The Sales Evangelist

When you have sales meetings with your prospects, the last you need is a boring presentation turning people away from your awesome content. You want them to get excited! And on today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by Alex Dripchak, relationship manager at Mercer, to give us his inside tips to learn how to lead, run, and organize effective meetings.

Why is Alex so passionate about demystifying sales?

• Alex founded and runs Commence, a college to career development skill program.
• He’s also recently published a book on destigmatizing sales for younger people, which breaks down the positive traits and skills salespeople have.

• With 57 U.S. colleges having an official sales major, the word “sales” is slowly become less of a dirty word. However, there is an entrenched viewpoint people need to overcome.

How can you lead effective meetings in your sales life?

• There are components of meetings, whether virtual or in-person, that just suck. Namely, when people push their own agendas down your throat. So, how instead can you turn that into an effective meeting?
• Structure your meetings around reaching individual goals that lead to the end result.
• Keep yourself dynamic and versatile in responding to the needs of individual clients.
• Ask better questions that lead to higher engagement to encourage the prospect’s voice.
• To save time, create a framework to use for every first call, contract negotiation, or meeting with a specific purpose. Then, tailor that framework for individual clients, so you don’t recreate the wheel each time.

The Three Strategies:

• Shut up and listen
• Develop effective questions
• Rehearse and practice

Of course, what would TSE be without a bonus strategy?

• Understand the subtlety between question and engagement prompts. 
• The default is inertia, or lack of movement. Get your prospects to engage with you.
• For example, Alex responds, “did I answer your question in full” after answering a prospect’s question.
• Not only does this put the onus on himself, but it also encourages prospects to further indicate if they need more explanation. 
• Integrate engagement prompts throughout a presentation or meeting to keep people focused. Don’t set aside 20 minutes for a Q&A that may or may not be needed.
• Stop treating people as roles, prospects, and managers. Think of them as people. They aren’t just invested in the company, they’re invested in themselves. 

Alex’s major takeaway: Especially in complex sales, make sure you spend time proportionally to its importance. If you aren’t bordering on something tedious and tiresome for an important task, you haven’t gone far enough.

To get in contact with Alex, you can find him at his website (which includes links and information to his new book), his coaching website for current college students and recent graduates, or connect with him on LinkedIn.

This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio.

Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real.

But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com.

This course is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Certified Training Program, designed to help new and struggling sellers master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. Help elevate your sales game and sign up now to get the first two modules free! You can visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals or call (561) 570-5077 for more information. We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey.

We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes, tune in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings for each episode you listen to! 

Read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore their huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day trial.

Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Mentioned in this episode:

HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS

HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS

Developing a sales pitch can be time-consuming and challenging, especially when creating an entirely new presentation or document each time. But there’s undoubtedly an easier process, right? That’s exactly what today’s guest did. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by Jason Lapp, the president and COO of Beautiful.ai, to explain how you can cut your pitch development time in half.

But first, what is a pitch?

• Pitches can look wildly different for each person and company. Some might be an in-person meeting, some just a document, and others somewhere in between.
• In today’s world of remote selling, you have to be highly engaging, have great content, and be precise.  
• The biggest change? You can no longer expect a decision at that moment. You have to focus on the follow-up, sending the right information, in addition to the pitch itself.
• A big challenge with creating a deck is finding a balance between premade content and content for your specific pitch. 
• Branding should always be consistent, but the method you convey aspects of your pitch could vary.
• There are 30 million presentations created per day, and over 1 billion people with presentation software installed on their desktops.

The challenge? Those common presentation platforms were created 30 years ago.

• Platforms like Canva and Beautiful.ai don’t force people to start from scratch; they provide a starting point to get things done faster.
• Beautiful.ai focuses on design automation. You create content based on what you want to say while the platform designs for you. 
• Marketing departments can (and should) build out templates to provide starting points for the salesperson. This way, salespeople have pre-approved content they can then tweak for their specific client.

