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April 2022
S M T W T F S
     
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Syndication

In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, our host Donald Kelly goes into three changes he’ll make going into 2023. These three changes will help YOU to make more sales and perfect your craft as a seller.

The first major change of 2023:

  • The first upcoming change is a slight shift in branding. The podcast’s name, logo, and design will ALL remain the same. However, there will be a slight shift in branding as well as the podcast’s cover.

The second major change of 2023:

  • The second major change coming up will be the podcast emphasizing the PIPELINE, both building your pipeline and converting sales from your pipeline.

The third, and final, change of 2023:

  • The final change you can expect to see is the shift in the community. In the past, we’ve promoted our Facebook and LinkedIn communities, but those platforms will be taking a backseat. Instead, TSE is going to promote its community on a new platform called Circle.so.

How do these changes help you as a seller?

  • Learning to build a pipeline and close a pipeline is CRUCIAL for your success as a seller. That’s why going forwards we’ll be pushing it so hard. Learning more information on how to successfully build and close your pipeline will only make you an even more effective seller.
  • Circle.so is a platform that’s similar to Facebook. On the site, you’ll see different circles where people are discussing various ins and outs of selling. All YOU have to do is join a circle to talk with fellow sellers and together develop your craft! It’s a platform with PLENTY of invaluable information and insight from experienced sellers.
  • Going into 2023, we also plan on being FAR more active on social media. What can you expect to see are tips and tricks about selling, including content on courses the podcast offers as well as the podcast’s newsletter. All of these are designed to be INCREDIBLY valuable tools for sellers to utilize.

You can connect with Donald and communicate with him on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Tik Tok under donaldckelly.

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

Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com.

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

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

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

The sales landscape is totally changing. You need to adapt to succeed. Deep Sales, a part of the next generation of LinkedIn Sales Navigator, can help you do just that. Check it out yourself and get a 60-day free trial at Linkedin.com/TSE.

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

The power of scheduling automation has never been more critical than it is today. Your sales team needs a solution to easily meet with prospects at the right time, every time. Finish the year strong and request a demo of Calendly today at Calendly.com/TSE

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

Direct download: TSE_1627.mp3
Category:Preparing For 2023 -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Going into 2023, with a changing business landscape, buyers are looking for something DIFFERENT. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald Kelly goes into what buyers are now looking for, and how you can meet their needs.

What are buyers looking for in the upcoming year?

  • According to the State of Sales, from Salesforce, 57% of buyers prefer engaging with companies and sellers through digital means.
  • Along with preferring digital communication, buyers have also said that they prefer YOU to go where THEY are. You have to appear wherever your buyers are, whether that’s on social media or platforms like YouTube.

How to take advantage of this knowledge and meet buyers’ wants:

  • Since buyers are actively WANTING to talk to your company through digital means, provide SOME WAY for them to actually talk to you digitally. Platforms like LinkedIn are perfect for this. But beyond LinkedIn, you can also use social media platforms to communicate and market to buyers.
  • UTILIZE A DSR. A DSR, or digital salesroom, is a centralized location where buyers and sellers can meet. Instead of having to browse countless sites to try and find information, the buyer can access all the information they need STRAIGHT from the DSR. It also allows all of your sellers to consolidate in one location, instead of having to communicate through other, less efficient ways. A DSR not only streamlines the entire sales process but also PROVIDES what digital platform buyers are looking for!
  • The MAIN thing that buyers want, however, is for you to be a TRUSTED ADVISOR instead of a salesperson. A whopping 87% of buyers have claimed they prefer advisors over sellers. Why is this? Buyers come to sellers to solve a problem. Instead of being marketed to some product or service, buyers want SOLUTIONS. Buyers want someone who they can TRUST to give them a valuable and efficient solution to whatever problem they’re facing.
  • Another thing to take advantage of in 2023 is Intent-based data. What is intent-based data? It’s data that takes what buyers are looking for into consideration. Things like what they search for online, and their interest in your product or service, among others. If you TAKE this data into the mind and utilize it, you’ll drive both sales AND traffic to your business 

If you want to learn more about what clients are looking for in the upcoming year and how you can capitalize on it, you can check out Donald’s other social platforms. You can find him on Instagram at donaldckelly, or on LinkedIn, also under donaldckelly.

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

Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com.

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

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

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

The sales landscape is totally changing. You need to adapt to succeed. Deep Sales, a part of the next generation of LinkedIn Sales Navigator, can help you do just that. Check it out yourself and get a 60-day free trial at Linkedin.com/TSE.

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

The power of scheduling automation has never been more critical than it is today. Your sales team needs a solution to easily meet with prospects at the right time, every time. Finish the year strong and request a demo of Calendly today at Calendly.com/TSE

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

Direct download: TSE_1626.mp3
Category:Preparing For 2023 -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald Kelly discusses why 2023 will be a difficult year for sellers. He also discusses how, despite the upcoming challenge, how you as a seller can continue to succeed in your field.

What exactly is going to be different about 2023?

  • Ever since the pandemic, inflation rates and the general cost of living have STEADILY increased. This makes people far, FAR more hesitant to actually spend money. Why should someone buy your product or service when money is already tight?
  • Alongside higher inflation rates, the feds have also hiked up interest rates to curb inflation. Since there are higher interest rates, people are less likely actually to borrow money. This means that businesses will be slower to grow.

Here are some quick facts, from Donald’s personal experience and the State of Sales report:

  • 69% of sellers are saying that selling is actually becoming HARDER for them.
  • 92% of sellers claimed that they’ve had to start using a NEW method of selling their product or service.

With all of this in mind, what can you do as a seller to keep a steady stream of purchases coming in?

  • One key thing to focus on, with the current market, is to focus on LOW RISK but HIGH REWARD activities. One example of this is cross-selling. Are you maximizing your profits off of current buyers? What can you do, or offer, existing buyers to generate even more income?
  • Another activity you can do is focus on cross-functioning. Work within your organization and your different departments to help create cohesiveness. Instead of working in multiple, different organizations, you can focus on working as an ENTIRE unit.
  • A third example of what sellers are doing to keep steady profits and deals coming down the pipeline is targeting new markets. Instead of continuing to operate in the exact same way, see if there aren’t different methods or people you can promote to. Are there buyers more comfortable with parting with their money? Is there some tweaking you could do to get a RECURRING payment? Again, focus on low-risk ventures that will bring in the highest rewards.

You can connect with Donald more and learn about perfecting your craft as a seller on his Instagram at donaldckelly or on his LinkedIn profile, also at donaldckelly.

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

Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com.

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

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

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

The sales landscape is totally changing. You need to adapt to succeed. Deep Sales, a part of the next generation of LinkedIn Sales Navigator, can help you do just that. Check it out yourself and get a 60-day free trial at Linkedin.com/TSE.

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

The power of scheduling automation has never been more critical than it is today. Your sales team needs a solution to easily meet with prospects at the right time, every time. Finish the year strong and request a demo of Calendly today at Calendly.com/TSE

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

Direct download: TSE_1625.mp3
Category:Preparing For 2023 -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald Kelly meets with Paul Owen, the owner of Sales Talent, to discuss the importance of planning when it comes to sales, and why all salespeople should have some sort of a plan to maximize their performance.

The importance of planning in the world of sales:

  • Many salespeople will go into a deal without a plan in mind. Instead, they simply rely on their past experiences and instincts. This CAN work in some instances, but having a plan is always better.
  • When you approach each sale with a structure in mind, you can replicate success more reliably. Instead of winging it and simply having one-off successes, a plan gives you the framework and tools you need to consistently make a profit.

Why don’t salespeople utilize planning more?

  • A lot of salespeople believe that going off of a plan is too RESTRICTIVE. One big misconception sellers have is that sales are too dynamic and unique to utilize one sales plan. Sales are unique, yes, but they still have some commonalities. These commonalities allow sellers to actually utilize a plan to better equip themselves to finalize the deal.
  • Another reason why salespeople don’t use planning more is that they’re naturally good at selling. As the saying goes, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. This CAN work if the salesperson works individually. When they start to build a business, however, they’ll run into issues. Unless the entrepreneur finds people who are also naturally good at sales, they won’t be able to teach new sellers how to effectively sell. Having a plan in place can alleviate this problem.

How can you start using planning in your sales?

  • Take notes of past sales, and what did and didn’t work, and utilize that to create a plan. Although sales are unique, there are still common themes and elements between them. Take those common themes and elements and use them to create a framework for your future sales.
  • Use buyer feedback. Ask past clients for their experience and utilize this feedback. Implement what works and get rid of what doesn’t to streamline your sales process and create planning designed to increase your sales.

You can get a hold of Paul Owen and learn more about using structure and plans in your sales through LinkedIn. Owen also runs a website for his company called www.salestalentuk.com with blog posts and more information.

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

Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com.

2. This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

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

The sales landscape is totally changing. You need to adapt to succeed. Deep Sales, a part of the next generation of LinkedIn Sales Navigator, can help you do just that. Check it out yourself and get a 60-day free trial at Linkedin.com/TSE.

4. This episode is brought to you in part by Calendly.

The power of scheduling automation has never been more critical than it is today. Your sales team needs a solution to easily meet with prospects at the right time, every time. Finish the year strong and request a demo of Calendly today at Calendly.com/TSE

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

Direct download: TSE_1624.mp3
Category:AE Skills -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald talks to the owner of 1 Call Closers, Richard Mugica, about the top three issues sellers face when finalizing a sale, and how you can overcome them to help increase your sales to potential buyers.

The top three challenges sellers face when finalizing a sale:

  • The first challenge that sellers face is focusing on the SCIENCE of closing, instead of the ART of closing.
  • The second biggest challenge that sellers face is being too nervous. 
  • The third challenge that plagues sellers is focusing too much on handling objections and not enough on rapport building, or the discovery phase.

What these three challenges actually mean, and how you can overcome them:

  • The science of closing is the script you read, the words you use to help finalize a sale and close the deal. The ART of closing, however, is the WAY you say those words. The art of closing lets you connect with your client and build trust in your product or service. Mastering the art of sales is critical for becoming a great salesperson.
  • Too many salespeople are nervous about coming off too strong or too pushy and, as such, are actually afraid of closing the deal. All of these self-doubts and worries just lessen your impact as a salesperson. The key thing to remember is your goal as a salesperson: It isn’t necessarily to convince a buyer to say yes but to get your buyer to make a decision about purchasing your product or service.
  • Sales aren’t decided on during objection handling, sales are won or lost during rapport building. By focusing more on rapport building, you’re FAR more likely to actually close the sale, instead of focusing so much attention on handling objections.

What else can you learn about overcoming these challenges?

  • There’s no real “way” to teach the art of closing. It’s too subtle. There are two ways to master it as a salesperson though: Either you are simply naturally born with a good understanding of it OR you develop it through deliberate repetition.
  • When dealing with nervousness, it stems from sellers focusing too much on THEMSELVES instead of on helping their clients. Salespeople will focus on how their client will react to their words and actions, when they should be focusing SOLELY on genuinely helping their client with whatever they’re attempting to sell.
  • At the end of a call or at the end of the sale, if your buyer knows what their problem is, why they need to solve their problem, and why your product or service is the best way for them to solve their problem, then the buyer WILL close the sale. There won’t be any objections you have to deal with if you truly HELP the buyer discover their problem through rapport.
  • The best way to destroy any objections is through honesty. If at the end of the sale, the buyer is still uncertain, remind them of why they contacted you in the first place. Tell them that they can think about it and choose not to go with the sale, but through buying whatever you’re offering, their problem will be solved. Honesty destroys objections.

Richard Mugica is an incredible salesman with plenty of experience and knowledge to pass on to anyone looking to improve their abilities. You can find him on Instagram at richard_mugica or at his website, www.1callclosers.com.

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

Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com.

2. This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

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

The sales landscape is totally changing. You need to adapt to succeed. Deep Sales, a part of the next generation of LinkedIn Sales Navigator, can help you do just that. Check it out yourself and get a 60-day free trial at Linkedin.com/TSE.

4. This episode is brought to you in part by Calendly.

The power of scheduling automation has never been more critical than it is today. Your sales team needs a solution to easily meet with prospects at the right time, every time. Finish the year strong and request a demo of Calendly today at Calendly.com/TSE

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

Direct download: TSE_1623.mp3
Category:AE Skills -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Video can be a crucial part of the sales process. People love stories. Video is a great way to share your service or product story. Chad Laken joins Donald today on how to utilize videos throughout sales process.

Video is powerful

  • Video can be daunting and somewhat intimidating.
  • Using video in emailing a prospect adds a deeper touch.
  • It takes 8-12 touchpoints. Video expands your ability to build trust.
  • Individualize your video for a stronger impact.
  • Your video is a great way to introduce you and your company to all decision-makers.
  • Personalization at the top of the sales funnel.

Create helpful content for your prospects

  • Developing the business relationship with video will launch you further than the funnel.
  • Rinse and repeat your bank of video content.
  • Make a video answering commonly asked questions from your prospects.
  • 95% of retention is increased when you use a video.

Top use cases to utilize video

  • Put context to your video to make a lastly impression
  • Send a video when you are being ghosted by your prospect.
  • Develop a journey map for your video content.
  • Have fun!

“Video is what makes great salespeople memorable.”– Chad Lakin

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

Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com.

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

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

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

The sales landscape is totally changing. You need to adapt to succeed. Deep Sales, a part of the next generation of LinkedIn Sales Navigator, can help you do just that. Check it out yourself and get a 60-day free trial at Linkedin.com/TSE.

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

The power of scheduling automation has never been more critical than it is today. Your sales team needs a solution to easily meet with prospects at the right time, every time. Finish the year strong and request a demo of Calendly today at Calendly.com/TSE

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

Direct download: TSE_1622.mp3
Category:AE Skills -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Thinking like a strategist when selling to corporate deals will get you to the closing table. The order taking days are gone! Donald chats today with Douglas Cole who is a sales leader at LinkedIn, an advisor with start-up accelerators in North America, and a part-time university lecturer at The Rotman School of Management and The Schulich Executive Education Centre in Toronto. Author of The Sales MBA.

Dominant Themes in the Sales Process

  • Sales Strategist - the company's competitive position and its market facing position.
  • Change Agent – the organizational dynamics, happening within the company, at any given time.
  • Decision Architect – interpersonal (human psychology) and how that affects your interactions with that prospect.

Strategist:

  • Precise understanding of where this company competes and how do they win.
  • Being able to make the connection between your product and how it benefits your prospect.
  • Research is critical to be able to have these conversations.

Change Agent:

  • Being able to find the catalyst to create transformation.
  • Where is the energy in this organization?
  • How can you feed the energy with your product or service?

Decision Architect:

  • Behavioral economics play a large part in closing the sale.
  • Limited by the attention of the buyer.
  • Obtain the commitment of the buyer.
  • Motivate the buyer to act or move forward with your product.
  • Use of influence levers (scarcity, social proof, etc.)

Change your mindset:

  • How do you per sieve yourself?
  • Are you likeable, are your trustworthy?
  • Think of yourself as a Sales Strategist, Change Agent and Decision Architect.

“Selling is a thinking game.”– Douglas Cole

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

Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com.

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

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

  1. LinkedIn 

The sales landscape is totally changing. You need to adapt to succeed. Deep Sales, a part of the next generation of LinkedIn Sales Navigator, can help you do just that. Check it out yourself and get a 60-day free trial at Linkedin.com/TSE.

  1. Calendly

The power of scheduling automation has never been more critical than it is today. Your sales team needs a solution to easily meet with prospects at the right time, every time. Finish the year strong and request a demo of Calendly today at Calendly.com/TSE

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

Direct download: TSE_1621.mp3
Category:AE Skills -- posted at: 8:11am EDT

More than 50% of the workforce are millennials. Millennials are now the predominant decision-makers in B2B purchasing decisions. Tom Burton, author of The Revenue Zone joins Donald to discuss the top three rules for effectively selling to millennials. 

Change is Inevitable 

  • Younger buyers have no tolerance for the traditional B2B model.
  • They want to do their own research and control their buying journey.
  • Preference is to avoid talking to salespeople.
  • 80% more millennials are likely to buy if the sales process is consultative.

 

 

The Three Rules

  • The mindset of a salesperson needs to be different. The buyer wants to be in control of their journey. Today’s salesperson needs to be flexible.
  • Make your content accessible to your buyer – (non-gated). Create relevant content that is frictionless.
  • Enable the buyer experience to be guided step-by-step.

Takeaways

  • Confused prospects don’t become buyers.
  • Answer the first questions of your prospect of what is the value proposition.
  • Share the recommended journey.
  • Buyers want guidance.
  • Works well through social selling.

 “The buyer wants to be in control of their journey. Today’s salesperson needs to be flexible.” – Tom Burton

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

Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com.

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

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

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

The sales landscape is totally changing. You need to adapt to succeed. Deep Sales, a part of the next generation of LinkedIn Sales Navigator, can help you do just that. Check it out yourself and get a 60-day free trial at Linkedin.com/TSE.

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

The power of scheduling automation has never been more critical than it is today. Your sales team needs a solution to easily meet with prospects at the right time, every time. Finish the year strong and request a demo of Calendly today at Calendly.com/TSE

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

Direct download: TSE_1620.mp3
Category:AE Skills -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Relationships are important

  • Doing business in Europe has some similar characteristics to doing business in the United States.
  • Data privacy is one of the critical aspects of doing business effectively.
  • Need to understand the payment platforms and the rules.
  • Sensitive to the borders and cultures.
  • Getting down to business is totally acceptable – don’t be offended.

What to be aware of in selling to Europeans

  • You have to be GDPR compliant to avoid a deal going south.
  • Germany is extremely strict on GDPR.
  • Navigating the potential language barriers of each country takes research.
  • Consider investing in salespeople that can speak the language of the country you are prospecting too.
  • Being aware of slang and how that can impact your ability to communicate.
  • Stay aware of how the currencies rates are changing from day-to-day.

Messenger tools are valuable in assisting your sales efforts

  • Apps that have the ability to translate your marketing campaigns are key to your success.
  • WhatsApp, Telegram and Viber are some powerful tools.

“It makes a huge difference when an American salesperson or marketer can take a second to understand who it is that they're they're communicating with, and not be so domineering from a cultural perspective.” – Grady Anderson

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

Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com.

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

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

  1. LinkedIn 

The sales landscape is totally changing. You need to adapt to succeed. Deep Sales, a part of the next generation of LinkedIn Sales Navigator, can help you do just that. Check it out yourself and get a 60-day free trial at Linkedin.com/TSE.

  1. Calendly

The power of scheduling automation has never been more critical than it is today. Your sales team needs a solution to easily meet with prospects at the right time, every time. Finish the year strong and request a demo of Calendly today at Calendly.com/TSE

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

Direct download: TSE_1619.mp3
Category:AE Skills -- posted at: 6:28am EDT

Problems facing salespeople today

  • Salespeople are struggling to make sales quota more today than ever. 
  • Technology isn’t necessarily closing more deals. 
  • Training is more focused today on tactics.
  • Sales strategy needs to be the focus.

Sales system to fill the gap

  • Being willing to call an audible when in your sales process - being willing to adapt. Great quarterbacks do this.
  • Changing your pitch based on who you are selling to. Pro-baseball pitchers do this.
  • Taking time to be prepared before the call. Consider Pro-golfers.
  • Identify the persona of your prospect.

Focus on the value to your prospect

  • What’s important to the prospect you are talking to at the moment?
  • Map your strategy to the strategic growth objectives of your customer. 
  • Align your product to the needs.
  • Focus on the value and how you meet it.
  • Go to the website of your customer to find how to align your offering.

“Sales can be fun if you make it about strategy and you know how to deliver value to your buyers” – John Stopper

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

Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com.

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

 Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

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

 The sales landscape is totally changing. You need to adapt to succeed. Deep Sales, a part of the next generation of LinkedIn Sales Navigator, can help you do just that. Check it out yourself and get a 60-day free trial at Linkedin.com/TSE.

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

The power of scheduling automation has never been more critical than it is today. Your sales team needs a solution to easily meet with prospects at the right time, every time. Finish the year strong and request a demo of Calendly today at Calendly.com/TSE

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

Direct download: TSE_1618.mp3
Category:AE Skills -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Using a multi-thread approach

  • Using data and being methodical going to market. 
  • 1% better each day is working smart. 
  • Doing less than 6 and 7-figure deals tend to be more transactional rather than emotional.
  • Make the buyer the champion internally.
  • Clients crave being smarter. 

Strategy to get these big deals

  • Getting the key people involved who can commit budget. This is usually 3-5 individuals—cross-functional Value: Solving a variety of business problems.
  • Creating the momentum or “ground swell” within the organization of your prospect.
  • Work behind the scenes.
  • Create Partnership Plan: Alignment with the prospect (pain points, desired solutions, collateral needs, etc.)

Proof it works

  • With this process Scott’s team has gone from 2% conversion ratios in outbound activities to 20%.
  • Approach the sales process like a game. 
  • Don’t overthink each call.
  • Review what you did well and what could be improved each week.
  • What can you do each week to improve by 1%?

“Don’t overthink it, have a process and look at it objectively at the end of the week.” – Scott Smyth

Check out Scott’s website: www.hginsights.com

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

Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com.

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

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

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

The sales landscape is totally changing. You need to adapt to succeed. Deep Sales, a part of the next generation of LinkedIn Sales Navigator, can help you do just that. Check it out yourself and get a 60-day free trial at Linkedin.com/TSE.

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

The power of scheduling automation has never been more critical than it is today. Your sales team needs a solution to easily meet with prospects at the right time, every time. Finish the year strong and request a demo of Calendly today at Calendly.com/TSE

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

Direct download: TSE_1617.mp3
Category:AE Skills -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

On today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald speaks with professional speaker, author, and sales trainer, Paul Reilly. They discuss Paul's book “Selling Through Tough Times”, how to thrive through a downturn, and 6 steps to staying mentally strong. 

A “Tough Timer” mindset

  • A tough-timer mindset is about finding the opportunity in a struggle, being steadfast, and staying humble. 
  • During tough times, progress is more important than performance. When you are facing tough times you need to continue to progress toward your goal, this will help you to stay motivated. 

Daily mental flex

Paul has developed six steps to help you stay mentally strong. 

  1. Gratitude
  2. Continuous improvement
  3. Self-discipline
  4. Positive reframing
  5. Pruning negativity and planting positivity
  6. Make success easier tomorrow by taking action today

Anyone can utilize these six steps no matter how much experience you have as a seller. 

What do buyers think during tough times?

  • Customers buy differently during tough times and you need to understand how your customers define value during difficult moments.
  • People are often fearful during uncertain times and often hit the pause button in order to conserve cash.

How can you position yourself for success during tough times? 

  • Focus your time, energy, and effort on the most viable sales opportunities. Detail what business you are trying to avoid so that you can limit wasted time. 
  • Shift your customers' attention to the future and help them remember their goals. 

Episode Resources

  • Go to Toughtimer.com and submit your email address for a free chapter of “Selling Through Tough Times” about crafting your customer message. 
  • Connect with Paul on LinkedIn

This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.

The sales landscape is totally changing. The way that we are selling is out of line with the way our prospects are buying. You need to adapt to succeed. Imagine if you could use data that could give you insights into when somebody is ready and the challenges they are facing so you can fine-tune your message specifically toward them. Deep Sales, a part of the next generation of LinkedIn Sales Navigator, can help you do just that. Check it out yourself and get a 60-day free trial at Linkedin.com/TSE.

This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

This episode is brought to you in part by Calendly.

The power of scheduling automation has never been more critical than it is today. Your sales team needs a solution to easily meet with prospects at the right time, every time. With calendly, you can turn more meetings into revenue, accelerate your sales cycle, and increase your win rate when you choose to use calendly to automate your scheduling. Finish the year strong and request a demo of calendly today at Calendly.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.

