Andy Paul's Blog, page 22

643: It’s all About Trust: for Marketing, Sales, and Customers w/ Sangram Vajre

Sangram Vajre, CMO and Co-Founder of Terminus, joins me on this episode of #Accelerate!

 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Sangram says the biggest single challenge facing sales reps today is trust. It comes from building relationships over time. Business thrives on trust. People buy in trust.
Pitching and talking about your product do not build trust. Sangram gives examples of daily emails he receives that do not build trust. Personal notes commenting on things Sangram has written can build trust with him.
Andy recommends The Speed of Trust, by Stephen M.R. Covey, with cornerstones for building trust: transparency of motivation, integrity of actions, competence, and execution. Be clear that you are there to help them.
40 years ago Andy did most of his prospecting on the phone, after an initial period of cold-calling in person. Trust can be built on the phone almost as well as in person.
Andy tells about going on a call with another rep whose passion was expressed by saying “I’m not here to sell you anything, I’m here to help you. I help businesses grow their sales profitably.” It wasn‘t just a line; he believed it.
If you don’t believe in the product, it’s really hard to sell it with confidence. At Terminus, they bring in customers every month to talk to the sales reps and build their confidence in the product by enthusiastic endorsement.
Besides confidence in a product, reps need confidence in their own values. Some reps fear being challenged. They need to write values down and share them, so they can defend them. Sales teams need to have shared values.
Andy quotes Vince Lombardi about your thoughts eventually becoming your character. When you first interact with a potential buyer, they sense your character. First perceptions are strong and sticky.
#OneTeam is the current initiative at Terminus. The Terminus vision is to unify go-to-market teams. This means aligning marketing, sales, and customer success, at a minimum. Other areas support go-to-market teams.
Under #OneTeam, sales and marketing share one number. Marketing, Sales, and the whole company share the same exact number. At the weekly #OneTeam meeting they look at Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 accounts.
Sales and marketing are separate organizations aligned by number and mission. Both team leaders need to see they are accountable to each other or it is pointless. Bonuses and salaries depend on the number.
Terminus pays Sales commissions and Marketing bonuses. Will Marketing be brought to share in the commissions? Marketing at Terminus is now responsible for the account. Marketing finds it and Sales sells to it.

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642: Deliver Business Value to Your Customers w/ Tim Braman

Tim Braman, VP of Global Accounts and Strategy at Revegy, joins me on this episode of #Accelerate!

 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Tim says the biggest single challenge facing sales reps today is to deliver value in the customer’s eyes. The best reps seek first to understand, then propose how they can help the customer to succeed. People want value quickly.
If you try to talk to executives about products, they will delegate you down to the person who talks with vendors about products. Be relevant based on the business outcome they want to achieve. Provide market insight.
Tim discusses how to gather insights from the internet and from the team. Tim’s team does a strategy session twice a week around real prospects and their business problems.
Open sharing involves being vulnerable in front of peers. You may receive “a scar” in a strategy session. A strategy session is for understanding. Marketing and Executives may attend to listen, not lead. It is not a deal review.
Andy asks what all top performers have in common — they all break the rules. Tim agrees — you have to leverage what you do very well in selling. Tim reveals how he moved into sales.
CEO John Imlay once stated to his employees, “You’ve got a decision to make, every single day you walk in the door — that you either sell your company or you unsell your company.” Sell the value of your company in all you do.
Aggressive extroverts are not what customers want for the reps that call on them. Customers want empathetic problem solvers. How do we hire for that? Hire for a natural curiosity and a life-long desire to learn.
Question what’s going on in the industry and help companies think about problems they don’t know they have. Create demand. Understand what the prospect wants to accomplish.
You have to be willing to tell the customer you don’t think they will be successful on the path they’re following and coach them to understand the reason why. Be aware of customers that will not be successful customers for you.
Your sales process is a promise to deliver business value to the customer. Tim tells a customer story about the close. It’s not the end of a sale — it’s the beginning of a journey of nurturing business value for the customer.
Tim shares a tactic for after the close. Call to thank them, and ask them why they bought from you. Andy says to make sure you know why you won the deal, so you can apply it in the next sale.
Tim gives the Revegy 60-second pitch. It’s a technology solution that facilitates team-based collaboration and execution for companies that do strategic selling and strategic account planning in complex sales.

