The Audible-Ready Sales Podcast

Your customer may raise an objection at any point during the sales process, and there is an infinite number of objections a customer may propose. In this episode, Antonella O’Day discusses the mindset salespeople need to handle objections, and she explains three tactics sellers can apply to successfully deal with them. These tactics are:

• Showing the customer that you hear their objection.
• Understanding the customer’s why.
• Reframing the customer’s objection.

Here are some additional resources:

• Get MEDDICC Certified on Ascender!
• Objection Handling | Ascender Course
• Deepen Your Discovery | Ascender Course
• Key Ways to Prepare for Customer Anchors in Sales Negotiations
• Turn Skepticism Into Opportunity | Ascender Article
• Hesitant Buyers and Price Objections | Ascender Video

Visit Ascender, a platform designed solely for salespeople who own a quota. If you enjoy the Audible-Ready Sales Podcast, Ascender is perfect for you! We put out content every day with insights to help you level up in your sales career.

Check out the platform here: https://my.ascender.co/Ascender/
Subscribe here: https://my.ascender.co/Ascender/PlanComparison

In today’s episode, Rachel and John discuss the ever-pertinent need for sellers to identify and attach to the customer’s biggest business problem. John shares the mindset and the steps necessary for reps to make the right connections and get the information they need to do so successfully. He talks about:

• Tying technical requirements to business outcomes.
• Navigating the political landscape of the customer organization with savvy.
• The need to get the customer to stand in their moment of pain.
• Deepening your discovery to implicate the customer’s pain.

Here are some additional resources:

• Get MEDDICC Certified on Ascender!
• Navigating the Political Landscape | Ascender Course
• Deepen Your Discovery | Ascender Course
• Objection Handling | Ascender Course
• The Importance of Multi-Threaded Selling | Ascender Article
• The Coat of Pain | Ascender Video

Visit Ascender, a platform designed solely for salespeople who own a quota. If you enjoy the Audible-Ready Sales Podcast, Ascender is perfect for you! We put out content every day with insights to help you level up in your sales career.


Check out the platform here: https://my.ascender.co/Ascender/
Subscribe here: https://my.ascender.co/Ascender/PlanComparison

Don’t miss these upcoming Force Management Webinars: 


Your SKO: Common Mistakes You Can’t Afford to Make


Planning a hashtag is a big undertaking. Even more difficult is executing an event that focuses on execution. Force Management’s Tim Caito joins Rachel Clapp Miller for a discussion on how to get beyond the “event” of the SKO and make it a driver of your revenue goals. 


Sign up here: https://hubs.li/Q02PdLJ10 


Building Consensus with Metrics


If you’re struggling with how to talk metrics with your customer, this webinar is for you. If you’re a manager and your teams aren’t really grasping this skill, make sure to share it with them. We’ll dig into how you should be approaching these conversations with key buyer personas. 


Sign up here: https://hubs.la/Q02PG1Cf0

If you can’t make it, register anyway! We’ll send you the recording.

There is an abundance of tools and processes available to reps today, but it is incumbent on each seller to incorporate them into a cohesive strategy. In this episode, John Kaplan explains how to successfully pull these tools into a swift selling motion. Topics under discussion include:

• Selling with an outside-in approach.
• The three buckets of information to fill during discovery.
• A golf takeaway and downswing analogy.
• Fitting the selling motion into a sales process.

Here are some additional resources:

• Get MEDDICC Certified on Ascender!
• Ascender’s Best Content on Decision Criteria | Ascender Article
• The Single Selling Motion | Ascender Article
• Differentiation in the Sales Process | Ascender Video
• Earning the Right | Ascender Video

Visit Ascender, a platform designed solely for salespeople who own a quota. If you enjoy the Audible-Ready Sales Podcast, Ascender is perfect for you! We put out content every day with insights to help you level up in your sales career.


Check out the platform here: https://my.ascender.co/Ascender/
Subscribe here: https://my.ascender.co/Ascender/PlanComparison

On Ascender’s Engage page, we receive tons of questions from sales professionals throughout the country, many of whom face similar challenges. We have compiled a few of the most common questions to answer in today’s episode. They are:

• How do I handle a customer that is reluctant to proceed to the next steps?
• How can I open up customers who are close to the vest with positive business outcomes and metrics?
• How can I overcome a gatekeeper trying to prevent me from multithreading?

Here are some additional resources:

• Get MEDDICC Certified on Ascender!
• Executing Your Discovery Strategy | Ascender Course
• Ascender’s Best Content on Decision Criteria | Ascender Article
• Ascender Community Clip About Authenticity
• When Customers Go Dark | Podcast
• Own the Next Step in Your Sales Meetings | Podcast

Visit Ascender, a platform designed solely for salespeople who own a quota. If you enjoy the Audible-Ready Sales Podcast, Ascender is perfect for you! We put out content every day with insights to help you level up in your sales career.


