Sales Babble

Special Announcement:  Change, Fear  and How to Overcome It

In this short episode I have a special announcement regarding the Sales Babble podcast.   If you haven’t heard already my wife and best friend, Denise,  just accepted a position as a principal at a new American school in Zheng Zhou China.  I’ll be joining her on this move.  It will be a huge adventure for us and we’re very excited.

Don’t worry.  It will not affect the production of the Sales Babble podcast.  The show must go on.

Change, Fear  and How to Overcome It

I use this experience to talk about change, fear and how I overcome it. Moving to a new job, a new home,  cold calling, or closing a deal can generate stress and fear. These are challenges we face daily and far too often people avoid them to their peril.

I have a process I use to address new challenges. Below are the three steps I use to embrace change and set aside fear.

* Wake up To the Fear – See the challenge for what it is, and what it’s not. Have faith it will all work out. Consider the worst that can happen. Most likely you can overcome the worst: hang up, lost deal, lost job. All of these events are temporary. Focus less on the loss but on the opportunity it creates.

* List the Challenges – Make a list of every obstacle you will face, and how to overcome it. By writing down each challenge, each issue becomes small and  doable. Now the fear is manageable.

* Work the List Daily – Build a schedule and walk through the list, addressing each challenge 1 by 1 until they are all done. Daily progress evaporates fear.

Links Mentioned in Podcast

Denise is starting a blog The Journey Of A Thousand Miles. You can keep up on her journey there.

As I mentioned I started a blog on sales a few years ago.  It was based the Tao and the writings of Lao Tze called the Tao Te Ching. I called this blog  The Tao Te Ching of Sales   The foundation of this blog is in Sales Babble.  Great sales is about balance: Not too Pushy, Not to Wussy. 

Here is an example posting:

Buying Signs From The Tao Te Ching of Sales

If you want to demonstrate a solution

you must first allow the buyer to question it

If you want to generate curiosity

you must first allow them hold it

If you want them to understand

You must first let them describe how it will meet their  needs.

Look for subtle behaviors of ownership.

To  close a deal  you need only ask,

will this work?

Want To Talk? Contact Me.

Have question, comment or idea? I’d love to here it.

Contact me here.

 

All Entrepreneurs are in Sales with Derin Alemli #110

Sales Babble is expanding! We’re looking to add a forum where Sales Babble listeners can ask questions and share experiences but we need your help! Please complete this survey .

Derin Alemli is a serial entrepreneur who lives in Chicago.  Having founded DownBeats in 2012, he is also became the Founder & CEO of Square Roots Kitchen, a new fast casual health restaurant, as well as being involved with two other pre-launch startups in Founder and Co-Founder roles.  In this episode we talk about starting a successful business and how all entrepreneurs are in Sales with Derin Alemli

Serial Entrepreneur

Derin says he sees business opportunities everywhere. Downbeats.com is an Ecommerce B2C business with $10 price point. At first he built sales organically,  person to person and then by word of mouth.   He also generated individual sales that pull demand from supplier relationships. Those are his primary market channels.

Knowing Your Market

Derin strongly believes that selling your first customers validates your business.  It provides a feedback loop on your product or service.  For example he found that young people cared about sound quality vs health of their eardrums. He has found over time the solution required managing expectations.

Focus on the feedback you get from your first customers and beware of confirmation bias.

How to Find Derin Alemli

* Downbeats.com and you can find them on Amazon

* Find Derrin’s new venture at Squarerootskitchen.com

* @Squarerootskitchen Instagram

* @Squarerootskitchen Facebook

* @Squarerootskit Twitter

Derin Alemli Bio

Derin Alemli is a serial entrepreneur who lives in Chicago. Having founded DownBeats in 2012, he is also the Founder & CEO of Square Roots Kitchen, a new fast casual health restaurant, as well as being involved with two other pre-launch startups in Founder and Co-Founder roles. Prior to becoming an entrepreneur Derin worked in hedge fund portfolio management for Grosvenor Capital Management. Derin has an MBA from the University of Chicago in addition to holding the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Sales Babble in the Press

Learning sales as you travel  is not limited to the Sales Babble podcast. There are other venues: press, podcasts, blogs, newspapers and newsletters that have generously featured Sales Babble.  Listen here for  specific articles and programs that have been published.

