Do This ONE Thing To Crush It Every Day! - ITSA #033

Hey gang ...

Thanks for tuning in to this episode of "In the Sales Arena"! We have a great show as we talk about the "one thing" we can do to make every day awesome and we are going to focus in on the part having a great attitude plays in how successful we are. 

I love this old quote by Zig Ziglar - "your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude"! I even do a lousy job of trying to imitate how Zig used to say that in his audio programs. I even say him live and heard him share this quoy=te as a young sales rep way back in 197?????. Who cares!

I am going to share a number of ideas about how to develop, maintain and protect a positive attitude like:

• Practicing positive responses
• Understanding the principal of Garbage In-Garbage Out (als known as GIGO) and how important that is
• Being careful about who we hang out with and the influence that has one us

But the "one thing" I have come to experience that can have the greatest influence on our attitude, and our lives, is getting in the habit of listing "The 10 Things I Am Thankful For".

We spend a bit of time on this and I think you will get a lot out of listening to it but even more out of making a commitment to yourself to do it!

Hope you enjoy it ... 

Listener Question of the Week - What do you think are the 3 biggest mistakes sales people make?

Quote of the Week - Everything can be taken from a man but one thing:the last of human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given circumstances, to choose one's own way! Viktor E. Frankl

Have a great week gang!

Jim Jacobus

 

 

 

 

 

 

3 Keys To Deciding If You Are In the Right Sales Job! - ITSA #032

We have been very fortunate through the years to do sales training all over the world for some of the best of the best sales organizations. During all of that sales training I find myself assessing their teams and many times the individuals. The questions I find myself asking a lot are;

• Is this person in the right sales position?
• Should they be in sales at all?

Today we are going to tackle 3 keys, or ways, to determine if you are in the right sales job?

Key #1 – are you working for the right company?

Established or new

Big or small

How much support do they provide?

Training available?

Management style?

Key #2 – are you selling the right product?

Do you love the product?

Passionate about it?

Fun?

Does it impact businesses or people’s lives?

Do you believe in it?

Sales style required

Key #3 – can you build the sales career, and life, you want in this sales position?

Money?

Growth opportunities?

Will selling this product, for this company, allow you to build the life you want?

The 3 main keys are ... 

• Right company
• Right product
• Right opportunity

Listener Question of the Week – If I wasn’t listening to your podcast then what podcast do you recommend I listen to?

 

Cheating Competitors - 3 Things To Think, And Do, About It!               

A lot of discussions lately about integrity, ethics and character in sales! Today we are going to talk about what to do when your competitors are cheating or acting unethically!

As we look at this challenge it is important to make a distinction between …

• Doing things that are illegal
• Doing things that are unethical

First – let’s be clear about what is going on

• Is what they are doing illegal?
• Would you consider it unethical?
• Would you consider it immoral?
• Does it lack integrity?

Three words of caution ... 

Caution #1 – about using our standards for what is ethical, moral and/or lacks integrity!

Caution #2 – let’s make sure everything we are doing passes the same set of standards!

Caution #3 – let’s make sure this isn’t just an excuse for someone who is doing a better job than we are!

Second – let’s determine how we are going to do business regardless of what others do!

• There is no such thing as situational ethics!
• Are we doing anything that someone else could consider shady?
• Are we willing to sacrifice a dollar to stay within integrity?

Third – trust that the world takes care of stuff like this!

• Sooner or later they get caught
• They have trouble sleeping at night
• Their world is usually a mess – personally and professionally
• And … there are always a ton of customers out there looking for real sales pros!

Listener Question of the Week – our company recently changed our compensation plan because they determined we were getting paid too much. I am livid about it and don’t really want to give it my all right now. I am guessing you have some thoughts about this?

Donald Kelly The Sales Evangelist - ITSA #030

Hey gang - This Master Sales Interview with Donald Kelly is going to go down as one of the very best we have ever put together! Partly because of his background, partly because of insights and partly because of his incredible enthusiasm!

Here is a little about Donald from his own website www.thesalesevangelist.com. Check it out ...

