The Salesman.com Podcast

As a salesperson, you’re used to being a lone wolf. From digging up new clients and qualifying leads to deliver the perfect pitch and managing accounts, you do it all. And you’re used to flying solo.

But as modern businesses continue to scale and tighten up their processes, team selling often becomes the sales method of choice. It’s better at landing bigger deals. And it leverages the unique expertise of the many, not just the one.

So, what is team selling? And what do you need to know to start to use team selling today?

This guide dives into team selling and the pros and cons of this style of sales. It also outlines our four-point framework for successfully implementing team selling into your processes.

As the name implies, team selling is simply using two or more members of your organization to close on a deal. These team members could be from the same department (e.g., two salespeople). Or they could be from different departments (e.g., a salesperson, a developer, and a customer success specialist).

The exact makeup of your team will depend on your buyer’s problem, their use case, and much more. For instance, if your prospective buyer will be custom coding your product to integrate with their enterprise systems, including a developer on your team would make sense. On the other hand, if they’re concerned about the onboarding and implementation, a customer success specialist can help outline the process and put those fears to rest.

Team selling is excellent for handling accounts that are especially high value, have many moving parts, or are of other strategic importance.

While many sales situations can benefit from a team selling approach, there are pros and cons here. Therefore, it’s essential to be informed about each to decide when team selling is a good fit.

There’s no “right” way to implement team selling. Every industry, organization, sales strategy, and market is different. And what works for one may not align with another. However, you can do a few things to make your transition to team selling more successful.

Every deal isn’t suitable for a team selling approach. While most instances can benefit from this sales style, it can be resource-intensive. Sometimes, it makes more fiscal sense to go the solo sales route.

Team selling works best for sales whales—deals that are five to ten times larger than average. And while it’s not a hard and fast rule (team selling 100% of the time may make sense for your unique business), it’s a good place to start.

For smaller deals, consider bringing on other members just for partial input (e.g., only a quick word or two from the developer or executive).

It’s essential to align your sales team members with your audience.

Being cross functional, problem solving, shortening sales cycles and enhancing the buying process is all depending on if your team can work together.

Are your customers bringing a tech lead to the meeting? You should do the same. Is a customer experience specialist going to be in the room? Make sure your product expert is there to outline precisely how your solution looks and feels. Is the key company c-suite making an appearance? Try to get yours on board too.

A bit name or title helps, of course. But what’s more important here is providing your buyer with the info they need to get to yes. And that info comes from expertise, not just a corner office.

Remember, subject matter expertise isn’t the only thing that should come into play when building your sales team. Soft skills are an integral part of landing team selling too. So you’ll want to find team members for your sales team that are knowledgeable but also effective communicators.

Personality mixes also come into play. A great dynamic involves building off what team members are saying. It’s “yes and”-ing each other. It’s demonstrating chemistry. So be sure all team members have the skills and personalities to complement one another along the way.

The team lead is in charge of establishing the goals of the meeting and setting the agenda. So they need to understand the buyer’s journey and your companies sales cycle. And they need to know what it takes to push the needle towards buy-in.

That’s why the lead should always be the sales rep. All pre- and post-pitch communication should move through the sales reps. And during the sales meeting, it should be the sales rep that controls the flow of the presentation and the overall sales process.

Your sales performance depends on this level of clarity in your team.

You should also set expectations for other team members. In most cases, they’ll be there to field questions related to their expertise, chime in on opportunities to add value and help uncover buried buyer needs.

Nothing inspires less confidence than when team members step all over each other. Corrections, confusion, and chaos indicate disorganization. And a buyer will go running for the hills if they catch a whiff of ineptitude.

That’s why it’s crucial to get team members up to speed early in the process. Brief them on the company and all the pertinent details about what they do. Rehearse the presentation multiple times beforehand. Finally, ensure everyone’s familiar with the demo technology you’ll be using.

Team selling is supposed to make closing complex deals simpler. But without proper preparation and communication, it can turn a sure thing into a downright disaster.

Team selling is a scalable, effective way to win bigger deals and drive more revenue from your meetings. Sure, it can take quite a bit more of a resource investment to work together with your colleagues. But when you leverage the expertise of multiple team members, you’re inspiring confidence, demonstrating professionalism, and (best of all) better helping your buyer solve their problems.

Follow the four points above when implementing a team selling model in your business and go close deals with your decision makers easier than ever before.

Finally, remember the core principles of selling still apply to every deal. All that’s changing is the number of people in your sales teams.

The post Team Selling: Land Bigger Clients With A Bit of Teamwork appeared first on Salesman.com.

If there’s one event that’s always a given when advancing your sales career, it’s sitting through an interview.

Whether it’s your first sales role or your dream position, nailing the interview is key to moving up. And same as with sales meetings, a successful interview is all about preparation.

So, what can you do to prepare?

One of the best ways to wow recruiters and clinch the sales job is to come up with answers to the most common sales interview questions beforehand.

This guide covers some of the most common interview questions for sales reps. And along the way, we’ll be looking at a few tips on coming up with the best answers as well as examples you can learn from.

Before hopping into the seven sales interview questions, it’s important to remember that interviews are won and lost on Preparation below. So be sure to follow sales interview tips beforehand to ensure the best chances of success.

When it comes time for the big day, there are a few common sales interview questions recruiters will ask sales candidates. And the more prepared you are to answer them, the better your odds for winning the position.

Below are seven of the most common sales position interview questions. You’ll also find some example answers on how to answer that’ll help you stand out as an ideal candidate and get started in a career in sales.

Winning Tip: This is a great time to share work experience as well as earned accolades. Complex numbers work wonders, and you should highlight any specific distinctions you’ve acquired throughout your career.

If you’re starting, be upfront about it, of course. But be sure to build on that by letting them know why you’re excited about this position and any experiences outside of work that make you a great sales candidate.

Examples:

“I earned the distinction of top salesperson for five years running at my past position.”

“I exceeded my quota by 20% in my first year at [former employer].”

“While I don’t have any direct experience in sales, I was president of the debate club and the head of fundraising in college. I’ve also wanted to work for [recruiter’s business] for years.”

Winning Tip: You’ll want to steer clear of financial reasons alone (“It pays the bills”). Instead, the answer to this sales interview question should tie your motivations to a beneficial character trait you possess. Keep things positive too. For example, while competition can be a helpful motivator, you don’t want to come off as someone who’ll do anything to get ahead, especially if you’re a part of a larger sales team.

Examples:

“I love the fact that positions like these have a direct payoff for hard work and strategic thinking. I thrive under that type of structure, and it motivates me to try to get better at what I do continually.”

“Rather than just wanting to make a sale, I get a lot of satisfaction out of solving a client’s problems. If they have an issue that’s holding them back from growing, I’m in a position to help them solve it. And that’s always been a rewarding experience.”

Winning Tip: This is where your research and your 30-60-90 Day Sales Plan come in handy. Your sales plan is ofren the quickest way to a hiring mangers heart.

A strong sales plan shows a sales manager that you can work with team members, you know the steps to close a deal, the company culture and how to set sales goals.

You can also outline your previous sales plans and your track record in realising them in your prior sales positions. This is your opportunity to turn the interview process on it's head and have sales managers trying to close you!

Cite specifics here. What are you bringing to the table besides just being another body on the sales team? Is it organizational experience that you can apply to their current sales process? Are there any gaps in their marketing strategy you noticed during your research?

Be thoughtful and constructive here.

Examples:

“I noticed your social media presence is a bit lacking. This might be why you’re having problems attracting a core demographic and keeping them engaged over the long-term.”

“In my years at [previous employer], I developed and refined a series of sales cadences that worked particularly well among your target audience.”

Winning Tip: A great route to take here is mentioning a time when you overcame serious challenges while closing a deal. It could be when you convinced a whale client to switch legacy vendors, a lead was particularly hesitant but came around, a competitor swooped in and almost took the sale, etc. The point is to show that you’re resilient and enjoy going the extra mile to close the deal.

Example:

“My best memory of making a sale was when a considerable buyer just wasn’t convinced we were the vendor for them. Though our sales meeting was scheduled for just one hour, I spent the entire morning with them answering questions, describing use cases, and demoing the products. 

I wanted them to know I was passionate about helping them achieve success. And eventually, they realized I wasn’t there just to make a sale—I was there to solve their problem. We closed on the deal that day.”

Winning Tip: Honesty is essential here. Humble brags (“I was too attentive to their needs” etc.) come off inauthentic and off-putting. Instead, think of a time you did mess up. And finish the story with how you rectified that mistake or implemented the lesson you learned from it.

Example:

“I remember one sales meeting; I spent far too much time talking about our product features rather than the benefits. As a result, at the end of what I thought was an incredibly educational meeting, the buyers still didn’t know they would get value from our product. 

In our follow-up exchanges, I made sure to tailor my language to focus on how those features provide tangible value. And eventually, they changed their minds and signed on!”

Winning Tip: This one is meant to throw you off. And answered inappropriately; it can be a dealbreaker. You’ll want to avoid especially harsh statements here. For example, describing your old team as “lazy, dimwitted, and annoying” may be true. But they reflect on you negatively and make you come off as judgmental or hard to work with.

Instead, try to highlight business-related problems and, specifically, what you did to help overcome those problems.

