Andy Paul's Blog, page 46

How to Optimize Your Sales Process. With Bridget Gleason. #420

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

KEY TAKEAWAYS

[1:15] A sales process is subject to iterative improvement. Is it scalable? Do your salespeople have, or need, the skills to handle inbound and outbound? Examine historic sales data, from lead to close. Identify where the process needs change.

[6:24] Bridget’s team receives inbound and makes outbound calls. Outbound is tasked to reach into various departments of the prospect. SDRs help supply the inbound leads.

[9:12] A Logz.io sale usually starts with the manager of the end user, and it is critical for the account executive to involve other buyer contacts with more authority, to align the sales process with the buying process, from the beginning.

[11:19] Bridget discusses exit criteria for each stage of the sales process. How does the salesperson shepherd the buyer along the buying process, by inviting legal, security, procurement, and budget contacts to buy in?

[13:35] Has Logz.io settled on one sales methodology? Bridget talks about her Xerox training and SPIN Selling methodology. She also invokes Sandler training as an example.

[16:38] What parameters influence the choice of sales methodology? Are there great differences between most sales methodologies?

[18:29] What about compensation? How do you balance the needs of the company with motivating individuals? How does personal growth opportunity balance direct compensation?

[21:46] Is compensation the ultimate determining factor of performance motivation? Bridget reveals her opinion.

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#419. How (and why) to Send a Cup of Coffee to a Buyer. With Braydan Young.

Braydan Young, CEO and Co-Founder of Sendoso, joins me on this episode of Accelerate!.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

[3:43] Braydan and his coworker developed a concept to help reps effectively set up more meetings.

[5:49] Braydan explains how to send a cup of coffee to a prospect.

[6:11] Offering a cup of coffee is a human gesture, not a sales pitch. What difference does it make to the conversation?

[6:52] The operation is simple; a click triggers it in Salesforce, LinkedIn, or Gmail. Email opening is tracked.

[7:32] What’s coming in Version 2? Get ready for Account Based Gifting!

[9:55] Braydan talks money. Who pays for what?

[12:01] Braydan talks about Salesforce integration, and how activity is managed. Sendoso also works in Marketo, HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics, Slack, Eloqua, and Zendesk.

[16:11] Braydan tells of a 75% open rate when users send an email through Sendoso’s platform. Be sure there is good content, beyond a coffee, to engage the reader.

[18:43] Sendoso works with SurveyMonkey to reward for taking a survey; Salesforce rewards registering for a webinar.

[22:24] Braydan names some great use cases. Anywhere on the client-facing side has a case for gifting.

[25:55] One company using Sendoso went from five to 10 demos a week. It also doubled response rate.

[27:42] Braydan describes additional success stories.

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Process and Execution Rule in B2B Selling. With Tibor Shanto. #418

Joining me once again on this episode of Accelerate! is my guest Tibor Shanto, author, speaker, trainer, and sales expert.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

[2:00] Tibor offers training, speaking, and coaching, and he writes. He helps B2B companies get new business through process and execution. “Everything else is just talk.”

[3:56] Tibor comments on research about social media influence on B2B. Is the research relevant and reliable?

[6:11] Some buyers enter the market on their own. Some do not, unless approached; and they may not be on social media.

[10:23] When you start content marketing, what happens when you run out of content? Tibor shares his experiences. [12:46] Tibor does not seek pain points. What does he focus on, instead? How does he help prospects become buyers?

[16:24] ‘A’ players use tools to boost their success. ‘B’ and ‘C’ players hope tools will make them ‘A’ players. “‘C’ players should be seeking employment in the hospitality industry.”

[20:41] A robust sales process that is followed, serves as a platform for coaching, hiring, and individual success.

[23:29] Managers need to spend more time coaching their B players. 75% of their time should be coaching, but rarely is.

[29:02] Some sales behaviors and traits can be taught. Can passion be taught? How does process help sales?

