Prospecting on Purpose® with Sara Murray

The fifth crucial skill for effective selling is the implementation of sales assets and knowing how and when to use them.

Understanding and being prepared with the right assets at the right time is what propels us forward to closing the deal. It keeps our customers on the journey we want them to be on. #varsityteam

Sara opens up a can of whoop assets on us in this episode. We'll cover the most common sales resources used throughout the customer journey with a high-level overview of each. We review internal and external tools and discuss best practices on how to marry the two in use-case applications.

STAY UP TO DATE! connect.saramurray.com

More from Sara:

www.saramurray.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saramurraysales/ IG: https://www.instagram.com/saramurraysales/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/saramurraysales YouTube: www.youtube.com/@saramurraysales

The fourth crucial skill for effective selling is the ability to not only handle objections, but turn them into expressions of our expertise.

This episode will remove fear from the unknown and will have you loving the game of sales (or any crucial conversation) like it's a fun game of volleyball!

Sara reviews six steps to ensure we're ready to receive objections with confidence. She covers how to be prepared with our "return volleys" back to our clients. Additionally, Sara teaches us how to proactively address common pushback by utilizing the crucial skills we've already learned, speaking to our client's business models and storytelling.

This is what separates the pros from the amateurs.

This episode is packed with examples - and analogies - to demystify this crucial skill of overcoming objections.

STAY UP TO DATE! connect.saramurray.com

More from Sara:

www.saramurray.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saramurraysales/ IG: https://www.instagram.com/saramurraysales/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/saramurraysales YouTube: www.youtube.com/@saramurraysales

The third crucial skill for effective selling requires us to use storytelling to illustrate solutions as opposed to pushing product.

In today's episode, Sara unpacks the evolution of storytelling as the oldest form of communication, how it impacts every part of business, and why it's a crucial skill in sales.

Put simply, storytelling connects to the emotional part of the brain. Purchasing decisions are often based on emotion as opposed to logic. Sara outlines how the brain receives facts and figures (hint *not well*) and how we can greater influence the sale with the power of story. Additionally, in B2B environments, we don't always have the opportunity to speak directly to the decision maker. Incorporating storytelling helps us overcome this "train the trainer" sales situation.

Having a compelling narrative allows us to become more memorable and build trust with the client. And in today's environment, with so much pulling at us in all areas of life, why wouldn't we use a strategy that helps make us memorable?

STAY UP TO DATE! connect.saramurray.com

More from Sara:

www.saramurray.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saramurraysales/ IG: https://www.instagram.com/saramurraysales/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/saramurraysales YouTube: www.youtube.com/@saramurraysales

Sara talks to storytelling coach and consultant, Ravi Rajani, in this week's episode of Prospecting on Purpose. In addition to reviewing Ravi's least favorite Disney character, the two discuss the power of story when it comes to effective selling. Storytelling isn't just customer success stories, it is inspiring stories to get a prospect to take action.

The two spend their time discussing the vital components required for successful story-selling and the framework to craft specific stories using Ravi's ACORN checklist. Additionally, they discuss ways to elevate ourselves in the eyes of our customer by embracing our own stories. It's a fun episode and reminds us that we're sales professionals, and we're storytellers.

More from Ravi:

https://www.theravirajani.com/

https://www.theravirajani.com/yourelevatorstory

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ravirajani/

More from Sara: STAY UP TO DATE! connect.saramurray.com

www.saramurray.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saramurraysales/

IG: https://www.instagram.com/saramurraysales/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/saramurraysales

YouTube: www.youtube.com/@saramurraysales

In today's episode, Sara reveals the second Crucial Skill for Effective Selling: Understanding our Client's Business Model. This is one of the most important skills, because if we can understand our client's business, it shifts the relationship from a buyer/seller model to true consultative business parters.

Understanding a client's business model is often an overlooked step. And not just by the sales people. Marketing teams, customer service teams, training teams, leadership, project management, and engineering teams often make similar oversights. If corporations don't understand a client's business model, it leads to undeserving or even misserving the clients; in turn unable to maximize opportunities and leaving money on the table.

Sara reviews why this is important along with sharing questions to ask and scripts to use to ensure we are properly navigating our client's business and finding new opportunities for partnership.

STAY UP TO DATE! connect.saramurray.com

More from Sara:

www.saramurray.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saramurraysales/ IG: https://www.instagram.com/saramurraysales/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/saramurraysales YouTube: www.youtube.com/@saramurraysales

Sara introduces the 7 crucial skills for effective selling. This is the first episode of a seven part solo "mini-series" where Sara unpacks each of the 7 crutial, critical, vital skills that are required for running a successful sale.

