A Life You Love: Sales Tips with Jennifer Fisher

Episode 53 - Building Good Habits in Sales

I just came back from an exciting week at my company’s One WorldStrides EDGE conference to kickoff 2022. Almost 700 employees attended from 5 countries – such an amazing and inspiring time. The word EDGE in the conference name stands for Education, Diversity, Growth, and Experiences which is the backbone of what we do in developing study abroad and educational travel experiences. 

This conference felt so good for my soul. Just the ability to see so many of our teammates in person, laughing and bonding together. We listened to a fabulous keynote address from Erica Dhawan on connectional intelligence, product showcases highlighting all of the divisions at WorldStrides, a conference hall with all of our ERG booths, we hopped on buses for an educational tour of DC (mimicking our middle and high school programs) and finished off the conference with an International Gala. We had food stations from all of the world and met Jufu – who is the new sponsor of our Gap year programs. All in all, a terrific time and so glad we were able to come together in person for this very special 2022 kickoff.

Now that we’re back from the conference, it made me think about good habits in sales that each of us needs to exemplify in order to be successful in 2022.

The difference between an average salesperson and a good one is staggering. Average reps hit their quota – most of the time – while good ones don’t just consistently hit, they have blow-out months and quarters. 

Good sales reps earn their prospects’ admiration, loyalty, and referrals. They skillfully handle objections and preemptively surface concerns to make them disappear. A good salesperson has more to offer customers and prospects than an exciting pitch – they’re enthusiastic individuals with resilience and they take the time to get to know their customers’ needs, show empathy, and deal in a product in confidence. They also know how to handle rejection and learn from both their most successful deals and ones lost.

A few of these characteristics include being delightful. A positive first impression is important in establishing a professional relationship. As a salesperson, you should have a well-put-together appearance and an inviting demeanor.

Good salespeople are enthusiastic. They will put the work in even when it gets tough. Being motivated to get the job done shows that you are passionate. While friendliness is a good trait, you have to let your customers know you’re prepared too. Customers want to make deals with salespeople who are dependable, fact-driven, and likely to ask questions and deliver the answers they’re looking for. 

Salespeople also need to be resilient, attentive, and thorough. Sales numbers can vary from time to time, but that doesn’t deter a good salesperson. Instead of getting discouraged, you’ll rethink your game plan and get back to work. Salespeople understand that each customer has different needs. Actively listening to their pain points can help you create a deal they’ll value. They are also an expert in what they’re selling. Demonstrating that you’re knowledgeable makes you more reputable in the eyes of customers.

Let me know  how you build good habits in sales - message me on LinkedIn

Let's connect on LinkedIn

Episode 52 - Matt Smith, Effective Questioning skills to dive deeper

I am so excited to have my good friend and colleague with me today, Matt Smith. Matt has been selling and leading sales teams for over 20 years. He has experience in the mortgage and legal industry and is now in higher education developing study abroad programs to help transform students’ lives. Matt has traveled to almost 25 countries and is passionate about experiential learning and international education.

You don't want to miss this episode where Matt shares three words he uses to dive deeper during the discovery stage.

You can connect with Matt on LinkedIn to dive deeper to learn about his success.

Connect with me on LinkedIn and let me know how you liked this episode and other topics you'd like to hear.

Let's connect on LinkedIn

Episode 51 - A Beginner's Mindset

Working in sales, we’ve all heard about having different mindsets in order to be successful. A positive mindset, a growth mindset, make sure you don’t have a fixed mindset, etc. Well, there’s a concept in Zen Buddhism known as Shoshin, which means “beginner's mind.” Shoshin refers to the idea of letting go of your preconceptions and having an attitude of openness when studying a subject. When you are a true beginner, your mind is empty and open.

What is a beginner’s mind?

Having a beginner’s mindset means you approach the world through a beginner’s eyes. The term is translated from the original word, Shoshin, which is a word that comes from Zen Buddhism. It means you look at every situation you’re placed in as if it’s the first time you are seeing it.

The late Shunryu Suzuki wrote about the concept of Shoshin in his book Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind:

“If your mind is empty … it is open to everything. In the beginner’s mind, there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s mind there are few.”

Think of it this way, a beginner doesn’t have any expectations, preconceived notions, or past experiences to limit their view of a situation. Beginners also have curiosity towards something new and are open and eager to learn. This means that a beginner has access to a world of possibilities. When they try something, new there are no existing expectations to limit their mindset about what could (and should) happen.

Having a beginner’s mind means developing this mindset even when you already know something or have lots of experience with a topic. On the other hand, an expert mind is an attitude taken when someone believes they know enough about something in order to achieve what they need to do.

With this expert mindset, people make assumptions and don’t tend to ask questions about a given situation before they make a decision. They believe there is one correct solution, and that whatever deviates from that solution is ‘wrong’. Although an expert may know a lot, an expert mindset provides a narrow point of view that can block you from finding new (and better) solutions to a problem. A beginner, however, will not see a right or wrong way to approach a problem or situation.

Connect with me on LinkedIn and let me know your thoughts!

