Predictable Prospecting's Podcast

Advancing the sales process from lead generation until the deal is closed is full of potential hiccups and nuances that many reps struggle to master. Our guest today has over thirty years of experience with qualifying and moving prospects all the way down the pipeline.

Brad Williams is the President of Doextra CRM Solutions, a partner company to Sales Force, that helps businesses implement software and technology to improve the sales cycle. Join us as we discuss the book that influenced both our careers,why CRM won't help you without a sales system in place, and tips for re-organizing and recognizing dead opportunities in your pipeline.

Episode Highlights:

• Introducing Brad Williams
• Why we love the Getting to Closed process
• How Doextra uses Getting to Closed to solve dysfunction in sales
• The most common mistake businesses make
• Technology and the "parked" prospect
• Red flag sales skills
• Why active listening and role playing are still the perfect training tools

Resources:

Any questions for today's guest? Contact Brad Williams by emailing him at [email protected] or by visiting the Doextra website.

Getting to Closed by Stephan Schiffman

Lightning Experience by Salesforce

Kanban Board overview

Keeping the data in your pipeline fresh is crucial for running a productive system, but too many of us allow our data to get old and obsolete, clogging up the pipeline and hurting sales. Technology can help keep your contacts updated, but it's far from a perfect solution.

My guest today is Donato Diorio,the Co-founder and General Manager of Data Services at RingLead, a company that offers the tools you need for your company's contacts. We discuss the problem with thinking cold calling or cold emailing is dead, tips for tracking your numbers and pacing your interactions with leads, contacting multiple influencers to move prospects through the cycle, and the culprits that are keeping good sales processes down.

Episode Highlights:

• Introducing Donato Diorio
• Why email and phone conversations aren't dead yet
• How a 3x3 approach can boost your outreach
• Data, technology, and outreach
• Bridging the gap between sales and marketing
• Lead generation and data for start-up companies
• Challenges with building buyer personas
• Voicemails

Resources:

Donato Diorio's Voicemail Webinar

Donato's blog

Connect with Donato on Linkedin or by emailing him at [email protected]

The Innovator's Dilemma by Clayton M. Christensen

It's easy to send a form email to a new prospect, but the key to building a pipeline is to connect with your prospects by having real conversations over the phone. Genuine moments of connection happen when a consultant truly knows and understands the pain points and persona of the buyer, but this process is much easier said than done.

My guest today is Evan Jones, Head of Business Development at VoxGen. As an expert in lead generation, marketing, and managing accounts, Evan discusses his methods for communicating with prospects, and shares his best advice for generating the leads that matter.

Episode Highlights:

• Introducing Evan Jones
• Emails, phone calls, and texting - communicating with the prospect
• How to be a consultant with a purpose
• United States versus European prospects
• Owning the buyer persona
• Creating the perfect wrap-up note
• Evan's top advice for lead generation representatives

Resources:

Connect with Evan on Linkedin, by emailing him at [email protected], or by calling/texting him direct: (813) 453- 7479

The new book from Marylou Tyler, Predictable Prospecting: How to Radically Increase Your B2B Sales Pipeline, is available now!

Today's guest is Steven Wagner, founder and CEO of Sales Ignition, a company that helps sales teams start conversations with their ideal customers for consistent growth. Sales techniques of the past are giving way to new, more efficient predictable prospecting methods. Join us as we discuss Steven's tips for finding your perfect prospect list, why focusing on the tools in your sales stack is hurting your business, and how to tailor your message to reach the customers you want.

Episode Highlights:

• Steven's background in software, sales, and outreach
• The death of the trade show
• Why you shouldn't worry about your sales stack: Tips for the first-time prospector
• Crafting the perfect message
• Steven's value grid system

Resources:

Value Grid

Contact Steven by emailing [email protected] or by visiting Sales Ignition

Marylou Tyler's new book Predictable Prospecting: How to Radically Increase Your B2B Sales Pipeline is now available!

While we might all be in different types of sales, we can learn plenty about conversation, influence, and leadership from each other. On today's episode, Steve Underwood and I discuss all aspects of the sales business, from building a sales pipeline to the power of meditation and gratitude in your daily life.

With a family background in car sales, Steve Underwood began his career in the auto industry before moving into technology sales. Steve is currently the account executive at Workfront, a project management software company, as well as a dedicated podcaster and mentor. In his free time, Steve enjoys learning new languages and hanging out with his family at the beach.

Episode Highlights:

• Steve Underwood's background and journey
• Efficiency vs Effectiveness
• Distinctive roles in the sales and development teams
• Building a predictable pipeline
• Roleplaying, weekly reviews, and post-mortems
• Handling a loss
• Documenting calls and other data: how to reduce lag
• The power of a positive mindset and meditation

Resources:

Workfront Visit Kick SaaS Sales, Steve's podcast and website The Five Minute Journal - daily gratitude journal Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie The Miracle Morning for Salespeople Pre-order Marylou Tyler's new book Predictable Prospecting: How to Radically Increase Your B2B Sales Pipeline , out on August 19th 2016!

Having an impact with your marketing message requires understanding. Your ideal buyer is more than their basic demographics. Our guest Samuel Woods is a growth marketing expert who helps clients experience consistent growth. Clients establish an effective funnel and create powerful campaigns by first gaining a comprehensive understanding of a buyer's psychographics.

Samuel Woods transitioned from the design world to growth marketing and created an agency specializing in conversion copywriting. Creating copy that converts requires that we move beyond ourselves to connect with our target buyer at every stage of the buying cycle. In addition to providing value it's increasingly important that every campaign message is crafted with the human in mind. Using a buyer's language to address concerns is a powerful method that Samuel teaches clients and discusses with us today.

