Sales Babble

Sales Lessons From Podcast Movement

In this episode Pat goes on the road and attends the Podcast Movement conference and shows the connection between great podcasting and great sales.

Podcasting is having a Renaissance  but it will explode even more so when this technology is better addressed in automobiles.

* Quality podcasts add value, so do great sellers

* Great podcasts differentiate from the crowd, so do great sellers

* Great podcasts have systems in place, so do great sellers

* Great podcasts are consistent, so are great sellers

* Great podcasts rely on you being you, so do great sellers

* Great podcasts use stories, so do great sellers

 

How The Qualities of Great Podcasts are the Same Skills in Sales

* Quality podcasts add value.   Just like in a sale, if the audience has no desire or need for your content, they won’t listen and they won’t buy. You must know your audience and give them exactly what they want. If you’re not sure, ask them. Interview  your loyal clients. Why do they love you? Why did they buy you to begin with? Why do they stay with you.   All the smooth talk and pushy selling tactics won’t work if you’re not fulfilling a desire and filling a need. You must add value.  When the podcast is over, the listener should feel likes it’s been rewarded for their investment. The same is true for a buyer once the deal is complete.

* Great podcast differentiate from the crowd. It’s a noisy world when it comes to podcasting and the audience has many choices. It’s difficult to be heard above the chatter. And it requires you do something above and beyond the competition. This is as true in sales as in podcasting. This requires you to have a sense of what the competition is doing. Not so much to copy them, but to see what gaps are not being filled. If you can fill those gaps, you can be successful. Sales Babble has a very precise mission. We talk about selling secrets for non-sellers. We want to demystify sales as being something corporate, slick and pushy. It’s not and that’s just a lot of babble. We approach the sales with a focus on providing value, a mindset of how can I help you. This works with all sales, and all kinds of sales people selling high ticket items listen to sales babble.  But the basis is this… anyone can learn sales. You can be yourself, and not something fake and if you can add value, you’ll close deals.   That’s our mission. Be yourself, add value, makes sales.

* Great podcasts have systems in place. They have a clear set of processes, organization  and repeatable steps. The episodes are consistent starting with the music, the intros, the outros, the transitions, how you tell stories, interviews and advertisement.    This is what the audience uses keeps things straight.   If you’re producing a podcast, this structure is reassuring and makes it much simpler to produce great art. This is all true in sales too.  In my mind the sale has 6 steps identify, qualify, pose, close, deal and seal. These steps take you from the time you get a lead all the way until they become a loyal and referenceable client.  When you have a process and when you have order it simplifies your day.  It’s much much easier to be professional successful seller. When I was a sales manager I had to keep pounding the value of this to my folks. But believe me  structure breeds success.

* Great podcasts are consistent: They’re published every month, or every week, or every day like John Lee Dumas.  Pick a schedule and stick with it.  People enjoy the familiar.  The audience appreciate sthat a podcast is going to show up in their app every week.  This is certainly true in your business too.   How many times have you seen a new shop open,

Sales Skills for Successful  Sponsorships

Vernon Ross,a  social media strategist and host of the social strategy podcast.   Vernon is an expert on cultivating relationships and today he talks about obtaining successful sponsors and the sales skill for successful sponsorship’s.

What are Sponsorships?

In-kind sponsorship – when a company gives you  a product, service or time for the opportunity to build brand loyalty.

Aspects to consider:

* When there are 3 or more prospects gathered, it’s an opportunity for a successful sponsorship

* Find a sponsor that would benefit that audience. You don’t sell for them but the sponsor would value forming a relationship with you, because of your relationship with your prospect

* Be careful not to water down your brand

* Have a sponsor, sponsor lunch. I elevates your value to the audience (you have connections)

6 Pillars of Successful Sponsorships

* Description of your program. What you’re looking for and who you are trying to serve.  Go deep.

