“This builds trust on all sides and creates opportunities to progress technical conversations along, which tend to help move business conversations along as well. ” – Chris McNeill in today’s Tip 1019

Do you want to die alone on an island?

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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 Chris McNeill. Chris is an enterprise sales rep at Infinite Convergence Solutions. Here he is:

Chris McNeill: Don’t die alone on an island. This tip I learned from a CRO at a high-growth startup I was lucky enough to be part of a few years back. Any time he saw someone on the sales team not taking the opportunity to leverage all the resources that were available to them, he would simply ask, “Do you want to die alone on that island?” This helped us pause and reevaluate our engagement, identify additional team members that we could put in front of prospects to help validate our solution and move the deal along.

This has stuck with me because as a seller of Technical B2B Solutions, it’s absolutely impossible for me to know and do everything required in my sales process. More importantly, it’s a bad idea for me to try to do it all. I love working with my solutions consultants who get to be the voice of technical reason on my calls because they validate for my customers what we can and cannot accomplish together. Since it’s not a salesperson saying “Yes, we can do whatever you need.” This builds trust on all sides and creates opportunities to progress technical conversations along, which tend to help move business conversations along as well. So that’s my tip today. Don’t die alone on an island.

Scott Ingram: For links to connect with Chris who loves to network in this community, just click over to DailySales.Tips/1019.

Once you’ve done that, be sure to come back tomorrow for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!

“Focus on the big picture of the solution. Understand your ideal clients and Nurture past, present, and future leads” – Meshell Baker in today’s Tip 1018

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 Meshell Baker. Meshell is a certified sales confidence igniter and an authentic selling crusader. She helps business owners and sales leaders tap into the unlimited human potential to create diverse and inclusive culture change and disrupt the sales training status quo. Here she is:

Meshell Baker: Hello. Today’s Daily Sales Tip is FUN, F U N Gets More Done. So we’ll start with F, which is focus. Focus on the big overall picture of your career, your sales success, the value you’re bringing to the client, the ‘why’. It is necessary because sales is a challenging job. It’s emotionally, mentally and at times physically draining. It takes a lot to be a successful sales rep. And when you make it your focus to think about the overall picture and not just a little minutiae of things that need to be done, it will make it more effortless and seamless for you to take and engage in these tasks.

For example, 80% of sales take five or more follow-up calls, right? And people tend to get frustrated when they’re not closing and doing that. Yet only 44% of sales professionals follow up after one call. So when you’re focused on the value, when you’re focused on the opportunity to co-create, when you’re focused on the amazing opportunity of working with the company and your big picture overall, why you’re doing it, those activities just become part of who you are, your identity. There your habit. They’re seamless. However, when you’re focused on getting that one sale every time you’re going for that one sale, it seems like a long road and a lot to do. So look at the big picture. Look at the solutions that you’re bringing that are valuable to the clients that you get to work with.

U – Understanding your ideal client. It is absolutely amazing. How many people struggle and talk about they can’t get more sales, they need more sales, they need more clients. And when you ask them, who is your ideal client? Tell me, what are the top three things or solutions? What are the top three reasons why your ideal client is looking for your solutions? Most people I have found cannot answer that question, and it shows companies excelling in lead nurturing. Lead nurturing means that I actually take the time to get to know right. You can’t nurture something if you don’t know it. Otherwise, it won’t grow and it definitely won’t harvest. So companies excelling and lead nurturing generate 50% more sales-ready leads at 30% lower cost. So you as a sales professional, sales leader, sales individual, thinking about how you can spend time truly understanding those ideal clients, those whales, those dream clients is in your best interest, and I’ll make it seamless. And when they do come in your realm, they’ll be ready to close because you’ll know more about them, you’ll be able to engage with them, and it will be more of an opportunity for them to partner with someone who really cares about them.

