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How to Make Sales with Voicemail with Dave Moravec #194 Sales Babble listener Dave Moravec visits the podcast to share telephone and voicemail prospecting tips. I  was a guest speaker at his CEO Sales Summit at the Integrity Data offices. I gave a talk on focused listening and qualifying. After the talk,  I fired up the digital recorder and had Dave share how he make sales with voicemail and email to solicit interest and earn an appointment. Sales Voicemail Challenge Do you return your voicemails?  Probably not. The common etiquette is to ask permission BEFORE calling. This is what we do with friends and family. But this wasn’t true in the past. Back in the day, you could call without permission. given there was no caller ID to screen your calls. This idea of permission is flowing into the B2B space. In fact only 4.8% voicemails get returned.  That’s a ration of  1:20.  This is the challenge. Your challenge is to leave a good and pertinent voicemail that will solicit the prospect to take your call OR return

Why Commissioned-Based Sales Plans Fail to Work with Justin Clark Justin Clark is the Director of Sales for a janitorial and packaging products distributor. Over time, Justin’s company found sales reps spending more time auditing their paychecks than selling.  They also found the commission-based sales plans failed to motivate reps to do the best for their customers. To overcome this challenge they moved their sales staff to a pure performance review based salary plan.  In this interview, Justin shares the story of how they were able to make this extraordinary change in their compensation plan. Challenges Faced Money is emotional. 100% commissioned sales people would spend as much time making sure they’re paid what they earned vs selling. Reps pushed products that brought the most money. There were SPIFs (Sales Performance Incentive Fund) for products that were not good for the customer. Wanted to promote consultative sales and stop sellers pushing products and instead finding solutions. Commission-based sa

How To Learn The Secret Lingo of Your Customer with Jeffrey Shaw #192 Author Jeffrey Shaw visits Sales Babble to talk about his book Lingo – Discover Your ideal Customers’s Secret Language and Make Your Business Irresistible.   Jeffrey believes that far too often people sell the wrong thing to the wrong people. Unfortunately too few people understand for whom they are for. Your ideal client has a secret lingo that mirrors your traits and values.  Once you learn their lingo, you can quickly discern and serve this market. Five Step Process In his book Jeffery outlines a five step process for discovering your prospects secret lingo. Understand your ideal clients perspective Create familiarity and comfort Style – build one that matches your target Pricing – Use whole numbers for high-end customers Words – use language they speak How To Connect with Jeffrey Shaw To find Jeffrey Shaw, his book,  and the free secret lingo giveaways go here: Lingo mediate kit Inforgraphic Free Chapter of his book Audio version o

How To Generate Leads without Sales and Marketing with John Tripolsky #191 In this episode we meet John Tripolsky, CEO of JTE Marketing. John shares his process to generate leads through a referral process. When starting John had neither  marketing nor a sales staff. Instead he leveraged his existing network to find qualified prospects and generate leads. It worked and this is how to generate leads without sales and marketing! Hire a Team Without Hiring The JTE Marketing earned its first two clients from friends and family. They repeated the process by working networking meetings. John kept attending and connected with five people. From those five they built their portfolio. Building personal relationships is what matters. John is a strong advocate for LinkedIn. He has 7K connections. Almost all have gotten a personal message welcoming them to connect.   Not everyone is a qualified prospect. Yet all know people who ARE qualified. Referrals come from both existing and non clients Lead Generation Referral Proc

Why Nobody Gives a S*%T About Your Sales Goals with Mike Dannenfeldt #190 Highly effective companies collect and measure sales goals. These goals drive performance and results. Mike Dannefeldt and I talk about process management, goal setting and how to manage sales staff. The challenge is to meet and exceed the goals. Yet success is dependent on buy-in and communication. Why Sales Goals Not Met Nobody cares about company goals if the vision has not been communicated. Goals by themselves do not motivate. They they must have  meaning and value to all in the organization. Leaders must be transparent about strategic goals to ensure employees understand and buy-in (communicate and collaborate). Too often transparency is non-existent. Tools Drive the Process or Process Drive the Tools? We talked at length about the distinction between process and tools. Paper processes are rarely followed. The data collected must benefit all parties. Especially true if employees are responsible for data input Establishing regula

