Live Better. Sell Better.

Guest: Nikki Ivey

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikki-ivey/

Topic: The SDR Defender

Quick Intro: Ya’ll. Aint. Ready. I’m calling it right now, even if you think you are, you aren’t, because today we are sticking up for the little guy and gal. For the SDRs across the nation, I myself being a former SDR will always have a special place in my heart for it, but The Miss Nikki Ivey takes it to a whole new level. She is the founder of SDR Defenders, on the board of Sales 4 the Culture, a LinkedIN top 100 Sales star, SalesForce Influencer, a high-performing saleswoman in her own right, and a consultant to SDRs across the country! She has done the SDR game, the AE game, back to the SDR leadership game because she knows it truly is POE pipeline over everything, but also knows the other POE which is people over everything. We are going to dive deep into all things Sales Development, Nikki Ivey, Welcome to the show!

Short and Sweet/Set the stage

1. Why do SDR’s need ‘Defending’

Core Questions

1. What should an SDR do in their first 90 days?
2. How do you stand out as an SDR.
3. Messaging - How to do you break through all the noise
4. Call Reluctance - How do you help reps get over the fear of the phone.
5. Video - How do you leverage video in the prospecting process
6. Career Development - How can SDR’s get promoted to AE roles.
7. What should a NEW SDR really look for in a company?

The Tactical Tips: The Big 3.

If they were to forget everything in this episode except 3 things. What would those 3 things be?

Live Better Question: What is one piece of advice you’d give for someone to LIVE better as a salesperson.

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Guest: Brandon Roberts

LI:https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandon-roberts-sales-growth/

Topic: From Triple AAA Baseball to Big League Selling

Quick Intro: We are going to knock it out of the park today, and this is only the first of probably 50 baseball puns I’ll use on today’s episode. I am so excited to be chatting with Brandon Roberts, a former professional baseball player he has made the shift over to major league selling and scaling. He has used his background in baseball, applied the same mindset and skills to help scale one of the most successful sales dev. 2 exits, one IPO and hundreds of millions in revenue. He knows his stuff! His approach to selling, coaching and scaling is sure to help you strike out less, and hit more HR’s and I can’t wait to dive in. Brandon welcome to the show!

Short and Sweet/Set the stage

1. Why the shift from baseball to sales? Educate us on the similarities.

Core Questions

1. How should teams approach practice in a way that actually makes them better.
2. Sports Psychology - What did you learn there, that you use with your teams now?
3. How can we help develop the .300 mindset for salespeople.
4. How do you get out of a sales slump.
5. How can sales managers be better sales coaches?
6. The HOW over the What - I love this, lets get specific here, HOW can leaders become better leaders.

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Guest: Gabrielle Blackwell

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabrielleblackwell/

Topic: Gabrielle Blackwell - Truly putting the Sass into SaaS!

Quick Intro: Quite possibly the best play on words I’ve seen come from SaaS - SaaStress - embodying energy, enthusiasm, and a ‘keep it real’ mentality, Gabrielle has had a career trajectory that many would envy. From SDR to Manager in under 2 years! To now leading multiple teams, contributing to LI, RevCollective, RevGenius and the entire LI World. I believe leaders like Gabrielle are the future. Came through the trenches, know what it means to be an SDR and therefore know how to lead them. So with that, we’re about to get Saasy, let’s go!

Short and Sweet/Set the stage

1. What does it mean to be a SaaStress - How do you embody this day in and day out?

Core Questions

1. How do you help bring out that creative side of your reps.
2. Analytics - I saw one of your recommendations, I don’t always see that with sales dev leaders - What do you track, why, and what’s most important.
3. Sales Enablement to Sales Management - The opposite trend is occurring - Why the switch
4. What can Sales Managers learn from Sales Enablement
5. How do you coach your reps to get in front of busy prospects?
6. Cold Calling
7. How can an SDR accelerate their promotion path either at their company or another?
8. What skills should an SDR focus on developing and why?