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

Direct download: TSE_1616.mp3
Category:AE Skills -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Thanksgiving is a great time to show gratitude for the things you have and the people around you. In today’s episode our host, Donald Kelly, brings you what Sellers and Sales Leaders are Grateful for. Amidst all of the challenges going on in the world right now, there are still things to be thankful for.

This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.

The sales landscape is totally changing. The way that we are selling is out of line with the way our prospects are buying. You need to adapt to succeed. Imagine if you could use data that could give you insights into when somebody is ready and the challenges they are facing so you can fine-tune your message specifically toward them. Deep Sales, a part of the next generation of LinkedIn Sales Navigator, can help you do just that. Check it out yourself and get a 60-day free trial at Linkedin.com/TSE.

This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

This episode is brought to you in part by Calendly.

The power of scheduling automation has never been more critical than it is today. Your sales team needs a solution to easily meet with prospects at the right time, every time. With calendly, you can turn more meetings into revenue, accelerate your sales cycle, and increase your win rate when you choose to use calendly to automate your scheduling. Finish the year strong and request a demo of calendly today at Calendly.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.

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

Direct download: TSE_1615.mp3
Category:AE Skills -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

On today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, our host, Donald Kelly is joined by Rob Ashton to discuss the power of writing and three things that you need to understand to convert more prospects when writing emails.

Reading is not speaking

  • We are born with structures for speaking, but writing takes years of dedicated practice in order to rewire the brain. 
  • Because reading is so complicated we don’t do it in real-time. Our eyes skip through the page and our brains fill in the rest. 
  • Reading is much more complicated than we realize. 

Writing is not great for everything

  • You really need to put yourself in the shoes of the prospect.
  • Think about how interested they are in this, how much they know already, what is their priority, and when was the last time we talked about this.
  • Writing is not good for emotive issues. 

Our brains are not computers and writing is not data transfer

  • We often believe that emails should be short bullet points, but it is not always the case. 
  • As human beings we think in narrative and bullet points are not good at communicating nuance and risk losing control of the narrative. 
  • Remember that you are building a relationship and you have to assume sending a bulleted list will not build relationships. 

Episode Resources

This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.

The sales landscape is totally changing. The way that we are selling is out of line with the way our prospects are buying. You need to adapt to succeed. Imagine if you could use data that could give you insights into when somebody is ready and the challenges they are facing so you can fine-tune your message specifically toward them. Deep Sales, a part of the next generation of LinkedIn Sales Navigator, can help you do just that. Check it out yourself and get a 60-day free trial at Linkedin.com/TSE.

This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

This episode is brought to you in part by Calendly.

The power of scheduling automation has never been more critical than it is today. Your sales team needs a solution to easily meet with prospects at the right time, every time. With calendly, you can turn more meetings into revenue, accelerate your sales cycle, and increase your win rate when you choose to use calendly to automate your scheduling. Finish the year strong and request a demo of calendly today at Calendly.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.

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

Direct download: TSE_1614.mp3
Category:AE Skills -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

On today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald talks with the head of sales at Transcend, Mike Orlick. They discuss the importance of use cases, how to effectively utilize them, and how to better provide value to your clients. 

What is a use case and how do you utilize it??

  • A use case comes down to the business outcome and what they mean for your client. 
  • Mike suggests getting quotes from previous clients who have had success with your product and then targeting similar individuals in your ICP. This helps to validate your product. 
  • You can utilize use cases when new protocols impact your industry. When you understand a prospect's situation they are more likely to trust you with a solution. 

Become an investigator and problem solver

  • You get into enterprise sales by going deep and helping companies improve their business. 
  • When you join an organization that has already started to prove use cases, you can go in with a use case and become a trusted advisor to a company by asking the right questions and truly wanting to solve their problem. 

How can you start utilizing use cases?

  • Map out what your product does, what it solves for, and who it solves those problems for. 
  • If you already have customers, interview them to find out why they brought you in and what problem you are solving for them. 

Mike’s last piece of advice

  • Be genuine and have a real interest in uncovering and solving business problems. 
  • To hear more from Mike, connect with him on LinkedIn and visit transcend.io

This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.

The sales landscape is totally changing. The way that we are selling is out of line with the way our prospects are buying. You need to adapt to succeed. Imagine if you could use data that could give you insights into when somebody is ready and the challenges they are facing so you can fine-tune your message specifically toward them. Deep Sales, a part of the next generation of LinkedIn Sales Navigator, can help you do just that. Check it out yourself and get a 60-day free trial at Linkedin.com/TSE.

This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

This episode is brought to you in part by Calendly.

The power of scheduling automation has never been more critical than it is today. Your sales team needs a solution to easily meet with prospects at the right time, every time. With calendly, you can turn more meetings into revenue, accelerate your sales cycle, and increase your win rate when you choose to use calendly to automate your scheduling. Finish the year strong and request a demo of calendly today at Calendly.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.

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

Direct download: TSE_1613.mp3
Category:AE Skills -- posted at: 12:00pm EDT

On today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, our host, Donald Kelly, talks with Matt Dixon about how top performers overcome customer indecision. At the beginning of the pandemic, sales went entirely virtual overnight. Matt, and his team, studied 2.5 million recorded sales calls to answer the questions: what possesses a customer to go through an entire sales process and then not follow through, and what do the best salespeople do to avoid that happening to them? The answer is the JOLT effect.

What do most salespeople do when customers get cold feet?

  • Many salespeople are taught that the reason this happens is that you haven’t beaten their status quo. 
  • They dial up the FOMO. Matt found that this increases the odds that the customer will do nothing. 

Two reasons that the deal could be lost to no decision

  1. The customer still feels the pull of the status quo and they believe what they are currently doing is good enough. They don’t see that switching to your product is a better alternative. 
  2. They are indecisive about changing the status quo. They don’t know what to pick, they feel a lack of information, or they feel like they won’t get what they are paying for. 

How do you overcome customer indecisiveness? The JOLT effect

  • During Matt's study, he found that there are four behaviors that high performers use to get customers unstuck. The acronym JOLT. 
  • Judging the level of indecision. The best salespeople use a technique of pings and echoes. 
  • Offering a recommendation. If everything looks good, then doing nothing seems like the best option. The best salespeople narrow the options and then recommend to the customer what they believe would be best. 
  • Limiting the exploration. When the customer asks for more information it may feel like the customer is making progress. Beyond a certain point, the customer is engaging in analysis paralysis. To limit their exploration you need them to trust you and consider you the expert. 
  • Taking risks off the table. Manage expectations early on and then give them a safety net. 

Episode Resources

This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.

The sales landscape is totally changing. The way that we are selling is out of line with the way our prospects are buying. You need to adapt to succeed. Imagine if you could use data that could give you insights into when somebody is ready and the challenges they are facing so you can fine-tune your message specifically toward them. Deep Sales, a part of the next generation of LinkedIn Sales Navigator, can help you do just that. Check it out yourself and get a 60-day free trial at Linkedin.com/TSE.

This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

This episode is brought to you in part by Calendly.

The power of scheduling automation has never been more critical than it is today. Your sales team needs a solution to easily meet with prospects at the right time, every time. With calendly, you can turn more meetings into revenue, accelerate your sales cycle, and increase your win rate when you choose to use calendly to automate your scheduling. Finish the year strong and request a demo of calendly today at Calendly.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.

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

Direct download: TSE_1612.mp3
Category:AE Skills -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Right now, more so than ever, it is critical for salespeople to learn how to navigate in a tight economy. On today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, our host, Donald Kelly, talks with the co-founder of DocSend, Russ Heddleston, about how to listen more, use the prospect's language, and how do ONE thing well for them. 

Why won’t order-takers survive in a tight economy?

  • Over the last few years, more and more order-taking roles are being pushed to automation. The role of the salesperson is changing because of the amount of competition and vendors. What can we do?

Be curious and listen more

  • Your first job is to listen and understand why you are having a conversation and how you can help your customer. 
  • Look up who you are talking to ahead of time. Russ says that very few of the salespeople he talks to have done their research ahead of time. 
  • The process will move faster if you are more patient on your first calls. 

Bridge the gap between value and the company's goals

  • Companies have been through the ringer in the past year, so have empathy for your prospect.
  • Your best bet to get them to buy is to understand their business. Understand what they are trying to solve so that you can become a partner to them. 

Use their own language

  • The person you are talking to is not the only person involved in the buying decision. Even if you convince them, they need to convince everyone else in the company. 
  • To help your champion save time, recognize their language and use it so that they can turn around and explain it to their company. 
  • If you are not versed in their industry, talk to product marketing and your support team, then document it for the next person. 

Do ONE thing well for them

  • Make it simple, not complicated, for why they should buy. 
  • Take all the value propositions your product has and boil it down to one thing. The discovery is key in this process so you know what is important to them. 

Episode resources

This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.

The sales landscape is totally changing. The way that we are selling is out of line with the way our prospects are buying. You need to adapt to succeed. Imagine if you could use data that could give you insights into when somebody is ready and the challenges they are facing so you can fine-tune your message specifically toward them. Deep Sales, a part of the next generation of LinkedIn Sales Navigator, can help you do just that. Check it out yourself and get a 60-day free trial at Linkedin.com/TSE.

This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

This episode is brought to you in part by Calendly.

The power of scheduling automation has never been more critical than it is today. Your sales team needs a solution to easily meet with prospects at the right time, every time. With calendly, you can turn more meetings into revenue, accelerate your sales cycle, and increase your win rate when you choose to use calendly to automate your scheduling. Finish the year strong and request a demo of calendly today at Calendly.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.

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 The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Direct download: TSE_1611.mp3
Category:AE Skills -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

If you are a BDR, SDR, or AE you are going to benefit from today’s podcast. In today’s show, Donald talks with Jenner Smith about three ways to train and ramp your team in half the time. 

What problems arise when training a sales team?

Productivity. Jennifer says that it is all about spending as much time as possible doing the thing that drives the most impact. 

  1. Scale yourself
  • Scaling yourself is all about figuring out the core things you are good at and spending as much time on them. Take the other tasks that are filling your time and reduce them, automate them, or delegate them. 
  • Jennifer challenges you to track how many interruptions you have and the time you spend doing various tasks on an average day. They add up. 
  1. Get people the things they need
  • Get information to the right people at the right time so that they can be effective with their time.
  1. Scale your best rep
  • Have your best reps, the folks who have been there a while and know what they are doing, record how they do what they do. 
  • Share this information with the rest of your reps so that they can learn from the information and knowledge that makes your best rep really good. 
  • If all the reps are able to share with each other what is working, everyone will learn together to create a rapid learning machine. 

Last advice from Jennifer

  • Anything that you are doing that is not talking to a customer, ask yourself “Could I scale this in a particular way?”

To connect with Jennifer connect with her on LinkedIn and check out scribehow.com. Use promo code “The Sales Evangelist” for a discount on the paid service. 

This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.

The sales landscape is totally changing. The way that we are selling is out of line with the way our prospects are buying. You need to adapt to succeed. Imagine if you could use data that could give you insights into when somebody is ready and the challenges they are facing so you can fine-tune your message specifically toward them. Deep Sales, a part of the next generation of LinkedIn Sales Navigator, can help you do just that. Check it out yourself and get a 60-day free trial at Linkedin.com/TSE.

This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

This episode is brought to you in part by Calendly.

The power of scheduling automation has never been more critical than it is today. Your sales team needs a solution to easily meet with prospects at the right time, every time. With calendly, you can turn more meetings into revenue, accelerate your sales cycle, and increase your win rate when you choose to use calendly to automate your scheduling. Finish the year strong and request a demo of calendly today at Calendly.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.

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 The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Direct download: TSE_1610.mp3
Category:AE Skills -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

On today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald talks with Greg Nutter about three critical pillars of effective selling. Greg has been a consultant for 17 years and is the author of his book P3 Selling

Three areas that B2B salespeople need to understand

Problem

  • Understand the problem, influence the perception of those problems, and message back to those problems about how well their solution addresses it. 
  • Greg sees salespeople constantly talking about the product. Without the context of the problem, a customer wanting to solve any discussion around product features makes no sense. 
  • Businesses don’t buy products, they buy solutions to problems. 
  • How can you identify the problem? Ask questions to your customers.

People

  • Understand who is impacted by those problems, their perspective, and their decision influence. 
  • Over the last 10 years, we have gone from 3 or 4 people involved in a B2B purchase, to 10 to 15. Try to understand everyone's perspective so that you can message them. 
  • “The race doesn’t always go to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but that’s how you bet.” If you cover more people you are more likely to win. 

Process

  • Understand what the buying process looks like, where the prospect is in the process, and how you are positioned in that buying process. 
  • What matters most is what the prospect is doing. Are they looking for information? Do they understand the importance of making a change?
  • An individual process is where they go through their own steps to determine if they want to buy your product. 
  • The compliance process is when the subject matter experts are brought in to weigh in on whether or not it is a good decision. 
  • Understand what the process is and where the individuals are because that determines what you need to do to go to the next stage. 
  • Become an expert on the buying process to guide your customers and be a consultant.

Last piece of advice from Greg

  • Become a problem solver, not a product pusher. 
  • To hear more from Greg, buy his book and connect with him on LinkedIn

This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.

The sales landscape is totally changing. The way that we are selling is out of line with the way our prospects are buying. You need to adapt to succeed. Imagine if you could use data that could give you insights into when somebody is ready and the challenges they are facing so you can fine-tune your message specifically toward them. Deep Sales, a part of the next generation of LinkedIn Sales Navigator, can help you do just that. Check it out yourself and get a 60-day free trial at Linkedin.com/TSE.

This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

This episode is brought to you in part by Calendly.

The power of scheduling automation has never been more critical than it is today. Your sales team needs a solution to easily meet with prospects at the right time, every time. With calendly, you can turn more meetings into revenue, accelerate your sales cycle, and increase your win rate when you choose to use calendly to automate your scheduling. Finish the year strong and request a demo of calendly today at Calendly.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.

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 The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Direct download: TSE_1609.mp3
Category:BDR & SDR Skills -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

The sales process seems to be getting more difficult and if you don’t know what you are doing it can be scary. On today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald talks with salespeople Ari and Kristen about how to overcome the fear of cold calling. 

What makes cold calling scary?

  • No being prepared to have conversations with high-level executives and to overcome their objections. If you learn what the prospect is selling and who they are selling to you will have a better chance.
  • The fear of sounding stupid. If you haven’t done your research you will sound like you don’t know what you are talking about. The conversation will be more organic and authentic if you have done research beforehand. 
  • The fear of hearing no. Once you accept that a majority of the people you call are going to say no, it is easier to handle it. Reframe your thinking and realize that the prospects who say no aren’t the ones you are looking for. 

How do you effectively do research and still maintain volume?

  • As you get better at research, you can do it a lot faster. With experience, you can see common trends in each industry. 
  • Have an understanding of what their business is going through, even if you are totally off, a good senior-level leader will appreciate the fact that you did research. 
  • Focus on what they sell, who they sell it to, and how they sell it. You don’t need to read an entire annual report to understand what they do. 
  • Use all resources available to you including job descriptions. 

What advice do Ari and Kristen have for BDRs who are scared

  • You won’t get over the fear of making calls by not making calls. Make as many calls as you can and learn from your mistakes. 
  • Practice with a team lead, manager, or AE. Record your role plays and have your manager review them. 
  • Let yourself be vulnerable and let yourself make mistakes. 
  • No question is a dumb question, if you are having trouble ask for help. 

To hear more from Ari and Kristen, connect with them on LinkedIn. 

This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.

The sales landscape is totally changing. The way that we are selling is out of line with the way our prospects are buying. You need to adapt to succeed. Imagine if you could use data that could give you insights into when somebody is ready and the challenges they are facing so you can fine-tune your message specifically toward them. Deep Sales, a part of the next generation of LinkedIn Sales Navigator, can help you do just that. Check it out yourself and get a 60-day free trial at Linkedin.com/TSE.

This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

This episode is brought to you in part by Calendly.

The power of scheduling automation has never been more critical than it is today. Your sales team needs a solution to easily meet with prospects at the right time, every time. With calendly, you can turn more meetings into revenue, accelerate your sales cycle, and increase your win rate when you choose to use calendly to automate your scheduling. Finish the year strong and request a demo of calendly today at Calendly.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.

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 The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Direct download: TSE_1608.mp3
Category:BDR & SDR Skills -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

What are things you can do to improve the handoff to your AE? On today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald talks with high school teacher turned salesperson Taylor Clawson about how to improve the handoff from SDR to AE. 

What problem does ineffective communication bring? 

  • Deals collapse because they make the environment seem unprofessional and give the impression that you are not knowledgeable. 

Why do SDRs have bad handoffs?

  • Depending on where you work, SDRs can get paid on how many appointments they set up. 
  • If processes aren’t in place for SDRs to hand off qualified prospects, deals fall apart. 
  • Taylor believes it stems from the organization and what process they have in place for SDRs. 

What qualifying questions does Taylor have in place? 

  • Truly understanding their needs. That is an ambiguous but important question. 
  • What is their timeline? 
  • Taylor says that the more information the better. What is their personality like, what are they expecting, who is going to be on the call, and what is their style? 

What can an SDR do to ensure a smooth handoff?

  • Make sure that everything is as detailed as possible in the CRM. 
  • In Taylor’s organization, the SDR calls the prospect the day before the demo to confirm and ask final qualifying questions. 
  • It’s important to build trust with your SDRs and have a relationship with them. Taylor’s SDRs give her feedback and she gives them feedback as well. 

Taylor’s last piece of advice

  • Build trust with one another. 

For more content from Taylor, connect with her on LinkedIn

This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.

The sales landscape is totally changing. The way that we are selling is out of line with the way our prospects are buying. You need to adapt to succeed. Imagine if you could use data that could give you insights into when somebody is ready and the challenges they are facing so you can fine-tune your message specifically toward them. Deep Sales, a part of the next generation of LinkedIn Sales Navigator, can help you do just that. Check it out yourself and get a 60-day free trial at Linkedin.com/TSE.

This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

This episode is brought to you in part by Calendly.

The power of scheduling automation has never been more critical than it is today. Your sales team needs a solution to easily meet with prospects at the right time, every time. With calendly, you can turn more meetings into revenue, accelerate your sales cycle, and increase your win rate when you choose to use calendly to automate your scheduling. Finish the year strong and request a demo of calendly today at Calendly.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.

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 The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Direct download: TSE_1607.mp3
Category:BDR & SDR Skills -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

As a BDR, nothing is more frustrating than doing all the work to book a demo and the prospect doesn’t show up. On today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist Donald talks with Nicolas Sosa, an automation specialist at IBM, about how to make sure you book demos that actually show up. 

Why don’t people show up? 

  • There are things that you can control, and things that you simply cannot control. You cannot control if someone shows up or not. 

Focus on the right authority

  • If you are not speaking to the decision maker, or the champion (a person heavily involved in the decision-making process), it is really hard to progress that call. 
  • As a BDR, you need to make sure you are talking to the right people. 
  • Gatekeepers do a very good job at gatekeeping, try building a relationship with them. Be transparent with the gatekeepers. 

Make sure you understand the reason they are showing up

  • Walk away with very specific challenges and pain points - wanting to make more money isn’t a good enough reason. 
  • Knowing why the prospects are showing up shortens the sales cycle. 
  • Communicate with your AE so that you know what they are expecting. 
  • Don’t promise the prospect a solution to all of their problems. Try using the words “if” and “qualify”.
  • As a BDR, you don’t need to close the deal, you are just closing time. 

Accept the invite right away

  • When you are closing time, make it very clear what kind of meeting it will be, then make sure that you stamp the time on their calendar. 
  • Send them a calendar invite and make sure that they accept it. The simple things are where the money is at. 
  • If you see this as pushy, you aren’t understanding the value of the product. 

For more content from Nicolas, connect with him on LinkedIn

This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.

The sales landscape is totally changing. The way that we are selling is out of line with the way our prospects are buying. You need to adapt to succeed. Imagine if you could use data that could give you insights into when somebody is ready and the challenges they are facing so you can fine-tune your message specifically toward them. Deep Sales, a part of the next generation of LinkedIn Sales Navigator, can help you do just that. Check it out yourself and get a 60-day free trial at Linkedin.com/TSE.

This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

This episode is brought to you in part by Calendly.

The power of scheduling automation has never been more critical than it is today. Your sales team needs a solution to easily meet with prospects at the right time, every time. With calendly, you can turn more meetings into revenue, accelerate your sales cycle, and increase your win rate when you choose to use calendly to automate your scheduling. Finish the year strong and request a demo of calendly today at Calendly.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.

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 The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Direct download: TSE_1606.mp3
Category:BDR & SDR Skills -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

No matter what you’re doing right now, cold outreach should be a part of everyone's game. On today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald talks with Tanner Stewart, an account executive at Home Care Plus, about three tips he has for every BDR doing cold calls.  

Biggest challenges sellers face when it comes to cold outreach?

  • Know which people to call in the first place. If you’re calling hundreds of the wrong people every day, you can be a great seller and have little success. 
  • Focus on the right people and the right message.

3 things every BDR must master when doing cold calls

 

Be a human, treat your prospects like humans

 

  • When you ask someone how they are, you have to actually mean it. 
  • Be genuinely interested in them. If a prospect asks you how you are, be genuine and vulnerable. This helps them bring their guard down. 
  • Instead of starting a call by saying “here's what we are doing and here’s how we can help you with” start with, “I've been talking to some folks, and here are trends I am seeing in the industry, are you seeing this as well?”
  • Be present when making calls and when they do answer, don’t be afraid of the interaction or being genuine. 

 

Product selling vs. solution selling

 

  • Avoid the temptation to dive deep into your product. 
  • It’s not bad to want to give them information about your product but think about relating what you tell them back to what they have told you about their challenges. 
  • Care enough about the prospect to alleviate their pain points. 

 

Asking questions and knowing when to ask them

 

  • Instead of diving into your product, ask them a question. You can ask them if what they are doing is working for them.
  • Little follow-up questions help you dig deeper. A great question is “Can you tell me a little more about that?”
  • Once you’ve booked the demo, don’t be afraid to ask a few more questions to figure out what they are hoping for. 

One major piece of advice from Tanner

  • Don’t be afraid to be yourself. As scary as someone’s title may be, deep down they are also human. Be yourself and Enjoy it!

For more content from Tanner, 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 episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

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 The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.

The sales landscape is totally changing. The way that we are selling is out of line with the way our prospects are buying. You need to adapt to succeed. Imagine if you could use data that could give you insights into when somebody is ready and the challenges they are facing so you can fine-tune your message specifically toward them. Deep Sales, a part of the next generation of LinkedIn Sales Navigator, can help you do just that. Check it out yourself and get a 60-day free trial at Linkedin.com/TSE.

This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

This episode is brought to you in part by Calendly.

The power of scheduling automation has never been more critical than it is today. Your sales team needs a solution to easily meet with prospects at the right time, every time. With calendly, you can turn more meetings into revenue, accelerate your sales cycle, and increase your win rate when you choose to use calendly to automate your scheduling. Finish the year strong and request a demo of calendly today at Calendly.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.

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 The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Direct download: TSE_1605.mp3
Category:BDR & SDR Skills -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Sales and marketing have the same goal: to close more deals to make their organization more revenue. The relationship between sales and marketing professionals can be a powerful tool if connected properly. However, meaningful and practical connections are often lost between the two. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by the CMO at Allego, Wayne St. Amand, to learn deal-closing content strategies to help marketing and sales professionals become more aligned in their goals. 

Three things to do less of as sellers and marketers:

  • Don’t allow the relationship between sales and marketing to be treated like a drive-thru window. Salespeople ask for marketing collateral, create it, and the seller moves on. 
  • Stop guessing what sales needs; the departments should co-create materials together.
  • Don’t focus exclusively on top-of-funnel activities because interacting with all sales funnel stages allows the most opportunities to develop and move forward.
  • Creating can be asynchronous; marketing can review recordings of sales calls to determine additional materials that might be needed. 

Guessing is the enemy of sales:

  • However, there is a difference between guessing and making assumptions; assumptions are a necessary tool (that should be verified and refined whenever possible.)

