Prospecting on Purpose

In today’s episode, Sara is joined by Lauren Ashley Smith, a seasoned real estate professional with 20 years of experience in commercial real estate transactions, including investment banking, M&A, capital raising, and strategic advisory. As a founding member of a boutique NYC-based investment bank, Lauren played a crucial role in the third-largest real estate transaction in global history. Now in the renewable energy sector, Lauren serves on the Board of Directors for TVCE Energy, a firm focused on developing solar and other renewable energy power plants in Eastern Europe.  The two discuss Lauren’s early career, selling commercial real estate to C-Suite executives in NYC and the ability to find connection points, and confidence, across multiple generations and diverse backgrounds.  Lauren shares tactics to consider when building our world in sales. The people we encounter and the relationships we build is what creates the foundation for a successful and impactful life and career. Interactions provide data points, and the more data points we have to reference, the greater conversations, transactions and opportunities will be afforded to us.  In addition to relational data points, they talk about client motivations, the different types of decision making, how to reframe rejection, and the understanding that generosity propels us all forward, and is often not monetary.  If we understand that sales is everywhere, then embracing it naturally leads to a more enriched life and interesting career.    More from Lauren:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurensmith/ www.feldsmith.com www.tvce.energy  More from Sara:  STAY UP TO DATE!   connect.saramurray.com  www.saramurray.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saramurraysales/ IG: https://www.instagram.com/saramurraysales/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/saramurraysales YouTube: www.youtube.com/@saramurraysales

The final installment of the mini-series, 7 Crucial Skills for Effective Selling brings us to the pivotal moment - closing the deal and generating repeat business.  Up until this point, Sara’s addressed the other six crucial skills: prospecting, understanding our client’s business model, effective storytelling, overcoming objections, utilizing sales assets, and staying in the driver’s seat all the way to closing the deal.  To effectively close sales, we have to balance detachment from the outcome while being direct in asking for the order. To achieve repeat business, we have to ensure we’re valuing and adding value to the relationships with our clients.  This episode addresses a closer’s mindset, how to overcome fear when asking for the order, and how to STOP asking for the order after the client says, “Yes!”  Once we’ve closed the deal, the relationship doesn’t end. It’s significantly easier (and more cost-effective) to keep a customer we already have as opposed to acquiring a new customer. Social capital becomes our greatest asset.  Salesmanship is a craft that requires self-reflection and practice. How do you rate yourself in each of these crucial capabilities? Take the self-assessment skills survey and contribute to ongoing sales market research via Sara’s homepage header bar on www.saramurray.com or via link here.   STAY UP TO DATE!   connect.saramurray.com  More from Sara:  www.saramurray.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saramurraysales/ IG: https://www.instagram.com/saramurraysales/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/saramurraysales YouTube: www.youtube.com/@saramurraysales     

The sixth crucial skill for effective selling is the ability to remain in the driver’s seat throughout the entire sales process.  There are many ways a meeting or a sale can veer off course. We get stuck in loops of answering product questions, the customer hits us with an objection we can’t overcome and now the client is driving the meeting.  The ability to maintain control of both individual sales meetings and navigating the entire sales cycle requires INTENTION.  Prospecting on Purpose = Selling with Intention.  Sara reviews how to have an intention and plan for each stage of the sale, so that you’re constantly moving the exchange forward to the next stage, ultimately closing the deal and deepening client relationships.  We’ll walk through a handful of examples of how to combine intention with the other crucial skills to stay behind the wheel and drive our clients where we need them to go!    STAY UP TO DATE!   connect.saramurray.com    More from Sara:  www.saramurray.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saramurraysales/ IG: https://www.instagram.com/saramurraysales/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/saramurraysales YouTube: www.youtube.com/@saramurraysales

Sara interviews Canva’s Global Head of Social; Marketing, Editorial, and Content Strategy, Jai Dattani.  Jai introduces us to the concept of the Attention Economy … We’re in a time where all businesses, brands, and people are vying for eyeballs and vying for attention. How do we “stop the scroll” and get prospects and consumers to engage with our brand or product?  Jai’s global experience in building brands that become household names makes him an invaluable resource as he shares with us the Four Points to Operate in an Attention Economy.  The two spend their time discussing the overarching brand story we want to leave our consumers with, how to create content that balances data with intuition, and ultimately, how to measure success. Thankfully, it’s not fully dependent on “The Algorithm!” Additionally, Jai leaves us with a very solid argument as to why penguins may, in fact, be the best bird.    More from Jai:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/jai-dattani-3247a230/ www.canva.com  Jai's book reference: https://buildingastorybrand.com/   STAY UP TO DATE!   connect.saramurray.com    More from Sara:  www.saramurray.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saramurraysales/ IG: https://www.instagram.com/saramurraysales/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/saramurraysales  YouTube: www.youtube.com/@saramurraysales

