Full Notes

https://www.salestuners.com/zahm/

Takeaways

1. Auto Ask - Figure out how to consistently get in front of your audience with a unique fresh message. Eventually they’ll either meet with you, tell you they’ll meet with you a later date, or tell you to go away, but the persistence will ultimately pay off once they see your commitment.
2. Don’t Reinvent the Wheel - Look around you. Talk to other reps in a similar role. Talk to your competitors or at least reps that sell into the same type of prospect profile you. What is working for them or what has worked for others?
3. DIY Before Outsourcing - Unless you know the intricate details of a process, it may not be in your best interest to outsource it. Do it yourself first. Figure out the tiny details and draft a standard operating procedure. Doing so allows you to monitor the outsourcing and determine very quickly what’s working and what’s not.

Book Recommendation

• The 10X Rule: The Only Difference Between Success and Failure by Grant Cardone

Sponsor

• Octiv – Transform the way your sales assets are created, distributed and tracked around the world. Because a better sales process is a better buying experience.

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Full Notes

https://www.salestuners.com/hutzul/

Takeaways

1. Have a Process - This one should have been obvious from the episode title, but here’s the thing — if you don’t have a process, you have to adapt to your buyers process and they don’t know how to buy. As you define the individual steps in your process and what the exit criteria is for each, it becomes much easier to qualify, plan, and close opportunities.
2. Ask for Referrals - You’ll never get anything in life you don’t ask for, and referrals are no exception. Make it a habit… actually, make it part of your process to ask everyone you come in contact with for one referral. If you’re able to describe to them the problems you solve, see if they know one person that might be having the same problem and could benefit from your solution.
3. Act Like an Entrepreneur - It’s easy to play Tuesday Morning Quarterback, but until you really start to understand all the mechanics of RUNNING a business, you’ll never grasp why certain decision are made or not made. Until then, being resourceful and knowing which corners to cut or which risks to take can have a big impact on your career.

Book Recommendation

• The Millionaire and the Bard by Andrea Mays

Sponsor

• Octiv – Transform the way your sales assets are created, distributed and tracked around the world. Because a better sales process is a better buying experience.

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Full Notes

https://www.salestuners.com/freeman/

Takeaways

1. It’s Not Your Money: This remains a challenge for most people in sales, but you have to realize, the amount of money you’re asking a person for has no correlation to your own wallet or your perception of “a lot of money” is. Just because you couldn’t afford to buy something, or just because you’ve never done what you’re asking the buyer to do, doesn’t mean they can’t or shouldn’t.
   
   
2. Overcome the Default Objection: How many times have you walked into a store with a specific intention to buy something and when the store clerk asked if they could help you with anything your default response was, “no thank, I’m just looking.” Pretty much every time, right? Buyers of your product are doing the same thing by saying “they’re good” or “they already have someone.” What are follow up questions you can ask to break through that initial objection in your world.
   
   
3. Quit Thinking, Start Doing: It was General George Patton that said “a good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed at some indefinite time in the future.” to break that down, simply GET OUT of your own way. Pick up the phone, send the email, just start doing something.

Book Recommendation

• Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable by Tim S. Grover

Sponsor

• Octiv – Transform the way your sales assets are created, distributed and tracked around the world. Because a better sales process is a better buying experience.

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Full Notes

http://www.salestuners.com/logar/

Takeaways

1. Ask For More: If you want to be great at what you do, ask for more. Self-attitude, self-belief and confidence only comes when you take action. People tend to stop themselves from achieving all they can because they get caught up in self doubt and distractions.
2. It’s Not About You: Forget about your website. Forget about your business cards. Forget about your PowerPoint deck. At the end of the day, all of those things are irrelevant. Find your prospects true pain and watch the solution present itself.
3. Leverage Trade Shows: Walk up to the salesmen in the booth sand just start asking questions. Ask them what they have been seeing in the market? What kind of feedback are they getting from customers? What do they think people should be excited about? What are some of the trends people are talking about? As you start to see common themes, you’re likely to craft a better pitch or discovery question set.

Book Recommendation

• The Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes

Sponsor

• Octiv – Transform the way your sales assets are created, distributed and tracked around the world. Because a better sales process is a better buying experience.

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Full Notes

http://www.salestuners.com/kusner/

Takeaways

1. Find Your Champion: When prospecting pursue multiple players inside the organization. Don't just stop at the person who you think is the right person, by reaching out to multiple people you’re more likely to find someone who will at least pick up the phone and hear what you have to say. Turning them into your champion on the inside.
2. Don’t Go it Alone: Let other people assist you wherever possible. Jack talked about the idea of always wanting to be the dumbest person in the right room. Doing so pushes him and makes him look at and think about things differently.
3. Find the Real Pain: Whether you’re prospecting or right in the middle of sales cycle — what your product or service does is irrelevant. You have to understand and focus on the actual pain the prospect has and use their words to build a business case.