Three things to do more as sellers and marketers:

  • Treat your sales enablement process as the final mile between sellers and success.
  • Create as much common ground as possible while speaking the same language. Mirror the speech patterns of the people working with you to create an atmosphere that best pushes forward.
  • Have more direct interactions with your market. Prospective, current, and past customers have a lot to teach the organization.

Wayne’s final piece of advice? Excellence doesn’t occur in a vacuum. The ultimate answer and best version of achievement happen when you can learn, teach, and work with the people and groups around you. To get in contact with Wayne, find him on LinkedIn or visit allego.com for more company content.

This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.

The sales landscape is totally changing. The way that we are selling is out of line with the way our prospects are buying. You need to adapt to succeed. Imagine if you could use data that could give you insights into when somebody is ready and the challenges they are facing so you can fine-tune your message specifically toward them. Deep Sales, a part of the next generation of LinkedIn Sales Navigator, can help you do just that. Check it out yourself and get a 60-day free trial at Linkedin.com/TSE.

This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

This episode is brought to you in part by Calendly.

The power of scheduling automation has never been more critical than it is today. Your sales team needs a solution to easily meet with prospects at the right time, every time. With calendly, you can turn more meetings into revenue, accelerate your sales cycle, and increase your win rate when you choose to use calendly to automate your scheduling. Finish the year strong and request a demo of calendly today at Calendly.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.

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 The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Direct download: TSE_1604.mp3
Category:BDR & SDR Skills -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

As technology, tools, and culture evolve, sales strategies evolve alongside them. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by the Director of Integrated Marketing at LinkedIn Sales Solutions, Garnor Morantes, to learn about “deep selling” - a powerful new way to connect and build sales-enabling relationships.

Being loud and clear about the messaging is the best way to make new sales. 

  • Since the pandemic, email outreach has gone up by 50%. However, responses have declined by 30%. 
  • Buyers are getting more bombarded with messaging from sellers, so what are his insights?
  • It’s a growing problem. Nearly 60% of the buyer journey is sent without the salesperson, meaning the buyer is researching and looking into solutions before contacting a seller. 

B2B selling is in a crisis. 

  • Buyers don’t want it because of the increased amount of sales without a seller. They can do information, talk to colleagues, or read online reviews, testimonials, and demos to see if it's right for them.
  • Insights from the buyers help a seller determine who, where, and when is the right time to talk to a potential buyer.

What is deep sales?

  • It boils down to a new category of sales intelligence - a technology based on actionable insights like deeper account insights, relationship intelligence, and more robust buyer intent data. Those three types of intelligence make up the concept of deep sales.
  • Spending time understanding the buyer’s journey and filling out changes in the hiring process can make up company funding.
  • Shedding light on the best way to maximize and be a top seller is to use deep sales.
  • Some of the software out there is a part of it - interactions on the platform. Intent-based solutions are essential.

Deriving benefits from a deep sales strategy:

  • LinkedIn launched content about utilizing Sales Navigator to refocus outreach efforts based on user intent. 
  • For individual contributors, look at the signals and technology that will get better and smarter as they evolve. 
  • Encourage your sales leaders to research the future of sales and selling, because changes are coming.

For more content from Garnor, connect with him on LinkedIn. Visit the LinkedIn Sales Navigator website to learn more about the deep sales process and how you can implement it in your own organization. 

This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.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.

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 The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Direct download: TSE_1603.mp3
Category:BDR & SDR Skills -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

To some people, building outreach sequences for prospects is easy. However, for most people, that isn’t the case. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by the co-creator of the Money Sequence, Miranda Morrison, to explain how she built a sequence that doubled engagement upon implementation.

Sequencing, especially in tech sales, is critical.

  • Before the money sequence, Miranda’s company had email segmentation for many audiences depending on their interests, position, and what information would be most pertinent to them.
  • What made it successful was the combination of ‘spray and pray’ with highly personalized and individualized approaches. 
  • Personalizing later in the sequence (by reference to an article or important piece) shows a degree of research that is most effective without spending too much time.
  • Personalization at scale is the best approach. However, there are times a more personalized email is more appropriate, which is often later in the sales cycle.

What metrics were they focused on?

  • The goal for each SDR was to book ten meetings each month, and Miranda found that short and sweet messaging was well-opened but infrequently responded to. 
  • Moving to a more personalized sequence later in the cycle resulted in a larger shift.
  • After converting to the money sequence, Miranda adjusted her copy to be more bulleted and more personalized that presented the same information, but the tone as a whole was catered more toward the job title of the prospect.

The Money Sequence - 18 steps over 28 days:

  • Always start with a phone call and ensure you have the correct phone number. Call and email on day one. 
  • Day Two - Phone call again
  • Day Four - Phone call with an email. With this email, Miranda utilizes Drift for videos. Putting a face to a name is the best way to separate yourself from the pack in an email format.
  • In her video, she gave insight into what the platform looked like so the prospect wasn’t entering a meeting completely blind.
  • If there isn’t an opportunity for personalization, the video still serves as a source of information that people would open.
  • Steps 5-8 are phone calls and a LinkedIn request
  • On Day 10, she manually replies on the same thread as her video message.
  • Step 11 (Day 13) - Another phone call
  • Her other best email? Coffee on me. Coffee chat sessions with ideal clients offering a gift card in exchange for taking a look.

Miranda’s advice to someone scared of reaching out and facing rejection? She used to be terrified of it. But most of the time, the people you’re contacting are used to it and know what’s happening. If you provide genuine value, there is nothing wrong with how you reach out.  Maybe the money sequence isn’t perfect for your industry. If not, find what works and stick with it.

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 Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

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 PodcastGoogle PodcastStitcher, or Spotify. Audio is provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Direct download: TSE_1602.mp3
Category:BDR & SDR Skills -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

For many people, entering the sales profession can seem overwhelming. What are the right strategies, tactics, and mindset to do the best job possible? In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by the Account Executive at Challenger, Brendan Kelly, to learn his takeaways and thoughts after working in sales for six months. 

Before starting his job, Brendan assumed he would just make phone calls every day.

  • However, he soon realized high activity isn’t the long-term solution; it’s a burn-out-inducing, needle-in-a-haystack mentality.
  • Instead, who, when, and why he reaches out to prospects is far more important. Intention and consistency are what yield success for new sellers.
  • He learned to keep it simple. The person on the other end appreciates the authenticity.
  • Whether he gets the meeting or not, the person should have a positive experience from the discussion.
  • The intention is to get the win, and a win doesn’t always equal a meeting. 

Business acumen Brendan didn’t know:

  • A lot of acronyms and the specifics of what stakeholder titles mean were confusing. It takes time and curiosity to learn it all. 
  • It won’t happen overnight, and it’ll take effort to learn the ins and outs of a job title.
  • To learn, get in situations where it comes up and have the confidence to ask someone what it means. It’s as simple as searching it on Google and writing it down to remember later.
  • Prioritize the learning and schedule time to devote to complex topics to better understand them. 

Sales is collaborative.

  • It isn’t the cutthroat environment he thought it was going to be. While you need a level of self-motivation to thrive and succeed, it isn’t a process done alone. 
  • Since day one, Brendan was able to rely on his Account Executive for advice and to help him hone his craft.
  • When everyone works together to reach their quotas, everyone is happier and more successful.

Brendan’s final piece of advice? Volume doesn’t solve all your issues. Being intentional about your efforts is a better long-term plan for success. For more content and information from Brendan, connect with him on LinkedIn or visit challengerinc.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 episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

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 The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Direct download: TSE_1601.mp3
Category:BDR & SDR Skills -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

The best-sellers aren’t always the most charismatic, understanding, or intelligent. Sometimes, all it takes is an organized, structured, and productive day. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by tech sales Account Executive William Padilla to learn how he structures his day to make sales, make connections, and impact his work. 

Many old-school sales organizations are built on price. 

  • However, with tech sales, a single deal can require an 8-month process of creating the relationship first.
  • BDRs might only have 6-8 qualified demos each month, but creating that number of opportunities requires much more leg work behind the scenes.

Planning and prepping your day:

  • Don’t go into your day winging what you plan to do. For example, Will realized he was too distracted and hit his metrics only by scrambling on a Friday afternoon.
  • He decided to structure his day, achieving all his late-stage interactions in the morning to reserve his afternoons entirely for prospecting.
  • He’s not more talented than the next seller; he’s more structured.

Your mindset creates the structure needed to foster more sales.

  • BDR roles are fairly science-based because it’s focused on hitting metrics and quotas. 
  • When Will needed to book eight demos per month, he quickly realized that not every cold call was a qualified demo. 
  • He would make sure to have at minimum four cold calls set up each week with qualified leads. 
  • What every demo number you need to hit, book double to ensure enough opportunities to reach your quota.
  • Implement the 5x5 rule - don’t log off for the day unless you have five new companies to prospect and five contacts within each company.

Be like Batman and Robin; work with your AE:

  • As a BDR, understand that your account executive is your teammate. So sometimes, it helps to be friends. 
  • By creating a working relationship with your AE, you increase the chance for both of you to succeed (because your success largely depends on one another.)

For more content and information from Will, follow him on social media:

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 Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

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 The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Direct download: TSE_1600.mp3
Category:BDR & SDR Skills -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

For many sellers, there’s too much to do in too little time. So how can we find the extra time in our day to accomplish everything we want? In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by author, speaker, and the founder of The Free Mama, Lauren Golden, to understand how we can implement time management strategies to get more done in less time.

Productivity is only so much of time management; busy work is a significant problem.

  • Being “busy” doesn’t always mean you’re “producing.” There are many ways to feel busy without actually doing anything beneficial.
  • Preparing for your next day at the end of the current day is a great way to ensure you stay on track and focused on what moves your bottom line. Never begin work before understanding what needs to be done.

Implementing the Daily Five:

  • It’s not about doing everything on your to-do list; it’s about accomplishing the major, most needle-moving activity you can.
  • For sales professionals, the needle-moving business is closing deals, especially if the contact is a latter-stage sales prospect.
  • Self-sabotaging is a frequent element at play in prioritizing. Often, the most challenging task is the one that will make you the most productive.
  • Be clear on your goal; if you aren’t sure of your goal, you won’t know how to prioritize.

Don’t fall victim to others’ priorities:

  • Put your needs first. Consider blocking time for self-care, errands, and family time, so you don’t allow other people to schedule time with you at those intervals. 
  • Discover what you’re currently doing that can be cut or approached differently to create more time in your day.

Lauren’s advice for people looking to adopt a more time-managemental mindset: 

  • There’s always more work to be done, so create boundaries that prevent you from pushing all the time.
  • It doesn’t require special tools to take control of your time, but it requires a level of discipline that will only grow through practice.

For more content from Lauren, connect with her and The Free Mama on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Tik Tok. Visit her website, www.thefreemama.com, to access the free downloadable worksheet to help you discover your own Daily five.

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 Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

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 The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Direct download: TSE_1599.mp3
Category:Better sales emails -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Cold emails are a hallmark of modern selling, yet many salespeople don’t include the correct information to yield the right results. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by content expert and sales professional Luke Charlton to learn how sellers can write better cold emails to see more success.

How can sellers write better emails?

  • When you start sending people new information, many notice the open rate drop markedly after a few weeks. People lose interest.
  • That led Luke to question what media kept people’s attention - streaming, social media, film, and television.
  • He realized that to get people to read his emails, he needed to make them more entertaining.

Luke’s three tips for better email writing:

  • When you tell a story, it doesn’t necessarily have to be personal. Instead, it could be something that sparks emotion in you. 
  • What’s the lesson of the story? Whether it’s about sales, dating, or how to pick something for dinner, there should be a derived lesson from the story.
  • Once the lesson is explained, it’s easy to transition to the close. In the close, you pitch or offer whatever the email's goal is to get more people involved.
  • Entertaining emails receive higher engagement because people look forward to reading them.

The more you email, the more money you’ll make. 

  • If you send pitch-heavy emails that aren’t entertaining, you’ll likely have many people unsubscribe. But by creating fun emails people want to read, they’ll look forward to a daily email. 
  • The typical rules of sales emails don’t apply if the email is entertaining enough. People are willing to read longer content and paragraphs rather than skim bullet points if they feel moved to continue reading. However, that only happens if you properly captivate them.

To learn more from Luke, visit 9emailoffers.com or the15minuteclientworkshop.com for content and information about successful email marketing. You can also join his private community for free training at thehermithole.com or connect with him on LinkedIn for regular content. 

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 Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

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 The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Direct download: TSE_1598.mp3
Category:Better sales emails -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Stories are a part of the sales process, but there are better strategies and tools to help sellers refine their storytelling abilities. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by sales speaker and managing partner of Amp, Todd Mitchem, to learn how he utilizes storytelling to make more sales. 

What’s wrong with storytellers today?

  • Sellers tell stories thinking they should be solely personal anecdotes before the work conversation begins. 
  • In actuality, the most powerful stories are upfront with a purpose that launches into the pitch, intro, or discussion.
  • Second common mistake? Not setting up the story. Sellers either set up too much or don’t set up enough to give the listener the correct amount of information to engage properly.

Three elements of a sales story:

  • Set up the customer's struggle, allowing them to see how the story relates to them. 
  • Dictate the solution and derive benefits or successes from implementing the seller’s product or service.
  • Explain what the story means to the prospect - why should they care?

A story’s impact is only as good as the person telling it:

  • The best salespeople are the ones who care about (or at least respect) what they’re selling.
  • The story has to be honest to be impactful. While it doesn’t have to be your story, it should be genuine. 
  • Great storytellers practice their craft; a salesperson can’t expect to nail it just by winging it during meetings.
  • If done right and truthful, storytelling is the most powerful element to any sales process.

Lead with what matters:

  • Think from the perspective of the prospect; why does the sale or the pitch matter to them?
  • They don’t care how many sales you’ve done or how close you are to hitting a quota.

Todd’s final takeaway? Take your ego out of the sale, and you’ll find more success. Instead, focus on what you do differently and stand with that. To learn more from Todd, email him directly at toddm@ampld.com. If you reach out, he’ll send you a free learning PDF to research and learn more about today’s discussion.

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 Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

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 The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Direct download: TSE_1597.mp3
Category:Better sales emails -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Video content is a powerful tool to help any seller accomplish their selling goals. However, it’s only powerful when executed and distributed properly. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by digital marketing professional and owner of KickStart Dental, Chris Pistorius, to learn how any seller can capitalize on video production to garner prospects’ attention.

What are things people get wrong with video production?

  • There isn’t a process in place. He uses Lucidchart, a mind-mapping software that helps chart the process and gather steps for a seller to visualize.
  • Map it out and have a plan, but continue with the understanding that it will likely change.
  • Have your Dream 100 - the list of one hundred targets you’d like to acquire as clients.
  • Get a CRM system that fits our needs. Chris uses Pipedrive, but Salesforce and other top CRM systems are viable options depending on your volume and process. 

Maintain consistent communication:

  • GoHighLevel is a tool built for marketing agencies that set up automated email sequences depending on the receiver’s responses (or lack thereof.)
  • Use a variety of channels to interact with prospects.
  • Send an email offering a unique video email to each prospect offers an individualized follow-up that can be made once someone has expressed interest.
  • In your video content, magnify the existing pain points the prospect has to validate their belief in the pain point and encourage them to use you to solve that pain.
  • Use platforms like Loom to screen-share and personalize the video content sent to prospects.

Chris’s major takeaway? Done is better than perfect. If you take too much time perfecting your studio or finding the ideal tools, you’ll never get it done. Once you put a plan in place and track your progress toward your goals, you’ll find opportunities between what you’re doing and what you need to do. Visit Chris’s website at kickstartdental.com for a free strategy session (P.S. you don’t need to be a dentist.)

This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

This episode is brought to you in part by the Outbound 2022 Sales Conference.

Are you looking to learn actionable and practical ways to improve your sales performance? Do you or your team want to experience a fantastic professional development opportunity full of expert and high-quality speakers ready to help you reach your sales quotas? Attend this year’s Outbound Conference! Visit outboundconference.com to learn more, and use code MANGO10 at checkout to take a portion of your final ticket price.

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 The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Direct download: TSE_1596.mp3
Category:Better sales emails -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Whether you’re a sales professional or work in another industry, hearing the word ‘no’ can get anyone in a negative mindset. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by Harry Spaight, a sales coach and consultant who wants to help every salesperson overcome their fears to find sales success.

Why does discouragement affect us so badly?

  • As sellers, we frequently take rejections personally. 
  • Even if the sale is rejected for a myriad of reasons, the seller will still assume they are the reason the prospect is not interested in the sale.

We make offers through options, just like a fine-dining server.

  • Each time a server makes an option, they expect a rejection.
  • If professional offers can get into the same mindset, we can lead with service in mind.
  • If someone doesn’t want your offer, think about what other options might impact their business or be helpful to their work.

Sales is a place of service.

  • There are so many choices with what you’re selling. Make it easy for a buyer to work with you and you’ll find sales naturally coming your way.
  • Help buyers quantify their pains. Don’t encourage someone to purchase your product if the pain is not enough to justify the purchase - it results in remorse for the product.
  • People will solve their problems one way or another. If you can provide benefits in addition to a solution, you’ll give long-term value the buyer can’t supply themselves.

Sales isn’t a numbers game; it’s a skills game.

  • If you believe sales is a numbers game, you do a poor job with the person in front of you to get to the easy yes.
  • Dig deep and find the prospect’s challenges to determine if they’re a viable candidate for the product.
  • There are numbers tied to sales that are important. However, the numbers shouldn’t be at the expense of the conversations with the prospects in front of you.

Hary’s major takeaway? Serve the person across from you, and good things will happen. His book, Selling with Dignity, and his podcast, Sales Made Easy, discuss the standards of selling with service in mind. 

This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

This episode is brought to you in part by the Outbound 2022 Sales Conference.

Are you looking to learn actionable and practical ways to improve your sales performance? Do you or your team want to experience a fantastic professional development opportunity full of expert and high-quality speakers ready to help you reach your sales quotas? Attend this year’s Outbound Conference! Visit outboundconference.com to learn more, and use code MANGO10 at checkout to take a portion of your final ticket price.

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 The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Direct download: TSE_1595.mp3
Category:Better sales emails -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Anyone in sales sends emails. (If you don’t, we’re a bit concerned.) But how can you go about sending emails effectively that generate results? In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald discusses five things you need to be aware of to send an effective email.

 

You don’t need to tell them your name.

 

  • Your email is full of precious information, and emails already have the ‘from’ section, email domain, and signature. AKA, the prospect already knows who you are! 
  • While you might want to explain on a phone call, it is repeated information in an email.

 

Explain a relationship or medium the prospect can refer back to.

 

  • The point of reference connects you to the prospect. For example, did you meet them through LinkedIn, or did a mutual connection refer you? State this existing relationship to build pre-existing rapport with the prospect.
  • If no relationship exists, tie your outreach to the organization’s goals or content the company posted online.

 

State the use case.

 

  • Give the prospect a reason to continue reading. 
  • Provide the use case quickly in the email, or you risk turning the prospect off before they understand what value you can offer.

 

Don’t put things that trigger the spam filter.

 

  • The fewer links in your email signature, the less likely it will trigger a spam filter. 
  • Research what elements of an email contribute to a spam filter, and rewrite or restructure your emails to avoid those pitfalls.

 

Have just one call to action.

 

  • People are busy. If you ask the prospect for multiple different things, they’re less likely to fulfill any of those actions. 
  • Make it simple to give people an easy way to respond and move further into the pipeline.

This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

This episode is brought to you in part by the Outbound 2022 Sales Conference.

Are you looking to learn actionable and practical ways to improve your sales performance? Do you or your team want to experience a fantastic professional development opportunity full of expert and high-quality speakers ready to help you reach your sales quotas? Attend this year’s Outbound Conference! Visit outboundconference.com to learn more, and use code MANGO10 at checkout to take a portion of your final ticket price.

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 The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Direct download: TSE_1594.mp3
Category:Better sales emails -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

When it comes to improving sales, all it might take to reach your goals is a shift in mindset. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by Justin Cunningham to learn how any sales professional can stand out, transform, and optimize their mindset for better performance. 

You won’t be able to sell until you believe you can sell. Adjust your beliefs.

  • Try integrating a value-based reframe - People will form their beliefs after an experience.
  • During your next relationship or interaction, you’ll subconsciously look for those same affirming beliefs to support your existing notion. 
  • Decide that you want something better and find evidence to support that new belief.

Set yourself apart to win larger-scale accounts:

  • Learn what they’re passionate about and what drives their bottom line to integrate a plan framed directly to them.
  • A gatekeeper will pass individualized materials and information to a decision-maker rather than a mass-sent supply of information.

Don’t act like an employee; act like a business partner.

  • When you focus on creating unique connections, relationships, and moments with others, you’ll realize you’re far more critical than a cog in the business machine.
  • If you try something new, what’s the worst that can happen? Propose new growth ideas and ways to improve your organization; if that is considered negative, it likely isn’t the best environment for you.

How leadership empowers their teams:

  • Most people are completely underutilized. People are motivated by many different things, and determining your team’s perspectives and mindset can be a powerful way to unify positions toward a common goal.
  • Ask yourself and your team if your current actions are contributing to the company goal. If not, change your behavior.

Justin’s final takeaway?  Believe that your radical insights are worth sharing. Don’t be afraid to tell your ideas to those around you. Read Clicking by Faith Popcorn for more ideas about this topic, and visit ishiftresults.com to connect and interact with Justin.

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 Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

This episode is brought to you in part by the Outbound 2022 Sales Conference.

Are you looking to learn actionable and practical ways to improve your sales performance? Do you or your team want to experience a fantastic professional development opportunity full of expert and high-quality speakers ready to help you reach your sales quotas? Attend this year’s Outbound Conference! Visit outboundconference.com to learn more, and use code MANGO10 at checkout to take a portion of your final ticket price.

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 The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Direct download: TSE_1593.mp3
Category:Personal Image and Selfcare -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

It’s an all-too-common sales tactic to reduce your price to drive more sales. However, it can be easy to reduce our worth far below the time, energy, and thought it takes to provide the service we have. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by professional sales coach Steve Brossman to uncover his secrets to creating sales without lowering your worth.

The three levels of influence:

  • Imposed: Present and pitch information to the client to make an informed buying decision
  • Collaborative - When the client is involved, they invest to co-create a solution.
  • Self-influence - With the right connections and collaboration, the buyer knows you’ll deliver more than whatever money you charge.

Shift your sales mentality:

  • Instead of portraying selling as taking from buyers; shift your perspective. Instead, think of it as giving greater value than what they’re willing to invest.
  • Create information and relationships through your videos, content, and messages to potential buyers. 
  • Come with high energy. Build the buying energy, not just the sharing of information.

Steve’s four-letter framework to sell anything:

  • D - Data, demonstrate, and deliver information. 
  • N - Narrative. Use a narrative to frame the solution, whether it’s a quick story about how you’ve used it or a case study.
  • Q - Quantifiable results. Those results are significantly greater than the investment to deliver
  • C - Confirm and continue with the sale. 

Steve’s major takeaway? Collaborate, don’t convince. You’ll never win the sale with just a pitch and close; it takes collaboration, research, and work to make the close. For more information and content from Steve, email him at steve@stevebrossman.com. For TSE listeners, Steve is also offering a free back pocket guide (How to Sell Yourself Without Selling Your Soul), available at stevebrossman.com/bpg. 

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 Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

This episode is brought to you in part by the Outbound 2022 Sales Conference.

Are you looking to learn actionable and practical ways to improve your sales performance? Do you or your team want to experience a fantastic professional development opportunity full of expert and high-quality speakers ready to help you reach your sales quotas? Attend this year’s Outbound Conference! Visit outboundconference.com to learn more, and use code MANGO10 at checkout to take a portion of your final ticket price.