And then the final letter is N. Nurture past, present and future leads. This is vitally important. 91% of customers said that they would give referrals, yet only 11% of salespeople ask for referrals. It is so much one and done. So many people are busy trying and I have air quotes around the try to get more sales instead of taking time to really create an appreciation standard so that you will keep your pipeline filled. Your clients when they are served well are more than willing to give you repeat business referrals and recommendations and they will work on your behalf. These people will become your advocates and you don’t have to work as hard.

So the FUN is, Focus on the big picture of the solution. Understand your ideal clients and Nurture past, present, and future leads and you will have better sales days all around. Have a great day selling.

Scott Ingram: For links to connect with Meshell and her website just click over to DailySales.Tips/1018. Once you’ve done that, be sure to come back tomorrow for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!

“The minute you stop working, is the minute your success stops.” – Ian Koniak in today’s Tip 1017

Do you have what it takes to make something out of nothing?

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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 Ian Koniak. Ian is President and Founder of Ian Koniak Sales Coaching, which helps AE’s go from good to great by mastering the mindset, habits, and skills needed to perform at the highest level in sales. Prior to starting his business, Ian was the #1 AE in the Enterprise division at Salesforce. Here he is:

Ian Koniak: Good morning. It’s Ian Koniak and today’s tip of the day is, in order to achieve success, especially at the highest level, you must first pay your dues. So what does pay your dues mean? In most companies, it means before you’re given the best territory or you have a huge opportunity with top accounts. You are going to need to prove yourself and take on a really difficult assignment. When I first started in sales, I had no sales experience, but I had a lot of heart. I had a lot of energy and I had really strong motivation. Did I get the best territory? Absolutely not. Why? Because I hadn’t shown history of success. I hadn’t achieved success at a high level. They knew I was capable in terms of my personality, but I didn’t have the results to back up getting the top territory.

So I was put into Korean town, and that was a territory that had been underperforming for years. The longest rep had lasted was like six months in that territory, they would all quit. The territory had no current customers. It was all new logos and they said, you want to show you’re capable of sales, go take this territory. Here’s the opportunity. Did I bitch and complain? Absolutely not. I was just happy to be given the opportunity to prove myself. And that’s exactly what I did. The first year I was cold calling, going up and down buildings, getting thrown out by security guards. A lot of times people didn’t even speak English in Korean town, and I get the door slammed on me simply because I wasn’t the same ethnicity. It was a really hard assignment, but that’s what made me stronger. That rejection. That grit. That difficulty is actually what made me successful initially in sales.

So after about a year, then I asked for another territory and I asked for the Santa Monica territory. And at that point, my sales manager said, “You know what? You’ve earned it. Here you go.” So I didn’t get that going in. Once I got to Santa Monica, it was a whole different ballgame, and I started crushing it. But that first year, it was just so much, just rejection and I thought I was going to quit many times. And I wasn’t selling for probably three to six months. But I was putting in the work and eventually, it all clicked. And then I got the bigger opportunity.

Same thing happened when I went to Salesforce. I had to apply four times and had three times. I didn’t even make it past the recruiter until I finally met a VP that would give me a chance to be on their team. Why? Because I didn’t have software sales experience and so they didn’t want to take a chance on me. But luckily, one guy saw potential in me and got to give me an opportunity. Well, what happened? Same exact thing. He didn’t care that I did well for at Ricoh for ten years. He said, “You haven’t proven yourself in software.” So I got a territory that was doing about $100,000 a year. Most of the other territories were doing 2 to 5 million. Did I complain? No. Sure. I wanted a better territory, but I hadn’t gone in and proven myself.

So I took what that territory had been doing and fortunately ended up closing a very big deal that year, finished over plan, and then the next year. Sure enough, I got a new manager and I thought I’m entitled to ask for a better territory. He kept me in the same area. Crappy accounts. I was so pissed. I felt entitled. At that point, I said, “You know what? I’ve paid my dues.” And he said, “You haven’t done anything. You’ve only been here for a year. I don’t know you from Adam.” It was a guy from outside the company, and I felt so bitter all year. You know what happened? Instead of me being embracing the opportunity and wanted to go out and prove myself, I actually fell on my face because I wasn’t working as hard because I was bitter about the assignment and bitter about the fact that I didn’t have a better territory.

