Apr 24, 2018
Takeaways
- Words are Powerful: Your mastery of language and results driven communication is paramount to your success in sales. It’s one thing to be good, but becoming a student of linguistics and really understanding the nuance between conscious and subconscious states can take you to an entirely different level. Think about the notion of associated and dissociated language — such as using the royal “we” when you really mean “I.” Learning different communication styles can help you not only influence others but also yourself.
- Act Despite Your Feelings: Knowing yourself enough to realize there are times you don’t want to do certain things is totally okay. However, you still need to do them. Look, I get it — there are absolutely moments in a day or week that I don’t want to take a meeting, do a task, or even have a conversation. Give yourself the permission to have the feeling, but then figure out how to get over it and take the action you know needs to be taken. Learning how to overcome those emotions will change your life and put you in complete control of your career success. And once that idea came about my life changed and started being able to not be a victim of my emotions anymore being control of my life and being able to do things even if I didn't feel like
- Your Job is Not to be Liked: Way too many sales reps I talk to want prospects to like them. They believe that if they say anything to challenge the person they’re talking to they will lose the opportunity. Neither of those things are true. You must realize, you do not have to sell to every prospect. Respectfully push back and tell them that while they may treat other vendors a certain way, for you to become a true partner to them, you have to better understand their current situation. This includes following up — if you’ve had a positive interaction with a prospect, it’s your duty to continue to reach back out even if that means pissing off a few people.
Full Notes
Book Recommendation
- Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life by Jon Kabat-Zinn
Sponsor
- Costello-What if every sales rep inherited the habits of your best rep? With Costello, they do.
Apr 17, 2018
Takeaways
- Raise Your Business Acumen: Selling into the C-Suite of enterprise companies is more education than pain-based. They know the problems they have and they’re looking for salespeople to rethink what’s possible. This has nothing to do with your product features and benefits and everything to do with their business. You need to be able to quickly identify your value and show a direct correlation to their pressing issues.
- Define the Trigger Moments of Custom Success: When it comes to customer success, it’s not enough to just get your customer to the point of that they can’t live without your product. What you need to really dig into is why they can’t live without it. What are those trigger moments that get them to go from exploring to needing to not being able to live without it?
- Have the Conviction to Say “No”: Lose the happy ears. Not everything is a good opportunity for you or your company. Could you potentially lose a deal with this approach? Damn right, you might, but the level of respect you’ll gain will trump the potential loss. Knowing your value and the impact it can have on an organization will help you build that confidence.
Full Notes
Book Recommendation
- The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Eckhart Tolle
Sponsor
- Costello-What if every sales rep inherited the habits of your best rep? With Costello, they do.
Apr 10, 2018
Takeaways
- Learn How to Learn: When tackling any new topic or initiative the first question you have to ask yourself is “why.” The second question should be “how.” Using the notion of synthesis, take all the artifacts, insights, and data points you can find from a variety of sources and then apply it to your own situation. This should help you determine at least one hypothesis as a starting point. And for crying out loud, pick up a book and start reading.
- Remember Who the Credibility Belongs To: No one cares what you know or what you think. The truth is, prospects are looking for a way to prove salespeople wrong. So, when you don’t have credibility, invoke those that do — i.e. your customers or external reports. When you can cite 3rd party research or share stories from successful customers, your story is more likely to stick.
- Every Objection Has a Hidden Meaning: Regardless of the type of objection you hear, you have to get to the root cause of the statement. While your prospect may seem to be evoking logic, there is always an underlying emotional reason. Find it and you’ll unlock the path to getting a deal done. One good exercise to go through on this is to state the objection and then insert a blank. If your prospect says “it’s too expensive,” go through all the possible things that could follow that statement to get to the root cause.
Full Notes
Book Recommendations
- The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results by Jay Papasan
- Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown
- The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail--but Some Don't by Nate Silver
Sponsor
- Costello-What if every sales rep inherited the habits of your best rep? With Costello, they do.
Apr 3, 2018
Takeaways
- Master the First 20 Seconds: We all get defensive when we receive an unexpected call from someone we don’t know. Don’t take it personal as it’s a cultural issue. However, it is your job to dissolve that defensiveness very quickly. First thing first — remove iffy language. Don’t tell them you’re “just calling” as if you have nothing better to do. Also, don’t ask them how they are. Not only is that a tell tale sign that you’re a salesperson, but when a stranger asks about your health, you get even more defensive. You need to quickly get to the reason for your call and then immediately show them how the call is relevant to them. Notice, this has nothing to do with you.
- Prepare to Think on Your Feet: I get it. Email is easier because you have time to both think and edit. On the phone, you clearly don’t get that luxury. So, be prepared. Obviously, you need to have a couple of open ended questions ready to go, but you also need to know what the 3-4 typical responses are that you’re likely to get from the prospect. As you prepare for those responses, now you just need to ask your question and truly listen to the response. And remember, the sound of the human voice contains so much information you’re losing by relying on text based communication.
- Help Prospects Make Decisions: I’ve gone against the grain a bit with the notion of decision fatigue from a personal standpoint, but from the point of the prospect I get it. Instead of leaving everything up to them, prompt them by giving them the “next best step.” I’ve found that if I just ask them what to do next, I get delay after delay It usually sounds like, “me think about it” or “let me talk to so and so,” but when I give them the next step most people take or the one I believe is right for them, I can move a deal along a lot faster. Realize, you’ve sold your solution dozens if not hundreds of times, yet this is the first time they’ve gone through a sales process for your solution.
Full Notes
Recommendation
- Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
Sponsor
- Costello-What if every sales rep inherited the habits of your best rep? With Costello, they do.
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