Phiology: The Secret Code of Leadership David Eisley #189 In this episode we meet Dave Eisley, author of the book  Phiology: The Secret Code of Leadership. Phiology is the  intersection of physiology, psychology, and philosophy in the context of leadership, but written from a sales management perspective. Phiology Focus for Sellers Dave and I discuss how Phiology addresses leadership especially in the case of  sales: Control your physiology to achieve optimal performance. Navigate obstacles by shifting your perception of events. Decode the origins and fallacies of decision making, in yourself and by others. Uncover vital parts of any system, revealing key leverage points that drive success. Expand your influence in an ethical and meaningful way. Sales and Leadership Sales is responsible for the rise of humanity.  Our ability to trade separates us from the other species on our planet. Without the idea of a trade, and a fair trade, humanity has been able to team and create civilization. It’s all based on tr

Repeatable Success for Sales Development Reps with Brendan Barrett #188   There is a growing trend for companies to separate business development from deal closing. We’re talking about two different people: One person setting up appointments the Sales Development Reps (SDR) and the other is the  closer. In this episode our guest Brendan Barrett and I walk through the SDR process with it’s pros and cons. We do some roleplaying in order to show practical advice for anyone prospecting and trying to set up an appointment.   What and Why an SDR? SDR stands for Sales Development Reps – appointment setters, prospectors and cold callers.  Brendon calls the the Roller to the Closer .  This is different than the traditional inside sales (an order taker).   This is all outbound sales and Business Development.  They are sometimes called Business Development Reps or BDR. More efficient for closers, who can be closing deals daily vs spending time in the office setting up their own meetings. Downside of SDRs. Details get

Sales Success Triangle with Glenn Mattson #187 In this episode we describe the sales success triangle. It’s based on Attitude, Behavior and Technique. Our guest Glenn Mattson is a business consultant and sales coach. Glenn speaks from experience on the issues sellers commonly face and things they can do to find selling success. Selling Personalities Gabby people aren’t necessarily the best sellers. Yes they are good at connecting and initiating conversation. But sometimes they are too bound to seek for approval. They struggle with the follow up and closing aspects of sales. Introverts and techy people, can be extremely successful in sales because they are process oriented,  they follow a system nor do they wing it.  More introverted sellers  don’t care if people like them, they handle rejection better. Issues top sellers face We discussed at length the problems, concerns and barriers to success. Glenn mentioned: Attitude Lack of Patience Guilt Worry Anxiety Risk Adverse Poor Discipline Poor Planning Non-Ta

Why Do I Need a Brand? In this episode I and  Brand expert,Kim Speed dig deep into the  question why do I need a brand. Everyone says having a brand is critical for success. But is it? What is the fundamental value a BRAND provides you and your company? How does a brand make it easier for me to acquire new customers and prospects? Brand vs Branding According to Kim, your brand is who you are and what people say about you when you’re not in the room. Branding is all the elements that supports your brand: website, ads, emails, logos etc…   Let’s focus on the former, before the latter. Sales and Branding Your brand is useful for your sales process. When done well it open doors and creates trust.  But it’s not an easy path to understand your brand. It’s built on knowing and viscerally understanding your ideal client. This requires companies to go through a value proposition process. Instead of focusing on logos and fonts, focus on who is PERFECT for you product or service. Who Is Kim Speed Kim is the owner of Pu

Transformative Sales Tools with the Tool Master Miles Austin #185 In this episode we meet the tool master Miles Austin who shares a number of transformative sales tools that will increase your efficiency, productivity and ability to close sales. Miles is a highly engaging guest, a guy you can relate to. Yeah we’ll be geeking out. But if discovering more leads, booking more sales, and becoming a highly sought out sales professional sounds like a good thing –  then hang on and listen up. List of Transformative Sales Tools The following is a list of sales tools that were mentioned during the interview. I’m not familiar with all of these tools. But Miles speak highly of them. Enjoy. Nimble.com  Social Sales and Marketing CRM Zoom.us Online Meeting Solution Soapbox  Browser extension for creating videos Viewedit Browser extension for creating videos now called Vidyard Haikudeck.com    Presentation Software Chatfuel  Facebook AI Chat bot Viddyoze.com    3D Animation tool for logos Socialmessengerpro      Facebook

