Raintoday's Sales Tips & Techniques Podcast

You can take classes about business and read about how to succeed in business, but it isn't until you hear from business owners about their experiences that you get the whole picture. Their stories bring to life challenges they're dealing with and provide ideas for how similar businesses can address those same issues. In this podcast, Michael Mazzeo, co-author of Roadside MBA, talks about the 100-plus small businesses he and his co-authors met with as research for the book and shares the stories of B2B service firms dealing with the perennial challenge of getting new clients.

The entire sales process is a series of discomforts, such as prospecting, follow-up, and negotiation. Successful salespeople and professionals involved in business development know how to handle those discomforts, though. When they identify them, prepare for them, and work through them they have much greater success than those who refuse to break out of their comfort zone. Listen as Jeff Shore, author of Be Bold and Win the Sale, discusses how to break your comfort addictions and win more sales.

Recording of John Doerr's June 19, 2014, webinar

When the average person hears a "no" from a buyer, their automatic response is to think they're not the buyer isn't interested and to end the conversation. The reality is a no is an opportunity to continue the discussion, uncover the buyer's concerns, and possibly turn the no into a yes. Listen as Tom Hopkins, author of When Buyers Say No, explains how to respond to buyer objections and keep the sale moving forward.

You know all of those conferences, trade shows, and industry events where you're supposed to network and meet potential new clients? You should probably skip those and instead create your own "un-networking" group where you connect clients and become an extension of your clients' business development team. Not only will you help your clients, but you will get more business in return, says Derek Coburn, author of Networking Is Not Working.

Many companies do not sound exciting on the surface. When you think of an accounting or insurance firm, for example, you probably picture something rather boring. Chances are, however, those firms are doing some unique and interesting things. It's those things—told through stories—that will help them stand out from others in their industry and draw buyers to them.

The advent of smartphones and tablets has led to a new type of sales force. New mobile technology gives sales reps fast and easy access to marketing and sales materials, while also enabling them to answer prospects' questions and fulfill requests faster. The end result is more deals are closed faster.

The fortune is in the follow-up, but sometimes it might feel like the follow-up is a waste of time—especially if your prospect goes silent. Don't be put off by that silence, says Nancy Fox. Chances are they're busy or aren't ready to move forward. So, until the person says "stop contacting me," continue to reach out to them.

For the most part, professionals still enter a field expecting to do just client work only to eventually discover they also have to bring in new business. College did not prepare them for how to do it, and the idea of selling scares them. With some guidance and practice, however, they can become successful business developers.

You might think that because buyers have access to so much information about services and providers that they don't want or need sellers to provide insight and ideas. And you would be mistaken. According to research included in Insight Selling, providing insight is the number one thing sales winners do that separates them from second-place finishers. Listen as John Doerr, co-author of the book, explains how providing insight and collaborating with buyers helps you sell more.

We all get so many emails that if the subject line doesn't capture our attention, it's gone. Or if the subject line does interest us but the message fails, it is deleted almost as quickly. There are things you can do to your emails, however, to prevent your prospecting emails from being instantly deleted. Listen as Kendra Lee explains what you should do—and not do—to get prospects to pay attention to your emails.

Stories inspire, are easy to remember, are contagious, and everyone likes to hear them. Because of that, they're excellent tools for capturing buyers' attention and getting them to do something. The key is to tell the story correctly. Listen as Paul Smith, author of Lead with a Story, discusses why storytelling is effective in business, the components of a compelling business story, and how to best use stories in sales and marketing.

Digital tools have helped make the sales process easier, but in some cases they also hurt it by dehumanizing the process. Salespeople should not hid behind those tools because they're hesitant to call prospects or use them as simply transactional items. Instead, they should use them to build connections and develop relationships. Listen as Adrian Davis, author of Human to Human Selling, discusses how to do that and how his five phase strategy for human-to-human selling can help.

When giving a presentation to a prospect or client, the fastest way to turn them away is to talk just about you. You can't stand up and beat your chest and expect people to be impressed. The best way to capture and hold a buyer's attention is to first demonstrate an understanding of them and their situation. Once you do that, then you can talk about how your services can help them, says Sims Wyeth, author of The Essentials of Persuasive Public Speaking.

It used to be marketing was a net cost to a business. You spent, for example, $10,000 on direct marketing piece and got $25,000 back in new business. That has changed. Marketing has now become an asset to a business, as well as a lead generation tool, says Grant Leboff, author Stickier Marketing. Listen as Leboff explains why marketing has become an asset and who your greatest marketers are today.

Best practices can become old hat, resulting in lackluster client solutions that look and sound like everyone else's. To break from that and differentiate, you need to think creatively, says Mark Donnolo, author of The Innovative Sale. The key is to make creativity practical and functional. In this podcast, Donnolo explains four creative habits successful salespeople have that help them develop better client solutions.

When you think about introverts, most people don't think of them as good salespeople, let alone great salespeople. The truth is they have many qualities that help them do better in sales than other personality types. Listen as Alen Mayer, author of the ebook Selling for Introverts, explains the strengths introverts bring to the sales process, how introverts can excel at cold calling, and how to manage introverted salespeople.

Having a relationship with a C-level executive can be a powerful thing. Getting to that point, however, is not easy. The challenge starts with your initial meeting with him. In this podcast, Andrew Sobel explains what to do during that first meeting, as well as how to nurture the relationship after the meeting, so that you become a trusted advisor who is part of the client's solution process instead of someone who simply a bidder in an RFP contest.

Education, wealth, race, and other factors do not determine your success. Who you are is the ultimate factor. Specifically successful people have four attitudes: they are extreme, are disciplined, are giving, and understand the human factor. All of those make you a better person, which in turn makes you a better salesperson, says Dan Waldschmidt, author Edgy Conversations: How Ordinary People Can Achieve Outrageous Success.

You're already working on a small project for a large company, but there's a much larger project coming up in a different division that you'd love to work on. How do you win that deal? Listen as sales growth expert Adrian Davis explains his five-step process for winning that large deal, as well as how salespeople can become trusted advisors to client executives.