Top-performing athletes, do you think they practice more or less than the mediocre athletes? And top-performing musicians, do they practice more than the average performers?

But, when it comes to sales professionals, they have many, many excuses for why they don't need to practice.

Today we are going to talk about why you should practice with your colleges before you get on the phone with your next sales prospect.

We're going to talk about how to make sales conversations productive.

I always say that a sales call is a privilege because you have just done one of the hardest things in sales, you have gotten through the door. The last thing you want to do is blow it!

Today we're going to show you how to structure a really productive sales call. But we're going to do it in kind of a unique way by showing you what an unproductive sales call looks like.

We're recording this in mid-2021, as people are coming out of the pandemic and things are opening up. Events are starting to happen in person, clients are actually having meetings in person. 

Meridith and I are going to dive into what are the traps that people are falling into today, that might be similar to traps they fell into as the pandemic was starting, and what can we learn going forward? 

The problem that you solved before COVID, the problem that you solved during COVID, and the problem that you sell and are solving, as we come out of COVID, are all different.

Today, we are talking about a topic that is near and dear to my heart, which is integrating sales and marketing so that they're not seen as two different universes, but instead, kind of one and the same, joined at the hip. Meredith and I talk about the common pitfalls that companies fall into.

What are the biggest mistakes that you see people make when it comes to sales follow-up?

They don't.

We've all heard the research that the average salesperson gives up after two to three times. It takes a person eight to 10 touches or messages to make a decision.

We'll show you the best ways to follow up with potential clients.

Ian Altman and Meredith Elliott-Powell discuss how people are looking at the end of the year, going into the next year as we are coming out of the pandemic. A lot of people are making decisions about how they approach their sales, marketing, and business development. What are some of the big mistakes that you're seeing people make? Then we're going to talk about what people should be doing instead to drive better results.