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Put the Customer First to Close More Sales Faster. With Jeff Shore. #410

Joining me once again on this episode of Accelerate! is my guest Jeff Shore, President and CEO of Shore Consulting, and author of multiple books, including Closing 2.0: How to Close More Sales Faster by Putting the Customer First.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

[:54] Shore Consulting works with companies in the B2C space. They started in real estate, and have branched into other consumer areas, always focusing on the emotion-based sale.

[4:14] Jeff explains how his new book, Closing 2.0, answers current questions on serving the customer’s buying journey.

[7:38] What are two filters a salesperson applies when reading a sales technique book?

[8:46] Jeff explores the meaning of ‘closing.’ What word would he have chosen instead of ‘closing’? What is the buyer’s ‘decision-making rhythm’?

[10:30] Jeff discusses aspects of service and respect in the seller-customer relationship.

[12:34] On Jeff’s book tour, when he asked audiences to describe ‘a salesperson,’ how did they respond? How did they then describe people they know personally, who sell?

[14:12] Can a salesperson apply skills that are contrary to their authentic personality? How does a salesperson align behaviors and skills to core values?

[15:58] What does Jeff mean by ‘agreement’? Who makes agreements, and what do the agreements accomplish?

[19:24] How would you reverse-engineer your sales process to align with the buyer’s preferences? Jeff makes a suggestion.

[21:34] What is the highest predictor of urgency in a buying decision? What is the role of future promise?

[27:29] What factors should be evaluated and incorporated into the closing process?

[28:51] Should your closing question be well-crafted?

 

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How to Be an Ultra High Performer. With Jeb Blount. #Special

Jeb Blount is the CEO of Sales Gravy, a keynote speaker, sales acceleration strategist, and author of a great new book, Sales EQ: How Ultra High Performers Leverage Sales-Specific Emotional Intelligence to Close the Complex Deal.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

[:48] In addition to being CEO of Sales Gravy, Jeb has written eight books. In 2016, he spent 270 days traveling to speak. He trains and coaches salespeople to accelerate their results.

[2:05] Jeb explains how he wrote a book while traveling. He uses time blocking. He flies first class, to make the airplane his office. He passionately enjoys what he does.

[4:57] Sales EQ comes from Jeb’s 20-year search for what makes the top 1% into ultra high performers. He found they work only on high-probability sales, and they have a great EQ.

[8:51] How do both introverts and extroverts excel at sales? Jeb explains how each can use ‘dual process’ to stand in the stakeholders’ shoes, while keeping in mind their own outcome for the deal. Ultra high performers use dual process.

[12:03] Jeb discusses the psychology of the sales process. A sales process is a linear system designed around the way a buyer’s irrational brain makes decisions, and it must sync with the prospect’s existing buying and decision-making processes.

[18:10] Jeb tells of his experiences working with salespeople in various sectors, who worked either with, or without, using big data. Salespeople need to get out of their own way.

[21:03] Jeb gives a case study of a $4 Billion company with an average inside sale of $50K. Most reps relied highly on email, but the ultra high performers mainly called people.

[24:14] The ultra high performers who spent 80% of their time calling people had empowered themselves by managing their disruptive emotions. They overcame call reluctance. Salespeople are empowered to talk to people. They must do it.

[27:21] Jeb lays out some steps to becoming an ultra high performer. Begin with managing your disruptive emotions. Overcome your fear of engaging people. Jeb describes the factors of sales EQ and the sales process.

[31:11] Jeb talks about self-awareness. He recommends a peer review, and a coach. Ask for specific feedback from leaders. Sales EQ informs about cognitive biases, and ‘goal sheeting.’

[34:46] How do you encourage your thirst for learning? Jeb talks about four intelligences in sales. Acquired Intelligence depends only on you. There is always something to learn!

 

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Small Talk Leads to Sales Talk. With Stephanie Melish. #409

Stephanie Melish is an inspirational speaker and certified business coach.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

[4:09] Stephanie learned sales, and is certified as a business coach and trainer. She wants to impact her community.

[4:39] Stephanie finds the biggest challenge for salespeople today to be lack of experience. Stephanie’s experience came in fund raising. Some entrepreneurs have no sales experience.

[6:00] What does Stephanie say about process, procedure, and scripts? What is the role of knowledge and authenticity?

[6:54] Stephanie has suggestions to replace verbatim scripts. How does she feel when somebody reads at her?

[9:28] To build rapport, embrace who you are, and learn who the prospect is. Know the area code you are calling, and current events there, like sports, and research the social profile of the person. Small talk leads to business talk.

[13:33] Stephanie wrote an article on November 7, about her convictions on the election. What did she say that spiked her unsubscribe numbers?