Creating a pitch:

• Once you know what you want to present, storyboard concepts before production. Storyboarding cuts down time by filling in the dots instead of plotting out where the dots need to go.
• Use some sort of collaborative platform, especially in today’s virtual marketplace.
• Salespeople need to focus on sales. They shouldn’t waste time on marketing elements when they could have pre-approved templates with design elements pre-approved.

Somebody out there is asking, “why not use google slides?”

• Google slides is excellent. Any platform that allows for collaboration is certainly a step in the right direction.
• The challenge with slides, keynote, or PowerPoint is that they are primarily design softwares. You can use old decks, but you then make each design edit yourself, whereas Beautiful.ai makes design decisions for you. 
• We do things as sales professionals that were established over the decades. But that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s right. We no longer have to be designers. 

Jason’s major takeaway? Don’t reinvent the wheel. If you’re creating a pitch, you should have content and templates to start from. Don’t spend time designing, spend time on selling. To contact Jason, visit his company website Beautiful.ai, and the software is free to trial and use. And, anybody that mentions they came from The Sales Evangelist gets 25% off! (How can you resist that?)

This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio.

Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real.

But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com.

This course is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Certified Training Program, designed to help new and struggling sellers master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. Help elevate your sales game and sign up now to get the first two modules free! You can visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals or call (561) 570-5077 for more information. We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey.

We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes, tune in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings for each episode you listen to! 

Read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore their huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day trial.

Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Mentioned in this episode:

HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS

HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS

Time management is often considered one of the essential skills to master in the professional world. As one of the resources we never seem to have enough of, time certainly is a resource to use to the best of our abilities. But today’s guest, Antonio Thornton, argues that time management doesn’t exist. How does it not? Check out today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist to find out!

Why does time management not exist? 

• How many hours in the day do you have? 24. Just like everyone else. You can’t manage time, but you can manage yourself according to time.
• Managing yourself within time comes down to three main criteria: monitoring, monetizing, and maximizing your time.

Monitoring your time:

• Most people have no idea what they’re doing. Most people confuse busy with productive - they do not equate.
• Productive does not equate to profitable. 
• The productivity paradox: People tend to focus on tasks that make them feel productive, even if they aren’t profitable.
• Cleaning out your inbox or desk and shuffling papers might keep you busy, but those tasks aren’t productive.

Monetizing your time:

• There is no difference between each other’s times. Most of us spend time on activities that don’t generate revenue - responding to email, completing training, and updating websites. While these things might be necessary, they aren’t RGAs: revenue-generating activities.
• It doesn’t matter how much work you put into these activities; you won’t make any money no matter how much time you contribute.
• Learning and training are productive tasks, and research is a productive activity that can inform you before a sales call, but those tasks in of themselves aren’t profitable. If you only do those tasks, you will not make a single dollar.
• Whether you’re a salesperson or entrepreneur, there’s only one thing that makes money in sales: getting an offer in front of people.

Maximizing your time:

• The difference between a salesperson who generates $60,000 versus $6 million is all in what they do each day.
• Ask yourself how you can leverage what you’re doing to create an exponential result.
• Find the tasks and projects you can accomplish that lead to a higher amount of RGA.

Antonio’s final takeaway? Time is our most valuable commodity. To have a great life, moderate, monetize, and maximize your time. To get in touch with him, visit his company website or send an email to [email protected].

This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio.

Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real.

But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com.

This course is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Certified Training Program, designed to help new and struggling sellers master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. Help elevate your sales game and sign up now to get the first two modules free! You can visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals or call (561) 570-5077 for more information. We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey.

We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes, tune in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings for each episode you listen to! 

Read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore their huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day trial.

Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Mentioned in this episode:

HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS

HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS

We often overlook one area when working in sales, and it’s not prospecting, closing, or even relationship-building. It’s productivity. 79% of sales executives say improving productivity is the leading driver to reach or exceed a sales target. So, in today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald gives three reasons why salespeople have a hard time planning, and hopefully, you’ll be able to find the productivity that leads to sales success.

• There’s no formal education to teach productivity for salespeople.