How to Pitch on the Shark Tank with Michelle Weinstein #184 Michelle Weinstein is a sales strategist who specializes in helping entrepreneurs learn how to sell without selling and without being sleazy. She pitched on Shark Tank and raised over $1M for her last Company placing products into Costco & The Vitamin Shoppe. In this episode she shares the story and the fundamental elements of a strong pitch. Elements of a Pitch On the TV show Shark Tank. Michelle was pitching a protein bar business and after a multi-step vetting process she was able to pitch before the “Sharks” only to be shot down. Due to significant coaching for the show, she learned you must your authentic self. If you’re a fake, people won’t trust. One minute to make an impression. 10-20 seconds you will be judged Practice your elevator pitch over and over and over Make it memorable Make it catchy Make it niche enough then be  more niche Know your audience Take Action Advice Go take action, too often people don’t take action. Fear is in t

How to be a Sales Sherpa with the Hyperconnected David Fisher Returning guest Dave Fisher and I meet at Sketchbook Brewing to discuss the publishing of his new book:  Hyperconnected Selling, Winning More Business by Leveraging Digital Influence and Creating Human Connection   Dave is a podcast host and consultant  trying to bring back the art of conversation to business.  In this episode we discuss the evolution of selling and what you can do  to better leverage the network you already have.  Dave explains how to be a Sales Sherpa and how to guide your prospects through the glut of information that overwhelms their buying experience. Selling Conversation and Points We Discuss Yes we talk about the beer and the value of balancing malt and hops. But we also discussed: Seller asymmetry, buyers have more information than the seller Appointment setting will get automated Enterprise sale will always need real people (at least in the next 10 years) It’s best to keep working in the same industry and grow industry

The Art of the Help with Larry Levine #182 In this episode we start by discussing the confusion of social selling. The root issue is not so much how to twiddle the knobs and bells of LinkedIn Facebook and Twitter. The true issue is the failure of sales professionals understanding WHY they have chosen the profession of sales  Then secondly we talk about the Art of the Help for success.  Larry Levine is a social selling expert, podcast host and long time B2B sales expert. Self Awareness in Sales Most sellers don’t reflect on their lives, what motivates them and why they do what they do. They aren’t self aware. During the discussion Larry and I chat …. Why are you in sales? Larry believes there is a ton of confusion with social selling It’s the Art of the Help he shares….. giving back to the community and your clients Sellers must brand themselves Larry recommends. This will differentiate you. Larry reminds us that “Selling is 24×7 job” Why Sales is a Great Profession Get to run your own business Freedom Goo

How To Sell Hardware Software and All Things IT with Mike Slowik #181 In this episode we meet Mike Slowik, 34 year veteran of selling hardware software and all things IT  But Mike tells us that he doesn’t actually sell IT. He sells change.  We talk about the enterprise sale and the complexity of working a prospect who brings a large team for the evaluation. Mistakes sellers make: Not communicating, not talking in a style prospects respect. It’s a must if you want to learn how to sell hardware software and IT. The Danger of the Unsolicited RFP It’s difficult to win an RFP, especially one that is requested out of the blue. Most likely your competition wrote the majority of the evaluation. Get a meeting before applying for an unsolicited RFP to see if it’s worth the trouble. Moral of the story – GET THE MEETING. FUD  (Fear Uncertainty and Doubt) FUDing is a process sellers use to motivate prospects to look at competition skeptically. Fear Uncertainty Doubt Get the prospect to dig deep into the competition by