I’ll tell you one thing with paying your dues, it never stops. The minute you stop working, is the minute your success stops. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been doing this 10, 15, 20 years, you are always having to continue working hard, even when you have a great church. And when you have a great assignment, if you don’t put in the work and the time and pay your dues, even in that top opportunity, your results are going to falter.

So paying your dues never really stops. But specifically in getting the best accounts and getting the top assignment, you really have to prove yourself to any organization. So for those of you listening, I would encourage you, if you’re in a tough spot. If you really are thinking things, you don’t have a fair chance. Maybe you don’t like the way your manager is. Maybe the products or services you sell aren’t great. Maybe your territory doesn’t have the opportunity. I’ll ask you to look yourself in the mirror and say, Do I have what it takes to make something out of nothing? Am I equipped for this challenge?

I promise you the minute you can prove yourself under the hardest circumstances that’s when opportunities will continue to flow your way. Attitude of entitlement will never serve you. Got to pay your dues. Know exactly who you are. Dig deep in those difficult, challenging moments. Especially right now when we’re dealing with a pandemic and so much uncertainty in the world of business and the world in general, it’s more important than ever to say, Do I have what it takes to step up and respond to this challenge? That’s who I am and believe in yourself. Hope you guys have an awesome week guys. Take care.

Scott Ingram: For more sales training tips from Ian, follow him on LinkedIn and subscribe to his YouTube channel. We’ve got links to both of those things for you at DailySales.Tips/1017

Once you’ve clicked over there, be sure to click back here for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!

“Get the customer to try out the product early on in the sales process or see the product early on in the sales process without wasting a sales engineer’s time.” – Ramzi Marjaba in today’s Tip 1016

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 Ramzi Marjaba. Ramzi has been a Sales Engineer since 2014 and started the ‘We The Sales Engineers’ podcast in 2018 as the first resource that SEs can consistently turn to for weekly content. Since then he’s helped 100s of SEs improve their skills, and will help many more. Here he is:

Ramzi Marjaba: Let me start off by saying that this might be an obvious thing. Discovery is not a qualification, and some people may already know that. But I’ve been invited by so many salespeople throughout my career to a discovery call, which turned out to be a qualification call mixed with some discovery and then a forced demo towards the end. But the qualification and discoveries solve two totally different purposes. And if the salesperson is knowledgeable enough in the technology and the product, sure, they might be able to pull it off. But in my experience, more often than not, a sales engineer will be pulled into a meeting.

Now, if you need a sales engineer to be on the meeting, then being pulled into a qualification call is a waste of almost everybody’s time. A qualification call is a 15 minutes call to figure out if they have budgets, if they have influence. Are they tire pickers? If there’s a technological fit and that you can qualify or disqualify early on. And where are they in the buying process? A sales engineer should never be involved in that. I’ve been through meetings where it took us an hour of me asking technical questions, trying to figure out their business problem only to find out they don’t have any budget set aside for it, or their budget is way lower than what the solution they’re asking for.

My tip for today. If you really want to go beyond the MQL and the SQL, Marketing Qualified Leads, and Sales Qualified Leads, you need to get to what potentially could be a demo qualified lead and shout out to Garin Hess from Consensus who I first heard say that term, and the whole point of that is to get the customer to try out the product early on in the sales process or see the product early on in the sales process without wasting a sales engineer’s time.

If it’s the same demo over and over and you can just prerecorded and send it to the customer, and there are many software that do that all. I’m not affiliated with anybody. I know a lot of them. Go Consensus, Walnut, Breeze, Navtech, SnackWise. So if you’re not familiar with these, you might want to check them out. Final statement of the day. Do a proper qualification and save your SE when you really need your sales engineer versus just shoving them into every meeting because they might not show up.

Scott Ingram: For links to check out “We the Sales Engineers” and to connect with Ramzi, just click over to DailySales.Tips/1016. Once you’ve done that. Be sure to come back tomorrow for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!

