Every SDR gets nervous when picking up the phone to talk to a prospect. We get scared of pushing too hard and getting a rejection, and we worry about offending our prospect or making them uncomfortable. How do you manage your own disruptive emotions so that you have the ability to influence the emotions of other people?
On this episode of Predictable Prospecting we’re joined by Jeb Blount, founder and CEO of Sales Gravy and author of Fanatical Prospecting and a new bestseller: Sales EQ. We’re discussing how to push past the flight or fight response that comes up when talking to clients and how to manage the emotions that make prospecting difficult.
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As sales professionals we’re often told to smile before speaking to a client so they can hear the friendliness in our voice, but how often are we trained on listening to the body language clues coming from the other side of the phone?
In this episode we’re joined by Nigel Green of Evergreen Consulting, a lifelong student of sales and the psychology of buying and selling. Nigel is an expert when it comes to understanding the power of listening in sales, specifically on the types of language we use while listening and communicating with a prospect.
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Have you ever taken a personality test to find out more about your strengths and weaknesses? Personality tests like the Myers-Briggs are great for revealing more about our inner selves, but they can also be useful when it comes to connecting with your prospects.
Our guest today is Dr. Diane Hamilton, author, speaker, and Emotional Intelligence expert. We’re talking all about the human side of sales – how to connect with a prospect based on their personality type, doing research before the first conversation, and building up relationships over time.
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We hear it over and over -- consumers today are being bombarded with messaging and content from all sides. It’s an information overload, and many businesses are struggling to cut through the clutter and target prospects in a loud and clear way.
Today’s guest is an expert and consultant that helps companies do just that. Jessica Mehring is the CEO of Horizon Peak Consulting and the creator of a unique service called the Content Lab, which trains marketers and content creators on how to craft the perfect messaging. How does she do it? Jessica’s method dives deep into the internal pain of the prospect, and her research-based content strategy strives to display the personality of your business.
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Prezi is the revolutionary new presentation software that’ll change the way marketing and sales professionals think about making connections with clients. What makes Prezi unique from a standard PowerPoint presentation? Prezi harnesses the power of visual thinking by creating a visual roadmap of the story you want to convey to a viewer. In this interview, we discuss the how and why behind visual thinking, using Prezi to track consumer engagement, and how to begin using Prezi in your workplace.
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As technology becomes a bigger and more necessary tool for doing business, Sales Development Reps who are still in the beginning stages of their career can find it difficult to truly connect with a prospect when using any form of communication other than email. The “human touch” component of sales is absolutely crucial to closing the deal with a client, but can it be taught to a new generation of SDRs?
Our guest today is Andy Paul, Founder of Zero Time Selling and host of the sales strategy podcast Accelerate!. We discuss how buyers form perceptions of SDRs, the importance of first impressions, and Andy’s process for engaging clients and connecting on a more human level.
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In today’s episode we’re chatting with Mark Galloway of Oppsource, a unique sales development software that organizes your sales day, keeps track of your prospects, and outlines a campaign for engaging your top clients in deal-closing conversations. We discuss the inspiration behind Oppsource and how it can help you meaningfully connect with prospects in an increasingly digital world.
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Do you clam up when you finally get on the phone with your prospect? Or worse, do you follow a pre-planned script without letting your prospect get a word in edgewise? On this episode of Predictable Prospecting we’re joined by sales expert and host of the iconic Sales Babble Podcast Pat Helmers for a discussion on why listening is the most important part of sales. Pat shares his unique framework for qualifying sales leads, and walks us through his process for having a great conversation with a prospect. This episode is a must-listen!
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In this episode we’re chatting with William Wickey, an expert in media and content strategy at LeadGenius. LeadGenius recently teamed up with Prezi and Ambition to release their 2017 Trends and Tech Guide for B2B sales and marketing professionals.
William is here to share insider tips and tricks for getting the most out of the information presented in the guide, who it can help, and how to implement these resources throughout your entire organization!
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How many of us actually meet with clients and prospects face-to-face to pitch our products and ideas? In the USA it’s almost unheard of to show up at your client’s door wanting to talk business in person. In Brazil, “neighboorhood selling”, or building relationships with prospects and your network by making in-person connections, is the standard way to do business. In this episode we’re chatting with Victor Bruno, a Brazil-based sales professional and teacher, for a discussion on how to harness the power of social tools and the importance of connecting with your network.
Episode Highlights:Introducing Vitor Bruno
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Curiosity might have killed the cat, but it can save the sales rep! In this episode we’re joined by Deb Calvert, President of People First Productivity Solutions and an expert on asking the right questions to target buyers at the top of funnel. Deb explains her innovative DISCOVER method for asking questions, why you shouldn’t be afraid of negative feedback, and how to build trust and rapport over email communication.
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Want to chat with Deb? Email her at: deb.calvert@peoplefirstps.com
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“Questions are one of the fastest ways to build bonds and create trust and rapport with people” - Deb
“You have to try some things and not be afraid that questions will get negative reactions. They really don’t, not nearly as often as we think they will” - Deb
Did you know that as much as 95% of our decisions are made by the unconscious mind? For a sales professional, this means that nearly all of your selling power needs to be focused on connecting with a prospect on a deeper level than automated emails and trade show booths can provide.
