It's Time to Sell Podcast: Strategies for 21st Century Selling

Show notes:

[03:05] Using social selling to create revenue

[06:20] Social selling isn’t data mining!

[06:35] How to incorporate social selling into the your sales process

[09:12] How Jack changed the direction of his sales career as a result of social selling

[14:36] A day in the life of a social seller

[17:45] Are you trying to make your sales leader happy? Or are you trying to make the buyer happy?

[21:00] What’s going on in sales today

[24:47] Creation Agency

[26:10] Marketing and Sales

[31:36] It’s time for sales people and sales leadership to wake up.

[32:39] Social selling for the solopreneur

[37:05] Jack’s social selling advice

Mentions:

Check out Jack’s website at http://www.jackkosakowski.com/

Follow Jack on Twitter @JackKosakowski1 and LinkedIn

Creation Agency

Today I bring a very special guest to the program – Calvin Simpson. Calvin and I go back roughly a year or so on LinkedIn and most recently we decided to record a podcast episode.

Calvin is the author of a great book called Life Through The Eyes of a Smile – a book that will lead you down a daily path to creating a richer and more successful life.

In this episode, we delve into the happiness of pursuing a career in entrepreneurship and sales. So sit back, relax, and enjoy.

Click To Tweet:

On accountability: be upfront with one another @chrisspurvey

“If you have anything you want to do now, get out and DO IT.”

“If there’s a desire you have or something that you’ve been waiting to do, stop waiting and just do it now.”

“I decided to embrace a definition of success as more of the progressive realization of a worthy goal.” @chrisspurvey

“What’s the best, happiest memory you have?”

Show notes:

[04:24] Calvin’s background and introduction

[05:55] Putting smiles on other people’s facesC

[07:49] Exuding happiness

[09:05] Calvin’s chat with an 80-year-old woman on a park bench

[11:08] Don’t take things for granted

[12:30] The experience that gave Calvin a new perspective in life

[20:44] Personal branding and thought leadership

[22:32] Your blog + social media platforms

[24:05] Distribute your content on multiple platforms

[24:33] Building business relationships through LinkedIn

[25:12] How to connect on LinkedIn

[25:56] Don’t be afraid of connecting with people you don’t know

[29:09] Waking up early and having a morning routine

[31:08] Personal vs professional/business-oriented content

[33:11] Some of my best content are stories about my personal life

[37:31] A couple of questions for me from Calvin

Mentions:

Visit Calvin’s website at http://www.calvinsimpson.com/

Follow Calvin on Twitter @eyesofasmile and LinkedIn

Life Through The Eyes of a Smile by Calvin Simpson

Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki

You 2: A High Velocity Formula for Multiplying Your Personal Effectiveness in Quantum Leaps by Price Pritchett

The Lean Startup by Eric Ries

Wooden on Leadership: How to Create a Winning Organization by John Wooden

beBee

Today I have a fireside chat with Mary Jane Copps, popularly known as The Phone Lady.

Mary Jane is a teacher, speaker, writer, coach and an expert in telephone communication. She gives individuals and corporations the ability to have a powerful presence on the phone, helping them become excellent at sales, fundraising, customer service and a lot more.

On this episode, Mary Jane tells us how she was introduced to sales and became effective in utilizing the phone as a communication mechanism.

She also gives some advice on how to approach “defensive” clients and overcome the challenges you may face during a cold call.

Click to Tweet:

“There are guidelines…that make a phone call work, and if you don’t follow them, the conversation won’t work.”

“You’re dealing with a medium that doesn’t have body language, and because of that you need to communicate differently.”

“If you wanna get their attention, you need to understand that and be empathetic to it, as opposed to pushy.”

“I never sell anything in one phone call.”

“As an entrepreneur, your first job is to let your potential market know you exist.”

Show notes:

[05:54] How to overcome the negative associations with sales and cold-calling

[06:21] Communicating over the phone is an essential skill

[07:11] How Mary Jane started out in sales

[07:48] Transitioning from being a real estate journalist to an entrepreneur

[10:20] The psychology behind sales calls

[11:00] The three challenges you face when making sales calls

[11:38] We are all experiencing “decision fatigue”; don’t be pushy

[13:24] How to approach clients who are avoiding you

[14:08] What to do (or not to do) when a prospect becomes defensive during a call

[15:28] Two questions you need to answer quickly.

