Nick Toman is the Head of Sales and Service Practice at CEB, now Gartner, and co-author of “The Challenger Customer” the follow up to the popular book “The Challenger Sale.” Nick and his team work with over 850 organizations worldwide delivering insightful sales effectiveness advice and support. He has been with CEB since 2004. CEB was acquired by Gartner in 2017.
In this episode Martin Brossman, Greg Hyer and Elyse Archer discussed with Nick a number of key points made by the book. The include identifying the motivator and understanding what commercial insights are.
Also discussed, “What is the difference between thought leadership and commercial insights?”
Social Selling News

* LinkedIn, HiQ spat presents big questions for freedom, innovation:
http://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/LinkedIn-HiQ-spat-presents-big-questions-for-11274133.php
* New Twitter update lets you mute even more trolls
https://www.cnet.com/news/twitter-mute-new-accounts/
* Can Snapchat’s New ‘Snap Map’ Bring The World Closer Together?
http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2017/07/06/535076690/can-snapchats-new-snap-map-bring-the-world-closer-together

B2B Social Selling Training Online
Visit SocialSelling.Training to access the most comprehensive online social selling training available. Start your training off for with two courses; Linking Profile Fundamental for the Social Seller and Twitter Profile Fundamentals for the Social Seller. In addition, we will show you how the path to social selling was blazed in our “Introduction to Social Selling” lesson. These courses are free and will be updated as changes are rolled out to LinkedIn and Twitter. Visit SocialSelling.Training to register today.
Audio Run-time: 56:03
The Social Selling Podcast by Linking into Sales is a professional development podcast geared towards sales and marketing professionals that use social media tools and networks to support sales and buying cycles and help them become more proficient in social selling.

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Interview with Nick Toman, co-Author of The Challenger Customer – EP. 114 - The Social Selling Podcast by Linking into Sales

Martin Brossman and Greg Hyer help sales and marketing professionals understand social selling and digital sales strategies they can use in their sales and marketing efforts. Discover cutting edge social listening, engagement, proximity, and capital building techniques you can use on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and other platforms to prospect for, support, and grow your business.

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Pre-show Important Note: Greg Hyer passed away suddenly in his sleep on the night of August 15, 2018, leaving a wife and five children. This show was recorded before Greg’s passing and we both were excited about having Liesl Mathis from Red Hat on the show for the second time. Something came up the day of the recording and Greg was unable to join us at Red Hat to record it but we talked before and after the show. I felt it was a good show and he was excited to both hear it and get it out. After Greg passed I chose to release the show with an intro explaining what occurred and asking people that have enjoyed the show to contribute to his family’s Go-Fund-Me site: https://gf.me/u/kq62pa  . I also plan on doing a tribute show and welcome people that gained value from Greg or the show that want to contribute, to please contact me at martin@martinbrossman.com  
I hope you enjoy this show and reflect on the contribution Greg Hyer made in our lives.
The way we are selling is changing! You can’t expect the old ways to work and this is why the value of social selling that we are discussing on this show is so important to understand. Liesl Mathis explains how they work as a team at Red Hat to use tools, content and insights to correctly build relationships with the customers that lead to sales. 
Topics covered include:

How to use automated support and technology and have the customer feel like it is an authentic connection, especially when a team is working on the sale and the customer has a team deciding on the sale                                           
The difference between thinking of just being a thought leader vs. showing true insight into the customer’s world and challenges
An inside look at what Red Hat is doing in sales that can be applied to your company 

We also talked about “I can’t believe they did that” from professionals online,
highlighting the following points of what to do and what to avoid: 

Make sure you are NOT that person
Good tips to make you visible
Including having a picture visible outside your network
A good summary and more

Plus, the podcast (not the video) has a discussion about using Twitter in Social Selling.
Connect to Liesl Mathis online
On Twitter: https://twitter.com/lieslmathis
On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lieslmathis/
Connect to Martin Brossman 
On Twitter: https://twitter.com/martinbrossman
On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martinbrossman/
Thanks again to all that donated to the Go-Fund-Me site for Greg Hyer’s family (remember, even though the goal was reached, you can still donate) https://gf.me/u/kq62pa
If you are open to contributing by being interviewed for a tribute to Greg Hyer, please contact me directly at martin@MaritnBrossman.com and please add to the subject line. “Tribute to Greg Hyer”.  My intention is to collect things people have gained and learned from Greg Hyer and the show and to produce this as content for the next show. 
Will end with this slideshow of Greg Hyer and I working together over the years:

B2B Social Selling Training Online
Visit SocialSelling.Training to access the most comprehensive online social selling training available. Start your training off for with two courses; Linking Profile Fundamental for the Social Seller and Twitter Profile Fundamentals for the Social Seller. In addition, we will show you how the path to social selling was blazed in our “Introduct...