Let's connect on LinkedIn

Episode 50: Setting Yourself Up for Success in 2022

I am super excited to announce this is my 1-year anniversary of publishing A Life You Love podcast. I can’t believe it! I started this podcast during the pandemic as a way to escape all the negative news about covid and focus on something that 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 on. The only thing I get truly excited and passionate about is sales and my work at WorldStrides. 

And to think, here I am one year later, still having a ball 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. Amazing!!! 

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

As I dive into this week’s anniversary episode, I’m going to discuss strategies to set yourself up for success in 2022.

Sales is a profession where you need to always be on and ready to land your next client. As one of my colleagues says, “you always need to be ready, so you don’t have to take time to GET ready”. With the beginning of 2022, many businesses are getting ready for sales kickoff – and I love sales kickoff. It’s a time where we can all come together, and yes, for the first time in 2 years we will be gathering in person in Washington, DC (I can’t wait)!!

Sales kickoffs are a time where we can reflect on the past year, what we did well, where we can pivot and build out sales strategies and campaigns for 2022. Kickoff is an opportunity to motivate and inspire your sales team to reach for the stars!

Let's connect on LinkedIn

Episode 49 - The Best of 2021

As I sit here today recording the last podcast episode of 2021, I’m excited to be coming up on my 1-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 2021. 

As I reflect on this past year, I want to take time to highlight a few of my top episodes from 2021. 

The first one is “Overcoming Challenges”.

Like many people in March of 2020, Covid completely wreaked havoc in everyone’s lives, both personal and professional. Through these trying times, we all learned how to tap into our own internal strength through, determination, grit, and resiliency. The ability to bounce back from a negative experience or difficult challenge. Finding a way, moving forward past obstacles, and not settling for the status quo.

As a practitioner in the field and managing a team of salespeople through the toughest challenge and most stressful time of my career, selling through Covid. Working for a global sales company, when the news of Covid was spreading through Asia in January and February 2020, I was able to immediately pivot and implement a strategy to continue selling in other regions of the world while continuing to grow revenue. 

As Covid spread through Europe, I was able to pivot again and implemented another strategy to focus on different areas of growth. Once Covid reached the U.S. I was able to pivot a third time and implemented a different strategy to continue moving the team forward successfully. While the rest of the world was in crisis mode, my sales team saw their numbers for March, April, and May of 2020 as our best sales months on record. 

How could that happen? Well, I’ll tell you how it can happen. Very intentionally. Focusing on what you can control, what you can do, and the impact you can have on the people around you, will help guide you through even the most challenging situations. And in this situation, what I could control was the successful pivot in strategy that was implemented. The intentional strategy and sales approach were designed to drive results. Every pivot was intentional, tied into the overall strategy, to drive results. We were at a time where it was easy to feel overwhelmed as the business landscape changed drastically and overnight. Everyone was working from home, figuring out technical issues; college campuses literally shut down, daycare became non-existent at the beginning. 

Focusing on what you can control, this was key as we maneuvered 3 successful pivots in a very short amount of time. One of my sales colleagues has this amazing saying, “Always be ready, so you don’t have to take time to get ready”. This is profound, yet simple. It’s definitely easier to give up in the moment and be overwhelmed with the gravity of the situation. And in the case of Covid, it’s perfectly understandable to do that.  

Reflecting on my past journey, resiliency, and training, stopping was not an option. Doing nothing was not an option. Overcoming challenges and obstacles in my past led me to this very moment, the ability to lead my team through the toughest obstacles and find new ways to succeed, grow, build, and deepen relationships. My boss still reminds me of comments I made in March 2020 as I discussed my new strategy and pivot, I stated with passion and excitement, “I was born for this – here’s what we’re going to do”. I continued to discuss the strategy and implementation, which again, led us to our best sales months in March, April, and May 2020. 

Next up is my episode on prospecting:

Good prospecting is extremely essential for finding new business. The better you are at finding prospects who you can help and support with your services, the more likely you are to turn them into happy customers down the

Let's connect on LinkedIn

Episode #48 Creating a Movement with Lisa Leander

I am so excited to have Lisa Leander as a guest today. Lisa is the founder and CEO of Women in Business Education (WiBE), a global movement that brings together women academics to connect on issues that matter.

Lisa is an international development and management expert with eighteen years’ experience managing higher education initiatives in 22 different countries.  During the day you might find her consulting for U.S. multinational companies, navigating complex market opportunities in the Middle East, creating complex art creations with her two daughters, or attempting to train a high-energy German shepherd.

You can connect with Lisa at wibenetwork.com or through LinkedIn

As always, connect with me on LinkedIn and let me know your thoughts and suggestions for topics.

Let's connect on LinkedIn

Episode 47 - Tips for Selling Over the Phone

Today, I’m going to talk about outbound prospecting calls. And if you’re anything like my sales team, you’re rolling your eyes right now. Let me ask you a question. Do you get excited when you receive a cold call? What about when you have to call your cable, internet, or phone provider? Yeah – right there with you!

The lack of coaching, among other factors, has directly contributed to a negative stigma with salespeople to the point where sales reps now prefer other methods of communication.  Most sales reps would rather communicate to potential clients through email, live chats, or texts instead of calling them on the phone. 