[34:00] Statistics vary about buyers, regarding who initiates, and who is brought into the process. Embrace both types.

[38:25] Sales complexity increases from the technology and apps being thrown at the reps to ‘help them.’ They hinder more than help. Look for helpful tech, not just new tech.

[40:44] Tibor notes that tech doesn’t make the sale, but it does help reach the buyer. Learn to sell first, and tools can help.

 

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How to Achieve Your Goals with Passion, a Plan and a Purpose. With Jon Ferrara. #417

Joining me once again on this episode of Accelerate! is my guest Jon Ferrara, Founder and CEO of Nimble.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

[1:49] Jon describes a pathway to achieve your passion, plan, and purpose in life — ideally by serving others.

[4:09] What is Dunbar’s limit of the relationships humans can maintain? What relationship stage takes the most effort?

[6:20] Jon discusses CRM, or, as he calls it, ‘Customer Reporting Management.’ What percentage of businesses use CRM?

[7:43] Jon describes how CRMs operate, and why he created GoldMine 30 years ago.

[10:57] Nimble unifies Office 365 or Google contacts, email, and calendar, and integrates them with your CRM.

[13:11] Nimble is a Microsoft launch partner for a Dynamics app exchange. Nimble can operate as a system on its own, or within whatever social sales and marketing system you use.

[16:53] Names put into Nimble are enriched with data, and a history of email, calendar, and social actions. You can build a manual cadence. A package for Q1 ‘17 automates cadences.

[19:08] Jon suggests how CRM will evolve. Salespeople want to manage relationships, not tools. Nimble’s CRM idea is to make the rep most effective as they engage with the customer.

[21:39] Simpler, smarter unifications of social, mobile, and big data will become the next generation of tools to help you achieve your passion, plan, and purpose.

[25:01] When the tools start to work for reps, in email, social, and mobile, then reps will use them to engage their contacts.

[26:38] Jon tells of his own experience preparing for a Microsoft 2015 conference using Nimble, and how it helped him win two bundling deals with Microsoft.

[30:55] Having automation doesn’t mean you should start spraying emails. Make the content count with added value, relevant to the prospects, even at scale.

 

The post How to Achieve Your Goals with Passion, a Plan and a Purpose. With Jon Ferrara. #417 appeared first on Andy Paul | Strategies to Power Growth.

The Best Practices for Sales Managers. With Kevin F. Davis #416

Joining me on this episode of Accelerate! is my guest Kevin F. Davis, President at TopLine Leadership, and author of multiple books, including his latest, The Sales Manager’s Guide to Greatness: Ten Essential Strategies for Leading Your Team to the Top.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

[:48] Kevin started selling for Lanier, and moved into their sales management, and then general management.

[7:38] Kevin’s latest book comes from his years of specialized experience at TopLine, presenting skills workshops to groups of sales managers. His book shares what he learned in the process, to provide value to busy sales managers.

[9:25] Sales managers need to stop and rethink their priorities.

[10:21] Executives should evaluate burdens they place on sales managers. What is really important to a sales manager’s success? What happens when they spend time on coaching?

[15:00] Kevin trains sales managers to lead themselves toward more observational sales coaching. Does a sales managers need to be everybody’s problem solver?

[16:37] What are Kevin’s two magic questions to reply to a rep’s request for help? What question should sales managers ask themselves?

[18:12] Sales managers hope that by solving reps’ problems, the reps will make more sales calls. Instead, the reps bring more problems. What happens when you take over for a rep?

[23:53] The most successful people have the greatest difficulty giving up the things that made them successful to begin with. As a sales manager, stop selling. Let your sales reps sell.

[25:58] Kevin discusses underperformance. What two perspectives does Kevin offer for observational coaching?

[28:55] If sales managers can’t define a good attitude, they can’t nurture it. What trait precedes coachability?