[16:15] What is a cold call?

[20:21] Let your audience know you exist and pull them towards you

“Whether they hire me or not is not within my control; what is in my control is getting The Phone Lady information on the table.”

[23:00] The value of B2B communication

[24:38] Where does story-telling fit in a cold call?

[27:05] Let your (potential) customers know who your customers are

[28:38] Do it yourself first and define your process

Mentions:

Check out Mary Jane’s website at http://thephonelady.com/

Follow Mary Jane on Twitter @thephoneladyca and LinkedIn

The Phone Book: Essential Telephone Communication Skills by Mary Jane Copps

beBee

Today I have a fireside chat with Phill Keene.

Phill is the Manager of Demand Generation at TinderBox, a cloud-based productivity suite that transforms how companies sell.

On this episode, Phill tells his story about how he got started in sales, the emergence of smart buyers and how to communicate with your audience.

He also shares his advice to non-salespeople when it comes to selling.

“Go ahead and tell your story.” @PhillKeene w/ @ChrisSpurvey on #ItsTimeToSell #Podcast

“I don’t want the full marketing mumbo-jumbo – just tell me what you want and let’s have a conversation.” @PhillKeene

“The thing that will keep you in the game is if you have a WHY.” @ChrisSpurvey

Show notes:

[01:43] Phill tells us about his background in sales

[02:28] “It’s in my bloodline…I’m a fourth generation salesperson.”

[04:40] The stigma built around the sales profession

[06:13] “There’s a certain level of ego and confidence that has to come with being good in sales.”

[07:09] Use social media as a bridge that connects your story to your audience

[08:20] Salespeople should adapt to the ever-changing dynamics of selling.

[09:50] How to communicate with your customers

[11:02] “I don’t want the full marketing mumbo-jumbo – just tell me what you want and let’s have a conversation.”

[11:50] Writing to serve, not to sell

[15:02] Phill’s golden advice for non-salespeople

[18:45] Start with ‘WHY’ – that is your North Star.

[23:58] The importance of your first boss.

[27:11] Let TinderBox help you with sales.

Mentions:

TinderBox

Follow Phill on Medium, Twitter and LinkedIn

Gary Vaynerchuck

Derek Grant of Salesloft

Check out Phill’s articles on Saleshacker

Simon Sinek’s TedTalk: Start With Why

Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek

I welcome you to join our Facebook community to discuss this newsletter and share relevant personal experiences. Click here.

I hope you’re having a great weekend. Did you do anything to sharpen your saw, as Stephen Covey says?

I’m reading Adam Grant’s new book, titled Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World. I like it!. It debunks many of the myths, which have been baked into our minds, of what it takes to make original things happen in our lives. For example, many of the more successful people in history were actually procrastinators. Martin Luther King, Jr. was still writing his most famous speech as he walked up to the podium!

While I am thinking about it, let me tell you that this coming Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. EST I will present an exclusive webinar with my good friend Amanda Maynard. The topic is “Creating a Raving Fan Base Using LinkedIn.” I will describe my experience with LinkedIn and suggest ways to use the social network to create a foundation of fans who will buy from you even when you’re not selling. If you’d like to join in, click here to register in advance.

For the last couple Sundays, I’ve been writing in this newsletter about a formula for achieving whatever we desire in our lives. As a reminder, here’s that formula again:

Last week, we talked about self-motivation.

This week, let’s talk about vision. What is it? Basically, vision is how we see ourselves, on the screen of the mind, acting, doing, and being in the various areas of our lives.

As humans, we think in pictures. Think about that for a moment. Think about your vehicle. Think about your refrigerator. Even though those things aren’t in front of you right now, you’re able to pass through the walls of your house and see them just as if they were. A vision is simply an extension of this phenomenon.

Diets rarely work; although we force ourselves to make short-term changes in our actions, we have not changed the picture we have, on the screen of the mind, for ourselves. If, like me, you have struggled with your weight over the years without any medical reason, it all boils down to the picture you have for yourself on the screen of your mind. You gravitate toward that image.

So, this week’s question: Is your present vision positive, neutral, or negative?

Based on my experience, the easiest way to determine the direction of a vision is to look at the results. Results don’t lie.

Are you growing in your business or career? Things to think about include income, fulfillment, title, ability to help others, sales revenue, and so on.