Example:

“At my previous employer, our sales team was consistently falling short of our monthly goals. And despite being a fantastic motivator, our manager wasn’t particularly good at problem-solving. So it was left to the reps to define and refine our own sales processes to meet our numbers. 

After I developed a successful process, I shared what I learned with the team, and we closed more deals than ever.”

Winning Tip: You’ll inevitably run into the classic “sell me this pen” question at some point in your selling career. And what you choose to focus on here is critical. Rather than starting out with all the features and benefits of the pen you can possibly think of, try starting with active listening. Figure out what problem they’re trying to solve first. And only then move into the pitch.

Example:

“I’d like to know if you’ve used a pen in the past. What about it did you like? What did you hate? How are you going to be using this pen? What’s your ballpark price range for what you’d like to spend on a pen?

Based on what you’ve told me, it looks like this pen is the perfect way to achieve [repeat their goals for using the pen]. Here’s why.”

Whether it’s your dream role at your ideal employer or simply the first step to your perfect career, you can nail your interview and land the position. It just takes a bit of preparation and knowing how to show recruiters that you’re the candidate they’ve been looking for.

So study these seven sales interview questions and start coming up with your strategic answers. When you do, you’ll be better prepared to sell yourself as the sales superstar you know you are.

The post 7 Sales Interview Questions & Answers That Will Get You The Job appeared first on Salesman.com.

On this week in sales we’ll be looking at; Turning sales strategy into execution, half of businesses reporting they can’t rely on their CRM, How the show is going to evolve next week and more!

Highspot and Corporate Visions Partner to Help Customers Turn Sales Strategy into Execution

Highspot, the sales enablement platform that improves sales performance, today announced an expanded partnership with Corporate Visions, the leading provider of science-backed training and consulting services. Joint customers can now use the first-of-its-kind Highspot Marketplace to bring Corporate Visions' expertise directly into their Highspot environments, providing teams with convenient access to best-in-class enablement, training and coaching to drive consistent sales execution.

Learn more

The Hype About Data-Driven Decision-Making Is Not Being Matched By Reality

Sovan Bin, the CEO, enterprise data platform Odaseva. – “Clearly, for too many companies, the hype about data-driven decision-making is not being matched by reality.”

“More than three-quarters of large enterprises admit that they’re lacking fundamentals in data management, and this is preventing them from unlocking the full value of their CRM”

Forrester –

Learn more

ValueSelling Associates Welcomes Rishi Dhawan and Expands Sales Training Presence in India, Southeast Asia and the Middle East

Based in Gurgaon, India, Rishi has over 20 years of global experience as a business leader at prominent tech companies, where he was known for developing high-performing sales teams and delivering winning results. Working with CXOs and sales leadership across industry verticals.

Learn more

TalSuccess launches Richardson Sales Performance Training Programs in India

TalSuccess, a leading talent transformation service provider, today announced the launch of a partnership with Richardson Sales Performance, a global leader in sales training and performance improvement.  TalSuccess will deliver sales training and performance improvement programs of Richardson Sales Performance in India.

Learn more

The post Half Of Businesses Report They Can’t Rely On CRM Data?! appeared first on Salesman.com.

You have a good sales process in place. Prospecting, lead qualification, closing deals… everything is clearly laid out, and your sales team follows it to the T.

You're doing well, but you know they can get more prospects and win more deals—they can be more.

So what's the issue? Where's the loophole?

It's your sales process—or more specifically, it's your stagnant sales process.

You cannot just “set and forget” your sales process. You have to update it regularly according to your customers' changing requirements and preferences.

This is where sales force optimization comes into the picture.

Sales force optimization ensures your sales process stays dynamic. It involves figuring out what's working and what isn't with your current sales strategy and then fine-tuning your sales process to win more long-term customers.

To create a world-class sales organization, you need three things:

Sales optimization involves improving and refining all the above three factors. It's the process of helping you maximize sales performance and increase close rates.

You analyze past customer interactions and sales data and then use the insights to sell more effectively and manage future sales incentives.

TAMI (formerly known as SalesOptimize) hired Simon Drew as the sales manager to scale their sales function.

Upon auditing the sales process, Simon quickly identified the company's biggest challenge: finding quality prospects and opportunities. While TAMI's sales team had an endless list of contacts to target, they didn't know how to process them. In addition, reps were also having a hard time handling a large volume of prospects.

Simon decided to build a team of business development reps, who would carry out all sales functions. This included prospecting, sending follow-ups, demoing, sending proposal follow-ups, negotiating… the whole shebang.

Simon and his team then realized the workflow was still manual, inefficient, and clunky. It's why they decided to introduce a sales engagement solution into their system to streamline workflows and reduce sales tech stack costs.

The result? TAMI's reps are currently executing 3,400-4,900 activities each month, 5x the original 1,000-1,400 activities. Also, the productivity skyrocketed to more than 300%!

Modifying and refining your workflows can optimize your sales process—just like how it helped Simon and his team.

Examining sales processes, sales culture, and establishing an effective communication strategy is an excellent place to start optimizing your sales performance.

There are six steps to increase sales force optimization:

Read on as we cover the six best strategies to help you implement effective sales force optimization.

Building an ideal customer profile or buyer persona is critical for effective prospecting. This way, you can get past demographics and dive deeper into buying behaviors and emotional characteristics, such as:

Creating buyer personas is particularly effective. Having a fictional characterization of your ideal customer puts a face to details. This will help your sales team understand the kind of leads they should pursue, boosting sales productivity.

In the words of Brian Tracy, “goals allow you to control the direction of change in your favor.”

This is why ignoring quick wins and establishing long-term goals is the only sustainable way to increase sales.

Align your professionals to deliver optimal revenue from the market they prospect.

You have to prioritize creating the right sales culture. For instance, you should celebrate long-term milestones like upsells instead of emphasizing short-term goals like hitting monthly quotas.

We aren't saying that meeting quotas shouldn't be appreciated, but the priority should be long-term milestones that support long-term growth.

Take LinkedIn, for example. One of the company's core values is to “act like an owner. “This is an excellent initiative to empower employees and encourage them to behave and make decisions as it was their company.

At the same time, your sales goals should be laser-focused on quality.

Let's understand what we mean by laser-focused on quality.

This gives you a clear deadline for achieving a realistic goal. Having a clear goal will better help you understand what needs to be done. Plus, a little pressure doesn't hurt most salespeople's performance.

You want to create the “perfect “pipeline. But before getting there, you'll have to pinpoint bottlenecks and leaks in your sales process.

A bottleneck is when a phase of your sales process is “jammed. For example, “Your leads and prospects get stuck in Stage 1 and never move forward to Stage 2.

To make matters worse, bottlenecks are time-sensitive. So the longer your leads and prospects remain stuck in your funnel, the more challenging it'll become to convert them.

On the other hand, leaks only occur when there's a significant drop off in your conversion rate from one stage of your sales funnel to the next. For instance, if your sales team is good at qualifying leads but cannot move most of them past the demo, it's a leak.

Leaks can be because of technical problems or communication breakdowns between your reps and leads. They can be attributed to bottlenecks in some instances too.

You can fix bottlenecks and leave by analyzing long-term sales data. Consider the following questions:

Identify and break down all the low points of your sales process, and then devise a plan of attack to remove any inefficiencies in your sales funnel.

Tracking and analyzing data is a critical aspect of sales force optimization.

It'll provide you access to valuable metrics related to your sales process, including what needs doing and what has already been done.

We highly recommend tracking sales data with reliable tools to simplify tasks. For instance, HubSpot Sales Hub is a powerful CRM that has robust sales analytics. It can be your single source of truth to boost unprecedented sales efficiency.

Repetitive tasks are dull, tedious, and time-consuming. The only thing they do is kill productivity. For context, an average salesperson spends two-thirds of their time on busy work, AKA activities that don't bring any value to prospects or help advance deals to closure.

Basically, useless stuff.

You need to streamline workflow and optimize sales performance. And the only way to do that is by eliminating redundant or unnecessary tasks. You should also ask your sales management to provide the right sales tools to automate any repetitive processes.

Create a sales stack that tells you who and when to call and what content to present to improve sales execution, sales automation, and sales excellence.

You can then use the free time to focus on core selling activities.

Aiming to get more customers is excellent. But this shouldn't be at the cost of your current customers.

Did you know acquiring a new customer is five times costlier than retaining the ones you already have? So when you lower your churn rate, not only do you optimize your sales, but you also ensure more money in your pocket.

Talk about killing two birds with one stone.

But how do you achieve this?

Adopting customer relationship marketing principles is a good starting point to reduce your churn rate. You should frequently check in with your customers to provide post-sales support, but more importantly, understand what solutions they might be looking for in the future.

In sales, relationships, personalization, and customer retention are interconnected. Having meaningful conversations can go a long way in helping you understand what your customers truly want, build long-lasting relationships, and become a better sales professional.

The post Sales Force Optimization: The Secret to Long-Term Selling Success appeared first on Salesman.com.

Whether you're new to the industry or an experienced salesperson, it's vital to have a firm grasp of the basic principles of selling.

Failing to adhere to these essential sales principles means you risk losing prospects and sales.

This guide will take you through the fundamental rules for successful selling and explain what you should (and shouldn't be doing) if you want to close more deals.