• This is from a company standpoint. There are programs (like ours), but internally, organizations don’t spend time teaching productivity. 
• 49% of organizations have zero or limited means of measuring productivity.
• Donald’s team uses an internal planner he designed to help prioritize productive and measurable tasks.
• Sales reps frequently believe they don’t have the time to do everything they need. But after analyzing their day or week, they always find areas where they can focus on more meaningful activities.

• Multiple things change gears at different speeds.

• Sales reps have multiple activities unrelated to success, like researching leads and updating a CRM. None of those directly lead to a sale, but it’s part of an overall process. 
• Only one-third of a sales rep’s day is talking to prospects, yet 21% of their day is writing emails. Is this a valuable way to spend time?
• Kevin Kruse’s 15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time Management recommends blocking out your day in 15-minute intervals. 
• Designate one, two, or however many chunks of time you need for daily tasks, and be dedicated and focused for those specific segments. 
• Donald’s tip? Utilize a platform like Otter, Google Docs, or even your iPhone to use a voice-to-text feature that writes what you need to put into your CRM.

• We have a reactive approach to selling.

• Sales is traditionally reactive to the interest of the seller. Instead, you should have a strategy and process in place. 
• Think of yourself as a rocket scientist. Your schedule is likely filled with redundancies (although yours are probably far less important than the scientist’s. We know it’s true.)
• 50% of a sales rep is wasted on unproductive things. Are you focusing on the right activities? Look at and evaluate your day. Would you be able to say those are proactive activities?

The moment you can recognize that your time is valuable and you’re more than a cog in a wheel, you can take control of your schedule. 

This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio.

Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real.

But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com.

This course is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Certified Training Program, designed to help new and struggling sellers master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. Help elevate your sales game and sign up now to get the first two modules free! You can visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals or call (561) 570-5077 for more information. We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey.

We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes, tune in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings for each episode you listen to! 

Read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore their huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day trial.

Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Mentioned in this episode:

HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS

HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS

In many organizations, to get to the decision-maker, you have to get past a gatekeeper. So how do you get to them? Getting past that gatekeeper is a common challenge among salespeople. But we wanted to change that. So we brought in EksAyn “Eks” Anderson, the man who’s got the key to the metaphorical gate. And on today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, he shares his strategies to get to your decision-makers.

Eks is more than just a salesperson. 

• In addition to speaking, training, and coaching for different organizations, Eks is also the author of The Key to the Gate.
• His book is an excellent resource for anyone who encounters difficulty reaching their desired decision-maker.

Why people have a hard time getting to the decision-makers:

• Decision-makers don’t have time to talk to every single salesperson or person who wants a meeting.
• They employ gatekeepers (like a secretary, receptionist, or employee) to weed out people who might be wasting their time. 

Strategies to get past the gatekeeper:

• Know that no organization is the same. What might work at one place might fail elsewhere.
• Apply the principle of positive reinforcement. When somebody does something helpful for you, reward them immediately. 
• Start higher than you think you need because influence flows downhill. If you’re in doubt about where to start in the organization, call the higher person than you think you need. Often, they’ll know who to speak to be in a position for success. 

Is cold calling dead?

• It’s so easy to send mass emails or LinkedIn messages. And from a decision-maker’s perspective, they might want a service but have no time to wade through the immense amount of communication they receive each day. 
• To find more success, differentiate yourself from your competitors. Something as small as complimenting the secretary or researching some quick facts on your phone could make all the difference. 
• When the person you talk with provides names of others within the organization, note those names and their positions within the company. 
• If you understand the team and their positions within the organization, you’ll give a sense of deep familiarity with the company. 

Eks’ final takeaway? Find out the principles of human relations to sales and then base your techniques around principles that work. If you understand certain principles, you’ll develop a thousand techniques to apply that principle. Techniques work because they’re backed by real principles. Connect with Eks through his website on www.xfactoredge.com or call him directly at 801-669-2425.

This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio.

Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real.

But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com.