Are you becoming healthier, or is your age a determinant of your health? We do not have to become less healthy as we grow older. Things to think about include body weight, waistline, endurance, and whether you feel good or feel bad.

Is your family prospering? Is your relationship with your spouse going in the right direction? Are you happier with your spouse today than you were yesterday? How are your kids doing? Are you positively contributing to their lives?

Are you generating wealth? Is your net worth increasing or decreasing? Are you giving back to society?

Every now and then, sit back and ask ourselves the hard questions. Your honest answers to these questions provide a glimpse into your vision.

Take some time today to be honest with yourself.

Can you honestly say to yourself that you have a positive vision for the various areas of your life? If you’re willing to share, let’s be honest with each other in the Facebook community that I mentioned at the beginning of today’s newsletter.

Have a great week.

Chris

An entrepreneur wears many hats: idea formation, idea promotion, idea building, idea delivery, idea scaling, idea restructuring, and so on. Entrepreneurs have within themselves experiences that, if shared with others, can provide immense value to their personal brands, their companies’ brands, other entrepreneurs, and prospective clients.

With the explosive growth of social networks, we are relying increasingly on ecosystems of connections to find what we need to thrive. Therefore, entrepreneurs need to get their story out there so that it can be found by prospective clients.

Just yesterday, I decided that I needed to invest in some webinar technology. Rather than spending the time to research all of the options, I asked a couple of my friends—people in my network—what they use and whether they would endorse it. One product quickly rose to the top. The entrepreneur who developed the technology has been putting his story out there for the last few years. His story resonates, people learn from it, and he has built a thriving company around it.

Another company that has seen some impressive growth recently offers a software-as-a-service solution for help desks. The owner of that company began writing while the company was in its infancy and documented the trials and tribulations toward a viable solution. Many people have gone along for the ride and learned from the experience. When it comes time to purchase help-desk software, those followers likely will do business with this company and recommend it to other people in their networks.

In early 2014, I decided that it was finally time to write the book I had dreamed about for so long. As part of the writing process, I documented my own personal story and realized, to my surprise, that there was a lot in it that other people could benefit from. I began to blog about the topics of sales, relationship building, personal branding, and motivation. I integrated my many personal stories into my articles, and people began to come along for the ride. My following consisted of only a few people in the early days, but it grew as time went on. When it came time to launch my book, I had a foundation of people who could not wait to get their hands on the book. LinkedIn is full of people just like me who share their stories and experiences for the benefit of others.

If you’re like the many people I have spoken with about this topic over the past twelve to eighteen months, you’re saying “But I can’t write” or “But I don’t have time to write” or you’re asking “What would I write about?”

There are quick answers to all of these excuses and questions:

In my opinion, entrepreneurs who have the desire to create and grow a company, to make a company thrive, must first have in their hearts the desire to help others. One of the earliest steps you can take is writing and sharing the journey. If you do it well, there will be a line out the door on opening day.

Do you agree that entrepreneurs need to share their journeys by writing about them, that they should make it a priority? Have you come across any good examples that you can share?

Have you kicked off February with the same energy that you kicked off January?

Ohhh, . . . did that question strike a chord in you? Be honest.

If I’m being entirely honest with myself, which I’m trying to be, I have to say the answer to that question for me is no. If I had to put a number on it, I would say I’m operating at about 80% of the energy I had last month.

I suppose that’s not too bad. But imagine if I operated for the majority of the year at 100% of the energy level I started with!

Imagine if you did too! What would your results look like by the end of 2016?

Take your time reading this email. Instead of skimming it, read each word, looking at the message as a mirror of how this concept applies to you.

Last week we talked about success and how success is not the destination. Success is the consistent movement toward ideals or pictures that we have in our minds. You can form an ideal, a vision, for your health, wealth, family, sales, business, and so forth. Hopefully, by now you have formed some ideals in your mind (and on paper) for all of the key areas of your life.

Now, sit back and think about the characteristics you require to achieve the ideal. What are they? Answer this question before you move on.

My mind gravitates toward words from my friend Richard Brooke’s book Mach II With Your Hair On Fire: The Art of Vision & Self Motivation: physical energy, enthusiasm, creativity, courage, and persistence. There is an umbrella word for all of these characteristics: self-motivation. Self-motivation is the energy inside of us that gets us to act powerfully.