* Sponsorship Benefits – how they will benefit. It’s not just about “exposure”.   Must be deeper e.g. building brand loyalty, conversions, driving people to website

* Demographic Information – the exact description of audience/prospective clients you are targeting. Build an “Avatar”  e.g. Bobby is 45, yoga teacher,

* Media Partners – bloggers are a media partner, article published, news letters, associations,

* Have a marketing plan: squeeze page, email list, lead capture page, let company give brief chat at the event, how you’re going to promote the sponsor

* Strategic alliances – what other people who can compliment but NOT compete

Using LinkedIn to Find Sponsors

* Connect with people in similar industries via LinkedIn groups

* Say “I see we’re in similar industry with common connections I’d love to connect”

* 3 days later “I see we have common interest in XYZ, would you have a moment for a brief chat on the phone?”

Vernon has been influenced by

Think and Grow Rich – Napoleon Hill 

“You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want” – Zig Ziglar

 

The Social Strategy Podcast

Web: http://socialstrategypodcast.com

Twitter: @rosspr

Skype: rosspr

Phone:  (314)266-8376

Win a copy of ScreenFlow

This is a $99 value for screencasting and editing software from Telestream.

To win go to www.salesbabble.com/contest and enter your name. I will pick a winner on August 17th, 2015

Sales Training, Sales Coaching, Sales Consulting

Become confident in sales and grow your business. Check out the Selling With ConfidenceSales System for both new and experienced sellers. This is an opportunity for you to

* Be Yourself

* Add Value

* Make Sales

Don’t be shy. You too can start Selling With Confidence today!

7 Deadly Telephone Sins Salespeople Make

In this episode we talk about common mistakes sales organization make regarding their telephones.  In this solo episode  I walk through a check list you can investigate in your current phone system. Often times companies are not even aware they are making these critical mistakes.  Consider yourself a prospective client. Test and see if you’re easy to connect to.

7 deadly sales sins that kill bluebirds.

 

When a new customer calls you out of the blue to  buy something,in sales we call that  a bluebird. Sales people LOVE bluebirds. It’s fun to earn a commission with very little work. I always did a little happy dance when those infrequent sales plopped in my lap.

A buyer that takes the time to pick up the phone and call you is a motivated buyer. I LOVE motivated buyers. Yet I’m constantly shocked by how difficult companies make it for prospective customers to connect with a sales rep.

A motivated buyer is a precious commodity. It’s critical to quickly take the money when the desire is strong to purchase. Tomorrow maybe too late.

This past week I’ve been calling  sales organizations.

Over and over I keep seeing the same telephone mistakes. If I didn’t know any better, it’s like they don’t want people to buy!

If you’re a sales manager, business owner or a sales rep, take a moment and investigate your telephone situation. To help,  consider the following 7 deadly telephone sins sales people make.

Check your organization against this list and  see if you are unwittingly killing bluebirds with your telephones.

No Voice Mail Greeting Setup

Make sure every sales rep has voice mail setup on their office phone  and cell phone. Twice this week I’ve heard “You reached the phone of 630-555-1212”. I was never certain if I even had the right person.  I would leave a lame voice mail like “Hi Johnny? I was calling about a placing a million dollar order with your company?”

Voice Mail Greeting Non-compelling

Some people  have a voice mail greeting but it’s nothing like what they would say if you were to meet in person. The greeting should be warm, inviting and helpful. It shouldn’t sound like you  are bored with your job.  You would think people would know how to do this.   Instead do this…

“Hi, you’ve reached the phone of NAME at COMPANY. I’m not available right now but please leave a message and I’ll get back to you as soon  as I can.”

If you’re a sales manager, Listen to your reps voicemail. Does it meet that criteria?

Voice Mail Full,  Can’t Leave a Message

Nothing is more frustrating than dialing through a complex phone system, listening to a long greeting only to be told you  CAN’T leave a message. Ugh.

Call everyone in the sales organization. Is their voice mail ready to accept new orders?

No Telephone Number on The Employees  LinkedIn

Did you know that recent studies show that 30-40% of the sales happens online BEFORE you talk to the prospect?   Let’s say one of your clients passes the name of a rep onto a friend. That person will then investigate and look up the sales rep on LinkedIn. Despite the fact that there is a place to enter a phone number, MANY PEOPLE LEAVE IT BLANK. This is not the DO NOT CALL LIST.   You want people to call you!

Or if there is a phone number it’s a Home phone. Was this left over from the days when LinkedIn was considered your online resume?  It’s not. It’s a portal to you. your brands as a sales professional.  Place your office or cell phone  number in LinkedIn. Make it easy for people to connect.