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641: GEAR Up Your Mindset w/ Bridget Gleason

Bridget Gleason is VP of Sales for Logz.io and my regular partner on Front Line Fridays.

 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Moods are contagious. Bridget and Andy are fantastic! Bridget is very thankful she wakes up happy, goes to bed happy, and that happiness is her internal constitution — drug-free. Andy says the Old Fashioned is his ‘drug.’
Andy talks about mindset. He has given several recent talks on mindset. His new phrase for a Sales Mindset is “GEAR up your mindset,” with the acronym GEAR: Giving, Entrepreneurial, Adaptable, and Reinvention.
You have to Give to get. If you just give, you will eventually get. Read The Go-Giver, by Bob Berg.
An Entrepreneurial mindset means treating your set of accounts as your company, with you as the CEO. Run it with a plan. Andy was trained to behave that way and he continues. Bridget learned the same principle coming up.
Entrepreneurs disrupt the status quo. Top producers all break the rules. Entrepreneurs change perceptions. Tailor your methodologies to fit your strengths.
An Adaptable mindset is needed because nothing is ever as you think it will be. All your prospects that appear to be ICPs are just not. Everyone is unique. Companies are unique. Sales situations are unique.
Being adaptable is critical at startups while the company figures things out. Nothing yet is set in stone, not just in the sales cycle but in the company, as a whole. Read the situation and make decisions that apply.
Reinvention is one of the most important of the four. Everything changes. Are you changing with it? ‘Job One’ for a salesperson is to change with the market. Stay relevant. Be ahead of the curve. Learn continuously.
Consider learning like your 401k. What percent of your resources (your off-work time) are you investing in your development? Develop curiosity and be interested.
As you set aside money for your retirement, set aside time to plan for your career development. It’s never too late to start your 401k investment. It’s never too late to set aside time to be a continuous learner.
Andy refers you to his podcast episode ”636: What is your Money Mindset?” with Bill Carmody. Build some wealth and have some financial freedom.

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640: How to Sell to Your Perfect Prospect w/ Jeff Koser

Jeff Koser, CEO at Selling to Zebras, Inc., joins me on this episode of #Accelerate!

 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Jeff says the biggest single challenge salespeople face today is that most reps are feature/function sellers when they should be selling value. Another issue is that they are trained just once, instead of over their career.
Value selling needs to be a path of continuous improvement. Most companies do not offer adequate opportunities for development. Individual reps need to be accountable for their own development.
Everyone on the go-to-market team who touches the customer needs to know the business problem they solve to create real value. Most companies do not really know the business problem they solve for the customer.
A Zebra is a perfect prospect. A three-year-old going to the zoo knows exactly what a zebra is. You know it when you see it. How do you locate zebras? Start by qualifying the prospect to buy exactly what you’re selling.
Jeff explains how a company learns to identify zebras. It starts with a deep discussion with management and then the sales department. The next step is scoring deals and studying them. Check findings with existing customers.
Jeff gives an example of what you can find out from ‘voice of the customer’ work and how it changes conversations. One company improved margins 211%, reduced sales cycle 26%, and increased pipeline close rate 350%.
Andy tells a cruise line casino story about the one factor that had to be 100% on. No one else had found it out so Andy’s team got a huge order by asking the right probing questions to find the one exact thing. Keep qualifying.
There are many stakeholders, and they have to come to a consensus. Try to have a brief value proposition conversation first with a person in power, to see if they will sponsor you to present to the team.
Your business case isn’t the features and functions. Customers want to know that the business problem is solved effectively, not which features are applied to solving it. Decision makers aren’t thinking about features.
Jeff addresses how people use ABM for ‘personalization at scale’ for your best customers. Automation hasn’t mastered the concept. Find the Zebra, first, on the human level. Messaging has to go to the right person.
The rep’s job is to know what message to apply to the customer at that time. Don’t try to disintermediate the rep from the sales process through automation.
Jeff had a 90% close rate using Zebra, for five years, at two companies. Andy sees the Zebra method as a performance improvement. Jeff suggests getting back with customers at the right time if they’re not ready yet.