How to Sell To Government with Kevin Jans

Sales Babble is expanding! We’re looking to add a forum where Sales Babble listeners can ask questions and share experiences but we need your help! Please complete this survey .  With that said today we meet Kevin Jans a former US Federal Government contracting officer who is now the host of the  Contracting Officer Podcast.  As president of Skyway Acquistion Solutions Kevin helps clients win federal contracts. If you sell to government or if you ever wondered if it’s a potential market, this episode will lay out the rules and share tips on how to  sell to government with Kevin Jans.

Kevin  advises listeners who to talk to, who to skip and how find people who really need your products and services  . Instead of just applying to RFPs (Request For Proposal) willy nilly, take a targeted approach.

 

Top 5 Tips For Selling To Government

Target your your federal customer – it is not one monolithic organization. It’s more like a single stock in the S&P 500.

USAspending.gov  Enter what you do and it will share previous awarded contracts. Provides a 9 digit reachable market.

USAspending.gov – Search by state and competition. On Youtube USA spending Video and it will share targeted contracts.

FBO.gov – Federal Business Opportunities – type in what you do and will show all the outstanding RFPs

Target a Type Government Purchase – Know what kind of small business you are, what kind of size and market you should approach.

Type of Government Purchases

Micropurchase – under $3500

Simplified Acquisition Procedures  – $3500 – $150K  Find three registered companies and pick one

Competitive Contract – Source selection process $150K and above

Government Selling Mistakes

One of the biggest mistakes vendors make is applying for opportunities above their ability. Secondly businesses fail to explain the risks on both sides to the purchasers.

RFP Time Zones

If you’re answering an RFP it’s important to be mindful of the time zones.

Requirement Phase – you can ask lots of questions

Market Research Phase – you can still ask lots of questions

RFP Zone – once released all contracts must be treated fairly. There are limits to who you can talk to. If you’re just seeing the RFP now, it’s probably too late to win the contract

Difference Between Government and Corporate Sales

In business sales is  80% relationship, 20% process. In government sales is 20% relationship, 80% business.  It’s critical to understand the purchasing procedures to win deal. 

Newbie Tip for Government Sales

It’s easier to break in as a subcontractor.

Free Book

Send an email to [email protected]   for his free 98 page eBook

“Save Your Time: A Former Contracting Officer explains Why the Government Market May (or may not) Be Right For You.”

Twitter @KevinJans_

Podcast @ContractPodcast

Contracting Officer Podcast  

Survey

Sales Babble is expanding! We’re looking to add a forum where Sales Babble listeners can ask questions and share experiences but we need your help!

Stop Cold Calling, Start Communicating with Odile Faludi

In this episode we learn how to stop Cold Calling  and start communicating or as Odile says it; Cold Call No More. 

What’s Wrong With Cold Calling

Many sales people say this…. “Hi Pat how are you doing…. ” This a BAD opening.

Cold calling is interruptive and the listener can’t help but wonder who are you why are you asking me.  You are clearly a sales person and they will want to hang up.

Better Opening Statement

“ Hi Pat , my name is Odile I hope you can help me…….”

This will stroke their ego, show how you value their opinion.  Most people are helpful and happy to lend a hand.

Ask Open Ended Questions

Understand first before offering a solution.   Learn about your prospect first.  People don’t like being talked to.  The curse of knowledge is the desire to tell a customer everything in 5 minutes. Instead tell them a little at a time and use the power of the pause. Then say is there anything else you would like to know.  

 

Things To Say

Don’t make it about you, make it about them. Soften your approach and people will listen harder. They will find you endearing.  Mirror what you hear, see and feel. Ask implication questions to create a need and then get an appointment and see them face to face

Be an economist with your words.

* Is this a bad time speak.

* I’m just ringing to get your feedback

 

Where to Find Odile Faludi

* Telephone: +61 425 250 677

* Email:             [email protected]

* Web:              www.odilefaludi.com.au

* LinkedIn:      https://au.linkedin.com/in/odilefaludi   

* Twitter:      @odilefaludi @cold call no more

 

Grab your free eBook

Get a copy of Odile’s book “Don’t Cold Call Again and Go Broke!” at www.odilefaludi.com.au

Cold Calling Tips

* 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

* Cold Calling Tips from an Employment Recruiter an interview with Jamie Homa #44

* SB025 – Forget Digital Marketing, Try Cold Calling

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

* Cold Calling Tips using Jill Kontrath’s Agile Selling #18

* The 8×3 Follow Up Rule in Sale...