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Guest: Marcus Knight

LI:https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcus-knight-4b07b04/

Topic: The Culture of Sales

Quick Intro: Marcus Knight, quite possibly the only person I know that has more side hustles than I do. But side hustle aren’t even the right term because they are FULL hustles. He is the founder of Cultured Perspective, the Chief Growth Officer at Black with No Chaser, Advisor to many top startups, Founding Member of Sales for the Culture, AND started a kids clothing line, my goodness! He is beyond passionate about bringing more culture into the sales world, and amplifying black voices, but what a lot of people don’t know is he is a hell of a sales leader too! Leading MM and Enterprise teams at Groupon, Talentbin, and Textio. So today we are talking culture, sales, and more. Marcus Knight, welcome to the show!

Short and Sweet/Set the stage

1. How do you do it all?! Most importantly, why do you do it all?

Core Questions

1. What type of cultures do you like to build in your teams, how would you describe it?
2. How do you actually do it!? How do you build the culture you want?!
3. Why is diversity so important to any thriving sales culture?
4. Prioritization - How do you choose what to work on and why?
5. How do you identify problems quickly and create plans to address them?
6. When was the trigger to go out on your own? How did you get over the fear to do so?

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Guest: Erynn Bell

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erynn-bell/

Topic: Collaboration to Domination!

Quick Intro: In music and in sports, when a collab happens, you know it’s about to be a whole new level of greatness! Collaboration leads to better ideas, creativity, problem-solving and more, but in sales and in business so often ‘silos’ form or the desire for credit takes away the actual result you’re looking for. That’s why I’m so pumped to be chatting with Erynn Bell today. When I asked her about her superpower, her response was collaboration. Hell Yes. Maybe that’s why she is a LinkedIn Sales Star, Sales Hacker Top Female Practitioner, and leading the charge as the director of Enterprise Sales at Degreed. We are going to get our collab on today, teach you how to do the same, and help you accomplish more than you ever could on your own. Let’s go!

Short and Sweet/Set the stage

1. Why is collaboration so important?

Core Questions

1. How can you be more proactive and intentional with it? How do you make SURE you are?
2. Why do people not collab as much as they should.
3. Internal Collaboration - How should it be done.
4. Collaborating with Data - Break this down for me, what does it mean and how do you do it?
5. Thinking Outside the Box - How do you actually make sure you’re not stuck with the ‘old way?’
6. External/Selling Collaboration - How can you collab to help close more deals.

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Guest: Mike Lever

LI:https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikelever1/

Topic: Selling is Easy. PEOPLE are complex

Quick Intro: Today we are talking about the HARDEST part of sales and sales leadership. PEOPLE. With all the focus on products, tools, personas, b2b, b2c etc the sales industry has lost sight of the underlying commonality which is people. People sell. People buy. That’s why I’m so excited to have Mike Lever on the show today. Mike is an EXPERT when it comes to human behavior, insights, and most importantly how to change ours and our prospect’s behavior for the better. A national speaker on buyer behavior, creator of the ABCD and 3TW Method. We’re going deep on psychology today ya’ll, let’s get it!

Short and Sweet/Set the stage

1. ABCD Behavior Model - What is it and why does it matter?

Core Questions

1. What are some of the human elements salespeople need to lean into more
2. Psychology - How can sales rep leverage to get more out of themselves
3. Psychology - How can they leverage to help close more deals.
4. Neuro-Economics! - How do people make buying decisions?
5. Neuro -Economics - How can salespeople leverage this knowledge to close more deals.
6. Behaviors - What are some seller behaviors that we need to establish or get away from?
7. How can we help influence the behavior of our prospects?

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Guest: Amy Volas

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amyvolas/

Topic: Executive Hiring and Getting Hired

Quick Intro: We’ve got Mrs Thursdaynight sales herself Amy Volas. A LinkedIn top sales voice. A sales hacker most dynamic woman in sales. A $100M+ closer who knows how to close big deals with the best of them. But most importantly just an amazing, genuine, humble and helpful person. I have turned to Amy a couple times over the past year or so when I need a good talking to, and she has always delivered. Amy is one of the best sales leadership placement, in the country. She helps start-ups hire the RIGHT VP for the Right stage they are in. but ALSO helps VPS’s land the roles that are best for THEM. We are going to talk hiring, firing, and more today, let’s go!