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 The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Direct download: TSE_1592.mp3
Category:Personal Image and Selfcare -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Working in sales becomes drastically easier when we have a mindset and behavior that encourages our best work. But how can we curb limiting beliefs to develop a consistent and positive change in behavior? In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by speaker, author, and podcast host Heather O’Neill to discuss how sales leaders can inspire change in their mindset for performance growth. 

Our existing beliefs can hold us back: 

  • Our perceptions about the profession, money, or industry can all hold us back from our full potential. 
  • More importantly, our beliefs about ourselves can have the same impact - the idea that we don’t have enough experience, work, or ability to get the job done.
  • These limiting beliefs often aren’t true and are inspired by what others tell us, not necessarily what we believe.

Your brain doesn’t know what’s true and what isn’t - it’ll believe whatever is easier.

  • If you tell yourself you’re a confident speaker, you’ll be more confident with it. (And yes, the reverse is also true.) 
  • It comes down to where you choose to direct your energy. Both bad and good things happen every day - choose where you focus.

Shaping positive beliefs:

  • When we become aware of our negative beliefs (and choose to let go of them), we generate the space for more positivity to ward off those prior beliefs. 
  • Shift to the opposite (and then dive deeper) to uncover a more nuanced perception.
  • Surround yourself with successful people further in their careers. We inadvertently hold ourselves back when those around us want the people around us to stay the same.

Removing negative ideals:

  • Negative generational beliefs are often passed down, whether through family, friends, and coworkers.
  • Generational beliefs are often negative and are based on prior misconceptions that lead to biases.
  • We get beliefs from everyone around us and any external situation. But if we’re on guard for it, we can stop ourselves from prescribing.

Heather’s final takeaway? You have more power over this than you might believe. When you control your beliefs, you’ll experience more freedom and joy. For more information and content from Heather, connect with her on LinkedIn or visit her website at heatherhansenoneill.com. Tune into her podcast, From Fear to Fire, available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever podcasts can be found.

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 Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

This episode is brought to you in part by the Outbound 2022 Sales Conference.

Are you looking to learn actionable and practical ways to improve your sales performance? Do you or your team want to experience a fantastic professional development opportunity full of expert and high-quality speakers ready to help you reach your sales quotas? Attend this year’s Outbound Conference! Visit outboundconference.com to learn more, and use code MANGO10 at checkout to take a portion of your final ticket price.

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 The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Direct download: TSE_1591.mp3
Category:Personal Image and Selfcare -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Even the best sellers must overcome the feeling of burnout at one point or another. But how can we maintain performance while finding time for our physical and mental health? In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by Chris Prangley to discuss his own experience with burnout and how any seller can maintain success and momentum in their careers.

Making good money can also come with stress: 

  • Review your ‘why’ to maintain motivation toward your financial goals or realign with your company mission and personal goals. 
  • If you don’t maintain your health and well-being, you’ll eventually burn out.

How do you determine why you do what you do?

  • Making a certain amount of money is a great goal, but it is not a ‘why.’ Instead, it should be more profound and connected to who you are.
  • You'll find the most success at the intersection of your why and the company’s mission.
  • Try journaling about your traits and values to determine what you care about and continue to explore that.
  • Look for the niche that excites you. What about the company or industry intrigues, inspires, and motivates you to sell it?

Five things sellers can do to get recharged and handle burnout:

  • Get out of the country at least once per year. Depart your normal and discover new cultures.
  • The power of massage is incredible. Sitting at a desk all day can lead to tension and stress you don’t realize is present.
  • Work out or exercise early in the morning; you’ll have more energy and be more productive.
  • End your day with journaling, praying, or just expressing gratitude for what’s happening in your life. 
  • When you have an exhausting day, turn on your favorite song and spend a few minutes dancing.
  • Find the things that work for you because we’re all different, and different things will recharge us.

Chris’s major takeaway? Know that it’s okay to feel overwhelmed. But there are amazing tools you can use to continue reaching your goals. Check out Chris’s book, Tech Sales Warrior, available on Amazon and connect with him on LinkedIn or his company website at techsaleswarrior.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 episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

This episode is brought to you in part by the Outbound 2022 Sales Conference.

Are you looking to learn actionable and practical ways to improve your sales performance? Do you or your team want to experience a fantastic professional development opportunity full of expert and high-quality speakers ready to help you reach your sales quotas? Attend this year’s Outbound Conference! Visit outboundconference.com to learn more, and use code MANGO10 at checkout to take a portion of your final ticket price.

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 The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Direct download: TSE_1590.mp3
Category:Personal Image and Selfcare -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Sales isn’t rocket science. However, we want to cover our bases just in case. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by former NASA flight control engineer and CEO of ElevenPoint2, Kristin Taraszewski, to learn how sales organizations can adequately train their employees with technical knowledge to close more sales. 

Many sellers require technical training to sell their products, and that training has become more scarce.

  • In 2021 alone, 39% of all salespeople switched jobs. Unfortunately, that shift led to a huge need for training that hasn’t been fulfilled.
  • It’s difficult to keep up with the rapid changes of the world as quickly as the solution is needed.
  • Many companies don’t have a definitive onboarding and training program beyond a few online courses.
  • It’s expensive to pull salespeople out of the field to train, and lecture-based training historically has a 10% retention rate, making it challenging to implement successfully.

Give sellers a clear map.

  • When training sellers, a clear pathway with clear direction is necessary to help people succeed and thrive.
  • You can’t shortcut the learning map. Ask your technical team, sales team, and other necessary departments to determine what information is critical for the seller to know. Then, devise and implement a plan that teaches those elements.

Think in the context of the customer.

  • Teaching and training should be integrated. Learning one segment of the process at a time, like tech or applications, is not as helpful as full exposure.
  • To get your foot in the door, a seller needs to prove they have something the buyer requires that solves a problem they experience.

Utilize gamification to build successful programs:

  • Training should be individualized as much as possible to help the people retain the information in the best way for them.
  • To implement gamification, replicate the scenario a salesperson might experience while training.
  • Get the trainee to explain the technical aspects, starting from the macro level and refining into finer details.

Without a way for sellers to get better at their jobs, a company will begin to stagnate. Implementing strategies and tools to increase learning knowledge is synergistic for all levels of an organization. For more content and information from Christina and her company, visit their website at elevenpoint2.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 episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

This episode is brought to you in part by the Outbound 2022 Sales Conference.

Are you looking to learn actionable and practical ways to improve your sales performance? Do you or your team want to experience a fantastic professional development opportunity full of expert and high-quality speakers ready to help you reach your sales quotas? Attend this year’s Outbound Conference! Visit outboundconference.com to learn more, and use code MANGO10 at checkout to take a portion of your final ticket price.

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 The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Direct download: TSE_1589.mp3
Category:Personal Image and Selfcare -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Your personal brand and image impact everything about your sales process. Creating and maintaining a professional self-care routine is necessary to put your best foot forward to make the most money and foster the most connections. In today’s episode of the Sales Evangelist, Donald shares some quick tips for any seller to improve their confidence and build a personal brand that reflects the hard work you do each day.

Sometimes, we neglect the emotional for the physical:

  • Sure, scoring that meeting or closing the deal can be nice. However, it’s not as nice when it comes at a cost for our own physical and emotional needs as human beings.
  • The Sales Evangelist is launching a course to build your professional self-care routine; check out the information here: thesalesevangelist.com/free-sales-training

Build a positive attitude and confidence:

  • One of the biggest things to help you be more effective is confidence. 
  • Even if you don’t know a lot about the industry or individual, learn the company basics.
  • Research the company to have more poignant discussions about the material to drive confidence. 
  • If you are genuinely interested in the conversation with the potential buyer, you’ll inherently come across as more confident and competent in the conversation.

Dress to the customer’s needs:

  • If you’re meeting with an executive or higher-level individual, dress to their level. Leave the hoodie at home and wear what instills confidence in yourself and the buyer. 
  • Especially if you work from home, dressing professionally will make an impact where lower dress scales are more common.

Your personal brand is critical:

  • Pay attention to how you project yourself online and on social media. 
  • Amid a potential recession and the Great Resignation, ensure your content, language, and tone are transferable wherever you want to go. 

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 Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

This episode is brought to you in part by the Outbound 2022 Sales Conference.

Are you looking to learn actionable and practical ways to improve your sales performance? Do you or your team want to experience a fantastic professional development opportunity full of expert and high-quality speakers ready to help you reach your sales quotas? Attend this year’s Outbound Conference! Visit outboundconference.com to learn more, and use code MANGO10 at checkout to take a portion of your final ticket price.

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 The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

 

Direct download: TSE_1588.mp3
Category:Personal Image and Selfcare -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by frequent guest and CEO of Sales Gravy, Jeb Blount, to discuss an important (and often avoided) topic: selling a price increase to clients. 

The price increase conversation is awkward, especially if you’ve never done it before.

  • A seller’s main priority is to get the increase without losing the customer or order.
  • Increases are good for the health of an organization. They’re essential to ensure you get the resources to sell more deals, help prevent layoffs, and service quality initiatives. 

Understand what kind of price increase is occurring:

  • Defensive increases are smaller and leveraged across the entire company.
  • In addition, having a relationship with the customer makes discussing a price increase easier.
  • The status quo means it takes a lot of work for a buyer to leave - many customers are likely to stay with you despite the price increase. 

Popular narratives sellers can use to discuss:

  • In an inflationary period with supply chain issues, price increases constitute an economic fairness narrative. Costs have risen, impacting your ability to serve customers.
  • Future value narratives occur when you add features, services, and additional expertise that justify the price increase.
  • Project-based narrative - To successfully meet a particular benchmark, timeline, or quota, you need additional funding. 
  • Weave narratives together to weave a custom reason for your client - it should be whatever best helps them explain the increase. 

Connect with Jeb on LinkedIn for more content and information. You can find his new book, Selling the Price Increase, on Amazon, and a free downloadable companion guide at salesgravy.com/resources. Finally, tune in to his podcast, the Sales Gravy Podcast, on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and anywhere else podcasts can be found. 

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 Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

This episode is brought to you in part by the Outbound 2022 Sales Conference.

Are you looking to learn actionable and practical ways to improve your sales performance? Do you or your team want to experience a fantastic professional development opportunity full of expert and high-quality speakers ready to help you reach your sales quotas? Attend this year’s Outbound Conference! Visit outboundconference.com to learn more, and use code MANGO10 at checkout to take a portion of your final ticket price.

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 The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Direct download: TSE_1587.mp3
Category:Using LinkedIn -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Many buyers see sellers as a commodity. While the goal of every seller is to close more deals, how are you supposed to do that without being memorable to the buyer? In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by a sales coach and expert, Casey Jacox, to learn how sellers can stand out and be memorable to their prospects.

Sellers are under a lot of pressure:

  • Whether that pressure is to hit KPIs, increase quarterly figures, or just contribute to company growth, sellers have a lot to worry about. However, sales leaders are unlikely o slow down and contribute to sellers’ foundational skills (AKA building relationships.)
  • The ultimate goal? To make internal and external connections that help sellers improve their close rate while enjoying their position more than before.

Six things sellers can do to be more memorable:

  • Bring a positive attitude to your team
  • Manage expectations of your team and prospects
  • Understand the difference between listening and hearing
  • Document and record interactions, goals, and data to inform your questions
  • Let your authentic self shine
  • Relationships take time

Have a boomerang mindset.

  • Think about ways to be nice and positive to those around you - set the precedent for communication. 
  • Give what someone asks for, and communicate with stakeholders if something might prevent you from reaching a certain benchmark or KPI.

For more content and information from Casey, tune in to his podcast, The Quarterback DadCast, available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and anywhere else podcasts can be found.

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 Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

This episode is brought to you in part by the Outbound 2022 Sales Conference.

Are you looking to learn actionable and practical ways to improve your sales performance? Do you or your team want to experience a fantastic professional development opportunity full of expert and high-quality speakers ready to help you reach your sales quotas? Attend this year’s Outbound Conference! Visit outboundconference.com to learn more, and use code MANGO10 at checkout to take a portion of your final ticket price.

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 The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Direct download: TSE_1586.mp3
Category:Using LinkedIn -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

The modern seller is exceptional in their industry and knows what to do to add value to prospects, keep a full pipeline, and close more deals. But how exactly can we be modern sellers? In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by sales consultant Amy Franko to discuss what she believes makes modern sellers stand out in today’s market.  

The modern seller excels in three things:

  • Their value is an essential part of the conversation; they look to be a part of the equation that closes a deal. 
  • They are seen as difference makers in the eyes of their clients and others in the industry.
  • Prospects and buyers believe modern sellers have a competitive advantage over the other sellers in the industry.

Anyone can be a modern seller:

  • Understand the makeup of your territory and what you’ve been assigned to sell. Then, take a strategic view of what makes up your territory.
  • Determine if you have a business plan for your inventory, revenue, and profit.
  • The hallmark of a modern seller is the ability to take something complex and boil it down to something simple. Set goals and milestones that indicate if you’re on the right trajectory.
  • Understand your ideal client profile and know what is important to the people you pursue. 

Focus on building relationships.

  • Once you clearly understand your verticals, you can focus on building relationships with decision-makers.
  • Connect with one or two people a week to something of potential value to them, whether that’s introducing them to another contact or sharing articles and information. 

Read Amy’s book, The Modern Seller, to dive into the five capabilities any sales professional should build in themselves and their teams. For more information and content from Amy, connect with her on LinkedIn or visit amyfranko.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 episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

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 The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Direct download: TSE_1585.mp3
Category:Using LinkedIn -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Creating and maintaining a full and robust pipeline of high-quality leads and sales is dramatically easier when utilizing a trust-based sales strategy. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by professional sales coach Chris Morrison to understand how making yourself irreplaceable is the key to securing more high-quality clients.

Why be irreplaceable?

  • The name gives it away, but memorizing a sales script isn’t a scalable long-term solution to making more money. 
  • To make yourself irreplaceable, you have to make yourself known. Command trust as a trusted advisor to those around you, whether coworkers, managers, or customers.
  • Have a following or community of people who take your word as trusted advice. 
  • Many sales reps get comfortable and fall into repetition. Understand that salespeople have two battles to fight - one with prospects and one with their company. 

Building trust with clients:

  • The two most common outreach methods are still phone and email. However, understanding the best way to get the client persona from Point A to Point B will make outbound messaging drastically more successful. 
  • If a lead is unsure about an immediate purchase, ask to share insights with them over the next 12 months.
  • Whether it’s emails, discord, or a Facebook group, nurturing the leads through a series of problem-solving content based on their root issues will foster that trust.

Some sellers think they don’t have time to nurture potential buyers:

  • People talk and interact. Even if someone isn’t willing to buy now, they might buy later or can help refer your company to other clients down the line.
  • Build the skill of trust because it’s a skill you’ll need for the rest of your life.

Chris’s final takeaway? Lean into the trust-based pipeline, because not enough people put effort into creating great leads. It all depends on the effort and energy you’re willing to channel into your work to create the best results. For more great content and resources from Chris, connect with him on LinkedIn or join his Facebook Group.

This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

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: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Direct download: TSE_1584.mp3
Category:Using LinkedIn -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Believe it or not, changing your sales communication strategy can be all you need to close more sales! In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by the CEO and Founder of Ajax Union, Joe Apfelbaum, to learn how he changed his sales approach to land more deals with larger accounts.

Break into larger accounts without wasting too much time:

  • Everyone says to go on LinkedIn, but many people don’t understand how to use LinkedIn effectively.
  • Anyone will see through a counterfeit pitch, even if it's just a mutual connection request. 
  • Don’t waste time talking to unqualified leads by creating a strategy to guide your connection requests.
  • Know the buyer, their issues, and their goals to sell effectively.

Features tell, stories sell.

  • Become a storyteller to motivate and inspire people to create positive interactions on LinkedIn. 
  • Coaching without permission is criticism, so build rapport (through storytelling) to build the relationship beforehand.
  • When you get a referral, the buyer or prospect doesn’t go to the company's LinkedIn page; they go to yours. Keeping your own page updated is critical to a good interaction.
  • Get familiar with the contact by reading their posts and looking through their content on other platforms to see what you can mention. 

To the sellers who say they don’t have the time:

  • It’s much easier to ask a friend for an appointment than a stranger. Build relationships, and you’ll have a perspective of abundance.
  • Set a goal for how many conversations you want per week or month. Start with the end in mind.
  • Joe’s secret? Exposure, credibility, and direct messaging. 
  • LinkedIn has a high organic reach, so post engaging content that grows your personal brand.
  • When interacting with others, discuss something of interest and don’t jump into a sales pitch.

Connect with Joe on LinkedIn for more great content, insights, and information. To find more than 200 pages of sales insights and the key to building lasting sales relationships, read Joe’s book High Energy Networking, available on Amazon

This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

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: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Direct download: TSE_1583.mp3
Category:Using LinkedIn -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Some salespeople say LinkedIn doesn’t work for their industry. But LinkedIn is effective! (Chances are, you’re simply not using the platform correctly!) In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald explains the different LinkedIn features available to help make anyone a LinkedIn success. Connect with Donald on LinkedIn to share what features are effective for you that everyone should know!

Name Pronunciation

  • By enabling pronunciation on your LinkedIn profile, people can listen to you explaining how to say your name.
  • While simple, this powerful tool will foster better communication and greetings, especially when utilizing cold outreach in the sales process.
  • If your name is easily pronounceable, it’s still a quick intro to your personality and how you approach greetings.

Utilizing video in messaging:

  • The video introduction feature on LinkedIn is an opportunity for a more in-depth look at who you are, what you do, and what motivates your professional pursuits. 
  • Engage your audience, direct them to a website, or add a CTA urging people to sign up for your latest class. 
  • When messaging potential leads, supplying video explainers or commentary will build rapport and make you appear more trustworthy than a text message.

Utilizing voice in messaging:

  • Recording audio messages is a mobile-only feature that allows you to quickly add an audio component to a message.
  • This is an opportunity to explain your actions, engage your audience, or connect and build rapport.

Actually posting content.

  • LinkedIn has close to 800 million active users, but only 2% of users post content regularly. Posting content is one of the most underutilized yet obvious strategies to drive lead growth and offer value to others.
  • If directing people to a website off of LinkedIn, try linking the site in the comments instead of the actual post to generate more impressions.

The people who view your profile:

  • Linkedin allows you to see who viewed your profile. While not everyone might apply, this is an excellent database of names to start connecting with potential leads.
  • They clicked on your profile for a reason; you or the other person will benefit from the interaction!

This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

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.

Direct download: TSE_1582.mp3
Category:Using LinkedIn -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

In pretty much any team dynamic, some will perform at their best and some less than up-to-par. So how can we utilize our tech stack to help low-performers blossom into the great sellers we know they can be? In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by the CEO of Logik.io, Chris Shutts, to understand how to best manage and create strong sales teams.

It’s commonplace for new sellers to struggle in complex industries.

  • There’s often a massive difference between an experienced rep and a new hire, beyond what experience alone can account for in productivity and time-to-value ratio.
  • Logik.io helps standardize sellers’ effectiveness to help everyone reach quotas and KPIs. 
  • Buyers are becoming very particular in the way they interact with tools. In B2B transactions, people put up with complications. However, that impatience found in B2C transactions are moving into B2B.

If your company can respond faster, your margin will grow.

  • Technology helps guide the user. With Logik.io, they want feedback from the sales team to iterate and make it ideal for the users.
  • A $6 billion tech company client self-implemented the platform, and they were a nuanced company with a complex product. With Logik.io, they created a migration path to download data from one tool and upload it into Logik, moving hundreds of models.
  • Because they have so many models, they wanted configuration inside their CPQ tools, primarily Salesforce, and in e-commerce applications.
  • With this platform, any seller can utilize those configurations to help seamlessly provide clients the same value and options.

Indicators that mean you might need a tool like Logik.io:

  • All companies want to grow and make transactions more efficient. The problem with existing configuration engines is that they don’t support an omnichannel experience either.
  • From a cost efficiency standpoint, consolidating multiple engines into one for product data maintenance is a great way to reduce administrative workload.
  • Speed of market and new product introductions. Logik.io requires a short window of implementation, helping companies deliver accessible channels quickly.

Chris’s final takeaway? There’s a shift in the market, and buyers and sellers are becoming more particular. Sellers want to sell solutions, not bundles of parts. This combination makes Logic an awesome differentiator, and it can help other companies differentiate and compete with others For more information and content, connect with Chris by visiting Logik.io or sending an email at chris@logik.io.

This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

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 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: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Direct download: TSE_1581.mp3
Category:Creating A Great Work Enviroment for Sellers -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Believe it or not, anyone can go from small-scale deals to multi-million dollar closes. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by sales and mindset coach Cheryl Parks to discuss how she gets the right people in the conversation to close large-scale deals.

Believe in your own story:

  • You don’t need to be the best salesperson; you need to be the best thing your customers dictate.
  • If you don’t know the answer to something, toss the answer to someone else. Be honest and approach situations as needed.

Starting the conversation with larger accounts: 

  • In today’s environment, there are so many more opportunities. Sales is a treasure hunt, not a linear scenario.
  • The insights you provide to a CEO or CFO mean more than just sending a case study or book; be the extra set of eyes and ears that provide concise thoughts.
  • Large deals don’t happen overnight - you need to have conversations, talk to new people, and determine where they spend their time.
  • Go to the companies you are loyal to, because you’ll be more excited about it.

Initial messaging outreach:

  • Cheryl teaches the heart-centered framework, and one of the “h”’s is human-to-human contact.
  • Don’t be a robot. Instead, be authentic and show passion for your work to trigger meetings and events that push prospects further into the pipeline.
  • Relationships come from serving and providing value for the prospect. The buyer wants to support the organization and demonstrate competence. What can you provide to help them achieve their own goals and company goals? 
  • Smaller organizations tend to be more agile, adaptable, and long-term. So larger-scale companies can and do work with companies that might be smaller than themselves.

How can we make large deals work?

  • Determine their desired outcome, streamline customer experiences, and create specific and actionable reporting. 
  • Throughout her deal, Cheryl based who would be in the meeting depending on who was in their meeting, but remembering there might be more people who need to be in the room. 

Cheryl’s parting advice? You’re living in your story, but change what story you tell yourself. Write affirmations to speak your future into existence. Walk yourself out of your shortcomings to go beyond your comfort zone. For more information, content, and advice from Cheryl, visit her website thesalesgrowth.com or connect with her on LinkedIn.

This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

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.

Direct download: TSE_1580.mp3
Category:Creating A Great Work Enviroment for Sellers -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Unsurprisingly, most people work to get paid (a wild concept, I know.) Despite that, navigating and creating a proper pay scale for sales teams is a seemingly complex and difficult process. How can we create a pay scale that works for the organization and the workers themselves? In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by the CRO of LinkSquares, Steve Travaglini, to discuss what he does to strike a balance between these two sides. 

Salary open for negotiation in sales roles doesn’t make sense.

  • If you have two people doing the exact same job, they should be paid the same.
  • Pay isn’t the way to motivate people. If you pay people differently, that will eventually get out and will result in a lack of trust in the organization.
  • Base salaries should be standard across a job title, but allow the variable income (i.e. commission) to determine how much a seller’s skills allow them to make. 
  • There should be no questions or ambiguous items when an employee signs a compensation agreement. Set the rules before you play the game.

What items do sellers find annoying in the compensation package?

  • Having different salaries but the same amount of experience should be a nonstarter.
  • Structure annual bonuses around the hiring period, not the calendar year to give everyone an equal chance of reaching that quota. 
  • Implement rewards and compensations beyond strictly monetary like parental leave, benefits, and even stocks or an owner’s portion of the company to keep employees satisfied.
  • Consider advertising jobs based on income; it shouldn’t be the taboo topic that it is currently. 

Steve’s average retention v. other tech companies:

  • Typically tech companies aim to be in the 50-75% range of employee
  • This year, Steve’s company is around 80% retention and historically around 70%. 
  • They take risks on sellers with no experience or without the 5-6 years of closing experience, people expect to see.
  • It all comes down to the product and the company; you can be great at your craft, but that doesn’t mean you’ll be world-class at every company.

