Episode 141: Having a Rejection Plan: Everything In Sales Happens For A Reason with Investment Monitor’s Charlotte Lloyd

Charlotte Lloyd is the Global Director of Partnerships FDI at Investment Monitor, an organization that provides FDI data, intelligence, and insights from the industry’s leading journalists and experts. Charlotte is in the top one percent of revenue producers globally for Investment Monitor and she’s just getting started. Charlotte is a passionate and knowledgeable sales professional who has overcome many obstacles throughout her career. Today, Charlotte gets vulnerable and discusses her experiences with grief and mental health as well as her belief that detaching yourself from your outcomes can truly be a game-changer when it comes to your mental health as a sales professional.

In this episode, Charlotte talks about her unique sales origin story, shares some of her favorite sales successes as well as her favorite failures. She talks a bit about her role at Investment Monitor and discusses what her day-to-day looks like. Charlotte lists some of the things she attributes most to her success. These include adaptability, agility, persistence, patience, consistency, energy, and mindset. While this may seem like a lot, they are all truly interconnected which Charlotte expounds on during her conversation. Charlotte also shares some of her best practices for avoiding digital burnout, the importance of continual learning, and how she shifted from a ‘winning’ mindset to a ‘customer’ mindset.

In closing, Charlotte issues not one, not two, but three actionable challenges to the audience. First, she encourages listeners to step into your fear. Maybe it’s a wind tunnel, or a bungee jump, or a roller coaster. Whatever it is, learn to embrace your fear in order to overcome that fear. Her second challenge is to try to learn another language. It’s really important to see things from a different perspective and it’s even more important to continue flexing the most powerful muscle in our bodies, the brain! Finally, Charlotte stresses the importance of being intentional about who you spend your time with. Surround yourself with people who will constantly challenge and push you to be the best version of yourself. Stay away from toxic people and learn to say ‘No’ more. You will notice an enormous difference.

What We Covered:

00:39 – Scott takes a moment to thank today’s sponsors Vidyard, RevenueGrid & Gong
01:11 – Scott introduces today’s guest, Charlotte Lloyd
01:51 – The top three things Charlotte attributes to her success
02:03 – Number One: Adaptability & Agility
02:29 – Number Two: Persistence, Patience & Consistency
03:16 – Number Three: Energy & Mindset
04:02 – Charlotte explains her role at Investment Monitor, what she sells and who she sells to
06:43 – Charlotte quantifies her incredible sales results and shares what she feels has led to her success
12:04 – Scott takes a moment to thank one of today’s sponsors, Vidyard
12:32 – How Charlotte was able to completely adapt her approach during the global pandemic
13:50 – Results that Charlotte has been able to deliver
16:18 – The demo as a continuation of discovery
20:55 – Charlotte’s sales origin story
24:04 – What Charlotte would do differently if given the chance
28:58 – Scott takes a moment to thank one of today’s sponsors, RevenueGrid
29:33 – Other ways Charlotte is differentiating herself in the industry
31:15 – Shifting from a ‘winning mindset’ to ‘customer mindset’
32:36 – Charlotte’s favorite sales stories
36:49 – Charlotte’s proudest accomplishment
39:05 – Tactics that work for Charlotte as a working parent
40:19 – Charlotte opens up about her struggles with grief and mental health
45:33 – Scott thanks the final sponsor of today’s episode, Gong
47:38 – Charlotte takes the audience through a typical day in the life
57:11 – The books, news, podcasts, and trade information that Charlotte consumes
1:02:20 – Charlotte’s tech stack
1:07:09 – Charlotte’s sales philosophy and style
1:09:49 – One of Charlotte’s beliefs that the average sales professional would think is crazy
1:10:54 – An average sales professional’s belief that Charlotte thinks is crazy
1:12:16 – Advice Charlotte would give to an upstart sales professional
1:18:18 – Advice Charlotte would give to a struggling sales professional
1:22:13 – The question Scott doesn’t ask that Charlotte wishes he would
1:23:04 – Best practices for avoiding digital burnout
1:24:54 – Charlotte’s favorite failure
1:30:33 – Final thoughts from Charlotte
1:32:18 – Charlotte issues an actionable challenge to the audience

Tweetables:

“I’m very, very passionate about my clients being able to sell their locations better and giving them those tactics so that they can go on to win a Coke or Pepsi or some of these other huge companies that they might not have been able to reach had they not thought about their own sales process and marketing process.” (13:27)

“I think it’s very important to be able to empathize with people. We can automate so many things as we know, such as the sales process. But robots still can’t empathize; they can’t become humans.” (27:42)

“I think that the experiences that I had and the challenges with mental health have allowed me to really emotionally detach myself from the outcome. You can put all the energy and the effort into sales and sometimes you’re not gonna win. And sometimes you really need to detach yourself from the outcome.” (43:57)

“I’m probably more of a relationship challenger seller. I’ve spent lots of years building relationships through very traditional selling and I think it’s still important. But I also think you need to sort of teach, tailor, take control, and challenge a prospect to think differently.” (1:08:29)

“If you’re starting out in sales, you need to tackle fear. Step into your fear. Learn what makes you fearful and how you overcome it.” (1:15:07)

“Something good happens every day. Write it down. Focus on the good stuff that happened. Eliminate any negative self-talk.” (1:20:51)

What We Covered:

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