“When you have enough opportunities to work on, it’s a lot easier to do the right thing, but it requires consistent work to make sure your pipeline is strong.” – Scott Ingram in today’s Tip 1015

Are you selfishly focusing on yourself and your numbers?

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’s tip might sound a bit more like a rant, but we’ve got to talk about this more as an industry. Just in the last week, I can’t tell you how many times I saw sellers try to force deals based on their timeline where the timing for the customer wasn’t right at all, and worse, tried to force-fit their solution just to make a sale in a way where the customer is almost guaranteed to fail to achieve their objectives. In almost all cases this behavior is driven by people who are struggling. They’re behind their numbers and they’re desperate. This selfish selling approach that focuses on the needs of the sellers and their numbers is a dangerous downward spiral. It gives all of us a bad name, it erodes trust, and it’s just bad business all the way around. Sure, sometimes it works, but it creates short-term gains that lead to significant long-term losses.

Having interviewed well over 100 #1 and top 1% level sales professionals over the last 5 years, I know a thing or two about Sales Success, and one of the most common themes I see among top sellers is that they’re wired as servant leaders. They see their role as serving their customers and helping them achieve the outcomes they’re after. When they do that well, the outsized rewards show up in their bank accounts and in their position on the leaderboard, and they tend to be at the top of those leaderboards consistently. Now to be clear, this isn’t just a rep problem, this is often a leadership problem. I often see weak sales managers who are behind on their numbers pushing their teams to do unnatural things.

In most cases, this comes down to culture and true leadership. Does the company and its executive leadership believe more in doing what’s right by their customers, or are they too focused on the numbers? If you heard my interview with AJ Bruno we touched briefly on misaligned quota expectations and how I believe that winners and win and losers lose. So a piece of the culture is providing an environment where sellers have a real opportunity to do well and aren’t saddled with unachievable numbers that are going to drive bad behaviors.

This is also about prospecting. One of the best sales leaders I ever worked for was fond of saying: Pipeline saves lives. When you have enough opportunities to work on, it’s a lot easier to do the right thing, but it requires consistent work to make sure your pipeline is strong. That’s probably the more virtuous cycle here. Again, if we look to the top performers I’ve interviewed they are always working on making sure they have an abundance of opportunities. So here’s the tip. Look at your behavior and your team’s behavior. Are you working to create enough opportunities such that you can always do the right thing, you can focus on serving your customers and helping them get what they want rather than selfishly focusing on yourself and your numbers. Do this well and the numbers take care of themselves. This is what the true sales professionals are doing to build trust and outperform. It’s not a secret, it’s not magic, it’s just working hard to do the right thing. That’s what works and that’s what sales is really about.

“Because you have well-positioned your team and your solution upfront, your organization has a much higher probability of becoming the chosen candidate.” – DJ Sebastian in today’s Tip 1014

How do you help your customers buy?

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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 DJ Sebastian. As a top-producing sales executive for some of the best technology corporations, DJ learned that to become great at selling, you must be a great communicator. Now, as a sales coach and author, DJ’s mission is to help the next-generation B2B sales professionals become elite sellers. Here he is:

DJ Sebastian: Elite sales professionals and their sales teams do everything they can to control all aspects of the sales cycle. But you still need to realize that the customers will buy on their timeline, not yours, because in the typical buying process, the customer is in control. They dictate the steps and they define the rules of engagement. In this customer-driven process, candidates who choose to bid on an opportunity are often forced to comply with a rigorous set of rules that include limiting the level of communication with the customer.

In these cases, customers may have done some research on the available alternatives, and they generally know what they want. The steps they need to receive proposals, evaluate, select, and then negotiate with their chosen candidate. Sometimes, salespeople in an attempt to speed the process, are attempted to throw in a special discount that is effective until a month-end or quarter-end date, but that’s an artificial deadline imposed by the sales team.

