The Sales Evangelist

At the end of the day, sales leaders should be able to do what they have their team to do. Because sometimes you’re telling them to do one thing when you do something entirely different. Today on The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by Ruben Alvarez to discuss why team leaders should lead by example, not just through talking.

Ruben learned to lead by example while leading a team.

• If you want somebody to do what you want them to, you're going to see resistance unless they see you do it as well. 
• Sales leaders might be setting unrealistic expectations for their team and not know it because they’re no longer selling.
• Some people have been selling for 30 years, but with only one year of experience. Because they’re drawing their management from only one year of actual selling, they might not be leading as effectively as they could be if they were up-to-date on the best sales practices.
• If you’re not willing to get on the phone with your team and teach them how to close, you’ll never see sales come in. The process isn’t always how you want it to be, but how it needs to be.

What should team leaders do to practice leading by example? 

• Hone your skills. Just like in any other industry, you encourage and motivate through showing. If you do something effectively and can either demonstrate or communicate how you did it effectively, people will want to follow you.
• Many sales leaders are afraid to demonstrate because it makes them seem vulnerable,  which leads to the team not viewing you as a leader.
• But leaders inspire hope. You can be vulnerable and have people chew you out, but closing the deal is all that matters and all that the sales team wants to see.
• Finally, don’t compromise the values you know your team has. You know what each person is capable of, and you know what’s best for them.
• Company owners have an idea of what sales should look like. But their experiences might not align with what the sales team needs to do to be successful. If that is the case, stick up for what you know will work, or you might lose the respect of your team.

Ruben’s final takeaway:

• If you’re afraid to pick up the phone, just admit it and pick up the phone. See what happens. Regardless of what ends up happening, you’ll feel better about it.
• Connect with Ruben Alvarez on LinkedIn or check out his website rubenalvarez.com.

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

Can sales make the world a better place? The principles we learn in sales can be used almost anywhere. And yes, that includes making the world around us a better place. Today’s guest, Scott Roy, joins us in the studio to share how he uses his sales skills to do good and help those around him.

Scott has worked in the sales industry for over twenty years.

• He and his business partner Roy Whitten created Whitten and Roy Partnership, a sales consultancy called when teams aren’t reaching their sales goals.
• Their main selling point (pun intended)? The DQ selling methodology.
• With the DQ methodology, Roy and Whitten can sell life-changing and life-saving goods and services to developing countries. 

How do they apply selling principles to do good?

• About 20 years ago, there was a sudden interest in applying business principles to address areas that typically used aid and philanthropy.
• When done well and ethically, the sales conversation convinces people unfamiliar with concepts to buy into these materials and supplies that will give them a better way of life.
• Scott’s primary example is selling water filtration systems. In areas where people use the same water source for drinking, bathing, and using the restroom, the people there are afflicted with diarrhea and other diseases.
• Scott’s team works to convince these people why they should use a water filtration system by explaining both the cost benefit and health benefit the people will receive.

Using DQ to make a change:

• DQ is short for business intelligence, the fundamental component for Scott’s selling process.
• If you’re going to change behavior, you have to penetrate deeper than simply finding a problem and then selling directly to that problem.
• DQ selling starts with the problem and stays on the issue so the prospect can realize it is a problem worth solving.

Scott’s major takeaway: 

• Determine your purpose as a salesperson. If it’s just to pitch, persuade, and convince, that’s not necessarily wrong. But it would be so much better if you figure out how to use your skills to serve others and find passion in the people you’re serving.
• To get in contact with Scott and learn more about his work, visit his company website.
• Check out Scott and Roy’s books Decision Intelligence Selling and Sell Well, Do Good.

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

Salespeople have heard the mantra thousands of times: talk less, listen more. But why? And more importantly, how? In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by leadership advisor Victoria Song to learn how salespeople (and anyone else) can balance listening and talking.

Why do people talk so much?

• While there are many reasons, Victoria suggests that people who felt unheard as a child might overshare in an attempt to bridge understanding.
• In general, when we want things to go our way, we think that if we can get the other person to see it our way, they’ll agree. That leads to talking too much.
• In actuality, people mirror one another. So, listening rather than talking will lead someone to reciprocate and hear you.

Victoria’s top components for a golden ratio:

• The talking-to-listening ratio is not a one-size-fits-all. But in general, a 50/50 split is a great place to start.
• However, the more escalated a conversation is, the more Victoria recommends you back off and give the other person more time to speak.
• It also comes down to personality - if you tend to speak first and jump into conversations, listen 70-80% of the time and vice versa.

What to do in a disagreement:

• Rather than sit on opposite sides of a board room table, sit on the same side. Look at the problem from the same perspective, and by working on the same side, you’ll feel more like a team.
• Think about the story attached to identity. When in disagreement, we sometimes realize we aren't talking about the topic anymore. We're making up a story around our identity, making it personal.
• The more we can be transparent with ourselves and the other party, the more likely we are to get to a place where we can hear each other better.