Do you agree that if we had an abundance of physical energy, enthusiasm, creativity, courage, and persistence we would gravitate, very naturally, toward the ideals we have set for ourselves?

Allow me to share my personal experience. Please don’t read it and say, “Oh, there’s Spurvey tooting his own horn.” I’m only sharing it with you as an example of how the formula can work. I suppose that I could share a failure in the area of my physical fitness too. But I don’t think that example would be quite as empowering. You see, this formula works in both directions: positive and negative.

About two years ago, I began to form an ideal in my mind. I wanted to take my personal sales story (both the good and the bad) and share it with others who are involved in entrepreneurial or sales pursuits. I saw that sharing as the best use of my natural gifts and the skills I had developed over the previous twenty years. I also saw it as something that would be rewarding from both an intrinsic and an extrinsic perspective. I formed a vision and, lo and behold, self-motivation in the form of physical energy, enthusiasm, creativity, courage, and persistence began to pour forth from me. I had applied the exact same methodology in 2006 when I originally dove into the sales profession.

Signs that I am on the right track are showing up consistently in my life. My network is evolving, resulting in powerful, positive people coming into my life for me to collaborate with. Opportunities for me to share my experiences with groups of people are showing up on a weekly basis. Here is last week’s Forbes article that tells my story. I’m quite proud to be written about, and I’d be honored if you shared the article on social media.

I think it’s safe to say that the methodology of forming ideals, or visions, works. Do you agree?

Self-motivation flows when we have a crystal-clear vision in line with our values, gifts, and purpose.

Reflect on this email for a few minutes. Look at your past successes and failures through the lens of self-motivation.

Next Sunday we’ll talk about vision.

Have a great week.

Chris

A couple of weeks ago, I had a phone call with a friend I had met here on LinkedIn. He was going to be interviewed the next day for an account manager role at a thriving technology company. He asked for my advice on how to approach the interview.

Here’s the situation: John describes himself as a creative type. He’s very good at thinking on his feet, and he’s confident in his ability to build genuine relationships that grow a business. However, the sales VP who would be interviewing him is extremely process-oriented. His focus is on pipeline analytics; business intelligence; strengths-weaknesses-opportunities-threats (SWOT) analysis, and so on. John was nervous that this particular VP would perceive John’s creative side as a weakness rather than a strength.

I asked John about his beliefs regarding sales processes, creativity, and relationship building. I learned that, although John believes there is a place for process and analytics in account management, he doesn’t believe that those things make an account manager successful.

I couldn’t agree more.

By and large, creativity and relationship-building skills are ones that you either have deep within your core or don’t have at all. Sure, over time, someone can acquire some of the skills required to be partly effective at these things. However, it takes far longer to acquire these skills than to learn how to integrate process and analytics into the sales function.

My advice to John was to go into the interview and use his natural gifts of genuine relationship building and creativity as his competitive advantages. I suggested that he agree with the VP that processes and pipeline management are important but not fake an opinion that they make a good account manager. I also told him that it was very likely that, given that this VP is successful at what he does (he has been in the role during the company’s five years of continuous growth), he would likely agree with such an opinion 100%.

John spent the evening visualizing, on the “screen” of his mind, his interaction with the VP. The next morning, he played out the interview exactly as he had envisioned. Two days later, he received an offer.

My belief is that relationship building and creativity are at the core of most successful sales professionals. The rest can be picked up along the way.

What do you think?

Anyone who has spent more than a month in a customer-facing role has had to deal with a not-so-happy customer. According to my research, it is the #1 reason that people move out of such roles and into the comfort of the back office.

Just last week, I had coffee with an entrepreneur who was having a rough week dealing with a not-so-satisfied “difficult” customer. The situation had gotten to the point where it was affecting not only his morale but the morale of his start-up’s entire team.

There’s no magic bullet to resolve all difficult client interactions. However, there are a few principles that can form a solid foundation for client satisfaction. Here are the four principles that I shared with that entrepreneur:

Overselling does not happen to only the most extroverted of us. The reality is that the tendency toward overselling is quite natural. We live and breathe our products or services day in and day out. We believe in them so much that, oftentimes, when we get an opening we flood our prospective clients with too much information. This may come in the form of throwing out every feature and benefit of the product or service, providing a bulletproof answer to every objection, cutting price to seal the deal, bad-mouthing the competition, and so on. Taking any of these things too far is overselling, and overselling is bound to come back to haunt you. A calm and cool approach, in which the client knows you want their business but knows you don’t need their business to survive, is best. Having the guts to take such an approach requires that you be serious about your business development activity and always have a steady stream of prospective clients in your pipeline.

