It doesn’t matter if you’re leading a team of one or one hundred, becoming a better sales leader can always lead to positive change within your organization. And on today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by Tim Kintz to discuss four areas to promote strengths and identify weaknesses as a sales leader: lead, manage, train, and coach.

Lead

• Managers are often the least trained employees. And especially for those internally promoted, they might not know how to navigate that change with respect to their fellow employees.
• As a sales leader, you need to help your employees develop long-term goals. Once those goals are in place, you can work together to set specific and actionable milestones to reach them.

Manage

• You lead people; you manage things. Are you organized as a sales leader? Do you schedule out your day to accomplish what you need?
• Not only do you need to manage your time and activities, but you need to manage the statistics and tendencies of your people.
• Consider managing the detail-focused aspect of leading; it’s a numbers-driven component that can ensure you and your people reach your goals.

Train

• Success is all about having a straightforward, repeatable process. Do your employees know what they need to do to be successful 100% of the time?
• This process doesn’t mean they’ll achieve perfection every time, but they’ll at least know what steps can get them to that goal.
• Training isn’t just telling, it’s selling. Show them how the training you want them to do positively affects their performance.
• Tim encourages his employees to take ownership of their training. If they have a hand in developing the decision or route of action, they’ll be more likely to stick with it.
• Mental ownership comes before physical or financial ownership.

Coach

• Just because you know something doesn’t mean you can do it; practice and repetition are the mothers of learning.
• Amateurs practice until they get it right, but pros practice until they can’t get it wrong.
• Coaching isn’t just about providing knowledge to your people; it’s about taking time to practice with your people to help them get better.

Tim’s final takeaway? You have to earn the right to be a leader. Think of your people as emotional banks. Make consistent deposits through recognition and approval so you can make withdrawals without overdrawing that account.

Check out Tim’s book Fearless on Amazon or kintzgroup.com. If you want to get ahold of Tim, connect with him on LinkedIn.

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, a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales 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, tune in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, and 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.

Just like for many other industries, hiring sales positions has inherited problems because of the pandemic. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by Brian Trautschold, COO and co-founder of sales management platform Ambition, to discuss three things companies can do to navigate a hybrid sales workforce. Whether you’re a huge company or just a dozen people, COVID is evening the hiring playing field, and integrating these three components can help you acquire the kind of employees you want.

Build a company culture, whether it be virtual or in-person.

• Some company cultures are just fake - think Michael Scott trying to build a culture at Dunder Mifflin.
• When creating your own company culture, the key is to be authentic.
• Recognize people as they reach their milestones, and show genuine care for your employees and their aspirations.
• Especially when employees don’t have the support of an in-person team, it’s easy to lose motivation without recognition.

Engage your workforce to overcome distractions.

• There are no shortage of distractions in the virtual workplace. Whether it’s an extended lunch or a quick Netflix binge, the typical 9-5 is more elusive than ever.
• To give your employees the greatest chance for success, provide easy-to-use tools to hold themselves accountable.
• People are better at holding themselves accountable than management, especially in a virtual setting. So equipping people with the tools for personal accountability to yield better results than a never-ending stream of Slack messages.

People crave development, coaching, and investment from their employers.

• Pre-COVID, a great relationship with management is what kept many people working at their current job. (And vice versa.) The introduction to virtual work has broken this. 
• While Slack can be helpful in communication, you need to have a more proactive approach.
• As a manager, how do you optimize coaching interactions? The key is to keep track of what you discuss with your employees.
• Make action steps to help your employees reach their goals. Coaching can’t be a one-off; it’s a part of a narrative.
• Consider creating KPIs based on the coaching to set actionable steps towards their goals.
• One major takeaway? Consistent, data-driven coaching is the way of the future to develop happy and productive employees.

Want to get in contact with Brian? Find him on his company website, LinkedIn, or Twitter.

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, a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales 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, tune in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, and 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.

The digital shift of the workplace has manifested the need for digital company culture. Digital culture is necessary to improve internal relationships at your company, but it’s integral in expanding your social reach as a company and developing a following that gives you business. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, we’re joined by Tacie Avedikian, VP of Digital Development at Little Bird Marketing, to learn how companies can embrace digital culture to develop a social influence.

But first, what does Tacie mean by social influence?