6 Ways To Generate Leads With Fatima Zaidi #180 In this episode we meet Fatima Zaidi to discuss 6 ways to generate leads starting with the idea that you must always communicate with purpose. With over 10 years of experiences in sales and business development Fatima has become an expert in closing that deal. In this podcast, Fatima takes you through the ten steps to snagging that opportunity and converting it into a case won. She highlights common mistakes made my sales people, and how you instantly develop that connection and rapport to work in your favour. Whether you’re just at the start of your sales career, or you just want to augment your existing skills, this podcast will set you on a clear path to success. Hacking Sales Fatima and I walk through the following list on strategies and ways to generate leads: Get creative with your pitch Develop a personal brand that defines you as a thought leader and subject matter expert Develop relationships both online and off line Build partnerships with other comp

Startup Story Where Software Goes to Seed with Charlie Wiltgen #179 This week we go to the birth of a business to tell the tale of a startup story.  We  interview an entrepreneur who invented a SaaS product and built a loyal client list from nothing.  This requires a keen attention to detail understanding the challenges and desires of the target market.  Charlie Wiltgen tells his origin story and how hard work and luck intersect.  His corn and soybean data management business is highly successful and an inspiration for all want to be entrepreneurs. Knowing Your Market Charlie shared his startup story: How his business partner was hired to fix a legacy system How she pitched the client a rewrite on a new platform How the client LOVED the new software and she brought in Charlie How they worked a trade show to bring on 20+ clients Struggles with scaling the Adoption Curve What it takes to give a great demo Get a free Slidebean account today! How To Find Charlie Wiltgen This is Charlie on LinkedIn This is Cre

How Salespeople Overcome Procrastination with Eric Twiggs #178 In this episode we meet the procrastination prevention partner Eric Twiggs. Eric and I have a lively discussion covering practical ways on how salespeople overcome procrastination. We talk about mindset, processes, and automation tools that can increase productivity and success. The habit to accept is the ability to take action. If you put things off that take you away from your life goals, you will be frustrated and unsuccessful. The root of procrastination is due to a lack of goals and focus. Turn that around. In sales sellers commonly struggle with: Following up Call reluctance What’s the answer to overcoming this struggle? Eric says “Know your numbers, ratios of calls per answers and sales advances. Know the number of your activities. Let the law of averages work to your favor. Know that optimists are commonly more successful in sales. Get the right attitude.” Get a free Slidebean account today! But I Don’t Feel Like It People often use th

How To Sell The World  – Advice on Selling Asia #177 In this episode we meet Karl Weaver, an international sales professional who is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to how to sell the world. Selling Asia is different than the USA . Europe too. In both cases, sales only happen once trust is built.  In this episode Karl shares 7 ways to sell in a protectionist environment by a process of creating trust. Advice on Selling Asia We walked through a series of steps that in many ways, mirror enterprise sales in the United States: Realize their goal is to compete with the West Protect all you laptops and stored information Learn the language or bring someone who can Give a gift and something local like Almond Roca Don’t expect an immediate sale Honor the exchange of business cards Use social media like LinkedIn and WeChat Get a free Slidebean account today! Advice on Selling Europe Like Asia, European companies do not make pop decisions. They are more formal when approaching business transactions. The gesture

7 LinkedIn Strategies for Generating Qualified Leads with Janis Pettit If you’re running out of leads, this week’s episode is exactly what you need. Janis Pettit is an expert on the new LinkedIn interface. Today  we dig in and uncover 7 LinkedIn strategies for generating qualified leads. Janis takes us from setting up your profile, finding prospects, connecting, engaging,  moving them to a webinar presentation and on your email list. Not only does this work, but you can do the same thing on Facebook . Of course this assumes that’s where you’re prospect hang out! Stop the cold cold calling and start leveraging social media today! Lead Generation Today When it comes to B2B sales and marketing,  LinkedIn is the bomb. 41% millionaires are on LinkedIn with the  average income at $75K.  Members of LinkedIn are buyers. Janis gave us 7 strategies to turn those buyers, into prospects. Make sure your LinkedIn profiles clearly states who your are. Only  focus on people who have issues that you can provide solutions.