Steve’s final takeaway? Don’t forget what it’s like to be the rep. Listen to the account executives and those around you; put together a benefits package you would’ve appreciated if you were in their role. To get in contact with Steve, connect with him on LinkedIn or visit Linksquares.com to view available job openings (but he always enjoys a custom LinkedIn DM.)

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 Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

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.

Direct download: TSE_1579.mp3
Category:Creating A Great Work Enviroment for Sellers -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Sellers often look for the newest tool, software, or strategy to find success and increase performance. However, improving the core elements of sales is often overlooked. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by Dan Zavorotny, the co-founder and COO of Nurtisense, to learn what elements every great sales team should integrate into their culture.

Flexibility

  • Culturally, you have to portray the values that work for your company. However, they might not fit other people.
  • People operate differently. If you are a self-motivated individual and you know what will make you perform your best, you should have the flexibility to do that.
  • People who like flexibility can find a balance in life that drives people’s ability to perform at their best time rather than the company’s best time.

Transparency

  • Many employers sell potential employees on the dream of working with the company rather than the reality.
  • Being straightforward with the reality of working with the company saves time interviewing, onboarding, and training because turnover will drastically decrease.
  • Maintaining transparency after the hiring process and providing precise methods for improvement will make employees more comfortable asking how they are performing.

Metrics

  • Metrics shouldn’t be arbitrary or difficult to measure - they should be specific and actionable metric that allows people to know how they can best move forward and accomplish new goals.
  • It’s easy to get busy with busy work, but this often has little impact on the organization.
  • Before starting an activity, determine the baseline you’re starting with and what you’ll consider a success.
  • Without that baseline, how can you determine if the work was worthwhile?

Bonus: Sleep and Nutrition

  • When sellers get a good night’s sleep, they perform better. Their expressions, body language, and enunciation are dramatically better when well-rested.
  • Sleep is derived from your nutrition, meaning the better your diet, the better your sleep will be. 

To learn more about Dan and his work, visit Nutrisense’s blog, and 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 episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

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.

Direct download: TSE_1578.mp3
Category:Creating A Great Work Enviroment for Sellers -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

This is a conversation we need to have. Cold outreach is one of the core tenants of successful sellers, right? In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by the founder of Blueprint, Jordan Crawford, to discuss why there might be a better strategy.

Every job Jordan has, he’s either been fired from, or the company went under.

  • He ultimately found his place helping startups scale and grow for long-term success, and it was through this endeavor he found a better methodology than personalized cold outreach.
  • The ‘spray-and-pray’ method was the initial online sales foray. However, that soon led the way to personalized outreach. So, is a new method taking the lead?

Personalization has its uses, and there are times it is still functional. However, there are some where it isn’t.

  • Personalization helps grab a prospect’s attention. But as a B2B seller, you should only want their attention if their company has a problem your solution can help solve.
  • If you aren’t making a commercial transaction, personalization can have great power. 
  • Sellers can’t test personalization systematically; you must have a way to process the data that is useful to prospects and act on it.
  • Invest in data that leads to understanding product-market fit that solves your customers' core problems.

Personalize based on problems, not on the person:

  • Once the potential problems are identified, sellers can sift through potential prospects and interact with them based on those problems the prospect (or their company) might be facing.
  • We’re in the world of tactics. But if you lead with insight based on a prospect’s problem, you’ll be successful. 

How can a sales team can implement this strategy:

  • Determine what channels and messaging work for your company.
  • Do a bottom-up analysis to understand everything about the consumer and who you’re selling to. Only after this point should you go to market.
  • Score existing customers by a ‘rubric’ of your ideal customer. If they are a rough match, you’ll know you’ve achieved a more scalable business.
  • You must determine the data sources to find the consumers struggling with the products you solve.

Jordan’s final takeaway? If you’re in the sales system, spend time with customer success to determine what consumers already know. Because if you know what they know, you can build models that find more organizations like them. For more content from Jordan, connect with him on LinkedIn or email him at jordan@blueprintgtm.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 episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

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.

Direct download: TSE_1577.mp3
Category:Creating A Great Work Enviroment for Sellers -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Not all companies are created equal. Five key differentiators separate the cream of the crop for sales and sale-focused companies. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald discusses the five key components that successful sales-focused companies have in common.

Everyone in the organization is selling.

  • This doesn’t mean every position in the company is a salesperson; we still need our accountants and other critical roles. 
  • Instead, this means that the employees believe in the organization's mission, and they sell the organization because of its powerful mission.
  • Adjust your focus and mission to ensure it is clear and something everyone can get behind.

Salespeople are treated as the best in the company.

  • Salespeople are the front line of the people giving money to your company.
  • Salespeople are crucial to bringing money into the organization. If you treat your sellers poorly, you’ll have high turnover (and thus lower sales.)
  • The key? Treat sellers like they’re needed and appreciated. (And you should probably apply that mentality to every role in your company.)

Sales education is provided to sales professionals

  • You want your sellers to spread the word about your company's mission.
  • Infuse your salespeople with the greatest of the organization. Provide books, seminars, and boot camps to help provide the techniques sellers need to thrive in their roles.
  • These salespeople will stay with you because you’re providing value to them.
  • The Sales Evangelist has training programs you can use to help your sellers master their profession.

Sellers are challenged to become better.

  • Top organizations challenge sellers to be accountable for their work.
  • The best sellers are the ones who consistently set new goals and hit new quotas.
  • Look for ways to be better, and you’ll constantly raise the bar to make more money for yourself and your company.

You have the right KPIs in place that encourages you to grow.

  • KPIs should not focus exclusively on the end result. While outcome-based KPIs are useful, the best companies understand which other metrics best drive results.
  • Leading indicators make better KPIs because sellers have direct control over how they can fulfill the actions associated with them.

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 Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

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.

Direct download: TSE_1576.mp3
Category:Creating A Great Work Enviroment for Sellers -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Closing your next sales deal can be as easy as eight steps! In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by the founder and owner of Closers.io, Cole Gordon, to discuss his eight-step process to close every deal you have (or at least come close.) 

Cole’s beginning sales experience was not what he expected:

  • Cole’s original sales team was exceptional. However, their end-of-sale closing conversations were not what he expected.
  • He realized that every sale depends on meeting the beliefs of the buyer before you pitch them on the deal, and they'll create an objection-less close themselves.
  • Cole's eight-step plan is based on the relief ladder concept but applied specifically to sales. 

Step 1: Pain

  • There are two problems: actual pains and unfulfilled desires. The prospect might not have pain, but there’s a gap between where they are now and where they want to be.
  • Establish the pain; because all sales are conducted based on solving a problem. The following six steps are all predicated on the initial determinant of pain. 

Step 2: Doubt

  • The prospect must believe there’s an inability to fix the problem or that the product or service will make the solution happen more efficiently.
  • To establish doubt, make the buyer believe your route is more efficient or profitable than if they were to handle it themself.

Step 3: Cost

  • Anything that results in a delay of a decision is likely because of cost.
  • The buyer should believe that staying where they are now is less profitable than purchasing your product or service.

Step 4: Desire

  • Fixing the problem will yield a payoff, and you can only get through these steps if you’re aware of the problem.
  • It’s not enough to understand the surface desire - the seller should know the vision and goal beyond the sales goal.

Step 5: Support

  • Stakeholders around the decision should support solving the problem.
  • This doesn’t necessarily mean they need to support you at this stage, but they should at least support investing in fixing the problem.

Step 6: Money

  • The buyer must have the physical resources to fix the problem. 
  • If the buyer doesn’t have the budget to pay for your solution, they just aren’t a viable prospect.

Step 7: Willingness

  • Once you’re established that a prospect has the finances to purchase your solution, determine that they’re willing to allocate that amount to acquire your solution.
  • Even if a prospect has the money, they might not consider the problem enough of an issue to warrant spending a certain amount of money on it.

Step 8: Trust

  • Trust in the company is important, but rust in the methodology is even more important.
  • You must be able to explain your solution and why your solution will work for them.
  • If they’ve used a similar method in the past (but to no avail), you must be able to identify why that didn’t work, and how your methodology is different.
  • Once you’ve educated the prospect on a differentiator, you’re going to solidify the trust and encourage the prospect to work with you.

Cole’s major takeaway? There are two parts to winning a sale: optimizing your energy and optimizing the mechanics. If you can master both aspects of the sale, you’ll be ready to win. To see more of what Cole does, visit his company website at Closers.io.

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 Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

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.

Direct download: TSE_1575___revised.mp3
Category:Modernizing Your Sales -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

When you have the intention to change your sales approach, the behavior follows suit. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by Scott Savage, Managing Director at Franklin Covey, to learn how sellers can increase their close rate by winning more deals. 

Salespeople tend to think we close more than we do.

  • In actuality, the close right is only around 17%. But imagine what it could be if that close rate were higher.
  • Why are win rates so low? Many would say the pandemic, but it’s not one sole factor. 
  • 42% of the time, decision-makers could not tell the difference between vendors.
  • Sellers almost always think they're different. But it doesn’t matter how different you are if the buyer cannot differentiate between sellers.

Talk less, question more:

  • Executives and other buyers judge sellers based on their questions, not necessarily their answers.
  • Clients don’t want sellers to just talk at them; they want a discussion to know their problems are being addressed.
  • It’s not that a seller is disliked, but rather that the meeting didn’t progress with the buyer’s needs in mind.

RDM is Scott’s strategy to close more sales: Relevant, distinct, and memorable:

  • For relevant, ask yourself what the client truly cares about. What do they wish to buy or add to their current company?
  • Distinct is explaining how they will be dramatically better because of what you can bring to the table. People make decisions based on differences, not similarities. People want compelling contrast.
  • Juxtapose those distinct differences by making those differences easy to share and difficult to forget.

Start with the end in mind. 

  • Establish objectives for each meeting to help guide interactions toward those pre-established checkpoints.
  • Ensure your close rate is open: we get too focused on ourselves, and our intention is based on the sale, not the best decision.
  • To stand out, take the RDM strategy. Next, understand what’s essential to each decision-maker to get everyone on board.
  • Many people can veto a deal. But, if you know each stakeholder and help them improve, you’ll altogether avoid that issue.
  • Your biggest competitor isn’t other companies; it’s the status quo. Be interesting and stand out to convince each decision-maker to choose you.

Scott’s final takeaway? Most sellers think they’re better than they are. Establish what makes you better and convince buyers of that factor. If you can set yourself apart, you’ll close more deals. For more content from Scott, connect with him on LinkedIn or visit franklincovey.com/sds to pre-order his book, Strikingly Different Selling.

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 Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

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.

Direct download: TSE_1574.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Most modern sales methodologies focus on building rapport and trust with the prospect; challenging the prospect’s beliefs to make better deals is a hallmark of that perspective. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by the Chief Evangelist of Challenger, Jennifer Allen, to discuss her company’s methodology that drives relationships with their prospects and customers.

Jennifer started as an entry-level seller in account management:

  • A relationship-builder through and through, she worked hard to gain client trust. (Which worked well for a long time.)
  • During the 2008 recession, her peers and customers laid off teams and cut back budgets; that’s when her corporate exec board launched a report detailing what maintains relationships with customers.
  • Jennifer was shocked to see none of her current sales components in that report. What worked once now no longer works.

Why focus on the relationship side?

  • Jennifer never wanted to be one of those salespeople, but it was also how she was coached - she mirrored the behavior of her managers and peers.
  • She was taught to ease tension with the buyer. However, constructive tension is crucial to teaching a prospect a risk (and why they need to act on that risk.) 
  • When you have a problem and go to the bar, the bartender makes you feel good in the moment, but then you wake up with a hangover and the same problem.
  • Conversely, working towards a productive goal helps make strides toward solving the problem. It’s all about your relationships with the people around you.

Implementing the challenger sale for success:

  • Jennifer transitioned from a relationship-building to a challenger by reading The Challenger Sale.
  • Her first interpretation after reading the book? Tell prospects everything they were doing wrong. Unsurprisingly, that didn’t work that well.
  • She failed to engage in a two-way dialogue and didn’t offer a space for the prospect to interact and engage.
  • The takeaway? You have to earn the privilege to say they’re doing something wrong.
  • Have an observation about the company, look for something the company is trying to achieve and determine the company’s end-state goal. If it’s a public company, see if they’re trying to acquire AI or how they’re trying to grow.

Express curiosity in the end goal.

  • Have something of value to share, whether right or wrong. Either way, it’s something to think about. 
  • If it’s a private company, look to the CEO’s LinkedIn page or an exec’s podcast and see if they convey any information.
  • Bringing something of value to the prospect throughout the sales experience is a compelling reason for the prospect to work with you.
  • Stop using sales buzz words and figure out how you can bring something to the table.

Jennifer’s major takeaway? Keep a log of what each company is missing, and what happened to make you realize that particular thing was lacking. As you grow that log, you’ll have an easier time when identifying other companies. For more content from Jennifer, connect with her on LinkedIn and listen to her podcast, Winning the Challenger Sale, on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

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 Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

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.

Direct download: TSE_1573.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Marketing and sales alignment is pivotal in the modern era of sales, and building credibility and rapport in your communication for all departments is essential. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by the CMO of Growth Stage Marketing, Mark Donnigan, to discuss his take on building rapport while unifying departmental collaboration.

Good CMOs think about marketing campaigns. Great CMOs bring value to the enterprise.

  • Between the evolution of technology and the pandemic, sales has completely transformed. Buyers no longer attend trade shows to talk with peers; they organize entirely through online forums.
  • Buyers are 50% or more through the buying process before reaching out to their first vendor. A seller’s job is no longer to get the first meeting; it’s to state the problem that the solution solves while differentiating from competitors.
  • CMO turnover is almost exclusively because they repeatedly try the old playbook rather than embrace these new changes.

Credibility plays into rapport building:

  • There’s one thing sellers can do at all times - add value to their network through social channels.
  • Nobody wants to be sold to, so content shouldn’t be explicitly sales-focused. Instead, create helpful content the audience will read. 
  • People are drawn to others who make intelligent observations about a problem or solution. 
  • Add value to customers as someone who can bring thoughtful insights to the industry - that’s the open door in the modern sales landscape.
  • Only 2% of LinkedIn users post content, so seeing thoughtful and relevant content from a person on the platform makes an impression on anyone. 

Create your own opportunities by providing internal and external value.

  • Too many executives see themselves as professional managers, but that position is a commodity. However, when you can add insight to a large enterprise organization, you become a lot harder to replace.
  • The new Rolodex isn’t names and addresses; it’s the community that forms around the network. People who like, respect, and are engaged with your content are more valuable than a simple name and number registry.
  • Create a network that respects your insights and content. There are plenty of other competitors who are just as competent and insightful. However, nobody knows it because they don’t post.

Mark’s final takeaway? Focus on the seller - find every possible way to add value to those in the ecosystem around you. Visit his company website at growthstage.marketing and connect with Mark on LinkedIn for more interesting and insightful 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 episode is brought to you in part by Closers.io.

Closers.io helps sales reps land their dream remote sales gig, where they can set their own hours, work from anywhere, and make six or even multi-6 figures per year. That sure sounds good to us!

Committed to helping sales reps make a shift, Closers.io will place you in an available sales role that will increase your commissions and help you live the life you want. Apply for free now at go.closers.io/TSE.

This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

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.

Direct download: TSE_1572.mp3
Category:Modernizing Your Sales -- posted at: 7:39am EDT

An alignment between sales and marketing inspires the competitive collaboration needed to develop consistent business growth that is scalable across the departments of the organization. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist Donald is joined by Gregg Ames, CCO of Act-On Marketing Automation, to discuss his take on building a proper sales and marketing alignment.

Great solutions occur when sales and marketing stop acting as separate processes. 

  • Companies start fragmented. Sales and marketing do their things, but unifying the entire sales funnel leads to a guide for better messaging. 
  • People process information with technology, and that behavior has not shifted. That processing starts with an integrated flow between departments. 
  • Every company has good salespeople. But, when equipped with marketing to canvas a broader market, brings more high-quality leads to allow a focus on later-stage selling.
  • Sellers are (historically) not great at generating demand. Getting marketing to take this role will bring more revenue to the organization

How sellers can help with the alignment:

  • Many have seen some semblance of a unified sales and marketing process, and whether it’s through your ideal profile or not, you need to create feedback loops. 
  • People need to drive communication upstream; you can’t have the left and right hands be completely uncoordinated.
  • Receiving constructive feedback is necessary to properly learn from past mistakes. However, it’s also critical for the company to invest in the seller’s knowledge.
  • Everything starts with a proper ICP. If marketing’s leads aren’t the right fit and converting sales, the team needs to reiterate their messaging or scoring methodology to avoid false positives from proliferating.

Three implementation times for inter-departmental unification: 

  • When driving sales and marketing alignment, be prepared to plan and evolve your program. You have to access where you are in the organization and understand how it might change in the future.
  • Leveraging data is paramount to a successful program. Marketing is no longer just art; it’s art and science. Leverage data to build a repeatable process that decisions are based on.
  • Determine where deals stall, and where wins are created - when you integrate the marketing stacks in the conversation, there’s data about site intent, nurture potential, and A/B testing to quality people more quickly. 

If you look at these elements, you’ll be successful.

Create feedback loops, which can be small email or slack technologies, or well-structured interval meetings between relevant parties.

AE working for an organization - how to implement?

We’re chasing numbers, so it’s important to measure good metrics to hit the proper revenue targets. However, we’re not as comfortable talking with our teams and having earnest discussions about the high-level air cover or ABM strategies that should be the next customers.

Initiate dialogues with peers to at least establish a strategy that will move the organization closer to the desired outcomes.

Gregg’s final takeaway? Embrace your marketing team, because it’s much easier to win as a team when sales and marketing are properly aligned. Email Gregg at gregg.ames@act-on.com or connect with him on LinkedIn for more interesting and relevant sales 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 episode is brought to you in part by Closers.io.

Closers.io helps sales reps land their dream remote sales gig, where they can set their own hours, work from anywhere, and make six or even multi-6 figures per year. That sure sounds good to us!

Committed to helping sales reps make a shift, Closers.io will place you in an available sales role that will increase your commissions and help you live the life you want. Apply for free now at go.closers.io/TSE.

This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

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.

Direct download: TSE_1571.mp3
Category:Modernizing Your Sales -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Selling is constantly evolving. There are techniques and strategies you should implement today to set a precedent for long-term success for those looking to thrive in enterprise selling. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by Vice President and lead trainer at Empire Selling Jesse Rothstein to discuss his tips to modernize enterprise selling.

Modern challenges in the enterprise selling environment:

  • A considerable challenge is the continued expansion and growth of organizations making decisions with a committee or group model. More people involved in the decision make it harder to track, maintain, and influence necessary stakeholders. 
  • Because committees complete research before reaching out to salespeople, it’s more difficult for the seller to show a differentiation point.
  • 75% of people are groups and committees are prepared to make a decision before they contact a seller.

Three core pillars to modernize sales selling strategy:

  • Build your digital brand. Sellers understand that their digital brand is what buyers will evaluate as they undergo their research.
  • Your network is imperative. It’s not what you know but who you know.  Leveraging your network to get into new organizations and make additional connections helps create a stronger sales strategy.
  • Content: Do you have a thought-out, pragmatic, and consistent strategy for sharing content? Buyers want to know your opinion, your industry, and even who you are as a person. 

Creating a digital brand:

  • Acknowledge that selling is digitally-focused. A few decades ago, your brand was done by the initial physical impression. And while those days aren’t over, they are less frequent.
  • If you’re a seller who doesn't buy into digital branding, that’s akin to showing up to a meeting in your pajamas. Or with bad breath.
  • Allocate time to determine every point your digital brand touches, consider owning the domain rights to your first and last name, and build out the social profiles that might be involved in a conversation.

Utilize your network:

  • It’s always easier to get business from people you currently do or have done business with.
  • Modern sellers can (and should) spend more time with this audience - those via referral. It’s an outbound sales skill that doesn’t get measured or chartered as outbound work.
  • It’s no longer as direct as asking for referrals - it’s sharing content and using LinkedIn to get an intro or mention rather than an all-out referral.

Build a content strategy:

  • Most sellers do not have a consistent content strategy - just by doing that; you’re differentiating yourself.
  • Get conversations started that are around you, your company, and your industry.
  • Before the internet, we’d go to trade shows, public forums, and live demos to hand out flyers, brochures, and demonstrations. Today, you just need an internet connection to make it happen.
  • It’s not about creating everything from scratch, but instead taking content, distributing, and creating it to form an opinion.
  • To start, set a calendar appointment for a quiet time and develop a content sharing strategy. Once allocated, choose a free scheduling tool like Buffer or Hootsuite to schedule your content. 

Contact Jesse on LinkedIn, visit empireselling.com, and read his book Carry that Quota on Amazon for more great content and information.  

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 Closers.io.

Closers.io helps sales reps land their dream remote sales gig, where they can set their own hours, work from anywhere, and make six or even multi-6 figures per year. That sure sounds good to us!

Committed to helping sales reps make a shift, Closers.io will place you in an available sales role that will increase your commissions and help you live the life you want. Apply for free now at go.closers.io/TSE.

This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

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.

Direct download: TSE_1570.mp3
Category:Modernizing Your Sales -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

How can you modernize your sales approach to stay up to date on your and your team’s sales approach? In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald kicks off our latest content series centered on modernizing your sales tactics and techniques. In today’s episode, Donald discusses three ways to change your mindset and specific tactics to update your sales strategy. 

Unite sales and marketing: 

  • Traditionally, a  seller would fill their pipeline through cold calling, but the process has changed. 
  • Account-based selling is the future of sales, prioritizing a unification of data-driven decisions combining sales and marketing.
  • With marketing, they can target accounts with ads, emails, and other collateral to guide people to the sales funnel.

Automate selling techniques:

  • Modern selling requires a mixture of automated and personalized messaging.
  • Personalization has two sides: a generic pain focus or a LinkedIn or specified message. The latter is great to supplement and redirect them to generalized personalizations.
  • Outreach, Apollo, and Salesloft are all platforms that can help automate tactics you don’t need to do yourself.

Remove outdated tactics:

  • Stop using the tactics modern buyers consider “gimmicky.” Establish yourself as a consultant, not just a seller looking for a commission check.

Become a brand authority:

  • When Donald was a full-time sales rep, creating content was the best way to set himself apart.
  • Once he left the company, his brand came with him! Using platforms like LinkedIn or even TikTok to share relevant and engaging content is helpful for prospective buyers, and subsequently you.

Use technology:

  • This goes in tandem with automation. However, tools like Fathom helps extrapolate information from sales meetings to improve your meeting skills. 
  • Other platforms like LinkedIn Sales Navigator help you make data-driven decisions and find data-driven prospects for your business. Use these tools to help reach new goals!

Bonus tip: Use Donald’s sales planner to improve your time and take control of your day!

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 Closers.io.

Closers.io helps sales reps land their dream remote sales gig, where they can set their own hours, work from anywhere, and make six or even multi-6 figures per year. That sure sounds good to us!

Committed to helping sales reps make a shift, Closers.io will place you in an available sales role that will increase your commissions and help you live the life you want. Apply for free now at go.closers.io/TSE.

This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

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 Hill.

Direct download: TSE_1569.mp3
Category:Modernizing Your Sales -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Many top sellers using account-based selling are within large tech and SaaS companies. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by sales coach and consultant Ian Koniak to discuss how those large enterprise companies create and coordinate successful sales strategies.

Transitioning from transactional to strategic selling:

  • He tried to approach his sales techniques in a more activity-scientific manner instead of qualitative.
  • When Ian transitioned to Salesforce, quantity and hustling didn’t work. It wasn’t practical to get in the door or drive change.

Three qualities for top-performing sellers in tech:

  • They’re authentic. People have a bad image of salespeople, but top performers are genuine and there to help their prospects and clients solve a problem.
  • They care for the clients before, during, and after the commission check.
  • They have Integrity for the work. The best sellers help potential clients solve their problems to ensure the client’s long-term success.