Supercharge your Sales Memory with  Brad Zupp

Today we meet memory athlete and memory improvement expert Brad Zupp. Brad is a former real estate agent who had to juggle a lot of sales at once.From that experience he has become fascinated by the power of memory and what we can do to  Supercharge your Sales Memory.

 

 

What you should START doing:

Start wanting to remember. Just telling yourself it’s important to remember their names helps!

Wellness, being physically fit stimulates the brain and keeps us sharp. Cardio exercise helps the blood flow in the brain .

Memory Advice:  Exercise your mind, exercise your body

What should we STOP doing

Stop outsourcing your memory to your phone.

Stop multitasking

Memory Advice: Give your FULL ATTENTION with the person you’re with. 

Remembering is three steps:

Get the information

Save the information

Recall the information

Memory Advice: Figure out your weakest step and work on that.

TIP:

When brushing your teeth, remind yourself the names of everyone you met as well as important moments of the day.

When meeting a lot of people all at once, try to slow  down  the introductions and say something about each name.

Repeat the name three times

Pat has found this works very well.  Just make sure you’re not overly obvious about it.

Brad Zupp Online

* http://www.bradzupp.com/freereport    10 ways to supercharge your memory

* http://twitter.com/BradZupp

* http://us.linkedin.com/in/bradzupp

* https://www.facebook.com/FeatsOfMemory/

Recent Guest Interviews

Since the beginning of the year I’ve been on three podcasts to talk about sales. I  appreciate the opportunity to visit with these hosts and believe the Sales Babble listener will enjoy these conversations too!

 

* Rayven Perkins – Direct Sales Podcast

* Jeannie Walters and Adam Toporek – Crack the Door Podcast

* Steve Kloyda – Get In The Door Podcast

Find all my recent guest interviews here as well as Sales Babble news in the press

Mindset, Toolset, Skillset  with Sales Expert Alice Heiman

In this episode we chat about Mindset, Toolset, and Skillset  with Sales Expert Alice Heiman, founder and Chief Sales Officer for Alice Heiman LLC.  The saying “sales runs in her blood” has never been truer.  Daughter of  Stephen Heiman  of Miller Heiman fame, Alice has spent almost 20 years training sales professionals nationwide on a variety of skills, strategies and tactics.

Alice is the Chief Networking Officer for the Sales 2.0 conferences, an instructor at the University of Nevada Reno College of Business, plus highly active in numerous Reno Nevada-based civic and social causes.

Mindset First 

If you want to learn to sell, you can learn to sell! You have to believe you can be good at sales, to be good at sales. It’s a mindset.  There are three elements that make for great sales:

Mindset  – Positive and belief in the value of you and what you sell

Toolset – CRM, marketing, automation tools

Skillset  – your scripts and ability to project them. 

All three are important. But mindset holds precedence. Just like you have to decide to be a smiler, you have to decide if you want to be a seller. But…. you have to want it.

Sales Management

Sales Managers should hire for mindset first.  Sales is primarily a task of problem solving, not trickery and persuasion.  Consider your own mindset around sales. Your company. Your people. If it’s not favorable, what can you do to change it today to make your team more productive and successful.

Where to Find Alice Heiman

You can find Alice online.

* Website Aliceheiman.com

* LinkedIn    www.linkedin.com/in/aliceheiman

* Twitter @aliceheiman

* Womensalespros.com

Email her for a free consultation at [email protected]

Overcoming Sales Fears

Some other podcast episodes you may enjoy….

* The Habits of Highly Successful Sellers with Terry Lancaster

* How to Sell to the Obvious with Stephen Schiffman

* How To Be An Awesome Sales Professional with Thomas Ellis #102

* Success Hacks for Sales with Scott Hansen #101

* The Brutal Truth About Sales with Brian Burns #95

* 8 morning Rituals for Sales Success with Rayven Perkins #93

* How to Make a NO Feel as Good as a Yes with Michele Moreno

* How to get your ASK in gear,

Why You Need a Sales Process with Randy Meier

In this episode Randy and I discuss why you need a sales process and the downside of winging it sales. Randy Meier is a District Sales Manager for Revere Electric Supply. Randy has a  number of sales reps  under his watch selling electrical components and anything that has a wire coming out it.  Randy shares advice taken from his real life sales management experience. 

