Revenue Real

How many times have you questioned your value as a seller? 

You’re not alone. It’s the existential question that most of us carry, and confronting it head-on takes strength. As does challenging the transactional nature of relationships and the realities of aging out of sales. 

This episode kicks off Season 4 with an impactful discussion featuring Nikki Ivy, a seasoned tech sales professional and coach helping women business owners secure corporate clients.

The conversation dives into the nature of uncomfortable conversations, exploring existential crises in tech sales, the impact of age on perceived relevance in the industry, and the journey toward finding purpose and power in work. 

Nikki shares insights on her journey to embrace inspiration as a key differentiator and the importance of having uncomfortable conversations with oneself. 

Additionally, the episode touches on the challenges women face in the tech industry and the significance of building meaningful, non-transactional professional networks. 

Nikki's work focuses on empowering women entrepreneurs through practical frameworks for business positioning and storytelling, aiming to address the significant disparity in revenue achievements among women-owned businesses.

02:52 - Exploring the Value of Self in Sales and Beyond

04:49 - The Hope for Tech Sales: Challenges and Opportunities

08:51 - Embracing Uncomfortable Conversations for Growth and Justice

18:50 - Navigating Age and Perception in Sales

23:33 - Starting the Conversation on Age and Relevance

24:56 - Empowering Women in Business: Strategies and Challenges

Where to Find Nikki Ivey

Nikki's LinkedIn profile

Stimulyst

Revenue Real Links

www.revenuereal.com

Amy’s LinkedIn profile

Amy’s guest today is kind of a badass. Not only in the world of selling and sales enablement, but she’s also a world record holder in strength competitions! Kathryn Bennett is a Tech Co-Founder, TEDx Speaker, and author. They talk about what best motivates a team, and how emotional intelligence is so vital to be able to best inspire and interact with each individual member. She stresses the importance of putting new focus on how people work, and to ask how the systems we use support them to create their best work most efficiently.

Kathryn also discusses the new, and unusual phenomenon she is encountering during the job interview process, what the cause of it might be. 

Check Kathryn out on TikTok and IG (@warmaiden_official)

Connect with her on LInkedIn 

In part 2 of Amy’s conversation with Nick McGowan, Nick talks about his work with MediaLab, which then segues into a discussion on being able to identify and solve problems effectively for clients and customers. Amy identifies three main types of problems and why some are much more difficult to address than others.

Nick and Amy also talk about feeling trapped as an AE. Nick reflects on the fact that all of us build our own cages, and gives his advice on how to get out. They finish with Nick’s most uncomfortable conversation and some great advice on how to start the changes that you want to make in your life.

Check out Nick's podcast The Mindset & Self-Mastery Show

Connect with Amy at RevenueReal.com and at Selling School

Amy’s guest Nick McGowan describes how

he knew from a young age that he could influence people through his words and

actions. His parents knew he was a born salesman, and he knew as well. Nick and

Amy talk about his connection with Stoicism, and traverse through his journey

in sales, making hard choices in a family business, reaching greater levels of success,

finding himself in a beautiful high-rise apartment overlooking a tranquil park,

but with the thought running through his mind – should I just jump and end it?

Amy jumps right into the second half of her conversation with Yoav Susz, asking him about the most uncomfortable conversations that he is having right now. He talks about the difficulty for sales teams to understand that people don't care about them or their product; they care about themselves and their own problems. He knows that shifting into that mindset opens a new world to you when working with clients, and reiterates that the best sellers are the most empathetic, skilled listeners that move to solve problems. 

Yoav also delves into the interview process and the importance of connection, curiosity, and generosity when building a sales team which has been shown to result in higher win rates. 

Connect with Yoav

Connect with Amy at Selling School

Contracts… Intimidating, long, confusing, complicated, often put together by multiple people or departments over a substantial amount of time.  These multiple hands are trying to keep track of each change that happens along the way, but outdated processes often lead to communication breakdowns making the contract generation process a black hole.

Former VP of Global Revenue at Contractbook, and now CRO at Vi Engage, Yoav Susz sees beyond the messiness and is here to talk with Amy about streamlining, simplifying, and modernizing the process through automation, whether it involves working with an inside legal counsel or not. This ensures the right contract can be generated easily by using the right template, clauses, entities, and sign-off saving time and expenses along the way.

Connect with Yoav

Connect with Amy at Selling School

Cultural, religious, generational, and

regional differences in how we ask questions and communicate, Active listeners  and question askers. Buyers want active

listeners! Sam talks about how you can practice this and the huge effect it can

have on the relationships with your clients. Amy discusses the importance of

practice using certain question types that will draw out information while

building trust and connection. Sam also gives some incredible tips on replying

to a prospect that has declined your offer. *Spoiler alert – the first thing is

to actually respond! This episode is so overflowing with valuable advice that you may

need to listen a few times to catch it all!

Connect with Samantha at #samsales

Connect with Amy at Selling School

Today Amy welcomes Samantha McKenna, Founder of #samsales, keynote speaker, sales outperformer, and former Head of Enterprise Sales at LinkedIn.

Sam is one of the best that Amy’s ever seen at pure,

effective sales technique, and one of her bedrock guiding principles

is leading with the mindset of “show me you know me”. Today she discusses how

to build credibility and rapport while gaining loads of discovery knowledge without

the client even realizing it. Sam spills her techniques for getting potential

clients to reveal large amounts of valuable information both before and during discovery.

And the best part is that it’s packaged in comfortable conversation that makes

you seem more caring and supportive while simultaneously building trust,

connection, and confidence.

Find more about Sam and #samsales

Connect with Amy and Selling School

Jumping into part two with Shawn Buxton, he talks about helping sales managers who are struggling to transition from being top-performing individual contributors to effective sales leaders. They often feel a bit lost like a fish out of water. Add to that that many companies do not offer specific programs or support for new managers, and it can lead to confusion and a lack of confidence in their abilities. 

Shawn advises that everyone needs a coach, and to  find one who can teach best practices and provide guidance on how to fast-track their careers. The conversation also touches on the importance of empathy in sales leadership and how effective sales leaders can balance driving results while also showing compassion for their team.

Today’s guest, Shawn Buxton is a Frontline Sales Leader Coach. He's worked for many years helping sales managers transform into sales leaders. Shawn explains his approach with sales enablement with 5 C’s - Content, Context, Coaching, Consistency, and Calibration. He brings real world information, not just theories or frameworks, but the real deal knowledge that take sales teams from competency to proficiency.

He and Amy dig into the differences between a sales manager and a sales leader, their view of the current state of onboarding for sales managers, plus the strange aversion to technology by tech leaders.

Find more about Sean

Connect with Amy and Selling School