Check out the platform here: https://my.ascender.co/Ascender/
Subscribe here: https://my.ascender.co/Ascender/PlanComparison

In today’s quick episode, John Kaplan gives encouragement to sellers who may find themselves down on their luck. He discusses the tried-and-true actions within every seller’s control that will set you back on track, including:

• Assessing and attaching to the customer’s business issues (the what).
• Taking into account whom you are connected with in the deal (the who).
• Qualifying the deal early on and throughout the sales process.
• Staying on top of the foundational skills.

Here are some additional resources:

• Get MEDDICC Certified on Ascender!
• Getting to the Economic Buyer | Ascender Course
• Negotiation Foundation & Mindset | Ascender Course
• Ascender’s Best Content on Decision Criteria | Ascender Article
• Close the Excuse Department | Ascender Video
• Do You Really Have a Champion? | Podcast
• Enabling the Internal Sell | Podcast

Visit Ascender, a platform designed solely for salespeople who own a quota. If you enjoy the Audible-Ready Sales Podcast, Ascender is perfect for you! We put out content every day with insights to help you level up in your sales career.


Check out the platform here: https://my.ascender.co/Ascender/
Subscribe here: https://my.ascender.co/Ascender/PlanComparison

Get back to the basic sales fundamentals that help ensure great sales conversations. John Kaplan provides five things you can practice before you jump into that next prospect call. 

Here are some additional resources:

• Purpose Process Payoff [Article]
  • https://bit.ly/3spMjgA
• Improve Your Active Listening Skills [Podcast]
  • https://apple.co/3md3HUO
• Maximize the Effectiveness of Proof Points [Podcast]
  • https://apple.co/2XAxEE5

Check out this and other episodes of The Audible-Ready Podcast at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or our website.

Though we often speak about the need to sell based on value, keeping the customer focused on value throughout the sales process is a challenging, elite skill. Joining Rachel in today’s episode to share his deep insights on this important topic is Force Management facilitator John Boney. He discusses:

• The buyer-focused mindset necessary to successfully sell on value.
• The relevance of the customer’s Decision Criteria to how you build your value proposition.
• Handling changes in the customer’s priorities.
• Multithreading effectively in an opportunity.

Here are some additional resources:

• Get MEDDICC Certified on Ascender!
• Navigating the Political Landscape | Ascender Course
• Overcoming Seller Deficit Disorder | Ascender Video
• Preparing for Sales Conversations | Ascender Video
• How to Uncover Buyer Needs | Podcast
• Competing With Other Priorities | Podcast

Visit Ascender, a platform designed solely for salespeople who own a quota. If you enjoy the Audible-Ready Sales Podcast, Ascender is perfect for you! We put out content every day with insights to help you level up in your sales career.


Check out the platform here: https://my.ascender.co/Ascender/
Subscribe here: https://my.ascender.co/Ascender/PlanComparison


Check out this and other episodes of the Audible-Ready Sales Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or our website.

We’ve all worked for someone who we didn’t think was that great as a manager. How do you, a seller, handle the scenario in which you’re working for a bad manager but aren’t quite ready to leave? John Kaplan shares some advice on how to improve your work experience when in such a situation and what to look for in your next company.

Here are some additional resources

• How to Ensure You're Selling For A Great Company
• Signs You're Working for a Company That's Staged for Growth

Check out this and other episodes of The Audible-Ready Podcast at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or our website.

Today, Jim “Pouli” Pouliopoulos joins Rachel for a conversation on the uncertainties reps often face in trying to discuss metrics with prospects. Pouli’s advice provides clarity on when and how to discuss the finer details of the deal with the customer. He talks about:

• Getting past the fear of disrupting the flow of a conversation.
• Remaining curious throughout a sales cycle.
• Coaching reps to embrace the uncomfortable conversations.
• Viewing different individuals in the prospect company as rungs of a ladder.

Here are some additional resources:

• Get MEDDICC Certified on Ascender!
• Negotiation Foundation & Mindset | Ascender Course
• Managing Challenging Negotiation Tactics | Ascender Course
• Key Questions to Ask in Your Sales Discovery Conversations | Ascender Article
• Asking the Tough Questions in Your Sales Conversations | Ascender Video

Visit Ascender, a platform designed solely for salespeople who own a quota. If you enjoy the Audible-Ready Sales Podcast, Ascender is perfect for you! We put out content every day with insights to help you level up in your sales career.


Check out the platform here: https://my.ascender.co/Ascender/
Subscribe here: https://my.ascender.co/Ascender/PlanComparison