This course is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Certified Training Program, a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. Help elevate your sales game and sign up now to get the first two modules free! You can visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals or call (561) 570-5077 for more information. We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey.

We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes, tune in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings for each episode you listen to! 

Read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore their huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day trial.

Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Mentioned in this episode:

HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS

HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS

Working in sales would be infinitely more manageable if you could get the gatekeeper to work for you instead of against you. But how do you start that process? In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by Taskdrive’s general manager Daniel Viduya to discuss making the gatekeeper an advocate through lead research.  

Sales isn’t Lord of the Rings.

• While there can be a Gandalf “You shall not pass” situation when talking to a gatekeeper, there are ways to make them your advocate.
• Daniel’s advice: Don’t bro me until you know me; meaning you have no business talking about people in the company until you understand the company itself
• When convincing a gatekeeper to let you pass, personal information or questions about the decision-maker will not help you.
• Instead of talking about personal information, talk about the account itself and the problems they experience as a whole. See what difference you can make.

Demonstrate that you want to help and can provide solutions for that company’s specific problem.

• It's about knowing the business and how you can help the business. The gatekeeper wants to see how you can help the business because the gatekeeper is working for the company, not necessarily for the decision-maker.
• The goal is to measure how quickly you could even get through the first stage of your cold call. And if you can't do that, then there's something that has to be fixed.
• And more often than not, people will tend to hang up on you if they don't understand your cold call’s true intent and purpose.

How can you find information to start the right dialogue with the gatekeeper? 

• If you have a resource that can find this information for you consistently and constantly, day by day, then your SDR can simply rely on one thing that this resource can give.
•  It's about efficiency. And while multitasking is good, there are times when the prospect simply wants, needs, and deserves your full attention.
• There are several ways to save time while finding the information necessary to demonstrate knowledge to the gatekeeper. You could use an outsource provider, find someone inside your company, or even hire a freelancer. Your solution depends on your needs and your situation.
• The specific information you should find always depends on the target company itself. It could be recent team growth, acquisitions, new funding, or even a merger.

Daniel’s final takeaway? Bring out what's best to help your SDRs be efficient. Limit admin tasks and have them focus on what they do best. To get in touch with Daniel, connect with him on LinkedIn or visit Testdrive.com to access Daniel’s playbooks for better business. 

This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio.

Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real.

But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com.

This course is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Certified Training Program, a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. Help elevate your sales game and sign up now to get the first two modules free! You can visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals or call (561) 570-5077 for more information. We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey.

We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes, tune in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings for each episode you listen to! 

Read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore their huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day trial.

Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Mentioned in this episode:

HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS

HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS

Scoring a meeting with the decision-maker can be challenging, but creating allies within the target company can be your strategy for making progress. Sometimes all it takes to get past the gatekeeper is to build a solid relationship with them. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, we’re going to do just that with the help of today’s guest Kevin Cummings.

Kevin has worked in many different sales spaces, from industrial to medical to tech.

• .Throughout all his sales interactions, Kevin feels most confident when revisiting offices. 
• But even if it’s the second, third, or fourth visit, he’ll sometimes end up talking to people who act like it’s his first (even if he’s spoken to them several times.)
• To avoid that, Kevin makes an active effort to loop those people into the conversation.
• Make them feel as important as possible because while they aren’t the “decision-maker,” they can make your job tremendously more difficult.

Make connections with the gatekeeper:

• Ask them what the best method is is to talk with them. Then, stop talking and let them identify how they want to interact with you.
• Many salespeople know the gatekeeper is essential, yet we treat them as if they aren’t.
• You can’t always determine who has the influence, so be nice to everyone. Beyonce says “hello” and “thank you” to everyone she meets. Be like Beyonce.
• When you’re genuine with someone, they can feel it. But, conversely, being fake won’t generate the results you want.

Don’t be afraid to interact with the gatekeeper.

