Andy Paul's Blog, page 51

How to Accelerate Your Growth by Aligning Sales and Marketing. With Andrea Austin. #374

Joining me on this episode of Accelerate! is my guest Andrea Austin, Vice President of Enterprise Sales at InsideView, and the co-author of a brand new book called Aligned to Achieve: How to Unite Your Sales and Marketing Teams into a Single Force for Growth.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

[2:12]  Andrea started at IBM as a marketing sales associate. Their ‘Selling Fridays’ taught her how to handle objections. [5:08] Andrea joined InsideView three years ago, where she met her co-author, Tracy Eiler.

[6:33] Andrea talks about handoff points between marketing and sales; MQL, SQL, and SAL; and conversion rates. In enterprise selling, some of the best leads in sales come from their own work. Andrea leverages Marketing for branding.

[7:25] In SaaS, the buyer is now in charge. They do their due diligence before they engage with sales. Sales and Marketing need to align, to participate effectively in the customer experience.

[10:37] Andrea says research pigeonholes the buyer’s thinking, as they seek the solution to one business pain point. Her goal is to influence the buyer’s perception of their whole problem.

[12:51] Andrea explains how alignment can increase revenue by 10%, profitability by 15%, and growth rate by 19%, through clarity between areas; each doing that at which they excel.

[16:16] InsideView researched where 1,000 respondents felt they were aligned, and not aligned: communication, processes, metrics, and data on target accounts. Aligned to Achieve attacks these in three ways: people, processes, and technology.

[19:25] The book was written because misalignment between marketing and sales is too great.

[23:38] Alignment requires a cultural change that needs the CEO to publicly support it. When sales and marketing push together, more happens.

[27:25] To align sales & marketing efforts, Andrea organized a bi-weekly Smarketing meeting, which looks at results two weeks back, near events two weeks ahead, and plans two weeks beyond, making a six-week rolling window to align plans and feedback.

[35:30] Aligned to Achieve uses a looped symbol to represent the sales funnel on its head, continually cycling through the Find, Engage, Close, and Grow stages of the customer relationship.

 

The post How to Accelerate Your Growth by Aligning Sales and Marketing. With Andrea Austin. #374 appeared first on Andy Paul | Strategies to Power Growth.

Repeat: How to Sell More in Less Time. With Jill Konrath. #331

Joining me on this episode of Accelerate! is my friend Jill Konrath. Jill is a speaker, sales expert, and author of multiple bestselling books, including Selling to Big Companies, Snap Selling, Agile Selling, and her latest book, More Sales, Less Time. Among the many topics that Jill and I discuss are how she came to focus on selling more in less time, what she learned from her research about concentration, focus and how to eliminate distraction that waste selling time, how to make the most of the limited hours available each, and how you can take the More Sales, Less Time Challenge.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

[2:19] After Jill wrote SNAP Selling, about selling to frazzled customers, readers asked her how to simplify their own lives. She had no idea how to help them, so she researched it.

[6:37] Research shows multitasking is an illusion. Learn what happens when you try to jump between two tasks and refocus your attention.

[8:20] How often the average sales person checks their cell phone each day. And how each interruption reduces productivity.

[8:40] To write More Sales, Less Time, Jill used herself as a test subject for the before and after metrics for each new strategy she tried.

[10:44] Jill shares how using your willpower impacts your ability to make decisions.

[14:20] Jill’s Time Master Manifesto sets rules to manage time, starting with getting seven-and-a-half hours of sleep nightly.

[17:28] How you should start each business day before turning on your computer and checking your email.

[20:12] Two books to assist salespeople in learning how to prioritize are Essentialism, and The One Thing.

[24:03] Challenge the status quo at all times, looking for a better way to achieve the end result.

[25:00] Jill shares the value of scheduling your activities into blocks of time. You are most productive while focusing on one activity.

The post Repeat: How to Sell More in Less Time. With Jill Konrath. #331 appeared first on Andy Paul | Strategies to Power Growth.

How to Tell Stories, Teach Lessons, and Sell Products. With Jeremy Reeves. #373

Joining me on this episode of Accelerate! is my guest Jeremy Reeves, the CEO of Kaizen Marketing, and host of the marketing podcast, Sales Funnel Mastery.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

[2:09] Jeremy sells by words, as a sales copywriter, through websites and emails, anticipating and overcoming objections without talking. He has helped clients generate roughly $50M.

[5:33] How does sales automation affect sales? Buyers buy some items for thousands of dollars, without personal contact, but does it maximize the sale?