[32:40] Kevin talks about counterproductive behaviors of sales management. To build an elite team, which set of reps should be at the focus? Kevin explains about the ‘bell cow.’

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Make it Easy for Buyers to Do Business with You. With Gavin Zuchlinski. #415

Joining me on this episode of Accelerate! is my guest  Gavin Zuchlinski, Founder at Acuity Scheduling.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

[:44] Acuity Scheduling is an online tool to help small businesses and professionals manage their day-to-day events. Clients book appointments, and calendars sync.

[1:32] Gavin wrote Acuity for his mother’s business. He also tried it to generate leads for his own web development business, and that didn’t work, but people liked the product, so he grew it slowly, while still working in cyber security.

[2:35] Acuity allows scheduling while you are not available to answer a call, with no back-and-forth. What kinds of sales uses has Gavin seen?

[4:37] What important benefits has Gavin’s mother’s business received through using an online scheduler?

[5:53] Gavin describes Acuity’s market: it is “vertical agnostic,” so it is useful in many environments. Acuity provides excellent customer support, and is lean, easy-to-use, and powerful.

[7:20] Acuity principles: simplicity, brand customization, and automatic syncing to prevent double-booking of resources.

[10:03] Gavin talks about time saved with online booking, and the convenience to the customer setting the appointment.

[11:53] Gavin cites percentages of users who prefer to book online rather than calling for an appointment. He also mentions email notification of appointments.

[14:06] By reducing friction for the prospect, you boost successful connections. What sort of approaches does Gavin suggest to promote online booking?

[18:55] Acuity provides a variety of approaches and sequences to send appointment reminders.

[21:13] Gavin covers some of the platforms with which Acuity integrates, either directly, or with a connector. Customer service can guide you for your specific application.

[22:25] Gavin gives examples of custom uses, including bowling parties, donut delivery, salons, sales teams, and automatic setup of video meetings.

 

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Are You a Great Candidate for Your Next Sales Job? With Bridget Gleason. #414

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

KEY TAKEAWAYS

[1:54] Bridget is hiring for the Boston office of Logz.io! Hires must be a good cultural fit in this foundational group. Account Executives are needed for mainly inside complex sales of log management and analytics to mid-level technical prospects.

[5:55] Bridget has been using LinkedIn and in-house recruiters. One investor, OpenView, has been a great source. Bridget looks for signs of leadership on a resume. Listen to hear the other qualities she seeks.

[8:51] Don’t be overly modest on your resume. Include leadership roles, even if not titled as such.

[9:34] Schools indicate your background. A high GPA is positive, but not the determining factor.

[11:00] Attention to detail on a resume suggests attention to detail in sales. Bridget looks for two to five years of experience, and if you had a job in school. She wants ambition, hustle, self-directedness, curiosity, leadership, and teamwork.

[13:17] Bridget’s interviews: Candidates are phone screened for their narrative, then they present a mock discovery call to show preparedness and understanding. When they meet, Bridget looks for presence. The CEO Skypes each candidate.

[17:51] Bridget explores what she means by presence.

[19:11] Is it easy for a new salesperson to be ‘comfortable in their own skin’? How does that influence an interview? How does it relate to leadership? Bridget talks about a new hire on a non-traditional path, and how he interviewed with the CEO.

[21:39] How do military veterans fit into the Logz.io culture? In Israel, military service is compulsory!

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Using Data to Drive Effective Coaching. With Duncan Lennox. #413

Joining me once again on this episode of Accelerate! is my guest Duncan Lennox, CEO of Qstream.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

[:37] Duncan is Co-Founder and CEO of Qstream, an enterprise SaaS company. Qstream helps companies drive capabilities of their sales force. Accelerate Episode 106 explains more on Qstream.

[1:29] On average, how much time does a sales manager spend, coaching each rep?

[4:28] Managers would benefit from data on the most effective coaching they can give. Why don’t managers coach better?

