The Sales Evangelist

Not all companies are created equal. Five key differentiators separate the cream of the crop for sales and sale-focused companies. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald discusses the five key components that successful sales-focused companies have in common. Everyone in the organization is selling. This doesn’t mean every position in the company is a salesperson; we still need our accountants and other critical roles.  Instead, this means that the employees believe in the organization's mission, and they sell the organization because of its powerful mission. Adjust your focus and mission to ensure it is clear and something everyone can get behind. Salespeople are treated as the best in the company. Salespeople are the front line of the people giving money to your company. Salespeople are crucial to bringing money into the organization. If you treat your sellers poorly, you’ll have high turnover (and thus lower sales.) The key? Treat sellers like they’re needed and appreciated. (And you should probably apply that mentality to every role in your company.) Sales education is provided to sales professionals You want your sellers to spread the word about your company's mission. Infuse your salespeople with the greatest of the organization. Provide books, seminars, and boot camps to help provide the techniques sellers need to thrive in their roles. These salespeople will stay with you because you’re providing value to them. The Sales Evangelist has training programs you can use to help your sellers master their profession. Sellers are challenged to become better. Top organizations challenge sellers to be accountable for their work. The best sellers are the ones who consistently set new goals and hit new quotas. Look for ways to be better, and you’ll constantly raise the bar to make more money for yourself and your company. You have the right KPIs in place that encourages you to grow. KPIs should not focus exclusively on the end result. While outcome-based KPIs are useful, the best companies understand which other metrics best drive results. Leading indicators make better KPIs because sellers have direct control over how they can fulfill the actions associated with them. This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real. But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad. Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution. Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com.  As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

Closing your next sales deal can be as easy as eight steps! In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by the founder and owner of Closers.io, Cole Gordon, to discuss his eight-step process to close every deal you have (or at least come close.)  Cole’s beginning sales experience was not what he expected: Cole’s original sales team was exceptional. However, their end-of-sale closing conversations were not what he expected. He realized that every sale depends on meeting the beliefs of the buyer before you pitch them on the deal, and they'll create an objection-less close themselves. Cole's eight-step plan is based on the relief ladder concept but applied specifically to sales.  Step 1: Pain There are two problems: actual pains and unfulfilled desires. The prospect might not have pain, but there’s a gap between where they are now and where they want to be. Establish the pain; because all sales are conducted based on solving a problem. The following six steps are all predicated on the initial determinant of pain.  Step 2: Doubt The prospect must believe there’s an inability to fix the problem or that the product or service will make the solution happen more efficiently. To establish doubt, make the buyer believe your route is more efficient or profitable than if they were to handle it themself. Step 3: Cost Anything that results in a delay of a decision is likely because of cost. The buyer should believe that staying where they are now is less profitable than purchasing your product or service. Step 4: Desire Fixing the problem will yield a payoff, and you can only get through these steps if you’re aware of the problem. It’s not enough to understand the surface desire - the seller should know the vision and goal beyond the sales goal. Step 5: Support Stakeholders around the decision should support solving the problem. This doesn’t necessarily mean they need to support you at this stage, but they should at least support investing in fixing the problem. Step 6: Money The buyer must have the physical resources to fix the problem.  If the buyer doesn’t have the budget to pay for your solution, they just aren’t a viable prospect. Step 7: Willingness Once you’re established that a prospect has the finances to purchase your solution, determine that they’re willing to allocate that amount to acquire your solution. Even if a prospect has the money, they might not consider the problem enough of an issue to warrant spending a certain amount of money on it. Step 8: Trust Trust in the company is important, but rust in the methodology is even more important. You must be able to explain your solution and why your solution will work for them. If they’ve used a similar method in the past (but to no avail), you must be able to identify why that didn’t work, and how your methodology is different. Once you’ve educated the prospect on a differentiator, you’re going to solidify the trust and encourage the prospect to work with you. Cole’s major takeaway? There are two parts to winning a sale: optimizing your energy and optimizing the mechanics. If you can master both aspects of the sale, you’ll be ready to win. To see more of what Cole does, visit his company website at Closers.io. This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn Sales Navigator. The Great Resignation has become the Great Reshuffle, meaning it can be difficult for sales professionals like you to find leads and close deals. Luckily, Sales Navigator from LinkedIn is here for you! Sales Navigator from LinkedIn is the only tool that uses real-time alerts and up-to-date insights to help you know when prospects are ready to buy. And, with over 30 advanced filters, sales professionals can quickly find genuine leads with the intent to purchase. Gain the advantage of accurate, quality lead generation data from LinkedIn Sales Navigator. You can get a 60-day free trial of Sales Navigator at www.LinkedIn.com/TSE.  This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real. But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad. Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution. Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com.  As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