[8:11] Jeremy recalls a client’s experience with a two-step online lead generation campaign. They had a salesperson call prospects who stopped at the first step. With a call, the client increased their qualified leads by 50% over their online results.

[11:00] Is the sales funnel, either online, or face-to-face, becoming obsolete? Jeremy suggests adding more relevancy by segmenting it into specific audiences — multiple funnels.

[15:15] Is Sales losing its value to buyers in an era of near perfect information?

[17:56] Recently, Jeremy has seen an emphasis on building relationships, or engagement. People respond to relatable, emotional vulnerability, in your stories that teach lessons.

[22:02] Jeremy puts personal relatable events into his emails, to create engagement. His copywriting is about getting people to know, like, and trust you and your product.

[25:05] In the current wave of disruption in sales, automation is not creating the necessary human engagement. Relatability is the missing ingredient.

[26:36] Jeremy is working on a new product, and he shares his progress in stories via email with his prospects. He is getting great responses from people looking forward to this product.

[27:35] A story transitions to a lesson, adding value, that transitions to the product. Jeremy gives an impromptu example. Stories work well, for face-to-face, or by email.

[33:08] Showing vulnerability through personal stories helps people relate to you, better than to the ‘robot’ that just visited with a script that didn’t speak to them personally. No one wants to talk to a salesperson, but they’ll talk to a friend.

[36:48] We all have stories. Look for them. A made-up story is inauthentic, so talk about real events, and memories, and real emotions, that lead to real lessons, to sell your real product.

The post How to Tell Stories, Teach Lessons, and Sell Products. With Jeremy Reeves. #373 appeared first on Andy Paul | Strategies to Power Growth.

How to Accelerate Your Sales into 2017. With Bridget Gleason. #372

Welcome to another Front Line Friday with my very special guest (and Front Line Friday co-host), Bridget Gleason, VP of Sales for Logz.io.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

[1:43] Bridget likes to finish with the panic before the end of the year. The last two weeks of the year, reps say, “I don’t have anything else to close this quarter.” Bridget says, “So start building up to where you need to be for the next quarter.”

[2:56] By the end of January, Bridget likes reps to be well on the way to meeting their first quarter goals. As VP of Sales, Bridget needs to have the year’s structure — territories, hiring, ramping — all set, to focus on the year’s success.

[4:45] Bridget sometimes postpones personnel issues until the new year, to focus on finishing the year well, but, as soon as possible in the year, has that difficult conversation.

[6:08] Andy says to have those conversations back in October or November — because the problem is evident by then — so you have the team composition in place that you need by January.

[7:01] In sales, the data identifies there’s something that’s not working. Millennials in particular, would like ongoing feedback. If managers provide feedback often and early, then the final conversation isn’t as difficult, because it’s not a surprise.

[8:58] Andy wants to see successes in January — milestones, closes, shared successes — to build team confidence. It is crucial to keep the team motivated.

[12:20] Angela Duckworth’s, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, says great performers are often made by the team, as opposed to great players making the team great. Bridget wants a team that makes people better for being on it.

[13:13] Andy believes a team gives you more people to hold you accountable, because no one wants to let their teammates down. Everybody wants to contribute.

[15:30] Bridget ‘feels that in spades,’ about her company, Logz.io. Team accountability applies not only to sales professionals, but to all levels of a company. It’s a mesh.

[16:35] What has inspired Bridget recently? Angela Duckworth’s book on grit, teaches that intelligence matters, but if others are smarter than we are, we can do a lot to counter that by persistence, and by hard work.

[18:19] Bridget shares a story of a personal sacrifice made by one of her managers, with quiet determination, to help close out the big year-end deals. Some sacrifices are needed and appreciated, without apparent martyrdom attached.

[23:05] In the first month, pay attention to what’s going on; get early successes for the team; and deal with problems, regardless of sunk cost, whether personnel, or projects that will never close. Take a hard look at everything.

The post How to Accelerate Your Sales into 2017. With Bridget Gleason. #372 appeared first on Andy Paul | Strategies to Power Growth.

How to Get Your Sales Team to Adopt Your CRM Tool. With Timo Rein. #371

Joining me on this episode of Accelerate! is my guest Timo Rein, Co-Founder of Pipedrive, which is one of the leading CRM systems for SMB (Small and Midsized Business).

KEY TAKEAWAYS

[2:19] After about a decade in sales consultancy, Timo Rein co-founded Pipedrive in 2010, to help salespeople around the world to manage complex sales processes.

[2:52] Timo grew up in the Soviet Union, which collapsed when he was a teen. The fall was hard on his grandparents and parents, whose pensions were lost. Timo was excited to be part of the nation of Estonia, independent again in 1991.