• Especially in the tech and medical fields, the actual decision-maker might not have the time or bandwidth to go out to lunch or have drinks with the salesperson. So why not do it with the gatekeeper?
• When Kevin does this, it’s usually only about 15 minutes of business talk. The rest is just building a relationship and connection with the gatekeeper. 
• While that person can’t make the decision, they’ll remember you and want to get you in contact with the person that can.
• Your ultimate goal? Make everyone in the office your champion and advocate.

Help them, don’t help yourself.

• Since Covid, many people in companies across the country have had to and continue to wear many hats.
• Don’t try to sell immediately, and instead ask how you can take things off their plate.
• Be human, and do the thing that a good human would do.
• Don’t put your title first. You might be a salesperson, but humanity comes before titles.

Kevin’s major takeaway? Understand that your customers’ objective in their job is not to buy your product or service. Everything you do should be about them, not about you. 

National Sales Network, a nonprofit organization for black people in sales and marketing, has 17 chapters across the country. Visit the website to find networking events, skill workshops, and hiring opportunities on their website. 

To get in touch with Kevin, connect with him on LinkedIn.

This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio.

Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real.

But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com.

This course is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Certified Training Program, a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. Help elevate your sales game and sign up now to get the first two modules free! You can visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals or call (561) 570-5077 for more information. We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey.

We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes, tune in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings for each episode you listen to! 

Read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore their huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day trial.

Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Mentioned in this episode:

HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS

HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS

For many salespeople, the journey to the decision maker is difficult enough that they don’t even know what to say once they get there! Do you have the strategy to move towards your desired outcome and close a deal? On today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by speaker, author, and coach Oscar Chavez to learn what to do once you’re over the guardwall.

Why is this method important?

• Salespeople spend time with less influential people because they are easier to interact with, yet that salesperson ends up spinning wheels with they don’t make decisions.
• Another common problem: when they get to the executive, they hyper-focus on the pitch.

The solution to these problems? Think over the guardwall.

• You spend time preparing what to say, but in actuality, you need to be in a position to listen.
• Listen as an executive explains their pain points, objectives, and KPIs. Once you understand those critical points, you then can go to non-decision makers and explain results that will directly benefit them and their organization. 
• This familiarity will send you to the front of the queue over other projects.

Three Strategies to Get Past the Gatekeeper:

• Fear: People are so scared of judgement and rejection they don’t focus on targeting executives. It’s much easier to have a conversation with people downstream.
• Mindset: Meetings have never been easier to schedule due to the rise of virtual meetings, yet many salespeople will claim the opposite. A change in mentality could be all you need to add value. Leave the “what if” mindset behind.
• Focus: Oftentimes salespeople will mass contact non-decision makers rather than take the time to target the executives and people able to make decisions.
• People are more guarded and less willing to spend. But the salesperson’s level of fear, mindset, and focus can dramatically improve your chances.

Oscar’s final takeaway? Our beliefs determines our reality. If you aren’t getting the right sales performance, it’s because of the belief you have. To change your reality, change your beliefs.

Get in touch with him on his website oscar-chavez.com, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio.

Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real.

But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com.

This course is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Certified Training Program, a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. Help elevate your sales game and sign up now to get the first two modules free! You can visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals or call (561) 570-5077 for more information. We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey.

We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes, tune in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings for each episode you listen to! 

Read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore their huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day trial.

Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Mentioned in this episode:

HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS

HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS

Every salesperson is familiar with the frustration that comes with being blocked by a gatekeeper, which could be a physical person or even just a system or automation that prevents you from interacting with the decision-maker of your target organization. Imagine if you had five strategies (and maybe even a bonus strategy) to get past those gatekeepers and land sales. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is going to do just that. 

Connect on LinkedIn 

• LinkedIn gives you a direct line to a purchaser and an opportunity to build a relationship with that person before you ever meet them face-to-face. 
• Don’t just spam someone with offers and messages and instead build a relationship. Congratulate the prospect on a promotion, a recent accolade, or whatever has recently happened. 

Bring Intelligence

• Let’s say two people reach out to a prospect. One person gives a standard auto-message that could be sent to anyone, and the other person comes prepared with critical data relevant to the industry or organization. Who would you rather have a conversation with?  