In this episode we’re joined by the “Bruce Lee of Revenue Generation” himself, Erik Luhrs. As an author of the bestselling book Be Do Sale, creator of the GURUS Selling System, and a sought-after speaker and consultant, Erik is an established expert at using Neuro-Linguistic Programming to target the unconscious mind of prospects and create messaging that sets one business apart from the pack. Erik explains the philosophy behind NLP and why it works, his process to becoming the Bruce Lee of the business world, and how anyone can begin using his methodology to boost sales!
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“Sending a buyer 20 automated emails is kind of like trying to beat the person into submission to say ‘Yes’. Even if the person buys, they’re not buying happy. They just succumbed to the pressure” - Erik
“Humans function 99% subconsciously. When you’re trying to talk conscious and logic to people, the subconscious just shoots that stuff right down.” - Erik
“Either you take the path of most resistance, which is how everybody does it, or you take the path of least resistance, you get to the same outcome but one gets you there faster with a lot less expenses because you don’t have to keep posting, paying and praying, and it makes you a lot happier.” - Erik
“Do you truly love what you sell? Do you think it’s really valuable? If you don’t, then get to square one which is find a job selling something you do really believe in.” - Erik
Today’s guest is Patty Laushman, founder of Revenue Catapult and an expert at helping B2B companies create a sales process that puts their products in front of the prospects who need it the most. She’s here today to dispel the myth that salespeople can’t write good messaging, explain how a successful email marketing campaign will have your prospect excited to continue the conversation over the phone, and how she got started in the B2B market. This episode is a must-listen for any sales professional who wants to streamline their email engine and find a process that works!
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“If you are focused on a niche you can craft a compelling message there. As long as the market actually wants to solve that problem.” - Patti
“I can’t write you a compelling story if you don’t have a compelling story” - Patti
“The email engine is a fabulous engine but if you put crap in it, you’re going to get crapped out of it.” - Marylou
There are plenty of different resources available for sales management and sales performance, but few that offer transparency, accountability, recognition for meeting goals, motivation for your team, and development opportunities quite like Ambition. Today we’re joined by Jeremy Boudinet, the Director of Marketing at Ambition and a key player in the AAISP. Jeremy describes how Ambition can be used by your sales team at every point in the pipeline, from connecting with prospect all the way to closing the sale. Sales Managers take note, this is one episode you won’t want to miss!
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“Benchmarks keep you from being in the eleventh hour, 59th minute, questioning ‘Where am I relative to where I should be?’’ - Mary Lou Tyler
“You want your account managers calling your clients and not emailing them” - Jeremy
We’ve all been there -- you finally get your prospect on the phone, ready to have that conversation you’ve been chasing, and you just can’t manage to get the right message across. Or you’re trying to follow up with a promising lead, but the marketing content on your website just isn’t enough. How do you bridge the gap between sales and marketing? On today’s episode we’re joined by Matt Heinz, president of Heinz Marketing Inc, an expert at using conversation to reduce lag in the pipeline. He’s here to share his philosophy on creating a stronger content strategy and why sales and marketing departments have to redefine their working relationship.
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“There are an awful lot of marketers and salespeople who have great things to say and simply can’t get them across” - Matt
“Good sales is not just about nailing that call and nailing that conversation, it’s about doing that over and over and over again” - Matt
What would you say if someone told you your business could reach $100 million in revenue in just seven years? On this episode we’re joined by Daniel Barber, the VP of Sales at Datanyze. Daniel is an expert on analyzing the data of a business to determine where revenue goals should be set and how best to reach them, and he’s here today to share some of his best tips for 2017 revenue planning with our listeners.
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Get in touch with Daniel Barber by sending him an email at daniel@datanyze.com, following him on Twitter, or connecting with him on LinkedIn
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“The year of specialization is definitely here”- Daniel
“We discovered a lot of numbers, again, planning is something that it’s like that New Year’s resolution. Unless you actually plan to do it and actually execute on it, it’s just that gym membership that just never really worked.” - David
This week we’re chatting with the Queen of Cold Calling herself, Wendy Weiss. Many of us struggle with using the telephone in a sales world that feels like it’s moved online – it’s hard to get a prospect to pick up the phone, and we’re so out of practice that we fumble with what to say when we finally reach them. It may sound crazy or outdated, but speaking on the telephone is still the most effective way to reach your prospects and have conversations. As a speaker, sales trainer, and author, Wendy has established herself as an expert in utilizing the telephone to connect with prospects and close deal after deal.
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“Being on the telephone is the next best thing to being in front of your prospect”- Wendy
“If you need to sell more, you need to use the phone!”- Wendy
“Having a script while phone prospecting enables you to be the very best self that you can possibly be”- Wendy
This week we’re chatting with the CEO of Score More Sales and the president of Women's Sales Pros, Lori Richardson. As an expert in helping people become better leaders, build better sales teams, and ultimately increase company sales, Lori is here to explain the most common environments that breed sales issues and what you as a salesperson deserve from your manager. Lori is also a champion for women in the sales industry, and we discuss her reasons why companies aren’t getting the strong female job candidates they want and need.
