Anthony:  All right. So here we are, in the arena, different kind of in the arena, now not interviewing a guest but being interviewed by Beth, who's going to ask me some questions that we get frequently about Eat Their Lunch and Level Four Value Creation and my general approach to sales, which is different and does cause people to question what I'm saying and what we think they should be doing. So, let's go ahead and get started talking about some of the questions and how we can help people think about this so that they can sell in a what I would call, the 21st century way of selling. It's a new time and the evolution of sales means that things just keep getting trickier, so you got to keep pace here.

Beth:  Yeah, it's really true. We get a lot of questions. The one I think you get a lot is about your approach you recommended at Eat Their Lunch. We talk a lot about the creating value and the four levels, so maybe the best place to start just everyone has context is what are the four levels of value and really why should people even care about this idea?Win customers away from your competition. Check out Eat Their Lunch

Anthony: Well, they should care because I wrote it in a book but, no, the thing about the four levels that was interesting to me as I was trying to find some way to explain to people how you approach sales tends to fall into one of four categories. And some people who over index on results, they just produce better results, they tend to start from one side of the conversation and somebody else starts from the other side. So the four levels generally fall into categories like this. Level one means, I'm an account on my company's history and my product. That's what's going to do the selling for me. I'm not the value proposition, I'm not the value creator, you've got to trust that my good company that's been around for all these years is what's going to create value for you and our products and services are going to create value for you and look at this proof.

Anthony: I can even show you logos and big companies just like yours. And level one ultimately means you're going to be perceived as a commodity because of it's just the product and there's nothing more to it. Then I'm going to look for price because there's nothing else to look at and evaluate. Level two means you have a good experience, which means great support, great service. You sold me your product and you also gave me a whole bunch of problems when I have that and I need somebody to help me with that, and I may even have a contract to have certain support, and it's a level up from level one. So you're at level two, but level two includes level one. So you can't be like, "We're really good at support but our product's still terrible and it won't work for you." You need both of those together to get to level two.

Anthony: Level three is where we've been commoditized for, I'm going to say probably 30 years. So I can create a tangible result for you and my competitors can. And I have an ROI calculator and you have an ROI calculator and we both can turn it into a spreadsheet. And what I would call level three now is reactives. You tell me you have a problem, I'll solve it for you. That's different. It's not like level four at all because you're assuming that I can go in and say, "What's keeping you up at night?" And get your dissatisfaction and solve that for you. But everybody does that. So now that level of value, even though it's the third highest level of value that we can see right now, is still commoditized. So it's still not enough for you to be differentiated. Not Easily anyway.

Anthony: Level four is strategic and it means that you're going to enter into a conversation about what's the strategic outcome. And I love this quote from Theodore Levitt from Harvard Business School. He was a marketing professor there and he said, "People don't buy drills, they buy holes.

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There's a reason that Anthony and Mike have been friends for almost a decade, co-founded the OutBound Conference together, and have written the foreward for 3 of each other's 6 books. They share a passion for helping salespeople learn the truths about selling, even when those truths may be unpopular or require more work.

On this episode of In the Arena, Anthony and Mike debunk myths and present truth in the areas of social selling, sales motivation, prospecting, and time management, and discuss how the principles in Mike's latest book, #SalesTruth, can help you win more new sales.

What compelled Mike Weinberg to write his new book, #SalesTruth, was that what he was reading online about how to succeed in sales did not align with what he saw in real companies across the globe. Hear more on this episode of In the Arena.Click To Tweet

Kylie Jenner Didn't Cold Call Her Way to a Billion Dollars in Net Worth

The chief sales officer of a well known social selling firm took a selfie, standing in front of a Forbes magazine with Kyle Jenner on the front cover, and declared that social selling leads to real sales. These are the kind of myths that are being sold to weaker, more gullible salespeople looking for a quick fix. It's easy to believe that you can get deals without having to pick up the phone, but it's just not the truth. Drawing from his many years' of experience in B2B sales, Mike talks to Anthony about what salespeople can do to connect with their dream clients beginning with the first sales call.

In this conversation, Mike recalls the sales fundamentals that have proven to be successful whether he was selling envelopes and prints or plastic parts. Be sure to listen to see if your sales strategy includes any of his powerful principles.

