“Your relationships are going to make all the difference when it comes to opening doors and creating opportunities as the effectiveness of outbound continues to decline.” – Scott Ingram in today’s Tip 1559

How will you invest in building relationships?

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Transcript

Scott Ingram: You’re listening to the Daily Sales Tips podcast and I’m your host, Scott Ingram. Last week at our Basecamp Retreat event with the Sales Success Community we talked a lot about ChatGPT, AI, and the future of sales with some massive contributions from Lisa Palmer who’s just finishing her PhD in Artificial Intelligence and who will also be presenting on Supercharging Your Sales with ChatGPT and other AI Tools in our June 9th webinar series – links to register at DailySales.Tips/1559, but I digress.

My biggest takeaway personally is that while we need to continue to experiment with these tools and learn how to augment and enhance our own abilities, the most important differentiator long term is going to be relationships.

I think relationship selling has gotten a bad rap over the last 10 years or so, primarily because of a lot of people misunderstanding The Challenger Sale. I won’t get into that, but your relationships are going to make all the difference when it comes to opening doors and creating opportunities as the effectiveness of outbound continues to decline.

Even with AI-powered insights in your deal cycles, it’s going to be your ability to connect human to human with the individual stakeholders in a deal cycle that’s going to help you and your solution stand out. Your future career prospects are going to be most impacted by the network and the reputation you’ve built along the way. Nothing is going to replace human-to-human relationships even though the capabilities of AI will likely be beyond what you can currently conceive of over a 5 to 10-year timeframe.

So how will you invest in building those relationships? How can you build upon the relationships you already have with your colleagues and peers inside your organization, with your customers, in your industry and within the broader sales community?

The time to make those investments in your future is now.

You can also keep coming back here for more tactical tips to do just that, but in the meantime, make sure you click over to DailySales.Tips/1559 and sign up for the webinar series where you can learn from Lisa Palmer, Jamal Reimer, Ian Koniak, Melissa Gaglione, Steve Heroux, and David Weiss.

It’s the best content lineup I’ve put together since the last Summit and it’s free thanks to some amazing sponsors. DailySales.Tips/1559. Once you’ve clicked over there, be sure to click back here for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!

“If you try to just tell yourself it’s never going to get to you, it’s going to get to you. Either you’re going to deal with the feelings or you’re going to bottle them up and it’s going to come out some other way.” – Chris Bogue in today’s Tip 1558

What’s your thought about this? 

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Transcript

Scott Ingram: You’re listening to the Daily Sales Tips podcast and I’m your host, Scott Ingram. As we continue our collaboration with Allego and their EnableMinutes show in honor of Mental Health Awareness Month. Today’s tip comes from Chris Bogue, Owner of Chris Bogue Communications. Here he is:

Chris Bogue: This thing we do called sales, that’s actually a pretty unnatural thing. Human beings really weren’t designed to be rejected 20 times a day. We are social creatures. We seek approval from others. We want to be part of a community. We want to be part of a group that’s protected. Sales require you to put yourself out there and also to be rejected literally multiple times every single day. First, you have to understand that it’s okay to be upset. And once you understand that, it’s natural to feel disappointed. It’s natural to feel let down and frustrated. Then you can put it in perspective. Then you can say, all right, not this one, but I’m going to get the next one. I have to keep going forward because I know I can win. If you try to just tell yourself it’s never going to get to you, it’s going to get to you. Either you’re going to deal with the feelings or you’re going to bottle them up and it’s going to come out some other way.

Scott Ingram: For links to connect with Chris and to find more EnableMinutes, just click over to DailySales.Tips/1558. Once you’ve done that, be sure to come back tomorrow for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!

“If we were a little more focused on the individual and the person, which is really the role of the frontline manager to be able to help them develop into the best version of themselves, we’d have different outcomes for a lot of people.” – Andy Paul in today’s Tip 1557

How do you help sellers become the best version of themselves? 