• The original meaning has shifted a bit in terms of how people use social media. 
• Leveraging influencers from B2C platforms like Instagram or Facebook and transferring those things into more B2B platforms like LinkedIn or Twitter is critical. 

The challenges of hiring new team members: 

• In the current age, being seen online is critical in bringing in suitable candidates.
• Because of this digital world, company-wide social influence is vital to attract candidates and clients. You attract candidates through sharing valuable content and having employees who advocate for your company.
• Despite the importance of online culture, you rarely see someone from HR actively promoting on LinkedIn and advocating for their company.
• When you want to look for somebody, the first thing we do is look online, read reviews, and understand company values. Companies need to ensure their company and themselves are seen and available for this process.

What's the first thing if we wanted to the action plan, and who should lead this?

• Most importantly, ensure it’s not just one person or department pushing. It’s a team effort to create a digital culture.
• Learn to be authentic when sharing about the company and yourself.
• When you create a relationship with someone and see that you're enjoying the company you work for, people get engaged and want to know more.

How can I help my team to be creative and post authentic things?

• Many people are at home, working with their kids right next to them. This is a shared experience that creates empathy and a connection people can bond over.
• Develop training, make expectations to your team of what authenticity looks like, and provide opportunities for additional training each quarter or throughout the year.
• Companies should regularly touch base with their team on their digital culture, whether through Slack or a team chat, to engage and develop relationships.

Tacie’s final advice:

• Realize that things are not going back to the way they were.
• A digitally transformed culture is going to change the influence of your audience completely.
• Tacie’s major takeaway? Unseen is unsold. (We had to repeat it, just one more time.)
• To get in contact with Tacie, connect with her on LinkedIn or email her at tacie@littlebirdmarketing.com.

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, a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales 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, tune in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, and 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 wrote by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Many tech companies view the idea of SDRs as advantageous because they deal with the tough or mundane elements of the sales process like cold calling, making lists, and following up with inbound leads. But SDRs, with the proper training and support, can be much more. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, we’re joined by David Dulany, founder and CEO of the research and advisory firm Tenbound, to learn how you can develop your sales bench.

The elements of a good sales bench:

• Your SDR team is a group of people who, when needed, have learned the skills necessary to jump into a full sales position when one becomes available. 
• To understand which skills are most valuable, analyze your recruitment process and list out traits that make someone successful at your company. Are they tenacious, proactive, or require specific technical skills?
• Create a plan to incorporate training elements for each of those skills for your SDR team and develop ways for new hires to understand what they need to be successful right from the get-go.

The biggest mistake we see with SDR teams is not establishing a solid company culture.

• The old hiring method was simply to churn and burn. But in today’s market, where employees need tools and equipment to be successful, it’s an incredibly inefficient and expensive process.
• In the modern world, culture is everything. A successful SDR team leader establishes that.
• To develop the ideal team culture, write down what you want to culture to look like. Once you have a semblance for your vision, integrate elements relating to it into your SDR training process.
• Sales is becoming an increasingly team-driven activity; the days of the lone wolf are long over.

Provide a path to promotion.

• Certifications are a great way to break down the goals you want employees to achieve before a promotion.
• A ladder setup provides concrete goals for SDRs to work towards and promotion opportunities.
• David’s major tips: For SDRs, take the position seriously; it’s a critical piece of the puzzle. For people leading SDR teams, integrate structure, value, and opportunities within the SDR experience. Doing so will help people take the position more seriously and want to grow within the organization.

To learn more about David’s approach to SDR development, check out his book The Sales Development Framework. Otherwise, visit his company website to find resources to help develop your sales bench.

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, a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales 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, tune in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, and 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.

A challenging aspect of a salesperson’s job is business development. One way you can simplify the business development process, however, is through outsourcing. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, we’re joined by Tom Ancona, founder and chief strategist at ROCKyourcompany.com, to discuss how outsourcing can lead to new business development.

The first step to outsourcing: visualize.

• Think about your goals. If you had a team of people to execute everything you want to do, what is that vision? 
• Work backward from that vision to determine who will get you to that point.
• When outsourcing, the words “you get what you give” could not be more accurate. The results and work you get are directly related to the instruction and information you provide.