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“It takes many ‘whys’ to get to the bottom of things”- Lori
“At the top of the funnel, companies are more alike than not”- Marylou
“You have to have somebody in your corner, specifically your sales manager, and they need to coach you and help you develop professionally”- Lori
“To see leaders who are both men and women, who are different ages, young and old, it’s really important to be able to see that because it helps people to better envision themselves in those position”- Lori
This week we’re chatting with Melinda Emerson, a consultant, author, and speaker otherwise known as “SmallBizLady”. Melinda is America’s #1 Small Business Expert and was selected by Forbes as the #1 Most Influential Woman for Entrepreneurs. Melinda is full of anecdotes, tips, and tricks from her 17-year career working with small businesses, and she’s here to share her expertise on connecting with entrepreneurs and having meaningful conversations.
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“Anyone will buy something once, but the goal is to get them to buy over and over again”
“The best way to build a trusting relationship is through communication, especially online”
“There’s 23 million small businesses. There’s only 1800 large ones”
“I believe your business should be working for you”
Many readers have reached out to me wanting to know my favorite parts of my new book, Predictable Prospecting, and my advice for tackling the process I’ve outlined. This week I’m breaking down Predictable Prospecting chapter-by-chapter and picking out the most important concepts you need to know, areas that have been updated since Predictable Revenue came out, and how to get the most from the book in terms of worksheets and add-ons.
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“The Predictable Prospecting process is not something that you learn and then leave. You’re continually improving.”
“The biggest thing I can tell you is that you are all fabulous writers. You have the ability to write the perfect email, an email that’s going to cause people to lean into their computer and be completely excited that you have written to them.”
Today’s guest is Marc McNamara, Chief Enablement Strategist at The Value Shift, a company that presents a unique solution to the sales productivity challenge. We’re here to talk about Marc’s experience with team enablement, how to get the best out of your top-of-funnel conversations, and finding the root of your buyer’s behavior.
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Connect with Marc McNamara on LinkedIn, through The Value Shift website, or by emailing him direct at mmcnamara@thevalueshift.com
Predictable Prospecting: How to Radically Increase Your B2B Sales Pipeline by Marylou Tyler
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“Selling is an art and a science”- Marc
“Realize your prospects have a problem that can be solved, and then figure out how to uniquely add value to them.” - Marc
“Salespeople are about helping the customer”- Marc
“People, once they’re trained, will forget it all a week later”-Marylou
How do you become a strong leader? How do you encourage your team to be not just good, but great? My guest today is an expert on managing sales teams and the author of Seven Steps to Success for Sales Managers: A Strategic Guide to Creating a Winning Sales Team Through Collaboration. Max Cates is here to discuss why sales managers should focus on continuous improvement, what separates the good managers from the bad, and using the Six Sigma process for eliminating defects and improving your team.
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“Great salespeople usually make poor managers” - Max
“The lone wolf manager can’t manage a millennial sales team. They like collaboration.” - Max
‘It’s a lot easier to be a successful leader than it is to be a poor manager.”- Max
“Stretch, but don’t overstretch when you’re making goals” - Max
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Linkedin – there’s a huge chance that your ideal customer has an account on at least one of them. As our role as business developers continues to evolve, the technologies and techniques we use to connect with prospects has changed as well. My guest today is Kurt Shaver of The Sales Foundry, an expert on leveraging social selling and using Linkedin as part of the sales process. We discuss how to research and connect with prospects on Linkedin, becoming an business expert on your social media platforms, and the essential skills all new sales development reps need to have.
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“The primary function of Linkedin is lead generation”- Kurt Shaver
“When everyone is on a social network, each person is essentially a mini marketer”- Kurt
“Your number one priority is to leverage a common connection with your ideal customer”- Kurt
“Ten connections per day, 22 business days per month, means 220 more connections. That’s how you build your network” - Marylou
On this episode, I’m interviewed by my longtime friend and colleague Gabriel Padva. Gabriel is the founder and principal consultant at 30,000 FT Strategies, a company that focuses on helping companies communicate with their prospects. He is also a CRO at Revenue Accelerator Inc. We go in-depth into the role of the sales development rep, including how to hire them, train them, and promote them into upper management positions. We also discuss the do’s and don’ts of cold emailing, my must-have tools, and the best sales advice I’ve ever gotten.
Episode Highlights:
Gabriel’s question checklist for checking references of potential SDRs
Quotes/Tweets:
“Always be testing, measuring, and pulling out data. Tell the truth.” - Gabriel
“Using the phone in combination with email and social selling is a great way to ‘warm up the chill’ of cold calling” - Marylou
“You are as equally important as the person that you’re trying to convince to try your product or service” - Marylou
Are you catching minnows when you want to be catching whales? Netting the high-value prospects requires engaging many different people in the organization in conversation. In this episode, I’m interviewed by Joseph Dager of the Business901 podcast. We discuss my new book, Predictable Prospecting, why cold calling is the best method of prospecting available for netting those whales, and how to encourage your sales team to embrace the cold calling process.
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