“But Pat”, you might ask “I don’t want sales people calling me“.

Acting For Sales

Julie Hanson is an author, actor, sales trainer and sales speaker at  Performance Sales and Training.  In this episode Julie talks about acting techniques sales professionals can integrate into their presentation. Julie believe your sales presentation or demonstration can provide an experience that customers can easily remember, and most importantly, act upon.

Access parts of yourself when selling

Julie shared the quote…

With any part you play, there is a part of you in there. – Johnny Depp 

She believes sellers need to bring out what’s unique about themselves and channel that into their  sales.

How To Use Acting Skills During Sales

Julie recommended that sales people need to focus on :

* Intention – what do you want to advance the sale. Have that in mind.

* Preparation – warm up before you connect with prospective clients .

* First impression – have a sense of urgency and energy in the first few moments.

* Reingage Your Audience – attention spans drop in 10 minutes, change up the presentation every 7 minutes e.g. asking a question, use a prop, tell a story, etc…

Train Your Audience

As a presenter you can train your audience how to active, engaged and enrolled in your product. It’s like breaking the 4th wall (looking into the camera to express thoughts).

How To Find Julie Hansen

You can find Julie throughout the internet:

* PerformanceSalesAndTraining.com

* On Twitter @actingforsales

* Julie on LinkedIn

Free copy of “Taking the Sales Presentation to the Next Level”

Julie’s new book  Sales Presentations for Dummies (Wiley) and will be released in October.  Her book ACT Like a Sales Pro is available in print or eBook.

This is the Julie Hansen Biography

Julie Hansen, is a sales presentation expert and sales trainer who helps sales professionals deliver winning presentations and demonstrations. She is the author of Sales Presentations for Dummies (Wiley) and ACT Like a Sales Pro (CareerPress). Julie is the founder of Performance Sales and Training and her techniques for leveraging proven performance skills from film, stage and improv in sales and business have been adopted by Fortune 500 companies across the globe.

 

Sales Training, Sales Coaching, Sales Consulting

Become confident in sales and grow your business. Check out the Selling With ConfidenceSales System for both new and experienced sellers. This is an opportunity for you to

* Be Yourself

* Add Value

* Make Sales

Don’t be shy. You too can start Selling With Confidence today!

Conversations That Sell

In this episode we meet Nancy Bleeke, President of Sales Pro Insider, Inc., and author of Conversations That Sell, and today we chat about the necessity for companies to make their conversations count-with customers, prospects, and team members.  Nancy shares her beliefs that When the right people are having the right conversations-companies thrive.

Decision Making and Taking Action

A conversation that sells is a conversation where you’re helping someone else make a decision or take an action on something:

* Another appointment

* Get an introduction

* Buy your product or service

A sales pitch is about the seller wowing the the listening, grabbing their attention a conversation is a two people collectively coming to a decision. A conversation that sells is as it says, a conversation! 

Sales is helping someone else do or decide something.

Elements of a great conversation:

* Preparation – focus on what’s in it for them (the buyer): relevant, engaging.  Do some research on them (e.g. LinkedIn).

* Mental Preparation – May only take a few minutes (the Pause Time).

* Initiate the Conversation – explain what’s in it for them.

* Investigation NOT interrogation .

* People may 50% already complete in their investigation before they talk to you. Be prepared.

Decision making is slowing down. Professional sales people help them narrow down information, so they can be more confident in making a decision.

Consider the risk of NOT buying something

If you can create this conversation you can speed up the decision making process. Once it’s clear something can be done about the situation, the sales is advanced.

Sellers are often paralyzed when making a buying decision. The prepared sales professional can cut through that fear and can get them to focus on what’s important.

Selling Methods Distinctions

* Consultative sales – when the sales professional is an expert

* Collaborative sales – when the sales professional uses that expertise to recognize the knowledge of the buyer and works with them make a decision.

* Learn what they know

* Right size the conversation

* Align selling process with their buying process

* Flex and to help them move through the process

Identifying what’s important to them before the conversation, and throughout the conversation. That will separate you from the competition.