Book Recommendations

• Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't by Jim Collins
• The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson
• Who Moved My Cheese?: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life by Spencer Johnson

Sponsor

• Octiv – Transform the way your sales assets are created, distributed and tracked around the world. Because a better sales process is a better buying experience.

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Full Notes

https://www.salestuners.com/carroll/

Takeaways

1. Know the Vice: In today’s world where people may have 10-15 different inboxes, figure out the best way to communicate with prospects individually. Whether its email, Snapchat, Twitter, LinkedIn, or phone etc. don’t rely on just one channel.
2. Be Found: If people can’t find you online, they can’t learn from you, and if they can’t learn from you, they can’t decide to buy from you. Invest time in building your social presence to grow your visibility and perceived thought leadership.
3. Comparison is the Thief of Joy: While competition is good, don’t let comparing yourself to others steal your success. Salespeople today spend too much time thinking “if I fail, it’s because of this” instead of “when I win, it’s in spite of this.”

Book Recommendation

• How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
• The Sales Bible by Jeffrey Gitomer

Sponsor

• Octiv – Transform the way your sales assets are created, distributed and tracked around the world. Because a better sales process is a better buying experience.

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Full Notes

https://www.salestuners.com/nettleton/

Takeaways

1. Be Professionally Curious: The things you don’t know in sales won’t kill you… it’s the things you do know, that just aren’t so, that will. Don’t skip past the ‘what’ cycle of questioning. Starting basic can help gain key understandings to build a strong foundation before digging deeper.
2. Provide Context to Content: There is a ton of information available to prospects. The job of the salesperson is not to provide information, but rather context. Prospects have access to more content than ever before, but sales people have more context in their area of expertise than a prospect should or could ever develop. Sharing the context is essential.
3. Understand People: Learn how to adjust yourself to address the person you’re selling to. There are many indicators in every conversation that illuminate the personality type of the person you’re communicating with. Is their preferred communication style visual, auditory, or kinesthetic? What is their DISC profile? Unlocking these concepts can drastically improve your sales process.

Book Recommendation

• Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

Sponsor

• Octiv – Transform the way your sales assets are created, distributed and tracked around the world. Because a better sales process is a better buying experience.

Full Notes

https://www.salestuners.com/bennett/

Takeaways

1. Confidence is Key: Once you realize you know more about your product than the person on the other end of the call, the whole world opens up to you. Stress levels go down, better questions are asked and that feeling of awkwardness and intimidation starts to fade.
2. Quit Being a Rule Follower: While it’s important to know the rules of the game, more often than not, it’s so that you know which one’s to break and when. Don’t just imitate those around you, challenge the status quo and find your voice.
3. Keep it Conversational: Be logical and intentional in your questions by focusing on the purpose of where the answer should take you. As you start to better understand your flow, people will continue to engage without realizing how long they have been talking to you and open up all kinds of opportunity you might never have got to.

Book Recommendation

• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey

Sponsor

• Octiv – Transform the way your sales assets are created, distributed and tracked around the world. Because a better sales process is a better buying experience.

Subscribe to SalesTuners

https://www.salestuners.com/weber/  

Takeaways

1. Get a Prospect Moving: Ask good questions to establish credibility and trust. Your questions should be centered on moving a prospect from a neutral position to one where they’re willing to make a change.
2. Stay the Course: Put in the work every single day. The close may not come right away, but take the time to continually deliver value filled messages and touches to stay top of mind.
3. Maximize Your Time: Instead of making four hours of work look like 10, focus on maximizing your eight hours to hit your goals.

Book Recommendations

• We Really Do Need Each Other by Reuben Welch
• You Can’t Learn to Ride a Bike at a Seminar by David Sandler
• Mastering the Complex Sale by Jeff Thull

Sponsor

• Octiv – Transform the way your sales assets are created, distributed and tracked around the world. Because a better sales process is a better buying experience.

Full Notes
https://www.salestuners.com/caponi/

Takeaways

• Ask for Time on the Calendar: The best evidence a customer is truly engaged is their willingness to put you in their calendar for another discussion. Reps lose control of deals because they're not getting on the customer's calendar. Before you hang up or step out of the meeting, secure the follow-up.
• Develop a Thirst for Learning: To continue improving, stay engaged in your own education. Whether it’s reading books, listening to podcasts, subscribing to trade magazines or just participating in discussions, you have to stay current with both your buyer and your industry.
• Don’t Pounce: When handling objections, let the prospect believe that it’s the first time you’ve heard that issue and attempt to solve it specifically for them.

Book Recommendation

• The Challenger Sale by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson
• The Sales Acceleration Formula by Mark Roberge
• What Great Salespeople Do by Ben Zoldan and Michael T. Bosworth

Sponsor

• Octiv – Transform the way your sales assets are created, distributed and tracked around the world. Because a better sales process is a better buying experience.

