No BS Sales School

If there was only one sales advice that you could take with you, let it be this: don’t make it about you. In this episode of the No BS Sales Podcast, Walker talks to entrepreneur, podcaster, and author Rob Napoli about forming healthy business relationships, practicing the giver mindset, and putting your client first. 

Whether you’re a seller trying to meet quota or a new entrepreneur learning the ropes, it’s best to let the other person do most of the talking. Just remember: in sales, it’s never about you. 

HIGHLIGHTS

• Friendships vs Healthy Business Relationships
• How to balance the business and personal side of relationships
• Be more of a giver instead of a taker 
• In sales, it's never about you
• The challenge of being an entrepreneur
• Always be validating your idea

QUOTES

Walker on making friends vs healthy business relationships: "The same people that say 'I want to make friends with my prospects' would say with the other side of their mouth, 'you can't do business with friends.' What they're really saying is: 'I don't want to have to sell anybody anything, I want them to just to come to me and buy it.'"

Rob recalling his time as a younger seller: "I've always been a good networker. But there was a time when I was a taker versus when I became a giver. That giver mentality, that is making it about them, always. Because I used to bring it back to me."

Rob on the challenges that new founders face: "Founders have a lot of pressure as an entrepreneur learning the business. If you're not a native seller, if you're trying to sell in a new market that's not your native language, all these challenges, it's really easy to do the exact thing you're talking about not to do, which is making it about me. Like, practice this, I can save you time. I can save you money. I can do this."

Where to find Rob and other resources:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robnap/
• The Bear Necessities of Entrepreneurship (Podcast): https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bear-necessities-of-entrepreneurship/id1569103336
• Book: https://www.amazon.com/Social-Soul-Professional-Intentionality-Authenticity/dp/1513690299

Where to find Walker:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Free training course
• www.walkermckay.com

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It’s the cold, hard truth: most people aren’t qualified to buy your product or service. Maybe they’re just not in enough pain, or they may not have the buying power yet. So why treat every single prospect with equal effort and time? In this episode of the No BS Sales School podcast, Walker talks about the need for sellers to be better at disqualifying prospects and what to do to keep your pipeline filled. 

HIGHLIGHTS

• Sellers need to get better at disqualifying prospects too
• Most people are not qualified to buy from you
• Look for prospects are motivated enough to do something
• Search for and play up to your unfair advantage
• Don't just be a quote shop
• Scared of disqualifying clients? Build your pipeline

QUOTES

Walker on disqualifying incompatible prospects: "Everybody talks about qualify, qualify, qualify. Great, fine. That's neat. Qualify intends — that word means that we've got to do some work to qualify them. Well, let me share something with you: most people aren't qualified."

Walker on ensuring that you get a response from prospects: "Before you give your proposal, before you give your numbers, tell them how you're gonna fix their problem — make sure that you know that you're gonna get a yes or a no once they see it."

Walker's advice for sellers who are scared of disqualifying prospects: "Go prospect. Get in front of people. Build your pipeline. Differentiate yourself. Some will buy, some won't, so what, who's next? The scariest part is when you don't have a 'who's next'."

Where to find Walker:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Free training course
• www.walkermckay.com

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Recent supply chain issues have made salespeople complacent. Just because demand is higher than current inventory doesn’t mean you should stop prospecting! In this episode of the No BS Sales School podcast, Walker talks about having the urgency to prepare for the next economic cycle. Because nobody knows what’s next, but it probably won’t be for the better. 

HIGHLIGHTS

• You should definitely be preparing for the next economic cycle 
• Salespeople have become lazy order takers 
• Inflation is making things more difficult, but sellers can always work harder 
• The time to build healthy relationships with people is now 

QUOTES

Walker's advice for sellers: "The thing about sales, always, if you're doing this right, there always needs to be a sense of urgency. A sense of urgency to find the next deal. A sense of urgency to bring to a close what we have and figure out whether or not is this deal real, or is this deal not real? Do I need to keep spending time on it, or is this something I need to move on?"

Walker on sellers have become complacent due to supply chain issues: "It's my firm belief that the way that the world is going, the way that they're progressing with technology, if the only way you're selling stuff is through a bid process, if you're filling out bids and filling out this and that, RFPs, if that's what it is, if that's your main sales activity, you're gonna be replaced by AI. You will not have a job. You shouldn't."

Walker on why sellers need to develop a sense of urgency today: "You can't blame the economy, you can't blame your company. You can't blame your stupid customers. Things are changing. I don't know what it's changing to, but it ain't getting better."