Contraction vs. Expansion

• Victoria’s new book Bending Reality defines two clear states a person can be in: contraction or expansion.
• Contraction is the state where your nervous system is activated (think fight-or-flight response.) On the other hand, expansion is a relaxed state conducive to creativity and problem-solving. 
• When in a work environment, putting yourself in an environment that encourages expansion will lead to success.

How to be in a state of expansion:

• One way to improve our access to expansion is to notice when our nervous system is activated. 
• Notice your fuel for motivation, and use that to keep yourself in the proper headspace (both mentally and physically.)
• Part of accessing expansion is to start to get clear on what are your clean, sustainable fuels.
• Discover your purpose, uncover your values, and figure out what brings you joy.
• The more we can cultivate doing things we enjoy, the more we train our nervous system to be conditioned to a state of expansion.

Applying this framework to sales:

• Ask yourself if you are in a state of contracting or expanding, especially when talking to prospects. Are you confident enough to ask effective questions?
• You want to get out of your head. It's not just about mental preparation; it’s cultivating the physical state.
• If you felt unprepared for a meeting, one way to cultivate the state of expansion would be to establish a sense of trust. This can come from practice and repetition. 

Victoria’s parting advice:

• Listening happens with your whole body. 
• When we tune in and listen to our entire body, we understand insights and cues that we wouldn't be picking up otherwise.
• To get in contact with Victoria, check out her website, www.victoriasong.me. 
• Victoria’s book Bending Reality is available for preorder! Preorder now to get free bonus access to powerful coaching techniques Victoria uses for her clients.

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

Sales is all about solving problems. But are you going about solving problems the right way? In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by guest Bryan Kelly to discuss how we can ask more beautiful questions, using the book A More Beautiful Question by Warren Berger as a framework.

Phase One: Why?

• When we ask ‘why,’ it requires you to adjust the way you look at the world. There are three different ways to get into this mentality.
• First, step back and disengage. Taking a break will break up your routine and help inspiration strike.
• Next, challenge your assumptions. Whether they’re your assumptions or the assumptions of others, asking questions about your current process will help you find new avenues to explore.
• Finally, question the questions. Reframe a question to challenge the expected answer. 
• Remember the five why’s. (Literally ask the question “why” five times in a row to get to the root understanding of the situation.)

Phase Two: Wondering “What If?”

• Get everybody (including yourself) to avoid thinking about specifics. Similar to phase one, there are a few practices you can implement:
• Combinatorial thinking is one method where you look at combining existing practices and how that combination can lead to new possibilities.
• Next, you can live with the question. We often try to answer questions in the moment, but that’s not usually necessary. Instead, take time to relax and distance yourself from a problem to view the situation with a fresh perspective. 
• Finally, think of wrong ideas. It might seem counterproductive, but this process can help lead to the concept you need.

Phase Three: Determining How

• We want to jump to the “how” of a solution, but there’s a reason it’s the last stage. If you start there, you’re missing the critical time to go deeper into the question itself.
• Converge the ideas you’ve explored into one idea worth pursuing and share it for feedback.
• Give form to the ideas you’ve worked through. Before you go and ask others for feedback, bring the idea to life. 
• In other industries, it might look like a prototype. In the sales space, write a summary, proposal, chart, or whatever would help people give the best feedback.
• Rapidly test and learn. If you have several potential solutions, run a quick test to see how the change affects your problem. 

Bryan’s final takeaway:

• Instead of jumping to the “how,” first think about the “why.”
• To get in touch with Bryan, visit his website getstrokeofgenius.com 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, 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

On today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by founder and CEO of Whale Boss, Ryan Staley. As a sales consultant who helps sales executives double their income, he’s learned from and watched many different organizations, thus knowing how you can hire top sellers with little experience at your company. 

Why did Ryan start a consultancy firm?

• Ryan noticed there are many things he took for granted working for a large organization that small business owners, startups, and SaaS companies weren’t doing. That was part of the reason he founded his consultancy firm, because he wanted to coach CEOs on those things.
• Small businesses, startups, and SaaS companies do an amazing job building products or services, but they don’t talk to thier customers after they sell them the deal.
• Maintaining a structured value process will exponentially increase referrals and revenue.

Ryan’s corporate job showed him the power of a good team:

• Working over sixty hours a week got Ryan to a point where all his relationships started to melt down. The constant travel and excessive hours meant he didn’t have time for family, friends, or himself.
• What did he do about it? He rebuilt himself and his mentality about work, and his job performance soared to new heights.
• He was given the opportunity to build a team to support his work. However, that meant he had to figure out what looked for in a new person. He determined 5 components he looked for in a new hire:

Did they have a hunger to be a top performer?