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Transcript

Scott Ingram: You’re listening to the Daily Sales Tips podcast and I’m your host, Scott Ingram. May is Mental Health Awareness month and all this month we’re collaborating with our friends at Allego and their EnableMinutes show to talk about Mental Health in Sales. Here’s Andy Paul, Author of “Sell Without Selling Out” and host of the “Sales Enablement Podcast”:

Andy Paul: Everybody’s not the same. Oftentimes I write in my books and the content I create about the dangers of over-relying on process that we’ve fallen into in sales and trying to make everybody a cookie-cutter clone of somebody else. Instead of saying, look, everybody is an individual, and how do we help them become the best version of themselves. And where we see this oftentimes too is when new people are brought on board is this assumption that, yeah, they’re all going to get it within a certain period of time. It should be the same for everybody. But what if it takes somebody twice as long to get it? Do we fire them in the meantime? So there’s these judgments that are made on this assumption that everyone is the same. And this has become a trend I think has become magnified over the last 10-15 years. It’s really the opposite of what we should be doing. And I think that’s hugely damaging for people throughout their career. This label that gets placed onto them. Whereas, again, if we were a little more focused on the individual and the person, which is really the role of the frontline manager to be able to help them develop into the best version of themselves, we’d have different outcomes for a lot of people.

Scott Ingram: For links to connect with Andy and to find more EnableMinutes, just click over to DailySales.Tips/1557. Once you’ve done that, be sure to come back tomorrow for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!

“Being tough, tough people, that’s you, are greater than and better than tough times.” – Larry Long Jr in today’s Tip 1556

Are you tough?

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Transcript

Scott Ingram: You’re listening to the Daily Sales Tips podcast and I’m your host, Scott Ingram. May is Mental Health Awareness month and all this month we’re collaborating with our friends at Allego and their EnableMinutes show to talk about Mental Health in Sales. Here’s another tip from Larry Long Jr:

Larry Long Jr: What we’re going through right now is tough. Sales is not a four-letter word. It might make you say some four-letter words, but life is a four-letter word. It’s tough. I can’t sugarcoat that. And in addition to it being tough, tough people, that’s you, are greater than and better than tough times. We’ve proven that through the times of history. So now is an opportunity for us all to make a choice. We can go down this path. Woe is me. I’m going to waive the white flag and I’m just going to give up, or I’m going to keep on moving and I’m going to try my best. I’m going to try the process. I’m going to give it my best and see what happens. I think if you go down this road versus that road, you’re going to at least have a story to tell. I can’t guarantee success, but you’ll have a tall tale to tell somebody and to learn from for future iterations of this stuff that we’re going through.

Scott Ingram: For links to connect with Larry and to find a bunch more EnableMinutes, just click over to DailySales.Tips/1556. Once you’ve done that, be sure to come back tomorrow for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!

“The purpose of being a successful seller is that you can have a life you enjoy. But if you aren’t enjoying the process of selling and the journey of selling, there’s no way your life is going to bring you satisfaction.” – Meshell Baker in today’s Tip 1555

What’s your thought about this?

Join the conversation below and go check out the links!

1526: The ABC’s of Sales – NURTURE
1530: The ABC’s of Sales – OPPORTUNITY
1537: The ABC’s of Sales – PREPARATION
1543: The ABCs of Sales – QUESTIONS
1550: The ABC’s of Sales – REFERRALS
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Transcript

Scott Ingram: You’re listening to the Daily Sales Tips podcast and I’m your host, Scott Ingram. Today Meshell Baker, the Sales Confidence Igniter, is back with the next installment of her multi-part series. Here she is:

Meshell Baker: Hello and welcome to the ABCs of Sales. Today’s letter is S and S is for Success. Now, success is defined as the accomplishment or aim or purpose. It is the good or bad outcome of an undertaking. It is the satisfactory completion of something. But I want you to understand that success without satisfaction is an ultimate fail. Why? Satisfaction is now defined as the fulfillment of your wishes, expectations, or needs, or the pleasant pleasure that you derive from this attainment. It’s a pleasant feeling that you get when you receive something that you wanted.

Now, as sellers and sales leaders, we are achievers. What happens to achievers is every time an achiever acquires something, they systematically move the goalpost further. They rarely stop to celebrate the wins and accomplishments and achievements and acknowledge all that they’ve done. And the bottom line is, if you’re not happy with who you are and where you’re going, you cannot and will not be satisfied with what you’ve accomplished. And isn’t that a failure? If you’re not enjoying the journey, there’s no way you’re going to love the destination. So satisfaction is being grateful and joyful and pleasant throughout the process on the journey.