Develop your vision:

• Pretend you’re talking to a recently hired assistant - be descriptive in what you want. The more details you provide, the better the project will be. 
• If the project requires platforms like Sales Navigator, have at least a baseline understand of the software or platform.

Hiring the right candidate can be a challenge.

• Selecting the right candidate might not be easy, especially at the beginning. It takes experience to find the right kind of people. 
• The solution? Do your homework. Read their feedback from folks they've worked with. Read both the most recent and most relevant reviews to see into their current headspace and how they’ve finished similar projects.
• Meet with them and ask tough questions about your expectations. If they give intuitive answers and understand what you're asking, you’ve found a good candidate. 

Understand how freelance platforms operate:

• When you purchase projects on platforms like Upwork or Fiverr, some have an escrow account. You allocate the money before each project, but you have to approve the project before the money is transferred. This gives you a level of safety in that a freelancer has to complete the project.
• Don’t hand over passwords to your most valuable assets until you've worked with somebody for a while. 

Tom’s major takeaway and special offer:

• If you're not doing it now, look at outsourcing as a potential way to break out in your marketplace, as you’ve never done before. 
• If you’re looking to improve your sales game with free downloadable templates, visit tomancona.com/tse for a free template download for you. To schedule a meeting with Tom, visit Meetwithtom.live to view his calendar.

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, a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales 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, tune in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, and 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.

Working as a sales manager can be tough. Why make it more challenging than it has to be? And without the proper guidance and support, it can be especially difficult to find the right people for your organization. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, we’re joined by Frank Cespedes, senior lecturer at Harvard business school, to learn his strategy for finding and retaining top-level salespeople.

There are inherent challenges to hiring within sales. 

• Not enough people in and outside the sales function that there are challenges in hiring sales that don’t exist elsewhere.
• People major in engineering, accounting, and finance. There are less than 200 sales courses in the United States universities, let alone majors and programs.
• As a result, most learning in sales is whatever the company does. Companies on average spent 20% more per capita than they do training other positions.
• Most learning in sales is on-the-job learning that isn’t a challenge in other business areas. Because so much time is spent training, accelerating the productivity ramp up for new hires is crucial for hiring managers.

How can you make the hiring process more manageable?

• Minimize the biggest hiring mistake: relying solely on one or two unstructured interviews.
• Research consistently shows the correlation between the ratings people get in interviews and their subsequent on-the-job performance tend to vary by .1 to .4. The perfect candidate’s chances to perform to their expected standard is about as guaranteed as a coin flip.
• To solve the problem, supplement interviews by including people who aren’t sales, like customer support and product design.
• Experience is often an important hiring criterion. But in business, there is only experience selling your product. Experience in other organizations might not indicate or guarantee success at others.
• The most important thing when hiring is knowing what you’re looking for. Don’t think platitudes; think the most important tasks this new person will accomplish.

So what do you do? Start with the fundamentals.

• Performing fundamentals better than anyone else will lead to success - the who, why, and how of your customer informs you who you’re hiring for.
• What will the salesperson need to be good to be successful? Conversely, what might they need to be just good enough at? 
• To determine these behaviors, consider implementing assessments or even internship positions to judge that behavior. 
• The pandemic showed companies overpay for many tasks in the current sales model;  you want to focus talent on the steps that most impact the sale rather than things like lead generation and demos.

Frank’s major piece of advice to someone managing the hiring process?

• Know what you’re looking for, start with the buying process, and don’t require platitudes of experience.
• Recognize that the hiring process doesn’t end with the hire. The sooner you get someone to ramp up their productivity within the organization, the better everyone is.

Read Frank’s new book Sales Management That Works: How to Sell in a World that Never Stops Changing. Want to get in touch with Frank? Visit him on his website or connect with him on LinkedIn.

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, a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales 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, tune in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, and 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 wrote by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Does the thought of hiring a new salesperson fill you with fear? Do you dread the interview process and reading through resumes? In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald helps expedite the process of finding the perfect addition to your team by outlining three characteristics every seller must have. 

You want someone curious:

• When it comes to identifying prospects and their motivations, salespeople need to find the root cause. They need to dig deep, ask the right questions, and find the proper intel to manage their prospects and find sales.
• Curiosity is asking the right questions that lead to natural conversations. But the suitably curious don’t ask questions that might be offensive or too personal.