Prospecting is Not Optional

Top salespeople are always prospecting, but Anthony and Mike discuss how some salespeople are under the impression that they don't have to prospect. They think they can leave the work of prospecting and qualifying to account managers, but the job of a sales executive is to sell, and you cannot sell without prospecting. The truth is, when your funnel is full, you sell smarter.

Mike tells about how he trains his sales teams to reach out to dream clients before they are zero percent through the buying process. He suggests practical ways to make sure you are constantly adding to your funnel, and how you can avoid the distractions to which many salespeople fall prey. This conversation is full of practical questions you can ask yourself to make sure you are being productive when it comes to prospecting. Be sure you listen and take notes.

'The only thing that will inoculate you from a bad outcome is a pipeline.' Anthony talks with Mike Weinberg about his new book, #SalesTruth on this episode of In the Arena. Listen now!Click To Tweet

Ignore Your Hot Deals

Many times, salespeople can be so anxious to close deals, they default to service work, but in Mike's book, #SalesTruth, he flips that idea on it's head. His advice? Ignore your hot deals, at least at the beginning of the day. Beginning the work day with the hardest work - opportunity creation, prospecting, cold-targeting - frees up the rest of the day to do the service work that needs to be done, and play with warmer opportunities. Mike believes you should turn the funnel upside down and work on the coldest items at the top of your funnel first. In this conversation, Anthony talks about the importance of spending the first 90 minutes of your day prospecting, and Mike says that the most effective leaders and the most productive salespeople extricate themselves from participating in things that are of low-value.

'You'll never be opportunity starved if your best selling ti...

Outreach.io is the Title Sponsor of the OutBound Conference 2019

It’s a bit presumptuous to claim a book is one of the best books on habits that exist. There are lots of great books on the subject out there, including Charles Duhigg's seminal work, “The Power of Habit.” But Anthony is not shy about saying that his guest, James Clear has penned exactly that.

James and Anthony share a common story: a debilitating brain injury that forced them to discover a new way of living. For James, his recovery took him to a new understanding of habits and the power of stacking simple, easy habits one on top of the other to create momentum and change. Bear that in mind, these are lessons James learned for himself rather than just information he consumed and regurgitated from the research of others.

Maybe it’s not so presumptuous to say James’ work is one of the best books on habits. After all, he’s lived the story that has made it possible. Listen to hear his story, learn about the aggregation of habits, and how he recommends you apply what he’s learned to your own life.

.@JamesClear describes the powerful story behind one of the best books on #habits, his own. It’s on this episode of #InTheArena with Anthony @Iannarino. #salesClick To Tweet

One Of The Best Books On Habits Was Penned Because of a Tragic Circumstance

As is the case with many of the significant things that are created in this world, James Clear’s book, “Atomic Habits” was birthed in the forge of suffering. A freak baseball accident put James in a desperate place, fighting to recover from brain damage.

His journey out of that debilitating place led him to the realization that small, simple habits can be stacked one on top of the other to bring about incremental but powerful change.

This is not a conversation with a theorist. James knows what he’s talking about - not only because he’s researched the topic, but because he’s lived it. Be sure you listen to hear his incredible story.

Why Systems Trump Goals Every Time

Anthony is the first to say that goals are important. But with the help of James’ book (and other resources) he’s come to see that they are not the most important thing. As James explains, goals are important because we have to know where we are headed but to focus on the destination to the exclusion of the actions that get us there is folly.

James encourages those who are trying to accomplish goals to focus instead on building systems into their lives that naturally lead to the desired outcome or goal. That puts the focus where it rightly belongs - on doing rather than hoping.

This conversation clarifies so many things when it comes to building habits - and it flows directly out of James’ book on the subject. Be sure you listen.

Listen to learn why #systems trump #goals every time. @JamesClear speaks about the power of #habit on this episode of #InTheArena with Anthony @Iannarino. #salesClick To Tweet

Transform Your Life By Casting Votes For Your Identity Every Day

Habits are not formed by self-discipline or self-control alone. They have to be birthed from a deeper, more fundamental place. James Clear insists that if you don’t have a sense of identity tied to a habit, it will fall by the wayside sooner rather than later.

