Sales Babble

How to Pitch a StartUp with Joe Micallef

Joe Micallef is an international business and sales consultant with expertise in the start up world. Many founders have a passion about their business, but haven’t a clue on how to sell their idea to investors and pitch a startup. In this episode Joe share’s advice on how to pitch an investment banker or Venture Capital company.

Pitch is just a Wish

When you pitch a startup it’s not a sales presentation. The goal is to get a meeting with investors.  Don’t expect to be funded on the spot. This is not Shark Tank.  At that meeting you will be able to have a conversation regarding the features and benefits of your company.  It takes time to build credibility and find funding.  During the meeting you’ll be able to see if funding  makes sense for both parties.

WISH Principal

W – Tell them Who you are and What you do.

I – Tell them something Interesting.

S – Tell them about your Service, your Solution.

H – Have an ASK, what action you want them to take.

Don’t finish with “Are there any questions?” Have a call to action such as …. “Would you like to learn more?”   Script it out. Tailor it to your business.

Advice for Startup Founders

Every entrepreneur needs to be a sales person.  You can’t hire business development unless you know sales.  It will take skill just to convince them to work for you.  To pitch a startup you will need to learn sales.

Joe Micallef – Executive Coaching Partner

Joe provides business and sales consulting in the financial industry at SalesITV   in Chicago IL. You can find him in the usual places:

M: +1 773 329 0066 |

Email: [email protected]

Website:   www.salesitv.com

LinkedIn:  www.linkedin.com/in/micallefjoe

Listen About Our China Adventure

As you may know my wife Denise has taken a position as Principal in an American school in Zheng Zhou China. She has started a new blog and we’ve added a podcast to share our journey.  It’s call The Journey of a Thousand Miles. 

It’s just been published on iTunes and Stitcher.  Come listen!

6 Simple Steps for Generating New Leads With Chris Helmers

In this episode we start with a quote: “Everything should be as simple as it can be, but not simpler” by Albert Einstein.  This is true of sales too where simplification is the path to productive lead generation. Today’s guest Chris Helmers discusses the 6 simple Steps for Generating new leads.

Chris is my youngest son. He recently took a position in a software tech company. He is doing business development for a new software service and recently embrace the fundamentals for lead generation.

6 Tips For Generating Leads

* Make the Call – Strategize less, don’t waste time, click the dial button.

* Move Shot To Shot – Focus on the win that works an use that to overcome the mistakes.

* Keep It Simple – figure out what you want to say as simple as possible. Don’t overload them with data. It may take 20 rewrites.

* Explore All Avenues of Contact – use voicemail an email to your advantage

* Know Your Audience – When seeking the decision maker, learn how to speak to all the people who will introduce you. Learn the language of your prospects.

* Find The Right Contact – Research the internet and use information to get around the gate keeper.

Take Action Advice

Communicate what you do, not how you do it. You will learn from every call you make, even your failures. Ask for advice, people are flattered by the opportunity to help you. And lastly….. Keep it simple.

How to Find Chris Helmers

LinkedIn

Facebook

Twitter

Lead Generation Strategies

* Looking for Leads with Social Media, an interview with Brian Basilico #34

* SB029- How To Generate Leads on LinkedIn, an Interview with Patrick McFadden.

* Crossing the Chasm an Interview with author Geoffrey Moore

* SB020 – Down to Earth Sales, an interview with Diana Schneidman

* Pleasantly Persistent Sales With Thomas Ellis #15

Secrets to Prospecting Like a Pro with Carrie Berens #120

Today we visit a call center for cold calling advice from Carrie Berens. Carrie is the owner of Dynamic Sales Innovations. She owns  a call center who serves mid-tier manufacturing and technology companies. She prefers to focus on prospecting for B2B companies with long sales cycles and complex deals. In this episode Carrie shares the 10 secrets to prospecting like a Pro. She is an expert at making very very cold cold cold calls.

Carrie’s Secrets to Prospecting Like a Pro

Have a Plan – answer the question “what do you want to accomplish”.  The primary goal is usually to just set an appointment. This is the biggest mistake sellers make, they don’t have a plan and they try to tell the prospect too much before they hang up.  