[6:21] Timo looked at the sales management tools available in 2000, and after a costly implementation for a business, found his sales people were still using sticky notes, instead of the CRM.

[7:34] Customers asked him about putting analog-style tracking tools into software, and that started them on the path to creating Pipedrive, as a tool to benefit salespeople.

[11:59] Pipedrive’s model is self-serve SaaS, so anyone in a company can use it. In some cases, management sees this usage, and makes it an enterprise purchase.

[13:12] The look and feel of Pipedrive is unique. It attempts to strike the balance between functionality and simplicity. It is a daily sales productivity tool, not just a reporting tool.

[15:23] What management wants, at the end of the day, is to sell in such a way that the focus is in the right place, most of the time. Pipedrive helps salespeople focus on the right opportunities — more on sales, than on engagements.

[18:15] The intent of Pipedrive is to close deals by the process of moving a contact from prospect to customer, helping you control your activities, to become more successful in sales.

[21:02] You can look at sales productivity mathematically. Performance is measured against results for a given period. Tools are productive if they move you towards results.

[26:10] Instead of focusing on the average sales cycle length (a result), if management saw the sales hours going into the cycle, they could focus on sales hours and actions, (controlled factors), to reduce the sales cycle length.

[27:43] Simplicity of use of the tool is important to getting the salespeople to use it. If it is not being used, it is not helping. If used, it helps performance, but the next step is helping real sales productivity.

[29:20] Business software was once considered difficult and clunky, but is now becoming consumerized. Categories of tools are blending. The more functions one interface can address simply, the better chances it has for adoption.

 

The post How to Get Your Sales Team to Adopt Your CRM Tool. With Timo Rein. #371 appeared first on Andy Paul | Strategies to Power Growth.

How to Make Your Own Game in Sales. And Win. With Chris Brogan. #370

Joining me on this episode of Accelerate! is my guest Chris Brogan, CEO of Owner Media Group (which provides skills for the modern entrepreneur), a highly sought-after professional speaker, and the New York Times bestselling author of nine books and counting, his latest being, Find Your Writing Voice.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

[1:54] Chris introduces his book coming out, called Make Your Own Game. The book has two sections. First is The Fast Book, for people who believe they are too busy to read. Second is The Real Book, for those who want it all.

[2:51] Make Your Own Game first teaches how to win a game, seeing it as story (who, what, and why you are playing), rules (how to play), and strategy (how to win). Second, it teaches how to create your own story, rules, and strategy.

[3:30] Some companies may say innovation is important, but then they retreat to, “That’s not the way we do it.” Innovation assumes risk, but proposes reward, and includes breaking out of the blue binder on the shelf.

[5:44] Chris tells how doing something extra on Facebook to connect, led to a third party’s offering him a business deal.

[6:33] There is a conflict in sales organizations between optimization of process and reporting through Big Data tools, and creating and nurturing human connections. Dashboards help, but people buy from people they know, like, and trust.

[10:31] It’s easy to see on social media what people’s interests are. Google your contact before your sales meeting. Find out what will help understand them better, and bond together.

[13:03] Your buyers are all involved in things outside the sale. There is great value in small talk. Chris would like to see it codified into systems. He admits to personally getting too familiar, too quickly, though.

[15:20] Teaching authenticity is like scripting improv.

[17:16] Andy suggests doing what you need, to be one percent better than the next guy. As the sales professional, you — not the price — are the first differentiation. Be your best you.

[18:44] Sales professionals need to spend more time learning about their clients and connecting to them. Uniquely human skills make the sale. Don’t show you are busy, show you are responsive to them.

[25:18] Sales is not about metric-driven methodologies. It’s about people. The biggest challenge in any sales organization is engaging with the prospect. It’s hard to put metrics on a sales rep’s ability to get others to ‘know, like, and trust’ them.

[29:47] Sales professionals, like most people, want to have a system. The sales challenge is to learn a really simple system to win the sale. Chris wants his book to help people with this, using self-permission.

The post How to Make Your Own Game in Sales. And Win. With Chris Brogan. #370 appeared first on Andy Paul | Strategies to Power Growth.

How to Build Valued Relationships With Your Buyers on LinkedIn. With Trevor Turnbull. #369

Joining me on this episode of Accelerate! is my guest Trevor Turnbull, Owner of Linked Into Leads, online reputation strategist, LinkedIn trainer, keynote speaker, and owner of the 30 Day Sales Machine program.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

[:51] Trevor’s agency, Linked Into Leads, is in Vancouver. 98% of their clients are outside of Vancouver. They generate leads, using LinkedIn to turn cold leads into warm prospects.