When you have the intention to change your sales approach, the behavior follows suit. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by Scott Savage, Managing Director at Franklin Covey, to learn how sellers can increase their close rate by winning more deals.  Salespeople tend to think we close more than we do. In actuality, the close right is only around 17%. But imagine what it could be if that close rate were higher. Why are win rates so low? Many would say the pandemic, but it’s not one sole factor.  42% of the time, decision-makers could not tell the difference between vendors. Sellers almost always think they're different. But it doesn’t matter how different you are if the buyer cannot differentiate between sellers. Talk less, question more: Executives and other buyers judge sellers based on their questions, not necessarily their answers. Clients don’t want sellers to just talk at them; they want a discussion to know their problems are being addressed. It’s not that a seller is disliked, but rather that the meeting didn’t progress with the buyer’s needs in mind. RDM is Scott’s strategy to close more sales: Relevant, distinct, and memorable: For relevant, ask yourself what the client truly cares about. What do they wish to buy or add to their current company? Distinct is explaining how they will be dramatically better because of what you can bring to the table. People make decisions based on differences, not similarities. People want compelling contrast. Juxtapose those distinct differences by making those differences easy to share and difficult to forget. Start with the end in mind.  Establish objectives for each meeting to help guide interactions toward those pre-established checkpoints. Ensure your close rate is open: we get too focused on ourselves, and our intention is based on the sale, not the best decision. To stand out, take the RDM strategy. Next, understand what’s essential to each decision-maker to get everyone on board. Many people can veto a deal. But, if you know each stakeholder and help them improve, you’ll altogether avoid that issue. Your biggest competitor isn’t other companies; it’s the status quo. Be interesting and stand out to convince each decision-maker to choose you. Scott’s final takeaway? Most sellers think they’re better than they are. Establish what makes you better and convince buyers of that factor. If you can set yourself apart, you’ll close more deals. For more content from Scott, connect with him on LinkedIn or visit franklincovey.com/sds to pre-order his book, Strikingly Different Selling. This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn Sales Navigator. The Great Resignation has become the Great Reshuffle, meaning it can be difficult for sales professionals like you to find leads and close deals. Luckily, Sales Navigator from LinkedIn is here for you! Sales Navigator from LinkedIn is the only tool that uses real-time alerts and up-to-date insights to help you know when prospects are ready to buy. And, with over 30 advanced filters, sales professionals can quickly find genuine leads with the intent to purchase. Gain the advantage of accurate, quality lead generation data from LinkedIn Sales Navigator. You can get a 60-day free trial of Sales Navigator at www.LinkedIn.com/TSE.  This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real. But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad. Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution. Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com.  As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

