Make It Happen Mondays - B2b Sales Talk With John Barrows

Have you ever heard a prospect say "I need to think"? Chances are, you've heard this a lot. Devin Reed is the man behind all of the content and data experiments you see coming from Gong.io, and he's with us on this episode of the podcast to expose the latest surprising data he's uncovered. Hearing "I need to think" isn't actually as bad as you would think...

Layoffs are hitting sales teams hard. People everywhere are losing jobs, laying off their team and looking for their next move. Now is the perfect time to think about which roles and which companies will suit your strengths best. To help you do that, we're welcoming Amy Volas back onto the podcast. She shares a ton of great ways to re-think and get moving again in Sales.  

Ashleigh Early joins us on the podcast this week to share the story behind how she was let go from her job in late December and searched for her next job. Doing exactly what Ashleigh did may not be for everyone, but there's a lot we can all take from the theory and approach behind the scenes that she took. This episode was a little longer than usual, get ready! 

How do sales reps stay right on top of their game with every interaction with prospects and buyers? No training session or coaching can 100% guarantee that. Just-In-Time learning can get as close as it's possible to that 100% as we've seen, which is why Spekit CEO Melanie Fellay joins us on the podcast this week. She shares a ton of great stories and insight into how she's playing more than just her role as a CEO in the company right now, and how sales reps can continuously get that reminder they need of better and best practices they can use in every interaction with a prospect. This was fun!

This pandemic has impacted many people in different ways. Tons of people in sales and all professions are facing lay-offs, struggles to hit targets and a range of very serious issues. The sales rep at any level is the closest job in the world to being your own boss, to being an entrepreneur. But sales reps now are pivoting how they are working, who they're talking to and what they're trying to help prospects with. COVID19 is impacting sales reps everyday, and because we believe this profession can be the greatest in the world, we want to make sure sales reps hang in there. Here's a special episode of the podcast without John. Morgan J Ingram and James Buckley take the stage and candidly discuss what life is like for them as sales reps every day. How're they coping? What have they noticed? No silver bullets or "how to" strategies. Just observations on what it's been like for them as sales reps.

We are living in unprecedented times and uncharted waters. There is no better time than now to lead your sales conversations with empathy, kindness, sensitivity, and transparency. Ralph Barsi runs the global inside sales team at Tray.io and he joined us this week to share how his team has taken this opportunity to stop, recenter and get back to really caring about the person on the other side. This is an important discussion for salespeople to learn how to lead conversations with empathy and add value without being disingenuous. In this episode, you’ll learn: How to be empathetic and translate it into your messaging How to add enough value in your sales conversations so you have a seat at the table How salespeople can take on a leadership role while working from home

We've moved away from the usual format for this episode of the podcast and pulled in the JB Sales leadership team to discuss what's going on right now. We don't have the silver bullet to dealing with everything that's going on, but we've taken proactive steps and they're helping. In this episode, you'll learn: What we've taken from previous economic downturns The impact of quick and considered decisions Ways to transition yourself and your team while still aiming at your "north star"

It's a difficult time for us all, and we need to stay strong while we're staying safe. John asked his good friend Michael Sadeghpour to join us for a special podcast during this situation, to try and help us all keep our heads strong. This is a little different to our usual podcast episodes, but we think it's required right now.

What is true enterprise selling really like? Ian Koniak is crushing it at Salesforce selling 7 and 8 figure deals and we're pleased to have him on the podcast to understand how he's doing it. This is true enterprise selling, very long deal cycles and multi-million dollar deals that are long term contracts. It doesn't get much harder than this in software sales. Sales reps in any industry, with any deal size or length can learn from how enterprise selling really works. Even if your process is a slimmer version of Ian's, you can over-deliver if you take things to the next level.  You'll learn: Product Sales to Service Solution Sales How to Approach Enterprise Selling Selling to All the Levels

We're pleased to welcome a good friend of the team onto the podcast this week, Doug Landis joins us not too long after he sat with John and Keanu Reeves in the airport watching the Superbowl. They agreed to talk about all of the good, bad and indifferent prospecting outreach they receive and to work out how and why the best ones worked. It's easy to give sales reps a hard time for "bad" prospecting, but here's a look into what they can add into their prospecting outreach to go that extra mile and get the appointment... You'll learn: Personalization, Relevance, & Timing Writing the Right Message Empathy and Experience in Prospecting Outreach