Episode Highlights:

• Why sharing benefits is not enough
• Understanding the language of your ideal buyer
• The importance of rooting your campaign messaging in buyer language
• Samuel's discovery exercise
• Exploring buyer's motivations
• Testing to validate message language
• Remaining agile through processes
• Leveraging the power of email by spacing touch points

Resources:

Samuel J Woods

Response Copy

Connect on LinkedIn

Follow Samuel on Twitter

We're all familiar with the famous proverb: "It takes a village to raise a child!" As more entrepreneurs launch their own startup company, perhaps the phrase should be changed to "It takes a village to make a business!" Community between entrepreneurs has become more important than ever as those with great ideas search for the people who can make their dreams come to life. In today's episode with market specialist Jorge Soto we discuss the benefits of community, leadership style, and the new markers of success.

Jorge Soto is a self-proclaimed startup fanatic who focuses on inspiring and motivating the new entrepreneur. After leaving Twitter to work as a consultant for Node.io, a new kind of database, Soto launched Sotoventures Media which functions as a community for entrepreneur education. Soto believes in the power of a good leader and strives to encourage startup entrepreneurs and sales reps alike to break their own barriers . In his free time, Jorge enjoys painting and playing guitar.

Episode Highlights:

• Jorge Soto's journey from Twitter employee to start-up motivator
• Fundamental truth in sales
• How do you become a fantastic leader?
• Inspiring the entrepreneur
• Marylou discusses the process of writing her new book
• Benefits (and struggle) of talking on the phone
• Arming yourself - Getting in the right mindset for sales

Resources:

Sotoventures Media - Jorge's Entrepreneur Community Node.ioPre-order Marylou Tyler's new book Predictable Prospecting: How to Radically Increase Your B2B Sales Pipeline , out on August 19th 2016! Connect with Jorge Soto on Twitter @sotoventures or by shooting him an email : [email protected]. You can also find him on Linkedin.

Getting a startup tech company off the ground and into the public sphere is no small feat, but having a team of great sales reps makes it infinitely easier. But how do you build a sales team from scratch? Focusing on hiring the doer instead of the thinker is part of creating a team, but the real key lies in hiring sales reps who actually care about the customer base they communicate with. Join me in a conversation with Kevin Chiu as we discuss the secrets to tech startup success.

Kevin Chiu is the manager of Sales and Operations at DigitalOcean, a new cloud infrastructure provider, and is the man behind DigitalOcean's first ever sales team. Chiu's tech sales background was built by working with companies such as Greenhouse Software and FiveStars. When he's not hosting the NYC Sales Hacker meetups or working on his Linkedin page, Kevin enjoys writing blogs and listening to podcasts.

Episode Highlights:

• Background on Predictable Prospecting: How to Radically Increase Your B2B Sales Pipeline
• Building a strong team- hiring the builder instead of hiring the architect
• How to find the ideal customer and keep them with your company
• Social Selling
• Selling within the Pipeline

Resources:

DigitalOcean

Influential article from First Round Review

Follow Kevin on Twitter @kvn_chiu or connect with him on Linkedin

Sales Hacker June 2016 conference - Sales Machine Summit

Pre-order Marylou Tyler's new book Predictable Prospecting: How to Radically Increase Your B2B Sales Pipeline , out on August 19th 2016!

Many sellers have no idea how to begin talking to a new customer. Instead of creating honest dialogue, businesses jump into a sales pitch and lose the trust of the prospect. A good conversation begins by understanding the customer's pain -- what core problem do they need help solving? Searching for customer feedback and developing dialogue is the first step to creating messages that speak to the heart of what the customer wants, but analyzing and using this data is where businesses stumble. Copy that reassures a customer of the value in your product is key to engaging them on a deeper level.

Jennifer Havice is a copywriter who specializes in helping businesses create meaningful conversations with customers while still maintaining their own brand and personality. Her new book, Finding the Right Message, is aimed at conveying the value of your product by understanding what the customer needs to hear. When she's not speaking at conferences or writing compelling copy, Jen enjoys horseback riding and eating chocolates.

Episode Highlights:

• Collecting data on customer conversation

• Understanding the customer's core problem

• How to find places where customers are talking

• Using customer voice research to create a compelling lead

• Analyze your own website

• Create the story that inspires trust between you and the customer

• Conveying value

Resources:

Make Mention Media

Finding The Right Message: How to turn voice of customer research into irresistible website copy

Follow Jen on Twitter

One of the most important factors in building a predictable pipeline is continuing the conversation with prospects. My guest today is Kyle Porter, the founder and CEO of SalesLoft, a company dedicated to turning target accounts into customer accounts.

Kyle is an expert in helping companies integrate new tools and technology in their current systems to begin conversations with the buyers that matter. We discuss how targeting prospects in your market is changing, why and how you should start the conversation at the top of the funnel, and where to begin when developing your sales stack.

Episode Highlights:

• Technology and the salesman: how our industry is changing
• Targeting your prospects
• Connecting with the person who doesn't sign the check
• Creating frequent touch points with buyers
• Software and technology
• Reducing lag in the pipeline
• Preparing for adding new tools to your process
• Understanding the equation of connection
• Death of the average salesman

Resources:

"Why Software Is Eating The World" article by Marc Andreessen The Challenger Customer: Selling to the Hidden Influenster Who Can Multiply Your Results TOPO The Sales Development Playbook free download from SalesLoft Predictable Prospecting: How to Radically Increase Your B2B Sales Pipeline by Marylou Tyler

Sales Stack Technology:

SalesLoft InsideSales Data.com Sugar TinderBox/ Octiv Adobe Echo Sign Outreach

Connect with Kyle Porter on Twitter or by emailing him: [email protected]