Links to Find Nancy Bleeke

* Sales Pro Insider Website

* Sales Gurus website

* 18 Insider Tips

* [email protected]

Special Bonus

Nancy is providing your listeners the first two chapters of her book, Conversations that Sell. You can direct your listeners to  http://www.salesproinsider.com/two-chapters

Nancy Bleeke Bio

Nancy Bleeke, President of Sales Pro Insider, Inc., and author of Conversations That Sell, is known as someone who gets things done.  She is driven by a battle cry that companies need to make their conversations count-with customers, prospects, and team members. When the right people are having the right conversations-companies thrive. Her focus since 1998 is equipping companies to grow sales, customer loyalties,

How To Use Overboarding in Sales

In this episode we meet James Welch the author and creator of Sales Coach World. James talks about overboarding and how you can use it to supplant your competition.  But before we start that topic,  we talk about how he has created a website that has centralized sales coaches and sales experts across the world.

Sales Coach World

Sales Coach World is a free global sales training and coaching resource for sales people and those looking for coaching for their sales teams.

* Part of the big data effort is to understand  the commonalities in sales coaching.

* James mentioned that the  most helpful and nicest coaches are the most famous.

* As a resource he is starting with common text book recommendations.

* He supports coaches who are truly interested in sales, not just marketing their services.

* The website provides a data driven independent view on coaching

How to find a good coach

It’s hard for a busy sales manager to pick. Here are some techniques you can use to help make the decision

* Know that not all coaches for all industries.

* The coaches that provide a helpful sales experience are better.

* Coaches NOT on his list should be avoided.

* Use the website SalesCoachWorld.com to vet candidate coaches.

Overboarding

Sometimes you think you’ve won a deal, but you don’t.  How can a sales rep stop that from occurring?  Overboarding is when the  best sales organizations give prospects useful things at the right time.  Commonly used by big sales organizations.

James has done concrete research on this process.

* This is content marketing, but for sales

* Some examples are useful PDFs

* The best is a “custom” pdf written in specifically for a client.

* No matter the wealth of the buyer, all people value free valuable stuff

* Even unique business card (foldable) make a difference

How to find James Welch

* SalesCoachWorld.com   for sales coach help, coaching tips, sales training, marketing advice, CRM and Marketing automation software, sales tools…all free!

Books Mentioned

* Neil Rackams – SPIN Selling is the most popular book

* Dave Curlin– Baseline Selling

* The Challenger Sale   Matt Dixon and Brent Adamson

* To Sell is Human – Dan Pink

Overboarding Article   that’s been published on SalesCoachWorld.com

 

How To Use Improv When Selling with Sean Kelley #66

Today we meet Sean Kelley. Sean is  an advertising and marketing content creator during his day job. But at night he’s the  co-producer/director /actor of the Improvised Star Trek podcast.

Today we talk about improv acting and how it relates to sales. This whole episode  is all based on a chapter in my FAVORITE book on sales “To Sell Is Human by Dan Pink.   In this episode we talk about the power of having a real conversations when selling and the value of listening NOT telling.

What is Improv?

Improv – a style of acting that depends on scene partners  working together.

* Except all offers …. the idea is to not disagree with the reality of the first person speaking

* Yes And…… is the starter version of improv. Whatever your partner says you respond “Yes and…..” and you continue the discussion farther with a statement.

The next step is to take the statement and morph it into a richer an deeper direction.

How to Use in Sales

* Agree to the context… if you’re selling gas powered lawn mowers and they want battery powered ones (this was an example in this episode) understand the clients thinking

* Behave with each other like human beings, NOT an automaton.

* Don’t disagree with a prospect flat out. Dig into why the said, what they said.

Example “Yes And”

As Sean said the basic foundation of improv was to say “Yes and”.   Let’s say you’re making sales call and the prospects says “Yeah we want to solve this problem with  XYZ machine but we’re struggling with getting it rolled out.”  Now you KNOW the XYZ is the WRONG solution. You’re an expert in this field. That’s why people pay you because of the value you bring to their business. This prospect doesn’t know that yet, or more likely doesn’t trust you yet.

