Mike hosts Jeb Blount on Episode 5 of the Sales Management. Simplified. Podcast to discuss the positives and the perils of leading a sales team through the first pandemic of our lifetime. Jeb is known as “the hardest working man in sales.” He’s a world-renowned speaker, CEO of Sales Gravy, a founder of the OutBound Sales Conference, and the prolific sales author of nine powerful books including the long-time bestseller, Fanatical Prospecting, and his latest blockbuster, Virtual Selling. Jeb shares why the “State of the Sales Profession” is strong and that there is tremendous long-term benefit for sellers and sales leaders who’ve gone through the crucible of selling and managing during the Covid-19 pandemic. Mike and Jeb also discuss what the very best salespeople are doing today and the emotional toll that being locked down has had on many (particularly younger) salespeople.

Jeb Blount on the Positives & Perils Leading Sales Teams Through a Pandemic

Execs, sales leaders, and aspiring sales managers: Ready to create a healthy, high-performance sales culture and drive significant long-term sales growth? Had it with the noise and nonsense that passes for sales advice today and the nonstop pitches promising you a new hack, trick, or tool to solve all that ails your sales? Join practitioner, speaker, coach, and globally trusted sales expert Mike Weinberg, author of the bestselling and most reviewed sales management book, for straight talk, blunt truth, and powerful, practical techniques that will maximize sales management effectiveness and help your team WIN MORE NEW SALES!

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As Mike shares starting off this power-packed episode, every once in a while, a client challenges him to create something new. In this case, a passionate enablement leader requested something quite specific: How can sales managers take what they are learning from conducting excellent 1:1 accountability meetings to coach their people more effectively?  In Episode 74 Mike overlays his three favorite sales verbs (Create. Advance. Close.) on top of the Sales Management Accountability Progression (Results. Pipeline. Activity). The result is a powerful, prescriptive guide to help managers ask exactly the rights questions and provide more effective coaching to salespeople based on specific gaps/shortfalls uncovered during accountability meetings, depending on whether the salesperson…  Lacks sufficient total pipeline coverage (not enough deals or dollars in the funnel), typically because they are not CREATING enough NEW OPPORTUNITIES Is not ADVANCING existing OPPORTUNITIES Is NOT CLOSING    Resources Mentioned In This Episode: The Sales Management Foundations Virtual Workshop Series (get more info and register now for the June 24 launch) Episode 39: Underperformers Should Leave the 1:1 Manager-Salesperson Accountability Meeting with an Uncomfortable Feeling Supercharge Your Sales Leadership – October and November event info and register

The Takeaways from 1:1 Accountability Meetings Guide Us to Coach Our Salespeople Specifically Where They Need the Help

This thesis of Episode 73 is that the world works much better (particularly in sales) when everyone focuses on, and worries about, their primary job!  This episode was prompted by stimulating conversations in two recent sales leadership sessions.  First, at the VIP Q&A; during Day 2 of the recent Supercharge Your Sales Leadership event, an operation-minded CEO asked Mike to elaborate on a bold (and controversial?) statement made in response to a manager asking how to keep salespeople selling when they’re worried about outselling capacity and overloading the operations/production/delivery people.  The second conversation (while kicking off a six-month manager cohort) revolved around what Mike refers to as “Smart Sales Talent Management,” and the importance of getting the right people in the right roles. The managers were describing the differences between sellers with hunter DNA compared to those wired more like zookeepers who love to nurture relationships, put out customer service fires, and jump in to help out with delivery and operations. In both cases, Mike quoted the strong, direct words that his sales management mentor regularly used to remind salespeople to focus on Job #1 – driving revenue!  RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODE: Episode 72 – Who’s on Your Team? Episode 57 – The #1 Reason Your Sales Team Is Not Bringing in More New Business Sales Management Foundations Virtual Workshop Series –  Download the PDF info document  Read more or register HERE  Supercharge Your Sales Leadership October Session at The Porsche Experience Center in Atlanta. More info at mikeweinberg.com/events.   Join Mike on October 8 for the full-day intensive or October 8 & 9 for the VIP experience!  ______________________________________ This episode is sponsored by Pursuit Sales Solutions. If you are looking for help adding A-player talent to your team, contact Mike’s friends at pursuitsalessolutions.com/weinberg

What Mike’s Mentor Told Salespeople Who Worry about Outselling Capacity and Who Play “Good Corporate Citizen” Instead of Selling

Episode 72 is different. Instead of talking about leading your sales team, Mike challenges listeners with this important personal question: Who is on YOUR team? This episode was inspired by several factors, including a personal breakthrough Mike is experiencing in his own life, combined with a well-timed Netflix docuseries episode that perfectly depicts the transformative change you can experience from making the right additions to your personal team. Who is rooting for you? Who is challenging you? Who are you going to for outside perspective or expert advice? Who is helping ensure that you win…at work, at home, at health, at life? Who is cheering you on? Or confronting you when you play the victim? Who is whispering encouragement in your ear? Or speaking hard, constructive truth (hopefully in love), when you need to hear it? Take a listen and be challenged to consider who might add to your personal team to help you experience a breakthrough. Resources Mentioned: Podcast Episode:  Practical Wisdom from a Highly Rated Financial Advisor, Golf Instructor, and Sales Coach to Help You Win Big in 2024! ___________________________________________ This episode is sponsored by Pursuit Sales Solutions. If you looking for help adding A-player talent to your team, contact Mike’s friends at pursuitsalessolutions.com/weinberg

WHO’S ON YOUR TEAM? [your “personal” team, not your sales team]

Episode 71 was inspired by a message Mike received from an executive whose sales team was not securing enough meetings with prospective customers. The executive shared two specific frustrations:  The sales team’s lack of effectiveness at getting prospects to agree to an initial meeting The number of prospects cancelling at the last minute or “no-showing” for a meeting they had previously agreed to attend  In this episode, Mike shares his initial response to this request for help and offers up a list of potential causes for ineffective prospecting – ranging from impersonal, automated approaches, to the model being deployed, the focus of the messaging, the DNA of the salespeople, sellers not properly pushing past resistance or overcoming objections, the weightiness/reality of virtual vs. in-person meetings, and more. Take a listen to see if any of these obstacles are preventing you or your sales team from securing meetings with targeted prospective customers. RESOURCES MENTIONED: YOUR SALES STORY online course  Supercharge Your Sales Leadership full-day intensive  ____________________________________________ This episode is sponsored by Pursuit Sales Solutions. If you are looking for help adding A-player talent to your team, contact Mike’s friends at pursuitsalessolutions.com/weinberg

A Prospecting Post-Mortem – Why You/Your Team Are Not Securing Enough Meetings

Mike recently led a workshop for a group of talented, hungry, driven, young sales managers who were falling into an all-too-common trap – “doing” instead of coaching, developing, and holding sales reps accountable. During the session Mike challenged this group of managers with a question he had never thought to ask before: When making joint sales calls with your people, is your primary purpose to… A) Proactively develop your salesperson, or B) Advance and close the sale The healthy discussion that ensued inspired this episode. Listen in as Mike shares more of the story, promotes the importance of proactive, developmental, nonurgent coaching, and offers thoughts on best practices when managers ride shotgun with reps on sales calls. RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: The First-Time Manager: Sales book Supercharge Your Sales Leadership event, October 8-9, The Porsche Experience Center, Atlanta   __________________________________ This episode is sponsored by Pursuit Sales Solutions. If you looking for help adding A-player talent to your team, contact Mike’s friends at pursuitsalessolutions.com/weinberg

Jeb Blount on the Positives & Perils Leading Sales Teams Through a Pandemic

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