For example, going to the gym for 5 minutes a day provides the basis for the reality that you are a person who goes to the gym. That’s the first baby step toward being the kind of person who makes use of the gym in productive ways. It’s an identity issue that you can take control of and master.

In this conversation, James shares a handful of other examples to help you get your mind around why identity is foundational to establishing good habits.

Get Rid of the Cues That Prompt Bad Habits and You Get Rid of the Habits

Case in point: If you want to cut back on a habit of stopping into Dairy Queen for a soft-ser...

Seth Godin’s latest book “This is Marketing” is filled with industry truths that you simply can’t afford to miss hearing. On this episode of In The Arena, Anthony and Seth dig into the book’s brand-new insights and talk about the differences between being market-driven and being driven by marketing. You’ll hear how you can make a bigger difference in the world while changing the lives of those around you, and why truly ethical marketing encompasses layers of empathy and compassion. It’s a stellar episode not to be missed - listen now!

The latest book from @ThisIsSethsBlog, #ThisIsMarketing is filled with #marketing and #sales truths that you simply can’t afford to miss. Get an insider’s look into the book on this episode of #InTheArena. @iannarinoClick To Tweet

Marketing shouldn’t be about one to MANY, but it can be about one to many

Years ago, marketers could succeed if they simply got their message in front of as many people as possible. However, that’s not the case in today's world. Seth explains that “Marketing shouldn’t be about one to MANY, but it can be about one to many.” By pursuing your smallest viable audience and adding value to their lives, you can avoid hiding behind the masses and actually make a difference in your organization and the world.

Marketing should be done WITH people, not TO them. Seth exclaims, “Modern marketing is the generous act of helping others become who they seek to become,” and that cannot happen if you’re simply sharing a message with millions of people.

“This is Marketing” teaches you to approach marketing as a teacher seeking enrollment

In “This is Marketing,” Seth uses the analogy of teachers and students to explain how modern marketers should operate. It’s 100x easier to teach a person if they come to the teacher already interested in the subject. Ethical marketing should be about pursuing new enrollment audiences for your company, not just securing new sales leads. By approaching an interested person as a teaching opportunity and not just a sales statistic, you’ll be able to add value to their life while preserving their dignity.

“#Marketing shouldn’t be about one to MANY, but it can be about one to many.” What does @ThisIsSethsBlog mean by this? Find out the answer - and so much more - on this episode of #InTheArena hosted by @iannarino. #marketing #sales #ThisIsMarketingClick To Tweet

There’s a difference between being market-driven and being marketing-driven

Seth tells Anthony about one of the greatest pieces of advice he had ever received. As a young professional, Seth exclaimed to a mentor that he was “marketing driven.” His mentor thoughtfully explained that unless Seth was driven by departmental deadlines and to-do lists, Seth was actually “market-driven.” When a marketer is market-driven, their main focus becomes answering the question, “How can I serve my audience better?”

Seth believes, “Our contributions are the only things we leave behind. And if you focus on leaving a better contribution, you earn trust and attention, which gives you the platform to make more change happen.” His insights are best heard straight from the source, so be sure to give this episode your full attention.

Truly great marketing cannot be about differentiation - it must be about positioning

Far too many marketers become caught up in the differentiation game - eliminating competition simply because they’re afraid of losing business. However, Seth and Anthony discuss why truly great marketing is actually focused on honest positioning. If a marketer can outline the key differences between their company and the competition, as well as make the decision easier for the buyer by eliminating confusion, they’ve positioned their company well. Then, they can seek out “enrollment” students that are interested in the company’s culture and products.

Seth’s book “This is Marketing,

Amy Franko is an author, speaker, and expert in modern selling and sales skills. She’s put her most recent observations and lessons-learned as a sales consultant and trainer into print in her new book, “The Modern Seller.” In this conversation, Amy and I discuss the top 5 skills every modern seller needs to have in their arsenal as well as why sales professionals need to think like an entrepreneur these days - and why it’s not always glamorous. In Amy’s words, modern sales skills must be applied holistically - a concept that surprised me in both its simplicity and its impact. This is a conversation you don’t want to miss - listen now!