In survival mode, landing a customer and then immediately moving on to the next is easy. And, to some extent, it is necessary. However, you should scale in such a way that you ensure consistent dialogue with your existing customers. Be there to raise the questions that they may have before they even realize that they have them. Set the expectation that you’ll be there to work through any issues that may arise. Be there to ensure that your product solves the problem it’s designed to fix. Too many sales professionals get the client’s signature and then disappear. This gives the sales profession a bad rap, and the compounding effect of it is astronomical.

This tip is closely linked to tip #2, but the timing is critical. Honesty and integrity are the key ingredients for a successful client relationship. In my experience, if the first person you call when you see an issue is your client, by and large it will work in your favor. If within your control, do not let things escalate to the point that the client is calling you to tell you about issues. Nip issues in the bud.

Recognize that fear and creativity are mutually incompatible. The only way to achieve maximum results in any relationship is for both parties to feel free and equal. Those are two powerful words: free and equal. Master-slave relationships do not work. The objective of any entrepreneur or sales professional in dealing with his or her clients should be to achieve a relationship in which both parties feel free and equal—in which the client is obtaining maximum benefit and the entrepreneur is rewarded for providing that benefit. This all goes back to laying a proper foundation. The best sales professionals are good at creating free and equal relationships with clients. Those relationships can be created only when the sales professional takes to heart the best interests of the clients rather than trying to one-up them.

I ended my previous article with the following: This is not rocket science. However, there is a lot of gold in the obvious, because most people overlook it.

I think that is a perfect ending to this episode, too.

Larry Levine has been in the copier sales business for over 27 years. He learned early on he had to stand out from the crowd in order to make a long lasting impression. He asked important questions and learned from his potential client base what they liked and didn't like about the 'typical copier salesman' and adapted. He took these skills and with the help of a mentor, he brought his personal story to LinkedIn and has been making a huge impact since. Larry tells Chris that he achieved everything he's done on LinkedIn utilizing the free version and it wasn't until four months ago did he start paying for LinkedIn's premium services.

Key Takeaways:

[2:15] Please subscribe to Chris's newsletter to be notified when new podcast episodes are out.

[2:55] How did Larry get into sales?

[9:40] Larry's first year in the copier business was pure hell.

[12:15] How did Larry get successful in the copier business?

[16:30] Make the effort to stand out from the rest.

[18:15] Larry would ask his potential clients what they liked and didn't like about a copier sales people.

[22:40] We always operate on some sort of fear. Use it as fuel.

[26:00] Larry doesn't have a Facebook.

[30:50] Finding a mentor was the best thing that happened to Larry.

[35:10] Larry's mentor helped him get his jump start online.

[37:15] Larry got rid of his website when he found out about LinkedIn. Why spend money?

[39:10] If your client base isn't answering the phone, find out where they are hanging out online.

[40:30] Always personalize your invite request.

[41:10] Larry grew his LinkedIn presence using the free version of LinkedIn.

[43:55] You want your potential buyer to learn everything they can about you while they're on your LinkedIn profile.
[45:55] Use LinkedIn to connect to hard to reach people.

[46:50] Over 50% of Larry's revenue came from relationships built on LinkedIn.

[50:50] So many people don't know how to use LinkedIn correctly.

[54:00] Turn a cold call into a warm call by learning as much as you can about somebody.

[55:45] Larry's blog posts are his life stories and lessons he's learned.

[58:00] People love to talk about themselves.

[58:40] Quit chasing the sales funnel and chase the relationship funnel.

Mentioned In This Episode:

http://www.chrisspurvey.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/its-21st-century-your-sales-team-stuck-1990s-larry-levine

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-find-sales-mentor-linkedin-chris-spurvey?trk=prof-post

https://www.linkedin.com/in/larrylevine1992?trk=pulse-det-athr_prof-art_hdr

https://twitter.com/larry1levine

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/paranoia-paralyzing-larry-levine?trk=mp-reader-card