Where to find Walker:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Free training course
• www.walkermckay.com

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

Networking events are often a waste of time. Usually, it’s just an excuse for salespeople to hang out, drink free beer and pretend that they’re working. That being said, if you have a plan, it is possible to get business from these events. In this episode of the No BS Sales podcast, Walker McKay talks about the kinds of people you should meet, the right state of mind to have, and what you should look forward to doing in a networking event. 

HIGHLIGHTS

• Networking events are often a waste of time
• Always set a goal before going in 
• The kinds of people you should meet
• Most people are takers, but you should be a giver
• You don't really need to make friends
• Look for passionate people and learn from them

QUOTES

Walker on his mindset when joining networking events: "If I go somewhere and be around people, and I want to consider it a business thing, I'll go in with the idea [that if] I'm gonna walk in the door, I'm working until I meet two people that I can call about business within the next 48 hours."

Why we should be looking to give, not to take from others: "I think the right way [is to be] a giver. To be somebody who looks for opportunities to help other people. Givers are people who believe that there's an unlimited amount of success in the world. That there's plenty out there for everybody, no reason to hoard it for ourselves." 

Walker on spending time getting to know others: "If you've spent a bunch of time trying to understand who they are, what they like and what they don't, your chances of getting that meeting are way higher. Get better at that, it'll make you  a better human being, not just a salesperson."

Where to find Walker:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Free training course
• www.walkermckay.com

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

Deals fall apart all the time, but that doesn't mean they hurt any less. In this episode of the No BS Sales School, Walker talks about getting over the frustration of losing a deal, and making sure that your pipeline is healthy enough to cushion the impact. As long as you're setting more appointments with the correct mindset, you'll probably be just fine.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Sellers lose deals all the time
• Have a two minute funeral
• Fix your pipeline by setting more appointments 
• Be a gracious loser
• Be there to learn, not to sell

QUOTES

Walker's advice for whenever you lose a sale: "If you lose a sale and it hurts, have a two-minute funeral. Go wherever you need to go to be by yourself, maybe in your car or wherever else. And if you want to scream and cry and beat the steering wheel and bitch and moan and whine for two minutes: go do it. Get it out of the way. Let it go. Bury it. Then move one." 

Walker on the reason why losing one deal can be catastrophic: "Whenever you lose a deal that you were counting on and it ruins your day, and then just attempts to ruin your week or more, the problem was not with that deal. The problem is usually with your pipeline. The problem is you don't have enough going on."

Walker's advice for setting sales appointments: "Don't go into those sales appointments to go sell people stuff. You're doing it wrong. Go into those sales appointments with the idea that you are going to learn."

Where to find Walker:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Free training course
• www.walkermckay.com

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

Most people know that LinkedIn is a powerful tool to find, connect, and engage with your prospect clients. What most people miss is how to do it in a way that actually gets you results. In this episode, Walker talks to LinkedIn expert and the founder and Principalof McMillion Consulting, Lindsey McMillion Stemann to reveal how she actually uses the platform, and how you can replicate her success. 

HIGHLIGHTS

• An unlikely friendship
• LinkedIn is not a magic bullet
• Lindsey's sales journey and how she found LinkedIn
• Automation can be helpful when used correctly
• Your prospects can tell that you're using a bot
• Your audience doesn't care about you yet
• Don't forget your follow-ups
• Tips for the kind of content that you should be posting

QUOTES

Lindsey on what LinkedIn really is for: "It's just keeping in mind that LinkedIn is just a tool. It's an entry point for conversation. I would have to say that anyone who I've worked with in the last almost 10 years, doing what I've been doing: the goal is to get offline, schedule the zoom meeting or the phone call or the in-person meeting. I've seen more and more often people forgetting that." 

Lindsey on the pitfalls of automation in LinkedIn outreach: "I don't want to go down the whole path of talking about automation and all that. But I do think when automation is used well, it can be an additive and a helpful tool. But I see so many people using it the wrong way and abusing it and assuming that it is the only way to get those appointments on the calendar." 

Walker on the negative effects of using a bot for your outreach: "We on the receiving end, we can tell when it's a bot. We know when it's not sincere. And so we go back to that person, if we do at all with an insincere response back. You give what you get." 

Where to find Lindsey  and other resources:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindseystemann/
• 9 Weekly Habits To become a LinkedIn MVP (Free Guide): https://www.linkedintoit.com/mvp

Where to find Walker:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Free training course
• www.walkermckay.com

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

In this episode of the No BS Sales School podcast, Walker shares two lessons in sales which if applied correctly, are game changing advice. Stop relying on old cliches that don’t work or may even negatively impact your bottom line. This is the correct way to sell: the No BS way. 