Most modern sales methodologies focus on building rapport and trust with the prospect; challenging the prospect’s beliefs to make better deals is a hallmark of that perspective. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by the Chief Evangelist of Challenger, Jennifer Allen, to discuss her company’s methodology that drives relationships with their prospects and customers. Jennifer started as an entry-level seller in account management: A relationship-builder through and through, she worked hard to gain client trust. (Which worked well for a long time.) During the 2008 recession, her peers and customers laid off teams and cut back budgets; that’s when her corporate exec board launched a report detailing what maintains relationships with customers. Jennifer was shocked to see none of her current sales components in that report. What worked once now no longer works. Why focus on the relationship side? Jennifer never wanted to be one of those salespeople, but it was also how she was coached - she mirrored the behavior of her managers and peers. She was taught to ease tension with the buyer. However, constructive tension is crucial to teaching a prospect a risk (and why they need to act on that risk.)  When you have a problem and go to the bar, the bartender makes you feel good in the moment, but then you wake up with a hangover and the same problem. Conversely, working towards a productive goal helps make strides toward solving the problem. It’s all about your relationships with the people around you. Implementing the challenger sale for success: Jennifer transitioned from a relationship-building to a challenger by reading The Challenger Sale. Her first interpretation after reading the book? Tell prospects everything they were doing wrong. Unsurprisingly, that didn’t work that well. She failed to engage in a two-way dialogue and didn’t offer a space for the prospect to interact and engage. The takeaway? You have to earn the privilege to say they’re doing something wrong. Have an observation about the company, look for something the company is trying to achieve and determine the company’s end-state goal. If it’s a public company, see if they’re trying to acquire AI or how they’re trying to grow. Express curiosity in the end goal. Have something of value to share, whether right or wrong. Either way, it’s something to think about.  If it’s a private company, look to the CEO’s LinkedIn page or an exec’s podcast and see if they convey any information. Bringing something of value to the prospect throughout the sales experience is a compelling reason for the prospect to work with you. Stop using sales buzz words and figure out how you can bring something to the table. Jennifer’s major takeaway? Keep a log of what each company is missing, and what happened to make you realize that particular thing was lacking. As you grow that log, you’ll have an easier time when identifying other companies. For more content from Jennifer, connect with her on LinkedIn and listen to her podcast, Winning the Challenger Sale, on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.  This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn Sales Navigator. The Great Resignation has become the Great Reshuffle, meaning it can be difficult for sales professionals like you to find leads and close deals. Luckily, Sales Navigator from LinkedIn is here for you! Sales Navigator from LinkedIn is the only tool that uses real-time alerts and up-to-date insights to help you know when prospects are ready to buy. And, with over 30 advanced filters, sales professionals can quickly find genuine leads with the intent to purchase. Gain the advantage of accurate, quality lead generation data from LinkedIn Sales Navigator. You can get a 60-day free trial of Sales Navigator at www.LinkedIn.com/TSE.  This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real. But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad. Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution. Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com.  As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

Marketing and sales alignment is pivotal in the modern era of sales, and building credibility and rapport in your communication for all departments is essential. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by the CMO of Growth Stage Marketing, Mark Donnigan, to discuss his take on building rapport while unifying departmental collaboration. Good CMOs think about marketing campaigns. Great CMOs bring value to the enterprise. Between the evolution of technology and the pandemic, sales has completely transformed. Buyers no longer attend trade shows to talk with peers; they organize entirely through online forums. Buyers are 50% or more through the buying process before reaching out to their first vendor. A seller’s job is no longer to get the first meeting; it’s to state the problem that the solution solves while differentiating from competitors. CMO turnover is almost exclusively because they repeatedly try the old playbook rather than embrace these new changes. Credibility plays into rapport building: There’s one thing sellers can do at all times - add value to their network through social channels. Nobody wants to be sold to, so content shouldn’t be explicitly sales-focused. Instead, create helpful content the audience will read.  People are drawn to others who make intelligent observations about a problem or solution.  Add value to customers as someone who can bring thoughtful insights to the industry - that’s the open door in the modern sales landscape. Only 2% of LinkedIn users post content, so seeing thoughtful and relevant content from a person on the platform makes an impression on anyone.  Create your own opportunities by providing internal and external value. Too many executives see themselves as professional managers, but that position is a commodity. However, when you can add insight to a large enterprise organization, you become a lot harder to replace. The new Rolodex isn’t names and addresses; it’s the community that forms around the network. People who like, respect, and are engaged with your content are more valuable than a simple name and number registry. Create a network that respects your insights and content. There are plenty of other competitors who are just as competent and insightful. However, nobody knows it because they don’t post. Mark’s final takeaway? Focus on the seller - find every possible way to add value to those in the ecosystem around you. Visit his company website at growthstage.marketing and connect with Mark on LinkedIn for more interesting and insightful content.  This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn Sales Navigator. The Great Resignation has become the Great Reshuffle, meaning it can be difficult for sales professionals like you to find leads and close deals. Luckily, Sales Navigator from LinkedIn is here for you! Sales Navigator from LinkedIn is the only tool that uses real-time alerts and up-to-date insights to help you know when prospects are ready to buy. And, with over 30 advanced filters, sales professionals can quickly find genuine leads with the intent to purchase. Gain the advantage of accurate, quality lead generation data from LinkedIn Sales Navigator. You can get a 60-day free trial of Sales Navigator at www.LinkedIn.com/TSE.  This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real. But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by Closers.io. Closers.io helps sales reps land their dream remote sales gig, where they can set their own hours, work from anywhere, and make six or even multi-6 figures per year. That sure sounds good to us! Committed to helping sales reps make a shift, Closers.io will place you in an available sales role that will increase your commissions and help you live the life you want. Apply for free now at go.closers.io/TSE. This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad. Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution. Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com.  As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