Short and Sweet/Set the stage

1. Where do YOU think the blame falls for this 18 month turn over

Core Questions

1. Why founders SHOULDN’T be responsible for the VP Hire
2. Where do companies go wrong when trying to attract top sales leadership?
3. What should they look for in a candidate/company and how to suss it out.
4. What are commonly missed red flags?
5. When should a company call it? When should a VP call it?
6. How do you determine if someone is the right fit for a company and vice versa?
7. Aspiring VP’s - what should they be doing NOW to get ready/build the resume
8. How to sell yourself in the interview process - Make them want you.

The Tactical Tips: The Big 3.

If they were to forget everything in this episode except 3 things. What would those 3 things be?

Live Better Question: What is one piece of advice you’d give for someone to LIVE better as a salesperson.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Guest: Charles Muhlbauer

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlesmuhlbauer/

Topic: Discovery.

Quick Intro: You know what they say, if you want to make money, then follow the money. I am a firm believer that in sales, the money isn’t in the follow-up, it’s in the discovery! That’s why I’m pumped to have Charles Muhlburger on the show today to talk all things discovery. He COMES from the money industry, doing big things at Morgan Stanely and then Enterprise selling to private equity. This guy gets how to generate serious revenue, but also gets discovery. So much so it’s damn near the only thing focuses on now as the Head Sales trainer at CB Insights. I’m excited to discover all he has to teach on discovery.

Short and Sweet/Set the stage

1. Why is discovery the foundation of EVERYTHING?!

Core Questions

1. 1. "ANOT" in the upfront contract
2. 2. A formula for asking my first problem question
3. 3. Using Humbling Disclaimers to ask tough questions
4. 4. A solid way to transition to next steps during a first discovery call
5. 5. The "I'd rather be more accurate than optimistic" approach
6. 6. The power of recapping and how it helps me listen better
7. 7. Pointing out what is being inferred or left unsaid (or the negative assumption recap)
8. 8. Always telling them we don't have to work together or that we might not be the best fit to work together.
9. 9. Asking for permission to ask a very direct question

The Tactical Tips: The Big 3.

If they were to forget everything in this episode except 3 things. What would those 3 things be?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Guest: Marcus Chan

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcuschanmba/

Topic: Selling ‘masterclass’ How to close more deals

Quick Intro: I’m pumped to have a fellow LI Top Sales Voice with me today, Marcus Chan. Not only is that award 100% deserved, he also has one of the most eyecatching and clever LI taglines - from speedos to 6 figure contracts. Why I’m so excited to have him on today tho is because Marcus understands PEOPLE. He understands psychology, mindset, behavior modification and influence. To the level where not only has HE seen massive success, but now he coaches sales reps to help them sometimes double or triple their income by following his prove process. He’s here’ to share that process with us today.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Guest: John Barrows

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnbarrows/

Topic: The Realest Salesman in the Game - How to keep it real to sell more.

Quick Intro: I’m pumped to have a good friend of my on the show today. I’ve dubbed him one the ‘realest’ salesman in the game. From the 1st day we actually met, we clicked, and it’s because of how much we value our profession, value our salespeople, and value authenticity and realness. John Barrows in one of the top sales trainers in the game. Working with the big boys, but also creating courses and content for the individual contributor.The way he teaches sales is no fluff, no BS, no ‘it works in a book, but not real life’ he teaches what works NOW! So Pumped to have him on the show!

Short and Sweet/Set the stage

1. Why is being real so important in sales.

Core Questions

1. How can a rep make a script their own? Thoughts on scripts?
2. The 1st 10 seconds of a cold call, what do you have to do
3. Crafting a strong sales email - What’s the formula here
4. What are most sales reps NOT doing that they should be doing
5. How do you see sales changing over the next 2-3 years.
6. Alot of people are posting content about sales, what’s your take on that?
7. What could big company reps learn from start up reps, and vice versa. You’ve seen and worked with both.

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