One of the essential principles of selling is that you should always be fully prepared for each conversation you have with a prospect. That means doing the proper research and planning every time and adding this to your sales process.

Find out what your prospect's organization does, how they do it, and why. Then, build a complete understanding of what drives them, as well as what challenges they may face. By doing so, you can make a personalized pitch to each prospect that caters to their most essential needs and challenges.

Traditional sales training often misses the fact that conversations need to go both ways – which means you need to listen, not just talk.

Sure, the more you listen to your prospect, the better you can understand them. This will help you to meet the prospect's needs more effectively.

But to get the prospect to open up, you have to ask questions as well.

Pay attention to what the prospect is most interested in, what drives them, and their biggest challenges. Hone in on what matters most to them.

Using active listening also helps to show your prospect that you value their time and what they have to say. This, in turn, allows you to form a deeper connection with your prospect, laying the groundwork for a productive business relationship.

This principle of successful sales builds on the last sales rule: your aim is to create a relationship with your prospect, not just pitch to them.

Remember that you're dealing with another person, not some faceless corporation – you need to get them to trust you and respect you personally.

Connecting with the buyer on a more personal level makes it easier to communicate effectively, build a better understanding of what they need, and provide a solution to them, thereby closing the sale.

Make sure you pay close attention to your prospect's personality, behavior and know how to moderate your behavior accordingly. Read the prospect's cues and understand which situations call for professionalism and which call for a more personal touch.

For modern salespeople, reputation is a key.

The first thing that almost any prospect will do when you reach out to them is to find out who you are, so you need to work to develop a reputation that makes them more interested in speaking with you.

In the digital ans social media age, both you and your company are only a Google search away. So you need to ensure that your online presence conveys trustworthiness and expertise, which in turn builds credibility.

Marketing content that features you and client testimonials are two effective measures you can take to build this reputation and create better relationships.

The strongest way to start your conversations with new a new potential customer is by showing real insights into what they do, the challenges they face, and how you can help them solve these issues.

In doing so, you can begin to demonstrate the value of your product or service to the prospect.

Remember, your prospect isn't there to learn about your product – what they really want is to find solutions to their problems. As such, you need to be clear about how you provide solutions, and in turn, provide value.

Focusing on your prospect rather than the product is similar to the last point, but it's worth reiterating. Your prospect isn't interested in your product; the buyer is interested in how it can change their organsiation.

Everything you say should therefore center on the prospect, not on your product.

Instead of simply walking the prospect through your product's features, focus on the specific parts that offer the most benefit to them and explain clearly what value this provides. Keep their unique needs and challenges in mind at all times, and tailor all your communications accordingly.

Don't just waffle about your product without purpose; make sure everything you say has a clear point, and ensure that that point is directly relevant to the prospect's interests.

Understanding the principles of selling means understanding that not every prospect will have a straight line from start to close.

Often there will be several issues or concerns that you'll need to address before you can make a successful sale. You need to anticipate these issues and deal with them early on rather than waiting for the prospect to bring them up.

The sooner you can solve these issues, the better. Leaving them unaddressed increases the chances that they can derail the sale further down the line, at which point you'll have wasted time and resources on an unsuccessful deal.

It might be a specific product or service that you're trying to influence a prospect to buy; you're also selling yourself. Most prospects aren't just looking for a standalone product; they also want a partner they can continue to work with even after the sale is made.

You need to sell yourself (and your company) as well as your products and services. That means demonstrating that you're a professional, knowledgeable, and helpful advisor who the prospect can rely on for support throughout the entire process and beyond.

On a personal level, selling yourself means making yourself engaging, empathetic, and responsive to build an effective relationship with the prospect. On a professional level, it means creating an understanding of the prospect and demonstrating that your company has the necessary expertise to provide valuable solutions.

Another key aspect of the sales basics is that it's not enough to address sales on a case-by-case basis – you also need to widen your view to look at the bigger picture.

Blindly running from one prospect to the next without pausing to reflect and evaluate is a recipe for disaster; for truly successful selling, you'll need to analyze the broader trends within your sales pipeline.

Collect data wherever possible and use it to provide a fuller picture of your sales processes. For example, identify which stages of your sales pipeline are weakest and strongest and how you can replicate success stories.

Your sales pipeline thrives on momentum, so it's essential to keep prospects moving along it rather than stalling and losing interest.

At the end of every meeting or conversation, you need to lay out clear next steps – ideally, you need to ensure your next appointment is organized before the end of your current one.

Establishing a framework of the next steps ensures that your prospects are always progressing along the sales pipeline, not simply running in circles.

Remember, once you've made a successful sale, your job isn't over. You now have to work to keep your client happy to keep them buying from you and contributing towards your sales quota.

Building a reliable, loyal client base is the key to smashing sales targets. So pay as much attention to your established clients as your new prospects. Always look to go above and beyond what they expect from you – you're there to support them, not just make the sale and disappear.

You should solve any problems or queries they have quickly and effectively and look for opportunities to provide them with added value.

One of the essential principles of selling is to acknowledge that sometimes, you won't be able to make a sale.

Even the best salesperson can't guarantee a 100% success rate – some prospects will inevitably go cold, and you won't be able to close them.

The key is to recognize when this is the case and be prepared to redirect your efforts elsewhere rather than wasting time and resources. So keep a close eye on your sales pipeline, and be aware of any prospects that have stalled or stagnated. Then, carefully evaluate whether it's worth continuing to pursue them or whether your time would be better spent on other, more active prospects.

These sales rules are not exhaustive, but they should give you a foundation on which to build your sales career.

The key to successful selling is to master the fundamentals – more advanced methods may be appealing, but they will mean nothing if you don't have the sales basics perfected first.

The post 12 Essential Principles Of Selling appeared first on Salesman.com.

A few years back, hard-hitting sales tactics were all the rage. Salespeople relied on bulk emails and cold calls to close deals.

These days, customers have rejected these outdated sales tactics and prefer to build relationships with the businesses they are buying from. As a result, the industry has shifted towards a new way of selling: inbound sales.

Inbound sales is a modern approach to sales that focuses on the potential buyer. In traditional sales strategies, the salesperson would focus on pushing the product or service and closing the deal.

In inbound sales, the inbound closer hones in on the prospective buyer's priorities, pain points, interests, and challenges. The inbound closer must educate, guide, and support the prospective buyer throughout the buying decision.

A closer is a person responsible for finalizing a sales deal with a client. These are usually high ticket sales that are sold on phone calls. As a sales closer, you are responsible for finding prospects and sales leads and convincing them to sign a contract.

An inbound closer is a sales closer who works in inbound sales.

As an inbound closer, your focus is not on closing the deal as fast as possible. Instead, you spend your time nurturing the prospective buyer by interacting, guiding, and educating them throughout the buyer journey.

Inbound closing requires you to become a trusted consultant who nurtures the client relationship from awareness and consideration to closing the deal and beyond.

Inbound sales is a business model that focuses on attracting leads that are already interested in your product or service. These are the easiest high ticket leads to close a deal with. You then build lasting relationships with these leads and help them solve their problems.

In outbound sales, you engage all potential buyers before you know for sure that they need your product.

In outbound sales, you go out of your way to make direct contact with potential buyers and start a conversation about your products or services. Because you are the one initiating the conversation, outbound sales give you control over how you reach out, when you reach out, and who you reach out to.

In inbound sales, you let the customer find you and your high ticket product. Here is how that goes.

Let's say, Harry, the customer has a problem. So Harry goes online and researches his problem. He finds a blog post you have written about their pain and realizes that your company is the solution they have been seeking.

Harry then contacts your company to ask for more information. By doing so, he has shown you that he is interested in your products or services and has given you a crucial opportunity to close the sale.

Inbound sales is an effective way of selling because it allows the customer to come to you. Customers like to research before making a purchase. If you can find a way to inform or educate the potential customer before you speak with them, you will build trust and set the pace for a lasting and mutually beneficial relationship.

So, why are inbound sales so important? Here are a few advantages of inbound sales:

As an inbound closer, you don't have to do massive research because you allow potential customers to come to you to discuss your product or service rather than trying to chase them. This is why this business model of inbound closing leveraging inbound calls is so effective.

Because your leads are already familiar with your business by the time they reach out to you, you don't have to do a lot of explaining about your high ticket product. You no longer waste time making a cold call to get the prospect on the phone.

Moreover, because you are dealing with warm leads who are already ready to buy, you don't have to waste your time talking to people who have no interest in making a purchase.

The more time you spend trying to convince leads to make a purchase, the more money and resources you use in the buyer journey.

Since inbound sales take less time to close, they help you save the money you would otherwise have used in outbound sales.

Inbound sales can scale effectively. With outbound sales, businesses have to hire more sales closers to bolster their sales strategy. However, with a high ticket inbound sales team, companies only have to streamline their marketing and advertising approach.

Even better, the assets that are developed through an inbound sales strategy are reasonably permanent. This permanence means that they will continue to give value to your business long after you have created them.

One of the main benefits of inbound sales is that your leads genuinely care about what you have to say.

Think about how the outbound sales process works. You call someone randomly and try to convince them that you have something they need. Even if you have already researched them and know that they are part of your target audience, the customer has not considered their needs before your call. Therefore, it will be more difficult for you to convince them they need a product they have not thought of before.