Sales Process or Not Process

Great sales is  not about being pumped up or having a killer  mindset or  10x mindset.  It’s about having a  methodical step by step process where you move suspects to prospects to opportunities and then into  paying clients.

Revere Electric Action Sales Process

Randy believes any sales process will work. They are all somewhat alike. The process at Revere Electric contains the following, 9 steps.

Commit to an objective

Build Rapport

Ask Open Ended Questions

Match needs to products and services

Build your credibility

Build your company’s credibility

Sum up the conversation

Ask for the order

Replay the sale and learn

How to Find Randy Meier

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/randy.meier.71

LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/randy-meier

Why You Need a Sales Process an Interview with Randy Meier

How to Manage Sales Teams

* How To Be Your Customers Hero with Adam Toporek #104

* Strategic Sales Skills from Sales Management Author Ken Thoreson #57

Sales Hiring Process

* How to Sell Yourself When Getting a Job with Scott Barlow #81

* SB019 | Skyrocket your Retail Sales, an Interview with Nicole Reyhle

* Special Segment Your Hired! An Interview with Job Seeker Tami Miller #16

* All Job Hunters Are Sellers

The Habits of Highly Successful Sellers with Terry Lancaster

Terry Lancaster is an entrepreneur, speaker, and #1 best selling author of the book BETTER! Self Help For The Rest Of Us.  He writes and speaks on the power of habit and focus, helping salespeople and entrepreneurs build better lives, better careers and better businesses, one minor adjustment, one focused action, one better habit at a time.  

In this episode Terry and I talk about Jerry Seinfeld, Pomodoro, and Flow.   Does this sound unconnected, it’s not!  You’ve come to the right place.  Discover how actions make habits and habits make for success.  These are the habits of highly successful sellers. 

Seinfeld Technique

Terry shared a story from Jerry Seinfeld.  Seinfeld explains how each day he forces himself to write a joke. Once written he marks off the calendar.  Do something similar with cold calling. Set a goal of 5-10-20 cold calls and don’t mark it off until you’ve completed your commitment. Actions make for habits. It builds neural connections, the path of least resistance over time.

Pomodoro Technique

Pomodoro is a  method of managing time by chunking time. Sit down for 25 minutes and set a timer. Do a task until it’s either completed or the timer goes off. Then take a 5 minute break, reset the timer and work another 25 minutes. I do this too and it works. Very productive.

Flow

Most of life is not a decision, but a habit. Most of what we do is on Autopilot. Flow is when what you’re doing and  thinking are aligned. Build in actions that match your interest. This is true happiness. 

Advice for the Day

Start small, start where you are, start with tiny things you can accomplish today, work on incremental improvements, get 1% better with regularity, with consistent applied efforts.  This is what creates the habits of highly successful sellers. 

How to Find Terry Lancaster

Website http://TerryLancaster.com

Twitter  http://twitter.com/TerryLancaster

Facebook http://facebook.com/Terry.Lancaster.1

LinkedIn http://linkedin.com/in/TerryLLancaster

How to Get A Free Chapter

To get a free chapter of the book BETTER! Self Help For The Rest Of Us  send an email to [email protected]

 

Overcoming Sales Fears

Here are some other podcast episodes related to this episode.   Enjoy!

* How to Sell to the Obvious with Stephen Schiffman

* How To Be An Awesome Sales Professional with Thomas Ellis #102

* Success Hacks for Sales with Scott Hansen #101

* The Brutal Truth About Sales with Brian Burns #95

* 8 morning Rituals for Sales Success with Rayven Perkins #93

*

How To Be Your Customer’s Hero with Adam Toporek

In this episode we meet Adam Toporek,  an internationally recognized customer service expert, keynote speaker, and workshop leader. He is the author of Be Your Customer’s Hero: Real-World Tips & Techniques for the Service Front Lines (2015), as well as the founder of the popular Customers That Stick® blog. When he’s not speaking or delivering high energy customer service workshops, he can be found co-hosting the Crack the Customer Code podcast (of which I will soon be a featured guest!) and writing extensively on customer experience.