If the customer is not ready to buy, the deal will not advance to a purchase. Every customer knows that the “Special discount” is a desperate tactic, and most will ask for the same discount after your fake deadline expires as it fits their real schedule. This type of buying process does not help you as a sales professional. You will be captive to a process you did not choose but must follow in order to compete. If you’re unable to influence the steps and the level of customer engagement, your chance of winning is significantly reduced. All other things being equal. If you are hearing about an opportunity after the process and the requirements have already been established, you’re probably being set up by your competitor. When you blindly follow the customer’s buying process. When you are on the outside looking in, you will lose the majority of those deals.

Now, here’s a better way to help your customers buy. A much better approach is to strive early on to integrate your organization’s selling process with your customers buying process. This is a proactive approach where your sales team initiates the process, works collaboratively with your customer to determine the requirements, identify key issues that can be resolved, and formulates a proposal focused on the business value that can be generated from this initiative.

The major steps in the integrated selling buying process are these.

First, collaborate with the customer on the steps, the vision, and the proof points.

Second, conduct discovery sessions to mutually determine requirements with the customer.

Third, process focused on generating business value.

This process positions you as a partner, not just a vendor, and increases your chance of winning. With this integrated process, you initiate an opportunity where the customer has not already settled on a solution. It does take a little more work, but it can be well worth it. Instead of passively reacting to each customer’s desire, especially when the customer might not even understand what capabilities are available in your marketplace.

You can set the bar, establish yourself and your team as a proactive advisor, and highlight the unique capabilities of your solution. All before your competitors even know about this initiative. Because you have well-positioned your team and your solution upfront, your organization has a much higher probability of becoming the chosen candidate.

Scott Ingram: For a link to connect with DJ on LinkedIn where you can let him know your thoughts, just click over to DailySales.Tips/1014.

Once you’ve done that. Be sure to come back tomorrow for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!

“I found joy outside of success, and I think that’s super important.” –  JoBeth Hanak in today’s Tip 1013

How do you get out of a rut?

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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 JoBeth Hanak. JoBeth has been in sales for almost 6 years, successfully moving from being a #1 personal trainer to a top rep in SaaS sales. She’s been successful in full-cycle closing roles and, recently, started an enterprise BDR role selling dispute management software. Here she is:

JoBeth Hanak: Hey, it’s JoBeth and I’m going to talk about how I got out of my first sales rut. For me, just like, a little bit of background, my first few years I was in sales, I was on fire. I was constantly at the top, and I was very confident in my abilities. And to be honest, that became part of my identity with my friends outside of sales. They knew me as like, “h, she’s super successful in sales and does awesome things.” But eventually, I got to the point to where inevitably I went through the really normal experience of having my first rut, and I feel like, for most people, the natural reaction is to be like, Okay, I’m going to double down. I’m going to start working super hard. I’m going to stay super late. This can’t be happening. I must stop it right now. And just this terrible stressful feeling, and that’s how I responded to this at first. And whenever I was talking to one of my friends about it, about how terrible my life was going, how stressed out I was having a hard time sleeping at night. She pointed out that I was making a lot of blanket statements about myself that had nothing to do with who I was as a person and everything to do just with my current work situation.

And that’s kind of whenever I realized that my life and identity revolved around my job and success, whenever work wasn’t going well, my life was not going well. I think a lot of this came from a deep, deep, deep fear of failure that I’ve constantly, in other situations in this one had to come back and start to figure out how to work through. So what I did this time, this was in early 2019. I started to leave work every day at five and just completely would turn off my work brain. I would go to a cycling class at 05:30 P.m. And hang out with friends. And I started to really build an identity and start to learn more about myself outside of success. I found joy outside of success, and I think that’s super important. I went through a lot of other times since then, where it’s been really rough, namely the pandemic. And honestly, they were rough times, but they weren’t as bad because I had other areas of my life where they were happy. And so whenever work wasn’t going well, I could lean deeper into my hobbies or my friendships or my relationship.