Keeping Your Sales Process Real, Authentic and Connected to your Customer with Liesl Mathis Towner - Red Hat Ep 125 - The Social Selling Podcast by Linking into Sales

Yes, Sales Pros need to be familiar with GDPR. Martin Brossman talks with Tim Hughes, author of “Social Selling: Techniques to Influence Buyers and Changemakers,” about GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) and it’s impact on anyone doing international sales.  If you do any business international sales you need to understand how this can affect your business and the liability risk .
Some questions relating to sales and marketing we discussed:

* Is cold calling banned? What is the impact on cold calling?
* Is cold outreach (emails, letters, DMP, email marketing, etc) banned?
* What is the impact on Linkedin? Teamlink? Sales Navigator?
* What is the impact of using subcontractors?
* What about the data in a CRM or the data a salesperson may hold on a spreadsheet on their PC?
* What is the impact of GDPR on social selling?

We will discuss how this is a fundamentally changes sales and marketing.
Learn more about Tim Hughes, an expert on Social Selling, at: 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timothyhughessocialselling/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Timothy_Hughes
Tim Hughes’s blog, packed with useful information:  http://www.social-experts.net/blog/
Link to Tim Hughes’s Social Selling book: “Social Selling: Techniques to Influence Buyers and Changemakers”
B2B Social Selling Training Online
Visit SocialSelling.Training to access the most comprehensive online social selling training available. Start your training off for with two courses; Linking Profile Fundamental for the Social Seller and Twitter Profile Fundamentals for the Social Seller. In addition, we will show you how the path to social selling was blazed in our “Introduction to Social Selling” lesson. These courses are free and will be updated as changes are rolled out to LinkedIn and Twitter. Visit SocialSelling.Training to register today.
Audio Run-time: 57:09
The Social Selling Podcast by Linking into Sales is a professional development podcast geared towards sales and marketing professionals that use social media tools and networks to support sales and buying cycles and help them become more proficient in social selling.

* Follow us on Twitter: Twitter.com/linkingin2sales
* Join our LinkedIn Group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/2450586
* Add us to your Google+ Circle: https://plus.google.com/+LinkingIntoSales
* Subscribe to us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/LinkingSales
* Talk with us on Facebook: Facebook.com/linkingintosales

 

GDPR’s Impact on Cold Calling and International Sales – Guest: Tim Hughes – Ep 124 - The Social Selling Podcast by Linking into Sales

David Amerland joins us exploring the connection with what he learned over the last three years writing his book “The Sniper Mind: Eliminate Fear, Deal with Uncertainty, and Make Better Decisions”.  Join us on a journey about what David learned by interviewing and researching top military snipers and how that applies to business, social selling and personal success. As David explains the military sniper carries a great responsibility to make sure to hit the right target and only the right target. These people have nothing biologically over the rest of us but have to get results with massively challenging and changing environments. 
 
Topics explored include: 

How over the years military analogies have been used in business but few business people have live bullets shooting back at them. But their are dynamic similarity that can be useful to understand. The competitive advantage of borrowing the right strategies. 
What are real things David learned in his 3 year research that we all can use to be more effective in complex changing environments such as in business-to-business Social Selling.
David’s journey of interviewing 100 military snipers and earning their trust. 
And much more!

Here is a link to David Amerland’s latest book on Amazon: The Sniper Mind: Eliminate Fear, Deal with Uncertainty, and Make Better Decisions  
Additional Links

* David Amerland’s website
* David Amerland’s LinkedIn Profile
* David Amerland’s Twitter Profile

Guest Co-host for this show was Tricia Lucas of Lucas Select.

B2B Social Selling Training Online
Visit SocialSelling.Training to access the most comprehensive online social selling training available. Start your training off for with two courses; Linking Profile Fundamental for the Social Seller and Twitter Profile Fundamentals for the Social Seller. In addition, we will show you how the path to social selling was blazed in our “Introduction to Social Selling” lesson. These courses are free and will be updated as changes are rolled out to LinkedIn and Twitter. Visit SocialSelling.Training to register today.
Audio Run-time: 01:00:12
The Social Selling Podcast by Linking into Sales is a professional development podcast geared towards sales and marketing professionals that use social media tools and networks to support sales and buying cycles and help them become more proficient in social selling.

* Follow us on Twitter: Twitter.com/linkingin2sales
* Join our LinkedIn Group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/2450586
* Add us to your Google+ Circle: https://plus.

