A Life You Love: Sales Tips with Jennifer Fisher

As we are halfway through February, most of us have already had our kickoff’s, we’ve got quotas and budget numbers that we need to hit, and we need to be heads down prospecting!  And we all know how no one likes to prospect. Sales reps continue to dream of a world where new business just happens to find it’s way to each of us. Our phones are ringing off the hook with inbound new business – what a beautiful world. 

But then it’s time to wake up from that dream and get to work. It’s time to pick up the phone and make outbound prospecting calls. 

Outbound prospecting calls is a fast, cost-effective, and powerful part of the B2B sales process. A prospecting strategy is essential for B2B. 

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Episode #92 Meet Alfred - Sales Automation for the Win

Martin Martinez, founder and CEO of Meet Alfred. An Australian serial entrepreneur with multiple successful exits, Martin Martinez created Meet Alfred to scratch his own itch of trying to automate daily tasks on Linkedin.
 
 Since launching Meet Alfred in November 2017 (formally known as Leonard), Martin assembled an incredible team of software engineers and support personnel that’s led them to become one of the largest automation products in the market.
 
 MeetAlfred is a LinkedIn automation tool that offers campaign management, analytics, CRM, team management, and social media scheduling services.

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For stellar sales reps, their approach to work goes much further than hitting their number each month. If you’re ready to knock your sales career out of the park, it’s time to put yourself in the mindset of an entrepreneur, managing your sales market the same way you would manage a business.

First, let’s talk about what it means to think like an entrepreneur as a sales rep. Whether you manage a specific territory, customer account, or service, there is likely a segment of your company’s business that you are responsible for when it comes to generating revenue. That’s a big responsibility, especially in a competitive landscape, but I know you’re up for the challenge.

As the business owner of your territory, your attention should be on more than just your monthly quota. You should have a solid understanding of your target market, how current and world events may be impacting your industry and customer.

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Episode #90

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

Andie Jewett has been in the marketing/advertising industry for over 12 years. Now at AMP Agency, she oversees business development. Andie is passionate about using storytelling in the sales process, and she has exceeded growth targets YOY, contributing to AMP’s growth over the past years. You do not want to miss this episode.

You can connect with Andie on LinkedIn

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Episode #89 - Bouncing Back from Sales Burnout

Often there comes a point in sales when you feel emotionally drained and stuck at a single place with no hopes to move ahead. 

You feel engulfed with negativity. Even simple sales tasks feel like a dramatic undertaking.  

You aren’t able to focus.

You don’t have enough energy to be consistently productive. 

Suddenly the sales quota that you were able to achieve earlier now seems like an albatross around the neck.

Well, these are all the classic signs of “Sales Burnout”. 

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Episode 88: Mastering the Sales Mindset

Many people think that being successful in sales means being extroverted, pushy and loud. Or that you need to innately be a great public speaker and presenter. But the truth is that traits like these will only get you so far. You might make a few sales or land a coveted job – but from there, you’ll need to develop the mindset of a successful salesperson. It’s only the power of mindset that will propel you toward sustainable growth in sales. Keep in mind that the salesperson mentality isn’t just for traditional, cold-calling, hard-selling salespeople. If you’re an entrepreneur, freelancer, investor or one of many other professions that relies on networking, learning how to adopt the sales mindset is essential to building your career and growing your revenue streams.

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Today’s opportunities are won through a series of steps. In most cases, the deal journey path will twist and turn, potentially reversing course at times. When sales reps follow a linear sales process blindly through the journey, they can end up lost.

A pivot mindset keeps sales reps on track, equipping them to move deals forward with the best next action. Sales pivoting is key to maintaining alignment with the buyer and across the multiple influencers in the buying organization.

Sales Reps need a new toolset, skillset, and mindset to execute modern opportunity management. This all starts with an adaptive methodology based on pivots.

The best answer to when you should pivot your sale strategy is when it becomes necessary. As to how to do it, pivoting requires careful planning and deliberate execution.

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Sales Trends in 2023

As I dive into this week’s anniversary episode, I’m going to discuss a few sales trends that will be front and center in 2023.

