Sales Tuners

By Jim Brown

SalesTuners is an interview where I talk with great sales leaders and high performing individual salespeople about the Behaviors, Attitudes, and Techniques that have made them great. Learn more at Sal... more

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FAQs about Sales Tuners:

How many episodes does Sales Tuners have?

The podcast currently has 146 episodes available.

Sales Tuners episodes:

November 13, 2018112: Jorge Lana | How Local Cultures Influence the Sales Process
Takeaways

Change Your Mindset: It is my strong belief that the next generation of great sellers will be subject matter experts that have been taught how to sell, rather than salespeople who learn about a portfolio of products. With information being readily accessible and buyers expecting more every day, you owe it to yourself to become an industry expert. Not in sales, but in the industry you’re selling to. You need to know your buyers' world just as well as they do to be able to communicate why your solution could help solve their problem.

Learn the Local Language: Yes, this episode was specific to languages spoken in different countries, but if you think about it, your buyers speak a different language as well. This goes back to the first takeaway, how do they want to be spoken to? What are their expectations for cold outreach? What motivates them? Is there seasonality in their business or their industry? I’m not saying you have to change the way you sell, I’m just saying that if you’re aware of these things it will give you a huge advantage.

Build Relationships with Partners: What better way to become an industry expert and learn the “local” language than by building strong relationships with other partners in the space? Think about who else is already successfully selling into your target customer base. What do they know that you don’t? Who could they make introductions to if they trusted you? In my world, I call this a “power circle” and I’m always looking to align with four other companies or sales reps that sell non-competing products into the same market

Full notes

https://www.salestuners.com/jorge-lana

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26min
November 06, 2018111: Scott Brown | Mastering Messaging and Putting Your Audience First
Takeaways

Figure Out the Why First: Nearly everyone you come across knows ‘what’ to do, but do they know ‘why’ to do it? If they know, do you? As you work through building a hook that resonates with your target audience, it’s critical you understand their why. Then, and only then, you can deliver your what in a bite-sized manner they can understand. Your goal is to get them to hear it and say, “hmmm… that’s interesting, tell me more” or “hmmm… how do you do that?”

Numbers Only Support a Decision that’s Already Been Made: If you’re using statistics early in your sales process, please stop. Nobody buys things because of the numbers. This may even sound crazy, but nobody even remembers the numbers or statistics you cite. They do, however, remember the way the numbers made them feel. We’ve talked a lot on this show about how the brain works, but it bears repeating, human beings do not make decisions logically. They make them emotionally and then use rationality to justify their decision

Determine the One Hill Your Customer is Willing to Die On: What is the deep human need that if not solved will cause your buyer to give up in frustration? Figure it out and make that the bad guy in your sales story. It’s not a competitor. No one really hates another company so much they’re willing to go to war over. It’s something bigger inside of them they know could be better. That’s your job - to identify that desire, where it’s coming from, and why it matters right now

Full Notes

https://www.salestuners.com/scott-brown

Book Recommendations

Hamlet by William Shakespeare

The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt

Never Split The Difference by Chris Voss

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40min
November 01, 2018[CLASSICS] 029: Morgan J. Ingram | The Power of Persuasion: Give Your Pipeline the Green Light
Takeaways

Think Big Even If You Start Small: Anyone who’s either lived it before or is living it now knows the truth about being a sales development representative: it’s tough. SDRs are pushed hard, work long hours and go into work every single day knowing they’re going to get rejected over and over again. But, if you can master the art of opening up new opportunities, your career will open up in ways you may never have imagined. The mental toughness of those who persevere, those who thrive, those who live to tell the tale are prepared for anything.

Understand Simple Doesn’t Mean Easy: Prospecting is simple, but it’s not easy. The tasks of calling, emailing, and connecting on social media are simple enough on their own. But the actual work and grind of it all is tough. It requires endurance. It means not taking no for an answer. Pushing back when you meet resistance is hard, but you should never be afraid to challenge a person. Dig a little deeper, ask a follow-up question they can’t answer and stay the course.

Break the Pattern: Stop and think for a minute. When is the last time you answered that “how are you” question honestly? The thought is there, but the question is stale. Instead, break the pattern by asking “what did I catch you in the middle of?” Whether you’re making calls, you can’t sound like every other salesperson on the planet. Disarm them by coming out of the gate with a strong question, mirroring their tone and taking the time to have a real conversation.

Full Notes

https://www.salestuners.com/morgan-j-ingram/

Book Recommendation

The Law of Success by Napoleon Hill

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44min
October 23, 2018110: Carson Heady | Delivering Value by Becoming a Prospect’s Advocate
Takeaways

Become an Advocate: As a seller, you will never benefit if a prospect goes down a path that isn’t going to benefit them. We’ve talked a lot on this show about the need to truly listen to your buyer, and it’s true — you have to understand what factors they’re facing internally and externally, what deadlines they're up against, and what investments they may have already made. Once you’ve done that, then you can align your resources from content to people to offer the best solution that’s unique to them.