What do a Trained Military Sniper and Social Selling Have in Common?  Interview with David Amerland – EP. 123 - The Social Selling Podcast by Linking into Sales

“Put your money where your mouth is.” That’s how Brandon Ansel came up with the idea for pitch Me. This social platform helps connect providers and deciders. In exchange for 15 minutes of time with a decision maker, a sales rep donates to their non-profit of choice. Listen and found out how you can use this platform to improve your social proximity and help a charitable cause at the same time.
About three and a half years ago, Brandon was asked to innovate for his insurance agency. One day a sales rep got a hold of him after lying to his assistant. In that conversation, Brandon asked the sales rep to make a $50 donation to a his preferred charity and he would give him an hour. The sales rep gladly said yes. The problem was how to facilitate the transaction. This is how pitch.Me was conceived.
In this episode you will discover how respectful commerce showing sales reps and decision makers how they can connect to do business while helping non-profit organizations with funding their mission. Over $600 Billion is spent on prospecting every year. That’s a lot of wasteful spending when you consider a platform like Pitch Me can help improve your social proximity by getting you direct access to a decider and help a charitable cause. It’s an approach more and more executives are taking to make a big impact in their work and for their selected non-profit.
To connect with Brandon, reach out to him on pitch.Me.
Social Selling News

LinkedIn CEO, Jeff Weiner, says they’re open to the idea of original video content. https://www.geekwire.com/2017/linkedin-ceo-jeff-weiner-says-theyre-considering-original-video-content-possibly-even-bidding-nfl-game-rights/
Serving Top Comments in Professional Social Networks – A look at how LinkedIn’s “Comment Viral Updates” work https://engineering.linkedin.com/blog/2017/09/serving-top-comments-in-professional-social-networks
Twitter officially expands its character count limit to 280. https://techcrunch.com/2017/11/07/twitter-officially-expands-its-character-count-to-280-starting-today/

B2B Social Selling Training Online
Visit SocialSelling.Training to access the most comprehensive online social selling training available. Start your training off for with two courses; Linking Profile Fundamental for the Social Seller and Twitter Profile Fundamentals for the Social Seller. In addition, we will show you how the path to social selling was blazed in our “Introduction to Social Selling” lesson. These courses are free and will be updated as changes are rolled out to LinkedIn and Twitter. Visit SocialSelling.Training to register today.
Audio Run-time: 00:44:47
The Social Selling Podcast by Linking into Sales is a professional development podcast geared towards sales and...

Interview with pitch.Me Founder, Brandon Ansel – EP. 121 - The Social Selling Podcast by Linking into Sales

Convincing Someone to Hire You is Sales
How should a sales professional sell themselves to a sales recruiter and get submitted for that six-figure sales opportunity? In this episode of the Social Selling Podcast, Martin Brossman talks with Tricia Lucas of Lucas Select, a sales, marketing, and tech recruiting agency based in Raleigh, NC.
Tricia Lucas offers some great insights for sales professionals considering a transition.
1.  Understanding Market Value
A strong sales candidate knows how to converge passion, strengths, and market value when selling a product or service as well as their own career. They can’t be successful at sales if they don’t. I look for this convergence when I explore the social profile of sales candidates.

2. Demonstration of Thought Leadership
I also continue to emphasize the value of Thought Leadership. Sales experts maximize their strengths by staying relevant to mentors, thought leaders, and others that are successful in their field. They connect with them through community networks and industry conferences and they take advantage of the access to professional development opportunities, continuing education, relevant networking opportunities. They are high achievers and never stop their professional and network development and seeking “best practices” just because they are employed. This is easily identifiable in online activity. Who do they follow? Who are they connected to? Who do they communicate with? 

3. Additional Traits: Intellectual Curiosity, Resilience, Critical Thinkers, Emotional Intelligence, Coachability, Flexibility
My Clients are made of fast growing innovative technology companies. They are often small to mid-size or startups. These entrepreneurial organizations need top talent to solve problems and build new solutions that will give them a competitive advantage. They need insightful sales professionals to analyze large amounts of data about their customer’s business practices, buying habits, stakeholders, competitors, and marketplace trends to make sense of the bigger picture in order to map out and execute a sales strategy for each customer. I look for candidates that demonstrate intellectual curiosity and can understand, in depth, their client base and the critical needs of that base. These folks are imaginative, curious, intellectual, and creative with the ability to motivate their prospects to speak openly and freely about their true needs. They need to be critical thinkers and fast learners to stay ahead of the technology, not just keep up. They need to adapt to change quickly and have the emotional intelligence to navigate corporate hierarchies and get past office dramas to work with all co-workers and clients for the end game. These are the traits that I piece together when evaluating a candidate’s online journey.

Social Selling News

Married businesswomen reveal they’ve been forced to add ‘Mrs’ to their names on LinkedIn to ward off unwanted advances from ‘creepy’ men http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-4973536/Businesswoman-forced-add-Mrs-LinkedIn-name.html
InsideSales, InsightSquared, SalesLoft Partner with LinkedIn http://www.destinationcrm.com/Articles/CRM-News/CRM-Across-the-Wire/InsideSales-InsightSquared-Partner-with-LinkedIn-121041.aspx

Interview with Nick Toman, co-Author of The Challenger Customer – EP. 114 - The Social Selling Podcast by Linking into Sales

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