I think that’s where I would start, obviously, you do have to be hitting your activity metrics and whatever. But for me, the first step is always to make sure I’m in a good headspace. Because during this time, I also went back and listened to my calls, and whenever I was doing well, I sounded pretty normal, pretty great. And whenever I listened to demos, whenever I was feeling really bad. Like you could totally hear it in my voice.

So for me, before I start addressing any other sales skills or anything like that, that could be holding me back, I’m going to go back and make sure I’m taking care of myself. I’m getting enough sleep, enough exercise, and enough positive things going in into my life. So I was not just depending on my sales and on my career to bring me fulfillment. So I hope that helps. If you’re going through this, I’m happy to talk to you. I know it can be pretty lonely. So, yeah, feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn. And thanks for having me on here.

Scott Ingram: The other way you can get out of a rut is to connect with JoBeth on LinkedIn! Even if you’re not in a run we’ve got a link for you to connect with JoBeth at DailySales.Tips/1013

Once you’ve done that, be sure to come back tomorrow for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!

“There is a special technique that you can use to get another bite or two bites at the same cherry simply by playing it smart before you hand over the proposal to the customer and you lose control of the sales process.” – Peter Strohkorb in today’s Tip 1012

How do you use proposals to win the deal?

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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 Peter Strohkorb. After 20 years in leadership roles in multinational corporations, Peter couldn’t stand the ineffective ways that businesses use to accelerate their sales. He set himself the task of offering solutions that deliver real results. Since 2011, he’s helped clients to “win more sales, faster” (which is his business motto). Here he is:

Peter Strohkorb: Point 7. How do we use proposals to win the deal? Of course, it’s going to be super important what goes into your proposals and you use a valid proposition and you look at your pricing and your T’s and C’s and everything. But what I’m talking about is how can you use the proposal process itself to engage even more deeply with your buyer and to maybe even get them to help you write your proposal. There is a special technique that you can use to get another bite or two bites at the same cherry simply by playing it smart before you hand over the proposal to the customer and you lose control of the sales process. Think about it.

Scott Ingram: If you’ll click over to DailySales.Tips/1012 we’ll have links for you to connect with Peter and the video version of this tip.

Once you’ve checked that out, be sure to come back tomorrow for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!

“Listen, be silent and you will enlist the infinite capability that you bring to every sales call.” – Meshell Baker in today’s Tip 1011

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 Meshell Baker. Meshell is a certified sales confidence igniter and an authentic selling crusader. She helps business owners and sales leaders tap into the unlimited human potential to create diverse and inclusive culture change and disrupt the sales training status quo. Here she is:

Meshell Baker: Hello. Today’s daily sales quote is around the word LISTEN. LISTEN is one of those fun words that’s actually an anagram. So I’m going to start with the word L-I-S-T-E-N. And LISTEN is actually a gift to the other experiencing being heard. So as a seller, the greatest gift you can give your buyer is to listen to them, to really hear what they’re saying. And the way you do that is by looking engaged, sounding engaged, asking questions. When we are quick to respond and give feedback or tell them what we think they ought to need to have to should people actually don’t feel heard. However, when you ask a question, if I hear you correctly, what I think I hear you saying, or can you tell me more about that, or have you experienced? Create a list of questions, formulate a list of questions before you ever set out to go on that call to ensure when you prepare yourself, remember, when you fail to plan, you plan to fail. So preparation is a form of planning. When you prepare a list of questions and have them ready to ask your potential buyer or client, you were more likely to engage in the act of listening.

The second way we use this word L-I-S-T-E-N is when we anagram, it becomes silent S-I-L-E-N-T. And that’s where you will the questions. Once they respond, you will hear them. Peter Drucker has a quote. “The most important thing in communication is to hear what is not being said.” You will not hear what is not being said when you are not silent. When you are primed and prepped to respond, instead of sitting still in the stillness and allowing yourself to focus completely on them and hearing what they said, instead of preparing yourself for a response, thinking you need to overcome an objection or give them more information or data to secure the sale. Remember, focus on what you propose not to close. This is all about you giving them an opportunity to be heard and align with them. So you’re co-creating a solution based off your product or service. So that silence is a gift to you and them, because then you can speak back to them. What you truly know will benefit them. You can build that whole conversation around their needs and their solution.