Make Quality Touches: Who benefits from messages that are “just checking in?” If you said “nobody,” you’re right. Every outreach you make needs to provide value to your prospect. Think about how you can use business journals, social media, or another news platforms to encourage conversations and show that you’ve heard your buyer and understand their challenge. Do not mistake what I’m saying — by no means am I telling you to never go for the sale, I’m just telling you that, done right, building a relationship based on the value you add outside of your product can make a big difference.

Quit Focusing on the End Result: Building on both the previous takeaways, understand that I know you have a quota to hit. But, by always focusing on the end result, the thing you want most (a signed contract), you could be pushing your prospect farther and farther away. Start thinking about what is the best possible next step. Want to secure a meeting with the Vice President? Maybe you should talk to 2-3 of her direct reports first and learn what matters. Want to close the deal by end of quarter? Maybe you should have an alignment meeting to understand both the internal resources they’ll need and what other projects they’ll be working on at the same time.

Full Notes

https://www.salestuners.com/carson-heady/

Book Recommendations

James Bond Series by Ian Fleming

Think and Grow Rich by Napolean Hill

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

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38min
October 16, 2018109: Jermaine Edwards | Uncovering Truth: Selling to Someone's Multiple Layers
Takeaways

Relationships Begin With Intent: You don’t need me to tell you this, but buyers can sniff a hard sell coming from a mile away. The long-term relationship you’ll build begins with the first conversation you have. Find a way to align your goals with their needs. And no, that does not mean you have to sell them something. Steven Covey said it best, “Seek First to Understand.” I know you have a quota, but if your first intention is to better understand your buyer's world, you may actually discover a way to help them that doesn’t include your service. Now, what do you think will happen when they do need what you’re offering?

Realize You’re Selling to an Individual: My guess is if you’re listening to this podcast you’ve either been given ideal customer profiles or you’ve built your own persona of what a typical customer should be. While commonalities do exist, you have to understand each person you come in contact with has their own map of the world. The lens they see the world through guides how they receive the information you share. Understanding how they think should be your most important objective.

Emotions are Always Attached: Within the context of your conversation, it’s important to look for the specific emotions your buyer is exuding. How they’re interpreting or speaking about something and what they’re attaching that emotion to will tee you up for being able to move them. You’ll first want to attempt to remove the attachment with something helpful or reassign the emotion to something else allowing you to work collaboratively toward a particular goal. Remember, as humans, emotions guide our decision while logic allows us to rationalize after the fact.

Full Notes

https://www.salestuners.com/jermaine-edwards

Book Recommendation

Getting More by Stuart Diamond

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36min
October 09, 2018108: David Lefever | Starting from Scratch and Proving the Naysayers Wrong
Takeaways

Prove the Concept: If you’re rolling out a new product or service you know can solve a problem, but no one can vouch for it, consider giving it away to seed the market. Think about the last time you were in the food court at a mall. Several of the restaurants had a person standing outside their area handing out free samples. After trying a small nibble of something good, you proceed to pay full price for the product. The same is true with pilots and limited engagements of your service. Getting companies to put their name on the line early allows them to be references for you as you expand.

Let Tenure Help You: Going against the trend of sales reps bouncing from company to company every year and a half for a 10% raise in base salary, I want to encourage you to find a good company and stay put. I have several friends and clients who have W-2 earnings of over $1-million per year. I’m not exaggerating. These individuals have been with their respective companies for 5-10 years and have seen some of their buyers move to two or even three different companies, each time immediately bringing their salesperson into their new role. Think about that — this is much better than your regular inbound lead, this is someone who has actually bought from you and seen success. Additionally, the notion of survivorship bias starts to creep in. The company you’re with knows you know more about the product than anyone else, so they trust you to work on the largest opportunities.

Verbal Yeses are Garbage: Look, I love Ruth’s Chris steaks, but not once have I ever been able to pay for one with the commission check from a verbal yes. I see and hear so many reps getting “happy ears” about some prospect giving them a verbal yes and then being absolutely shocked when two months go by and either the deal is still not closed or they find out they went with another solution. Until you have dry ink on a piece of paper, you’ve got nothing. Start thinking through every possible scenario that could cause your opportunity not to close and then work diligently to line up the resources needed to overcome each and every one.

Full Notes

https://www.salestuners.com/david-lefever

Book Recommendation

The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss

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37min
October 02, 2018107: Wes Schaeffer | Showing Up Without Assumption
Takeaways

Never Assume: You’ve likely heard the saying about that when you assume, all you do is make an ass out of you and me. Well, it’s true, especially in sales. Wes talked about what he saw selling mobile homes — where his colleagues would see someone show up in a Mercedes and they’d jump all over the chance to sell that person. But, when “Bubba” showed up in an old pickup truck, dirty boots, and lip full of Copenhagen, they had no interest. They were assuming that person didn’t have any money. Think about times when you’ve assumed (right or wrong) about a prospect and then saw your assumption get shattered.

Routines Eliminate Fear: How many times have you seen a basketball player spin the ball and dribble before taking a free-throw? Or what about baseball players adjusting their batting gloves and helmet before stepping into the box to face the pitcher? These routines create muscle memory so they don’t have to think about the actual action. The same is true with your sales process. If you try to wing it or recreate the wheel on each sales call, there’s no way for you to get in the flow.