Learn the top 5 #sales skills of modern #sellers from this conversation with @AmyFranko. Join @Iannarino #InTheArenaClick To Tweet

What has changed that requires that we make the delineation of “modern seller?”

It should be no secret to sales professionals that prospects and clients have changed the way they want to interact with your business. These days they come to you with all the information they need about your service or product. That means we are no longer educating clients on our products, we’re in a position to serve as a consultant to help them discover how our product can be applied best to their situation. In Amy’s new book she takes a look into what she calls the “skills behind the skills” - the things that enable us to effectively handle the needs of the modern buyer. It’s only with these kinds of modern sales skills that we will be able to meet and exceed the expectations of our customers. Listen to hear it explained as only Amy can explain it.

Modern sales skills must be applied in a values-based way

We all know what it feels like to be overwhelmed. The amount of correspondence and data I personally deal with on a daily basis is only one example of the type of things that contribute to those feelings. Amy points out that all of us have finite resources of time, energy, motivation, and discipline. As modern sellers, we must recognize that fact and identify where we want to spend those finite resources. It’s not your typical decision - it’s a values-based decision that we’ve got to learn how to make. If we can do it successfully, we’ve just learned the most important sales skill we could ever learn - and our effectiveness at serving customers and providing them with the value of an ongoing consultative relationship will only increase over time.

.@AmyFranko says that modern #sales skills must be applied in a values-based way. Learn what she means on this episode of #InTheArena with @IannarinoClick To Tweet

The quality of your relationships will dictate the quality of your sales results

There’s simply no way we can have even elementary level relationships with the 1500 people we are connected with on LinkedIn. We’ve got to be selective, choosing to invest our time in the relationships that will serve our goals and our customers best. It's knowing how to best use our social capital, which Amy likes to think of this way: Social capital is the collective value people create when they are in a strategic relationship. People who get this understand that the quality of their relationships determines the quality of their sales results. For that reason, they make intentional decisions about the relationships they build and the goals they set for themselves. Amy explains it so much better than this short paragraph can do, so be sure you listen.

Sales ambassadors earn the right to be a trusted advisor to their customers

One of the concepts Amy introduces in her book - which is similar to my phrase “Combative Diplomat,” but much more elegant - is that modern sellers are ambassadors. The concept is simple and once you get it, it changes the way you view your role in your sales and prospecting process. An ambassador is a bridge - a person who brings things and people together.

Making better decisions - in business and in life - is one of the top goals for many people. On this episode of In The Arena, Anthony interviews author and professor Steven E. Landsburg, a global expert in economics, philosophy, and the science behind rational decision making. Steven and Anthony dig into why people make poor decisions and rationalize them afterward, as well as seek out the answer to why people are irrational in predictable ways. You’ll hear insider information behind the thought experiments in Steven’s latest book, “Can You Outsmart an Economist?” and it’s an episode not to be missed. Listen now!

Author @StevenLandsburg & @iannarino dig into why people make poor decisions & rationalize them afterward, as well as seek out the answer to why people are irrational in predictable ways, all on this ep of #InTheArena. Listen now!Click To Tweet

Thought experiments such as this one demonstrate how people make rational, or irrational, decisions

Steven’s newest book is full of logic puzzles that are sure to entertain and educate. He and Anthony walk through one on this episode. Let’s say you have 2 urns, each filled with black and white balls. The first urn is filled with 70% white and 30% black balls. The second is filled with 30% white and 70% black balls. You pick one of the urns at random, pull out 12 balls, and 4 of them are white while 8 are black. Which urn did you select from?

Most people decide that they were 40% likely to pull from the predominately white urn and 60% likely to pull from the predominately black urn. However, the most rational conclusion is that you had a 98% chance of pulling from the predominately black urn. Why? Be sure to listen to this episode for the full explanation.

