Rethink The Way You Sell

On today’s show, I’m taking you back in time to share my sales origin story, and the moment I decided that I was going to do it the way I felt it needed to be done, or maybe I just wasn’t cut out for sales. That was 15 years or so ago, so I’ll leave the verdict up to you. 😉 I won’t share the whole story here (I want you to listen!), but here are some of the highlights:    -   I never would’ve con...

Today I want to define three key terms that are going to come into play this season: confidence, belief, and Resistance. Confidence and belief are often used interchangeably. The word belief is even used in some definitions of confidence. While I don’t want to argue semantics, I believe (pun fully intended) that there is a major difference. Confidence is the feeling that you can trust or rely on s...

We use the pendulum as a metaphor for extremes. We see it in social trends and politics all the time. It’s important to note that there is at least a thread of truth in the extremes, that’s why they get taken so far. When they get carried away, that’s when the momentum naturally causes a regression to the mean, which is usually a lot closer to the truth. When you look at sales leadership and the t...

“You'll never sell better than when you Sell Like You” That rolls off the tongue really nicely, and people's eyes light up when I say that. They all seem to get it conceptually, but we have to peel back the layers of the onion here. What is the value of selling like you? What is the outcome, what happens to you? What happens to your results when you Sell Like You? One of the things that comes to m...

I love every new season of this podcast more than the one before, and the ones before have been pretty darn good. For Season 4, I’m thrilled to be talking about how to Sell Like You. This concept came about in 2021 when I was speaking at the OutBound conference. It hit me like a ton of bricks during a conversation I was having with two rockstar sellers in front of my exhibit booth. Right away, I r...

That’s a wrap on Season 3! I’ve put together a quarter’s worth of prospecting episodes all in one place, which coincidentally is how long you should stay engaged with a prospect before you move on to another one. This season discussed the frameworks I use with my clients to help them become more effective opportunity creators, and I hope it’s been helpful for you. Good prospecting is about more th...

“Alright, Jeff, 25 episodes of prospecting theory. Would you please just tell me what to say?” “Ok.” 😀 I couldn’t go an entire season and not at least give you my framework for outbound messaging. On today’s episode, I’m going to give you an outline that includes:  your opener a credibility statement that justifies the call a questions designed to create tension and provoke thought your request o...

Content is not just for marketers anymore. On today’s episode, I’m going to show you how I’ve used content in the past as well as how I’m using it today. I think it’s going to reaffirm your belief and give you a couple of different spins on what you’re already doing. No, I’m not talking about dropping of your shiny brochures with gatekeepers, or other unintentional leave-behinds. I’m talking about...

Do the hard work first  I’ve laid out a pretty solid strategy for you thus far. You might be thinking, “Great, Jeff, but how do I act on this? How do I ask so many questions, so often, through so many channels, of so many people?” Well, I’m glad you asked… The work before the work One of my favorite Jeffrey Gitomer one-liners is, “Most salespeople aren’t willing to do the hard work necessary to ma...

Make the commitment  Most salespeople give up before they give themselves a chance at gaining any momentum. Prospecting isn’t a one-time event. You have to give up on the idea that success looks like saying the right thing to the right person at the right time. Think of it like a campaign. It’s a process you commit to. You build on each call, and you win the meeting as the result of your cumulativ...

The inimitable Mark Hunter is my guest today on the show to discuss why sales reps spend so much time talking about themselves and their products instead of their prospects and their problems. Here are a few of the things we get into: Companies set the wrong tone right away with product-oriented training. How do you even know what to sell if you don’t understand your prospect’s needs? What is the...

Focus on the problem, not the product Your prospects don’t care about your product  There’s a reason salespeople rank near the bottom of all the respected professions lists. They’re often seen as a nuisance, or at least as —a waste of time. Why do they always seem to be getting in the way? Because they always talk about themselves. Think about the way you were likely taught to sell:  You have a pr...

Create tension from the start Tension is my term for the group of emotions that has to be present in every sales process. It’s pretty simple. No tension means no emotion, which means no sale.  Tension is normally created when a prospect realizes they have an issue you might be able to help them resolve. It takes a good conversation or two and great discovery to increase that tension enough to get...

If you cannot differentiate, you cannot sell In your prospect’s eyes, your marketplace is a sea of sameness. You’re not the only that provides a solution to the problem they’re stuck on. There are very few companies that have truly groundbreaking technology, and a lot of your competitors’ products look pretty similar to yours. Avoid the race to the bottom In the absence of real tangible differenti...

Today, I’ve got the incomparable Samantha McKenna on the show with me to talk about personalization with your outreach. Sam calls it Show Me You Know Me. So many sales reps get this wrong (despite their best intentions) Here’s what we dive into: What does it mean to #SMYKM? How long should you spend researching your prospects? Why quality of messages is much more valuable than quantity What fells...

I know something you don’t know, and you’d probably be better off if you knew it too. Today, I’ve got Anthony Iannarino on the show to talk about the concept of being 1-Up in sales, and why it’s your obligation to be in that position. Here’s what we covered: What does it mean to be 1-Up? How do you prospect from a 1-Up position? How important is a confident tone when you prospect? How do you commu...

Think about it. Nobody ever reads your email, returns your call, or accepts your connection request unless they think there is value that you can provide them. Your job when you’re prospecting, especially early on in the campaign, is not to make a sales or even book a meeting. Your job is to build credibility with your buyer. How do you build that credibility? Present them with insights that will...

First things first, these are the table stakes for professional prospecting. They often get taken for granted, but I’ve been doing this long enough to know that you need to be reminded of them. You can’t afford to miss any of these if you expect your best results.  Define (and limit) your target list There are only so many prospects that you can reasonably approach and follow through with. You may...

On today’s episode, I welcome the one and only King of Sales, Jeffrey Gitomer. His is the voice I consistently hear in my head when I think about salespeople and their belief systems, and I’m thrilled to bring that voice to you today. In this conversation, we talked about: How to deepen your belief in your product by using the belief of others Who’s responsible for instilling belief? You or your s...

“Sales management is the fine art of balancing encouraging the heart and kicking the ass.” -Donnie Williams Today, my guest is Mike Weinberg, whom I’m calling The Godfather of Sales Accountability. I’m thrilled to talk to Mike today about leaders holding their teams accountable to prospecting and proactive opportunity creation. In this episode, we discuss: The differences between accountability an...

Right now there’s a sales manager assuming that their comp plan is doing their job for them. They’re failing. I know you want to be easy to work for. I know you don’t want to be a micromanager, but that isn’t a permission slip for being uninvolved.  Holding your reps accountable means you care. It means you want the best for them. It means you want to make sure they have what they need to succeed....

Jason Bay is my guest on the show today, and we’re talking about how sales training is broken. Sales leaders are not providing direction or doing enough to simplify the processes. In short, they’re not creating a conducive selling environment. But they’re still leaning on their teams to create massive results. It’s not just unfair to reps, it’s unfair to the companies these leaders are working for...