Episode 103 - Why Your Sales Opportunities Are Falling Apart

Throughout my sales career, there have been many moments where I was certain that my prospects were going to sign on the dotted line to close the deal.  And then, the deal fell through.

I began to analyze each instance and realized that there had been signs that these deals were going awry all along – which I missed. Over time, I learned how to recognize these clues, and became adept at circumventing the sale from going down the drain.

Selling is like walking through a minefield. Take one wrong step, and your deal can blow up in your face. Great salespeople know how to navigate this minefield and successfully move sales opportunities to closure. 

While there are many reasons why a sales opportunity can fall apart, I’m going to talk through some common traps that can explain many lost deals.

Stepping into any of these traps can significantly reduce your odds of moving a deal forward and closing the sale.

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Episode 102 - The Importance of Being a Partner Instead of a Vendor

When you think about your role in sales, are you a vendor selling a product to your clients and prospects? Or are you a partner, a trusted advisor who consults, offers expertise, and helps your clients and prospects achieve their goals through strategic alignment?

It's easy to be hyper-focused on your funnel and net profit as a business leader. It's an inescapable reality and what ultimately drives entrepreneurs and corporations alike. But, in a world that's ruled by customer experience, simply jamming leads through your sales engine isn't enough. In fact, it's far from it.

Business leaders have to think beyond dollar-to-dollar transactions and truly get to know their customers from the inside out. For those who want to survive and thrive in the modern B2B economy, it's crucial to graduate from being a mere vendor to being an indispensable, value-driving partner. 

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Episode #101 The Importance of Pre-Call Planning

Effective pre-call planning helps salespeople convert more prospects, yet many salespeople either don’t do pre-call planning, or they don’t do it well. And if you’re a manager, you can win more deals by coaching them in these key pre-call planning skills.

Successfully conducting a call can be a tricky process to navigate. On one hand, you can't script your call. You don't want to come off as too nervous to deviate from some rigidly defined course you've set for the conversation. On the other, you can't just wing it. A sales call isn't an appropriate forum for trying to practice your improv skills.

No, neither of those options will help your case. That's why you have to strike a delicate middle ground between the two, and that comes from comprehensive, calculated preparation.

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Episode 100 - Sales Inspiration and Motivation (feat. Stacy Mayer)

I have a very special episode for you today as I celebrate my 100th episode of A Life You Love podcast. Amazing! And I couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate than with my good friend, executive coach, and promotion strategist, Stacy Mayer. 

I started this podcast during the pandemic to escape all the negative news about covid and focus on something I was passionate about – sales! My amazing executive coach Stacy Mayer encouraged me to showcase my thought leadership on a podcast. Stacy told me to find something I was passionate about and start a podcast. After thinking long and hard, I told Stacy that I don’t have anything I’m passionate enough about to start a podcast. The only thing I get truly excited and passionate about is sales and my work at WorldStrides. 

And to think, here I am 100 episodes later, still having a blast sharing sales tips and tricks on a Life You Love podcast. Especially when 90% of podcasts don’t make it past episode 3 and of the 10% who make it past 3 episodes, 90% of them don’t make it past 20 episodes. Unbelievable!!! 

Thank you to all my listeners who have supported me on this journey. I couldn’t do it without any of you!

Stacy inspired me to start this podcast and she continues to inspire me to this day and coaches me always to be reaching for more. You don’t want to miss one moment of this fun and inspiring podcast that will leave you reaching for more in your sales careers!

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Episode #99 - Assessing the Readiness to .....

In my last few podcast episodes, I’ve talked about how to build success through prospecting, having sales courage to succeed, how to work through a sales slump, and nurturing a prospect for the win. 

And now in today’s episode, I’m going to discuss assessing the readiness to…. move forward, schedule a meeting, and even assessing the readiness to buy! 

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Episode 98 - Just Ask

In today’s episode, I’m going to focus on asking: asking for the business, asking for the appointment, asking to meet over a virtual coffee – just plain asking! 

Are you the type of person that sits back and just hopes things work out and you get what you want? Do you cross your fingers and hope your prospect or client buys from you? Do you call or email a prospect or client and hope you hear back? Come on now, hope is not a strategy. Just like, episode number 93 on building success through prospecting, you need to have a plan and you need to put the effort in. No different than your overall sales strategy. And at the end of the day, you need to ask - ask for the business, ask for the next step. Just ASK.

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Episode 97 - Women Paving the Way in Technical Sales (feat Shari Begun)

I am excited to have Shari Begun as a special guest on this week’s A Life You Love Podcast. 

Shari is the Vice President of IOT and Consumer Sales at Renesas Electronics. She is recognized as an ROI-driven Sales Executive with global experience across multiple countries, leading sales strategies focused on large multinational Tier 1 customers and penetrating new and emerging markets. Shari brings a deep understanding of multi-level, complex sales cycle management processes and builds world-class sales organizations.

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Episode #96 - Nurturing a Prospect for the Win

Lead generation has more and more moved away from a transactional activity or generating single events for sales reps, to initiating and maintaining a relationship that leads the buyer to the best choice (ultimately your product or service).

Implementing an effective lead nurturing strategy can have a huge impact on your prospecting activities. The process of nurturing your leads involves purposefully engaging your prospects by offering them relevant information, supporting them in any way they need, and maintaining a sense of delight throughout every stage of the buyer’s journey. 

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Episode #95 - How To Work Through a Sales Slump

So you’re in a slump. It happens to all of us and it’ll happen numerous times throughout your career. One minute we’re hitting home runs out of the park, and the next minute, we’re swinging and missing - every time. A sales slump is especially unfortunate because making sales is how you make your living. If you’re not making any sales, you’re not making any money. Frustration, disappointment, nervousness, and confusion are all symptoms of a sales slump. When you’re “in the slump” you may feel like the cosmos have aligned just to deny you deal after deal. However, a slump isn’t the result of supernatural forces. You can shake it off and get back to your A-game!

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Episode 94 - Having Sales Courage to Succeed

Thinking through the skillset you need to prospect, close, listen, handle objections, storytelling, and improvising – I would say that the number one trait sales professionals need is COURAGE!

You need courage to pick up the phone and make that phone call when prospecting. Courage to put yourself out there and possibly get rejected, over and over again. Courage to keep going even after you stumble, stutter, and maybe say the wrong things. Courage to be able to improvise when the unexpected happens, you're flustered, sweating and your face becomes red – all things that have happened to me too!

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