts. 

Three big trends characterize the post-pandemic era of sales:

• First, there’s a tremendous amount of sales turnover. While the Great Resignation is not news, sales will struggle to retain top sellers in favor of faster-growing companies. 
• Second, the buyer is changing. They’re in control of the buying process, cautious of the seller, and more economically focused than ever - it’s the decision by risk aversion.
• Third, we’re in an environment where sales is understaffed, you need engagement, the buyer is more challenging to sell to, and predictable revenue is decreasing.

How do we find (and retain) great talent?

• Growing a team will be challenging. Of course, throwing money and benefits at it is part of the equation, but you also must provide intangible benefits like career development to make your position seem worthwhile.
• What is the purpose of your organization or group? And more importantly, how can you include new personnel to feel that they actively work towards that purpose?
• Create an atmosphere of authenticity that suits your personnel to retain talent.
• It’s not just a long game for selling; it’s a long game for hiring.

Overcoming the ice-cold buyers:

• Buyers have incredible access to resources and information than ever, even compared to a few years ago. Sellers used to be in control, but now it's the opposite.
• In that, they have information overload. And great salespeople guide prospects through this challenge. 
• The curated content a salesperson supply is an excellent direction for the next generation of salespeople.
• If you can show that pain is worth addressing (and that you provide a uniquely differentiating solution), you demonstrate a fiscal reason to make a decision.

Tackling the issue of predictability:

• The old way of leveraging spreadsheets and expert resources within the organization no longer works - only 17% approach forecasting scientifically.
• We now have systems that track multiple criteria, but they act in silos. Aggregating data points to develop a more comprehensive and data-driven forecast will yield more accurate results.
• Know what “good” looks like so you know what to focus on. What works to close a deal, and what are the associated steps?
• Visualize patterns to prioritize to understand the correlations and next best actions.

Episode Resources:

• For more great content from Tom, connect with him on LinkedIn or visit evolvedselling.com.
• Listen to Tom’s podcast, The Evolver’s Podcast, and read his book, Evolved Selling, on Amazon.
• Check out his past episode on The Sales Evangelist here: Episode 1076.

This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn Sales Navigator.

The Great Resignation has become the Great Reshuffle, meaning it can be difficult for sales professionals like you to find leads and close deals. Luckily, Sales Navigator from LinkedIn is here for you!

Sales Navigator from LinkedIn is the only tool that uses real-time alerts and up-to-date insights to help you know when prospects are ready to buy. And, with over 30 advanced filters, sales professionals can quickly find genuine leads with the intent to purchase.

Gain the advantage of accurate, quality lead generation data from LinkedIn Sales Navigator. You can get a 60-day free trial of Sales Navigator at www.LinkedIn.com/TSE. 

This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio.

Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real.

But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com.

This course is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Certified Training Program, designed to help new and struggling sellers master sales fundamentals and close more deals. Help elevate your sales game and sign up now to get the first two modules free! You can visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals or call (561) 570-5077 for more information. We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey.

We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings for each episode you listen to! 

Read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore their huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day trial.

Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Creating a valuable and accurate sales forecast is dependent on your ability to anticipate the success of sales. So how does the founder and CEO of forma.ai Nabeil Alazzam motivate and drive his team to maintain momentum? Through sales incentives! Using sales incentives and data-driven forecasting, Nabeil encourages his salespeople to reach specific and measurable objectives.

How Nabeil defines sales forecasting:

• It depends on whether the forecast is for a team leader or a representative. As a leader, it’s taking data across the team and using it to aggregate results.
• On the rep level, accuracy is critical. If you’re confident which accounts close, you can better visualize what else is needed to do to hit a target number.

Common forecasting mistakes:

• Being overconfident with deals without a data-driven element to justify the belief.
• Instead, utilize checkpoints throughout the sales process to know if a prospect will move forward.
• Another common mistake is that a lack of nuanced checkpoints leads to overprioritizing a fast-cycle sales prospect.
• As a sales rep, use data to allocate time free of bias towards the accounts most likely to close (without taking the speed of the sales cycle into account.)

Segmentation and forecasting go hand-in-hand.

• Use data when thinking about an audience cluster. A checklist sales reps have for different groups of people can and should look different depending on the best likely outcome for each group. 
• For managers, don’t think of data points as averages across the board.
• Understand your different customer segments and establish guidelines within each audience as data points.

Start data-driven forecasting:

• Forecasting is a crawl, walk, run approach.
• When running, you can automate the segmenting approach. In the crawl, it’s simply acknowledging that people buy differently and may need different buying propositions.
• Think about the types of clients you serve and what success looks like with each of those groups, segmenting by sector, growth stage, and the number of employees.
• Think about the forecasting method and sales practice you should apply to each (and create data points based on these audiences.)

How can incentives help our forecasting?