You want someone resilient.

• Persistency and a continual drive to work through challenges are critical for sales. 
• Working in sales means perseverance. The average sale takes between six to twelve touchpoints to move forward, so tenacity and stamina are necessary to succeed in any sales position. 

You want someone empathetic.

• Pushy salespeople are no longer in style (if they ever were.) Salespeople who listen and want to help the client will find far more success than a salesperson focused on the sale instead of the person.

The bonus trait: You want someone creative.

• Thinking outside the box is necessary for sales. When problems inevitably arise (as they do in any business), you want your office filled with creative minds who aren’t afraid to think critically and solve the problem.
• Seth Godin’s book Purple Cow demonstrates the importance of creativity in business.

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, a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales 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, tune in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, and 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 wrote by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Congrats, you just landed a sales job! But should you accept it? In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald provides his three tips to consider before you accept that job offer.

Connect with their current sales team.

• Directly asking a sales team what their opinions are at their company is a great way to discover the company culture.
• They aren’t trying to sell you anything - they have nothing to gain from convincing you it’s a great place when, in reality, it isn’t.
• Finding the sales team is tremendously easy as well because their entire job is centered around being available. 

Determine what customers say about them right now.

• How do you go about doing this? (It’s easy.) Look through case studies and online reviews to generate names, and reach out to those people on LinkedIn.
• But why should you do this? It can help you get a good scope of the company and show if they consistently update their work or bank off of case studies from 2008.

Look at Glassdoor and Google Reviews for the company.

• Nobody is more brutally honest than strangers on the internet, right?
• Glassdoor is a platform where current and past employees share information about working at the company. 
• While people might exaggerate on the internet, this can help bring up any concerns you might need to consider before accepting the job.

The main takeaway here is that you really want to know as much about the company as possible before accepting. Limit the surprises you might face, and you’ll be on your way to a great next step in your career.

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, a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales 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, tune in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, and 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.

Do you wish you had a list of things to avoid when looking for your next sales gig? We brought an expert to do just that - Jasmine Black. As the owner of BrainChild PSM and with over 15 years of corporate sales experience, Jasmine understands both sides of the metaphorical sales coin. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, she gives you the inside scoop on mistakes B2B sellers should avoid to land their next job.

What should B2B sellers avoid when searching for their next gig?

• Don’t wait for your next opportunity to fall in your lap. 
• Learn to be assertive without being overly aggressive in interactions throughout the hiring process. Remember, you want to show how you can provide value to the organization, not just show up to the office with your resume.
• Position yourself as a thought leader in the organization. Tell them challenges you see and explain how you’ve resolved similar issues in the past. Or even provide a plan to utilize in the future once you have the position. 
• Don’t engage without intentionality. When you create your own personal brand, that professional reputation precedes you. Determine how do you want to be known. 

Create your resume to work for you.

• Jasmine read an article about a man who finds a job he wants and then builds a perfect resume for that job. He then spends the next year developing the skills in that resume to know he’s qualified and experienced in the role.
• There are several outlets to gain knowledge and experience in a skillset like sales, such as LinkedIn and Hubspot. 

What can sellers do to start making themselves attractive to land that next job?

• Create your brand, and create it with intention. Take time to write a list of things you want to be known for - they can be things you want to improve on, something you already know, or things you might even be lacking.
• Record yourself saying those things, and look back at the recording - do you believe yourself? Is that what you want? If it is, great, keep going that way. If not, reroute. 
• Networking is critical to the sales industry. If you aren’t networking, start.

Jasmine’s secret to networking:

• What’s the awesome new social media platform Jasmine utilizes to interact with new and knowledgeable people? Clubhouse.
• When she seeks to network, Jasmine’s ultimate goal is developing a relationship. You should be into the quality of relationships versus the quantity of connections.
• Clubhouse has no visuals; it's just real names and real identities. The culture is sharing value, being participative, and welcoming - AKA the perfect networking atmosphere. 

Jasmine’s final piece of advice? You can have anything you want in life if you just help enough others get what they want. Get in touch on Instagram, LinkedIn, or @brainchild on Clubhouse!