Instead of saying  “that’s a dumb idea” … “ore you don’t want to do that , try this….” in both situations you’re going to ostracize the client. You’re not going to win the deal.   Instead try  “yes I can see that, many other try that approach.. and how did that go…..”    this opens up the conversation for you.  Once you can hear their answer and it opens up the opportunity to share when it doesn’t work,  you can say “yes we’ve heard that from other, did you ever try this….” .. NOW you can share your product and service  in a way that the client is now ready to hear.

Sean Kelley and the Improvised Star Trek

Improvised Star Trek Podcast Website

Improvised Star Trek on iTunes

Twitter @improvstartrek

Sean Kelley on LInkedIn

Sales Training, Sales Coaching, Sales Consulting

Become confident in sales and grow your business. Check out the

How To Be Bold By Prequalifying Prospects – Part 2

This is the second of two parts where  we continue to chat with  Tom Reber a sales coach  from the  Contractor Sales Academy.  Tom   shares advice on the power of prequalifying prospects and optimizing your time with open ended but focused questions.

Qualification Sales Questions

In this episode we continued the conversation on the power of qualifying prospects to increase your sales efficiency. Commonly this is done over the phone.

* Know your client

* Don’t project “you” on your client.  How you buy may NOT be how our ideal client purchases products and services.

* Money may not be an issue with your clients. If you ask them they will tell you the most important thing. If money is NOT number one, it’s really NOT number one!

* Who is your” Ideal client” is may change over the years. This demands the seller to stay on top of the market and constantly reevaluate.

* Create content on your site to excite your ideal client. If there is a lot for them to read, they will sell themselves.

* The more content you put on your website, the more they will enroll themselves on your business.

Tom Reber on Social Media

Skype  tom.reber.9

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/tom.reber.9

https://www.facebook.com/MotorHard

LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomreber

Twitter

@MOTORstrong

@StrongPodcast

The Contractor Pain and Pleasure Cheat Sheet

To get a copy of the prequalification questions  in the Contractor Pain and Pleasure Cheat Sheet send and email to  tom @ motorhard.com

Biography Tom Reber

Tom Reber is a contractor at heart. Having built a million dollar company in just

three years, completing more than 3000 projects and being awarded many industry

awards, he knows how to deliver an elite contracting experience. In 2011 he took

this skill and created MOTOR, a business coaching and personal development

company for the service industry.

MOTOR is his personal mantra and mindset he brings to all of his speaking and

coaching. It’s a mindset that keeps fighting and finds a way. It’s a willingness to

do the work others are unwilling to do and to always keep faith in your vision.

He currently works with contractors in several industries to help them create and

implement the systems needed to consistently deliver great experiences for their

clients, which lead to higher profits and more balance in life.

In 2015, he created Contractors Sales Academy. Their vision is to help contractors

begin to immediately get back their time and make more money by implementing

a few simple steps to take back control of their businesses.

Tom lives in Manitou Springs, CO with his wife and 3 adopted kids Dakota, Tiga

& Iris and can be reached by going to www.motorhard.com

How to Stop You from Stopping Your Sales

Are you intimidated by sales?

Do you dread the thought of picking up the phone?

Are you always finding ways to avoid  prospecting?

Or maybe you know what to do.  But you just don’t do it.

It’s as if  your biggest  barrier in sales is YOU.

How can you fix that?

This Thursday, June 25th,  I will be offering  a live online Sales Babble workshop to address this very issue. In this live online workshop you will learn 4 techniques.

 

How To Be Bold By Prequalifying Prospects

In this episode we meet Tom Reber a sales coach  from the  Contractor Sales Academy.  Tom   shares advice on the power of prequalifying prospects and optimizing your time with open ended but focused questions.

This is topic useful not only for contractors, but anyone who is prospecting. If  you’re trying to discern if you can help a prospect and if they can afford you, this is the episode for you

Qualification Sales Questions

This is the first of a two part episode:

* Have your prospects answer this question: “When we’re packed up and gone how will you know you’ve hired the right contractor?” LISTEN!

* Contract around their pain, the things that are truly important to them.

* When prospects balk at your prices say “You say you can’t afford this price but you said hardwood floors were protected, is that no longer the case?” LISTEN!

* Bring it back to their pain

* Be up front with budget. ” I could give you $30K lake or $10K pond, which conversation makes the most sense?”

* Don’t go out to people’s home unless they can truly help.