• What was the biggest takeaway from that job and why did they leave?
• He would ask for people to articulate their contributions and results - if they couldn’t, their claims are BS

What do they do to develop outside of work? What’s the most important thing they spend time on outside of work?

• People might default to family, but finding people with a passion and interest and what lights them up shows how coachable they are.

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 life of a sales manager is tough, and juggling your own obligations often means you don’t have time to coach your team as often as you’d like. Microcoaching might just be the solution for you. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by President and CEO of Salesfuel C. Lee Smith to explain his process and platform for microcoaching to improve his salespeople.

Three problems with coaching today: 

• Coaches aren’t being held accountable. Sales managers get busy meeting a short-term quota and don’t have time for long-term staff development.
• Some sales managers are uncomfortable coaching. They think they don’t know how to do it or get pushback from team members.
• Finally, there are managers who want to put time into coaching, but there are only so many hours in the day and find it challenging to maintain momentum.

Microcoaching is the solution.

• Short, frequent bursts of 2-6 minute coaching give sales managers the flexibility to maintain coaching momentum between one-on-one meetings through tweeting, text, or slack. 
• The same principles of coaching apply. Ask questions, don’t just give advice, and supply encouragement and motivation. 
• But instead of focusing on one big issue, focus on small tactics to provide clear questions for the team member. These “reflect and respond” questions are a significant part of microcoaching. 

How do you know if your microcoaching is effective?

• There will still be the same issues in regular coaching: both parties must have a positive attitude about the coaching process for it to be successful.
• However, microcoaching through a platform like Coachfeed removes some awkward conversations that arise throughout the process.
• Lead by example and show them how coaching is supposed to be done.

AI drives effective microcoaching

• With Coachfeed’s microcoaching platform, they offer different assessments to help shape the team member’s best results through microcoaching.
• These assessments reveal infromation about the salesperson, help dictate the coaching structure, and drive the AI engine to identify who needs coaching, what they need coaching on, and how they respond to different communication tactics.
• Using these creates a personalized coaching playbook for managers to use for follow-up conversations. 
• Everybody's journey is different because every salesperson is different. And that's a defining part of the Coachfeed mentality. 

1. Lee’s final piece of advice? Coaching is a long-term play. You might not see the benefits initially, but you’ll be improving your salespeople and your sales process. To get in contact with C.Lee, visit his company website salesfuel.com, coaching platform coachfeed.com, or his personal website cleesmith.com

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

Donald is remote on today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, as he’s speaking at the sales conference Outbound. Be on the lookout for next year’s conference! Today’s episode of TSE is simple: we’re going retro.

A brief TSE history.

• Donald quit his job in July of 2015, and The Sales Evangelist became his full-time gig.
• Originally the show was only two episodes per week, but it soon expanded to three per week. (because we just love delivering sales content to all of our amazing listeners.)
• After participating in Podcast Movement for a couple of years, TSE started to create episodes five days a week.
• But we realized our listeners are busy, and five episodes a week might be too much content, so we doubled back to three episodes per week.

TSE is going retro.

• Donald thought our downloads would go down when the episode frequency dropped. But surprisingly, it didn’t. In fact, it did better in some instances. 
• We want to deliver better content. More research. More awesome guests. And that takes time.
• To create the best content possible, The Sales Evangelist is dropping back to two episodes per week.
• You’ll see the same length of content but with more storytelling. We’re going back to our roots, so we’re delivering two high-quality episodes per week.
• Our YouTube videos are also going to be more condensed than ever. If you’re anything like us, the thought of a YouTube video longer than five minutes is a bit daunting. So we’re going to trim our videos to give you the highlights of the episode.

Do you want more TSE content?

Join our Sales Evangelizers groups on LinkedIn and Facebook.

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

It doesn’t matter if you’re leading a team of one or one hundred, becoming a better sales leader can always lead to positive change within your organization. And on today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by Tim Kintz to discuss four areas to promote strengths and identify weaknesses as a sales leader: lead, manage, train, and coach.

Lead

• Managers are often the least trained employees. And especially for those internally promoted, they might not know how to navigate that change with respect to their fellow employees.
• As a sales leader, you need to help your employees develop long-term goals. Once those goals are in place, you can work together to set specific and actionable milestones to reach them.

Manage

• You lead people; you manage things. Are you organized as a sales leader? Do you schedule out your day to accomplish what you need?
• Not only do you need to manage your time and activities, but you need to manage the statistics and tendencies of your people.
• Consider managing the detail-focused aspect of leading; it’s a numbers-driven component that can ensure you and your people reach your goals.