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, a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales 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, tune in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, and 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 wrote by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

The resume is an integral part of the professional world. But while it does show off your prior work experience, it doesn’t show who you are as a person. What motivates you, or why are you applying for that specific job? Simon Tecle, VP of Sales at SyncroMSP, joins us on today’s episode to explain how you can tell your story at your next interview, sans resume, to begin the next step of your career with confidence and success.

The resume is not your story.

• A typical interview response is to admit, “I don’t have experience in x,y, or z.”
• Don’t let your resume be the anchor in your conversation, especially if you know you lack the experience to capitalize on it.
• The hiring manager already knows you have a lack of experience, and they wouldn’t be talking to you if that was a deal-breaker.

Why do we feel so tied to our resume experience?

• Because resumes are critical in the corporate world. However, stories convey key skills to a job we don’t put on our resume.
• Are you ex-military? Talk about your time management. Are you a parent? I bet you’ve mastered multitasking. Do you play sports? Talk about your will to win and competitive spirit.

Overcoming traditional interviews.

• If an interviewer is insistent on a resume-based interview, link line items from the job description to your personal stories.
• A quick tip - don’t agree with the interviewer if they mention a lack of experience.
• It isn’t about just answering the question; it’s about responding in a way that is best for you.

Simon’s other tips for sellers to remember for their next interview:

• Always have thoughtful questions at the end, and follow up immediately after the interview.
• Highlight skills and accomplishments that demonstrate both soft and hard skills related to the job description.
• Simon’s major takeaway? Apply to careers and jobs where you relate to the requirements of the role. Plain and simple.

Want to get in contact with Simon? Email him at simon@synchromsp.com, or connect with him on LinkedIn.

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, a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales 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, tune in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, and 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 wrote by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Going into an interview can be tough. Whether it’s your very first interview or your twentieth, the nerves never go away completely. You don’t want to sound like an idiot, right? But what if you had a cheat sheet and knew the most common questions salespeople tend to mess up? That’s exactly what we did for today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist. Today we’re joined by Kathleen Steffey, founder, and CEO of Naviga Recruiting, to learn how to answer difficult interview questions and secure your next sales gig.

Question One: Anything related to your sales process. 

• A VP of Sales might ask an interviewee about their selling process from beginning to end. Even if that salesperson knows their approach, they often just don’t know how to articulate it.
• If someone can’t walk through their process, a leader might think they lack depth or aren’t methodical.
• Think about your process in advance, write it down, and go from there.

Question Two: Tell me where you came in against quota?

• You have to know when you came in against quota, whether it’s over or under. If a sales rep doesn’t know their numbers, it’s considered a big negative.
• What if your business doesn’t measure by quota? (Yes, those companies exist.) Create your own measurable goals that define success, and know if you’ve achieved those goals. 

Question Three: What is your prospecting strategy?

• Ten years ago, people could get away with merely pounding the pavement or cold calling. But in today’s marketplace, if you’re not handling prospecting in an integrated manner, you’re viewed as antiquated.
• Know your strategy, and if your strategy is purely through one pipeline, you likely want to reevaluate your strategy.  

Question Four: How do you differentiate yourself in the selling process?

• If you’re meeting your numbers, you might not have ever had to think about this. But the sales process has changed where you have to be creative to be successful.
• Show an interviewer you're different; show them your resilience and prospecting skills through your process. It wins, especially for salespeople.

Find Naviga Recruiting on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and connect directly with Kathleen on LinkedIn.

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, a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales 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, tune in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, and 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 wrote by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Moving to a virtual workplace means companies can hire better and faster while reducing employee cost and turnover. But are there benefits to returning to the brick-and-mortar model of 2019? In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald interviews Dan Fantasia, founder of the sales career advancement company Treeline Inc. to discuss what sales professionals look for in their 2021 work environment.

What are sales professionals looking for in 2021?

• Most employees prefer virtual roles over in-person. So if you’re thinking of reintroducing your company to the office, you might want to reconsider. If someone is sold on the remote option, they might start looking for a new opportunity.

The pros and cons of having a brick-and-mortar company versus operating remotely:

• In a virtual job, it’s more challenging to build camaraderie outside the office. However, there are ways to facilitate this relationship. 
• Dan’s company participated in a virtual wine tasting, and they start each morning with a zoom call to stay aligned and promote communication.
• The pro of remote working is the removal of commuting. 
• Companies no longer have to compete for employees with companies in a particular area - they can hire across the United States. 
• However, this is a double-edged sword, as competing companies are equally able to contact employees with new opportunities.