[15:18] Is it necessary for one woman to break a glass ceiling, either in politics, or in the sales profession? Stephanie urges people to continue to improve themselves, and put their work ethic to good use, to strive to get ahead independent of their gender.

[20:10] Stephanie gives advice to females. Don’t think of sales as a dirty word. Salespeople build relationships. They don’t conduct transactions. Sales is a service. If you are excited about solving problems through relationships, that is sales.

[24:31] Stephanie wrote about Scandal, and Olivia Pope. What is a fixer, and how is a salesperson a fixer in a positive way? Sales is leadership.

[26:19] Stephanie discusses behaviors of a successful leader. What is most important?

[29:04] How do you discover prospect expectations? How can unknown expectations derail a deal? How can you make sure that you exceed expectations?

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Books to Help You Sell. With Bridget Gleason. #408

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

KEY TAKEAWAYS

[:52] The topic is books! The first is Draw to Win: A Crash Course on How to Lead, Sell, and Innovate With Your Visual Mind, by Dan Roam. Dan was on Episode 387 of Accelerate! The book tells how to describe ideas using stick figures and shapes.

[3:12] One of Bridget’s clients consults businesses for conflict resolution, by visualizing with Legos. Visualization works!

[5:11] Dan Roam has found that his conversion rate on proposals improved substantially by using drawing, and by involving the prospect in the presentation, to co-create value.

[6:45] Search Inside Yourself: The Unexpected Path to Achieving Success, Happiness (and World Peace), by Chade-Meng Tan, teaches internal conditions for success, and to reduce stress.

[9:36] Everydata: The Misinformation Hidden in the Little Data You Consume Every Day, by John H. Johnson, is about the common misuse of statistics and data. This affects sales metrics. Don’t confuse correlation with causation! John is an upcoming guest!

[12:47] Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike, by Phil Knight. This reveals the perseverance, courage, and resilience of the founder behind the iconic brand. The rise wasn’t easy!

[14:59] The Science of Selling: Proven Strategies to Make Your Pitch, Influence Decisions, and Close the Deal, by David Hoffeld, an upcoming guest, summarizing research on the mind, influence, and sales, into a methodology for prospecting.

[17:22] The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever, by Michael Bungay Stanier is about behavior change, through the science of the way habits are formed.

[19:56] How To Sell On LinkedIn: 30 Tips in 30 Days, by

Erik Qualman tells about good selling behaviors on LinkedIn. It is one of the better books on the topic that Andy has read.

[22:04] Historical fiction! Bernard Cornwell has written several series, including the Saxon Tales, starting with The Last Kingdom, in 9th Century England, which sets the stage for the unification of England.

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How to Optimize Your Sales Effectiveness. With Manny Medina. #407

Manny Medina, is CEO of Outreach.io.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

[:47] Manny was a telco software developer. He moved to Amazon, then to Microsoft’s Windows Phone, and then, sales.

[1:40] Manny founded GroupTalent, as the main salesperson. They developed internal outreach software, but customers wanted the software, not their service. So he began Outreach.

[2:42] The declining number of hours reps spend selling is the biggest problem Manny sees in sales. Why has it declined?

[4:50] Could CRM syncing take less sales time? Manny also has ideas for getting real-time client information to salespeople. What can be automated in communication?

[7:30] As sales is a process, Manny asks, for each action, what is the value of that action relative to the expected outcome. How do you optimize your time to be most effective?

[9:02] Marketing Automation provides customers with a lot of information before they buy. Salespeople should have a lot of information about the customer’s persona, and the individual contact, and engage them to fit their needs.

[12:55] In B2B sales, you need to know the structure of the prospect firm. Who are the influencers, who makes the decision, and what value proposition engages each contact?

[15:30] How can you set up your system so that when your automated message is sent to the contact, it lands at the right place and time to work? When should you use testing?

[17:55] The sales process has two issues: how well does the process fits the prospects, and are people well-trained to have the right conversations to engage with the prospect? What message resonates with each persona?

[22:16] Sales process training is largely ineffective, and, when effective, it fades in the absence of continued follow-up. When Outreach.io works with a client, they check for a process; if it’s being followed; and lastly, if the results are being measured.

[26:36] Manny cites Bill Walsh’s The Score Takes Care of Itself, about a standard of performance, that when followed, produce repeatable results. SaaS needs a repeatable process.

[29:01] What relationship does Manny see between quota attainment, and CRM roll-out? Are shops actually using their CRM? How can Outreach.io fit into the process?

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Hurdle the Barriers to Your Sales Success. With Ralph Barsi. #406

Ralph Barsi, Senior Director, Global Demand Center for ServiceNow.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

[:53] Ralph oversees the worldwide sales development at ServiceNow. His teams work to feed the top of the funnel.