Conversely, with inbound sales, the customer discovered your brand through their own research. They already know they have a problem and are reaching out to you because they believe you have the solution. In addition, they are genuinely interested in who you are and what you do.

By the time a lead reaches out to you for more information, they already have some level of trust in your brand.

As an inbound closer, you act as a consultative expert and help such leads gain more trust in your business.

Building trust with your customers is vital for creating good customer relationships. As a result, your customers will begin their relationships with your business on the right foot, and they will be more likely to become loyal customers of your brand.

Better trust with your clients translates to better communication, increased sales, and higher customer lifetime value.

Now that you know how critical inbound sales are to modern business owners, you must be wondering how you can dip your toes into this world. In the next section of this blog post, we will look at how to become an inbound closer.

The first step you take to become a successful inbound closer is to develop the characteristics that make for a great salesperson a fantastic inbound closer. Here are several qualities that you must have to become a great sales closer:

As an inbound closer, clients will view you more as a partner than a salesperson. For this reason, you should always be striving to create solid relationships with potential customers.

For instance, you should always follow up with emails containing industry-specific information. You should also share tips that will help the buyer in the buying decision.

As your relationship with a client solidifies, you want your client to see you as a consultant or resource. Once a customer trusts your judgment, it becomes easier for you to maintain the relationship.

The inbound sales process is all about the customer. Who they are, what they need, their expectations, and their problems.

As an inbound closer, you must strive to identify and focus on what your client needs. How well you understand your client's needs could make the difference between closing a sale and losing a potential customer who would otherwise have made a purchase.

With a solid knowledge of your customer's needs, you are better positioned to help them see how your products or services solve their problems.

To be a successful sales closer, you must learn to focus on value. In some cases, especially if you're working a high ticket sales job, you will not always have the lowest prices. Therefore, you must focus on the value that your products or services are providing to your clients.

When talking of value, you must help your potential customers see what they get for purchasing your product and what they are losing by not using your product.

Your success as an inbound closer will largely depend on your ability to listen. Communication skills are key for a high ticket closer. Instead of assuming, you must start by listening to potential customers to learn why they buy and how the buying process works. You could also go a step further and take notes so you can use them for subsequent meetings.

By adopting these characteristics, you will be better positioned to become an inbound closer. The next thing to do is pick up an online course on the fundamentals of sales training.

Then you need a killer high ticket, inbound closer business model to start converting your inbound calls into real money.

Remember, inbound sales work well because they allow the customer to come to you. This means that you must automate the beginning stages of your sales journey by eliminating the manual tasks, so your clients can better reach out to you.

Everyone in inbound sales has a different idea of what works best. However, there is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to the best strategy for inbound sales. As such, it is better to use a multi-channel approach.

With a multi-channel approach, you can reap the benefits of all the channels you use. Some of the strategies you can consider using include paid advertisements, social media marketing, content marketing, influencer marketing, and SEO.

Simple messages are effective.

Instead of bombarding your potential client with a long list of all the benefits your product offers, choose a few and mention them. Again, a simplified message comes down to your ability to listen keenly and identify your buyer's needs.

When you know your client's pain points, you can select a few benefits of your products to help solve those problems and mention them. This way, you position your products and services as precisely what your client needs.

As an inbound closer, you must make it easier for potential clients to reach out to you. If it's easy to contact you, more people will do it. One of the ways you can make it easy for people to contact you is to use prominent CTAs and simple, short forms to collect personal information about clients.

A good CTA and proper methods of collecting data are the cornerstones of a good conversion rate optimization strategy.

As an inbound closer, you will be responsible for finalizing deals with clients who have already shown interest in your company's product without being sold to. This means that you will mainly be dealing with warm leads and selling them high ticket products.

Remember that even though these leads have researched the problem and think your products or services can help them, they have not yet finalized their decision to purchase. Therefore, you must be patient with the clients. Follow up, encourage, and direct them all through the buyer's journey and finally persuade them to close the deal.

At the end of the day, your ability to close deals will determine how successful you are as an inbound closer. Your communication skills are what is going to help you make money here.

What are your thoughts on becoming an inbound closer? Is it a position you would consider working in? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.

The post How To Become An Inbound Closer: Everything You Need To Know appeared first on Salesman.com.

Sales professionals are advised to “avoid being too salesy “or “learn how to be less salesy.” Regardless of how ironic it sounds, this is good advice.

In their book Never Be Closing, authors Tim Hurson and Tim Dunne explain how the majority of sales tactics are designed to sell to strangers with the sole purpose of “wrangling a commitment to buy, even when buying may not be in the best interests of the client. ”

Times have changed. Effective selling today is different—it's better, cleaner, and more empathetic. No dirty tricks. No salesy methods.

So let's take a look at what it means to be salesy and how you can stop those behaviours too.

Salesy is a term to describe a salesperson who pitches their product or service aggressively and superficially to the point of making the prospect uncomfortable, unresponsive, or annoyed.

A salesy sales professional isn't interested in learning and solving their prospect's pain points or challenges. As a result of their self-centric sales pitches and self-absorbed blabber, these reps hardly convert their prospects into paying customers.

Only 17% of salespeople think they are pushy, which is in sharp contrast to the 50% of prospects who consider sales reps to be pushy when they engage with them.

Before we deep dive further into the art of selling without being too pushy, you should know just how salesy you are—if at all. One of the best ways to determine this is by analyzing the words and phrases you use in your pitch.

Below, we've compiled a list of some of the most common salesy words and phrases. Start working on your pitch right away if you find more than one word or phrase matching your current one.

Buyers today are intelligent and well-informed. They know whenever a sales rep uses phrases like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, it certainly isn't a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for their business.

If you address your buyers with heavy marketing like this, stop right now. Otherwise, you won't be winning their trust anytime soon. You're selling a product, not building a cult. Focus on adding value, listen to the buyer and share the real benefits.

Many sales reps believe that cramming their pitch with the word “cheap” will help them capture the prospect's interest faster. Newsflash: it won't.

When you use the word cheap too much while pitching, prospects lose interest. They assume your companies product or service is of low quality and may end up not buying it.

Your prospects will only trust you once you earn their trust over time—definitely not when you ask them to do so passive-aggressively. Further, if you use this in response to a prospect question, it'll come off as condescending and evasive. #Fail

So you had been lying up until this point?

“To be honest” is an insidious phrase, and therefore, one giant red flag for savvy buyers. You were presumably honest during the whole conversation, so why call it out now? Cut this phrase out of your vocabulary if you want to win credibility with prospects.

Nothing is guaranteed, so when you tend to “guarantee “every single claim, the prospect knows you're overpromising. It's like a trap that makes you lose credibility, and in turn, your prospect's interest. Avoid it.

As mentioned, salesy salespeople have a self-centric mindset. This mindset is evident when they pitch their product: they cannot stop bragging about its unbelievable features.

The thing is, prospects aren't interested in your product features. Instead, the buyer wants to know how your product will benefit them and help solve their challenges.

Shocker, right?

Using the word “buy” does nothing to persuade the prospect to place an order. People hate being sold to, so when you ask them to buy your product or service, they'll decline instinctively.

Using positive and less demanding words like “invest “or “own “makes a much better impact. For instance, people like to “own” things that make their life easier. Similarly, they don't mind “investing “in a solution that gives them their desired returns.

Do you see the difference?

If there's anything your sales pitch should have little to no mention of, it's “I”—or what you want.

Sales are all about the customers, which is why your pitches should be about your products solving their problems. There is no reason for you to mention what you want or prefer. They won't care.

Think about how you can provide value and build a healthy relationship with the prospect to become a better salesperson. Adopting a consultative sales approach that guides the prospect to address the ongoing business problem is a good starting point.

Successful salespeople focus on helping—not selling. But, if you don't stop being salesy, you'll lose lucrative opportunities and leads. Here are a few tips to help you become non-salesy and close more deals.

Ideally, you want to create a win-win situation. In turn, this will help you establish and nurture a healthy relationship with the prospect.

Make your prospect comfortable by holding meaningful conversations with them. Then try to figure out their needs and challenges.

Consider asking the following questions to get started on the right track:

These questions should (hopefully) help you understand the prospect's needs and challenges. Then, use the insights and tailor your pitch to talk about your solution from their context.

Remember the golden rule: listen more than you speak.

Salesy salespeople are pushy. They pressurize the prospect into buying your product or service when they should've been educating them.

Demonstrate your understanding of the prospect's current situation and then guide them on how your offering is the perfect solution to their pain points. Next, present your product or service smartly, where the prospect can visualize the benefits of your solution.

Your prospect doesn't care about your product or service. Instead, they care about what your service can do for the prospect and their organization.

When drafting marketing materials and writing your pitch, ask yourself: why should your clients care? Then, guide your marketing strategy based on your answer.

Most salespeople talk about what they're selling rather than why they're selling it. Don't fall into this trap. Instead, stay focused on the transformation that prospects can expect. You can even share client results and testimonials to make them even more relevant to them.

Selling with integrity means selling with the truth. This is where the law of reciprocity comes into play: you should give and not give to take. Read that again.

Following this school of thought will come in handy when serving people at the highest level. They've invested time and want to have a conversation with you. So don't be stingy with information. Instead, do the right thing and remain authentic, even when no one's paying attention.