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639: Listen and Learn How Buyers Choose w/ Jeffrey Lipsius

Jeffrey Lipsius, Speaker, International Sales Trainer, President at Selling To The Point®, and author of Selling to The Point: Because The Information Age Demands a New Way to Sell, joins me for the second time, on this episode of #Accelerate!

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Jeffrey says the biggest single challenge salespeople face today is how distracted customers are because of various demands on their attention. Distractions may divert customers from knowing what their real needs are.
A customer with a clear goal can make a purchase decision quicker than a customer without clarity about their needs, even if the sales rep is somewhat distracted. Sales reps need to be customer-oriented.
Jeffrey’s book explores mindfulness as applied to sales performance and goals. The goal is a customer decision. The rep focuses on guiding the customer to a decision. Jeffrey explains external and internal mindfulness.
Internal mindfulness involves the salesperson’s clarity and observation to learn what the customer needs. External mindfulness involves clearly communicating with the customer to co-create a solution for those needs.
Jeffrey suggests Googling “appropriate response.” A salesperson’s clarity leads to becoming better observers, then better learners, and then better performers. To get clarity, focus on the customer and be intrigued.
Self-doubt is distracting. Normal mindfulness is about relaxing and confidence. That is not the mindfulness of sales. Focus on the customer and their decision process. Jeffrey suggests things to observe about the customer.
Customers want to feel good about the decisions they make. The salesperson can work with this if they focus on the customer’s buying process.
Jeffrey talks about calming stress. It all goes back to coaching the customer to make a good decision. The coach’s job is to instill confidence in the customer to make a decision in the customer’s best interest.
When a salesperson discovers, listens, and learns about the customer, the customer’s decision process is not a ‘black box.’ The more clarity a salesperson has about the buying decision, the easier it is to influence the customer.
Selling to The Point takes a different approach than most sales books. Listen, observe, and learn how the customer decides. If the decision process is a mystery to the customer, that is an obstacle to making a buying decision.

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638: Fun is Fundamental to Sales w/ Bridget Gleason

Bridget Gleason is VP of Sales for Logz.io and my regular partner on Front Line Fridays.

 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Black Panther is compelling and well-done!
Andy would like to see more conversations about the fun of sales — meeting people, building relationships, humorous situations, etc. Bridget says that more and more, sales today lacks face-to-face interaction.
Hitting a number is fun. Having a goal and achieving it is fun. Team dynamics are fun.
Andy looks back at his sales time. Over 90% of his sales interactions were by phone, supplemented with meeting an international customer once or twice a year. Getting a customer to a good decision for them was fun.
For Bridget, most deals were done face-to-face. Today, that is not true for her team, even though there are face-to-face meetings along with phone, email, text, and Zoom videos. The composition of deals has changed.
Bridget agrees that fun is really important at work. Sales can be very, very stressful.
Andy wrote in his newsletter that we take sales too seriously (compared to other things in this world). Having fun correlates with better outcomes and success.
Jerry Seinfeld on a late-night show talked about his father’s career in sales. His father would play a game he called “Break that Face,” where he got the customer to laugh, even if there wasn’t a likely sale.
Andy and Bridget also tried to get people to break out of their hard, difficult personas in their interactions. The attitude that we bring every day to the office matters. It affects our success.
Sales is not typically a matter of life and death. If you project a sense of enjoyment in your work, it’s contagious and it can help you overcome some buyer hurdles. Creating human connections can lead to business.
Bridget talks about a hiring interview she had with someone who maintained a flat, emotionless appearance. She was determined to have some fun with that person. Who do you want to be around? Make things interesting.
Be authentic; be yourself. Don’t mirror a dull expression. The worst that can happen is that they won’t connect with you. At least you can have fun trying. Enjoy yourself. Others will be more inspired.