Train

• Success is all about having a straightforward, repeatable process. Do your employees know what they need to do to be successful 100% of the time?
• This process doesn’t mean they’ll achieve perfection every time, but they’ll at least know what steps can get them to that goal.
• Training isn’t just telling, it’s selling. Show them how the training you want them to do positively affects their performance.
• Tim encourages his employees to take ownership of their training. If they have a hand in developing the decision or route of action, they’ll be more likely to stick with it.
• Mental ownership comes before physical or financial ownership.

Coach

• Just because you know something doesn’t mean you can do it; practice and repetition are the mothers of learning.
• Amateurs practice until they get it right, but pros practice until they can’t get it wrong.
• Coaching isn’t just about providing knowledge to your people; it’s about taking time to practice with your people to help them get better.

Tim’s final takeaway? You have to earn the right to be a leader. Think of your people as emotional banks. Make consistent deposits through recognition and approval so you can make withdrawals without overdrawing that account.

Check out Tim’s book Fearless on Amazon or kintzgroup.com. If you want to get ahold of Tim, 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

Just like for many other industries, hiring sales positions has inherited problems because of the pandemic. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by Brian Trautschold, COO and co-founder of sales management platform Ambition, to discuss three things companies can do to navigate a hybrid sales workforce. Whether you’re a huge company or just a dozen people, COVID is evening the hiring playing field, and integrating these three components can help you acquire the kind of employees you want.

Build a company culture, whether it be virtual or in-person.

• Some company cultures are just fake - think Michael Scott trying to build a culture at Dunder Mifflin.
• When creating your own company culture, the key is to be authentic.
• Recognize people as they reach their milestones, and show genuine care for your employees and their aspirations.
• Especially when employees don’t have the support of an in-person team, it’s easy to lose motivation without recognition.

Engage your workforce to overcome distractions.

• There are no shortage of distractions in the virtual workplace. Whether it’s an extended lunch or a quick Netflix binge, the typical 9-5 is more elusive than ever.
• To give your employees the greatest chance for success, provide easy-to-use tools to hold themselves accountable.
• People are better at holding themselves accountable than management, especially in a virtual setting. So equipping people with the tools for personal accountability to yield better results than a never-ending stream of Slack messages.

People crave development, coaching, and investment from their employers.

• Pre-COVID, a great relationship with management is what kept many people working at their current job. (And vice versa.) The introduction to virtual work has broken this. 
• While Slack can be helpful in communication, you need to have a more proactive approach.
• As a manager, how do you optimize coaching interactions? The key is to keep track of what you discuss with your employees.
• Make action steps to help your employees reach their goals. Coaching can’t be a one-off; it’s a part of a narrative.
• Consider creating KPIs based on the coaching to set actionable steps towards their goals.
• One major takeaway? Consistent, data-driven coaching is the way of the future to develop happy and productive employees.

Want to get in contact with Brian? Find him on his company website, LinkedIn, or Twitter.

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 digital shift of the workplace has manifested the need for digital company culture. Digital culture is necessary to improve internal relationships at your company, but it’s integral in expanding your social reach as a company and developing a following that gives you business. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, we’re joined by Tacie Avedikian, VP of Digital Development at Little Bird Marketing, to learn how companies can embrace digital culture to develop a social influence.

But first, what does Tacie mean by social influence?

• The original meaning has shifted a bit in terms of how people use social media. 
• Leveraging influencers from B2C platforms like Instagram or Facebook and transferring those things into more B2B platforms like LinkedIn or Twitter is critical. 

The challenges of hiring new team members: 

• In the current age, being seen online is critical in bringing in suitable candidates.
• Because of this digital world, company-wide social influence is vital to attract candidates and clients. You attract candidates through sharing valuable content and having employees who advocate for your company.
• Despite the importance of online culture, you rarely see someone from HR actively promoting on LinkedIn and advocating for their company.
• When you want to look for somebody, the first thing we do is look online, read reviews, and understand company values. Companies need to ensure their company and themselves are seen and available for this process.

What's the first thing if we wanted to the action plan, and who should lead this?

• Most importantly, ensure it’s not just one person or department pushing. It’s a team effort to create a digital culture.
• Learn to be authentic when sharing about the company and yourself.
• When you create a relationship with someone and see that you're enjoying the company you work for, people get engaged and want to know more.

How can I help my team to be creative and post authentic things?

• Many people are at home, working with their kids right next to them. This is a shared experience that creates empathy and a connection people can bond over.
• Develop training, make expectations to your team of what authenticity looks like, and provide opportunities for additional training each quarter or throughout the year.
• Companies should regularly touch base with their team on their digital culture, whether through Slack or a team chat, to engage and develop relationships.

Tacie’s final advice:

• Realize that things are not going back to the way they were.
• A digitally transformed culture is going to change the influence of your audience completely.
• Tacie’s major takeaway? Unseen is unsold. (We had to repeat it, just one more time.)
• To get in contact with Tacie, connect with her on LinkedIn or email her 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 wrote 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