Differentiating a top seller:

  • Their work habits are different, they’re focused and organized, and they value their time.
  • They determine the different needs and solutions a specific company might have and build relationships across multiple stakeholders to understand those issues.
  • Identify where employees spend their time and how your solutions can apply to them.
  • They understand where the company wants to go, what’s stopping them from getting there, and what they can do about it.

It all comes down to focus.

  • The seller knows when to say no, and focuses on strategic accounts and strategic executives within those accounts.
  • They invest their time in the change agents who can make the largest impact within the company.

Connect and contact Ian for more content and coaching on LinkedIn, YouTube, and his website untapyoursalespotential.com.

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 Closers.io.

Closers.io helps sales reps land their dream remote sales gig, where they can set their own hours, work from anywhere, and make six or even multi-6 figures per year. That sure sounds good to us!

Committed to helping sales reps make a shift, Closers.io will place you in an available sales role that will increase your commissions and help you live the life you want. Apply for free now at go.closers.io/TSE.

This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

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.

Direct download: TSE_1568.mp3
Category:Modern Selling Strategies -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

The days of “spray and pray” selling are over. So how can sellers maintain a consistently full pipeline of prospects and leads? Through targeted and account-based selling. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by the VP of Sales Management at Crunchbase, Ang McManamon, to discuss how she uses account-based selling in her own work.

Why go into account-based selling?

  • A year ago, Ang’s team talked to their best clients and saw an appetite for account-based selling.
  • Prospects would use Crunchbase for funding and capital management news, and people liked the database options for prospecting.
  • There are so many sales tools today, yet finding high-quality accounts and decision-makers is still tricky.
  • Before, there were no strategic ways of looking at accounts and contacts. Now, you can be intentional with your actions.

Setting up Crunchbases’s account-based selling:

  • First, figure out the target audience. Companies say they do it, but they frequently don’t get precise enough to best impact the audience.
  • Narrow down organizations by size, but look for people based on many factors.
  • Ang targeted 50 accounts per person on her 35-person team. Then, they researched the messaging, cadence, and outreach that would best apply to those targets.
  • Look at the potential buyer intent. What web pages have they visited on your website?
  • Luckily, Crunchbase has great name recognition. However, prospects often don’t know the specific things they can do with the platform.

It takes diligence as a leader to hold sellers accountable.

  • While the account list is a priority, it’s not necessarily a restriction. If the seller isn’t getting anywhere with a target account, they should be able to move on and find new targets.
  • For outbound selling, sellers use Crunchbase to view recommended accounts or new contacts within those accounts. Then, they create an automatic email from Outreach and set up a cadence.
  • Sellers use strategic intent tools to inform them of their best outreach method, and they use Salesforce to track data and activity.

Potential problems (and solutions) with ABM:

  • Initially, Ang’s team wasn’t using Crunchbase and wasn’t ‘surrounding’ the sale, interacting with 1-2 people rather than 4-5 who could impact the sale.
  • Incentivizing the sale for larger-scale prospects can help get your foot in the door.
  • Finds reps with a higher sense of ownership when using account-based selling because sellers feel more in control over the process.
  • When working with strategic accounts, win rates increase roughly 48%, but the cycle is slightly longer. It sounds like a great trade-off to us.

Ang’s major piece of advice? Account-based is here to stay, and it’s a better and more strategic way to sell your products. It takes time to nail down, but it’s worth it. Visit Crunchbase.com or email sales@crunchbase.com to see what the Crunchbase platform offers.

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 Closers.io.

Closers.io helps sales reps land their dream remote sales gig, where they can set their own hours, work from anywhere, and make six or even multi-6 figures per year. That sure sounds good to us!

Committed to helping sales reps make a shift, Closers.io will place you in an available sales role that will increase your commissions and help you live the life you want. Apply for free now at go.closers.io/TSE.

This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

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.

Direct download: TSE_1567.mp3
Category:Modern Selling Strategies -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Sometimes the best way to close more deals isn’t by adding new people to your pipeline (though that’s always a good thing.) Instead, the best thing is to address the issues that make a deal fail before they fail. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by the CEO of Challenger, Andee Harris, to get her take on failed deals and how to address those issues directly with our prospects. 

Challenger is a sales training company:

  • The Challenger Sale by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson explains many of the principles Challenger uses in their training.
  • Early sellers might be timid, which usually leads to a failure to recognize when a deal isn’t moving in the right direction.
  • In Andee’s experience, continuous feedback is a great way to course-correct throughout the sales process to tailor the experience and selling strategy to the specific prospect. 
  • Passive selling isn’t the best form of selling for either party - taking control of the purchase and helping the buyer buy the product is your job.

Three ways to notify deals before they go south:

  • Integrate an avenue for continuous feedback. If a buyer likes you as a sales rep, they’ll want to share methods to improve their experience. 
  • Realize that one size doesn't fit all. What works for one client might not work for another. 
  • Constantly be learning. Be curious, and look to understand and be self-aware of your strengths and weaknesses. 

Andee’s final takeaway? Understand that we’re in a complex selling environment. Multiple factors influence the selling process, but it isn’t impossible to create wins and do phenomenally well. To get in touch with Andee, visit challengerinc.com or connect with Andee 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 Closers.io.

Closers.io helps sales reps land their dream remote sales gig, where they can set their own hours, work from anywhere, and make six or even multi-6 figures per year. That sure sounds good to us!

Committed to helping sales reps make a shift, Closers.io will place you in an available sales role that will increase your commissions and help you live the life you want. Apply for free now at go.closers.io/TSE.

This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

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.

Direct download: TSE_1566.mp3
Category:Modern Selling Strategies -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Whether you’re the person in charge of leads, a small business owner, or anyone looking to do more business through prospecting (which should be everyone), this episode is for you. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by Mike Moll to learn how to attract high-quality leads without ads by using modern techniques and platforms.

Sales professionals can’t rely on marketing to supply enough leads.

  • Video outreach is an effective strategy to supply your ideal client.
  • Once you’re connected with someone, you’re guaranteed a 100% delivery rate platform through LinkedIn messaging.
  • Make videos right on the LinkedIn platform. Other options include BombBomb and Loom, but asking a prospect to click a video link might dissuade some from watching.

Sending a video far outclasses automated messages.

  • With the pandemic ending in-person conferences, many B2B sellers turned to LinkedIn to conduct business, resulting in a surplus of auto-generated LinkedIn outreach messages. 
  • Sending 50 impactful videos will make far greater headway than frustrating people with spammy-sounding auto-generated messages.

Sending messages to build connections:

  • There are two big mistakes: forcing yourself as a needed solution to the prospect and removing a prospect’s autonomy in decision-making.
  • Don’t be overly friendly. People buy from people, so if they don’t like you, they will not buy.
  • Start video messages with a “hello” and a quick introduction. Make the intro as quickly as possible to focus instead on addressing their pain points.
  • Consider listing the features of your product, which can continue to discuss the negative results that arise when that solution isn’t present.

Mastering the follow-up strategy:

  • Plan one more video or text follow-up. Typically, if someone doesn't respond to either of those, move to email for a 3-5 message campaign.
  • Sending 100 personalized videos per week typically results in booking ten meetings, and when they come on the call, the cadence and familiarity is already present.

Mike’s final takeaway? Video doesn’t have to be perfect. Leave in minor mistakes - we’re all human, and those mistakes convey that human element. Don’t make it perfect, just make it! Connect with Mike on Instagram @themikemoll for more content and to stay up-to-date on his pursuits.

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 Closers.io.

Closers.io helps sales reps land their dream remote sales gig, where they can set their own hours, work from anywhere, and make six or even multi-6 figures per year. That sure sounds good to us!

Committed to helping sales reps make a shift, Closers.io will place you in an available sales role that will increase your commissions and help you live the life you want. Apply for free now at go.closers.io/TSE.

This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

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.

Direct download: TSE_1565.mp3
Category:Modern Selling Strategies -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Creating a mindset for sales involves building credibility and rapport with the prospect, that’s always been clear. But should we apply logic or emotion to our negotiations and social selling strategy? In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by Andres Lares to discuss.

The principles of negotiation are the same, regardless of the negotiation subject.

  • As negotiators, we tend to focus on logic. However, we should instead focus on emotion.
  • Statements and facts mitigate feelings of risk, but they aren’t a driver for decision-making.
  • At the end of a call, there needs to be trust and rapport beyond what facts can deliver.

Why do we tend to go to logic for negotiating? Because it’s easier.

  • You can have the same approach for every client and situation instead of emotionally tailoring conversations to the prospect’s problem. 
  • You have to ask questions and determine which features give them the benefits they want.

So what should we do? Why focus on emotions?

  • Especially with hybrid work, there are fewer opportunities to spend time with a prospect. We’re battling against less time and less attention through the screen.
  • Telling stories that share the problems and solutions signal many elements that help keep a prospect’s attention.
  • It’s so much more believable than standing by good statistics. This showcases a “behind-the-scenes” perspective that has highs and lows.
  • Building credibility is essential. Statements against self-interest, when not used to manipulate the prospect, show that you care about them.

People are motivated by achievement.

  • Why do they do that? Because we’re motivated by achievement.
  • If you set expectations for someone, they’re more likely to live up to them.
  • Facilitate action by limiting options. If you want an answer from someone, provide 3-5 options to make the prospect feel like they’re making their own decision.

Andres’s final takeaway? People make decisions emotionally and justify them rationally. For more great content from Andres, visit his company’s website, Shapiro Negotiations Institute, or connect with him 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 Closers.io.

Closers.io helps sales reps land their dream remote sales gig, where they can set their own hours, work from anywhere, and make six or even multi-6 figures per year. That sure sounds good to us!

Committed to helping sales reps make a shift, Closers.io will place you in an available sales role that will increase your commissions and help you live the life you want. Apply for free now at go.closers.io/TSE.

This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

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.

Direct download: TSE_1564.mp3
Category:Modern Selling Strategies -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Staying ahead of the curve and the competition is the key to getting ahead as a seller. In today’s episode of the Sales Evangelist, Donald discusses some of his top social selling strategies and current selling trends as we enter the second half of 2022.

By definition, “modern” selling is always changing.

  • Modern selling is the ability to use new tools, modern techniques, and social selling strategies to find and engage with prospects. 
  • In 2022, post-pandemic sales strategies largely revolve around social selling strategies geared toward a remote audience.
  • Modern sellers use tools like Zoom and have mastered how to work with people, even if you can’t see them on the screen.

Modern tools for a modern seller:

  • Tools like Gong and Fathom help you conduct meetings that prompt sellers to better engage with the prospect.
  • Modern sellers are used to remote work, which means a microphone like the ATR2100 or Yeti helps you take advantage of your environment. 
  • Gone are the days you could send a blank phone call or email. Instead, use platforms like LinkedIn Sales Navigator to engage with prospects, giving thoughtful comments on their content to be a part of their community.
  • Your organization can have the opportunity to use AI to know what buyers want before they buy, and you can use that information to do personal follow-ups. 

Modern sellers take advantage of digital tools.

  • 44% of millennials prefer purchasing without a sales rep in B2B purchase scenarios. 
  • While the sales rep position is still necessary, it might look drastically different than what was initially considered. 
  • We must adapt to these types of buyers, engaging with them through LinkedIn or automation to help them guide themselves through the process.
  • For more stats about selling in 2022, download Gartner’s 2022 Sales Transformation report.

This upcoming series is all about building rapport in the modern environment - find out how to find out more about your ideal seller and become a modern seller.

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 Closers.io.

Closers.io helps sales reps land their dream remote sales gig, where they can set their own hours, work from anywhere, and make six or even multi-6 figures per year. That sure sounds good to us!

Committed to helping sales reps make a shift, Closers.io will place you in an available sales role that will increase your commissions and help you live the life you want. Apply for free now at go.closers.io/TSE.

This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

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.

Direct download: TSE_1563.mp3
Category:Modern Selling Strategies -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Sales enablement isn’t just for major corporations; it’s for businesses of all sizes. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by bestselling author and VP of Enablement of PRO Unlimited, Roderick Jefferson, to discuss how we can apply sales enablement to any organization. 

Three distinct factions of sales enablement:

  • The original enablement began when sellers sold knives and vacuums door-to-door.
  • The second faction arrived during the .com boom of the early 2000s.
  • Finally, the current age of sales enablement is the present day, featuring an innovative approach focused on increasing sales productivity with a systematic, personalized, and collaborative process.
  • Whether a small organization or a large corporation, sales enablement joins the various departments and roles to unify the end goal.

Get people to have conversations instead of presentations:

  • The proper discussion isn’t just the right topic - it’s talking to the right people at the right time in their language.
  • There’s a difference between training and enablement - training is a sprint, and enablement is a marathon. 
  • Enablement is a change in lifestyle, including talent acquisition, role-specific onboarding, and coaching for sales leaders. 

Enablement should be driven from the top-down.

  • It cannot be something pushed out by the owner of sales enablement. There has to be collaboration and communication across all business lines.
  • To start this lifestyle change, remember: the further you get from the sun, the colder you get. (And sales is the sun.)
  • Understand what the objectives are and what the KPIs are - translate it to understand the goal of sales as a department.
  • Make sure we, first and foremost, tie everything back to the prospect. How do we ensure everything we do helps the prospect or customer increase productivity or decrease pain?

Roderick’s parting advice? Start a conversation with a simple three-part question: Do you want me to listen, do you want me to coach, or do you want me to fix? As leaders, we go to fix mode. But sometimes, that’s just not what’s needed. For more great content from Roderick, connect on LinkedIn or follow him on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. You can find his book, Sales Enablement 3.0, on Amazon.

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 Closers.io.

Closers.io helps sales reps land their dream remote sales gig, where they can set their own hours, work from anywhere, and make six or even multi-6 figures per year. That sure sounds good to us!

Committed to helping sales reps make a shift, Closers.io will place you in an available sales role that will increase your commissions and help you live the life you want. Apply for free now at go.closers.io/TSE.

This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

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.

Direct download: TSE_1562.mp3
Category:Favorite Sales Stack Tools -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Many salespeople are bombarded with countless tech tools to make their lives easier. But what if one tool helped unify your department’s sales process? On today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by the CEO and co-founder of Scratchpad, Pouyan Salehi, to discuss how sellers can utilize Scratchpad to eliminate their sales stack drag.

Salespeople have many tools at their disposal but often rely on their own systems.

  • People are digitally duct-taping a workspace together to do the job they need rather than using a unified system.
  • This means sellers can spend hours each week updating the next steps for management to view, creating a massive waste of time. 
  • Scratchpad unifies sellers’ efforts by creating a space for sellers to work. Athletes have gyms, artists have studios, and salespeople have Scratchpad - a workspace for them.

The end goal? Eliminate sales stack drag.

  • For salespeople, drag is an important concept; it’s the burden on salespeople that prevents them from doing their best.
  • This could be due to many reasons, from the available tech stack and new sales methodologies to product information and new competitors.
  • Salespeople have to hit quotas and solve these challenges that create drag in their work.

Sellers, on average, only spend 40% of their time selling. 

  • Scratchpad gives you back time in your day, helping you reinvest that time into efforts that contribute to your bottom line. 
  • It helps sales teams share client information to make selling seamless, eliminating additional conversations to verify information already gathered.
  • Scratchpad was built with the seller in mind because If they love it, they’re more likely to encourage adoption to leadership. 
  • After adoption, sales leaders often realize Scratchpad doesn’t just increase sales performance but also employee morale.

From individual usage to departmental adoption:

  • Everyone processes information differently, and that level of flexibility should exist within a team’s space. 
  • Scrathpad’s deliberate customization meets salespeople where they are and is built to go anywhere with you.
  • It removes bouncing between tabs, uniting everything you need in just one place.
  • The concept of a new tool is thought of as another thing sellers have to learn. But anyone can start seeing value with Scratchpad after just a few minutes of use.

Visit scratchpad.com to sign up and get started using this helpful platform, and connect with Pouyan 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 episode is brought to you in part by Closers.io.

Closers.io helps sales reps land their dream remote sales gig, where they can set their own hours, work from anywhere, and make six or even multi-6 figures per year. That sure sounds good to us!

Committed to helping sales reps make a shift, Closers.io will place you in an available sales role that will increase your commissions and help you live the life you want. Apply for free now at go.closers.io/TSE.

This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

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.

Direct download: TSE_1561.mp3
Category:Favorite Sales Stack Tools -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

You can’t keep begging for a piece of the pie; you need to bake the whole pie yourself! In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald discusses three reasons why he baked his pie (and by that, we mean creating his own business development event.) Tune in to learn about Donald’s upcoming event to master the art of social selling!

Why create the event?

  • While Donald loves West Palm Beach, Florida, he found that existing sales meet-ups did not really pertain to B2B sellers. 
  • Wanting a place for B2B sellers to learn and grow alongside one another, Donald created his own!
  • It’s all-around business development. Whether you’re a full-cycle sales rep or a frontline seller; if you’re looking to find new strategies and tips, BusDev22 is the event for you.
  • Are you not local to Florida? Then, purchase a virtual pass to gain all the knowledge from the comfort of your home.

Donald’s three reasons to make BusDev22:

  • You can’t wait for people to do stuff for you; you have to take action. When it comes to the event, Donald wanted to make it happen. Take risks and try new things to succeed!
  • Donald saw and attended other events, but they never lived up to his expectations. He knew he wanted it to be workshops - a space to take notes, interact, and learn with others. This isn’t a college class - it’s a space to learn and apply new findings.
  • It’s something fun that helps others. If your company hasn’t quite found a way to crack the code to top-tier selling, there’s no better opportunity to learn how to get there.

To find out more, go to thesalesevangelist.com/busdev to learn more and purchase a ticket.

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 Closers.io.

Closers.io helps sales reps land their dream remote sales gig, where they can set their own hours, work from anywhere, and make six or even multi-6 figures per year. That sure sounds good to us!

Committed to helping sales reps make a shift, Closers.io will place you in an available sales role that will increase your commissions and help you live the life you want. Apply for free now at go.closers.io/TSE.

This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

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.

Direct download: TSE_1560.mp3
Category:special edition -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

In today’s special episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald discusses the highlights of his new book! Sell It Like a Mango, available on Amazon or at thesalesevangelist.com/mango, is full of principles, practices, and tips to sell your product through a shift in mindset and approach to sales. 

The premise of the book:

  • Donald saw many mango vendors in the street growing up in Jamaica. But they all sold the same product! So, why did some mangos sell better than others? Because the seller made the deal.
  • If your product has value, you sell it at that value. Donald set up a mango stand in his front yard, but people couldn’t see him and didn’t come. 
  • The takeaway? Get outside your comfort zone to be a successful seller.
  • This applies to everyone - people will sell the same thing as you, so you need to stand out.

In the book, Donald points out common sales misconceptions:

  • Misconception 1: My role as a seller is to convince the buyer to make a purchase. The real job is to educate the buyer to know they should make a purchase.
  • Misconception 2: The work doesn’t require a drive. Whether that’s a passion for the product or a desire to be in a better financial state, drive to sell is what will sell.

What else can you learn?

  • Handling and overcoming rejection. Sellers often encounter rejection, and it can be stressful and disheartening to experience. How can you bounce back?
  • Identify and attract the right prospect. Because while your product might be able to benefit everyone, you shouldn’t try to sell to everyone.
  • How to think like an entrepreneur. Sales reps don’t have the business on their back - if you don’t hit a quota, your business won’t fall apart. But how do you overcome adversities to succeed? 
  • Closing. The “close” doesn’t have to be an event. Don’t blow it out of proportion! You need to understand that nothing happens until you help people commit. Help prospects commit to minor things throughout the journey, like scheduling demos and signing papers to make it easier to close later!

Sell it Like A mango is a great resource, regardless of your experience as a seller. Visit thesalesevangelist.com/mango to preview the first chapter and leave a rating or review online! Let’s evangelize the world of sales.

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 Closers.io.

Closers.io helps sales reps land their dream remote sales gig, where they can set their own hours, work from anywhere, and make six or even multi-6 figures per year. That sure sounds good to us!

Committed to helping sales reps make a shift, Closers.io will place you in an available sales role that will increase your commissions and help you live the life you want. Apply for free now at go.closers.io/TSE.

This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

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.

Direct download: TSE_1559.mp3
Category:special edition -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Social selling is a topic many salespeople are familiar with. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by the CEO of Pipeline Signals and Sales for Life and pioneer of social selling, Jamie Shanks, to learn how he utilizes relationship mapping to land more enterprise deals.

Three triggers matter to your audience: 

  • Buying intent - Who is googling a keyword or downloading something off your website?
  • Product usage - Who uses which software, and how does that integrate with you?
  • Following the human - Humans make business decisions. Whether for a customer company or a pending relationship. 
  • How can you maintain this high-level maintenance for all your prospects if people are shuffling and moving positions in this great resignation?

It’s not impossible to do it all yourself, but it’s very challenging.

  • Missing sales intelligence is happening with all of your prospects because it’s just too much information for one person or team to stay on top of while maintaining their actual sales work. 
  • For B2B sellers, nearly every account will experience a turnover, promotion, or job change in your target department each month.
  • If you try to maintain his information yourself, identify your core customers critical to your business and focus on them.
  • At the very least, set up alerts on LinkedIn.

Jamie’s four-step guide to messaging the same person with a new job: 

  • Social connection - Bring them back to how they know you.
  • Value creation  - Explain how you can help the prospect make money, save money, or mitigate risk for their business.
  • Knowledge or value exchange - when booking a meeting, you aren’t selling a solution - you’re providing a knowledge exchange. Give something worth spending time on.
  • The call-to-action.

Jamie’s major takeaway? If you have hundreds or thousands of accounts, it will amaze you how many sales you can unlock by having a monitored database. It’s valuable to know what’s going on. To learn more about Jamie’s companies, visit their corresponding websites at Pipelinesignals.com and salesforlife.com. Connect with Jamie 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 episode is brought to you in part by Closers.io.

Closers.io helps sales reps land their dream remote sales gig, where they can set their own hours, work from anywhere, and make six or even multi-6 figures per year. That sure sounds good to us!

Committed to helping sales reps make a shift, Closers.io will place you in an available sales role that will increase your commissions and help you live the life you want. Apply for free now at go.closers.io/TSE.

This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

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.

Direct download: TSE_1558.mp3
Category:Favorite Sales Stack Tools -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Every seller wants the same things: more prospects and more sales. So why not use the best tools to help you get there? In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by VP of Sales and Marketing at GPSLockbox Andrew Velker to discuss his favorite sales tools.

Andrew’s favorite tools start with the swiss army knife of CRMs:

  • CRMs are the first and most important part of a sales tech stack, and Andrew prefers one that satisfies two questions: First, can it connect with other tools? Second, is it easy to use? Hubspot fulfills both.
  • Hubspot offers easy integration and is incredibly inclusive of other technical applications you might need.

Use LinkedIn Navigator to connect with the exact people you want.

  • Further turbo-charge LinkedIn Navigator by using Seamless.ai to connect with people you know fit your exact target demographic.
  • Finding the right people and having the right conversations will make your prospecting life immeasurably easier.
  • With these tools, you’ll automatically update contacts with new opportunities and touchpoints, which will dramatically diminish administrative work.

Other essential tools sellers should consider:

  • ZoomInfo and 6sense have robust tools to measure audience intent.
  • For government-focused sellers, GovSpend shows what different states and government sectors purchase.
  • SalesLoft is a powerful sales engagement platform that, when used correctly, helps keep a consistent cadence of communication to prospects.
  • All of these tools, if used correctly, help you find time to do the things that matter more - genuine engagement with quality prospects. 

Andrew’s final tool recommendation? His least sales-tech-stack tip is to use follow-ups, flags, and advanced search features to master your email inbox without the long administrative effort other organization efforts might take. To contact Andrew and further discuss his tech stack, add him on LinkedIn (@andrewvelker) or visit his company website at gpslockbox.com.

