Sales Leadership Radio

Staying sharp physically and mentally go hand-in-hand. I use physical exercise to maintain my business focus and energy level.

“You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose-- with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”
- Jim Stockdale

Great sales advice from a former high performing sales pro.

A thought on how to manage the ups and downs of your business.

Crazy economic times are a perfect opportunity to start thinking differently about the value you bring to the marketplace.

Early in my career I had a sales manager who required all sales reps to host “Root Beer Float” parties at the offices of their top prospects. I resisted this silly idea and you should to if you’re ever asked to do something like this as a way to generate new business.

Today I planted seeds. I got out of the office and met a bunch of new people. Now is the time to build the foundation for the expansion of your business.

One of the best ways to become known in your industry as an expert is to begin by building your local network.

Success in B2B sales is easier - and faster - when you set an objective for yourself and have a process to achieve it. Then all you have to do is work the plan consistently.

Knowing what needs to be done and having the self discipline to complete them daily is key to your sales success.

If you’ve been relying on your website for lead generation consider trying a landing page optimized to convert visitors into leads.

One of the biggest mistakes B2B salespeople make today is neglecting professional development. A shift has occurred in B2B sales, away from traditional sales tactics to a relationship centered approach. Today the key differentiator in your success is you. Think about moving beyond sales training to identifying behaviors and habits to stop and leadership attributes to acquire.

Professional reflection. If leadership isn’t interested, be worried. Be very worried.

If you’ve been in sales for awhile hopefully you’ve received good sales training. One of the shifts taking place in B2B sales today is the need to blend traditional sales tactics with a relationship centered approach.

One of the biggest mistakes B2B salespeople make today is emphasizing activity rather than being strategic in how they approach their prospects.

Your prospects today have access to more information than ever before. This saves time and makes selling more efficient. At the same time B2B salespeople who are willing to do their homework can learn more about their prospect than ever before. In this video I share of the resources available to B2B sellers today which if leveraged can help them maintain an edge in the selling process.

One of the biggest mistakes B2B salespeople make today is “increasing the volume" and "adding to the noise.” In an already noisy environment where overwhelmed prospects are difficult to reach, increasing the volume and frequency of cold calls and emails to attract attention will damage your chances of connecting with your prospect.

Are you using LinkedIn as another tactic in your cold outreach, connecting with prospects and immediately beginning to sell? LinkedIn when done correctly is a great way to build relationships over time, moving cold prospects to leads and clients. But you need a system and the patience to implement and work it.

Salespeople, would you like to know how to move into the top 20% of producers quickly? It’s a simple program that requires focus and self discipline every day. Which is why 80% of sales people don’t do it.

Spending a lot of time on “low-yield” activities and not getting the results you expect (our are used to)? Your prospect is overwhelmed. They might be interested in hearing from you. It could simply be a question of not enough bandwidth. Find a better way to reach them.

One way or another your sales people get the training they need. It’s just a question of cost. A well-designed training program takes more time but it’s much less costly in the long run. The other option, which is more common, is having new sales people spend a day “shadowing” your successful reps, declaring them “ready” and turning them loose which ends up costing much more.

Follow these 12 steps to launch a new market from a blank sheet of paper in 12 months or less.

If you’re having trouble reaching your prospects through traditional methods it helps to understand your prospect is overwhelmed. Once you acknowledge and accept this reality you can begin thinking of more creative ways to make a connection.

Earl Nightingale famously said, “men simply don’t think.” He said that back when there were far fewer distractions than are available today. As a sales leader or business owner, are you always plugged in? I think it’s important to take time off from distractions, notifications and the constant flow of information and noise. #unplug #powerdown #think

I didn’t ask if you are “killing it” on LinkedIn. I asked if you are “killing” LinkedIn. If you‘re sending connection requests to prospects and viewing their acceptance of your request as an “opt in” to begin receiving your sales messaging you are definitely helping to kill trust on the LinkedIn platform.

Is everything taught today in leadership, management and motivation simply derivative of what was developed by some of the original thought leaders in those areas? Just wondering as I reflect on what I’ve learned over the years from several legends.

One of the keys to building momentum quickly in B2B Sales is to know who your ideal client is and to present your offer to them. In this episode I share how to identify your ideal client and how to get your offer in front of them quickly and creatively.

To succeed in sales you must have productive days every day. The key to being productive daily is identifying your most important tasks and committing to doing them.

The 12 Biggest Mistakes B2B Salespeople Are Making Today. What are they? There is a lot of interesting conversation about the state of B2B sales. I’ve listened to the conversation and decided to add my thoughts but in a more practical approach. Today I’ll begin breaking down each of the 12 BIGGEST mistakes.