And the final way we use that letter, that word SILENT or LISTEN is E-N-L-I-S-T. ENLIST. And this is so fun for me because I knew about the first two ways but the third way was something that in my silence I actually saw that anagram and I love Oprah says, Do what you have to do until you can do what you want to do and enlisting your drive. Enlisting your focus and enlisting your why is what happens when you actually take time to listen and be silent and you are able to remember and recognize so many more opportunities of people you can sell to, people who you can follow up with. How to turn that no into a yes. How to move that sale in a sooner time. You will enlist innumerable resources. Remember, there’s always almost always one problem and numerous and infinite possibility. But when you’re focused on getting instead of going through the process of giving the gifts of listening, being silent, and asking questions, you will not enlist the opportune ways that you can actually close that deal.

So I hope this is helpful. Have a great day selling and remember, listen, be silent and you will enlist the infinite capability that you bring to every sales call. Have a great sales day

Scott Ingram: For links to connect with Meshell and her website just click over to DailySales.Tips/1011.

Once you’ve done that, be sure to come back tomorrow for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!

“Sales is one of those games that demands an infinite mindset.” – Alex Smith in today’s Tip 1010

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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 Alex Smith. Alex is an AE with Docebo. He’s passionate about creating workplaces where people enjoy not only what they learn but how they learn it. He also hosts the Stories of Selling Human podcast where he shows how we all sell by being human, not despite it. Here he is:

Alex Smith: Football is Life. No, wait, that is from Ted’s Lasso. Sales is Life and Life is Sales. That really was the theme for me from this past year’s Sales Success Summit. Hey Sales Success Community, this is Alex Smith wanted to jump on real quick and share some of the takeaways from this conference that we just went to. Before I get into my tips, let me quickly explain what I believe about sales and what I really saw validated from that event.

Do you ever get asked by your spouse to turn the sales off? Like it’s some light switch. I know I do, but what are we really turning off anyways? See, I believe the best sales rep they can’t just turn it on and off. I think the best of us are playing an infinite game when it comes to sales. Just ask yourself, how many times are you practicing the same skills in life that make you great at sales in your day to day. Maybe you’re understanding how your managers like to receive info. Maybe you’re empathizing with what’s going on in your spouse’s day to day. See, listening isn’t a dirty word to some people, but somehow sales is. Kind of weird how that works.

Well, you may be familiar with the concept of finite and infinite games, but let me break it down. So Simon Sinek has a relatively new book. He breaks down the concept, but essentially finite games are those that have known players. Fixed rules. Agreed-upon objectives. Infinite games have known and unknown players. Rules are changeable. We can play however we want, and the objective is to stay in the game as long as we can to perpetuate it for the good of the whole. And I think sales is one of those games that demands an infinite mindset.

Just think about it. You can win a deal, but you don’t win self-awareness. You can win top rep, but you don’t win curiosity. You can win a job interview, but no one wins community. See, that’s what I love about this podcast, this event, all of you, something from one-percenter may hit me differently than it hits you. Totally fine. We can all learn from each other in the post-conference thoughts as much from the presentation in the moment.

So I encourage you to reach out to a presenter that resonated with you or an attendee, have a one-on-one talk. See, as Jack Wilson told us, we all have the curse of knowledge. We think we know something that seems common sense in sales, but common sense isn’t always common. Reach out. Tell people what you’ve learned. Our goal really shouldn’t be to reach the mastery of sales. I don’t really want to find the sales goat. I think goats are for Mountain Rangers and Sportscasters to debate. I care about constantly learning from each other, to perpetuate the sales profession, and to help us all.

Yes, there’s going to be finite games within our infinite game, our numbers, our quarterly goals. But I hope we all approach our sales jobs not with a finite win-now mindset, but with an infinite one instead. A mindset that allows us to constantly stay better in our lives and in our day to day lives. And as Ted Lasso likes to say, a great way to live life, be curious, non-judgmental. So I broke down a list of a few tips here. You can read my full LinkedIn post. It will be linked in the notes, but let’s get to it.