What should employers be aware of that salespeople want in their 2021 work environment?

• Just because your company is virtual doesn’t mean you can lowball a candidate. They have an entire world of opportunity now and can just look elsewhere. 
• Don’t be stuck on the decision to go back to an in-person model. You might have to pay for a building people don’t use, but if your employees work better remotely, the payoff will make the decision worth it.
• There are risks of virtual work depending on the position, the most pressing being if your employees are mature enough to work virtually.
• However, between a virtual company and an in-person company, the virtual company can source candidates from the entire country to ensure that the person thrives in that type of environment. 
• Virtual companies offer a diversity of regional cultures, which can develop new perspectives in your employees.

Dan’s advice for sellers and companies:

• Corporations should be open-minded and take advantage of the virtual opportunities. You’ll find immense payoff with a virtual model.
• For candidates: Look for your next opportunity when you’re still employed. You want the longest runway possible to have the time necessary to consider your options. When you’re employed, you won’t have to accept the first offer out of desperation but can instead move towards an opportunity you want.

If you want to get in contact with Dan, email him directly at fantasia@treelineinc.com, or you can visit his company website.

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 NetHunt CRM.

NetHunt CRM is a sales automation tool that lives inside Gmail. It covers a full set of features to manage leads, nurture customer relations, monitor sales progress, and automate sales and marketing workflows. With native-like Gmail and  G Suite integration, you can access your CRM data, launch bulk email campaigns, and set up automated sequences from the comfort of your inbox. NetHunt helps move leads down your sales funnel and never lets a valuable prospect go untouched.

NetHunt CRM offers TSE listeners a 40% discount for the first three months along with free user training and a dedicated Customer Success Manager with any pricing plan.

Try NetHunt CRM today at https://nethunt.com/tse.

This course is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Certified Training Program, a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales 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, tune in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, and 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 wrote by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Are you trying to find your first sales job or looking to stand out from the competition to land that first gig? Look no further, because on today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald Kelly shares three strategies to find your first sales job.

Strategy One: Befriend recruiters for the type of jobs you’re trying to land.

• Recruiters have a vested interest in finding great people - it means they get more money. So don’t be afraid of interacting with them!
• To find the right recruiters, go to any recruiting website to see which industries specific people recruit for.
• Search for them on LinkedIn, connect with them, and see which companies they hire for. 
• Once you find the recruiters and build a relationship, you’ll have an opportunity ready for you when looking for your next career step.

Strategy Two: Network, network, network

• Your network is your net worth. If you go on social media and ask your network for job recommendations, you’ll get a ton. Not all of them will be good, but there will be opportunities with potential for you to explore.
• If you already have a job and don’t want your employer to see it, direct message your connections in the space you’re looking to move into. 
• Find the movers and shakers in your community, introduce yourself, and see if they’re able to direct you to someone who can help you.

Strategy Three: Connect with people within your target company.

• This strategy, taken from Jacob at Sales for the Culture, will help you land a sale or job with a specific company or industry.
• Find a company on LinkedIn, reach out to any recruiters specifically for that company, and introduce yourself.
• Reach out to employees in the department or position you’re looking to get in and connect with them.
• You’ll be amazed how willing people are willing to advise and help get you where you want to go.

With these strategies, you’ll have a relationship with the recruiter, information from your connections, and relationships with the people at your target company. Sounds pretty good, right?

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 NetHunt CRM.

NetHunt CRM is a sales automation tool that lives inside Gmail. It covers a full set of features to manage leads, nurture customer relations, monitor sales progress, and automate sales and marketing workflows. With native-like Gmail and  G Suite integration, you can access your CRM data, launch bulk email campaigns, and set up automated sequences from the comfort of your inbox. NetHunt helps move leads down your sales funnel and never lets a valuable prospect go untouched.

NetHunt CRM offers TSE listeners a 40% discount for the first three months along with free user training and a dedicated Customer Success Manager with any pricing plan.

Try NetHunt CRM today at https://nethunt.com/tse.

This course is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Certified Training Program, a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales 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, tune in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, and 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 wrote by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.