Donald Kelly - The Sales Evangelist

Just like most of you, I am a real life sales professional hustling in the world of software sales. If you were like me, you had no clue how to really sell when you started in sales. Over the years I’ve received training/coaching from some of the industry’s leading experts. I applied what I was learning and started seeing a significant difference in my performance and income. I started doing “BIG THINGS”!

I personally feel that when you find something of value you should share it! That’s why I love sales so much. I became very passionate and started “evangelizing” about sales. A good buddy of mine, Jared Easley, then dubbed me “The Sales Evangelist”. He recommended that I further my reach by sharing sales tips to others through the medium of a podcast.

 

  Like I said ... you are going to love, love, love this guy!   Here is a link to Donald's website ... http://thesalesevangelist.com/   And a link to his Facebook page ... https://www.facebook.com/groups/448729615281826/

Have a great week gang!

 

4 Things Every Sales Pro Needs To Do When We Mess Up!

Welcome – this podcast is all about what to do when we mess up or make a mistake – and we will! The buzzword for this is “recovery”. What we need to remembers is clients don’t expect us to be perfect they just want to know when something goes wrong we will fix it. To be successful at "recovery":

1. We have to fix what happened
2. We have to fix the relationship

Step #1 – Ask the client what went wrong?What is the problem? Where did we mess up? Don’t avoid! Listen and “shut up”! Don’t rationalize, justify, or defend even if what they say isn’t accurate from your understanding. Continue to ask – is there anything else I need to know? Note! It isn’t over until they feel they’ve been heard!

Step #2 – own the mistake! Keep in mind the language is "I" made a mistake when you did it and we made a mistake when your team does it! It is never “they” made a mistake. Explain what happened, when necessary, so the client understands you understand and never make excuses!

Step #3 – fix it by saying the following – “I don’t blame you, if that happened to me I would be upset too! Is there something I can do today to make it right?” Then do what they ask you to! Do it as soon as you possibly can!

Step #4 – fix the internal problem that caused the mistake so it doesn’t repeat itself. Inform the client what was done at a level that makes sense!

Keep in mind ... Clients that have a problem that we remedy quickly and efficiently are more loyal than clients that never have a problem!

LQOW – there has been a lot of flu and other stuff going around this year! Do you work even when you are sick?

 

Quote of the Week - Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning. ~ Bill Gates

Welcome to ITSA #028 and 3 reasons why it is important to identify your "Ideal Clients".

First - think of words that describe the "ideal client"and determine which of your clients match those words.

Second - think of words that describe the worst clients and determine which of your clients fit in that pocket.

Third - once you have this then;

1. If we know who the "ideal clients" are then we can market and sell to them accordingly.
2. They are simply easier to sell to, they close faster and easier, and at a higher margin.
3. They are a lot more fun to do business with!

Our Listener Question of the Week (LQOW) is:  My company is doing some things I think lack integrity. What should I do?

Listen in to get all the details and the answer to the LQOW!

The 6 Levels of Relationship – Pursuing Sales Mastery - ITSA #022

 

This is the third in 4 podcasts on what it takes to be a sales master in 2015. So far we have talked about the power of a sales process and value based selling. Today we are going to talk about the 6 levels of relationship and how important it is to be intentional about building Levels 5 and 6.

Yes! We are always measuring everything! Why?

·      Consistency

·      Repeatable

·      What we measure we can improve

·      Awareness!

 We define The 6 Levels of Relationship like this …

ü   Level 1 – I am an unknown (we will define as they don’t even know who I am or who my company is) 

ü   Level 2 – I am known (defined as they know who I am and who my company is but they don’t know what we do)

ü   Level 3 – I am a vendor (we will define as I am on their list to buy from and they may or may not be buying from me) 

ü   Level 4 – I am a supplier (we will define as they are buying from us with some regularity)

ü   Level 5 – I am a partner (defined as a “connected” business relationship where we have each others best interests in mind)

ü   Level 6 – I am an adviser (defined as being on the inside and knowing what is going on before it happens)

In this podcast we also give you an overview of the plan we share in our sales training programs on what do you do with these 6 levels! Are you tired of working with clients who don’t give you the return on investment for the time you spend? Then you are going to love this webinar and be ecstatic about putting this stuff into action!

