Stuff About Sales

Solutions Architects are CRUCIAL to the pre-sales process.  Having that technical point of contact to solve through complex use cases can be the difference between winning and winning at the highest rate possible.   On P-Club series episode 2 we interview Sandy Lukac of Hubspot.  Sandy blew it out of the water in 2022 and we talk to her about what made her year a success, how many hours she worked, what she would share with someone starting out the year who hopes to be in P-Club in 2023.  Don't want to miss this one.

First episode of our first ever P-Club Series.  We interview 2022 P-Club winners and talk to them about what led to their success.  But we don't just ask "how did you do it?"  We want to go deeper so we ask some questions that you may not be thinking about today & the answers may give you an edge you never knew you needed.  

Our first episode starts with Alex Comstock, Senior AE and Sales Lead at Vonage on the SMB team.  Alex has been part of James's team for 3 years now and James has seen first hand how Alex has progressed from really good performer to multi-time P-Club winner.  In fact he's been a huge part of James's own success.  

Alex talks about where he finished all the way back in 2021, how that compared to 2022, what advice he would give to someone who aspires to be a top performing P-Club winner in 2023 and more.  

Don't miss this one if you want to start your year armed with knowledge from the best of the best.

What if I told you that there is a lost sales art that outside sellers still use, but all sellers when outside sales was the norm used to close more deals?  SMB/transactional route to market sellers already use this and may not even know they are doing it sometimes.  They do it when they "one-call close".  I'm talking about the sign up call.  An extra call added to the calendar when deal velocity is high and you've completed your sales motion and are waiting on a sign up.`  Instead of waiting, why not take initiative and schedule a call to complete the order?  Address any final concerns, answer any final questions and walk the prospect through the order and watch the sign up in the moment!  In this episode James covers the sign up call, why you should use it and the fact that his sales teams are using these tactics to see success today.

Jan 2023.  The job market seems tough right now.  Tech companies are having mass layoffs and it may be difficult to stand out, not only when submitting resumes but once you finally land that interview.  Hannah is here to help.  In this solo pod, Hannah gives some tips and insights from her point of view as a sales manager.  How to nail your interview.

*Hannah and James are both here to help.  Send us your resume if you'd like us to review, we have an extensive network and would be happy to help with referrals or anything for those impacted by the layoffs or seeking work.

Transactional sales environments are all about deal velocity.  You may not get multiple bites at the apple and often times the impression you make during that first call or interaction sets you up to win or lose the deal.  You may not get back in front of your buyer.  This episode is for sellers in that environment.  We have tons of experience in a fast paced, transactional selling environment and we share our best practices to make sure you are nailing your discovery call and setting up your deals to close quickly and "closed won". 

Ever struggle with consistency in your meetings?  Not sure you are maximizing the time in from of your prospects?  Not sure if you should approach all of your meetings the same or should different types of meetings be run different?  We got some answers for you.

On this solo episode, Hannah runs through 5 key things to keep in mind to run CONSISTENTLY great sales meetings.

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The truth is that AEs spend way too much time working opportunities that have no chance of closing.  Those could be for many reasons including no budget, no motivation to buy, lack of seriousness by your POC and just general malaise on the prospect side.  If you want to keep lying to yourself about these opportunities be our guest.  If you want to use an actionable framework to find out if your prospect is serious and gather the right data to move your sale forward this is the podcast episode for you.  We discuss what BANT is & how you can use it to make sure you are spending your time on the highest value opportunities.

You can also check out stuffaboutsales.com for our BANT card which includes a prospect profile.

The bad news is that feature dumping during discovery is widespread and one of the biggest ways to bore your buyer and lose momentum in the sales process.  The good news is it's one of the easiest things to fix.  We tackle how to identify if you are feature dumping & some things to keep top of mind to help you shift your mindset into curious discovery and away from solutioning and feature dumping too soon.

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On this episode we introduce what we are calling the Win More Sales mindset method.  Following up from our Thanksgiving week episode where we replayed one of the first podcast's I ever produced, interviewing an AE on my team (Hannah) on her journey to top performer and how she had to overcome some mindset challenges that had creeped during her struggles, returning from maternity and finding her footing again.

You cannot be a successful sales performer without first addressing your mindset we have 4 steps to get you started.  - Reflection. Ownership. Eduction. Practice.  

This is the next episode in our Sales 101 series.  Next Steps.  Super crucial to moving your sale forward, but often times we are unsure of what the right message needs to be to make sure we cover our bases and have our customers on the same page as us.  On this short episode we will give you the blueprint for how to nail next steps, keep your sales motion moving and win deals faster.