Trust us; prospects notice everything.

Customers want to know how your product or service will affect them. Unfortunately, they don't want to hear about how your product or service affects you.

Make them the star and focus of your sales conversation. Always remember this simple point when conversing with prospects. This will help you become a more emphatic seller instead of salesy.

The best salespeople focus on earning the potential customers' trust. They don't lie. They give proof that whatever they are saying is true.

To earn your prospect's trust, you'll have to back your claims. And the best way to do so is by giving real-life examples. Share case studies of successful customer relationships and how your product or service helped your previous customers solve a problem similar to your current prospect.

Be explicit and clear when pitching, but never shift your focus away from the current prospect.

When you stop being salesy, you'll see a significant difference in your results.

Focus on asking the right questions and building a lasting relationship with your prospects. It'll help you create a good reputation and gather positive word-of-mouth publicity, ensuring you get more potential leads.

The post How To Sell Without Selling: 6 Tips To Stop Being So Salesy appeared first on Salesman.com.

The world looks a lot different today than it did before 2020: the masks, the travel protocols, the hand sanitizers. But perhaps the most monumental change is the shift to remote work and remote sales.

A whopping 72% of white-collar workers report doing their jobs remotely these days. If you’re a professional salesperson, you’re probably one of them. And while you may have thought the shift was temporary at first, you’re likely starting to realize that remote selling is quickly becoming the new normal.

But how is remote selling affecting salespeople like you? What does remote selling mean? And how can you become world-class at doing it and learn to thrive from this massive shift?

This guide covers what remote selling is, some remote selling techniques and the pros and cons of this new world of sales. We also detail our four-step framework that shows you how to do remote sales as effectively as in-person ones.

Also known as virtual selling, remote selling is selling your product or service to a buyer in a different location from you. It can be done over the phone, through video calls, or even through live chat (though rare).

While salespeople and buyers alike tended to prefer in-person sales meetings, the rise of covid has turned remote selling into the preferred method. Plus, it looks like remote work is becoming the norm for most companies.

Markets are adjusting, and new technologies are making the switch to remote selling easier. Even still, there are both pros and cons to this new medium in sales.

If you've not had sales training on how to sell remotely, then keep reading.

As with any monumental change in the sales process, the shift to selling remotely and online meetings has its ups and downs.

So, how do you amplify the benefits, shrink the downsides, and thrive working remotely in the new age of digital sales? You can start by following this four-step framework.

This framework covers remote selling best practices that are easy to implement and ensure your future success in this brave new world of business.

The first step to becoming a remote selling master is making sure you have all the tools and equipment you need to do the job. Of course, your company will more than likely provide these tools for you. But even still, you’ll want to be sure you have the following if you’re going to be successful.

A) Software

B) Hardware

C) Home Office

There’s an inherent disconnect when talking over a video call compared to attending a sales meeting in person. It’s better than a plain old phone call, sure. But it’s harder to make a real, human connection when you’re staring at a bunch of pixels.

That’s why you need to grow your personality to create that connection. Get comfortable with being more enthusiastic than usual. Accentuate your body language so you can be sure buyers are picking up on it. And for god’s sake, use video as much as you can. (Pro Tip: Try looking straight into the camera to imitate in-person eye contact.)

But take care to be mindful of Zoom fatigue. And take breaks of at least 10-15 minutes between calls to prevent it from sucking up all your energy.

With the lack of in-person meetings, you’re going to have to work extra hard to establish credibility with your buyer. And that’s saying a lot considering just 3% of buyers consider salespeople trustworthy.

So, how do you establish credibility early on in your sales calls? Below are just a few tips to turn you from a commission-chasing salesperson to a trusted advisor in the eyes of your buyer.

In this new world of virtual selling, buyers have less patience for meetings than if they were in person. And that means it falls to you to keep your sales meetings organized, valuable, worth your buyer’s time.

Luckily, you can do a few things to set the structure for a successful remote sales call.

A) Before the Call – You can knock out all 3 of these in a single pre-call email.

B) During the Call – Follow the steps below to keep a tight yet informative structure for your call.

C) After the Call – Follow-up is a critical part of closing any sale. So be sure to follow these steps after you end the call.

No one ever said the change was easy. And while the shift to remote selling may be a bit daunting, those with an open mind are going to be the ones who come out ahead because of it.

This four-step framework for selling remotely is sure to help you acclimate to the new age of sales. And with it, you can stay ahead of the curve and start selling as effectively—nay, more effectively—than you ever did in person.

The post The 4-Step Framework To More Effective Remote Selling appeared first on Salesman.com.

Dustin Siggins is the Founder of Proven Media Solutions, a communications and business strategy firm.

In this episode of The Salesman Podcast, Dustin explains what it means to “get press” and how individual salespeople can use this strategy to build more trust at distance and establish themselves as experts in their niche.

[spp-player]

Will Barron:

Sales Nation, as you know, Salesman.org is part of the HubSpot podcast network. Another show that is part of the network, that I enjoy listening to personally, is My First Million, hosted by Sam Parr and Shaan Puri. My First million share stories about how founders earned their first million dollars. So if you are thinking about starting a side hustle, or perhaps you're a business owner, it's great content to keep you motivated. You can listen to My First Million wherever you usually get your podcasts.

Will Barron:

Hello, Sales Nation. My name is Will Barron, host of The Salesman Podcast, the world's most downloaded B2B sales show. On today's episode, we have Dustin Siggins. He is the founder over at ProvenMediaSolutions.net. On today's episode, we're investigating how press can improve your sales results, how to get press, what getting press actually means, and how for a, you and I, a humble, knuckle dragging sales professional, can get mentioned in the media and how this translates to more, faster, better prospecting and sales results. Everything that we talk about in this episode is available over at Salesman.org/Press. With that, let's jump right into it.

Will Barron:

Dustin, welcome to The Salesman Podcast.

Dustin Siggins:

Thanks for having me again.

Will Barron:

I'm glad to have you back on, Dustin. Okay, so in today's show, we're going to look at how press can improve sales results, or even the right press can create better sales leads and faster sales cycles as well.

Will Barron:

Give us some context here, Dustin, before we jump into this topic, are we, when we're talking about getting press, are we talking about driving over to the New York Times, if they still have an office, I don't know, however, all these media companies are working remotely or what they're doing now, but driving over to the New York Times and demanding that they do a story on us personally, or is there more specific, industry niche publications that we should be getting in front of? Or does getting press just mean getting quoted in LinkedIn articles? What do we need to do here to use press to drive sales results?

Dustin Siggins:

So, when it comes to getting press, you've mentioned New York Times, industry trade pubs, it depends on what your market is. So for example, there're several things you don't want to do. You don't want to badger somebody, you don't want to just drive up to the door and knock on the door. What you need to do is look at who you are, the story you can tell that would get past what we call gatekeepers, journalists and producers and the like, in a way that they're going to say, “This is interesting, at the right time, from the right person, to put in front of my audience.”

Dustin Siggins:

So there's a few ways that I would suggest doing that, starting with an opinion piece. The financial advisor who sees a stock market crashing and puts out an opinion piece that everyone should stay in the stock market, it's counter intuitive advice, it's timely for the right kind of person. There's a lot of ways to do that, we'll get more into it in the show, is really tailoring your message to your first audience, which is that gatekeeper, before you reach the people who might buy your services or products.

Will Barron:

For sure. That totally makes sense. For anyone who's listening, who's a quota carrying, knuckle dragging salesperson like I am, working with Dustin on a piece at the moment, but I get quoted somewhat regularly because I have domain expertise in a very thin sliver of B2B training, typically online training. So, even when I was in medical device sales, I was getting quoted, people would be tweeting about me, I'd have different things going on, because I was an expert in one specific space, which was endoscopic camera systems here in Yorkshire, beautiful Yorkshire in the UK. So I just want to lead this conversation with, if you've been in sales for any period of time and you're selling any level of technical or complex product or service, am I right in saying, Dustin, that you probably have some expertise that other people may want to quote or reference you on? Is that fair to say?

Dustin Siggins:

I would put it one step, take it one step back from that. There's a lot of people who may have that same expertise you do, so you have to create a story that's interesting and has the whole strategy behind it. Otherwise, you might be one of 10 people sending out the same email, or the same phone call, to that press outlet. That means you're just wasting your time.

Will Barron:

Sure. Okay.

Dustin Siggins:

You may have the expertise, but it may not matter because if you're in a more saturated market…

Will Barron:

Got it. So we'll come back to story in a minute, but just to tee up the conversation a little bit further, sell the audience on why they should want press, and how press can improve sales results. How does getting noticed, talked about, your story being told, translate into improved kind of sales results in the marketplace, Dustin? I'm assuming, without putting words in your mouth, there's an element of trust here that all this is going to fall back on.

Dustin Siggins:

Mm-hmm (affirmative). Trust, of course, know, like, and trust is what every, that I've been taught, since I started doing sales a few years ago. So what about… There are three ways that I would suggest looking at how press can help you stand out from the competition, get you better leads and faster sales.

Dustin Siggins:

First is craft your message to show your target markets you understand them, and how you will solve their problems, the ones they know about and the ones they don't. So for example, the future of work has been a huge topic since the pandemic. Some people might know that they need to go remote. Other people may not understand the future technologies that are necessary to make their remote work more efficient. I mentioned the stock market example earlier, but there's a lot of supply chain issues here in the States. Some people may know about their specific industry's supply chain issues. They may not know about the wider, American wide, issues. So if you talk about one or the other, you can talk about issues that they know about, and issues that they won't see coming.