Sales Tool of the Week – Sales Genie a database of sales leads by industry, size, location, title of buyers and cloning your best customers!!! www.salesgenie.com

Quote of the Week – “Known value plus Level 5 & 6 relationships always trumps price”!

Value Based Selling – Avoiding The Price Trap By Learning To Sell Value! - ITSA #021

 Hey gang! Welcome to In the Sales Arena #021. We are going to talk about one of my favorite topics today and a topic I see transform the careers of a lot of sales people when they get ahold of this idea in the sales training programs we deliver. Today we are going to talk about Value Based Selling.

 Let me ask you a few questions …

Are you tired of quoting, quoting and quoting some more where you win some and lose some?

Are you tired of the whole “price is king” rat race?

Would you like to sell more volume?

At a higher margin?

With clients that are more collaborative in nature and appreciate what you bring to the table?

Would you just like to have more fun at work every day? 

Well, there is no silver bullet. Sorry! But, there is an answer to being able to do all of the above and it begins with knowing the value you bring to the table. When I say know it I mean to master your value like I asked you … “what’s your birthday”?

So, we are going to cover in this podcast …

1.     A beginning conversation on value based selling

2.     A structure for better communicating value in 3 categories

3.     We are going to talk about the difference in value based selling when you have “me too” products and when you have “hammers” or leveraged products

So, “buckle up buttercup” (yes I said that and I promise not to ever again) we are going to start a heck of a ride that can change your entire career, and life!

 

Sales Tool of the Week – the book Essentialism by Greg McKeown (a must read)

 

Quote of the Week – “Pressure is what you feel when you don’t know what you’re doing”! Peyton Manning – The Denver Broncos 

Now, go do something significant this week to build the sales career, and life, YOU want!

Jim Jacobus

Mastering the Sales Process -

ITSA #020 

Welcome to “In the Sales Arena” podcast #020! This is our second podcast of 2015 and what we are calling the year of sales mastery. As we go through the year ahead, in all of our content, we want you to have all of the tools you need to build the sales career, and life you want in 2015! 

Our hopes for you can be summed up like this;

ü    If you are new … we want to help build the foundation for a great year and long term sales success

ü    If you are stuck in the middle we want to help you get to the top

ü    If you are already at the top and wanting to stay there, we want to help you blow the roof off the numbers

In this episode we are going to talk about the sales process and how critical it is to master it! I know-it isn’t very sexy! During this podcast we are going to share with you the following:

ü    The 8 step process we teach and a little about each

ü    5 reasons why mastering the process is so critical

ü    Why you should care! 

So, hope you enjoy this one. Taking the sales process serious has altered my career in a number of ways. It will do the same for you! 

Our Sales Tool of the Week – Fiverr go to www.fiverr.com and check it out. It is way cool! 

Quote of the Week - Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together." - Vincent Van Gogh

A Year of Sales Mastery - What Does It Take To Be the Best of the Best?

 

Welcome – Happy New Year! Hope you had a great holiday season and that you are rested up and ready to go here in 2015. Our theme for 2015 is A Year of Sales Mastery. In this episode we are going to talk about … 

What do we mean by mastery?

Why would you want to be a master of selling?

What is it going to take to be a master of this profession of sales? What we will be focusing in on in 2015 are the following 4 areas of mastery:

• ü     Understanding and quantifying the “value” we bring to clients and customers!
• ü     Intentionally building Level 5 & 6 relationships – you are the person they go to!
• ü     Executing a proven sales process – what are the steps to consistent volume and margin in selling?
• ü     Becoming an extraordinary person, professionally and personally, at the core level.

In this session we discuss Malcolm Gladwell’s book “Outliers” and in particular his 10,000 hours to mastery! The question we have to ask ourselves is how do we want to invest those hours?  Do you want to spend it becoming a UC or a CC?

Our Hope for you in 2015 …

• If you are new to sales let’s begin to lay the foundation
• If you have been doing it a while and are stuck in the middle
• If you are at the top and want to stay there
• Let’s go!

“Hard work is a prison sentence only if it does not have meaning. Once it does, it becomes the kind of thing that makes you grab your wife around the waist and dance a jig. (150)”  ― Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers: The Story of Success

Now … go do something significant this week to build the sales career, and life, you want!

Jim Jacobus