[3:20] Ralph explains how he engages gatekeepers.

[4:57] ServiceNow started in San Diego, streamlining IT service workflow. They have expanded their offering, worldwide, to all business units within the enterprise.

[7:41] Gartner claims that in 2015, 70% of IT decisions were made outside of IT. How does this influence the sales process?

[8:40] What are the five major barriers to a sale?

[9:17] Ralph discusses how to help reps overcome obscurity. How do you maintain your LinkedIn profile? Ralph credits Jamie Shanks and his company for branding help.

[13:44] Ralph suggests looking at your market carefully, and setting up profiles with pertinent stories and metrics.

[16:04] Technology enables connection, but it distracts in the moment. What behavioral example should leaders set for smartphone use?

[21:00] What does Ralph ask his organization to do each week on LinkedIn, and social media? How can the smartphone help, and how can it hinder?

[22:14] What did Ralph learn about action, from Tony Robbins’ RPM model? How do Ralph’s team leaders incentivize behaviors and outcomes? What flexibilities do they have?

[29:34] Ralph talks about Steve Richards and Call Camp. How is conversation flow a problem with reps? What about scripts and being present in conversation? How does small talk apply?

[35:55] When is the right time to sharpen your craft, and better your game? What do you choose to do with leisure time? Take charge of your career path.

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How To Rock Your Personal Brand on LinkedIn. With Viveka von Rosen. #405

Viveka von Rosen is a social selling expert, and author of a brand new book, LinkedIn: 101 Ways to Rock Your Personal Brand, Grow Your Network, and Build Your Business.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

[:57] A LinkedIn specialist, Viveka writes about, talks about, and consults about, ways to help make LinkedIn work better for people. She is an expert in lead generation, social selling and social marketing on LinkedIn.

[4:28] Viveka stresses the importance of your personal brand and to separate it from the brand of your employer. Your brand always stays with you, regardless of your job.

[5:32] Building a personal brand is creating an online presence so that when people research you, your unique profile comes up. Add thought leadership in your area of expertise, with content. This strategy applies to sales, and career positioning.

[9:01] If your LinkedIn profile dates back to the day you found LinkedIn, and you haven’t updated it since, when potential buyers or employers see it, they will assume it is your personal brand. Differentiate yourself, with expertise you have now.

[10:37] Andy’s book Zero-Time Selling establishes that how you sell, starts with how you differentiate yourself to the customer. Who are you right now, to your target audience? What is the value to them in your brand? Re-engage them by asking.

[14:26] Viveka gives keys to being memorable. Add a background image, in your colors, with your tagline, message and expertise. Strengthen your professional headline. Say in 120 characters who you are, what you do, and whom you serve.

[18:19] Publish, in LinkedIn’s publishing platform, whether it be your own content, or, if you are not a content creator, curated content in your area of expertise. Content should all reflect the purchaser’s persona; their interests, and points of pain.

[24:14] Only use your last name in the last name field. LinkedIn can hide your profile if you put a descriptor there. Anything besides your last name violates the user agreement.

[25:12] Do your summary first in word processing, to catch errors, typos, etc., and add bullets and minor formatting. You can use 2,000 characters. Paste it into LinkedIn. Focus on solving the client persona’s key point of pain. Engage them.

[27:05] Viveka says to put contact info in the header background image, summary section, and the contact me section. If you use a unique phone number or email, then you can track what business is coming from LinkedIn.

[28:54] Your brand is what you stand for, in business. Leave politics and religion out. Share stories of the type of leadership  you represent, that would engage your key customers. Your languaging and content are part of your brand.

[29:43] By not publishing, you show to prospective clients a lack of curiosity and passion about your expertise. This is bad for your brand. Use a post from LinkedIn, or use linkedIn.com/bookmarklet. Or use Google alerts for content.

 

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Push Your Limits to Achieve the Impossible. With Dan Waldschmidt. #404

Dan Waldschmidt, is a keynote speaker, business strategist, ultra runner, business owner and author of Edgy Conversations: How Ordinary People Can Achieve Outrageous Success.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

[:53] Dan speaks to clients on ways to grow and dynamically scale ideas into massive money-makers. He also writes about concerns he faces and addresses in his own businesses.

[1:54] Dan pushes against what is “impossible,” by pushing limits — personally, with running; professionally, by strategizing to make “millions and billions” of dollars; and with clients, helping them to see the world differently, and to excel.

[2:30] Dan’s ultra-running goal for 2017 is to run another few thousand miles, in 100- and 50-mile races, and maybe a 200-mile race. Running gives him clarity for next steps. Transcendental Meditation and running keep him grounded.

[5:31] How did Dan cope when he wanted to quit, 20 miles into his last 100-mile race in the mountains of Alabama?

