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Everest Summit Challenge

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This is the Sales Success Stories Podcast and I’m your host, Scott Ingram. I really appreciate you listening to this show, but listening is such a passive activity so I want to challenge you to get a little more involved in the Sales Success Community and to do something to improve yourself. So today I’m going to issue that challenge.

I’m releasing this little bonus bonus episode on Wednesday, August 11th, because tomorrow, August 12th is 60 days before the start of this year’s Sales Success Summit. Real quick on that front, we’re on pace to sell out by the end of the month maybe even sooner, so if you were hoping to join us here in Austin you’d better get on that. You can grab your ticket at Top1Summit.com. That’s also where you can register for the free, sponsors-supported live stream. I think we’re even going to make the recordings available on-demand for a limited time this year to those who register, so I guess no matter what you’re gonna want to go Top1Summit.com and take an action, but back to this challenge idea.

I decided to call this event the Summit 4 years ago because of the dual meeting. It’s a meeting of high-level individuals, but it’s also the top, the apex, the highest point, and that’s where many of us are trying to get right?

Well, that’s certainly what we try to inspire with the event, but I wanted to do something in advance of the event this year to build community. To allow you to connect with each other, and with many of those that you’ve heard here on this show, and how doesn’t love a good challenge. One that maybe even has a leaderboard and another opportunity to compete. To be pushed and pulled by others in the community.

So tomorrow, with 60 days to go before the Summit, we’re kicking off the first-ever Sales Success Summit Everest Challenge. Should you choose to join us in this challenge you’ll have 60 days to get outside and gain 29,032 feet of elevation by walking, biking, hiking, or running. We’re going to track it and connect with each other through my favorite fitness app, Strava, and I think we’re going to have a ton of fun doing it.

I’ve actually been experimenting with this idea for a few days, and like anything, there’s always something to be learned. It took me a few days to find the right hill to focus on. The first couple of tries it was taking me about 75 minutes of walking hill in the neighborhood to gain about 500 feet of elevation, before I got really efficient and found a nice short steep hill where I can get the same result in about 45 minutes. The lesson being that we need to keep looking for better ways and opportunities to improve.

Now you might be thinking: Scott, why are you doing a fitness challenge in the Sales Success Community and not an actual sales challenge.

There are actually a number of reasons for that. First, there are a lot of different types of people in different roles that listen to this show, and finding a universally applicable sales challenge is really hard. It would also be tough to track something like that, but more importantly, one of the things I really want to help people get to through listening to this podcast and being a part of this community is the Fundamentals of Sales Success. And I firmly believe that your health, your mindset, and your mental health are core ingredients. Going out for a walk or a run every morning is going to help all of those things. Even better, you can probably listen to the podcast while you’re doing it!

So to get involved we’ve set up a whole system through our new sponsor Skipio. In the US and Canada, all you have to do is text Everest to 512-813-0676. Outside of the US and Canada, things are a bit more manual, but I wanted this to be a global challenge, so all you have to do is send a message to that same number: 512-813-0676 via WhatsApp and I’ll reply with the instructions.

Now there are a few ways to do this and I need to give a shoutout to DeJuan Brown and Andy Racic who are both helping with some of the challenge elements behind the scenes in Strava. Oh, and there will very likely be some awards too, but I wanted to give you some ideas on how to get this done.

Like I said you can do this through any combination of walking, hiking, biking, or running. I believe we will have some pure-play options if you plan to only do it on a bike or only do it on foot. If you live in a relatively hilly place then cycling is probably the easiest way to get this done. In fact, this whole challenge was inspired by the idea of Everesting where psycho cyclists knock this thing out in a day. In fact, the record is under 7 hours, and it’s worth googling, but for the rest of us who aren’t elite athletes, I think spreading this out over 60 days is way more manageable. Like I said I think cycling is probably the easiest way, but you can also do what I did and find a nice steep hill to work with. It doesn’t hurt that I live in a part of Austin called Oak Hill, but if you live someplace super-flat, then a stadium or other big set of steps will probably serve you well.