Use direct mail

• Think about ways you can stand out to a prospect. Even if it’s just a $5 gift card to Starbucks, that person will be more willing to talk with you.
• Consider even providing a small gift for the gatekeeper to thank them for letting you through to the decision-maker; that might be all the difference between a sale and an unanswered email.

Utilize referrals

• If you and the gatekeeper or prospect have a mutual connection, especially if that person is the one introducing you, you’ll quickly get in touch with the people you want.

Connect with other people within the company

• More and more enterprise deals are requiring more people to be in the purchasing conversation. If that’s the case, connecting with other influencers within that team will give you a better chance for success.
• Tools like LucidChart help diagram and build out your organizational process to make the process easier.

Bonus Strategy:  Start a podcast

• No podcast? Write a blog. Ask gatekeepers for the prospect to share ideas and thoughts on a topic or subject for a content piece. 
• In this case, you’re bringing something to the table and offering the prospect a chance to collaborate on a piece of content that will help them, making it easier to get through the gatekeeper.

This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio.

Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real.

But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com.

This course is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Certified Training Program, a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. Help elevate your sales game and sign up now to get the first two modules free! You can visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals or call (561) 570-5077 for more information. We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey.

We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes, tune in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings for each episode you listen to! 

Read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore their huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day trial.

Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Mentioned in this episode:

HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS

HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS

The tactics, strategies, and practices of sales are constantly changing, and understanding how and where to adopt those changes into your sales strategy is critical to see success. So, on today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by LinkedIn Senior Content Manager Sean Callahan to go over the seven sales trends identified in the 2021 LinkedIn Sales Report.

Trend One: Virtual Selling is good for sellers and even better for buyers

• Buyers find it easier to buy remotely because they don’t have to worry about finding meeting times or organizing physical logistics; it can all happen from the comfort of home.

Trend Two: Remote Working is now a part of everyday life.

• While some companies are going back to the physical office, sales organizations and managers must adjust to remote working - it is now a fact of life.

Trend Three: Sales organizations prevent sellers from putting buyers first.

• While 65% of sellers say they put their buyers first, only 23% of buyers say sellers put them first.
• There are a certain number of things that you can do to be buyer-first, like offering free content, training, and being transparent about pricing and other product details. 
• Only around 40% of organizations support these practices. And some of the suggested reasons organizations aren’t allowing these practices are limited budgets, not having the proper skills, and a focus on short-term results rather than long-term sustainability.

Trend Four: Six sales behaviors kill deals

• Delivering misleading information about a product (pricing or otherwise)
• Not understanding the company and its needs
• Not understand their own product or service
• Not understanding their competitor’s products and services
• Affiliated with an untrustworthy brand 
• Repeated cold calling or emailing

Trend Five: Sales technology is a key pathway to building trust

• Only 40% of buyers describe sales as trustworthy, yet 89% consider their specific salespeople as a trusted advisors
• The takeaway? The sales industry is seen as untrustworthy, but the individuals who work with buyers are seen differently.

Trend Six: Data is more crucial than ever

• While partly because of Covid, salespeople might find it more challenging to get in front of people and ask questions. Instead, you have to use aggregated data to learn what you need.

Trend Seven: Both buyers and sellers are ramping up their use of LinkedIn

• 74% of sellers are committed to expanding their LinkedIn network
• 51% of sellers plan to write more articles
• 40% share much more third-party content
• 36% share more of their own company’s content

How can people find and download the full report? By visiting lnkd.in/stateofsales2021. To get in contact with Sean, connect with him on LinkedIn or email him at [email protected].

This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio.

Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real.

But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com.

This course is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Certified Training Program, a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. Help elevate your sales game and sign up now to get the first two modules free! You can visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals or call (561) 570-5077 for more information. We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey.

We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes, tune in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings for each episode you listen to! 

Read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore their huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day trial.

Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

Mentioned in this episode:

HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS

HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS