“Keep that relationship alive in between because that relationship should be based more than just on the product or service that you’re delivering them.” – Jack Wilson in today’s Tip 1339

What’s your thought about this?

Join the conversation below and connect with Jack!

Jack Wilson on LinkedIn
2022 Sales Success Summit
Submit a Sales Tip

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. Here’s Jack Wilson with his final tip before we see each other at the Sales Success Summit:

Jack Wilson: What’s going on Daily Sales Tips? Jack Wilson back with another tip. And if you’re listening to this and you think I’m a little distracted or a little more excitable than usual, you’re right. And that’s because the Sales Success Summit, Is just a few, four, or five days away. And I couldn’t be more excited to meet with some of the best professionals in sales, some of the closest friends. And allies in my network, and just to honestly get back in person and hobnob for the first time in a little bit. If you’re not already attending, I’m sure Scott will have links everywhere. There’s a couple of seats left, so get in on the action now.

But forget all that. I’m here to give you a tip today. And my tip today really revolves around you acting like the CEO of your own territory. Now, you’ve probably heard this phrase before. You need to act like you own your territory or you’re the CEO of the territory. I actually want to argue that it transcends just your territory. I want you to think that you are insert your name here, LLC. And it’s not just about your territory. It’s about everything that you do.

So think about it this way. What if instead of being a sales professional for XYZ Company, what if they were actually your number one client? Would you perform your duties any differently if they were a customer of yours instead of your job? So, for starters, if you are like me, Jack LLC, how do you treat that number one customer? Second of all, how do you treat the end users of you, the buyers, those buyers’ relationships transcend any specific role if you’re creating relationships the right way?

So, for example, if you’re between roles, how would Jack LLC, or whoever you are, LLC, want to treat those customers in between? You don’t just want to stop interacting when you leave a role and then wait until you start a new role to reach out and say, hey, I’m over here. Now instead, keep that relationship alive in between because that relationship should be based more than just on the product or service that you’re delivering them. It should be based on how much you understand them, how much you care to uniquely understand their challenges, how much you want to support them and add value to them in general, not just role specific.

What other ways can you look at what you’re doing in your current role, future role, or any of your past roles that you can apply these principles to? What kind of impacts do you think that they would have had on your career both then and now? And if you haven’t had this mentality before, just think today is the opportunity for you to become a true solopreneur within your role by founding YOU, LLC.

Scott Ingram: The fuse is very very short and it’s possible that we might still have an open seat or two based on some last-minute changes if you want to hang out with Jack and Meshell and so many others that you here on this show at the Summit, click over to DailySales.Tips/1339 and we’ll include a link to the Sales Success Summit. At the very least make sure you sign up to get access to the videos. Once you’ve done that. Be sure to come back tomorrow for another tip. I’m not going to say it’s great, because this weekend’s tips are my own, but come back. Thanks for listening!

“I think mostly it’s around what other people had done to really get this thing from start to finish.” – Evan Kelsay in today’s Tip 1338

What’s your thought about this?

Join the conversation below and learn more about Evan!

Evan Kelsey on Linkedin
Mega Deal Hack: The Internal Sale
Evan Kelsay on Sales Success Stories Interview
2022 Sales Success Summit

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. For today’s throwback Thursday tip I’ve got a piece of the first interview I did with Evan Kelsay in episode 56 of the Sales Success Stories podcast after he closed a massive deal to put him at 800% of his number for the year, and he’s since closed mega-deal after mega-deal. Here he is:

Scott Ingram: So let’s go back to the deal cycle that you ran. What part of that are you the most proud of? What went the best?

Evan Kelsay: Good question. Well, I guess in terms of things, there’s a lot of things that I’m really proud at. I think mostly it’s around what other people had done to really get this thing from start to finish. And because Seismic has this great sales culture, they were really open my inside team supporting me was really open to doing the work necessary to focus in on one account. It was a big risk for them and quite frankly for me to spend the majority of my time this year on one deal. And luckily each week as I would kind of update my leadership on the deal. I would say, “Just so you know, I’m spending the majority of my time on this deal.” And to their credit, each week they said, “No, we think based on your process, based on what you’re telling us, based on our experience or hardened sales experience, we believe there’s a there and there. And continue on and if it doesn’t work out, we will figure out a way to take care of you. But we believe that this is a potentially transformational deal for the company. Keep working on it.”And everybody involved had to put an extra effort and kind of make that same risk.

The most fantastic sales engineer I could ever ask for, spend an enormous amount of time this year demoing to everybody and really following up with them and helping them fully understand the technical capabilities of the platform. And there was some internal selling that we had to do because quite frankly, we had to change a couple of we had to add a couple of things to what we’re doing from a product set standpoint to be able to close the deal. Our technical organization had to make that our leadership were really open and generous with their connections at the company and really helping make kind of higher level intros or even sometimes intros that just were informational interviews so that I could kind of take that pain back to our leadership.

And I think at some point in Q2, there just came this moment when I was updating my champion every week of all the divisions that we were talking to, what those conversations were like. And I think at that point, at that moment, he really got excited. He really got excited about, I think it gave him permission to really go after this. And to his credit, it’s a very large company, so if you’re at the senior leadership level, there’s probably a lot of people that are content to sit back and not really rock the boat, and those that do, put in jeopardy a very safe job.

And to my champion’s credit, I think he really understood the value of what we do and we’ve done a great job of as an organization, really conveying unique value, differentiation, and business outcome to what we do, but at the same time can be equally as important, he had to have the confidence that there was enough groundswell and enough pain and also popularity of what we do that he could actually put his neck out there and really go to bat for us internally in a highly matrix, highly political organization.

Scott Ingram: Next week Evan will be presenting at the Sales Success Summit on this Mega Deal Hack: The Internal Sale. If you’ll click over to DailySales.Tips/1338 we’ll have a link where you can register to get access to the recording of that presentation.

Of course, we’ll also have a link to our complete conversation back in 2018. Once you’ve clicked over there and filled out the form, be sure to come back tomorrow for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!

“So over the subsequent months and years, it was really just all about creating a groundswell, so that our name was prominent, my name was prominent as their primary resource, and just continuing to invest in nurture that relationship.” – Carson Heady in today’s Tip 1336

What’s your thought about this?

Join the conversation below and check the full conversation with Carson!

Carson Heady on LinkedIn
Carson Heady on Sales Success Stories Interview
Salesman on Fire podcast

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 I’ve got a clip from a unique bonus episode on the Sales Success Stories podcast that we just released that is actually a reshare of an episode from Carson Heady’s Salesman on Fire podcast. In this conversation that’s just over 30 minutes Carson, who’s a perennial top performer at Microsoft, talks through how he both created and managed a 9-Figure deal. Here’s a taste:

Carson Heady: For me, social selling was the door opener here, but as we’ll unpack in this conversation, a lot of sales fundamentals still applied.

Tom Burton: Well, and I assume to get that meeting right, it wasn’t what we see all the time. You connect and then, hey, can I get you 15 minutes on a call? I would assume there was probably a lot of value and a lot of back-and-forth conversation that occurred prior to even getting to that meeting, I assume, right? To get to that point.

Carson Heady: I’m so glad you said that. Using intel that you have, whether it’s things that you can see on their website or in company reports or in industry trade magazines or even things that you’re hearing from other people in their organization that may work for them or in different lines of business, not using all of that as intel is only going to enhance your probability of success. I also very often use a counterintuitive approach when I first reach out because oftentimes we might have some level of investment with the organization today, but we’re likely not working directly with the person that I’m reaching out to in this case. So making sure that to your point, we’re showing up with some kind of value and that we have a very targeted ask that we’re trying to make. Now, in this case, my approach typically is, hey, you are likely entitled to some resources as a result of our pre-existing relationship. I’d love to make sure that you and your team are aware of those resources, privy to those resources that you’re entitled to, and I found often that will at least get some interest and in this case, I utilize that as the door opener to get in the door and then at which time all of the usual sales fundamentals apply.

Now the other element of social here for me, Tom, somebody told me this years ago, utilize it to stay top of mind. So the other component is not only does it serve as kind of that door opener or that initial touchpoint, but also over time, as people see posts or you invite them to events or you send them newsletters or surveys or things like that, you can continue to engage them over time. They’re not necessarily going to take that first meeting request, but over time, if you play the scale game and over the subsequent months, I sent over 500 connection requests within that one organization. I had 250 1st-degree connections in that organization. So over the subsequent months and years, it was really just all about creating a groundswell, so that our name was prominent, my name was prominent as their primary resource, and just continuing to invest in nurture that relationship.

Scott Ingram: For links to this full conversation, as well as a link to Carson’s Salesman on Fire podcast and more, just click over to DailySales.Tips/1336. Once you’ve done that, be sure to come back tomorrow for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!

“When you apply these activities from A to Z, your actions will assuredly accomplish and achieve the amazing dreams of sales success that you desire.” – Meshell Baker in today’s Tip 1335

What’s your thought about this?

Join the conversation below and go check out the links!

Meshell Baker on LinkedIn
Meshell Baker on Youtube
Meshell Baker on Facebook
Subscribe to Meshell’s Mailing List
Submit a Sales Tip

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. Happy Monday. Here’s Meshell Baker to help you kick off your week:

Meshell Baker: In the words of Dolly Parton, if you don’t like the road you’re walking, start paving another one.

Here are 26 ways The ABCs of Action so you can begin carving a path for a successful sales career.

A – Acknowledge. Recognize that you and you alone are responsible for your life and your sales success and be willing to change it.

B – Believe. All great accomplishments begin when you can believe and visualize the possibility of your being better.

C – Choose. Altering your outcomes requires new information to make different decisions and choices.

D – Drive. Overnight success is rarely overnight. Consistent persistence will always win, and that will fuel your drive.

E – Excite. Excitement for your goals, your dreams, your vision is contagious. Stay excited and others will eventually come around and definitely support you.

F – Faith. Believing against all odds when you can’t see the end and no one supports you. You and you alone are the believer and the driver of your dreams.

G – Gratitude. If you’re not happy where you are now, you won’t be happy when you get there. It’s the journey, not the destination. There is no there.

H – Help. Be humble enough to know when you don’t know. Nobody knows everything, and your ability to ask for support and assistance will get you there sooner and faster than not.

I – Imagine. Do something different to have something different. Spark your creativity by incorporating new information and asking questions.

J – Journaling. Keep your thoughts where you can find them. Write down what has happened and what you’ve learned from it and how you can next time it happens, go forward and do something different.

K – Knowledgeable. Be so well informed, learned, and cultivated that people are drawn to you for their own enlightenment. Be the person that people feel better being around.

L – Laughter. If you’re not enjoying yourself, find something else to do. Life is too short and fun gets more done.

M – Mistakes. You must be willing to fail in order to succeed. So get prepared to make lots of mistakes.

N – Nurture. Protect your inner peace by taking time to listen and nourish your mind, body, and soul. Replenish as necessary.

O – Opportunity. People will always be your greatest assets. Treat everyone as if they’re bearing a gift and you’ll never go hungry.

P – Preparation. Systematic planning will have you ready and prepared for a variety of outcomes.

Q – Quiet. Regularly set time to listen to your own intuition so you know your purpose.

R – Relentless. Solutions are achieved and answered are found in those who refuse to give up their pursuit.

S – Serve. Be a solution for others and you will find your results quickly.

T – Teamwork. Have faith that those that you’re working with and those that you’re leading and they will have faith in you.

U – Uncomfortable. To have what you never had before. You must do and go where you’ve never gone before and that’s uncomfortable.

V – Values. Let your behavior speak volumes about your beliefs. If you can’t demonstrate it, then you are not it.

W – Words. Use them wisely. The more you uplift others, the more you too will rise.

X – Execution. Had to use a workaround for that letter. Your life of excellence will always be equivalent to your executed efforts of excellence.

Y – Yes. Align with your purpose. Accept opportunities as they are already around you. Learn to be a hell yes versus just a yes.

Z – Zealous. Become your own number one fan in the world so that someone will cheer you on. Don’t expect others to cheer and applaud you if you’re not cheering and applauding yourself.

When you apply these activities from A to Z, your actions will assuredly accomplish and achieve the amazing dreams of sales success that you desire. Have a great day selling!

Scott Ingram: For at least 26 more ideas from Meshell, just click over to DailySales.Tips/1335 where you’ll find a transcript and links to connect. Once you’ve done that, be sure to come back tomorrow for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!

“If you don’t want to work or you don’t feel connected or you don’t feel purpose in your job, go find something that lights you up.” – Ian Koniak in today’s Tip 1334

Do you find something you can fulfill in your career or in your business?

Join the conversation below and learn more about Ian!

Ian Koniak on LinkedIn
Ian Koniak on YouTube
Ian Koniak Sales Coaching
Ian Koniak on Sales Success Stories Interview

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’s tip comes from Ian Koniak. Give a listen to this:

Ian Koniak: Good morning Ian Koniak here and today I’m going to share my thoughts on quiet quitting. I don’t know if you’ve heard about Quite quitting. I hadn’t heard about this until recently. But for those who don’t know, that is the term of doing the bare minimum you need to do to keep your job. And it’s more popular than ever. And the idea is, hey, if you’re not putting your entire identity into your work and you’re just seeing a job as a job and living your best life outside of work and not putting your entire world in your work, you’re going to have less stress, you’re going to have less headaches, less anxiety, and the world shouldn’t revolve around work. And here are my thoughts on quite quitting.

First and foremost, to each his own or to each her own, whatever people believe, that’s their prerogative. And I’m not here to tell you what to do or what not to do. But here’s my thoughts on the general trend of quiet quitting.

We get our biggest joy in life from several things, okay? One is connection, the people in our lives. Another is contribution, which is feeling like we’re doing something in the world, we’re making an impact in the lives of others. And the third is growth. And I’ll tell you, quiet quitting doesn’t fuel any of those things while you’re at work. If you’re just doing the bare minimum, you’re not going to go above and beyond to have deep connections with your customers, with your colleagues, with other people in your company. You’re not going to feel like you’re contributing to the cause of your company or to your customers. And you’re certainly not going to be growing.

And if you’re going to spend literally half of your waking life at work, your adult life, if you think about it, we have 24 hours a day. And if you spend 8 hours working and 8 hours sleeping, that leaves 8 hours outside of work. That’s half of your time that you’re awake at work during the weekdays. Okay? If you’re going to just spend those 8 hours doing the bare minimum, I’m sorry, but you’re not going to be very happy during those 8 hours because there is true joy in setting goals, in taking action towards attainment of those goals. The joy is in the journey. The joy is in the growth from having goals that challenge you to work hard, from building something from scratch, from being part of something bigger, for contributing to the lives of others.

And if you’re just doing the bare minimum, you are not going to experience that joy, that comes from challenging yourself to do more, to contribute, to fulfill your potential. If you’re going to do anything, if you don’t do it, give it your all, what’s the point why do anything if you’re not going to try? I can tell you one thing from my own experience. I feel my best when I’m all in, when I’m showing up fully and giving my all. And if you’re just quiet quitting and doing the bare minimum, you are robbing yourself of that joy and that opportunity to really fulfill the potential. We’re all given gifts to use, and if we’re not using them for not creating, if we’re not contributing, we are going to feel a void that we’re not fulfilling our potential at work or really on this earth. You can’t just live just for leisure. If you work really hard and make an impact during the time at work, that’s what lets you actually enjoy your time outside of work with no worries, because you know you’ve given your all and you can let go and be present with those you love.

So that’s my view on quiet quitting. I don’t see the point. I don’t understand. Why show up if you’re not going to try your best? Because there’s joy in trying your best, there’s joy in being all in. So I’m not a supporter, in case you can’t tell, but as I said, do whatever works for you. I’m a huge proponent of not putting your entire identity in work, putting your identity instead in your family and your health and your faith in other areas outside of work. But I’m also a huge proponent of not doing anything if you’re not going to give it your all.

So if you don’t want to work or you don’t feel connected or you don’t feel purpose in your job, go find something that lights you up. Go find something you can fulfill in your career or a business or a side house or something that does. Because there is another way besides just showing up and doing the bare minimum. I promise you. But you have to put in the work to figure that out. I’m walking living proof. I run my own business now and I love it. And every day I enjoy what I do. It wasn’t always that way, but at the end of the day, I’ve always given my all to wherever I am. And that’s how I got where I am today. So I wish you the best. I hope this video helps and I hope you can try your best because there is joy and happiness in doing so. I’m Ian Koniak. I’ll see you next week.

Scott Ingram: For more about Ian, including a link to his YouTube channel where he originally shared this tip, just click over to DailySales.Tips/1334. Once you’ve done that, be sure to come back tomorrow for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!

“Don’t show up to try and sell or to have a specific kind of end result that you’re looking to do, like sell somebody something.” – John Abbott in today’s Tip 1333

Do you show up in service of the other person?

Join the conversation below and share your thoughts!

InSpiral
InSpiral Sales Team Application
John Abbott 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’s tip comes from John Abbott. John is a Best Selling Author and Creator of The Giving Model. He shows transformational speakers, coaches, and authors how to build GIVING into their business. John believes that by giving we attract more to us. Here he is:

John Abbott: Transformational Sales Tip #4: Show up in service of the other person.

In other words, don’t show up to try and sell or to have a specific kind of end result that you’re looking to do, like sell somebody something. Show up in support of whatever their needs are. And what I mean by that is ask more questions and listen. It’s not about listening and then repeating back exactly what they said so that you will rapport. Yes, that works. But when you do it from a genuine place of curiosity and you ask deeper questions as a result of that because you’re there to be in service, then that is going to really serve you in a much greater way. That’s going to allow you again to find or discover things about them that they may not even know about themselves and of course, discover things about what they want that you may never have been able to know about them, which helps you to also then align them with the product that you’re selling. So show up in service rather than in a specific intention of trying to sell them anything.

Scott Ingram: For links to connect with John, and to join his sales team, just click over to DailySales.Tips/1333. Once you’ve done that, make sure you’re subscribed to the podcast, and come on back tomorrow for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!

“As sellers, what we need to do is we need to make sure that we’re addressing directly what our buyer is saying and not pivoting to a different topic because we assume we know why they said it.” – Jack Wilson in today’s Tip 1332

What’s your thought about this?

Join the conversation below and share your thoughts!

Jack Wilson on LinkedIn
Submit a Sales Tip

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. Happy Friday y’all. Here’s Jack Wilson to help us close out the week:

Jack Wilson: What’s going on Daily Sales Tips Community. Jack Wilson back with another tip. Today I want to share just a quick story about me being a buyer, and from that story, sort of a two-fold tip for you. So you might not know about me, but I’m actually a little bit of a comic book nerd. So a couple of months back in January, I had COVID, I was laid up for a while, so a friend of mine and I decided to write a comic book. Well, we took that hobby and we decided to actually produce it into a real product, which means we had to hire a graphic designer, really an illustrator.

So I posted on LinkedIn to seek one of these illustrators out, and I ended up being in a buyer’s seat to a sales rep, this was really a qualification call, which was hard for me not to jump right in and coach the person. But something that came out of this call was really interesting to me. The person asked me what was my budget, and my answer was, honestly, I don’t have a budget. And I was prepared to talk about what I meant by that. But the rep instead started selling the difference between the previous method I had used to try to get designed, which was Fiverr and subcontractors, versus hiring a legitimate firm that had tools and resources and, you know, the spiel.

So the first tip from this is when your buyer says something to you, you need to make sure that you’re addressing the actual statement that they made. Now, the reason this can happen sometimes is I think we as sellers make assumptions. Assumptions that because they said something, we not only know what it means, but we know the origin of where that came from, the why behind that. And instead of us taking our time to uncover and validate those assumptions, we jump right into the method we would use to overcome it or to satisfy it.

So, for example, in this case, I said I had no budget. This particular sales rep equated that too. I haven’t built enough value because my price is too high or perceived too high. So I need to go back and drive a value stake between the old method and me, which might not necessarily be a terrible tactic under the right circumstances.

Now, what did I mean as a buyer, though, when I said I honestly don’t have any budget? What I wasn’t saying was, I think the price is too high. What I wasn’t saying was, I don’t have any money for that. What I was saying was, honestly, I haven’t even assigned a number to that. I haven’t put funds aside or planned to spend a particular amount. And the reason for that is, as a buyer, I didn’t even know what the market was. I had no idea what type of price was going to come back at me.

So I was actually looking to get educated a little bit on that. Now had that seller dug in a little deeper what do you mean you don’t have a budget? Do you mean to say that you’re shopping for resources without having the funds to pay for it? I would have addressed him much differently and he would have got to the real root of my response.

So as sellers, what we need to do is we need to make sure that we’re addressing directly what our buyer is saying and not pivoting to a different topic because we assume we know why they said it and asking the dumb questions really, something like, well, what do you mean by that? Not always, when someone says a word, does that word mean the same thing to them as it does to us. And the only way to find that out is to validate by asking good questions.

Scott Ingram: For the transcript, links to connect with Jack and more. Just click over to DailySales.Tips/1332. After that, be sure to come back tomorrow for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!

“Being able to adapt to those different scenarios, enable the action, take action on those items, for me, has been the key to success. ” – Paul DiVincenzo and Phil Terrill in today’s Tip 1331

How do you build relationships with new accounts?

Join the conversation below and check out the links!

Paul DiVincenzo on Sales Success Stories Interview
Paul DiVincenzo on LinkedIn
Phil Terrill on Sales Success Stories Interview
Phil Terrill on LinkedIn
Submit a Sales Tip

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. As I went looking for today’s Throwback Thursday Tips I actually found 2 excerpts that go together like Peanut Butter and Jelly. The first comes from Paul DiVincenzo in episode 40 of the Sales Success Stories podcast who was at Cintas at the time and Phil Terrill in episode 39 who was at Microsoft when we recorded his interview. Listen to these:

Paul DiVincenzo: So I think the top three things for me have been relationships and what I call being battle ready, focus, and mastery. We’ll talk about these and then adaptability in action. So it’s a total of six, but I combine them into three because I think they go together.

So really with relationships and being battle ready, I think this is a core of being successful in sales, and probably more than just that, but in sales specifically, at least, I’ve found being in a couple of different industries, you have to be very quick to build relationships that’s with the customer as well as with internal folks. So whether that’s VPs or people that you need to approve your deals internally, building those relationships quickly and really understanding each element that goes into it is what I call being battle ready, meaning you are prepared to make that deal happen.

And the more you know and the more you truly understand what you’re talking about, that leads me into number two. You’re able to really focus with your customers on what they need. Then you also have a mastery of what you’re talking about that could be anything from the actual product or solution or service you’re providing all the way to internally, whether you’re having a business conversation about how this makes business sense for the company.

And then leading down into number three. So really being adaptable and taking action, things change consistently in business. And so being able to adapt to those different scenarios, enable the action, take action on those items for me, has been the key to success. So running through those in-depth, we can go into them even more. But I think those things are what I keep in the forefront of my mind.

Phil Terrill: A lot of the times, the seller, especially in the inside model or in general, when you send the intro email, you always are saying like new account manager, like new, right? The word new or intro call, or using these like very starter phrases or what I considered at that time or even now, they’re scary, for lack of any other term. Like, this is just simple, it down. It’s very scary for a customer to get an email from a seller or an account manager says, “Hey, I’m your new guy or a new girl.”

And the reason why I preface what I’m going to tell you, the specifics around the messaging is when you get that mail, I’ve done it before because I’ve done some other roles that are more outbound related and it could be a turn off for a lot of customers. They don’t want a new person because it’s their frustration. They had a better relationship regardless of if you do internal handoffs or not, just the way the customer psyche is they’re going to go back to their old person or their partner.

So what I did was I sent these messages of, okay, I’m not going to use the word intro or newer and some of that kind of stuff. And what I did was I said, and I’m saying the word introduced, but I didn’t use the word introduced. I told them this story of look, we just started a new fiscal year. I’m your account manager. I wasn’t even saying I’m your new account manager, I’m your account manager. Here are the things that I have identified that we need to go through based on these compelling events that are coming. And so I would always include the compelling events at Microsoft. Compelling events are end of life, end of support. Those two can coexist the agreement, renewals, anything that was coming from what I would call an internal engagement. So if we’re doing a software asset review. I would use some of these triggers, these compelling events to let them know that I’m very aware of you already.

So I’m not just calling you or emailing you to say hello, right? I really want to say hello and talk and let you know and validate through this email or through this voicemail that hey, I know who you are, I know the business already and I’m ready to talk to you and I have these resources available to get it done.