We’re not the same people we were a year ago. Back then, we thought that the pandemic was the biggest challenge we had to face. Today, we’re staggering over the abyss of the upcoming economic recession.

Right now, we’re going through what might be the last days of calm before the storm. Yet, nonetheless, we haven’t been staying still for the whole year.

In 2022, we saw an unprecedented number of emerging trends making their way into sales: the rise of AI, the increasing importance of creative sales, the automation of various sales processes, and more.

If you missed your opportunity to be the first mover and shaker in 2022, here comes another chance to revamp your sales strategy and keep your goals on track and afloat. This time, it’s a must.

2023 is forecasted to be a tough year, but those who come prepared will have it significantly easier than those that don’t.

Sales Trends:

1. Creativity is the new sales hack
2. Implement value-based selling
3. Social selling is essential
4. Customer success over customer support
5. Relationship building associated with proper customer success
6. Bring your teams closer together
7. Multi-channel, personalized experiences

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As I sit here today recording the last podcast episode of 2022, I’m excited to be coming up on my 2-year anniversary of hosting A Life You Love: Sales Tips with Jennifer Fisher and I want to say a huge thank you to all my listeners who have supported me throughout the last 2 years. I’m very humbled by the support and amazing feedback I’ve received – thank you, thank you, thank you!

As I reflect on this past year, I want to take the time to highlight a few of my top episodes from 2022. 

The first one is The Art of Discovery Questions, Episode 65

Next up is my episode on A Beginner’s Mindset, Episode 51

Lastly, I want to showcase my episode on Creating a Sales Movement, Episode 66

As I close this week’s podcast, I want to thank all of you, my awesome listeners for an amazing 2022. I hope you have a Happy New Year and I look forward to all that 2023 has in store.

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How to Stop Being an Order Taker

What makes someone a good seller? Is it their ability to prospect, how they can deliver a sales pitch, or being a master at the upsell?

All of these traits and more can make you a better salesperson. When it comes to professional development for salespeople it can also be helpful to discuss traits that can hinder your growth, which is what we are discussing today.

One-way salespeople can strive to be more effective sellers is to avoid falling into the trap of being an order taker.

In sales, an order taker is someone who addresses customer inquiries (also known as orders) but does not proactively engage in activities that would increase sales, such as finding new prospects or upselling to existing customers.

Now you may be wondering, what’s so bad about being an order taker? Ultimately it depends on your role, and where you want to take it.

For example, those who work in retail environments can approach their sales role as more of an order taker. In this role, the salesperson is not responsible for generating new leads — they are responsible for giving the customers who do approach their business a positive experience to land the sale. Ultimately in this scenario, the customer is driving the conversation.

On the other hand, if you work in B2B sales, being an order taker is not the approach you want to take. If you are comfortable sitting back and hoping all of your customers magically find you and are ready to buy on the spot, then go for it. But in the real world, especially in today’s business environment where competition is stiff and most buyers are somewhere between 57 to 90% through their decision-making process before they engage with sales reps, chances are you don’t have time to sit back and take orders.

Sales professionals who are able to remain effective despite market fluctuations and other challenges are often considered order-getters or makers because they create orders and opportunities by taking initiative to facilitate the sales process.

Think about the difference between Order Taker vs. Order Getter

If you want to be an order-getter instead of an order-taker,

1. Be intentional with your prospecting efforts.

2. Focus on customer relationship building to influence the sale.

3. Keep your customers coming back for more.

Being an effective salesperson who generates new business for their company’s bottom line requires working smarter and being proactive. 

Salespeople’s job is to influence the sale. It's not to be an order taker. It's not to react to whatever the prospect says or demands. That's order-taking.

 Here are my three tips to stop being an order taker:

1.      Prospect, prospect, prospect – you must continually bring in new opportunities to fill up your sales funnel

2.      Start influencing the sale 

3.      Consult and become a trusted advisor

It's time we start taking more stock of the influence we have in the sale. Salespeople are not paid to be order takers. We're paid to influence the sale, to provide information, insight, support, guidance, and advice that increases the opportunity for the buyer to choose our solution over the competition or the status quo.

Let's put an end to order-taking and earn our keep by being powerful, knowledge-driven influencers. It's what we're paid for.

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