[8:14] Days after a race, Dan can reflect, “Dude, you didn’t even know that was possible, and you did it! What else don’t you know is possible, that is next on your list of things to do?”

[9:41] Instead of asking for salesmen to close better, ask why your business isn’t creating a brand or a customer experience so outrageously positive, that deals just automatically close?

[10:15] Dan couldn’t finish one race, because he had depleted his salt. Little things can have a fatal effect when you are trying to perform at a high level. The details matter when you answer the phone and how you brand.

[12:15] What are you prepared to sacrifice? Some people don’t progress because they have too many TV shows lined up to watch. Prioritize time. Your choices control your achievements. Be desperate to meet your goals.

[15:48] To perform at a high level, “burn the ships.” Make a list of five to ten things in your life that you need to burn right now, until you cross your continent and build new ships.

[17:54] To be amazing, you have to talk yourself down from your fears. You can learn not only to survive stressful situations, but to thrive, in spite of what happens around you.

[19:40] Successful people refuse to: excuse their mistakes; copy others (instead of building on their own strengths); or look down on others who are struggling (Dan tells of Jeff Bezos’s many years before Amazon turned a profit).

[27:09] Successful people refuse to: waste time doing things that don’t matter; or let the current chaos distract them from future success.

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WOW Your Prospects to Take Their Eyes off the Price. With John “JD” Dwyer. #403

John “JD” Dwyer, CEO of The Institute of WOW, on the Gold Coast of Australia.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

[1:45] The Institute of WOW is all about creating wow factors, to take your client’s eyes off the price. Andy asks how JD got Jerry Seinfeld to star in an Australian building society’s ad campaign. There’s a great story!

[10:02] Companies hope to be different, but “live in a sea of sameness.” Without a real wow factor, like the Apple iPhone, you’ve got to create an artificial wow factor. McDonald’s Happy Meal toy takes your eyes off the price.

[11:41] JD had a moving company differentiate themselves by offering a two-person holiday to the Gold Coast, to have Mrs. Homemaker take her eyes off the price.

[12:57] JD has a framework system for adding the wow factor. Identify your most profitable customer, and look for more who look like them; decide on the wow factor. JD has tested them all, and holidays, fuel discounts, and alcohol, are “evergreen.”

[16:38] A turf farm didn’t care to discount, but they had an end-of-season surplus. They offered a carton of Crown Lager Premium with every home’s worth sold. They ran out of turf, even though landscapers could have bought their own beer!

[17:28] Buyers of goods have short attention spans, decide quickly without analysis, want to satisfy a demand, and like something of value for free. So, capture their attention, and they won’t look at the price.

[18:50] How do B2B sales professionals create their personal wow? JD gives sales behavior advice.

[19:25] JD suggests you will double conversions by offering a premium and a deadline: “I will give you an XYZ bonus, if you make a decision by 5:00 p.m., Friday.” Or, “I’ve only got 52 of these available, and when they’re gone, they’re gone.”

[21:03] The law of reciprocation says offer something of value with every contact. Have a landing page to showcase your value. Most sales professionals don’t even do LinkedIn well, but a personal website of your own, with your video, is best.

[26:18] Everybody buys a solution to a problem. Theatrically highlight to the audience that you are the solution to their problem. Marketing and Sales share this tactic.

[26:40] People will pay more to eliminate pain, than they will pay to enjoy pleasure. They will pay more, if it is an enduring solution to the pain.

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#402 How to Build Fundamental Sales Habits, With Bridget Gleason.

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

KEY TAKEAWAYS

[1:55] The topic is sales advice. Sound advice is welcome. Shortcuts do not solve problems. New books usually teach old principles in a new way.

[4:43] Accelerate! is not a show about “the one thing you need.”

[5:17] “High anxiety” is not necessary for sales, in the long run. Does the expectation of immediate gratification cause anxiety?

[6:43] Do the basics well, and don’t worry about missing out on anything. Unfortunately that’s not what managers telling their teams.

[10:00] If a hack builds on a foundation, it may work. However, it’s unrealistic to look for “three quick steps,” to achieve consistently good results. Skill doesn’t come from hacks, but from learning and practice.

[11:43] When a CEO is anxious, how can a sales rep relax? Make your investment more about sales education than in sales training.

[15:29] Sales manager training yields a higher ROI than rep training. Companies are not investing enough in manager education.

[17:03] Processes are based on the successful execution of selling habits. Without effective habits, there are no sales. Strong habits reduce stress and make yourself more productively available.

[20:19] Part of building self-confidence is letting go of your anxiety.

[22:13] Well-intentioned hacks may tempt a rep to forget to study, learn, and practice good sales behaviors.

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