Ryan Alvord — Repetition, Persistence, and Consistency
The practice will make you perfect.
Ryan Alvord is the top sales representative at Paychex in their Large Market Division, selling HR and payroll technology and services. Of the 400 reps in his division, Ryan has finished in the top 10 for eight consecutive years, and last year finished #1. Ryan shares his experiences of moving from an operations role to a sales role and talks about how his persistence and consistency have allowed him to perfect his technique as well as establish and maintain a large network of prospects that consistently results in outstanding sales results. Tune in for his tips on how to achieve similar success.
Shareable Clips and Quotes:
Hard work early on – meeting with anyone and everyone
Understanding what clients are looking for
Consistent persistence – Staying top of mind for the 5%
“It really needs to be specific follow-up to them”
Sales success story about a 100X client
Getting over sales fears
Starting the sales day strong
Building referral partner relationships
Story based selling
Motivated by competition, rankings and money
Started out working 70 hour weeks: “you don’t have to do it forever”
The most important part is activity
“Nobody likes a pushy sales rep”
Figure out your sales why – For Ryan it was getting to #1
Action plan to better sales results
Key Takeaways:
[:25] Scott introduces his guest for this episode — Ryan Alvord.
[1:02] Find out more about the Sales Success Summit at the website, and use the code ‘SSS’ to save $150 on your registration!
[1:16] What are the top three things that have allowed Ryan to consistently stay at the top?
[7:33] How large is Ryan’s territory and how does he stay top-of-mind with that many companies?
[9:25] How did Ryan’s sales career start?
[10:50] What is something Ryan would have done differently if he had the chance to do over his first few years again?
[11:38] Scott gives a shout out to this episode’s exclusive sponsor — Vidyard Go Video!
[12:08] Ryan quantifies his results — what type of revenue result does it take for him to be at the top?
[12:52] Ryan shares his favorite sales story that was the most impactful for him.
[15:51] From an accomplishment perspective, what is Ryan most proud of?
[16:37] What has been Ryan’s biggest challenge?
[18:12] How does Ryan schedule his days? What are his key routines and habits that are central to his success?
[21:10] What does Ryan’s information diet look like?
[24:34] How does Ryan think about his ‘one thing’?
[25:26] How does Ryan establish and maintain the relationships that he needs to ensure he gets new opportunities from them consistently?
[27:15] What is Ryan’s sales philosophy?
[29:30] What is Ryan’s selling style?
[30:42] What is the core of Ryan’s motivation?
[33:42] What is something that Ryan believes that the average sales rep would think is crazy?
[36:36] What is something that the average sales rep believes that Ryan thinks is crazy?
[39:17] What have been the most important decisions Ryan has had to make to get to where he is now?
[41:24] Ryan has some advice for people just starting out in their sales career.
[42:35] If you’re further along in your career and are looking to get to the top, Ryan advises you to figure out your ‘why.’
[44:31] How do other top sellers in other companies maintain their motivation? Ryan shares how he maintains his motivation.
[46:53] Who is the most successful salesperson Ryan knows personally?
[47:58] Ryan was engaged in team selling for a while. How did he manage the dynamic and make the most of the different styles of people on the team?
[49:44] Ryan challenges you to figure out your ‘why,’ and then look at things from a goal perspective and write your goals down. Figure out what you need to do on a monthly, weekly, and daily basis to achieve that goal.
[51:55] Do sign up for the Sales Success Summit coming up next year in Austin!
Mentioned in This Episode:
Top1.fm
Vidyard Go Video
Sales Success Stories Podcast Episode: “Sales Success Summit 2018”
Sales Success Summit — Register (Code: SSS)
Ryan Alvord on LinkedIn
The Tim Ferriss Show Podcast
TED Talks
The One Thing, by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan
Emotions Revealed: Recognizing Faces and Feelings to Improve Communication and Emotional Life, by Paul Ekman
Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions, by Dan Ariely
Salesforce
Sales Success Stories Podcast “Episode 30: Getting to #1 Globally Through Personal Relationships — Jelle den Dunnen of Bullhorn”
Outliers: The Story of Success, by Malcolm Gladwell