I’ve also done some math for you to help break this down, and I’ll have all of these details for you in writing at top1.fm/everest2021 you can click over there to find this stuff. But if you were to get out every day for all 60 days you’ll need to average 484 feet a day. 6 days a week will take an average of 564 feet and a 5 day a week effort will require an average daily gain of 677 feet. Now I’m not sure I’d recommend this, but if you want to knock this out weekend warrior style. You’ve got 9 weekends to work with and you’ll need to do 1,613 feet every one of those weekend days to complete the challenge.

Now the beauty is that through Strava we’ll all be able to see each other’s efforts, support each other, cheer for each other and push each other to achieve more. So I really hope you’ll join us in this challenge. Again, to get the instructions just text “Everest” to 512-813-0676, or if you’re outside the US and Canada send a message via WhatsApp to that same number: 512-813-0676 and we’ll get you going.

Thanks for listening. That’s for being a part of this Sales Success Community and I’ll see you at the top!

Episode 125: Disconnecting from Outcomes and Doing the Work with Workstream’s Chris Horton

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Chris Horton is the top Key Account Executive at Workstream, a text recruiting and hiring tool for local businesses, especially restaurants. Chris is also the first rep in Workstream’s history to close more than one million dollars, and he did it in just six months! His keys to success include turning ideas into action, bringing a vision of a bright future, and doing big things to change the world. Chris is a passionate sales professional who truly looks to provide meaningful and lasting value to his customers.

In this episode, Chris expounds on his extensive background in the restaurant industry and how his journey has led him to Workstream. He shares his favorite sales story, one that taught him a valuable lesson of what not to do as a sales professional. Chris lists the three main things he attributes his success to, which include getting rid of the ‘commission breath,’ avoiding the trap of becoming obsessed with the leaderboard, and understanding your product and your industry better than anyone else. Chris also shares his proudest accomplishment, how he structures his work week, and his philosophy on investing.

Chris takes the audience through a typical day in the life, from daily habits that have become critical to his success, to how he approaches his role. Finally, Chris provides some sage advice and poses an actionable challenge to the audience. He urges them to identify one or top performers within your organization, schedule thirty minutes to talk with them, pick their brains and learn as much as you possibly can!

What We Covered:

00:01 – Scott thanks the sponsors of today’s episode: Outreach, Vidyard, and Skipio
00:39 – Scott welcomes today’s guest, Chris Horton
01:08 – The top three attributes that Chris attributes to his success
01:17 – Number 1: Getting rid of the ‘commission breath’
01:50 – Number 2: Avoiding the trap of becoming obsessed with the leaderboard
02:28 – Number 3: Understanding your product and your industry better than anyone else
03:08 – The importance of disconnecting with outcomes
05:06 – The Three C’s of Sales Failure and what metrics Chris tracks
07:51 – Scott takes a moment to thank one of today’s sponsors, Outreach
08:29 – How Chris is working to develop his industry expertise
10:07 – Chris expounds on his role at Workstream
11:34 – Chris’ sales origin story
15:50 – Chris’s average deal size
18:04 – How Chris built an insane referral network
20:04 – Scott takes a moment to thank another one of today’s sponsors, Vidyard
22:40 – Scott reflects back on Episode 9 of the Sales Success Stories podcast
24:42 – Chris discusses what it’s like working with vendors
26:51 – Scott gives a quick shout out to his show notes writer, Kevin
27:48 – What Chris would do differently in his career if given the chance
30:15 – The experience Chris believes is necessary before an SDR becomes an AE
35:54 – Chris’ favorite sales story
39:28 – Chris’ proudest accomplishment
43:02 – How Chris measures satisfaction, happiness, and success
45:29 – Scott teases some of the guest speakers at the 2021 Sales Success Summit
55:46 – Scott takes a moment to thank the final sponsor of today’s sponsors, Skipio
57:56 – Chris takes the audience through a typical day in the life
1:01:35 – How Chris structures his workday
1:05:46 – The books, news, podcasts, and trade information that Patrick consumes
1:07:45 – Tools and apps that Chris utilizes throughout his daily routine
1:12:05 – Chris’ sales style and philosophy
1:15:07 – What motivates and drives Chris
1:17:00 – Chris’ high-level approach to investing and his thoughts on Tesla
1:23:01 – Chris’ approach to cryptocurrency
1:26:42 – One of Chris’ beliefs that the average sales professional would think is crazy
1:27:48 – An average sales professional’s belief that Chris thinks is crazy
1:29:24 – Advice Chris would give to an upstart sales professional
1:30:24 – Advice Chris would give to a middle-of-the-pack struggling sales professional
1:31:22 – Chris’ actionable challenge to the audience