Dustin Siggins:

Second, getting into press can turn cold calls and cold meetings, into warm calls and a warm meetings. So you meet somebody at a conference and you've been in industry press for some time, but they shake your hand and hear your name and they go, “Hey, I know who you are. I've heard your name before.” Likewise, in a planned meeting or other environments, people will know your name more likely, when you're engaging in some level of your sales process. In fact, people may contact you because of getting in the press. Well, I've quoted you in Forbes before and people, I somewhat regularly get contacted on a LinkedIn or otherwise by people who saw my article, looked me up, and contacted me, sometimes to engage in the sales process. So getting the press can really engage people before you have to earn know, like, and trust, in the traditional sense, you're already earning it.

Dustin Siggins:

Then lastly, getting in the right press is just like getting a referral from an influencer. If you're in the right industry trade press, that reporter, or that editor, has already given you the ability to be trusted, because you're in that source, whether it's a magazine, a podcast, radio show, TV, you've already begun to earn trust through the credibility referral of that gatekeeper who let you be in their outlet.

Will Barron:

Love it. I agree with all of that. One thing that I think we should double down on very quickly is, Dustin, in a world where any salesperson can start writing LinkedIn posts, they can start their own blog, they can start podcasts like this, industry specific, and hopefully drive a load of traffic and attention, what we're talking about here is earned media, right? Is mentions in earned media more valuable or less valuable than it has been in the past?

Dustin Siggins:

I can't answer that question because decades ago there were very few outlets, and now, as you said, the barriers to entry are so low. What I would say is that most… So it's two things.

Dustin Siggins:

One, press should be part of what we call, as a surround sound strategy, surround sound marketing and branding strategy. Don't just put your thing out there. Let's say you get into Forbes, that should be turned into a blog post or some other collateral on your show, on your blog. It should also be turned into email marketing, and on your social media. There should be a strategy surrounding press, otherwise it's just a tactic, one.

Dustin Siggins:

Then two, look at what's being written and differentiate yourself in it, or as someone put it to me when I was starting out as a writer, 12 years ago, look, what's in the news, research the heck out of it, and then write on it. In this case, if you're in the sales industry where everyone's talking on LinkedIn and the like, what are they not saying? You've mentioned driving into a very narrow niche. What are they not saying, and how are they not saying it? So those are two different ways to differentiate in a saturated, low barrier, [inaudible 00:08:22] press environment.

Will Barron:

Sure. Well, I would go more, kind of lean in one direction with my answer, I think it's a massive differentiator, in a place where we're just, buyers are now used to salespeople creating content, if you can either be quoted on an external platform that refers their trust to you, or even better, if you could get a guest post or… Whether it's an industry publication or an industry podcast, or like yourself coming on here, I think that carries way more trust now than ever has done in the past. From the context of though, I never had press 20 years ago, so who knows if it was different then? To be real with the audience here. I see it over the past five years of, I now look for press mentions, and care more about press mentions, than what I did when looking for podcast guests, for example, and things of that nature. I think that trust is becoming even more valuable and more important.

Will Barron:

So with all that said then, you've kind of given us a few nuggets along the way so far, Dustin, but is there a strategy that we can put in place? Is there a 1, 2, 3 steps,, or an A to Z guide of how a salesperson, or a sales leader, or tonnes of founders and entrepreneurs listen to this show as well, how they can go about getting press, not just for the prestige of having it, but how they can do it step by step to drive more attention and more sales?

Dustin Siggins:

Sure. So what I'm going to do is, I'm going to pull up a link on my company website. We have actually have a PDF download that gets right into this. We call it Getting in the Press, Your Media Engagement Strategy Guide. So there's a few steps here, but we start with looking internally, what are the outlets that influence your target markets? Who are the gatekeepers at those outlets? You don't want to hit, you're hitting an industry trade publication, you don't want to hit somebody who's unrelated to what you do. You want to hit the right person at the right outlet.

Dustin Siggins:

Then you have to develop a strategy to look at what are they paying attention to? The reporters write the stories, but editors assign the stories. Hosts, like you, conduct interviews, but you also have a producer who'll often handle guest schedules. So you want to make sure that you've found the right people at the right outlets, and that you get in front of them the right way with the right topics.

Dustin Siggins:

So again, when I first reached out to you, I mentioned the topic of getting press and getting into sales. I got your attention through an email and I also reached out to your producer, then we discussed and fine tuned the topic. So that's an example of how I got press getting on to this podcast. That is what salespeople certainly can do is, you have to do a lot of preparation so that you're not reaching out to the wrong person, because then they're going to dismiss you. That's actually going to hurt your brand with those trusted outlets.

Dustin Siggins:

You also want to make sure that you are having the right timing. A joke I make is that gatekeepers will care about taxes in March and April, they will not care at Thanksgiving. So accountants should not try to pitch their story at Thanksgiving, they should do it March and April, conferences, school year dates, or education groups. So to your audience, look at the industry calendar and say, “These outlets that reach my target market, these are the individuals there who reach my target market in a more fine tuned fashion, when are they going to be most interested? Hey, we're going to have a conference every August. Well, let's reach out in June with our specific story, that's going to be timed to that conference.”

Will Barron:

Dustin, let me give you an example that we can work against. So I was working medical device sales, my biggest customers were typically urologists, and there're tonnes of both trade publications for urologists, trade publications for medical devices. A lot of what is talked about in more pop science articles about urology medicine, that kind of thing, quotes experts within that space with regards to technology. So let's think of it from that perspective of looking at gatekeepers there, what the right timing is, what topics would be interesting, the story, that side of things.

Dustin Siggins:

Sure. So I don't know medical device sales, but let's say you're a salesperson and the Affordable Care Act passes in America in 2010, and there's a medical device sales tax. Everyone's going to be talking about that at the next conference, right? Then if you're the salesperson, you can develop, you can talk about how you managed to deal with that challenge, because now everything's going to be more expensive. Or how you dealt with navigating the new regulations of the Affordable Care Act, so that you can still make your sales quotas, or that you are finding new ways to make new types of sales.

Dustin Siggins:

You do that, you reach out to the gatekeepers, maybe two issues ahead of the conference, or for one of the magazines that they're putting in everyone's bags at the conference. That way, when people are going to be reading those, they're going to be interested in what's going on because it's a huge issue, and your name is going to be there, maybe in an article of your own opinion, an op-ed, as we call it, or quote as an industry expert with a unique story to tell. Now when people are going to be seeing you, they're going to say, “Hey, I read your article. That was really neat, we need to talk.” Or the people who are going to be trying to buy your product are also going to be trying to find new ways to navigate the new medical device scenario with these taxes and regulations, and your piece may be targeted to them more directly.

Will Barron:

Makes total sense. An analogy that I always like to give to describe this phenomenon that I've experienced in the past is, and you'll get this, Dustin, I'm sure you'll agree, if you are ill, you don't look for an average doctor, right? You don't go on a list of top 10 doctors and then go to number seven or eight, you go to whoever's the most timely, appropriate, and who you feel has the most expertise.

Will Barron:

So when we're talking about an acute situation, like a conference, I've done this loads of times, been inadvertently… If I'd have known you, Dustin, five years ago, you could have helped me with some of this stuff. Loads of times, I've been quoted in, as you described, the magazines that go in the gift bags at medical conferences, at urology conferences. A few years ago, the world's biggest urology conference was in the UK, I was there attending, and I was quoted on the website, and on the conference Twitter feed, and a few other places, talking about medical devices and our product. I had a bunch of my actual customers say, “Hey, I saw you, that was awesome. I saw you on this, this, and this,” and come over and have a chat, and then other people would be, “Hey, I recognise your face.” I mentioned this, so I've been through what you're you're talking about here.

Will Barron:

One thing I do want to ask, just as we get into this conversation here, Dustin, is what do you say to people who are listening to this right now who go, “Okay, that's all great for Will, this podcaster who, after, admittedly, years of grinding, now has a little bit of an audience”, or Dustin, killing it with your business, mate, what do you say to sales people listening to this who are going, “Well, I'm probably a little bit of an expert in this space, I probably do have something to say, but there's probably better qualified people. Why would anyone listen to me over them”?

Dustin Siggins:

Sure. So I spent the first part of my career as a political journalist. No one knew me in the business world. In the last few years, I've gotten published at the industry trade publications in the PR space, Forbes, number of other places. I didn't jump right to Forbes. I started thinking about where I can get published at maybe lower level publications that didn't perfectly reach my target market that were easier to access through opinions, through getting quoted in articles, primarily through my own, putting out my own opinion-ating is my primary form of marketing in that way. It builds that brand over time. So when someone looks you up, or you can send them a sample, you can say, “This is the topic, and these are where I've been published before, or I've been on podcasts before.” By getting in front of those early audiences, you start to build that brand.