Have a Strategy –  answer the question “how are to going to make your goals”.  An example strategy is knowing what questions you’re going to ask.  You should always have a gatekeeper strategy.   Ask for help!   “Good morning, I’m not sure to to ask for, could you help me out?”     When approaching C-Suite execs “Joe Smith’s offices recommended that you’re the right person”.   Voice mail, always leave a message that add value.   She believes in professional persistence. Respectful persistence sets you up for when the timing is right.

Have a System – Use a CRM. Take notes of everything you do. Use reminders to remember what’s easy to forget.

Immerse Yourself – Keep distractions to the minimum. Use a headset and us the auto-dialing capability to click the phone number.

Target Your List –  Know who you want to call. Make sure the people are targeted for your business. Don’t waste time with leads that are not a good fit. Look at geography, business size,

Be Conversational – Don’t tell the prospect everything about your product or service. Make it a real conversation and just plan to advance the sale to another meeting.  

Prepare to Answer Common Objections – Think out what your going to say e.g. it depends, tell us more about you and I can answer pricing, number of leads, etc…

Know Your Numbers – Know your sales goals and the number it will take to meet the goals.  These are the KPIs.  Cold calling is a numbers game. But everyone’s numbers are different depending on their skill and business.

Don’t Take It Personally – If they hang up on you , it’s not about you, it’s about the business and what the prospect is concerned about at that moment.    Follow up all No’s with “can I follow up with you in 6 months to see if anything has changed?”

Be Consistent –  Make cold calling a part of your everyday. It’s easy to think you’re having a productive doing other things but if you’ve not done any prospecting your not as productive as you think. 

Take Action Advice 

Carrie was quick to respond “Have a Plan”.   

Where to Find Carrie Berens

Dynamic Sales Innovations provides cost-effective solutions for optimizing new top line growth starts with the basics, no short cuts-no false promises, through telemarketing and appointment setting.

Dynamic Sales Innovations.  

Carrie Berens on LinkedIn

Call here at 630-701-9051

Cold Calling Tips

Here are some other prospecting episodes you find of value. Enjoy!

* Stop Cold Calling Start Communicating with Odile Faludi #109

*

What Startups Need to Know about Business Development with Tim Allen #119 

 

In this episode we visit a Makerspace I’m working out of St. Charles IL called Fox.Build. A Makerspace is sometimes also referred to as hackerspace, hackspace, and fablab as creative, DIY spaces where people can gather to create, invent, and learn. They often have 3D printers, software, electronics, craft and hardware supplies and tools, and more.

In this episode I interview Tim  Allen who does sales for his wife Alisa’s business A3 Environmental. Tim also works out of Fox.Build. We talk about the struggles of business startups and how to proceed with business development.

New Startup Business Development 

At first you start in first gear, high volume low margin work with the goal of moving to low volume high margin work.     

Starting a business is about suffering. Living cheap, doing without, working a lot. Tim is currently cold calling 400 banks in northern IL, finding the right people and trying to get on the approved vendor list.

Cold Calling Sales Process

* Finds a list of suspects on LinkedIn.  

* Remember the job titles, ask directly for the person, when you get the attendant.

* Call back using the suspect’s name, it’s easier to get connected 

Cold Call Script

Hi my name is Tim and I’m looking for Justin Love, Can I speak with him.

Tim  avoids mentioning his company name.

The goal is to build a relationship in a minute and a half.  He then sends a request on LinkedIn once he knows he has the right person. He then explains to them who he is, what they do and asks if they do a lot of commercial work.

Both a hunter and farmer

A startup is like a having a baby in that you work on and worry about it all the time.  What starting business development you first start hunting, but deals take a long time and a farmer mentality to work them to a sale.

Take Action Sales Advice

Start by finding problems – speed, schedule, quality, cost etc.  Then solve them!

How to Find Tim Allen and A3 Environmental

A3 Environmental, LLC (A3E) is a woman-owned, small business founded in 2015 specializing in providing quality environmental services to private entities, as well as federal, state, and local government organizations.

* Facebook 

* Twitter

* LinkedIn

Fox.Build  Makerspace website 

Tim Allen on LinkedIn

Cold Calling Tips

* Stop Cold Calling Start Communicating with Odile Faludi #109

* How to Sell to the Obvious with Stephen Schiffman

* Sales For Start-ups with Mano Behera

* Prospecting for New Sales Leads with Steve Kloyda #73

* Five Lessons from a Pushy Cold Call

*

Four Mistakes Business Owners Make in Sales with Donald Kelly #118

In this episode we meet Donald Kelly host of the Sales Evangelist podcast.  Donald helps business owners  increase their sales skills and performance through  coaching, sales training and speaking.   Today he shares the 4 mistakes business owners make when hiring and managing sales professionals.  