Tweetables:

“SDR work is hard and not necessarily the most fun thing, but I tried to learn as much as I could from people around me. I tried to be aggressive in that learning piece of it and showing the hard work.” (13:03)

“I think, in the last two years of my sales experience, I would say focus has been this overall theme. Focus on a region, focus on an industry, focus on your company and how to better it, focus on your product, and how to become an expert in it. So, try not to lose that focus that you should have that will actually lead to sales.” (29:48)

“In my opinion, it [sales] is all about trust. It’s all about transparency. It’s all about loving your product and your customer.” (39:15)

“I always found it really interesting that people say, ‘Master your calendar.’ And I didn’t really understand, in the beginning, what that meant and how you could master a calendar. But I feel like, after a lot of trial and error, I have figured out how best to manage a calendar and really use it to my advantage.” (1:10:01)

Links Mentioned:

[email protected]
2021 Sales Success Summit
Chris Horton on LinkedIn
Workstream Website
Chris Voss’ Masterclass

Sponsors Mentioned:

Outreach
Vidyard
Skipio

Tools Mentioned:

Slack
Zoom
Scratch Pad App
Google Calendar
Salesforce
Outreach
Lusha
Zoom Info 
Gong
Text Scott’s Skipio/What’s App at (512) 813-0676

Books Mentioned:

The Power of Now
Fanatical Prospecting

Visibility, Control & Closing Deals with Proposify’s Conor Cox

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In today’s bonus episode, Scott sits down with Chief Revenue Officer at Proposify, Conor Cox. Conor joins the show for a deep dive into the impact that proposal software can have on the closing side of the business. Scott and Conor discuss best practices to help you win a higher percentage of your deals and what Proposify is doing to differentiate themselves in the marketplace. Conor talks in detail about the importance of having visibility and control over your proposals and speaks to how he structures his team at Proposify to put them in a position to be successful. Finally, Scott and Conor talk about the impact Proposify is having on management and how that is impacting their customers.

What We Covered:

00:25 – Scott welcomes today’s guest, Conor Cox
00:50 – Conor’s top proposal tip
02:25 – Conor provides his background and expounds on his current role at Proposify
04:08 – How Conor structures his team and puts them in a position to be successful
11:55 – Insights Conor has observed from Proposify’s most successful customers
15:18 – Conor explains the Pod Model they utilize at Proposify
17:34 – How Proposify is differentiating themselves in the industry
19:35 – Conor expounds on the management impact the Proposify has
21:58 – Final thoughts from Conor

Tweetables:

“My best proposal tip is 100% to include video in your proposal and in the closing part of your sales process. For us, we’re seeing a 41% increase in close rates across the board when we started to use video inside of our proposals. It’s been a game-changer.” (00:55)

“The data that you also get out of a proposal that is an online format like ours gives you the info and the data you need to make really meaningful changes to your business, to your product offering, to your business model. So, whenever you can, more data is usually helpful.” (07:28)

“Moving into a cloud tool like ours and rolling out some controls and bringing all of your content into a central place that’s pushed out to reps transforms businesses.” (09:08)

“I would say the other things that we’ve seen is shorter documents seem to be winning more. So, if you’ve got a thirty or forty-page proposal that you’re sending out, really think about cutting that down and getting to the core sections that you need to show someone in order to move things forward.” (12:58)

“The first benefit is that pairing your Account Executive with the CSM is gonna instantly make hand-offs better and more seamless. And, for us, because we have both sets of those pairings, we’re learning so much more way quicker.” (16:11)