The key to making better decisions lies in understanding our own biases and downfalls

Steven has learned through decades of research that most people are irrational, but that they’re irrational in predictable ways. People have a habit of simply “going with their gut” and not evaluating all of the options. Steven encourages people to think smarter about their decisions, and by starting with this question, you can be well on your way to becoming a more rational thinker. Ask yourself, “Do I have any reason to trust my own opinion more than the opinion of someone else, who has been thinking about this problem as hard as I have?” This question can shed valuable light on questions you’re asking about real estate, finances, sales, marketing, and more. If you always suspect that people think differently than you do when it comes to big decisions, you can be better prepared to consider the viewpoints you might have otherwise overlooked.

People have a habit of simply “going with their gut” when making decisions & not evaluating all of the options. Learn how to combat this tendency on this ep of #InTheArena featuring author & economist @StevenLandsburg, hosted by @iannarino. Check it out!Click To Tweet

The obvious answer to a problem isn’t always the best answer

So many people revert to the most obvious answer to a statement. They fall into a trap of going with the first explanation that comes to mind, but Steven and Anthony counter this tendency on this episode. Steven outlines an example scenario, based on systems that allow students to rate their professors on their ability to teach well. Studies have shown that good-looking professors almost always score higher than average-looking professors. Many people would conclude that it’s because students are simply shallow and that they only notice looks.

However, Steven offers the idea of good-looking people who choose to be professors are inherently better at teaching than average-looking counterparts. This could be because of the multitude of additional career opportunities for good-looking individuals (acting, modeling, etc.). Thus, great-looking people who choose to teach may be exce...

On Tuesday, November 6th, I am releasing my third book in three years. If you read this newsletter each week (or even most weeks), you know the book is titled “Eat Their Lunch: Winning Customers Away from Your Competition.” It’s a book about competitive displacement, or put more directly, “stealing your dream clients from your competition.”

Eat Their Lunch is a book about living, thriving, and surviving in the red ocean, where there is fierce competition, where clients want to commoditize what you sell, and where you are necessarily a large part of the value proposition (and in many cases, the largest).

When someone writes a book, they have something they absolutely must share, some question they must answer, some problem they need to solve, or some complicated knot they are attempting to unravel.

When you think about sales, there aren’t too many things more difficult than taking your dream client away from a competitor they believe is satisfying their needs. It’s not that they don’t have a compelling reason to change, but rather they don’t think they have a compelling reason to change. Unless and until you help them believe they need to do something different, you are not going to have an opportunity to win your dream client away.

You also can’t wait to win your dream clients. In the past, it was customary to wait patiently for your dream client to become dissatisfied enough to let an RFP or rummage through a box business cards to invite different companies in to present to them. This behavior, waiting passively and being reactive, is how you become a commodity. Here’s the terrible truth about commoditization: If you act like a commodity, your dream client will treat you accordingly.

The right approach for both of these problems is to get on your front foot, to be proactive, to dictate the tempo, to control the narrative.

Is Eat Their Lunch for You?

When you write a book proposal, you are supposed to include a section to describe the audience for your book to the publisher. The wrong answer is “everyone.” The right answer is a small niche that is large enough to publish a book profitably.

It's Not For You If . . .

If you want to know how to speak poorly about your competitor, this book is not for you. I offer the opposite advice. The best way to “eat their lunch” is to say nice things about your competitor and then differentiate yourself and your approach.

If you want tricks and shortcuts that will provide you with a result without any effort on your part, I am afraid I am going to disappoint you. Eat Their Lunch is practical and tactical, and the frameworks require disciplined effort on your part.

It's For You, For Sure

However, if you are the kind of person who wants to know how to create so much greater value than their competitors that their dream clients will switch providers, Eat Their Lunch will show you how to do so.

If you want to make ideas like Challenger and selling with insights actionable, the chapter on capturing mind share will provide you with a framework and exercises that will allow you to do so.

Prospecting isn’t an event. Prospecting is now a campaign, where you professional persist and pursue your dream client over time. If you want to know how to professionally persist effectively and use your greater value creation to capture mind share and gain appointments with your dream clients, you’ll find the strategy in Eat Their Lunch.

For me, discovery is now about helping the client discover something about themselves. If you want the newest and sharpest lens for understanding your client’s real challenges, Eat Their Lunch will stretch you, and in doing so, give you a much clearer view, one that opens up opportunities and creates an advantage. It will help you see what is invisible to your competitor.

You know how there seem to be more people involved in every deal and how...