Podcast – Greg Martinelli

5 Motivations to keep going and when to quit

Successful salespeople are generally motivated people.  They have a drive to succeed.  As their managers, we try to motivate them in various ways:  Sales meetings, financial incentives, pep talks, etc.  Some work sometimes, but none of them work every time.  The reason is based on the motivation theory that you can’t really motivate another person.  Motivation comes from inside each person’s mind.  What motivates me may not motivate my fellow salesperson. 

So then, what to do and how to motivate our sales brain?

Listen in as we discuss five ways to generate internal motivations to succeed in building your sales territory!

Using the golden rule of improv to help you sell

If you want to improve your selling skills, find your local improv group and participate in one of their workshops. 

Performers have to be quick on their feet.  They have to react quickly to changing topics and physical movement of the other performers.  Sometimes props are brought into the performance, which adds new dimensions and directions.  Audience involvement is often solicited to get them engaged in the performance.  The randomness of it all can lead to slow moments from a comedy perspective, as well as hilarious moments. 

Doesn’t that sound a lot like selling?  The prospect knows why you are there – to sell them something.  However, they don’t know where you are going with your sales call.  You think you know where you are going with it, but you truly don’t know for sure.  Will it get shut down in the first few seconds or will you be there for an hour, or more? 

Listen in as we discuss how to use an improv session or role-play exercise to improve your selling skills.

And how to minimize or remove them

Every business has a bottleneck. 

Your sales territory is a business, and it has bottlenecks. What about you and your territory?  If you are selling $1 million in products, then ask yourself.  “What is keeping me from growing that to 2, 4, or 6 million?” 

In other words, “What’s the bottleneck?” 

Most salespeople will answer that question with the one-word answer, “Time!” I completely get that.  So, let’s break down how a salesperson spends their time. 

Listen in as we discuss the four primary bottlenecks holding us back as Ag Sales Professionals and how we can minimize the impact to grow sales

Improve your sales results with just one measurement

Most of us have heard the old carpenter saying, “Measure Twice, Cut once”.  It’s a reminder to double-check our measuring and marks when doing a home repair project.  This is a great rule of thumb.  I know it saved me numerous times over the last 40 years of DIY home repairs.

When selling, I want you to consider a slight modification to that old saying, “Measure once, Sell twice as much.”

Listen in as I review those measurable areas to help you sell more!

Interview with Colson Steber from Ag Access on the importance of market data

I’m convinced that every salesperson out there can improve the management of their sales, their customers, and prospects with better data. Especially data from farmers.

Today, I’m joined by Colson Steber from Ag Access. Coslon is co-CEO and Co-owner of Ag Access. They have a database of over 100,000 farmers and agribusiness contacts, which they survey annually. They work with all the major Ag manufacturers, Tractor companies, and cooperatives.

They also work with most of the Ag research companies in a contract role to gather on-farm data. As Colson describes it, if you received data on farmer activities, then it’s highly likely that Ag Access was involved in gathering it.

Key Interview Times

Ag Access info:

Website:  https://ag-access.com/

Listen in as Colson Steber (Ag Access) and I discuss the world of Ag data collection and why it’s important to all levels in the company, especially the Ag Salesperson

Use them on your next sales call to expand your customer relationship

Ever get stuck in a rut with a customer?  Maybe you have talked about everything you can talk about and sold them everything you think you can sell them.

What about prospects?  Ever call on a prospect several times and feel like you are getting no further into the sales process with them?

If so, listen in as we discuss three questions to dig a bit deeper into their business to see if you can change your sales approach and add more value to their business.

Interview with Jim Miller

Jim Miller joins me today on the podcast and webcast to discuss the importance of prioritizing prospects to focus your limited time on the most important prospects who offer the greatest chance to sell.

Jim grew up on an Idaho farm and has spent his career in agribusiness to include many years in sales and sales leadership. Currently, teaching a course on Ag Sales at the University of Idaho, Jim brings his knowledge and experience of selling to farmers, producers, and Ag buyers to the next generation of agribusiness employees.

Jim stops by today to share an important tool he has used for many years to manage a prospect funnel. With large geographies and hundreds or thousands of prospects, an Ag Sales Professional must have some way to focus their limited time and reduce drive time to be more effective.

Jim shares the Prospect Priority Index Calculator and how it has helped him focus on the most important prospects.

Or listen as a podcast

A new perspective on your role in sales

I would like to present a unique perspective on what you do as a salesperson in your designated territory with your book of business. 

I’m sharing this view as many salespeople struggle to put all the pieces of their role into one flowing set of efforts. 

To help salespeople understand their role, I like to compare their territory to a river.  “You manage a river of customers running through your territory for your company.” 

Listen in as we discuss how to view your role in sales….Directing the flow of customers into your river!

Does not mean your customer is “bottom line driven”

Within the first 24 hours of anyone’s sales career, they run into the oldest and most common objection: Price.  It happens right away and it continues through your entire sales career. 

Every salesperson can improve how they act, react, and think about price objections. 

Listen in for steps 2 and 3 of managing yourself and your customers through price objections.

Arm your salespeople with one of the most important tools

With thousands of self-assessments on the market, DISC is one of the most important for salespeople.

Typically, after taking the assessment, your company hosts a training session to help you better understand your results.

That’s all great, but that training stops just short of the most important element of DISC in sales.  Understanding yourself is step one.  An important step for sure, but in my opinion, not the most important step in how to use DISC in a selling situation

Listen in as we discuss the most important way to use the power of DISC!