Basically, success is the destination and satisfaction is the journey. So why is this important? Because as sellers, you have a role in an organization and for clients and yourself and your family, you have many, many hats and without the satisfaction of what you’re doing, there really is no success because there’s no one around you that’s going to enjoy being around you. And the purpose of being a successful seller is that you can have a life you enjoy. But if you aren’t enjoying the process of selling and the journey of selling, there’s no way your life is going to bring you satisfaction.

So here’s a few small tips to help you shift your satisfaction.

One, focus on the positive. Remember, if you’ve ever listened to me, I will tell you, you cannot get an apple tree from an orange seed. Having said that, you cannot create positive outcomes, favorable and more profit if you are coming from a negative position. People generally don’t like to be around negative people and don’t like to do repeat business, refer and recommend negative people. Your positivity is profitable.

Find your stress relief. What are the things you do when things aren’t going your way, when you’re met with the unplanned, the unexpected? How do you successfully keep going and selling and having conversations that generate income in the midst of stress?

Three, don’t be afraid to take time for yourself. Top performers put their vacation, their time off, their self-care on their calendar, and it’s non-negotiable. Establish that standard of taking care of yourself first and foremost so that you have the skills and you are prepared mentally, emotionally, and physically to be successful and satisfied.

Take responsibility for your actions. This is a hard one. Many people like to blame that it’s something, I didn’t get the leads, I didn’t get this, they didn’t do what they said. When you are responsible for your actions, you can make the change necessary to have success and satisfaction.

Be more understanding of other people. Number five, be more understanding of other people because everybody makes mistakes. Nobody gets it right 100 % of the of the time. We are all practicing every day. And when you have grace and understanding, you will receive more and you’ll gain more alliances and advocacy in the path of selling.

Reevaluate your relationship. If the people aren’t lighting you up, then they got to go, especially in the workplace. You are there to sell and sell well, and that requires surrounding yourself with other people who want to do the same.

And seven is live your best life. Enjoy the journey. Find ways to have fun. Find ways to laugh at yourself, to learn from your mistakes. Surround yourself with great people. Get a focus, create a vision, put a vacation, put something that you always wanted as your target, and you’ll be amazed at who you become in the process of succeeding and the amount of satisfaction you have, and the impact it has on your life and the life of the people that you are working for. Have a great day selling.

Scott Ingram: For links to connect with Meshell so you get some success AND satisfaction, just click over to DailySales.Tips/1555. Once you’ve done that, be sure to come right back for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!

“The getting it out process is insanely helpful because then it’s not swirling around in your mind anymore, it’s finally out and it just creates more moments of peace that you don’t have to hold on to that anxious thought.” – Alli Rizacos in today’s Tip 1553

How about you? Do you do journaling?

Join the conversation below and share your thoughts!

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Transcript

Scott Ingram: You’re listening to the Daily Sales Tips podcast and I’m your host, Scott Ingram. Today again we continue our collaboration with Allego and their EnableMinutes in support of Mental Health Awareness month with this tip from Alli Rizacos. Here she is:

Alli Rizacos: I think journaling is really a source of freedom. The journaling that I do, which I think is the easiest and also creates the fastest and most impactful results right away is great gratitude journaling. You cannot be grateful and afraid at the same time. The model that I use is from the Five Minute Journal, which is well-known and you can buy it on Amazon. And it’s really simple. There’s three questions in the morning that you answer and then at night you pick it up again and there’s three more questions. Right? It shocked me how impactful that was for me to again just go inward and get clear on what is going on in my mind. And then the second tool is just journaling, in general. The getting it out process is insanely helpful because then it’s not swirling around in your mind anymore, it’s finally out and it just creates more moments of peace that you don’t have to hold on to that anxious thought. You’ve now let it go and put it on paper and it’s no longer yours to be the beholder of forever and ever.

Scott Ingram: For links to connect with Alli, The 5 Minute Journal, and more EnableMinutes, just click over to DailySales.Tips/1553. Once you’ve done that, be sure to come back tomorrow for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!

“You have to find ways to somehow be able to communicate and share all these things with some sort of support system. I think it’s really, really important.” – Scott Leese in today’s Tip 1552

Do you get support from others?