Dustin Siggins:

You also start to notice your differentiation. One thing that I've talked quite a bit about in the last year, I was on your show first about a year ago, was trust protection. I made up that term while we were talking. That was not a term I had previously thought about until we talked about it in the show, and you just drilled right into it. That got me thinking about that specific term, and fine tuning my message around that. So you'll learn a lot if you do a bunch of, I would say, low level, I don't mean, don't go to a blogger who has four reviews, but find outlets that that will, easier to access, that will represent your target market, at least to some degree, and that will allow you to continue to fine tune your message so that as your brand grows, a lot of it is perception, as your brand grows, you can reach out to those higher level outlets with both a credible message, because you know it's your differentiator, and you've had enough experience to, and background, to send them credible links and references.

Will Barron:

Okay. So, let's get into the nuts and bolts here, you mentioned having samples when you reach out to the gatekeepers, what does that, I assume this is an email that we're sending most of the time, what does that email look like and how can we, if we can, all stand out within that email itself?

Dustin Siggins:

Sure. So…

Will Barron:

Let's put in the context here, Dustin, of we are, perhaps, at this point, reaching out to lower level media outlets that we think that we've got… We're reaching out to Urology Daily Yorkshire, as opposed to The National Society of Urology in the UK. So we're reaching out from the perspective of, “Hey, these people probably want to listen to, at least, these people probably would want to jump on a phone call,” so we're playing the kind of odds here in the right direction.

Dustin Siggins:

So, what's the outlet again?

Will Barron:

I just made it up, but Urology Yorkshire Daily, I don't know, something like that.

Dustin Siggins:

Sure. Well, so, let's talk about, let's use when the economy crashed a year and a half ago, there were so many industries affected and I reached out to an editor at Fox Business with a piece on how you should engage in more marketing when the economy is bad. I have, my title is Founder of a Public Relations Firm, my background includes getting published, and I have the ability to say something counterintuitive, engage in more marketing when everyone else is pulling their marketing. I used some real world examples in my piece. That's how I was able to get published at Fox Business.

Dustin Siggins:

If someone's in the sales environment and everyone's suddenly going remote, you can have articles, you can reach out to an editor and say, “My company has done this on remote work, I've actually increased my sales because I have spent less time travelling, and I can focus more time on the customer's needs, or the prospects needs. I noticed you have an article about this component of sales, such as remote is going to be the future. Well, here's my story on how that's actually happening.” So you've taken advantage of the news cycle. You've taken advantage of a prior article in order to add a narrow spin on it. Now your expertise might not be in driving sale, better sales in a remote environment, but you have a story that can tailor to the current news cycle, which, then you can talk about whatever you really want to talk about.

Will Barron:

Sure. Got it. You mentioned this, slight tangent here, Dustin, you mentioned the term counterintuitive a few times in the conversation. When you are pitching articles, are you pitching counterintuitive content ideas because that's how you're wired, to debate the kind of status quo? I'm the same, that's what I enjoy doing. You could tell me that the sky is blue and I'll debate you that it's something else. I enjoy doing that. Are you wired that way, in which case, you find those insights are easier to come by, or is that strategic?

Dustin Siggins:

It's a combination of factors. I'm a naturally contrary person. So, yes, to your point, but second, you should always say what you believe if you're going to be out there. So when, if you can target an outlet that has a certain point of view, and if you see that they accept countering point of views, reach out to those specific outlets. There are times where it's best to go with the flow, but offer your unique experience in the positive way. So it just depends on what outlet you're looking for.

Dustin Siggins:

The reason I like counterintuitive strategically is, by going against the grain, it will pop better. It will often get more reads. Everyone else is saying this, but Will is saying that. People go, “Well, that's really interesting. I hadn't thought about that before.” Now, you're going to… The book, Challenger Sales, I'm sure you're familiar with it.

Will Barron:

Yep.

Dustin Siggins:

They talk about getting people to say, “Huh, hadn't thought of it that way.” That's where that counterintuitive strategy can work.

Will Barron:

Okay, that makes sense. Do you have, if not, I'll write one and put it in the show notes of this episode, do you have an example or a template of what we should be using to reach out to media gatekeepers?

Dustin Siggins:

Sure. Well, at the risk of being overly self promotional, I do have this PDF download I mentioned, about the internal and external considerations for reaching out to the press.

Will Barron:

Cool.

Dustin Siggins:

We also have a number of sample press releases that people can use when announcing bigger news.

Will Barron:

Cool. Well, I'll link that, we'll do the show notes to this episode, Salesman.org/Press, we'll do that as the show notes, and everything that Dustin is describing there, I'll link down on the page, so everyone listening can go and grab it. Okay.

Will Barron:

So with that said, at this point, hopefully we've sent off this killer email, the gatekeeper has gone, “Holy, holy macaroni, Dustin is a legend, killer salesperson, expert in this space, I want to get them on”. Then they go, “I've also got 5000 other things to get through and other requests on my time, so I'll get back to Dustin next week.” Then they forget to get back to you. Is there an appropriate way to follow up or do we then just pitch the next idea, as opposed to following up on the original one?

Dustin Siggins:

So generally speaking… Well, let me back up. If it's an evergreen topic, you just keep following up to get on their calendar. You're also, unless you're offering an opinion piece that's unique to them, like you literally offer it to the Washington Post and until they publish it, you can't send it anywhere else, you can send it to anybody you want to. I would hardly ever recommend, if you're doing the sort of article quoting that you're talking about, sending just to one outlet, unless it's truly unique to them.

Will Barron:

Sure.

Dustin Siggins:

A lot of times is, you can have a pitch to you, Will, that I would just tailor to somebody else with a few, changing 10 or 15 words. What I would suggest, if you're talking about the opinion article type of piece, like the kind of piece you see in the Washington Post or the Guardian, obviously we're talking here, business angle, not political angles, I would definitely reach out to those outlets with a deadline. “Hey, I'm exclusively yours for 48 hours.”

Dustin Siggins:

Use the weekend to your advantage. If you're talking about something that's going to happen next week, or that just happened, you're on a news cycle, a deadline here, so what you need to do is say, “Hey, you have 48 hours, because of the news cycle, I need to move on at that point.” You follow up 24 hours later, and if they say yes, and then they don't publish within 24 hours, you should always get deadlines and timelines from these people because, again, as you inferred, they get several hundred emails a day, hundreds of pitches, and you have to break through and then make sure they continue to stay aware of you.

Will Barron:

Sure. So you're not going to… That's an appropriate thing to say then, “There's a 48 hour deadline here,” follow up after 24 hours, and then move on? That's an appropriate cadence? The reason I ask is, I know our audience are more than capable of following up over the next four years to get something in the books, because that's what they're doing in these complex sales they're driving in their own organisations. So again, just expertise and, I guess, context from an expert like yourself is important here.

Dustin Siggins:

Sure. Well, and the other thing too is, you can often get quoted sort of as a secondary matter, where you're not the star, but maybe you're getting on to someone else's coattails. I have a very good friend, he's a self made millionaire, he's a true entrepreneur, Lee [Rashkin 00:24:27], and I was able to quote him in one of my Forbes articles, but he didn't lead the article, Mark Cuban did. I was able to quote Mark Cuban as well. So, Lee wasn't the star, but I'll bet he had some additional star power with the right strategy, by being associated with Mark Cuban at Forbes.

Dustin Siggins:

So there's a lot of times where you can be that sort of coattail person, or secondly, you can also be, what I like to call, the straight man, or straight woman, where maybe everyone else is talking about something controversial or changing industry stuff, and your goal is to just be quoted as somebody who's an expert on the definition of terms. I quoted a lawyer on mergers and acquisitions, on the difference between a vertical and a horizontal merger, in a topic that was politically oriented about business. He was the straight man in the article. So you also want to make sure you're thinking about, when you're reaching out to these outlets, what might your unique voice be? Where yes, you see they're [inaudible 00:25:22] quoting big names, but what about that smaller person who has that unique story that plays to the larger angle?

Will Barron:

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Will Barron:

For sure. I think that's probably a whole episode in itself for storytelling within sales, and when reaching out to gatekeepers, both media gatekeepers, and then gatekeepers throughout the sales process as well, because when we're reaching out to a gatekeeper in the sales process, if they're passing on our story to see if we're going to make it to the decision maker, there're different techniques and different things that we need to do there to make sure that message translates appropriately. So maybe that's an episode for the future.

Will Barron:

Dustin, I've got one final question, mate. I don't know the answer to this, and I don't know if there is a clear answer to this, but leaning on Pareto's Law, or the 80/20 principle of 20% of the efforts that we make will give us 80% of the results, how often do we need to be in the media to get all of this trust inference, this ability to have almost instant rapport with people, if they've seen us in the media? Do we need to be quoted every week? Is it fine to do a stint of this now, as we record this in 2021, and then that lasts the next decade, because you can say, “Well,” 10 years from now, you can say, “Well, I was quoted here, here and here,” or does that trust diminish over time? What's the longer term strategy for this? Is it weekly, monthly, yearly? What do we need to do to make the most out of it?

Dustin Siggins:

I would say monthly, as a general rule. It could be as a little as quarterly, depending upon the outlets, your industry, and some other components, but you must have a strategy around it. Again, getting quoted once a month, or getting an article published under your name, under your byline, once a month is a tactic. If you're not telling everyone about it through the rest of your marketing tools, your email newsletter, your social media, passing around at meetings, or otherwise using it to your advantage, then all you're doing is getting your name out there in a way that's only going to reach a small subset of your target market. So I would say once a month, also because, unless this is something you're really good at, it's going to be very, very difficult. It's a huge mental and time suck. I don't want people to be distracted from their core goal, which is to engage with prospects.