• Incentives drive behavior. And, ideally, better salespeople get paid more. If you can’t set forecasting successfully, you can’t allocate the proper incentives to the right salespeople.
• If you start to novice a prospecting segment is beginning to lag, you can be specific in your incentive to correct your trajectory.
• The goal should be to design incentive structures so the rep understands how much time they should allocate to that goal without detracting from the overall performance.

Connect with Nabeil on forma.ai and reach out on LinkedIn.

This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn Sales Navigator.

The Great Resignation has become the Great Reshuffle, meaning it can be difficult for sales professionals like you to find leads and close deals. Luckily, Sales Navigator from LinkedIn is here for you!

Sales Navigator from LinkedIn is the only tool that uses real-time alerts and up-to-date insights to help you know when prospects are ready to buy. And, with over 30 advanced filters, sales professionals can quickly find genuine leads with the intent to purchase.

Gain the advantage of accurate, quality lead generation data from LinkedIn Sales Navigator. You can get a 60-day free trial of Sales Navigator at www.LinkedIn.com/TSE. 

This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio.

Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real.

But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com.

This episode is brought to you in part by mParticle.

Are you tired of wading through thousands of open sales positions to find the one perfect for you? Well, look no further. mParticle is one of the leading independent customer data platforms out there, and they’re looking for motivated remote sellers (just like yourself.) 

With top-name clients from Spotify and Burger King to Airbnb, we don’t want you to let this opportunity go to waste! For more information and to view open positions, go to https://www.mparticle.com/careers/.

This course is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Certified Training Program, designed to help new and struggling sellers master sales fundamentals and close more deals. Help elevate your sales game and sign up now to get the first two modules free! You can visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals or call (561) 570-5077 for more information. We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey.

We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings for each episode you listen to! 

Read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore their huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day trial.

Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist launches a new series on forecasting! When it comes to forecasting, there are a ton of strategies and tactics you can use to develop a solid background on it. In this episode, Donald discusses the three things you must know about forecasting before starting.

But first, what is forecasting? 

• In essence, it’s your ability to predict what will happen in the future.
• As a sales professional (and especially as a sales manager), you must be able to estimate how your team will perform throughout the week, month, and quarter. 
• Without forecasting, you’ll have no idea if you’ll achieve your sales goals!

Know your data.

• How many calls lead to a conversation, a demo, and, ultimately, a sale? 
• Understanding your sales figures and statistics leads to an accurate forecast.
• Your pipeline is tied directly to your forecast, and if you put inadequate or insufficient data into a forecast, you’ll get bad predictions in the outcome.

Respect the process.

• Some prospects might want to skip conversations and move directly into a demo, a proposal, or a review.
• But are they even worthy of a demo, or will the sale benefit them? If they don’t fit the criteria of a client for your company, you’ll be wasting valuable time.
• Don’t do the demos just because someone is interested; use data-driven forecasting to identify the indicators you need to make that decision. 

You need more than you think you need.

• Even if you’ve done everything perfectly throughout the sales process, a deal still might not close.
• If the data tells you to close forty deals to meet a target, put sixty in your pipeline. Because while they might all close, you can’t guarantee it. 
• The takeaway? You need more prospects and a more robust pipeline than you might initially think. Put extra in now to avoid scrambling at the end of the quarter.

This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn Sales Navigator.

The Great Resignation has become the Great Reshuffle, meaning it can be difficult for sales professionals like you to find leads and close deals. Luckily, Sales Navigator from LinkedIn is here for you!

Sales Navigator from LinkedIn is the only tool that uses real-time alerts and up-to-date insights to help you know when prospects are ready to buy. And, with over 30 advanced filters, sales professionals can quickly find genuine leads with the intent to purchase.

Gain the advantage of accurate, quality lead generation data from LinkedIn Sales Navigator. You can get a 60-day free trial of Sales Navigator at www.LinkedIn.com/TSE. 

This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio.

Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real.

But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com.

This episode is brought to you in part by mParticle.

Are you tired of wading through thousands of open sales positions to find the one perfect for you? Well, look no further. mParticle is one of the leading independent customer data platforms out there, and they’re looking for motivated remote sellers (just like yourself.) 

With top-name clients from Spotify and Burger King to Airbnb, we don’t want you to let this opportunity go to waste! For more information and to view open positions, go to https://www.mparticle.com/careers/.

This course is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Certified Training Program, designed to help new and struggling sellers master sales fundamentals and close more deals. Help elevate your sales game and sign up now to get the first two modules free! You can visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals or call (561) 570-5077 for more information. We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey.

We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings for each episode you listen to! 

Read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore their huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day trial.

Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Are you a voodoo seller? Are you relying on crystal balls, bones and feathers, and teabags to know whether you would hit this month’s goals or not? Well, been there and done that and I’m telling you, “voodoo selling” just doesn’t work because you can’t quantify it. In today’s episode, I am talking with Robert […]

The post TSE 136: Stop Your Voodoo Selling…It Does Not Work! appeared first on The Sales Evangelist.