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Transcript

Scott Ingram: You’re listening to the Daily Sales Tips podcast and I’m your host, Scott Ingram. Today we continue our collaboration around Mental Health Awareness month with Allego and their EnableMinutes show with Scott Leese:

Scott Leese: I’ve been on record for a long time talking about how when I was 23 years old I got super sick and I’ve spent years in the hospital fighting for my life and dealing with all sorts of dark moments and demons and trying to get through that, and then having to overcome opioid addiction and then breaking into sales. And then, you know, you put yourself in this stressful environment where you’re up and down, you feel like a million bucks.

One day, and then the next month it’s April 1st, and you’re back at zero, and you’re like, oh my God. You know, you go through the wringer of feeling extreme joys, extreme lows, feeling hopeless, and then finding hope. You have to find ways to somehow be able to communicate and share all these things with some sort of support system. I think it’s really, really important. Whether that’s family, whether that’s friends, whether that’s colleagues, whether that’s a therapist, a mental health professional, or community of people. I don’t know what really matters. I just know that it matters that you’re able to talk about this stuff and not feel shame or judgment from it, but feel support.

Scott Ingram: For links to connect with Scott and to find some more EnableMinutes, just click over to DailySales.Tips/1552. Once you’ve done that, be sure to come back tomorrow for another great sales tip.

“As a salesperson, it’s important to understand that selling the idea of a partnership can be very different from a product offering and requires a greater level of trust.” – Brian Hannon in today’s Tip 1551

What’s your thought about this?

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Transcript

Scott Ingram: You’re listening to the Daily Sales Tips podcast and I’m your host, Scott Ingram. Today’s tip comes from Brian Hannon. Brian is the Global Head, Customer Experience Innovation & Technology at TELUS International, where he develops services, solutions, and teams to solve customers’ challenges. Here he is:

Brian Hannon: Today’s Daily Sales Tip is about selling a partnership to businesses during an economic downturn. The challenge that many businesses are facing right now is figuring out how to recession-proof their business. This often means leaders have to figure out ways to cut costs without hindering business success. When these conversations occur, businesses typically first look to cut external expenses like third-party vendors. This makes it an extremely difficult environment for sales professionals looking to sell a provider service. However, when positioned correctly, there is still an opportunity for sales professionals to showcase the value of their service. It can even be argued that the current economic climate is even more of a reason to invest in partners that can help companies weather the storm.

As a global head of customer experience innovation at Telus International, which is a digital CX innovator that designs, builds, and delivers next-gen digital solutions, I’ve seen how impactful and transformational it is when a brand works with the right external partner to support their goals. In order to win these types of deals during a period of economic uncertainty, sales professionals need to understand the positioning their credibility as a trusted advisor is equally, if not more important than the actual product or service. I’ve experienced firsthand how challenging it can be to win these deals and have some best practices to share on how to present your company as a trusted partner that the client can envision as an extension of their team.

First, to get a company interested and comfortable, it’s important to highlight the key benefits of partnering with the right provider to gain their trust. To help with this, my company worked with industry analysts from IDC on custom reports that were launched in our Better Together campaign. They explored the ways that working with an experienced global digital CX provider gives access to a suite of capabilities like content moderation, AI data solutions, digital CX solutions, or cloud services. During uncertain times, it’s priceless to have a partner that can strategically guide a company through anything that is thrown their way. A trusted partner knows the ins and outs of the business and can support leaders in making fast decisions.

Now, when it comes to how to actually sell a provider services, I recommend sales professionals start by first asking questions to learn where the company’s business and customer processes are struggling, really get down to their pain points as well as opportunities for optimization. Once these are identified, showcase how partnering with a provider can support the brand in its growth and desired goals. Don’t be afraid to discuss how the partnership could evolve. For example, a midsize company may need a more basic level of external customer support, but as they grow, they’ll need to quickly adapt their processes and rather than being behind the ball, they’d already be in the depth of a CX partnership that can scale and evolve with their business demands.

As a salesperson, it’s important to understand that selling the idea of a partnership can be very different from a product offering and requires a greater level of trust. Of course, this is becoming more challenging amid the current economic downturn. Many businesses are expected to do more with less and strategizing how to consolidate vendor relationships to maximize the quality of their CX while achieving greater cost-effectiveness. But at the end of the day, an experienced partner can help companies plan ahead and strategize to ensure their well position for the future. Although it may be difficult to sell in this economy, it’s rewarding to know that with every closed deal, it’s another company entering into a partnership to improve their overall business success.