SDRs have arguably the hardest jobs in business. Gaetano Di Nardi joins us on the podcast this week to talk about how SDRs can use marketing tactics and strategies to set themselves aside from the rest of the field, and crush quota. We love mixing things up on this podcast, and Gaetano has always worked closely with sales teams and reps while being a marketer which gives him a unique point of view on how SDRs are doing well today. You'll learn: Personalization, relevance, and timing Building Your SDRs' Business Acumen Being Omnipresent & Building A Personal Brand

We're pleased to have Ryan Reisert on the podcast this week. Ryan's strength is turning prospecting into a math game so you can reverse engineer the activities you need to generate the outcome you need. If you think about it, why would you not want to find out how many prospecting activities you need to perform before you book a meeting, divided by your meeting to opportunity rate and finally your close rate? It's time to make sales simpler... You'll Learn: Cold Call Connect Rates Making Prospecting a Science Specializing In Your Art Form

Armand Farrokh has a winning formula that is allowing him to crush quota repeatedly. Hitting 100% of quota is one thing but getting above 200% is a whole new ball game. Before you get into this episode, you're probably thinking about some special tactics and crazy work-ethics that are going to get SDRs to 225% of quota, but that's not what Armand is thinking about. He's using very practical processes and trying to simplify the whole ball game of sales to make it easier. Here's his take... Tunnel Vision Time Block the Admin Book 1/4 People Who Pick Up Your Cold Call Being Disarmingly Blunt On Objections & More

Jake Dunlap joins us on the podcast this week to talk about where and why the prospecting/sales process is broken. Jake's seen a lot of companies change their thinking on sales methodologies, activity metrics and their general approach to the sales process. But what's broken? Where are leadership teams making life harder for sales managers and reps? If you want the answers, this is the episode for you... You'll learn: Focusing On Outcome Over Activity Sales Methodologies... The Problem Radical Transparency Across The Entire Process & More

We're pleased to have Shruti Kapoor on the podcast this week to lift the lid on the state of automation in sales right now. This was an interesting discussion, where Shruti explains how prospecting teams in future will be using just-in-time learning technology to help them do the right thing more often on sales calls. Added to that, Shruti has an interesting view on where we are right now with regards to how advanced the technology we can use as prospecting teams is, on the scale from 0 to seamless integration... You'll learn:  Just In Time Learning Saving Deals Making Tactical Improvements Advancing Technology To Make Us Smarter & More!

This week we’re pleased to welcome Matt Green to the podcast. Matt’s building an amazing community of sales, CS and marketing professionals in Chicago with Sales Assembly and is always learning from what they’re doing to crush their market. Matt shares his take on what they’re doing well and how he see’s the ways prospecting has changed recently… In this episode you'll learn: Prospecting inside of communities The balance of automation in prospecting Building business acumen and sharing genuine insight

This week we're pleased to have an award winning sales rep on the podcast. You may remember back at Dreamforce, Chili Piper threw a competition judged by John Barrows and other sales leaders. The criteria to win was to tell the panel about a deal you closed against the odds, using teamwork and generating a great solution for the buyer a the same time. Enter Danny Read from G2 who was one of the winners. In this podcast, he talks us through the story of his deal and the hurdles he overcame. This is a killer episode for AE's out there! In This Podcast You'll Learn: Giving a lot away Teamwork that helps the buyer get what they need Getting the deal over the line

Drew D'Agostino joins us on the podcast this week to share insight into the key personality types sales reps will encounter. Everyone is different, which means they respond well to different types of information. It's our job to understand this and make sure we put our best foot forward, with each type of person. Drew lifts the lid on some surprising data his tool has found... You'll learn: Giving Group Presentations Understanding Key Personality Types & What They Care About Thinking Like A Buyer & More

We're pleased to welcome Dave Kennett to the podcast this week. Dave is the CEO of Replayz, helping sales reps learn the lessons they need to go through to be more successful. In this episode, Dave and John talk over what sales coaching looks like on a day to day level and what truly world class sales coaching looks like. Here's a hing, there's a big difference between what most companies do and what the best do!  In This Podcast You'll Learn: How Sales Coaching Actually Gets Done Which Reps Need Sales Coaching Most Reps Participating Or Not Participating

We're pleased to welcome DealPoint.io's CEO Tom Williams on the podcast. Tom joins us and brings a ton of ideas on how top sales reps can be their best-self and make those small tweaks that really make the difference. We're talking small tweaks to how you find the right prospects, how you run your calls and how you follow up. Nothing that any sales rep can't do. You'll learn: Establishing Transparency & Trust Finding Your Best Customers The “Mutual Action Plan” Follow Up & more