 

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637: Are You Settling for Good Enough? w/ Andy Molinsky

Andy Molinsky, author of Global Dexterity: How to Adapt Your Behavior Across Cultures without Losing Yourself in the Process, Brandeis International Business School Professor and Harvard Business Review writer joins me on this episode of Accelerate!

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Andy M. says the biggest single challenge salespeople face today is stepping outside of their comfort zone.
Andy M. steps outside his comfort zone by giving a pitch in French, as he used to do early in his career. When it was his job, making ‘the ask’ in French was easier for him than selling in his native English as it was a ‘disguise.’
We all have modes, or shades of ourselves, depending on the audience we are addressing. Sometimes we use modes that are not authentic to ourselves.
Reach discusses comfort zones. Most people have personal and professional growth objectives, the accomplishment of which takes us out of our comfort zones. Some try to avoid these challenges.
If you have been good at the same job for a number of years, are you stretching? Are you settling for competence or are you striving for excellence? Is being ‘good’ enough? It’s very important to know yourself. Are you happy?
In any enterprise, there is a distribution of performance from insufficient to excellent. Could everyone be an ‘alpha’? If everyone were an ‘alpha,’ who would follow?
Is your self-worth based on comparison to others or is it an internal gauge and experience?
Reach covers ‘necessary evils’ from Andy M.’s doctoral research into causing pain in the service of a greater good. This includes layoffs, evictions, doctors delivering bad news, etc. Andy M. explains comfort in that context.
Andy M. discusses three fear challenges of stepping outside the comfort zone. 1. Authenticity. 2. Likeability 3. Competence. Read more challenges in the book. Andy P. set a success bar when he started public speaking.
Success includes failure. Failure is data for improvement.

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636: What is your Money Mindset? w/ Bill Carmody

 

Bill Carmody, speaker, leadership coach, and author of Online Promotions: Winning Strategies and Tactics, and the upcoming book, Millionaire, joins me on this episode of #Accelerate!

 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

USA Today says less than 50% of Americans have $400.00 for an emergency. Andy shares a story about a law firm whose partners were living paycheck-to-paycheck when it collapsed. It’s not how much you make, but how much invest.
A middle-class truck driver can invest to become a millionaire. Start by paying yourself first. Take a certain percent of every deposit, and put it directly into a separate account. That is your wealth plan.
AARP asked people how much in fees they pay in their 401K and 75% thought it was $0.00. That is not the case. The average 401K has $150K — not enough for a comfortable retirement. Aim for $1 million or more.
The vast majority of financial advisers are broker/dealers. Look for a fiduciary adviser, instead. They must act in your interest and are paid a fee, not a commission.
Money is a taboo subject in most households. Parents are not teaching their children how to invest.
Before you can be a great leader, you have to lead yourself. Show leadership by your actions. Wealth creation is about applying leadership skills to your personal life.
Bill explains his ‘money imprint’ at age 12 when he chose to become an entrepreneur. Today, Bill helps people figure out their wealth strategies.
Don’t risk a dollar to make five cents; risk five cents to make a dollar. The psychology of wealth begins by saying, ‘That’s what I deserve.’ Know the strategies of the wealthy.
Bill’s book, Millionaire, starts with the psychology of money. What is the basis of your money mindset? You need the mindset of wealth creation. Don’t keep a poverty mindset. Look at the investment, risk, and the upside.
Buying an expensive car (liability) is a different mindset than buying a property (investment) that creates income for you to buy an expensive car. Delay your gratification.
Bill talks about an investment mindset quadrant of knowledge and experience. Balance knowledge and experience to be fearlessly effective.
1. Pay yourself first. 2. Get a Fiduciary. 3. Educate yourself to take control of your wealth. 4. Get a strategy and create an action plan for passive income. Start now. “Follow One Course Until Successful.”