* Create your on prequalifying script and be bold about implementing it.

Tom Reber on Social Media

Skype  tom.reber.9

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/tom.reber.9

https://www.facebook.com/MotorHard

LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomreber

Twitter

@MOTORstrong

@StrongPodcast

The Contractor Pain and Pleasure Cheat Sheet

To get a copy of the prequalification questions  in the Contractor Pain and Pleasure Cheat Sheet send and email to  tom @ motorhard.com

Biography Tom Reber

Tom Reber is a contractor at heart. Having built a million dollar company in just

three years, completing more than 3000 projects and being awarded many industry

awards, he knows how to deliver an elite contracting experience. In 2011 he took

this skill and created MOTOR, a business coaching and personal development

company for the service industry.

MOTOR is his personal mantra and mindset he brings to all of his speaking and

coaching. It’s a mindset that keeps fighting and finds a way. It’s a willingness to

do the work others are unwilling to do and to always keep faith in your vision.

He currently works with contractors in several industries to help them create and

implement the systems needed to consistently deliver great experiences for their

clients, which lead to higher profits and more balance in life.

In 2015, he created Contractors Sales Academy. Their vision is to help contractors

begin to immediately get back their time and make more money by implementing

a few simple steps to take back control of their businesses.

Tom lives in Manitou Springs, CO with his wife and 3 adopted kids Dakota, Tiga

& Iris and can be reached by going to www.motorhard.com

Sales Training, Sales Coaching, Sales Consulting

Become confident in sales and grow your business. Check out the Selling With Confidence Sales System for both new and experienced sellers. This is an opportunity for you to

* Be Yourself

* Add Value

* Make Sales

Don’t be shy.

How to Grow Your Business With LinkedIn

In today’s  episode we meet Brynne Tillman an author and expert who helps professionals grow their business through LinkedIn and social selling.  Brynne shares the 4 areas of social selling and how you can use LinkedIn to listen online, educate, prospect and position yourself to get appointments and close sales.

If you’re selling high ticket products and services in the BbB space Linkedin is a great place to strike up conversations and get your foot in the door.

Four areas of social selling

* Listen online.   Answer the questions what are they liking, sharing, publishing, and following.  Gather intelligence.

* Educate with insights. Prove you’re an expert by creating consistent content: blogs, articles, podcasts that has real value.

* Prospecting.   Send a request to ask for a conversation:  “I would like to explore ways we can work together. I have lots of clients like you. Whether or not we decide to work together our time will be well worth the time.  I will offer you insights that will blow your mind. And even if we never talk again, it will be  well worth your 30 minutes.”  

Time Tree tool recommended by Brynne for scheduling.

She asks for 20 connections  a day to meet for a call.

She makes 10-12 prospecting calls a week. 

 

* Positioning.  Take all the things you’ve learned about prospective client position yourself as the SME (Subject Matter Expert)

* You can sell on LinkedIn… it’s more than just a networking tool.

* Challenger Sale – Corporate Executive Board   did a research study on sales professionals. This is what they found: People buy from people who can solve their problems, not sellers who ask large numbers of discovery questions.

* Be a guide.  This is what she will tell prospects to build trust: “When we worked with this one company, in a similar situation, this is what we did and it could work for you too… ” 

A LinkedIn Allstar Profile is not Meaningful

Look at your profile as bait.   Your profile must be engaging. Look at the top of your profile (above the fold).

* Banner – focus on the banner vs the rest of the profile

* Headline  – show the value you bring (not just a title or company name)

* Tell them what they will  get when they meet you.   Say “Learn how… “ to motivate them to click below the fold. Be a resource.

* Make it resourceful, tips, checklists, handouts….. valuable content.

Resource Section of Profile

Place this in your text:

* Tell  people what you do.  Products and services go her.

* Then say let’s have a call. Have a call to action in your profile.

Brynne Tillman  on Social Media

You can find Brynne (not  surprisingly) on LinkedIn!

Twitter

Social Sales Link

LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/in/brynnetillman

On the web

LinkedIn Workbook

Restaurant Equipment

SocialSalesLink

This is Brynne’s FREE Online class “Monetizing LinkedIn”  with the Password  “SSL”