Full Notes

https://www.salestuners.com/petetheplanner/

Takeaways

1. Lifestyle Creep: Even when you hit your sales goals and bring home a commission check, be careful to not splurge. Avoid the yo-yo effect and focus on achieving your financial goals by hitting your sales goals.
2. Be Present: Know your stuff, but beyond the presentation know your audience and acknowledge the moment — not just your agenda.
3. Personal Responsibility: Take responsibility for both the wins and the losses. Then learn from the no’s in order to better communicate your value.

Book Recommendation

• The Success Principles by Jack Canfield

Sponsor

• Octiv – Transform the way your sales assets are created, distributed and tracked around the world. Because a better sales process is a better buying experience.

Full Notes

https://www.salestuners.com/barrows/

Takeaways

1. Prospecting: By simply picking up the phone you open up a world of new opportunities. Prospecting helps solves a lot of problems while developing you faster.
2. Time: Time is the most valuable asset any of us have. When reaching out to a prospect be clear on the value by doing research, asking good questions, sharing insights, and testing out different approaches.
3. Goals: Goal setting is one of the most important things any sales rep can do in their career, whether it’s daily weekly, monthly, or annually. The act requires you to ask yourself questions in preparation for prospecting meetings and help you to proactively address objections.
4. Objection handling: Feel, Felt, Found - I totally understand how you feel, other people have felt the same way, what I’ve found is...

Book Recommendation

• Influence by Robert B. Cialdini

Sponsor

• Octiv – Transform the way your sales assets are created, distributed and tracked around the world. Because a better sales process is a better buying experience.

Full Notes

https://www.salestuners.com/vance

Takeaways

1. Candor: Prior to kicking off a sales call, set the ground rules for the meeting.
2. Practice: Stepping into the “batter’s box” helps great hitters hone their craft. The same is true for even the best salespeople.
3. Be Proactive: Salespeople often lose control of the sales process when they get ahead of themselves in answering questions.

Book Recommendation

• Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg

Sponsor

• Octiv - Transform the way your sales assets are created, distributed and tracked around the world. Because a better sales process is a better buying experience.

Full Notes

https://www.salestuners.com/tomey

Takeaways

• Listen: Don’t dominate the conversation. Spend more time listening and, ask better questions.
• Recharge: Celebrate the wins and give yourself some space to unplug so you can be at your best when it’s showtime.
• Research: If you’re selling to a public company a 10K can be a roadmap to gold.

Book Recommendations

• The Challenger Sale by Matthew Dixon
• Escape Velocity: Free Your Company's Future from the Pull of the Past by Geoffrey Moore

Sponsor

• Octiv - Transform the way your sales assets are created, distributed and tracked around the world. Because a better sales process is a better buying experience.

Full Notes

https://www.salestuners.com/rj

Takeaways

1. Your Network is your Net Worth: Spend the time necessary to grow your relationships both inside your organization and outside of it.
2. Coaching High Performers: Before starting the conversation use a simple three-part question, Do you want me to listen? Do you want me to fix? Or do you want me to coach?
3. Enablement is Ongoing: Simply put, enablement is not a single event, it’s getting the right people in the right conversations at the right time with the right information and it can’t start early enough.

Book Recommendation

• The Challenger Sale by Matthew Dixon

Sponsor

• Octiv - Transform the way your sales assets are created, distributed and tracked around the world. Because a better sales process is a better buying experience.

Full Notes

https://www.salestuners.com/grant

Takeaways

• Pleasantly Persistent: Keep pursuing your prospect using personalized messaging while communicating value. Overtime, the relationship will unfold so that you spend your time on qualified and interested buyers.
• Make it Personal: Although tempting, don’t just use the templated email that you know won’t get opened. Spend the time to identify details about the person you’re emailing and get creative with it.
• Email Subject Lines: Using anonymous data across all clients, SalesLoft has determined the top subject lines had three things in common - they were three words or less, they contained some sort of mail merge data, and they contained a question mark.
• Discounting: While obviously wanting to maximize contract values, there are four appropriate situations where you can provide a discount. Can you get your prospect to sign a longer term commitment? Are they buying the highest version or package of the service? Can they buy higher quantity of the package or service? Are they able to buy today or pay cash upfront for the entire order?

Book Recommendation

• Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis

Sponsor

• Octiv - Transform the way your sales assets are created, distributed and tracked around the world. Because a better sales process is a better buying experience.

Full Notes:

https://www.salestuners.com/rowley

Takeaways

1. Share: Even if what you share is unrelated to what you’re trying to sell, doing so allows you to show you care, which drives future opportunities.
2. Focus on the Customer: Know the buyer from every angle at the company and personal level.
3. Provide Value: Constantly consume and share content that will be relevant to your buyers.

Book Recommendation

• Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us by Seth Godin

Sponsor

• Octiv - Transform the way your sales assets are created, distributed and tracked around the world. Because a better sales process is a better buying experience.

SalesTuners is a weekly interview where I talk with great sales leaders and high performing individual salespeople about the Behaviors, Attitudes, and Techniques that have made them great. 

This episode is my introduction and my why. Learn more at SalesTuners.com!