[7:36] Inertia keeps organizations back. Two curves are crossing: the pain of the problem, and the ability to leverage data. There is a need to act, and data capture is one way.

[12:19] Sales managers don’t have the data to know how to increases sales, and help reps succeed.

[14:18] Qstream started with the goal of changing behaviors for good. From data they gathered, they saw a second use: data-driven coaching. This became The Coaching Hub.

[16:45] The data is gathered from 3-minute tests the reps take. Scenarios are given, and the reps reply how they would act. What sorts of data do the results generate?

[19:19] An average of 94% reps participate the day they receive a scenario. What else can participation reveal about a rep?

[21:10] How does the dashboard inform the sales manager on the individual needs of the sales reps?

[22:03] How did Qstream rule out the sales problem one company had assumed? How did they uncover the actual problem?

[26:43] How does The Coaching Hub integrate with Salesforce? What kinds of triggers are available?

[29:34] Duncan gives an example of Qstream and Salesforce integration to prompt an appropriate coaching response.

 

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How To Create Value for Your Prospects. With Jack Kosakowski. #412

Joining me once again on this episode of Accelerate! is my guest Jack Kosakowski, Global Head of B2B Social Sales Execution at Creation Agency.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

[1:58] A sales professional for 12 years — in manufacturing and tech — Jack found a niche in social sales. His passion is integrating social into B2B sales.

[2:55] Jack gives his straightforward assessment of the single biggest challenge sales representatives face today. He follows up by describing a general problem with the SDR model.

[4:35] What happens to the sales process, in companies under high pressure to grow?

[5:36] Jack talks about shortcuts that turn out not to be pathways to sales success.

[7:36] The discussion turns to training issues.

[8:40] Jack has advice for marketing and sales alignment.

[11:27] What is different about B2B selling today, than before the use of the account-based sales model?

[14:22] The Art vs. the Science of Sales: the Debate. Jack would like to know the sales equation, if there is one.

[15:10] Jack covers building the right team, creating the right processes, stacks, and sales training strategy.

[18:05] Jack talks about questions sales representatives ask.

[20:57] How to dig deeper.

[23:50] Jack has learned more empathy for the buyer by being pitched. What skills has he seen lacking, among sales reps who called on him? Could they have given more memorable value?

[30:11] How does social media selling allow the sales professional to sell proactively?

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How To Build Trust-based Relationships in Sales. With Charles Green. #411

Joining me once again on this episode of Accelerate! is my guest Charles Green, one of the co-authors of The Trusted Advisor, author of Trust-Based Selling: Using Customer Focus and Collaboration to Build Long-Term Relationships, and consultant to corporations on the subject of trust.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

[:49] Charlie’s background is in consulting and writing about trust, as it applies to large, complex, intangible services.

[1:35] Charlie addresses how to establish personalized, legitimate links between sellers and buyers in complex sales. Among “know, like, and trust,” which aspect is at the heart?

[4:04] How does reciprocity relate to trust? Charlie talks about a series of asymmetrical interactions. Why does he ‘BARG’?

[7:58] Charlie explains the origin of the handshake. How does vulnerability influence trust? What is the role of small talk?

[8:32] With more technology in the buying process, when does the salesperson need to interact first with the buyer?

[11:50] Charlie talks about challenging, adding value, taking risks, and exposing vulnerability. Complex sales are ‘high-wire.’

[12:44] Trust requires the exact truth. What is the flaw in managing expectations, to ‘exceed’ them?

[16:42] Charlie starts to explain the three steps the buyer takes to choose a vendor.

[19:40] In a proposal presentation, do you focus on yourself, your company, and product, or ask about the buyer’s needs?

[25:46] What is the justification step of the buying decision? When does emotion drive the buying process?

[28:50] Where do you draw the line between value you give away, and value you sell?

[30:25] What is the lie behind ‘tough ideas,’ and ‘adding value’? What is the actual driving factor of the buying decision?

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