Scott Ingram: For links to connect with Brian, just click over to DailySales.Tips/1551. Once you’ve done that, be sure to come back tomorrow for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!

“Starting a referral program of some sort, create a template, create an SOP, just a little checklist so that you can consistently follow up and follow through with the business that’s always been generated.” – Meshell Baker in today’s Tip 1550

How do you make a referral?

Join the conversation below and learn more about Meshell!

1519: The ABC’s of Sales – MISTAKES
1526: The ABC’s of Sales – NURTURE
1530: The ABC’s of Sales – OPPORTUNITY
1537: The ABC’s of Sales – PREPARATION
1543: The ABC’s of Sales – QUESTIONS
Meshell Baker on LinkedIn

Have feedback? Want to share a sales tip? Call or text the Sales Success Hotline: 512-777-1442 or Email: [email protected]

Transcript

Scott Ingram: You’re listening to the Daily Sales Tips podcast and I’m your host, Scott Ingram. Today Meshell Baker, the Sales Confidence Igniter, is back with the next installment of her multi-part series. Here she is:

Meshell Baker: Hello and welcome to the ABCs of Sales. Today’s letter is R. And R is for Referrals. A referral is one of the many sources of filling a pipeline and it’s a nice, warm, and at some point hot source. There is nothing better than getting a referral from a customer that know, likes, and trusts you, that you know, like, and trust you guys, engage and enjoy doing work together and business together. And guess what? Awesome people always know more awesome people.

So I’m going to go through some steps to have you prepare to keep that pipeline of awesome referrals coming your way.

So the first thing is lay the foundation for referrals. So laying that foundation, many people believe that that happens at the end of the sales cycle. I am here to tell you, as I have learned myself, it happens at the beginning of the sales cycle. As I am finishing that proposal. It is at that point that you want to engage that prospect in the understanding that if this business exceeds your expectation, if we over-deliver as you have committed to them, that they would be willing to refer you and recommend you to other people. This way you can continue to move forward.

The other thing is provide excellent customer service. So being polite, being punctual, being consistent, being responsive, and I know sometimes this is difficult. At the end of the day, your mind pops like, oh my God, I forgot. The quickest thing to do is just to send an email and let them know I will be a little delayed. I haven’t forgotten you. Things got busy. Business is booming. Find phrases, create some templates so that you can quickly be on top of the consistency, punctual and responsiveness to those people who will be a great pipeline for referral sources.

Facilitating relationships between the customer and your brand. So you want to ensure that their experience and that what aligns with what you told them. All things that are coming to them align and that it generates that friendly experience so that they can easily be able to communicate in a recommendation or if they’re doing a testimonial. And if they’re referring you to someone, they can seamlessly actually say why it is. They believe that that next party would have a benefit of working well with you.

This one is huge. Exceed expectations. This is something that is absolutely necessary. So there’s a statement under promise over deliver. That is one way to do it. What I am saying to you is when you make this commitment on the front end, it will allow you to be more creative and innovative about how you deliver and you’re focusing on the joy. So this is why thinking about the clients that you know, like and trust and enjoy working with will make it a lot easier for you to exceed expectation because it becomes fun, it becomes a game, instead of a chore and obligation.

Know your top referrals. When you start getting these referrals, put them on some type of customer appreciation, automated sending cards on holidays, get their information, a birthday card. The littlest of things will make the biggest of difference and again it goes back to that consistency. And again, be sure to ask if they say yeah, I’ll give you referrals. Yeah, I’ll give you a recommendation, I promise you there are people I’ve had to chase down. Very few people do it on the first request. There’s generally emails and follow-up phone calls and it’s always just being a polite, gentle nudge and reminder which can actually believe it or not, having to call and ask for that recommendation could generate more business as well. It’s all in how you look at the opportunity. It’s not about the fact that they’re wrong and they didn’t do something. It’s just that I am here to support you and your commitment so that everybody can do well.

And always express gratitude. The attitude of gratitude will always change the altitude of your outcomes.

So starting a referral program of some sort, create a template, create an SOP, just a little checklist so that you can consistently follow up and follow through with the business that’s always been generated. And that is one of the quickest ways to generate more and new business. Have a great day selling.

Scott Ingram: For links to connect with Meshell so you can refer her, just click over to DailySales.Tips/1550. Once you’ve done that, be sure to come right back for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!