Sales Game Changers | Tips from Successful Sales Leaders

This is episode 484. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. ALINA'S TIP: "It's very important to understand one's skillset and understand what one's strengths are and to make sure to double down on them because that unique combination of skill is probably just specific to you. The more we understand how we can contribute to the growth of our environment, not only to our company, but to our family unit and to our village in general. That deep understanding of our skillset can help us understand how we can better contribute, but also to understand when we might have to leave some other things to others that might do it better than us. I think that's one important part of the puzzle. Obviously, once that's integrated and understood, one has to have a lot of strength and energy in one's powers to be able to execute. So consistently working on self-confidence and that motivation is an equally strong contributor to success."

This is episode 483. Tips for sales career success. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. MIKES' TIP: "I work with large corporations. One of the things we do is collect the stories that we find when we're training their salespeople, because salespeople are great at telling stories, and put them in a story bank for our clients so that new salespeople don't have that problem. But if you're in a company that doesn't have a collection of stories, and that will be most companies, you'll need to learn how to find them yourself and collect them yourself and share them with your colleagues. That's an enjoyable skill to learn."

This is episode 482. Tips for Sales Career Success. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. MARK'S TIP: "Be a student of sales. Learn about the process. Be curious. Learn about what makes the person sitting next to you, maybe just virtually these days, successful and try to apply those things. This is a profession and it's a great profession and one that you can really help people with. Think about it from that perspective. If you have that going forward, I think you'll have a long, successful career in sales."

This is episode 481. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. JEN'S TIP: "I would suggest you defining success for yourself. Find out what you're good at, find out what you're not good at, or what you don't like to do. Determine it for yourself. Don't let other people put their expectations on what your career journey should look like, but really just own it. For anyone out there considering bringing more women on, or for people with open roles, considering transferable skills and the value that a different perspective brings to the table is so important that that diversity of thought will help your sales organization be more successful.

This is episode 480. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. BRENT'S TIP: "Commit 3% of your time, an hour a week to getting better at helping buyers anchor on value. Stories, value discovery strategies, that give-get at the end. Where do they see value? Commit 3% to write down your questions. Just get with a peer, ask your manager. If you commit 3% a week, you will be amazed at how quickly your selling velocity gets better."

This is episode 479. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. MICHAEL'S TIP: "it's not about throwing away the investments (in sales tech) you've made but how to optimize those investments with a way to take the best information and the nuggets that are in all those different investments and then optimize them and use that information in a way that provides context and makes it actionable for your sales reps (so that they succeed.)" LISA'S TIP: "For sales leaders, don't underestimate the importance of the care and feeding of your sales teams. It's not a math equation of how many reps and assignments, it is really about people and doing what you can to make them successful in their jobs. If you're a sales rep starting off in your career, be clear and vocal with your management about what you need. We're in a position now where we're listening more, the people aspect has gotten very important. Be specific about where you need help and the things you need to succeed, and that will go a long way."

This is episode 478. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. PATTY'S TIP: "What do you think it takes to get promoted?" First and foremost, you have to be really good in your current job. Do not ever forego being good in your current job, because you are chasing down a next-level title. Second, build the right network. I would encourage everyone to take a look at your existing network. Is it with inside your traditional workgroup as it sits today? Or do you have people that are outside of your traditional workgroup where you've built a network that has diversity across the different levels of the business? Third, personal brand. What do people say about you? How are you perceived as an individual? My challenge would be, go out, ask a few people, "Hey, what's your perception of me? How would you describe me?" That's going to give you insight on what that personal brand looks like for you."

This is episode 477. Read the complete trancript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. LORI'S' TIP: "Visualize the kinds of connections that you want to bring into your network. Do a little visualization, setting and intention. Visualize the kinds of conversations you would like to have and feel gratitude for them as if they have already happened." JEFF'S TIP: "Download your LinkedIn connections to your Dropbox, PC or wherever you go. Take a look at the file. It takes about 10, 20 minutes for LinkedIn to send it to you, they'll process your request and send you an email. Take a look at that file and come up with five people that you haven't connected with in over two years. You have all these people in your connections, who haven't you talked to in two years that you already know? Reach out to them this afternoon. Pick up the phone. If you can't reach them by phone, send them an email, but reach out to them."

This is episode 476. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. Tips for sales career success. AMY'S TIP: "Take the two-minute challenge and practice some version of mindfulness for two minutes sometime during a transition period during the day, because it will train your brain. Think about it too, before you send that email or text when you're ticked off, if you pause for two minutes, or if you pause for two minutes before a sales call. I pause and I have a specific ritual of things I do, such as before sales calls, I pause and do this very specific mindfulness-based practices and intentions, and before clients, all of it. Then the other thing would be is use acknowledge, appreciate, and ask as a way to have conversations, because that's going to allow someone to be validated. It's going to be compassionate. It's going to be curious. It's going to open up space for you to have the sales conversation that you want to have, acknowledge, appreciate and ask, and be mindful.

This is episode 475. Tips for sales career success. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. ANDRES' TIP: "As you start reflecting on whether or not you want to make a change, ask yourself, "Am I running away from something or am I running towards something?" Because if you are running away from something, then really understanding what this next opportunity is, is it more of the same or is it really truly an opportunity? Am I running towards it? Really spend some time reflecting so that you don't become that no-show, or you're not that person that is constantly switching jobs because you haven't figured out exactly what it is that you want to do with your career. WILL'S TIP: "Get really good at asking great questions. It is, to me, the number one skill that I see out there that really makes a difference, and understanding the second, third, and fourth level questions. Do question trees. I would challenge everyone to do one a day. It is game-changing to be able to be prepared for the answers you're going to get and be able to really facilitate a conversation to get to that impact, become a great question-asker, incredibly curious."