The fifth crucial skill for effective selling is the implementation of sales assets and knowing how and when to use them.  Understanding and being prepared with the right assets at the right time is what propels us forward to closing the deal. It keeps our customers on the journey we want them to be on. #varsityteam Sara opens up a can of whoop assets on us in this episode. We’ll cover the most common sales resources used throughout the customer journey with a high-level overview of each. We review internal and external tools and discuss best practices on how to marry the two in use-case applications.    STAY UP TO DATE!   connect.saramurray.com  More from Sara:  www.saramurray.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saramurraysales/ IG: https://www.instagram.com/saramurraysales/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/saramurraysales YouTube: www.youtube.com/@saramurraysales 

The fourth crucial skill for effective selling is the ability to not only handle objections, but turn them into expressions of our expertise.  This episode will remove fear from the unknown and will have you loving the game of sales (or any crucial conversation) like it’s a fun game of volleyball!  Sara reviews six steps to ensure we’re ready to receive objections with confidence. She covers how to be prepared with our “return volleys” back to our clients. Additionally, Sara teaches us how to proactively address common pushback by utilizing the crucial skills we’ve already learned, speaking to our client’s business models and storytelling.  This is what separates the pros from the amateurs.  This episode is packed with examples - and analogies - to demystify this crucial skill of overcoming objections.    STAY UP TO DATE!   connect.saramurray.com    More from Sara:  www.saramurray.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saramurraysales/ IG: https://www.instagram.com/saramurraysales/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/saramurraysales YouTube: www.youtube.com/@saramurraysales   

The third crucial skill for effective selling requires us to use storytelling to illustrate solutions as opposed to pushing product.  In today’s episode, Sara unpacks the evolution of storytelling as the oldest form of communication, how it impacts every part of business, and why it’s a crucial skill in sales. Put simply, storytelling connects to the emotional part of the brain. Purchasing decisions are often based on emotion as opposed to logic. Sara outlines how the brain receives facts and figures (hint *not well*) and how we can greater influence the sale with the power of story. Additionally, in B2B environments, we don’t always have the opportunity to speak directly to the decision maker. Incorporating storytelling helps us overcome this “train the trainer” sales situation.  Having a compelling narrative allows us to become more memorable and build trust with the client. And in today’s environment, with so much pulling at us in all areas of life, why wouldn’t we use a strategy that helps make us memorable?   STAY UP TO DATE!   connect.saramurray.com    More from Sara:   www.saramurray.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saramurraysales/ IG: https://www.instagram.com/saramurraysales/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/saramurraysales YouTube: www.youtube.com/@saramurraysales

Sara talks to storytelling coach and consultant, Ravi Rajani, in this week’s episode of Prospecting on Purpose. In addition to reviewing Ravi’s least favorite Disney character, the two discuss the power of story when it comes to effective selling.  Storytelling isn’t just customer success stories, it is inspiring stories to get a prospect to take action.   The two spend their time discussing the vital components required for successful story-selling and the framework to craft specific stories using Ravi’s ACORN checklist.  Additionally, they discuss ways to elevate ourselves in the eyes of our customer by embracing our own stories. It’s a fun episode and reminds us that we’re sales professionals, and we’re storytellers.    More from Ravi:  https://www.theravirajani.com/ https://www.theravirajani.com/yourelevatorstory  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ravirajani/  More from Sara:  STAY UP TO DATE!   connect.saramurray.com  www.saramurray.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saramurraysales/ IG: https://www.instagram.com/saramurraysales/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/saramurraysales  YouTube: www.youtube.com/@saramurraysales

In today’s episode, Sara reveals the second Crucial Skill for Effective Selling: Understanding our Client’s Business Model. This is one of the most important skills, because if we can understand our client’s business, it shifts the relationship from a buyer/seller model to true consultative business parters.  Understanding a client’s business model is often an overlooked step. And not just by the sales people. Marketing teams, customer service teams, training teams, leadership, project management, and engineering teams often make similar oversights. If corporations don’t understand a client’s business model, it leads to undeserving or even misserving the clients; in turn unable to maximize opportunities and leaving money on the table.  Sara reviews why this is important along with sharing questions to ask and scripts to use to ensure we are properly navigating our client’s business and finding new opportunities for partnership.  STAY UP TO DATE!   connect.saramurray.com    More from Sara:   www.saramurray.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saramurraysales/ IG: https://www.instagram.com/saramurraysales/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/saramurraysales YouTube: www.youtube.com/@saramurraysales

Sara introduces the 7 crucial skills for effective selling. This is the first episode of a seven part solo “mini-series” where Sara unpacks each of the 7 crutial, critical, vital skills that are required for running a successful sale.   Sara will walk us through an overview of these areas of expertise and cover the first crucial skill to master, which - surprise, surprise - is prospecting! We can’t make a sale if we don’t have a potential customer!  Salesmanship is a craft that requires self-reflection and practice. How do you rate yourself in each of these crucial capabilities? Take the self-assessment skills survey and contribute to ongoing sales market research via link here.   STAY UP TO DATE!   connect.saramurray.com    More from Sara:   www.saramurray.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saramurraysales/ IG: https://www.instagram.com/saramurraysales/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/saramurraysales YouTube: www.youtube.com/@saramurraysales