Sales Mistakes

Not hiring the right people.

Not  having  a formal sales process in place.

Not knowing who to go after.

Not having a message that is clear

Business owners  think outgoing people are great for sales. They recruit and hire on personality vs a skill set that moves individuals to take action.  This is a big mistake.

Reference Daniel Pink to Sell is Human

The ambivert is the ideal seller. Not the uber suave person but someone who has  a skill set and desire to makes sales and a reasonable ability to communicate. Owners need to look for this: sales skills, desire and ability to connect.

Create a Formal Sales Process

Too few businesses have a sales structure.  They think, sales people just need to go out and get deals.  Without a formal sales process you cannot create a repeatable success. Sales is too often purely dependent on personality. If a salesperson leaves, so does their expertise, it’s not part of the company core competency.

Businesses too often don’t have a clear view of their ideal customer. As salespeople are hired, without clear guidance, they reinvent the wheel of who to sell and how best to pursue sales. Invariably they fail to find success and quit. You should know your ideal client and provide direction.

Business owners don’t like to do the hard work of sales. They think it’s an art and not science. Truly effective sellers are scientists.

Also, business owners fail to understand the message they are giving the market. Features, benefits, who is the best fit, this message is often skipped or murky. Selling is inefficient and unproductive.

Take Action

Advice:   Figure out your ideal customer, three of their main challenges, and create a process to get that message to them. Document all this and create an effective process for new salespeople. Create metrics (KPIs) that salespeople can focus for success.

How to Find Donald Kelly

Three part video training on How to double your referrals.  www.thesalesevagelist.com/babble

My guest interview on The Sales Evangelist

TSE 310: WHY STARTUPS NEED TO FOCUS ON SALES BEFORE MARKETING

 

Website: http://thesalesevangelist.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DonaldCKelly

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/448729615281826/?ref=bookmarks

LinkedIn: 

5 Habits of Successful Sales People with Kingsley Grant #117

Kingsley Grant is a business coach and my long time mastermind partner. He’s also  a Motivational Speaker, Corporate Trainer, Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist , Certified Mindset and Transition Coach, Host of the Midlife Launch On-Demand Online Radio Podcast, and a published Author.  In this episode Kingsley teaches his Five habits for successful sales people, the  SCORE Habits to create the framework that will sustain this discovery. He is a proud dad, husband, a man of faith and an entrepreneur at heart.

You Want to SCORE in Sales

SCORE  is an acronym Kingsley uses to teach the  5 habits for successful sellers.. Answer the following questions:

Storyfication – Why are you doing what you do? How are you improving  your clients business?  Do you believe in your product or service? If you don’t answer YES you’re story will not lead to success.  Remember what  Zig Ziglar said  “If you’re not using what you’re selling, don’t sell it”. 

Collaboration – How do you partner with others?  How can others help you?

Optimization – What is working? What’s not working? Instead of focusing on what’s broken, focus instead on what’s going right.

Reconciliation – You will screw things up at some point. That’s a fact. It’s best to take ownership of the fault (even if it wasn’t you) and apologize. This will build loyalty.

Elimination – Recognize process that aren’t working as well as relationships. Eliminate them from your business. e.g. firing customers, staff, partnerships,

In other words Kingsley believes you need to “Score big or go home”

Find your true why?  What is the one thing you’re called to do?

How To Connect With Kingsley Grant

* Kingsely hosts the  Midlife Launch podcast

* Click here  for 5 SCORE habits  and  chapter of his new book How to eliminate relationships and toxicity in your life at www.kingsleygrant.com/salesbabble  

* This is my interview on Kingsley’s podcast “How To Power Your Way Through Fear Using Passion | Pat Helmers | Episode TML081”

How To Grow Sales

Here are some other topics and interviews you may find of value:

* What is Sales 3.0 with Shawn Karol Sandy #83

* How to Sell Solopreneurs, an End-of-Year Survey with Larry Keltto #43

* How To Sell Like Hell with David Rubinstein #42

* How to Make $1 Million Dollars in Sales an Interview with Mike Schmidtmann #39

*

When Buyers Say No with Tom Hopkins #116

In this episode we meet the author of my  first book I bought on  sales, Tom Hopkins. Tom is a world renown sales trainer and leading author on sales techniques and salesmanship. His book How to Master the Art of Selling has sold over 1.6 M copies.   Today we learn how to listen for reluctance and adjust the process to the right spot using the Circle of Persuasion.