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 Closers.io.

Closers.io helps sales reps land their dream remote sales gig, where they can set their own hours, work from anywhere, and make six or even multi-6 figures per year. That sure sounds good to us!

Committed to helping sales reps make a shift, Closers.io will place you in an available sales role that will increase your commissions and help you live the life you want. Apply for free now at go.closers.io/TSE.

This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

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.

Direct download: TSE_1557.mp3
Category:Favorite Sales Stack Tools -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Sales teams are constantly looking for ways to maximize productivity and increase sales, and tech stacks are a big part of that goal. Only sometimes, these tools don’t always give us the results we want. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald shares three common issues salespeople face in finding the right tech stack.

Ask yourself: Can you use it?

  • Leadership often implements new tools and tech without consulting the sales staff who’d use them. 
  • Analyze the current selling practices of your organization before purchasing a new tool. If it doesn’t fit the existing methods, it might not receive high adoption rates.

The sales tools are implemented to cover lousy selling.

  • It doesn’t matter if you have the premium tier package of a piece of technology - if you don’t know how to sell properly, it’ll likely go to waste.
  • If you have bad selling practices, a new tech stack will help you sell poorly… at scale. (Not the most ideal result.)
  • Before you push for a new tech tool, find out if you can perform the basic task without it to practice and improve.

There are just too many tools.

  • During your next sales meetings, see which parts of your current tech stack salespeople use more frequently and think are more beneficial.
  • Watch training videos, read books, and visit Reddit groups and other platforms to learn how to maximize capabilities with your current tech before adding on more.

What other issues do you see in your tech stack? Let Donald know on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/donaldckelly/.

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 Closers.io.

Closers.io helps sales reps land their dream remote sales gig, where they can set their own hours, work from anywhere, and make six or even multi-6 figures per year. That sure sounds good to us!

Committed to helping sales reps make a shift, Closers.io will place you in an available sales role that will increase your commissions and help you live the life you want. Apply for free now at go.closers.io/TSE.

This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

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.

Direct download: TSE_1556.mp3
Category:Favorite Sales Stack Tools -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

In today’s episode, Donald is joined by executive coach Susie Tomenchok to learn how sales professionals can master the skill of negotiating without manipulating.

Negotiation isn’t manipulation:

  • Incorporating negotiating strategies and techniques help you and your team reach its needs or goals and open the door for priorities to rearrange and be met.
  • It’s not a winner/loser situation - negotiation should come from a place where you look to satisfy everyone.
  • Low-stakes negotiation happens every day. Mastering negotiation is the key to developing long-term success.
  • Conveying your interests isn’t manipulation - it’s telling your story to meet your needs.

Barriers to entering a high-stakes negotiation:

  • PACE: Prepare - aware - close - evaluate
  • Prepare, think at the moment, and be as objective as possible. Be aware of both your and the other party’s interests. Uncover relevant information to reach the close.
  • If you don’t know what you want, how can you expect yourself to negotiate well?
  • There are many pieces of leverage at play when in negotiation. Be cognizant of those levers to explore and realize what solution honors both parties.

Understand the solution from their perspective:

  • Negotiating conveys interests and beliefs - it’s an opportunity to connect and learn to know, like and trust another person.
  • As a seller, asking questions about the other party helps you learn more about them and why they’re not siding with you on the issue.
  • Even if you know the answer, never make an assumption. Let the other party be heard. 

Be intentional with silence:

  • Practice what you say, and teach yourself not to ramble after speaking.
  • Some people think of it as a game - just practice not talking, and you’ll grow more comfortable with it.
  • We listen least actively to people we know. Practicing silence can interrupt that cadence and convey attention to the other party.

Susie’s final takeaway? Anchor ideas you want others to know early on to allow the other party to get their head around it. For more great content from Susie, visit her website for more information or connect with her on LinkedIn. You can find her book, The Art of Everyday Negotiation without Manipulation, on Amazon. (Visit negotiationlove.com for giveaways and other great content as well!)

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 Closers.io.

Closers.io helps sales reps land their dream remote sales gig, where they can set their own hours, work from anywhere, and make six or even multi-6 figures per year. That sure sounds good to us!

Committed to helping sales reps make a shift, Closers.io will place you in an available sales role that will increase your commissions and help you live the life you want. Apply for free now at go.closers.io/TSE.

This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

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.

Direct download: TSE_1555.mp3
Category:Building Rapport -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

One of the best ways to build rapport with prospects is through their topics of interest. (And what better way to do that than by podcasting?) In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by Co-founder and CEO at Salescast Collin Mitchell to learn how he uses podcasting to build rapport with his clients.

Use podcasting to build a professional relationship.

  • People go on podcasts to contribute thought leadership and share knowledge with the world. Therefore, finding podcasts your clients or prospects have spoken on is a great way to learn more about them.
  • Listen Notes is a helpful resource to view podcasting information like topics, guest names, and show popularity. You can also search for specific people to see if your client or prospect has been on a podcast! 
  • People are often more personal and vulnerable on podcasts. So listening to a prospect’s guest episode is a great way to learn about them to use in conversation later.
  • For example, people on this show frequently talk about how they got involved with their organization, started their career, and sales methodology. That’s all great information to bring back to the prospect. 
  • Even more important is that you took the time to research and show up differently than everyone else.

Other podcasting strategies to build rapport:

  • Obviously, you can host your own podcast. There are many opportunities to get into podcasting, and the barriers to entry are low. 
  • Remember, the goal isn’t to get sponsors and downloads. It’s to get access to another person.
  • If you’re an enterprise seller, you can reach out to those in your target account list and ask if they want to join you for an episode. You’ll receive incredible engagement. 
  • Everyone is thankful to join a podcast. They appreciate being elevated alongside their peers, highlighting their expertise to their community.
  • You still need to build the relationship, don’t just try to sell something immediately after the recording stops.

Creating content for social and video opportunities:

  • Social media is huge, especially for sales. LinkedIn is a major platform to connect to your audience.
  • When we’re busy, creating original and consistent content is the first thing that falls by the wayside. But it’s a powerful tool to create growth.
  • Social media, if managed correctly, will be a powerful rapport-builder to connect and build relationships with more people in your industry.
  • Collin’s best video tip- use it as often as possible. A video conveys the authenticity and the human behind the screen, which shows who you are as a person and builds trust.

For more insightful sales content from Collin, check out his podcast Sales Transformation.

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 Closers.io.

Closers.io helps sales reps land their dream remote sales gig, where they can set their own hours, work from anywhere, and make six or even multi-6 figures per year. That sure sounds good to us!

Committed to helping sales reps make a shift, Closers.io will place you in an available sales role that will increase your commissions and help you live the life you want. Apply for free now at go.closers.io/TSE.

This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

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.

Direct download: TSE_1554.mp3
Category:Building Rapport -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

As a salesperson, you (hopefully) enjoy interacting with your prospects. However, a typical sales mistake is forcing the prospect to fit our communication style rather than the other way around. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by the author of The Savage Leader and founder of Group Sixty, Darren Reinke, to discuss building rapport the way the prospect wants

Sellers assume prospects like to communicate in the same style as the seller.

  • Selling should start with the understanding that we’re all different. Establishing that early on will impact your ability to build rapport.
  • Some people might like starting with a conversation; others prefer to focus on the tasks at hand. We’re all different.
  • Get a sense of the customer’s style by learning what motivates and drives them.
  • Listen to the prospect and pay attention to their tone and how they conduct themselves to understand how to communicate.

Three steps to learn a prospect’s communication style:

  • Intention: Have a willingness to change and do something different. Question if there are better ways to build rapport as a seller and think about the potential achievements.
  • Reflection: Know what kind of seller you are and use that understanding to change your communication (when necessary.)
  • Action: Analyze someone’s body language, tone of speaking, and how they interact and put that change into play.

A focus on the commission can ruin the relationship. 

  • If you see someone as a dollar sign, you probably won’t build rapport anytime soon.
  • Ask prompts to directly understand the audience - How do you like to receive information? How do you want to communicate?
  • Asking questions (and listening to the answers) will indicate how you can best communicate. Be more intentional with your questions.
  • People will come back to the conversation repeatedly because they like talking to you. Less talking and more listening is the best way to build relationships.

Darren’s biggest takeaway? Don’t sell the way you like to sell; sell the way the prospect wants to be sold. Tailor your style to engage your audience. Find Darren on LinkedIn, visit his website thesavageleader.com, and find his book on Amazon.

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 Closers.io.

Closers.io helps sales reps land their dream remote sales gig, where they can set their own hours, work from anywhere, and make six or even multi-6 figures per year. That sure sounds good to us!

Committed to helping sales reps make a shift, Closers.io will place you in an available sales role that will increase your commissions and help you live the life you want. Apply for free now at https://go.closers.io/TSE.

This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

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.

Direct download: TSE_1553.mp3
Category:Building Rapport -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Building rapport with prospects is the bridge that fosters trust needed to move through the sales process. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald introduces our newest season of content centered around building rapport with prospects. So what are three things that sellers get wrong with rapport-building? Find out in today’s episode.

Sellers put on their fake corporate persona.

  • Just because you represent a company doesn’t mean you need to sound like their answering machine.
  • Avoid fake, salesy language that isn’t your authentic self. Whether speaking to your next prospect or your close friend, you should sound the same.

Sellers aren’t interested enough in their prospects.

  • Be interested, not interesting. You should want to listen to your prospect, not try to inform them about yourself (beyond what’s necessary.)
  • People love talking about themselves. So allow your prospects to do that by talking about their interests, career, and company goals.

Sellers don’t create a dialogue with their prospects.

  • Don’t just give the prospect your full attention; demonstrate it. In virtual meetings, it can be difficult to 
  • Focus your time on what they do or don’t say rather than what your following dialogue will be.

A bonus: Use the person’s name in the conversation!

  • Mentioning a prospect’s name throughout the conversation is a great way to build rapport. It shows you're trying to create a genuine and authentic connection.
  • Make sure you don’t overdo it, however. It should fit the context of the conversation.

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 Closers.io.

Closers.io helps sales reps land their dream remote sales gig, where they can set their own hours, work from anywhere, and make six or even multi-6 figures per year. That sure sounds good to us!

Committed to helping sales reps make a shift, Closers.io will place you in an available sales role that will increase your commissions and help you live the life you want. Apply for free now at https://go.closers.io/TSE.

This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

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.

Direct download: TSE_1552.mp3
Category:Building Rapport -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by author, speak, and co-founder of Gap Wireless, Glenn Poulos, to discuss five ways to know your customer’s ecosystem. This conversation is based partially on Glenn’s recently published book, Never Sit in the Lobby, available now on Amazon.

Understand your key stakeholders.

  • Some salespeople sell simple things, and some people sell multi-million dollar systems. Whatever the product is, know what you’re talking about. And, more importantly, learn how to explain it to others.
  • Too often, salespeople are very technically proficient at explaining their solutions. However, this is potentially too descriptive for the prospect to understand your solution's clear benefits. 
  • Recognize who you need to speak to, identify their level of understanding, and adjust your speech to accommodate the stakeholder.

Isolate the prospects

  • Who are the people that will use and derive benefit from your solution? Those are the people you need to demonstrate to.
  • Showing the benefits to the implementer drives them to further the deal beyond what might happen when speaking exclusively to management.

Punch, perfect pitch, and close:

  • You might be presenting for a specific purpose, whether technical, financial or otherwise. Whatever it is, make it a good presentation.
  • The ‘punch’ is an attention-grabbing opening that captures the audiences’ attention and encourages them to pay attention to the rest of the presentation.
  • People get lost in details. When presenting a pitch, know which elements are essential to the prospect and which are not impactful to their bottom line.
  • The close should come naturally if you’ve completed the punch and the perfect pitch. If it isn’t, you’re likely selling too early in the conversation.

Visit Glenn’s website, glennpoulos.com, to download his free worksheet, find his book, and see 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 episode is brought to you in part by Closers.io.

Closers.io helps sales reps land their dream remote sales gig, where they can set their own hours, work from anywhere, and make six or even multi-6 figures per year. That sure sounds good to us!

Committed to helping sales reps make a shift, Closers.io will place you in an available sales role that will increase your commissions and help you live the life you want. Apply for free now at https://go.closers.io/TSE.

This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com

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.

Direct download: TSE_1551.mp3
Category:Objections -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

No matter what level of sales you’re in, you are bound to encounter objections. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, host Donald Kelly is joined by the co-founder and former owner of Solo Stove, Spencer Jan, for an in-depth look at Spencer’s experience handling his biggest sales objection.

But first, what does Spencer consider an objection? 

  • In general, Spencer sees sales objections as a lack of communication; the disconnect of not understanding the other person.
  • When objections arise, it’s not that they’re rejecting you, there’s simply a gap between you and the prospect.

In 2016 Spencer and his brother decided to sell their business.

  • When they went to sell, investment bankers and brokers told them their company wasn’t sellable. 
  • They were surprised because the business was very profitable. However, Spencer and his brother didn’t understand their buyer.
  • They realized a buyer wants to invest in a company, not necessarily run it. They aren’t looking to deal with day-to-day problems. And that was the objection they had to overcome. 

From 2016-to 2019, they transitioned to a structure someone would buy.

  • They listened to feedback and knowledge and assembled a self-sustaining team to run the company beyond their departure.
  • They rehearsed their pitch, had dry runs, integrated stories, and planned how to pitch their deck to investors and private equity groups.
  • Spencer and his brother were prepared and knew which objections to prepare for based on their research and conversations.

In 2019, they landed a nine-figure exit.

  • When you understand what people want, you can shift your mindset to account for those wants and create value.
  • Be willing to set your ego aside. People will reach a level of sales competency, but every customer is different. Take time to understand what your audience wants and tailor your message to that specific person.

Spencer’s major takeaway? When things don’t work out, just keep trying. Understand your audience’s needs, and keep moving to eventually make the sale. Find Spencer on LinkedIn and YouTube 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 episode is brought to you in part by Closers.io.

Closers.io helps sales reps land their dream remote sales gig, where they can set their own hours, work from anywhere, and make six or even multi-6 figures per year. That sure sounds good to us!

Committed to helping sales reps make a shift, Closers.io will place you in an available sales role that will increase your commissions and help you live the life you want. Apply for free now at https://go.closers.io/TSE.

This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.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.

Direct download: TSE_1550.mp3
Category:Objections -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Objections can strike fear into the hearts of salespeople everywhere. But what if there’s a simple formula to handle objections with confidence? In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, our guest Ryann Dowdy explains how we can integrate this sales strategy into our sales methodology. 

Ryann’s feelings on objections:

  • It’s about asking questions - focusing on the human to human connection and seeing the value in that connection
  • We think of a “closing problem,” but the “opening problem” can be just as essential to overcome.
  • Help people get what they want by using information they’ve already shared.

Overcome objections from the beginning:

  • It’s a simple philosophy: Jeb Blunt’s book Sales EQ explains that we have a physiological response (like increased heart rate) when someone raises an objection. 
  • When you get an objection, have a script to follow immediately after the objection to have time to collect yourself.
  • For Ryann, she likes to empathize and understand more about the objection to determine where it’s coming from and how to handle it.

Asking questions indicates where to speak further:

  • Strictly following a script reduces the human-to-human connection and might prevent you from understanding key information.
  • A short post-objection script can be helpful, but think critically and have a loose framework ready to dial in on the prospect's specific needs.
  • When asking questions, don’t let your emotions take control. Take a breath before speaking to think. Often, the prospect will start talking instead and give you more information.

Make conversations based on humanity:

  • If you focus on serving that prospect, you’ll strengthen the relationship and the trust alongside it.
  • It takes practice to avoid taking objections personally. Remember, you and your job are two different things - you bring value and are worthy, regardless of people saying no to a product or service.
  • The first time you sit in front of a buyer might not be the right time for the buyer - it’s all about how you handle the rejection.

Ryann’s major takeaway? Ask more questions and never assume you understand a prospect’s objection. For more content from Ryann, check out her book, The 100k Sales Method, on Amazon and connect with her on LinkedIn and Instagram.

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 Closers.io.

Closers.io helps sales reps land their dream remote sales gig, where they can set their own hours, work from anywhere, and make six or even multi-6 figures per year. That sure sounds good to us!

Committed to helping sales reps make a shift, Closers.io will place you in an available sales role that will increase your commissions and help you live the life you want. Apply for free now at https://go.closers.io/TSE.

This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.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.

Direct download: TSE_1549.mp3
Category:Objections -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by COO of People.ai Art Harding. With twenty years of experience in the industry, he’s had plenty of practice overcoming B2B objections through digital transformations.

What is a digital transformation?

  • Sure, it’s Uber and Netflix. But it is not solely a technology play; it’s reimagining the customer experience and using technology to facilitate those changes.
  • Uber didn’t invent cars, apps, or driving strangers. They just combined those elements in a unique way to make something new.
  • The classic go-to-market functions had relatively siloed expectations. Marketing was responsible for branding; sellers were responsible for closing deals, etc.
  • Those transformations affected these elements at different rates to unlock new digital journeys.

Digital transformations start from the inside out. 

  • Younger generations use the tools and data they expect from a professional (or implement themselves as they grow in their careers.)
  • Enterprise sales have dramatically changed in the last few years, and that’s as a result of digital transformations.
  • Different departments need to become more connected to limit objections fostered within a lack of communication.
  • As technology moves into the customer journey, the person's role becomes even more valuable.

Buyers are more educated now than ever.

  • Sellers need a recurring delivery of value, which means overcoming continual objections far past the initial discovery. 
  • Sellers need to know how a buyer can take the product you’re selling and apply it to reach their next goal or outcome.
  • Be informed on how to drive the buyer’s next steps with the product you sell.

Technology allows a focus on customer understanding.

  • Frontline managers no longer need to remind sellers of internal practices but rather anticipate objections and understand solutions for buyers to progress sales.
  • Technology allows you to understand (as a sales manager) if your sellers are addressing the proper objections, utilizing the correct persona, and scheduling and identifying the suitable methods that will lead to a sale.
  • There’s a difference between understanding the objection and addressing the objection.
  • Sales leaders should be able to validate if sellers are hitting the right personas if sellers are prioritizing the correct accounts and if there is a process to qualify unaddressed accounts. 
  • If you don’t have a frontline manager program with defined competencies, your future of digital transformations will not progress easily.

Connect with Art on LinkedIn or email him at art@people.ai 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 episode is brought to you in part by Closers.io.

Closers.io helps sales reps land their dream remote sales gig, where they can set their own hours, work from anywhere, and make six or even multi-6 figures per year. That sure sounds good to us!

Committed to helping sales reps make a shift, Closers.io will place you in an available sales role that will increase your commissions and help you live the life you want. Apply for free now at https://go.closers.io/TSE.

This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.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.

Direct download: TSE_1548.mp3
Category:Objections -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

The pushy salesperson is still the preemptive perception many people think of when they think of salespeople, but in today’s world, that image is no longer accurate. Instead, closing a sale is best accomplished by overcoming objections by selling with a servant’s heart. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by Jim Doyle to discuss why this is so important.

What exactly is the term “selling with a servant’s heart?”

  • It is being obsessed with the customer outcome. It’s more than a win-win because if it’s right for the customer, it’s right.
  • A short term might not be in the seller’s best interest if it means the customer wins in the long term.
  • You’re here to serve, not to sell.  This should be the default mentality of salespeople. As you embrace it, you’ll see more success with this mentality.

A servant’s heart can help overcome objections.

  • One of his book chapters is, “ask a million questions.” Salespeople are taught to answer questions without focusing on uncovering the seller’s needs. Instead, an in-depth conversation is needed to understand their situation thoroughly.
  • A transactional seller is likely to hear more objections than a diagnosis-based seller.
  • Objections are likely tied back to a lack of information, and that lack of data results from the three-question qualification process.
  • Selling is the process of taking away the buyer’s risk. As a seller, make the leap of faith as small as possible. And how you approach the sale is what reduces risk.

Mitigating risk overcomes objections and is leads to more sales.

  • Especially in the corporate setting, the decision needs to help both the company and the specific buyer.
  • Help the buyer feel comfortable and aware of the process to reduce their likelihood of objections.

Teach, not sell.

  • As a seller, explain how and why your solution will work for the buyer rather than simply explaining why they should buy it.
  • Focus on being a solution provider, which means entering a meeting being clear on your intentions, questions, and process.

Jim’s final takeaway? Everything you give is given to you in return. So, focus on making a difference in the world for positivity to come back to you. Connect with Jim on LinkedIn and find Jim’s book “Selling with a Servant Heart” on Amazon

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 Closers.io.

Closers.io helps sales reps land their dream remote sales gig, where they can set their own hours, work from anywhere, and make six or even multi-6 figures per year. That sure sounds good to us!

Committed to helping sales reps make a shift, Closers.io will place you in an available sales role that will increase your commissions and help you live the life you want. Apply for free now at https://go.closers.io/TSE.

This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad.

Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution.

Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.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.

Direct download: TSE_1547.mp3
Category:Objections -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

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 PodcastGoogle PodcastStitcher, 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. 

Direct download: TSE_1546.mp3
Category:Forecasting -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

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.

Direct download: TSE_1545.mp3
Category:Forecasting -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

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.

Direct download: TSE_1544.mp3
Category:Forecasting -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

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:

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.

Direct download: TSE_1543.mp3
Category:Forecasting -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

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.

Direct download: TSE_1542.mp3
Category:Forecasting -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

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.

Direct download: TSE_1541.mp3
Category:Forecasting -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

While mastering closing is critical, understanding how to open with a data-driven approach is a powerful component to help find and complete more deals. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by author and founder of Win BIG Media Phillip Stutts to discuss the proper ways to begin prospecting. 

The average American sees up to 10,000 ads every day. 

  • Ipso facto, how is your messaging breaking out of the clutter?
  • The correct entry point for salespeople is to create a deeper connection with the prospect and understand what moves them.
  • Whether it’s a B2B or B2C company, Phillip makes each of his clients dive into their customer base to understand more about them and their values.
  • The point isn’t to manipulate; it’s to use that understanding to create a deeper connection that closes more deals.

What can a sales rep start to gain that understanding?

  • Phillip partners with a major data analytics company to create custom data reports. If you have $7500-10000 to spare, this is high-quality data for a few audience segments that matter.
  • If that’s a little out of your price range, just figure out more data on what’s going on. That could be surveys sent to your clients or running small ad campaigns on Google or Facebook.

Phillip’s five steps to using that data:

  • What moves them? You’ve done this by collecting data about your audience.
  • Build out a sales plan. Before jumping into tactics, build a plan that integrates your collected data.
  • Create the brand. The key point - this happens after determining what moves your audience and creating a sales plan.
  • Testing your messaging and branding to refine for your audience.
  • Finally, sell, pitch, or market (because you’ve now eliminated all the risks.)

Phillip’s major takeaway? This is the most disruptive moment in human history, and the best companies are the ones that stand out and think differently. To get in contact with Phillip, visit his website, phillipstutts.com. Or, to start the conversation on what data analytics might look like for your company, visit phillipstutts.com/insights. Check out his book, The Undefeated Marketing System, on Amazon.

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.

Direct download: TSE_1540.mp3
Category:Sales Training -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

The best way to have a great discovery call is by mentally preparing for the call beforehand. But what’s the best way to do this? In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by sales and mindset coach Isaac Ho to discuss his strategies and tricks to prepare for a successful discovery call

Mental preparation can be the difference between an okay and a great call. 

  • People often make decisions that fuel a latent belief they’re not even aware they have.
  • Sales is just a transfer of energy. If you’re unprepared for a call or meeting, you transfer the wrong energy to the prospect or client.
  • If you’ve done no research or prep about a company before a meeting, you must spend time and energy learning about the org rather than come to the meeting with thoughts to the table.
  • When you enter a meeting, be curious. While a prospect will give you an understanding of their problem, they could be missing something that completely changes the situation.