Scott Ingram: For links to my full conversations with both Paul and Phil, as well as links to their LinkedIn profiles where you can catch up on what they’re up to today, just click over to DailySales.Tips/1331. Once you’ve done that, be sure to come back tomorrow for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!

“A simple flashback of Why, What, Why, will answer that question and provide those results.” – Scott Savage in today’s Tip 1330

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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 Scott Savage. Scott is the Managing Director and global leader of the Sales Performance practice at FranklinCovey. He is the co-author of Strikingly Different Selling: 6 Vital Skills to Stand Out and Sell More. For decades he has helped executives from a wide range of clients grow and expand their business including Ford, Microsoft, Verizon, and more. Here he is:

Scott Savage: One of the most common questions coming from a client is, where have you done this before? To address this in an appropriate way, we have developed something we call flashback. A flashback is a record of past achievement of either a person, a solution, or even a company. It allows us to answer that question, where have you done it before and it provides proof of results and establishes you as credible.

So what makes up a great flashback?

We’ve developed a pattern that we found very helpful, very simple. It’s three steps: Why, What, Why.

So the first why is why did this client need help? What were their business issues? The one that you want to share. What was behind this? And what were the challenges or results that they were trying to create?

And then the next step to what is what did you do for that client and what did you achieve?

And finally, the final why is why do you think that’s most important for this particular client?

Now you’ll notice something’s missing from the Why, What, Why format, and that is the How. Let us tell you the reason that we’ve left out the how here.

After years of research with client executives on sharing past experiences and having participated and listened to thousands of them, we found with direct feedback that they want to get the context, in other words, they want us to simply set the table for what happened, what did they need? What were the things we did? What did we achieve? And just take three or four minutes and give them the context and some of the details. And then the client said, I’d like to get deeper and maybe even into the how, but we’d like it to be a dialogue.

Doesn’t that interesting? Where most people get into trouble is we spend too much time sharing all the details of the how and all the things that happen and it actually disconnects with the client. So this simple formula of Why, What, Why meets the client where they need to be in setting the context, getting started, setting the table, and then allows us to address it with our client around the how and any other questions they might have around credibility, helping them feel more comfortable about what’s happening.

So let me give you an example. Let’s suppose this was an actual situation for one of our clients. And let me walk you through the Why, What, Why format here. So let’s suppose a client said to me, where have you done this before? And I might say this;

Our other client was a large hospitality company, a big hotel chain. They too were under a lot of pressure to improve operating performance, ineffective analytic models, and they were disconnected with many of their processes. And they needed to turn things around. So what we did, we conducted a digital strategy assessment and developed a comprehensive roadmap to a future vision state. And there are three aspects of what we did in this engagement that strikes me as something would be spot on for your situation.

First, we set up an analytics center of excellence and found opportunities to reinvest in their data supply chain. Second, we created a digital solution for a push poll reporting for a common set of data and analytics. And third, finally, we developed a data supply chain operating model to enhance quality, security, and access. Our client’s results have been pretty impressive. We’ve achieved 21 million in annual savings. We were also able to reduce their management reports from an incredible 4000 down to 60 unique reports. And then we also identified $315,000,000 of profitable growth opportunities. Now, as you might imagine, our client was thrilled with the results that we achieved.

Now, while I have analyzed your specific situation in depth, based on what you’ve described, at least initially, I believe we could likely realize similar results in helping your operating performance help you become more data-driven and also connecting you to your processes and people. I guess the final question I would ask is what are your thoughts about what I’ve shared? In other words, your speed is relevant.

So as you think about this Why, What, Why model. It allows us to do the very thing clients want. Set the table, provide context. Why did the other client need help? What did you do and achieve? And then why do you think that connects to them? Followed by a final question of validation, Is this helpful? Where would you like to go next? One of the most common questions to be asked is where have you done this before? A simple flashback of Why, What, Why, will answer that question and provide those results.

Scott Ingram: To get a copy of Scott’s book, “Strikingly Different Selling: 6 Vital Skills to Stand Out and Sell More,” just click over to DailySales.Tips/1330. Once you’ve done that, be sure to come back tomorrow for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!