When Prospects Say “No”

Selling doesn’t begin until the buyer gives you either an objection, stall or a no.  It is human nature to say no. The goal is to isolate the word no and turn it or a stall into a yes.

 

The sales starts the moment you meet. Test close every so often through the conversation,“How does this look to you” . Again it’s human nature to say no. Often times there are lingering questions that have yet to be answered (nor have they asked it).

Circle of Persuasion 

The Circle of Persuasion is a process that takes a prospect’s “no”  around the circle and turns it into a “yes”. This process was created by Tom’s coauthor Ben Katt.

There are seven steps:

Establish Rapport

Open Up ….. ”you were referred to me and suggested we meet….”

Identify Needs…….. Ask basic questions, Asking for their help  

Requalify Questions………. Reiterate what reasons did we have to meet…..   double check to see if anything has changed since you last spoke. 

Draft the prospects feelings on the paperwork   “a good decision is only as good as the facts”

Test close……..  “does this look OK”

Final close  

Mistakes Sellers Make

Far too often sellers fail to invest in themselves.  They always make the following mistakes:

Don’t commit to self improvement

Don’t become master askers

Until they learn to continually hone their craft and listening skills, they will always struggle in sales.

 

Action Advice

Work on your personality to become a person where people like, trust, want to listen to you.  You will reap great rewards with this investment. 

Where To Find Tom Hopkins

Website www.Tomhopkins.com   

Free Resource Page – You can find the resource page with sales tips and advice on building rapport along iwth samle “Thank You Notes”.

 

Building Rapport in Sales

Here are a few other terrific Sales Babble episodes that you may find of interest.

* How to Assume Rapport when Prospecting with Ken Dunn #90

* Stop Selling Start Leading with Deb Calvert #84

* The Myth of Know Like Trust #74

* Conversations That Sell an Interview With Nancy Bleeke #68

* How To Sell a Fine Dining Experience with Tony DeSalvo #62

* SB030 – Karma Calling an In...

How to Deal With Racism in Sales

Duane Draughon is the owner and operator of VizX Design Studios. Duane has worked and owned various businesses and often times  experienced racism in sales. In this episode Duane shares how he dealt with those situations and was able to overcome and create a high-end outdoor living design firm.  

Duane’s Story

Duane said people were often surprised when a black guy showed up to provide a quote for a backyard paver patio or deck.  In his mind they weren’t necessarily racist but they were always curious. Over time he figured out how to find common ground and learn how to talk to clients. Duane  is the sales engine for his business.

Original Chicago Tribune article mentioned in the podcast

What Makes for Great Sales

Sales is not just closing the deal. Too often in car sales, sellers  are trying to sell and close when they first meet a prospect. This is too quick. They are not building a sales funnel and a system to close people. Better to build trust and eventually have fans of the business vs clients. He now has a sales generating system.

Fans not Clients

Duane see’s clients as fans or better yet:  Cheerleaders.  “If I have to give you a discount you have to be my cheerleader.” he will tell them.    He now uses Facebook as a sales presentation engine for a nationwide outdoor living design firm that specializes in swimming pools, outdoor kitchens, and fire features.  Social media builds fans. His work is so respected his clients get bragging points when it comes to referrals.

It’s important to Follow Up.  Too often sales people give up to quickly.  The 8th interaction is when you connect. Also, you must  believe in your product.  How you treat your client is what grows your business.

Closing Techniques

Duane uses the following closing technique to move prospects into clients. He says, “In the end you’re going to have to make a decision. So let’s just make it now so you don’t have to think about it any more.”   Then he waits, and waits and often times they will say, OK!

How One  Overcome Race in Sales

According to Duane the best course of action to to grit your teeth, work harder, don’t be the victim, it’s a number game, fight!

Duane Draughon Links

You can find Duane all over the internet:

* Duane VizxDesignStudios on Facebook.