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634: Tools That Actually Help Reps Sell w/ Adam Honig

 

Adam Honig, Co-founder & CEO at Spiro Technologies, joins me for the second time on this episode of #Accelerate!

 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Adam says the single biggest challenge facing sales reps today is staying focused on the most productive task among the number of concurrent activities demanding attention. Adam suggests a behavior that helps.
We need technology to tame and organize the influx of signals. Spiro uses technology to show what is most important and urgent and where action is needed.
Spiro started as a personal, individual sales assistant. Customers asked for a full CRM. Spiro is suitable for mid-sized teams. It is not disruptive to sales activity.
There is a lot of opportunity in CRM and a lot of room for innovation.
Adam’s ideal is that sales reps would sell and Spiro would do everything else that’s required, capturing and serving up information as it is needed throughout the day. It reacts with AI to your emails by creating contact records.
Spiro uses AI to understand your IMAP email messages. It is available in English and French versions. Spiro updates contacts and forecasts without intervention. Spiro is mobile and online, with built-in VOIP.
Adam envisions Spiro getting to be a platform that will make suggestions to a rep, based on where the rep is spending their time and where the prospect is. Adam wants to see Spiro chatting and setting appointments.
How do you decide in real time which prospects you should follow up with, first? Spiro understands the rep’s data to help them make better decisions. Spiro encourages the rep to play to their strengths.
As a rep acts on or disregards Spiro’s recommendations, Spiro learns more about the rep’s preferences. Andy and Adam discuss the problems with real-time advice from AI. The technology and algorithms are not yet competent.
Spiro purposefully limits distracting data to encourage ‘focus.’ This is a different experience from using Salesforce.

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633: How to Build Authentic Relationships w/ Jane Gentry

 

Jane Gentry, Principal at Jane Gentry & Company, sales growth expert, executive coach, and global keynote speaker, joins me on this episode of #Accelerate!

 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Jane says the single biggest challenge facing sales reps today is trying to navigate technology and traditional relationship-building to find the middle ground among the many ways to connect with the customer.
We have to continue to build authentic relationships. Authentic people admit they don’t know everything and they might not have the right fit for the customer. They are teachable; they let the customer be the expert.
As a keynote speaker, Jane says people don’t want to see ‘a speaker.’ Audiences want to get to know you and connect with you. Clients are the same way.
Vulnerability, humility, teachability, open-mindedness, and empathy are necessary basic human traits. Are new generations not learning relational intelligence? A high reliance on technology causes gaps in social skills.
Skill gaps are solvable. Leaders should get past biases about different generations and assume a positive intent. Leaders have to learn to lead new generations differently than previous generations.
The biggest challenges in the new generations are skill gaps that are coachable and trainable. The ability of college students to empathize has dropped 40% since 2002. That lack needs to be addressed for sales teams.
Millennials and younger sales professionals tell Jane they want help to bridge these skill gaps. They want to be taught empathy. Cognitive empathy can be taught. As we act empathetically, we can become more truly caring.
Technology is a great servant and a miserable master. We are fundamentally wired to connect with people, not with emojis. You must come face-to-face to build trust. Jane talks about the future of B2B sales in view of automation.
Social media builds brands, not relationships. People who lack interpersonal skills will need to learn them to succeed in people-facing roles. Only 22% of companies are investing in teaching this age group how to engage.
People change as they age. The Boomers went from the counterculture to the C-suite and their behaviors changed. The difference with the latest generation is how technology has impacted them and its continued impact.
In order to communicate well with young people, leaders will have to coach them and ask great questions. Many of today’s young have never received criticism.
Managers are some of the least-developed people in corporations. They have been promoted but not equipped to lead. Don’t fix the Millennials, fix the leaders.

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