Please connect with me on LinkedIn and let me know your thoughts!

Let's connect on LinkedIn

Episode 46 - Heather Hansen O'Neill

Heather Hansen O’Neill is an international speaker, behavioral expert, author of Find Your Fire, Teams on Fire! and the soon-to-be-released Where’s the Office? Heather is also a 2x TEDx speaker and host of the popular podcast From Fear to Fire. She stimulates vibrant energy, focus, and action for those who want to collaborate effectively, lead change, and achieve massive results.  

Heather discusses how to lead your sales teams from panic to productivity as well as post-pandemic sales strategies.

Her new book Where's the Office will be launching soon.

Here's the link for the book pre-release gifts: https://bit.ly/WHERESTHEOFFICEWAITLIST
And you can visit Heather's website to learn more about Heather: https://heatherhansenoneill.com/

Connect with me on LinkedIn and let me know your thoughts!

Let's connect on LinkedIn

Episode #45 - Customer Experience

Customer experience is defined by the interactions and experiences your customer has with your business throughout the entire customer journey, from first contact to becoming a happy and loyal customer.

Customer Experience is an integral part of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and the reason why it’s important is that a customer who has a positive experience with a business is more likely to become a repeat and loyal customer.

In fact, according to a global Customer Experience study by Oracle found that 74% of senior executives believe that customer experience impacts the willingness of a customer to be a loyal advocate. And If you want your customers to stay loyal, you have to invest in their experience!

Simply put, happy customers remain loyal.

It makes sense, right?

Here are my 3 tips for creating a great customer experience.

1.       Create a customer’s buyer's journey to map out exactly what you want the customer experience to be

2.       Make listening to customers a top priority across the business.

3.       Empower your sales teams to be part of the process.

Customer expectations are higher than ever and word of mouth travels fast! And as the customer becomes even more empowered, it increases the importance of the customer experience. Customer experience is an area that needs constant nurturing and care and, with a greater focus on customer experience strategy, companies will realize a positive impact on customer loyalty, higher retention, and increased sales and revenue growth.

Connect with me on LinkedIn and let me know what topics you'd like to hear!

Let's connect on LinkedIn

Episode 44 - Burnout

In this week’s episode, I’m going to talk about burnout. It can happen to anyone and in any profession; however, I see a lot of burnout happening in sales right now. Sales is already a very stressful job of making a certain number of prospecting calls, daily, weekly, and monthly, sending proposals out, winning business and of course, achieving, or exceeding quota – and all these numbers are in front of your face every day, on a leaderboard for all to see. 

Heavy workloads and deadline pressures are a fact of life. Who doesn’t feel overwhelmed or stretched thin sometimes? But when relentless work stress pushes you into the debilitating state, we call burnout, it is a serious problem, affecting not just your performance and well-being, both on the job and off, but also that of your team and organization. Burnout has been shown to produce feelings of futility and alienation, undermine the quality of relationships, and diminish long-term career prospects. 

According to a Harvard Business Review article by Monique Valcour, she identifies how to learn to manage the stress that can cause burnout and to ultimately achieve more-sustainable career success. The process involves noticing and acknowledging the symptoms, examining the underlying causes, and developing preventive strategies to counteract your particular pattern of burnout.

Harvard Business Review also states that burnout is a three-component syndrome that arises in response to chronic stressors on the job:

·       Exhaustion

·       Cynicism

·       Inefficacy

Situational factors are the biggest contributors to burnout, so changes at the job, team or organizational level are often required to address all the underlying issues. However, there are steps you can take on your own once you’re aware of the symptoms and of what might be causing them. Here are a few strategies.

Prioritize self-care.

It’s essential to replenish your physical and emotional energy, along with your capacity to focus, by prioritizing good sleep habits, nutrition, exercise, social connection, and practices that promote well-being, like meditating, journaling, and enjoying nature. If you’re having trouble squeezing such activities into your packed schedule, give yourself a week to assess exactly how you’re spending your time. For each block of time, record what you’re doing, whom you’re with, how you feel, and how valuable the activity is. This will help you find opportunities to limit your exposure to tasks, people, and situations that aren’t essential and put you in a negative mood; increase your investment in those that boost your energy; and make space for restful, positive time away from work.

Shift your perspective.

While rest, relaxation, and replenishment can ease exhaustion, curb cynicism, and enhance efficacy, they don’t fully address the root causes of burnout. Back at the office, you may still face the same impossible workload, untenable conflicts, or paltry resources. So now you must take a close look at your mindset and assumptions. What aspects of your situation are truly fixed, and which can you change? Altering your perspective can buffer the negative impact of even the inflexible aspects. If exhaustion is a key problem, ask yourself which tasks—including critical ones—you could delegate to free up meaningful time and energy for other important work. Are there ways to reshape your job to gain more control or focus on the most fulfilling tasks? If cynicism is a major issue, can you shield yourself from the parts of the organization that frustrate you, while re-engaging in your specific role and the whole enterprise? Or could you build some positive, supportive relationships to counteract the ones that drain you? And if you’re feeling ineffective, what assistance or development might you seek

Let's connect on LinkedIn