Sara will walk us through an overview of these areas of expertise and cover the first crucial skill to master, which - surprise, surprise - is prospecting! We can't make a sale if we don't have a potential customer!

Salesmanship is a craft that requires self-reflection and practice. How do you rate yourself in each of these crucial capabilities? Take the self-assessment skills survey and contribute to ongoing sales market research via link here.

STAY UP TO DATE! connect.saramurray.com

More from Sara:

www.saramurray.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saramurraysales/ IG: https://www.instagram.com/saramurraysales/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/saramurraysales YouTube: www.youtube.com/@saramurraysales

Sara interviews Self-Employed Business Coach Jeffrey Shaw in this week's episode of Prospecting on Purpose. Jeffrey is the author of the books LINGO and The Self-Employed Life and the host of The Self Employed Life Podcast, which is amongst the top 15% of all podcasts.

The two discuss Jeff's first attempt at prospecting, where five minutes of discomfort changed the entire trajectory of his business, launching a 35-year career as one of the most preeminent portrait photographers in the United States. Now, as someone whose entire career has been self-employed, he shepherds others through the journey.

He breaks down the difference between self-employed, small business, entrepreneur and soloprenuer and why that matters regardless of what type of business structure you work in. Jeff's background and first-hand experiences make him uniquely qualified to discuss "The Period Post Crisis." His businesses and his client's businesses and lives have witnessed the immediate effects and cycles that follow any major crises, specifically: 9/11/01, The Great Recession of 2008, and the Pandemic. Now we're in the period post pandemic (crisis) and it's a tender time that can make or break a business of any scale. Jeff shares his viewpoints and ways to position for recovery and overcome the period post crisis.

More from Jeffrey Shaw:

www.jeffreyshaw.com https://selfemployedbusinessinstitute.com

https://selfemployedassessment.com/

www.selfemployedready.com

Jeff's Social

IG: https://www.instagram.com/jeffreyshaw/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreyshawauthor/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jeffreyshaw1

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jeffreyshawauthor

STAY UP TO DATE! connect.saramurray.com

More from Sara:

www.saramurray.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saramurraysales/ IG: https://www.instagram.com/saramurraysales/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/saramurraysales YouTube: www.youtube.com/@saramurraysales

If our thoughts are the triggers for action, then we have to train ourselves from first thought to propel action through paralysis

Sara breaks down the difference between a growth mindset and a fixed mindset with real-life examples. She'll review how fixed mindset thoughts shows up sneakily in our personal and professional lives (it's more common than we think!) She will demonstrate how the thoughts in our brains show up in our realities and how to recognize when it's happening. Sara will then leave us with Four Foundations for a Growth Mindset: Embrace Change, Focus on Inner Dialog, View from Another Perspective, and how Action is the throughline for continued practice.

STAY UP TO DATE! connect.saramurray.com

More from Sara:

www.saramurray.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saramurraysales/ IG: https://www.instagram.com/saramurraysales/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/saramurraysales YouTube: www.youtube.com/@saramurraysales

Sara talks to tech and media executive, Anne Wallin, in this week's episode of Prospecting on Purpose. They debate early 00's TV shows and spoiler etiquette- Sara doesn't appreciate spoilers while the only spoiler that ever rocked Anne's world was Harry Potter Book 6.

The two spend their time talking about defining your values, the future of work, what great leadership looks like, why it's just as important to be clear on your weaknesses as it is to know your strengths, how to approach feedback, and the early years of working at a company disrupting two industries at the time: entertainment and tech.

More from Anne:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anne-wallin-14492812/

STAY UP TO DATE! connect.saramurray.com

More from Sara:

www.saramurray.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saramurraysales/ IG: https://www.instagram.com/saramurraysales/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/saramurraysales YouTube: www.youtube.com/@saramurraysales

In today's episode, Sara talks to Joe Welch, the guy who single-handedly changed her attitude towards (dry) Riesling. *Spoiler alert* She loves it now!

Joe is CEO and Co-Founder of In Good Taste, a wine company that creates ready to drink wine flights. They discuss his favorite grape varietals and why he thinks Merlot has a bad rep, turning your hobby into your career, the beginning stages of building a start-up, leaning into risk, learning fast, making wine more accessible, and how to create innovation in an industry that's been innovating for thousands of years.

Where you can find In Good Taste:

www.ingoodtaste.com

IG: www.instagram.com/ingoodtastewines

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ingoodtastewines

STAY UP TO DATE! connect.saramurray.com

More from Sara:

www.saramurray.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saramurraysales/ IG: https://www.instagram.com/saramurraysales/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/saramurraysales YouTube: www.youtube.com/@saramurraysales