B2B sales has always been hard. The question is have you taken time to recognize the six dramatic shifts that have impacted B2B sales since 2009. I recognized them - in some cases the hard way - and share them on this episode.

If you’ve been in sales over the last ten years you’ve heard the statement that the balance of power in sales has shifted from the seller to the buyer. It’s one way of attempting to explain why sales has gotten more difficult. Is this statement true? Is there more going on?

Sales has changed. Got it. Let’s adapt to this new reality. We’re going to be exploring three areas where we need to “get better” - hat tip to Jim Rohn - to continue to be effective sales leaders. I’m excited to be sharing this content with you as we learn together how to adapt and succeed in modern sales.

The cold approach to finding new clients can be hazardous today. Be careful!

To succeed in the world of modern selling you need to focus on professional development, not more sales training. In this episode I share some of the topics I recommend you consider. I’ll add to the list and make more information available on each topic to help you learn about and explore each.

Traditional sales tactics aren’t as effective today because the prospective client is better educated about your product or service and just isn’t as likely to respond favorably to these tactics. In fact, you may end up turning them off if you’re still using them. In this episode I discuss why leadership development is more appropriate to succeed in modern sales.

While a lot has changed about modern sales. Some aspects of sales haven’t changed. In fact, some things are now more important than ever if you intend to be an effective and successful sales leader.

Brian Tracy once said to be successful figure out our what the six most important things in your business are and focus on them daily. That was 20-some years ago. Today, you must focus on one thing.

As our industry changes we sales leaders need to be aware of new resources which can help us stay relevant to our companies and/or clients. Two new resources I encourage you to investigate are SalesTribe and SwarmSales. Each are focused on helping you operate effectively at the leading edge of sales.

The Sandler Sales System was developed in 1967 by David Sandler. 50 years later, with millions trained, the Sandler system is still very effective. What is unique about Sandler its emphasis on the qualification stage rather than the closing stage. And, if done correctly, the prospect will close themselves and move the transaction forward.

On this episode I share my thoughts on SPIN Selling. The premise of SPIN Selling is questions persuade more powerfully than any other form of verbal behavior. The SPIN sequence was developed after the researchers watched more than 30,000 sales calls. They noticed the successful sellers didn’t just ask random questions but that there was a distinct pattern to the questions they asked. Have a listen then grab a copy of this sales classic.

The first sales methodology I’ll review is SNAP Selling by Jill Konrath, first published in 2010. SNAP Selling is first about understanding how the frazzled customer thinks. They are overwhelmed and have limited time. SNAP Selling is a framework to begin understanding how the buyer thinks, how to put them in the right frame of mind to be receptive to learning about your offering and how to gain insights that will help put you in the best position to win the business.

Each day over the next 14 days I’ll analyze one of 10 popular sales methodologies. Then I’ll share which I believe are the top three and why. Finally, I’ll reveal which one I believe is foundational and why. It will be fun and informative. Thank you for listening!

Cover a lot in this episode. Last week at Funnel Hacking Live was a terrific introduction into increasing conversions using sales funnels. In coming weeks I’ll be breaking down the Top 10 Sales Methodologies in use today. Also - and always - exploring Leadership as a way to become a sales leader.

If you’ve been in sales for 10 or more years you’ve seen how dramatically B2B sales has changed in that time. Interruption sales tactics ie. “ambushing” the prospect by cold calling is no longer effective. Sending cold email is almost as bad as prospects receive in many cases hundreds of emails per day and aggressive filters have you in junk mail more often than not. You’ve got to find other ways to schedule time with your prospect and of course you need to make a great first impression but also need to know how to manage the call. There is a lot to this. Focusing on your professional development is a key part in becoming an effective B2B sales representative today.

I offer part-time sales management and sales person development services for business owners of small to medium-sized companies. On the podcast we’ll explore the ideas and tactics to grow sales and develop the effectiveness of your sales people.

I’m having success converting leads which had been marked as “not interested” in our CRM app. There are several reasons why someone may decline your proposal. But if enough has passed it may be worthwhile to circle back and see if they’re in a different frame of mind. You may secure the sale!

Situational Leadership is a framework which guides leaders in selecting the correct behavior to influence followers based on their readiness to complete a task. When applied to leading sales teams Situational Leadership can be used to incrementally improve the performance of the middle performers of your sales team.

Asking good questions during a sales meeting is a very persuasive form of communication. It is important to understand your sales cycles and call objectives to develop effective questions and questioning skill.

How you are perceived by the buyer and the effect on selling success is different in small sales versus large sale. Working on your professional presence and demeanor is critical to sales performance.

In this episode I discuss two types of questions; questions that open doors and questions that close sales. The two scenarios Are smaller, one call close sales and complex, larger sales. There are different questions to ask for each scenario.