[3:56] Trevor uses LinkedIn as a tool — a massive database of opportunities — to get his clients in front of their audience at the right time in the buying process. Trevor teaches methods for effectiveness.

[4:50] Trevor has a degree in marketing, but went straight into sales in 2003, cold calling from the Yellow Pages. In 2009, he started using LinkedIn for social selling, human to human.

[7:19] Tip: make sure your profile photo is professional. Don’t treat LinkedIn as an online résumé. Those who view your profile want to know how you can help them, but you have just six seconds to capture their attention.

[8:07] In a LinkedIn campaign, use laser focus. Specifically aim for your target persona, and speak to them directly about pain points, with headline, summary, and supporting media.

[13:31] The 30 Day Sales Machine is a marketing cycle program for a LinkedIn campaign of 1000 connection requests (50 per day), and replying to responses. Use a dedicated email account for a campaign.

[16:45] Don’t just join LinkedIn groups of your peers. Join groups of your target buyers. You have to request to join. Let the group admin know what value you offer to them.

[20:31] In a LinkedIn campaign, define your searches, and save the searches for further filtering.

[23:14] TIP: Use the permission method for connecting: Thank you for visiting my profile. I’m looking to expand my network in the (blank) space, here in (blank). Would you be open to connecting on LinkedIn? This gets much better response than the generic request.

[25:48] If the person accepts, follow up with a message that doesn’t ask for anything: Great to have you in my network, I look forward to sharing ideas. If there’s anybody I can help connect you with, don’t hesitate to ask.

[27:08] Differentiate yourself and start a conversation with a second follow-up such as: I’m looking to get some feedback from decision makers such as yourself on the challenges they’re facing with (blank). Some of your peers have said this …

The post How to Build Valued Relationships With Your Buyers on LinkedIn. With Trevor Turnbull. #369 appeared first on Andy Paul | Strategies to Power Growth.

How to Accelerate Sales with Better Behaviors. With Frank Cespedes. #368

Joining me on this episode of Accelerate! is my guest Frank Cespedes, Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School, and author of the book Aligning Strategy and Sales: The Choices, Systems, and Behaviors that Drive Effective Selling, as well as numerous articles on the Harvard Business Review about sales.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

[:53] Frank was a business school professor, researching marketing and sales. Then he ran a tech firm for 12 years, sold it, and returned to Harvard to teach strategy.

[4:57] Frank mentions a McKinsey study on the effects of the 2008 recession. Companies cut the costs of goods sold, but selling & general administrative (SG&A) expenses, as a percentage of sales, have risen.

[6:30] Companies have done a good job of cutting operations costs, but have done less well with efficiencies in going to market. Productivity studies are now focusing on those costs.

[7:20] The availability of more accessible data shows clearly what it means to be a sales leader in the 21st Century. The CFO and C-suite can see easily what is happening for the enormous amount of money spent on sales.

[8:34] There is a misplaced focus on the number of activities, which means thinking about quantity, rather than quality. Activity is not outcome. Sales is about outcomes. Closed sales count.

[10:58] Andy refers to Absolute Value: What Really Influences Customers in the Age of (Nearly) Perfect Information, by Itamar Simonson and Emanuel Rosen, who say buyers are adept at capturing and understanding the information they need.

[14:31] In the business value chain, from sourcing to service, sales is the most specialized factor. In any industry, what works in sales at Company A, may not work selling at Company B, but sales is the factor most seen as generalized.

[17:28] The SaaS sales model took off in 2008, when it was mandatory to cut back on go-to-market costs. Any successful model is about the entire process. New models constantly disrupt mature models.

[22:28] Every generation relearns basic truisms. Putting new names on old processes can work, if it moves the meter in the right direction.

[24:58] Frank says studies support that 80% or more of sales come from 20% of salespeople. Performance variance in sales is greater than in many other areas of business.

[28:29] Frank’s tips to improve sales outcomes: improve hiring practices, including behavioral assessments; hold regular real performance reviews; use training and development, tracked.

The post How to Accelerate Sales with Better Behaviors. With Frank Cespedes. #368 appeared first on Andy Paul | Strategies to Power Growth.

How to Apply the Coaching Model in Your Organization. With Barry Demp. #367

Joining me on this episode of Accelerate! is my guest Barry Demp, Founder of Barry Demp Coaching, and author of an interesting book, called, The Quotable Coach: Daily Nuggets of Practical Wisdom. Among the many topics that Barry and I discuss are how a coaching relationship differs from a management relationship, why it’s essential to connect with the vision and values of your people, and how to find fulfillment in your work.  