How does Isaac mentally prepare for a discovery call?

  • Be clear about what’s going on inside of yourself. What is your intention with the call? It’s not just to sell something, it’s to be curious and learn what the client needs.
  • Don’t talk to people to just match them to a particular solution; that ignores the prospect's thoughts about the situation.
  • People buy from a salesperson when they understand their problems better than anyone else. 

How to come mentally prepared to your next discovery call:

  • Especially if you sell your own product or service, leave your baggage at the door. Don’t take responses personally. You’ll start responding to rejections as they argue directly with you.
  • Accept that you can do everything right, and some people still won’t move. So stop making someone’s decision about you. 
  • Understand the difference between a shadow (when you suppress something about yourself and then project that into the call) and a trigger (when you overreact to a problem not yet dealt with.)

To get in touch with Isaac, visit his website, isaachocoaching.com, or connect with him 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.

Direct download: TSE_1539.mp3
Category:Sales Training -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Discovery calls are thought to be a challenging element for almost any salesperson. But what if we were to tell you there’s a way to see more success with them? In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by the founder of 7th Level Jeremy Miner to discuss discovery call techniques that don’t scare away your prospect (because we don’t want that, trust me.)

What makes a bad discovery?

  • Sellers are taught the selling “ABC’s - Always Be Closing. But with today’s cautious buyers, this strategy doesn’t always come across well.
  • To be great at sales, skip the C and learn the ABD’s of selling - Always Be Disarming.

What triggers a prospect to buy or not to buy?

  • Salespeople trigger behaviors by what they’re asking (and, more importantly, what they aren’t asking.)
  • Salespeople frequently come across as too enthusiastic, talking about their solution too early in the conversation. 
  • While you should be excited about what you sell, it shouldn’t be the point that it comes across as fake. Keep the joy internal. 
  • According to behavioral science, prospects subconsciously pick up on nonverbal cues in the first 7-12 seconds of conversation.
  • If you come across as aggressive, needy, or attached and don’t know the right questions, it triggers the brain to get rid of you.

It’s not them; it’s you.

  • Come across as neutral, unbiased, and calm. Ask the right questions at the right time to encourage a prospect to open up to you.
  • Don’t focus on making the sale. Instead, focus on determining if your solution can help.
  • Jeremy’s advice? Never start a conversation by asking someone how they’re doing - it’s a disingenuous greeting. 
  • Instead, start the meeting and get to business. Spend the first meeting determining if their organization is even a company that fits what you’re able to do.
  • If you enter the conversation assuring them that you’re going to solve their problem, you’ll never find out if that’s true. Stay unbiased.

Learn the right questions that trigger people to be pulled in.

  • When Jeremy first started sales, he struggled. It took practice and time learning to understand how to perform well.
  • Most objections you get are triggered by you, the salesperson.
  • When the conversation starts, you need to determine their current state and where they want to go. As a salesperson, you need to show prospects the gap between where they are and where they want to go and reveal that gap.

Selling is all about change. But human beings don’t like change (even though we say we do.) To learn more about what Jeremy does, join Jeremy’s Facebook sales group (with over 15,000 members) to receive free training, resources and more.

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.

Direct download: TSE_1538.mp3
Category:Sales Training -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

While setting up discovery calls is the first half of the battle, the other half is getting the prospect to show up. And a great solution to drive attendance is by using a text message. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by founder and CEO of Salesmsg Chris Brisson to talk about how you can use text messaging to increase meeting show rates

SMS can be used for anything, from lead generation to conversion and engagement.

  • Sales is a three-step process: sign up, show up, and pay up. 
  • Creating a multichannel approach is the best way to drive attendance. A simple text message offers a simple last-minute reminder shortly before meetings.
  • We are a conversational society, so short messages with an understandable motive won't’ be considered spammy or annoying.

Implementing SMS software into your business:

  • If you want to test SMS messaging without a monetary investment, manually send a standard text message an hour before the meeting.
  • But to scale this process, a system is necessary.
  • With Salesmsg, you’ll have a way to respond to those messages if someone responds.
  • Remember, it’s not a general broadcast message - it’s conversational. 
  • SMS can also be the channel for micro-questions that need answering and lead to more meaningful discussions. 
  • To start a conversation with a prospect, ask simple questions that ease them into a conversation.

What are some ways to get the phone number of people?

  • Start today. And, depending on your business, the way you gather phone numbers might be different. 
  • You need an opt-in! Don’t just import a list and send mass text messages. (It isn’t legal.)
  • Include the proper language and start the conversation.
  • Providing your number first can help break the apprehension someone might have about supplying their number.

For access to case studies showing the advantage of SMS messaging for business, visit  customers.salesmessage.com. The SaaS Academy case study is particularly helpful to see how people can use SMS to make more money. Use this link for free access to Salesmsg’s Text Size Your Business PDF, and head over to salesmsg.com to start a free 14-day trial to get introduced to the platform. (They’re the #1 integration on HubSpot.) For more content from Chris, connect with him 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.

Direct download: TSE_1537.mp3
Category:Sales Training -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Discovery calls aren’t just the first part of the process - they’re where the close begins. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald will dive into seven common mistakes salespeople make when making discovery calls (and, more importantly, how you can fix them.) 

  1. Stop the lackluster pre-call prep.
  • We know back-to-back zoom meetings can be tiring. But from the prospect’s perspective, you have just one meeting. So come prepared!
  • It’s not just a discovery for you; it’s a discovery for the prospect to see if they’re interested in working with you.
  • Consider creating an agenda for the prospect to review before the meeting to ensure everyone gets what they want out of it.
  1. Don’t ask what you should already know.
  • Call the company ahead, speak to end-users, and get helpful information.
  • Entering the discovery call with the intel you need will set you apart as a salesperson and demonstrate the qualities you want to convey.
  1. Talk less
  • Salespeople should not be taking more than 40% of the time. Instead, ask questions that provoke the prospect to spend more time responding.
  1. Build a rapport.
  • Top performers engage in 17% less small talk than other salespeople.
  • When it comes to conversations with the prospect, don’t waste time on small talk that doesn’t contribute to a substantial discussion. 
  • Even if it isn’t necessarily related to your product, discuss things that further develop a relationship between you and the prospect. (AKA, not the weather.)
  1. Fully understand pain points.
  • Only 13% of customers believe a salesperson can understand their needs.
  • 44% of customers feel that only 25% of current providers help them maximize their value
  • As a salesperson, don’t be afraid to have the prospect explain their situation in detail, so you have a comprehensive understanding (and thus provide a comprehensive solution.)
  • Don’t ask a set standard of questions - ask clarifying and follow-up questions to get the most out of your interactions! 
  • While a scripted template of questions can be a starting point, it is far from the only thing you should ask. 
  1. Next steps
  • Don’t end a meeting without setting up a plan for the next one. Instead, consider setting aside the final five minutes of the meeting to ensure time to arrange the next steps. 
  1. Focus on the wrong competitors.
  • The biggest competitor you have isn’t a company; it’s the status quo.
  • People like keeping things the way they are. What about your product should make them embrace change?
  • 60-80% of deals end in no decision - meaning the prospects don’t see enough of a reason to change their current situation. 

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.

Direct download: TSE_1536.mp3
Category:Sales Training -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Prospecting is a critical element of the sales process. After all, how can you expect new business if you aren’t finding new prospects who can benefit from your product? In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by entrepreneur and speaker AJ Vassar to discuss how to prepare yourself for better prospecting

Salespeople need new clients in their pipeline. 

  • Despite this, it’s an area where people are frequently challenged.
  • In sales, we learn ABC - always be closing. But, just as important is the idea of the prospecting ABC - always be connecting.
  • Connecting and establishing a network is integral to being a successful salesperson. But don’t just connect with random people; find people you can provide value to (and vice versa.)
  • When you also focus on connecting people with others, you’ll be top of mind in all instances. And that is a critical element to have.

What if a salesperson doesn't have time to connect with new people?

  • You have to make time. Connecting people with other people makes you an asset they’ll want to interact with (and hopefully do business with.)
  • If you help enough people get what they want, you’ll get what you want.
  • Relationships are like a bank account: Don’t make a withdrawal before making a deposit.

Using this skill on LinkedIn: 

  • If you’re connected on LinkedIn, what can you do in 10 minutes per day to find success?
  • One of AJ’s mentors is Ronald Jackson, retired three-star army general, ex-referee for the NBA, and professor at Georgia Tech.
  • The very first thing AJ asked him was, “tell me your goals, and what can I help you achieve?” People don’t mind talking about themselves - they love it.
  • And everyone, no matter how wealthy, has goals you might be able to help accomplish.

One major takeaway: The saying “your net worth is your network” is incredibly apt. But, more importantly, it’s not who you know, but who knows you. Follow AJ on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook 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 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.

Direct download: TSE_1535.mp3
Category:Sales Training -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

It’s no secret that mentors and coaches can be the extra push that gets us to the top. But how can we go about finding great mentors? In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by Gabrielle Blackwell (GB), co-founder of Women in Sales Club (which focuses on empowering and enabling women to succeed in sales), to discuss her tactics and strategy when finding and interacting with a potential mentor.

The problem: There’s a need for mentors.

  • When GB got into sales, she wanted to be the best. However, she needed to learn more first.
  • After suffering a concussion from a car accident, she needed to revitalize her efforts and get back on her sales feet. So, GB talked to people to evaluate if she was moving in the right direction.
  • Sales reps and leaders need to acknowledge that you don’t have to know everything.
  • Admitting you don’t know something requires an environment where you feel comfortable. And, upon noticing the discrepancy between what you know and what you need to know, you can ask for help.

People either want to change or have to change.

  • “I don’t know” needs to be normalized. 
  • And before management can care about meeting expectations, they need to show you how to meet those expectations. It’s their job to teach you. Part of advocating for yourself involves recognizing when you need to advocate for yourself.
  • A mentor is not going to fall in your lap.
  • Sandler’s You Can’t Teach a Kid to Ride a Bike at a Seminar discusses the Dummy Curve. (When you first start something, you ask questions. But as you learn more, you regurgitate what you know rather than listen to what’s happening around you.)

You don’t need to let people know how much you know.

  • If someone asked me to be a mentor, what is it you’re trying to accomplish? What is it about me that makes you uniquely qualified to be a mentor?
  • Who are subject matter experts at what you’re trying to get better at?
  • Once you target those people, consume their content—research what they’re doing. Approach them with questions and comments about their content and their work. Show the drive.

It’s such a show of strength to ask for help. If you know what you need help with, that’s great. But if you don’t know what you don’t know, that’s also great. For more great content from GB, sign up for the Women in Sales Club Newsletter and connect with her 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 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.

Direct download: TSE_1534.mp3
Category:Sales Training -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Many salespeople rely on assumptions about salespeople - think the cringe-inducing car salesman from movies. But while there’s truth in its origins, that description is no longer true to the modern salesperson. And while the modern salesperson embraces technology to achieve more, they often fall short. The takeaway? We aren’t getting better at selling. So how can we improve? In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald brings on sales teacher, author, and consultant Andy Paul to discuss his strategy for revitalized selling.

While there are commonalities, there is more than one way to sell well.

  • The push to sales conformity is really for management, not the seller. Because management wants something predictable. However, the real world is more complicated. 
  • You learn, take those learnings and apply them to life. And you become the sum of your experience and knowledge. We all end up doing things differently, even if they lead to the same result.
  • Despite all the tools and technological advancements that benefit us, we aren’t getting better at selling. 
  • We have ready access to a world of information, so it should make for a better and more efficient buying experience. However, our win rates are dropping.
  • His book was a way of acknowledging the common sales behaviors, stopping, and doing only what works.

The problem starts with educating sellers on what their job is.

  • When asked “what’s your job?” The answer comes back “to persuade someone to buy my product.”
  • In reality, your job is to listen to the prospective buyer’s challenges and help them find resources to overcome those problems.
  • Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should.
  • The Catalyst by Jonah Berger - Human beings have a resistance to being persuaded.
  • Instead of persuasion, think about it from an influence perspective. Persuasion is coercive, while influence is affecting the actions of others without force. It’s a change in mindset.

Four Pillars of Changing Sales

  • Connection - Some people conflate a relationship with a friendship. While you don’t need to be friends with your buyers, you make connections in every interaction you have with them. Credibility and trust promote the relationship that makes a buyer choose to invest their time and energy into you. The seller is the first line of differentiation to the buyer. It costs you nothing to build a level of trust, but it does make a difference.
  • Curiosity - We understand the world through curiosity and asking questions. The currently accepted sales process has a tiny time fr discovery. But in reality, this process should happen in every conversation with the prospect or buyer. To be interesting to someone else, you first need to be interested in them.
  • Understanding - Our job is to listen to the most important thing to the buyer. What’s the context? A salesperson’s time to understand the buyer is a process that should never stop. Fully understand the buyer to determine how you can help them overcome challenges.
  • Generosity - Humans are wired to give and collectively support one another. It triggers reciprocity, and the purpose of your generosity is to achieve what is important for both parties.

Value exists only in the eyes of the buyer. The point you should achieve in sales is to help make a decision after an interaction. Were they closer to making a decision at the end of a call? If not, why did you have the meeting? 

We don’t have a lot of control over our lives. But the baseline choices we make as sellers can help achieve what’s most important to them, which is all the difference you might need to make a sale. 

Andy’s Manifesto - Sign it (especially as a sales leader)

Go to his website andypaul.com, Amazon, or anyplace books are sold to check out and order his book TITLE. SIgn his manifesto 

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.

Direct download: TSE_1533.mp3
Category:Sales Training -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

More people use LinkedIn now than ever before. Is it the promised land? Not quite. But it’s still an excellent resource to find leads, start conversations, and ultimately convert connections. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by authentic seller and co-host of the making Sales Social Podcast Bill McCormick to discuss generating conversations that convert on everyone’s favorite professional social media platform. 

Three groups of people to understand on LinkedIn:

  • The Lion: The people with a ton of connections they might not know very well. (Recruiters are a great example of this group.)
  • The Purist: People who only connect with people in their industry or area. While they have high-quality connections, they don’t have very many.
  • The Networker: People who see LinkedIn as a networking room open to connecting with new people. This group is the median between the Lion and the Purist.

A critical part of every LinkedIn connection strategy is the introduction.

  • How many times do you connect without interacting with your contacts? Probably more than you think.
  • In fact, you’re likely already connected to your ideal contacts, but you forgot about them.
  • Bombbomb is a great resource to send video introduction messages that stand out and encourage communication with one another. It fosters conversation.

Conversations aren’t rocket science.

  • Even with the free LinkedIn platform, you can filter potential contacts based on area, industry, and more criteria. (The takeaway: you don’t always need Sales Navigator.)
  • We listen with our eyes. (Yes, you heard and read that right.) 
  • Being a helpful resource to prospects, even if that means working with someone other than you, is the best way to approach social selling and build credibility.
  • Determine what kind of content is helpful to your prospect’s problems. But instead of just sending a link, ask to send the link. And only send it if they ask for it.
  • Sharing content correctly conveys the trust and credibility that establishes yourself as a thought leader.

Only 2% of LinkedIn users share content.

  • You differentiate yourself by sharing content at least once per week. (Posting twice a week is even crazier.)
  • You want your content to resonate with your followers before you pitch.
  • Then, create curiosity. Make your audience think about something they’ve never thought about before. Teach them something new about their product or platform.
  • Ask yourself if you’re creating curiosity or just pitching. Only then can you worry about disseminating content.
  • Content should be a mixture of one-to-many, one-to-few, and one-to-one. Variety is the spice of life (and your LinkedIn feed)

Final tip: LinkedIn is the Rolodex of today. You can search their connections and see if they can connect you with others. To get Bill’s referral formula, connect with him on LinkedIn. Subscribe to his podcast, Making Sales Social, which features interviews with top sales and marketing leaders and strategic tips to master LinkedIn. Finally, become a free member of Social Sales Link to access a free library of resources, from masterclasses to platform optimization tips.

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.

Direct download: TSE_1532.mp3
Category:Sales Training -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Video is one of the most successful and valuable tactics salespeople can implement to land more meetings and reach higher sales goals. But it can be challenging to start without understanding the basics. On today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by Vidyard’s VP of Marketing and Chief Video Strategist Tyler Lessard to discuss how you can start integrating video content into your outreach campaigns.

Common Video Mistakes:

  • The largest mistake is the perception of video in today’s business world. Video is no longer a one-to-many, high-quality product like movies and advertisements. Now it’s about connection, not perfection.
  • Video is just a new mode to communicate with prospects like phone calls, social media, and traditional email. However, short videos are a visual medium that drastically help create a connection.
  • You don’t need a scripted, rehearsed monologue. The goal is authenticity.
  • A viewer can see the passion and excitement for the product or service that email just can’t quite convey, making it a more emotionally effective strategy than traditional messaging.

Subject LIne Best Practices:

  • People typically send video messages as an email. Therefore, getting people to open the email is your greatest challenge.
  • Teasing a video in the subject line piques curiosity and stands out from what’s happening out there, resulting in higher open rates.
  • When people end video the same way they send emails, it doesn't feel right. These videos are an opportunity to convey authenticity and show passion, likely with a more interest-based CTA. 
  • If you can incorporate something immediately relatable to your audience, it can stimulate higher engagement. 

How creative do you need to be to send video content?

  • You don’t need to be a creative video-maker. However, be creative in your messaging. For example, visiting a prospect’s LinkedIn profile with a screen-share to show something you notice.
  • Consider filming pre-meeting and post-meeting videos. Even if it’s a short, 20-second reminder, it creates a rhythm of communication and increases the meeting show rate.
  • Post-meeting, send a video recap to attendees and people who missed the meeting, which increases your exposure and familiarity with the team.

Tyler’s final takeaway? Whatever industry you’re in, video is here to stay and now is the time to figure out how you can use it to communicate your ideas. Vidyard has a tremendous amount of free resources for salespeople on their website, vidyard.com. Get in touch with Tyler on LinkedIn for more resources and content. His book, The Visual Sale, is available on Amazon. Check out co-author Marcus Sheridan’s appearance on The Sales Evangelist. 

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.

Direct download: TSE_1531.mp3
Category:Sales Training -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Converting web leads is the dream for virtually every B2B company. What if we told you there’s a way to increase the conversion rate for web visitors by as much as double your current rates? In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by co-founder and CEO of Chili Piper, Nicolas Vandenberghe, to discuss how his SaaS platform does just that.

Only a fraction of website visitors turns into sales leads.

  • The key to improving your conversion rate is to automate your inbound process. 
  • The old inbound strategy depended on a human salesperson reaching out to a prospect (typically based on a form submission.)
  • This humanist delay can result in up to days of lag time between the form and the response. And the business world is just too fast-paced for that.
  • Speed to Lead helps overcome this issue by automating the qualification process and scheduling meetings in real-time.

Prequalification is critical to faster client acquisition.

  • You don’t want to waste time interacting with a potential client who won’t be suitable for your product. (And conversely, you shouldn’t want to waste their time.)
  • Because so much data is available, clients can be pre-qualified automatically. For example, prequalification based on company size or revenue is easily accessible information that can be automatically checked with the initial form submission.
  • Qualifying based on intent is trickier, but it can be accomplished through observing website visit frequency to gauge intent.

Consider reallocating manpower to positions only humans can do.

  • Human beings are better at influencing and building trust, which is why Nicholas recommends inbound SDRs be reallocated to outbound SDR positions. 
  • Many elements of the inbound process are menial and repetitive, like scheduling meetings and answering form submissions. People don’t need to spend so much time on the administrative elements of the profession.
  • The added value of a real salesperson is in our ability to influence - something machines just can't do as effectively.

Nicolas’s final takeaway? The beauty of machines is that you can continually optimize them to better serve you and your prospects. You can experiment with which criteria are most important and adjust accordingly. Decisions are made fast, and they go to the fastest-moving person. So don’t let a lag time in inbound messaging cause slow sales cycles that result in opportunity loss. If you're interested in demoing this automated conversion platform, visit chilipiper.com. (They use their tool, so we’re sure you’ll be contacted promptly.)

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.

Direct download: TSE_1530.mp3
Category:Sales Training -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

There aren’t many people in the world who look forward to cold calling. (And if you're one of those people, you deserve an award.) But if you want to see an immediate improvement in your cold outreach, there are two things your prospects should know as soon as you start your first interaction. Find out what those are on today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist. 

1: Who are you?

  • Your initial outreach should include your name (we hope that’s obvious). Still, it should also include the relevant information about you that will ease prospect anxiety and make them more receptive to what you have to say.
  • This information could be how you found them, like LinkedIn or at a networking event. Even better, you could reference other people in the company the prospect works with, and that they suggested the connection. 

2: What do you want?

  • Once a prospect understands who you are, the seller must explain why they’re calling.
  • Typically, there’s a reason you selected these specific people to cold call. As a result, you (hopefully) know a few pain points that you can use to prompt them into a conversation.
  • They might not be receptive to an interaction at this particular time, but in explaining what you want, even if it’s just to schedule a follow-up meeting to discuss if your product is right for them, they’ll be more likely to agree to the next step.
  • Remember, you call dozens of similar people each day; you have experience and knowledge beneficial to these prospects. 

This two-part strategy is necessary for any cold outreach campaign, whether on the phone, email, or LinkedIn networking. Bring value to the table, and you’ll have a better chance of landing that next appointment. 

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.

Direct download: TSE_1529.mp3
Category:Sales Training -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Many salespeople dream of reaching the illustrious seven-figure earners club. But how can you achieve this goal? In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by Brandon Fluharty to discuss his seven-step framework for making seven figures in enterprise SaaS sales

There are core truths to seven-figure selling: 

  • You’re likely selling to large enterprise companies. While you can do it with small and medium-sized companies, it is challenging.
  • You have experience (and confidence) selling to large clients. 
  • You need the patience to endure incredibly long sales cycles.
  1. Get in the right environment.
  • Find your “Goldilocks” situation concerning your ideal workplace, whatever that may be.
  • What kind of internal infrastructure do you need to feel comfortable and successful?
  1. Build a transformation mindset
  • Seven-figure earners sell a transformation that doesn’t just solve an issue; it prevents the problem from happening again. 
  • In SaaS, you want to be the player touching multiple parts of the business. And that takes a transformational mindset.
  1. Be strategic about your target account list.
  • Sell to clients that give you purpose. Identify the reasons you like you prefer your ideal client, and search for more that fit those criteria. 
  • Doing so keeps you motivated during dishearteningly long sales cycles that enterprise companies have.
  1. Create a standard no one else delivers.
  • The Diamond Standard - Picture a coal field in your competitive scenario, and be the diamond for your clients. 
  • It is easier to perform to this standard when working with the clients you are interested in and passionate about.
  1. Break through personal limitations
  • The higher you climb, the more imposter syndrome you’ll feel. For example, Brandon initially thought his introversion limited his success. 
  • But, as he climbed the ranks, Brandon realized he could listen more than talk. And that weakness turned into a strength.
  • Write down traits you feel hold you back. Then, how can you repurpose those and turn them into strengths?
  1. Rally others inside your organization
  • Nothing great is achieved alone. And when you’re talking about seven and eight-figure deals, you’ll need help. 
  • Be a generalist with your skillset, but be a specialist with your outcome.
  • Be confident that you’re engaged and can make an impact. Don’t dictate; collaborate.
  1. Develop a personal operating system
  • Move out of hustle culture and work more intelligently.
  • DFC: Discipline, flexibility, and curiosity. Anything with a start, middle, and end should utilize these components.
  • PREP: Plan, Rest, Effort, Performance. 
  • Balance these two frameworks to operate and live life instead of hustling around the clock. (It’s a much more humanistic approach.)

Follow Brandon on LinkedIn for more content, information, and insights. Subscribe to his bi-weekly email newsletter Be Focused, LIve Great for a discounted copy of his e-book upon its release! 

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.

Direct download: TSE_1528__rev.mp3
Category:Sales Training -- posted at: 6:00am EDT