HIGHLIGHTS

• The customer is not always right 
• Always ask for something return
• Be the guide, not the hero
• Always listen to your customer

QUOTES

Walker on the golden rule of selling: "I was taught early in my sales career about the golden rule, which was, “He with the gold, rules”. So if a buyer wanted you to do something, then you just did it. They say jump, you say, how high? I would say that that was bad advice." 

Walker on making your client the hero of the story: "Instead of even shooting for hero, make your client the hero for choosing you. Make them the hero. Celebrate them. Sales is never about you, the salesperson. Sales is always about the prospect." 

Walker on the value of listening: "Everybody's walked a different life path, everybody's gotten where they are in a different way. They have different life experiences and if you assume that they're the same, you're gonna miss something." 

Where to find Walker:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Free training course
• www.walkermckay.com

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In any sales situation it’s always good to come prepared. And there’s no better way to do that than to arm yourself with everything there is to know about your product. However, try not to overdo it. In this episode of the No BS Sales Podcast, Walker warns sellers about bombarding their customers with too much information about the product or service that they’re selling instead of letting them tell you what they need to know. 

HIGHLIGHTS

• Sometimes, not knowing is better 
• Be sincerely curious
• It's about the client, not the product
• The virtue of having a beginner's mind

QUOTES

Walker on sellers who talk too much about their products:  "When you sell a product or even a service, what we do is we let the damn product or service get in the way. We want to talk way too much about the service or the product and not ask enough about the prospect."

Walker on the need for sellers to be genuinely curious: "Being sincerely curious, having your prospect understand that you're trying to understand them. Even if you've seen it a million times before, it's so easy as a salesperson to get clinical and to know exactly what the answer is as soon as the person asks the first question. But here's the point: maybe you do know the answer. But if you give the answer too quickly before they feel that you understand them, before they feel fully understood, there's a barrier between you."

Walker on adopting a beginner's mind: "Spend your time asking questions trying to understand your prospect, where they're coming from. Make them feel understood. Be sincerely curious. Go into every single call with a beginner's mind. Go to learn, not to teach."

Where to find Walker:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Free training course
• www.walkermckay.com

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In case you’re wondering, it’s not the economy: it’s you. You and your lack of commitment to success is the only thing standing between you and success. In this episode of the No BS Sales School podcast, Walker talks about pursuing your dreams by committing yourself to it with everything you’ve got. There’s no sugarcoating it: there will be a lot of setbacks, it’s going to take longer than you’ve ever imagined, and you will have to sacrifice a lot of things. But if you understand why you’re doing something and you’re committed, then you’re halfway there. 

HIGHLIGHTS

• Do it, or don't; you'll have regrets either way
• It's better to experience failure early
• Walker's personal story of failure 
• It's not the economy, it's you

QUOTES

Walker's advice for when you're having second thoughts: "If you're gonna do something, and you're committed to success, you'll do whatever the hell it takes." 

Walker on experiencing difficulty early on: "I would say it's an advantage if things are hard when you start because then you recognize when you win how important that is and how good that feels."

Walker on why he failed in the real estate business: "I realized, with some reflection, I was not committed to being successful in that business. I knew that because I was making excuses why I hadn't. It was the economy, it was the company, it was my experience level."

Where to find Walker:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Free training course
• www.walkermckay.com

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

Maybe it’s true that nobody buys during the holidays, but that doesn’t mean that you can stop selling. The work you do (or lack thereof) from Thanksgiving all the way to the end of the year will dictate how well you do during the first quarter of next year. So before you decide to take it easy, heed Walker’s warning first and maybe you won’t have to learn the lesson like he did. 

HIGHLIGHTS

• The work you do during the holidays will pay off next year
• Call the clients you love 
• Call your existing clients 
• Call and fire the clients you hate 
• Check on your partners and look for ways to help

QUOTES

Walker: "I'm embarrassed to say that some 10 years ago, I told myself, or I reminded myself that nobody buys anything from the end of November until January. And so I didn't freaking try. Maybe that wasn't a conscious thought but it was subconscious. I quit prospecting, I quit calling on people. I quit asking for referrals. But guess what happened at the end of the year and first quarter. Nothing." 

Walker: "Call and fire the customers that you have now that are time-wasters and not profitable. I know you have some. You have some clients right now, some customers that are a pain in your butt, don't value you, cause a lot of drama, beat you up, don't pay on time, don't pay at all, always want low price, never happy, they're a customer service nightmare, they make your heart sink whenever the phone rings. Bless them, and release them." 

Walker: "Be known as somebody who wants to help. Be known as a giver. Be known that it's a decision that we make to be a giver. I believe that when two givers or three givers get together, they can make each other hell of a lot of money. It makes business a lot more fun too." 

Where to find Walker:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Free training course
• www.walkermckay.com

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