Today Adam and I discuss how to be your customer hero by providing a terrific sales experience and then a terrific support experience.

Sales and Support Matter

Sales support are two sides of the same coin.  With great support comes references and referrals. Both organizations must work together to on-board clients and keep them happy.  It’s all about building relationships. For the selling professional this is how how you can be your customers’s hero. The easiest customer to sell is one whose bought from you before.

How To Close a Deal

Concession Close

Here you are offering the customer a con- cession and asking if that will satisfy her. You can generally use some version of the following: “If I could _, would that _?” “If I could apply a credit for the difference to your account, would that work for you?”

Trial Close

Trial closes are small closes you use along the way that lead to the final close. In larger sales processes, the sales-

person is looking to get a certain number of “yes” answers to get him to the final “yes.” In customer service, you’re testing the waters to see if you’re heading in the right direction. “If I could ship the dress to you on your trip, is that something you would be interested in?” Or you can ask more general questions. “Are we heading in the right direction?” “How is April 17, 2015 this sounding so far?”

Ultimatum Close

This technique is an absolute last resort for when you’re simply stuck, have tried multiple options, and the customer will simply not be satisfied. You’ve decided that it’s time to move on, one way or another, so you give the customer an ultimatum. “Sir, I’m really at the limits of what I can offer. Is the option I presented acceptable to you?” If the customer says no, my favorite line to follow up with is, “I wish I could do more, but that’s as far as I can go. How would you like to proceed from here?”

How to Find Adam Toporak

You can find Adam easily online:

* https://twitter.com/adamtoporek

* https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamtoporek

* https://www.youtube.com/user/customersthatstick

* https://www.facebook.com/customersthatstick

Contest

To win a copy of How To Be Your Customers Hero with Adam Toporek enter the contest here.

Closing Sales Tips

* Success Hacks for Sales with Scott Hansen #101

* How to Sell Coaching Services with Julie Foucht #98

* How to get your ASK in gear, an interview with Connie Kadansky #87

*

How to Sell to the Obvious with Stephen Schiffman

In this episode we are honored to meet return guest,  Steve Schiffman a leader in motivational  sales training. Steve has trained over a ½ million professionals in over 9000 companies. He’s a best selling author and author of series of best selling books on sales. Today Steve and I laugh about how to sell to the obvious. And by that we mean truly listening to the needs of the customers and selling products and services that meet those needs. 

Listen here for Steve’s previous episode 8  Cold Calling Techniques in Sales.   

 

Reinvent Yourself in Sales 

If you’ve been selling for awhile, you may need to reassess yourself and reinvent. It’s time to stop selling like it’s 1950; when there was no shopping process on the internet.  Weak selling stems from:

Fear –  afraid of success or afraid of failure

Uncertainty – unclear what will happen each time you try

Doubt – uncertain you still have the skills for success

Habits – overtime picked up bad behavior.

How to Build New Habits

Accept that you’re going to improve yourself

Put it into practice within 72 hours

Keep at it for 30 days

Sales Is Getting Harder

Throughout the interview we repeated the following themes:

Due to the internet, you are mostly selling commodities. People shop online before speaking to sellers.

On a sales call, most likely your prospect already has an existing vendor. You always have competition.

Sellers do interruptive marketing. They are not expecting your call. This is always a barrier.

Don’t be intimidated by the competition. Instead ask the question, “I’m curious as to why you buy from XYZ company, why not buy from me?”

The 4 Elements To Make A Sale

According to Steve the following  four elements that must be aligned to make a sale.

You must be talking to …

The right person

The right product

The right timetable

The right pricing

If anyone of these elements are missing, the sale is in jeopardy.

How to Find Steve Schiffman

* 212 836 4719

* [email protected]

* www.steveschiffman.com

Get a copy of  Cold Calling Techniques: That Really Work 

 

Cold Calling Tips

Here are some past episodes to continue the conversation!

* Sales For Start-ups with Mano Behera

* Prospecting for New Sales Leads with Steve Kloyda #73

* Five Lessons from a Pushy Cold Call

* Cold Calling Tips from an Employment Recruiter an interview with Jamie Homa #44

* SB025 – Forget Digital Marketing, Try Cold Calling

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