Tip Number one. Discovery isn’t a stage. It’s a lifestyle. Katie Jane Bailey kicked off the conference with this amazing quote. And as Ted Lassa would say, someone call 911 because I want to report a truth bomb. This quote means to me become a person who trains in discovery. Always treat all your human interactions as a chance to learn discovery. You can always seek to understand people deeply, not to use it against them, to move them to a stage because you’re generally curious and you want to know. Ask your Uber driver how they got into driving. Ask your niece about her favorite iPad game. Ask your spouse what do they love about what they get to do every day? Take on this lifestyle curiosity. I guarantee you’ll be better on your next demo.

Tip Two. Spotting tire kickers. Katie Jane also had a great tip. She sets criteria and spots things when things are going great and not. So she likes to ask, what’s the purpose of this trial? What’s the decision criteria? And third, she sets barriers within it. So if the client isn’t matching her level of effort and investment, she can see it. And then she completely say, look, maybe this trial isn’t right at this point just because in my experience, the most successful trials require investment on both sides.

Tip Three. Asking the failed project question. Love this question Sarah Brazier hit us with, and she loves to ask this to her client. Have you ever had a failed software project? You could insert anything into this. You could ask, have you ever had a failed buying process with whatever you sell? Think that question can bring out so many stories, cut through surface-level stuff. People want to mitigate failure. And if that question doesn’t bring out an emotional answer, I don’t know what would.

Next tip. DeJuan Brown’s quote, Your work speaks for itself, but it could be whispering if it doesn’t take into account the person. He was referring to managing up and working with your leaders and to effectively manage up. He challenged us to treat our managers like our best clients. When your manager gives you something to do, instead of saying “Right away boss.” Say, seek to understand how they like to receive info. What problems are we solving? What’s their personality like, what goals are with the ask. Know your managers and their style, and you’ll connect with them better.

Next Tip. Constantine Johns had a few quotes that really impacted me. The first one, “To admit the limitations of one’s perspective is usually the only way to get more out of it.” Second one, “Even if you’re an expert at Demos or Discovery admit your perspective is limiting. You only get to that next level when you acknowledge that.” And this quote really hit me hard. “Don’t focus on the outcome. Commit to being the person who achieves it.” So powerful. I want to be the top rep at my company, but there’s a lot I can’t control about that outcome. If I don’t achieve number one, I have nowhere to go. Instead, I’m going to commit to becoming the person who does that in my daily actions. I’m going to let that be my achievement. Then my goal is more about who I’m becoming than what I’m chasing.

Next tip and this is the final one. This goes to mental health and sales, and my tip is simple. Let’s all commit to ending the stigma of mental health and sales. If you’re on your bike or whatever you’re clapping and hopefully cheering for that. But the statistics say someone you work with is hurting but has no one to talk to. So keep a lookout for sign someone struggling offer to listen to colleagues, speak up in cultures that seem toxic. Be willing to share your story to colleagues so you can promote vulnerability. UNCrushed is in a great organization promoting safe spaces for these conversations to happen, and I’m excited to see what they do with this platform and then the donation that we made to them.

In closing. I feel so great to be part of this community. It’s been a trying year for me personally, and when people ask me how I’m doing, though, I like to share my final favorite Ted Lasso quote to explain it, and I sometimes use his accent, it really describes how I feel from finding this group of professionals and how grateful I am to this community. So when someone asks me, Alex, how has it been, a year into the new job? I tell them, “You know what? I feel like I fell out of the lucky tree, hit every branch on the way down, and I ended up in a pile of cash and sour patch kids.” Thank you, everyone. Have a great day.

Scott Ingram: You can connect with Alex on LinkedIn and also subscribe to his Stories of Selling Human Podcast, and of course we’ve got those links for you a DailySales.Tips/1010

Once you’ve done that, be sure to come back tomorrow for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!