KEY TAKEAWAYS

[:50] Barry taught Science for two years in the Philadelphia Public Schools. He moved into pharmaceuticals in sales and marketing for 12-1/2 years, for Upjohn. Barry left in 1992.

[2:48] Barry was moved by the Barcelona Olympic Games. A documentary on athletes and coaches inspired him to bring coaching to business, which he has been doing for 24 years.

[7:09] In a coaching relationship, people promise action to fulfill a future goal they intend to achieve. They lead themselves to the future they desire. Old-school management is, my job is to get you to go where I need you, like it, or not.

[9:33] When people’s vision and values connect with the organization, they see work can be an expression of themselves, and they engage with it, and are fulfilled by that community, and they build it up to mutual benefit.

[13:16] The balance begins with relationships. Quality relationships underlie quality results. Knowing your employees, and their values, are drivers of human behavior. “We’re not a machine anymore,” ― Seth Godin.

[23:48] Barry’s book is developed from his blog. Andy notes selected quotes: “You’re more likely to act yourself into

feeling, than feel yourself into action.” ― Jerome Bruner.

Start something!

[25:47] “People are anxious to improve their circumstances, but they’re unwilling to improve themselves. They therefore remain bound.” ― James Allen. Invest in yourself!

[27:10] “Don’t stumble over something behind you”

― Seneca the Younger. Where do we live — past, present, or future? Be present in the moment, and step into the future!

[28:34] “Death is Nature’s advice to get plenty of life.”

― Goethe. Life is finite. Get the most out of it!

[30:06] “Our chief want in life is somebody who will make us do what we can.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson. The ability to take a stand for other people is a remarkably powerful place!

[31:30] “If you chase two rabbits, both will escape.”

― Author Unknown. Choose and focus! The most productive people are highly-focused, not multi-taskers.

[32:33] “Instead of seeking new landscapes, develop new eyes.” ― Marcel Proust. Perception is reality. If we perceive things in new ways, we create new realities!

The post How to Apply the Coaching Model in Your Organization. With Barry Demp. #367 appeared first on Andy Paul | Strategies to Power Growth.

How to Accelerate Your Success by Studying Great Books. With Bridget Gleason. #366

Welcome to another Front Line Friday with my very special guest, Bridget Gleason. On this week’s episode, Bridget and I discuss the eight great sales books most frequently recommended by my guests, how your team or organization can participate in Andy’s 12-month reading program, and what books Andy and Bridget are reading right now.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

[1:21] The topic is books — the top five recommendations from the world’s leading sales and marketing experts who have been guests on Accelerate!

[2:51] Number One, by far, is How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie, published in 1936, in the heart of the Great Depression. Carnegie had worked selling for Armour, and taught public speaking. It is as relevant today, as ever.

[5:56] Number Two is SPIN Selling, by Neil Rackham, a good basic book about B2B Sales, and the Spin model: Situation, Problem, Implication, Need-payoff. Bridget has taught SPIN selling. It is still very relevant to put in practice, company-wide.

[10:31] Number Three is The Challenger Sale, by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson. It is embraced by large enterprise, selling complex products.

[13:53] Number Four is Think and Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill. This timeless classic for motivation and inspiration offers a 13-step formula for reaching goals.

[16:54] Number Five is actually a tie between four books: First, To Sell is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others, by Daniel Pink. Everybody is an influencer, even if not in sales. Most white-collar employees influence others in their jobs.

[18:15] Andy refers to Robert Cialdini’s term, ‘Influence Professional.’

[19:04] Also tied for Number Five, is New Sales. Simplified. The Essential Handbook for Prospecting and New Business Development, by Mike Weinberg. It is a modern classic, blunt and direct on what you can do better.

[20:25] Also tied for Number Five, is The Greatest Salesman in the World, by Og Mandino. It is a short parable that teaches behaviors for a lifetime of success and fulfillment.

[22:15] Finally, also tied for Number Five, is Zero-Time Selling: 10 Essential Steps To Accelerate Every Company’s Sales, by your host, Andy Paul! It is a favorite of Bridget’s; she hopes it stays on the modern classics list — a quick read, widely applicable.

[23:38] Andy has prepared a 12-month reading list for clients. Contact Andy, to read along. Not homework! If you do it, as a manager you provide notebooks, and 15–20 minutes of the business day, for your people to read, and to journal.

The post How to Accelerate Your Success by Studying Great Books. With Bridget Gleason. #366 appeared first on Andy Paul | Strategies to Power Growth.