“The visibility and the control that using a tool like Proposify gives to management is honestly one of the biggest value props we have.” (21:17)

Links Mentioned:

[email protected]
Sales Success Stories Podcast
2021 Sales Success Summit
Conor Cox on LinkedIn
Proposify

Tools Mentioned:

Gong

Episode 124: The Greatest SDR Story of All-Time – Patrick Joyce

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Patrick Joyce is a true one-percenter and he’s also the first sales hire Scott has officially made in his journey towards building his very own world-class sales organization. Patrick has been a lifelong seller with a diverse background including graduate-level mathematics, secondary education, insurance, and SaaS. He’s consulted over 100 startups and has a reputation for his unique ability to craft relevant, multichannel messaging that delivers results. Patrick has Continue Reading …

Get UNCrushed: Mental Health and Sobriety in Sales with Tim Clarke

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This episode is brought to you by the 2021 Sales Success Summit. To learn more about your opportunity to join us in-person in Austin this October or to sign up for the free sponsor-supported live-stream, click over to Top1Summit.com

In this week’s bonus episode, I’ve got the audio from the most recent All Things Sales Success webinar series sessions with Tim Clarke of UNCrushed for you. Stay tuned at the end to learn more about the connection between UNCrushed and this year’s Sales Success Summit. Here’s my conversation with Tim:

State Of Mental Health In Sales Report 2021

I mentioned in the intro that there was a connection between the Sales Success Summit and UNCrushed. After this conversation, I talked more with Tim and we’ve decided to make UNCrushed our non-profit partner & beneficiary at this year’s Sales Success Summit. A portion of all ticket sales will go to support this amazing organization. Not only will Tim be joining us, but at least one of this year’s presentations will delve into this important topic. Ian Koniak, the star of episode 104 last year, will be giving a talk titled: Your Are Not Your Number: Finding Joy and Fulfillment Outside of Sales Performance. You can learn more about the Summit at Top1Summit.com I’ve also updated the resources at top1.fm/mentalhealth and top1.fm/sober where I’ve included links to the interviews I’ve done with top performers on this show who’ve overcome addiction and found sobriety as part of their sales success journeys. They’re all super inspirational.

Finally, if you need help. Please reach out. Reach out to me, reach out to Tim, call one of the numbers listed at top1.fm/mentalhealth. You matter and if you need help, please ask for it.

Thanks for listening and make sure you’re subscribed because next week’s episode is an epic. I can’t wait to share it with you. Until then. Take care of yourself and happy selling!

The ABP’s of Gifting in Sales – Nina Butler

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This episode is brought to you thanks to the generous support of Alyce, Terryberry, and Vidyard. To learn more about them and all of our amazing sponsors, just click over to top1.fm/sponsors.

In today’s bonus episode, I wanted to share with you Nina Butler’s virtual presentation at last year’s Sales Success Summit where she talked about The ABP’s of Gifting in Sales.

Alyce has been an incredible sponsor of ours all year long, and rather than telling you about Alyce this time. I’d really like for you to experience what it’s like to get a gift from Alyce. If you’re in the US or Canada, all you have to do is write a short review of this podcast either on Apple Podcasts or if you’re not using an Apple Device then on Podchaser. Take a screenshot of that review and email it to me at [email protected] and we’ll set you up with the gift of your choice worth up to $50 from Alyce.

I’ll remind you again, but in the meantime, here’s Nina to talk about gifting in sales:

 

I probably should have mentioned in the beginning that you can watch the video version of this presentation for free as well, you’ll find that link and the slides at top1.fm/2020slides

And again, I really want you to experience Alyce. So as long as you’re in the US or Canada, right now I want you to write a quick review of this podcast on Apple Podcasts or over on Podchaser. Screenshot your review. Email it to me at [email protected] and I’ll work with Nina to set you up with your very own gift experience thanks to Alyce.

Thanks so much for listening all the way through today and make sure you’re subscribed to the podcast and come on back next week for another killer interview with a top-performing sales professional. I’ll talk to you then!