* Here is the website Vizxdesign.com

* They also post on @vizxdesigns Twitter

Resources

Duane recommends Gary Vaynerchuk’s book Jab Jab Jab Right Hook for insight on social media marketing 

 

How to Sell Big Clients and Win Tremendous Deals with Melinda Chen

In this episode we meet Melinda Chen, the founder of  Women Making Big Sales. We talk about how to sell big clients and win tremendous deals.  Melinda Chen is a sales executive and trainer with 15 years of experience and 8-figures of sales track record.

She specializes helping entrepreneurs sell to “hard-to-access” decision makers,i.e. how to sell big clients.

Why You Should Sell To Big Clients

Everyone should look to earn big clients. Why?  They are more loyal given they are more stable. Small clients can go out of business. The revenue to cost ratio is better. For the same amount of work, you can earn greater sales. It’s easier to grow business with large clients. 

Big Client Sales Process

Melinda recommends that you

Find a quick win by targeting the right big client. Focus on a small pool of prospective clients. Find a urgent value proposition.

Establish a contact by looking for connecting person i.e., trusted advisers who are outside of the organization e.g. focus on Incubators, Journalists, Marketing Directors.   Then get referrals and an introduction.   Look for a super connector. Build a connection map.

Close the sale.

2-5 Formula

Melinda believes prospecting can be a process with a formula. First start with two soft contacts from other people. This will take the cold out of the cold call. Then have 5 hard contacts. Make sure that each contact must add value.  Use the urgent value proposition to frame the value. 

How To Find Melinda Chen

Website: WomenMakingBigSales.com

Facebook: facebook.com/womenmakingbigsales/

Download her  5 Objections to Overcome When Securing Big Clients

Networking Tips

Here are some previous episodes that will aid you on how to sell big clients and win tremendous deals. Good luck!

* Supercharge your Sales Memory with Brad Zupp

* 7 Habits of Highly Successful LinkedIn Users with Dennis Brown

* Small Business Sales Techniques an interview with Kent Zaretzke #75

* How To Kickstart Your Networking in Sales with Evie Burke #56

* Pleasantly Persistent Sales With Thomas Ellis #15

 

The 7 Best Free CRM Systems for Business with Cara Wood

In this episode we meet Cara Wood, CRM expert and staff writer for Capterra.  Capterra is a marketing company that specializes in business software reviews.  Today we take Cara’s expertise and have her walk us through 7 free CRM systems for business.  For each of these tools we discuss the  pros, cons, and in what situation the CRM system makes the most business sense. All of these systems are free systems or work in the freemium model; you get started for free and charged you as you grow. 

7 Free CRM Systems Reviewed

Cara wrote an article regarding free CRM systems for business. She researched a number of CRMs and focuses on free one’s specifically. CRM stands for  Customer Relationship Management tool.   It contains contact information on clients and prospective clients.  It also provides reports on sales, tracks lead flow, a to-do list, reminders, and the ability take notes on each interaction.

Fortune is in the Follow Up

I adhere to the 3×8 rule  where you call 8 times in 3 day intervals. It’s by constant follow up are you able to get on your prospects radar and create a relationship.

Many people hate CRM systems. Sales people worry about peers poaching prospects. Most CRMs provide bounds to keep people separated. CRMs should be of help, not a hindrance.

CRM Systems For Business

Hubspot – Cara’s personal favorite. Totally free, not a freemium. The pros of this system is that it’s integrated with the Hubspot marketing software.

Insightly – This system is integrated with email, but not full content marketing email integration.  All features are available. Free for two years. Two users. 150 contacts. Most businesses don’t start paying to use a CRM until 100 contacts.  $12/user

Zurmo – Open Source CRM. You load this on your servers. Provides gamification. 

Bitrix24 – CRM for 12 free users and 5Gb of storage and contains Project Management software (fully loaded) for managing projects.

Free CRM – Free for a year only. 100 free users and 10K contacts. Feature rich. $25/user/mo.

Really Simple Systems – great for novice CRM users for 100 accounts. $8/mo per user.

Highrise – 2 users and 100 contacts.

Note: For some of the systems mentioned in  this post there are  affiliate links.

How To Find Cara Wood

Cara Wood is a marketer at Capterra, a website that helps business software buyers find the perfect software. She enjoys writing about CRMs, marketing tech, and retail tech. And when she’s not writing, she can be found horseback riding and singing Taylor Swift songs. Find her on LinkedIn and