754: Sales Fundamentals w/ Brendan McAdams

Brendan McAdams, Co-Founder at Expertscape, and author of SALES CRAFT: Proven Tips, Practices and Ideas to Advance Your Sales Success, joins me in this episode of #Accelerate!
KEY TAKEAWAYS

Expertscape is a website that ranks medical experts by 29,000 topics using the NIH PubMed Repository. Expertscape’s algorithm identifies the most knowledgeable people by the quality of their publications.
Brendan explains the business model of Expertscape. Advertisers and large academic and medical centers support it. People use the site for specific reasons and advertisers advertise on the pertinent pages.
Andy enjoyed reading SALES CRAFT. Brendan and Andy agree that success in sales is based on fundamentals like consistency and followup. Brendan wrote the book after years of making notes from his observations.
The book offers practical tips every salesperson needs to know. It is not a sales methodology; you don’t need to read it front-to-back. It teaches decent human practices to help you engage as a good human being.
Brendan talks about interviewing for sales positions, compared to selling. The job you are hired for is often not the job you are going to do. Brendan suggests you find out what would kill the deal and confront that.
A sale is never over, especially in enterprise-level selling. The contract is just one stage. Andy talks about the stages of a relationship: fledgling, steady-state, and transition. Decisions are made early in the relationship.
Be on time. That means being a few minutes early. Initial impressions matter. Be reliable; it will make your customers look good internally. If you’re going to be late, show consideration by texting before the time.
If your customer is late, ask if you can reschedule, offering two times you can meet. If the customer is inconsiderate of your time, that’s an indication of what kind of customer they will be. It’s OK to walk away.
Andy talks about maximizers and satisficers, using Herbert Simon’s terminology. Maximizers don’t make the easiest customers and they experience more buyer’s remorse. Brendan talks about selecting your customers.
Be honest and direct. Customers want sellers to lead and inspire. Brendan explains limitations and where you wouldn’t use his product. That defuses a series of objections in the buyer’s mind.
Brendan describes meaningful touches. Move the buyer closer to a decision with each touch. Attention spans are short; people want to understand quickly. Summarize,  use humor, and be humble. Andy recommends the book.
Brendan’s book is for new salespeople who want to learn the craft and for seasoned salespeople to add new ideas to their self-improvement program. He may write a version targeted for introverted startup founders.

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