Dustin Siggins:

So I would say once a month, aim for the smaller outlets that are really easy to get into, that way you'll learn along the way and won't be a huge mental time suck, but you can still say, “I got published at XY outlet, or got onto ABC podcasts”, and it's still going to be somewhat impressive and they'll go and listen and you'll build that trust.

Will Barron:

For sure.

Dustin Siggins:

I want to, can I close out with one thing real quick?

Will Barron:

Course you can.

Dustin Siggins:

Don't get bad press. I'll define bad press as anything that doesn't create better leads or drive faster sales. So shiny objects, things that maybe you're personally passionate about, or they look good, or they offer little to no value. That means you just wasted your time and your company's time and scarce resources. Always be prepared for press, or it's bad. The first time I was ever on TV, I was not prepared at all, and it was a disaster. I just won't tell you all where the link is so you won't have to see that.

Will Barron:

Well, give us, you've teased us there. This is not, I'm sure you have improved since then, I'm certain of it, but what was that situation like? Were you called up last minute? Just for storytelling purposes for the audience, how did that turn out?

Dustin Siggins:

So, it was a political show, and I was a political journalist at the time. They told me to sit still, and look at the camera, and don't move. I took them literally. I looked like C3PO, just sitting there, staring at the camera.

Dustin Siggins:

Second, I didn't understand that you should get, in an interview style format, unless it's like a super friendly interview like this one, you should always have three talking points and come back to them every single time, and always get out your full statement each time you're allowed. Might only be 30, 60 seconds in a sort of three minute interview. I thought I could have one statement that leads to the next one, but my first one, it was counterintuitive in the wrong way. I was going to clarify it with my next statement, I never got a final statement. So the host was able to use my statement to imply that I had a certain position, which I didn't, and then use that, use me as a springboard to make himself look better. I was not prepared physically, I wasn't prepared with the strategy for being on a TV show, and I wasn't prepared with my talking points and it just, it didn't go well.

Will Barron:

Well, there you go. The moral of the story there is, Dustin, is to host the podcast… You're brighter than me, mate, when you try and screw me over, I just go click. It never airs, and you're in control.

Dustin Siggins:

Exactly.

Will Barron:

Well, we'll wrap up with that, Dustin. I appreciate the candidness of your response there, mate. With that, tell us where we can find more about you, Proven Media Solutions, and everything else that you're up to, mate.

Dustin Siggins:

Sure. So we're ProvenMediaSolutions.net. As we discussed earlier, we're going to put you in the press, that's our job. It's a lot of fun and it's very validating to be able to be on programmes like this, Will, and be able to talk about this kind of stuff that I've learned in the last 12 years. So ProvenMediaSolutions.net, you can find the PDF that I mentioned, I think, Will, you said you're going to link it, it's also on our website. You can find me on LinkedIn, under Dustin Siggins, there's, I think, two people with my name in the whole world, so I'm pretty easy to find.

Will Barron:

Amazing stuff. I'll link to all of that in the show notes for this episode, over at Salesman.org/Press. With that, Dustin, I thank you for your time, your expertise, and all of this, mate, I really do, and for joining us again on The Salesman Podcast.

Dustin Siggins:

Thanks man. Appreciate you.

The post Why “Getting Press” Makes Winning New Business Easier appeared first on Salesman.com.

The big day is almost here. You've built a strong relationship with a mammoth new client. And over the past few weeks, you've generated strong rapport. All that's left is winning them over with an engaging sales presentation.

But you know the templated sales deck your company provided won't make the grade. And with a game-changing commission on the line, you're prepared to put in the extra work this time.

This six-step sales presentation framework will tighten up your pitch and share some killer sales presentation tips. With them, you can create a truly valuable presentation that leaves your buyer saying, “Where do I sign?” rather than “what product or service is this dude actually selling?”

The first step to building the best sales presentation is research. Research on the company. Research on the challenges they're facing today. And research on the audience you'll be presenting to.

Your research should guide your presentation and uncover insights and angles to use during your pitch.

Below are a few sales presentation tips to guide your exploration of these categories.

Too many salespeople make the mistake of focusing on how great the product is. But you have to remember—you aren't actually selling a product. You're selling a solution. A prospect won't care about how innovative your features are if they don't see how they solve their problems.

Instead, put the main focus on their problems. This is key when building a sales presentation that is going to have an impact on a prospect. Please educate yourself on the buyer's pain points and put them in the sales presentation's spotlight.

The core benefits of taking this approach include:

The best sales presentations will add value to the buyer in the presentation itself. The buyer should walk away with some action points and not just a pile of marketing material in their hands.

How should you begin your sales presentation? Simple—with a conversation.

So many salespeople tend to jump right into the thick of things. No small talk. No “getting to know you” chit-chat. And most importantly, no learning more about who they're presenting to.

Getting to the point is an understandable impulse. After all, time is money. And the more you spend on niceties, the less time there is to focus on the meat (selling your product).

But starting your presentation with this mindset is a mistake. Because when you skip over the casual conversation, you're also missing the chance to:

So, take just a few minutes to chew the fat with your audience. Keep things focused on the business, though. A friendly remark about the weather is a great icebreaker. But a 10-minute conversation on the rain is a waste of time.

One of the biggest myths in the industry is that a sales presentation is one-sided. Get in. You present your case. And get out. The only time you engage with the buyers is before and when you answer questions at the end.

But staying so structured is a misstep. And it's hurting your numbers.

Instead, take a few moments throughout your presentation actually to talk with your buyers. Ask if a point is resonating with them. See whether the challenges they're facing match up with the pain points you present. Then, inquire about solutions they've used in the past to try and solve those challenges.

You can use the information you gather to shift your presentation on the fly.

This isn't a mindless sales presentation technique where you're trying to tick a box. Ask questions throughout your presentation and you'll be keeping your audience engaged.

Nothing spells “doomed deal” like a room full of glazed-over eyes. Shifting the focus to the audience for a moment resets their attention span and brings their concentration back to the sales presentation.

Protip: Shift your presentation every 9 minutes.

According to sales revenue intelligence platform Gong, the best performing salespeople switch up their presentation every 9.1 minutes.

If you're searching for a quick way to improve your sales pitch and build more effective sales presentations then this is it.

When you're planning out your deck, keep the 9-minute rule in mind. Try to space out sections with a mix of different focuses and mediums like:

The more varied your sales presentation is, the lower your audience's likelihood of having their heads in the clouds.

Your company may recommend using their time-tested B2B sales deck. And averaged across industries, with generic key points, it may bring in some great results. But if you want to perk up your buyer's ears, you need to drop the cookie-cutter approach.

Instead, optimize your sales deck with the tips below to keep your audience more engaged throughout the presentation.

Prospect overwhelm is real. And a 50-slide deck that drags on and on can be a bit too much to swallow.

Sales professionals often feel productive building out a deck like this but think it from your prospects perspective. Your prospects are looking for tips to help them solve an issue from your sales presentation. Not death by slides.

Rather than throwing everything you have into your sales deck, keep it relatively simple. For example, highlight the key images and statistics. Include dynamic media like videos to simplify your sales presentation. And leave the “in the weeds” content to other sales collateral like case studies and product specs.

Focus on customer stories rather marketing collateral to build an effective sales presentation.

You'll also want to cut down on your on-slide content too. It can be tempting to include all the information you're covering right on the screen. But doing so leads to buyers simply reading your presentation rather than focusing on your delivery.

When you're selective about the info you display, you control your prospect's attention. And that gives you the power to:

Social proof is a vital component of any successful sale. Positive reviews can be powerful, even if the buyer doesn't even know the reviewer. 70% of people will trust a recommendation from someone they don't even know.

This is something that sales and marketing teams will battle over. Sales teams know the importance of customer stories specific to the buyer sat in the room. Where are marketers want to tell fluffy, generic stories that “build brand” over time… Stick to the specific social proof when building an effective sales presentation.

But displaying social proof early on in the pitch can hurt your close rates. So instead, save it for later. Be sure to use faces and names if you can. And use companies that the prospect can relate to, not companies that will alienate them (from the same industry vs. well-known brands).

Finally, be sure to practice your sales presentation and run through your sales deck several times before stepping in front of your audience. Doing so will build your confidence and present you as an expert your buyer trusts.

Memorize specific metrics and statistics. Rehearse answers to concerns to keep the flow going. And be sure to build in time for in-the-moment questions, so you're not rushing at the end.

But be careful, though—coming off too scripted is a surefire way of losing attention. Instead, stay flexible in your delivery. You may notice in the moment that some selling points aren't landing as well as you planned. If that's the case, be prepared to shift course if need be.

The success of the deal hinges entirely on your sales presentation. Done poorly, it'll alienate the prospect and lead them to side with your competition. But done well, it'll convince enthusiastic buyers that your product is the perfect solution to their pesky problem.

Stop procrastinating and Googling for more sales presentation tips. Follow this six-step sales presentation framework to craft a targeted, solution-driven sales presentation your buyers will love today.

The post 6 Simple Sales Presentation Tips To Close More Deals appeared first on Salesman.com.