Don’t Sound Like Your Competition: We are all buyers in some capacity. And in that role, we don’t want to be sold, or tricked, or “closed,” but we do want to buy. Think about that the next time you’re with a prospect. If you’re trying to differentiate from your competitors and you’re pulling out all the same techniques and sounding just like they do, how do you expect your buyer to know the difference? You could be the reason they’re forcing the conversation to be about price.

Full Notes

https://www.salestuners.com/wes-schaeffer

Book Recommendation

The Wizard of Ads by Roy H. Williams

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35min
September 25, 2018106: Lucy MacCallum | Be Your Genuine Self with Pleasant Persistence
Takeaways

Act as a Resource: With more information than ever readily available for prospects, we need to become good stewards of context. What are your prospects likely not thinking about? What are the real challenges they should be worried about? Figure out how to get ahead of their search patterns and provide them real-time resources. This could be upcoming changes in the industry, it could be potential competitive information, or it could just be research you’ve done into the problems facing people in similar roles.

Have a Bias Toward Action: From the timing to resources, or even fear, there will always be reasons you can use to talk yourself out of doing something. Nike may have been the first to say it, but I’m here to repeat it, “just do it.” There is nothing wrong with being prepared, but when it starts to hold you back from advancement, that’s when I have an issue. I’ve read a lot about Jeff Bezos “regret minimization theory” where he talks about the concept of looking forward 10 years and thinking about which decision he will regret if he fails to act and then choosing that path.

Read: Yep, simple I know. You’ve heard me offer free books from Audible. You’ve heard me offer free book summaries from ReadItFor.me. But something Lucy said in our conversation really stood out to me. She said reading helped her get her speech down better as well as have topics to open conversations with people. I had honestly never thought about it that way. I already read a ton, but I’m going to start being intentional about capturing the ideas of the books I read and find ways to share them naturally with prospects and clients.

Full Notes

https://www.salestuners.com/lucy-maccallum

Book Recommendation

The Challenger Sale by Matthew Dixon

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26min
September 18, 2018[CLASSICS] 037: Mary Browning | Start Your Engines: Four Keys to Successful Prospecting
Takeaways

It All Starts With Data (But It Doesn’t End There): Data is the list of people you’re going to call and the industry or demographics of companies you’re looking at. Taking those numbers to the next level focuses on the people behind the numbers. What are their common needs? How can you help meet them? When you consider the current marketplace, and the ins and outs of each organization, part of being a successful salesperson is understanding and meeting clients where they are at.

Make Your Message Matter: It isn’t just about the numbers. What is the customer’s pain? You need to make it your job to find out, and quick! One of the biggest challenges in prospecting is that you generally have 30 seconds or less to uncover someone’s pain. That’s why it is so important to develop succinct ways to communicate a solution to that pain. Make it count.

Consider Your Cadence: Most importantly, how a message is delivered should be diverse. It needs to be communicated through a mix of channels, including phone calls, emails, social media, direct mail or whatever other methods you see fit for your business. Staggering different types of communication throughout a period of time, like two weeks, for example, is one of the best ways to reach someone in the long run. In most cases, a phone call or two just won’t cut it.

Qualification Matters: What’s a scenario where a prospect probably isn’t going to move to the next step for you? Understanding that from the first time you take a meeting, allows you to really learn from the conversations you’re having and improve the overall conversion rate. If a meeting is disqualified, use that as an opportunity to grow by digging into why it didn’t work. From there you can structure qualifying questions to ask future prospects making you more knowledgeable and efficient in the process.

Full Notes

https://www.salestuners.com/mary-browning/

Book Recommendations

How Remarkable Women Lead by Joanna Barsh

The Power of Full Engagement by Jim Loehr

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41min
September 11, 2018105: Craig Storie | Land and Expand: Connecting the Human Network
Takeaways

Build Connections: Careers are long. If you start thinking about the sales you’re going to make over the next 20-30 years, it will become apparent just how important your network is. Both internally and externally, you need to be able to call upon people when you need help but to do so, not only do you have to build the connections in the first place, you have to give first before you can expect to receive.

Become a Trusted Advisor: We’ve all heard the mantra, “people buy from people they know, like, and trust.” While I don’t fully subscribe to the “like” part, the trust part is paramount. So how do you build that trust? The first thing is to know what you’re talking about. By studying your industry and the buyers in that industry, you should be able to discover the question you need to ask to make them think. That will open the door for good conversations, but then you have to prove to them that you will have their back after the sale is made. Remember, careers are long.

The Grass Isn’t Always Greener: Whether you’re in a startup or an established company, SMB or enterprise, inside or outside, it can always seem like someone else has it more comfortable than you. And maybe it’s true, but so long as you’re in your current role, you need to focus on the objective in front of you. Comparing yourself to others is a recipe for disaster and will lead you to continue chasing the mouse.

Full Notes

https://www.salestuners.com/craig-storie/

Book Recommendation

What Got You Here Won't Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful by Marshall Goldsmith

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32min

FAQs about Sales Tuners:

How many episodes does Sales Tuners have?

The podcast currently has 146 episodes available.