An alignment between sales and marketing inspires the competitive collaboration needed to develop consistent business growth that is scalable across the departments of the organization. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist Donald is joined by Gregg Ames, CCO of Act-On Marketing Automation, to discuss his take on building a proper sales and marketing alignment. Great solutions occur when sales and marketing stop acting as separate processes.  Companies start fragmented. Sales and marketing do their things, but unifying the entire sales funnel leads to a guide for better messaging.  People process information with technology, and that behavior has not shifted. That processing starts with an integrated flow between departments.  Every company has good salespeople. But, when equipped with marketing to canvas a broader market, brings more high-quality leads to allow a focus on later-stage selling. Sellers are (historically) not great at generating demand. Getting marketing to take this role will bring more revenue to the organization How sellers can help with the alignment: Many have seen some semblance of a unified sales and marketing process, and whether it’s through your ideal profile or not, you need to create feedback loops.  People need to drive communication upstream; you can’t have the left and right hands be completely uncoordinated. Receiving constructive feedback is necessary to properly learn from past mistakes. However, it’s also critical for the company to invest in the seller’s knowledge. Everything starts with a proper ICP. If marketing’s leads aren’t the right fit and converting sales, the team needs to reiterate their messaging or scoring methodology to avoid false positives from proliferating. Three implementation times for inter-departmental unification:  When driving sales and marketing alignment, be prepared to plan and evolve your program. You have to access where you are in the organization and understand how it might change in the future. Leveraging data is paramount to a successful program. Marketing is no longer just art; it’s art and science. Leverage data to build a repeatable process that decisions are based on. Determine where deals stall, and where wins are created - when you integrate the marketing stacks in the conversation, there’s data about site intent, nurture potential, and A/B testing to quality people more quickly.  If you look at these elements, you’ll be successful. Create feedback loops, which can be small email or slack technologies, or well-structured interval meetings between relevant parties. AE working for an organization - how to implement? We’re chasing numbers, so it’s important to measure good metrics to hit the proper revenue targets. However, we’re not as comfortable talking with our teams and having earnest discussions about the high-level air cover or ABM strategies that should be the next customers. Initiate dialogues with peers to at least establish a strategy that will move the organization closer to the desired outcomes. Gregg’s final takeaway? Embrace your marketing team, because it’s much easier to win as a team when sales and marketing are properly aligned. Email Gregg at gregg.ames@act-on.com or connect with him on LinkedIn for more interesting and relevant sales content. This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn Sales Navigator. The Great Resignation has become the Great Reshuffle, meaning it can be difficult for sales professionals like you to find leads and close deals. Luckily, Sales Navigator from LinkedIn is here for you! Sales Navigator from LinkedIn is the only tool that uses real-time alerts and up-to-date insights to help you know when prospects are ready to buy. And, with over 30 advanced filters, sales professionals can quickly find genuine leads with the intent to purchase. Gain the advantage of accurate, quality lead generation data from LinkedIn Sales Navigator. You can get a 60-day free trial of Sales Navigator at www.LinkedIn.com/TSE.  This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real. But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by Closers.io. Closers.io helps sales reps land their dream remote sales gig, where they can set their own hours, work from anywhere, and make six or even multi-6 figures per year. That sure sounds good to us! Committed to helping sales reps make a shift, Closers.io will place you in an available sales role that will increase your commissions and help you live the life you want. Apply for free now at go.closers.io/TSE. This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad. Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution. Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com.  As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

Selling is constantly evolving. There are techniques and strategies you should implement today to set a precedent for long-term success for those looking to thrive in enterprise selling. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by Vice President and lead trainer at Empire Selling Jesse Rothstein to discuss his tips to modernize enterprise selling. Modern challenges in the enterprise selling environment: A considerable challenge is the continued expansion and growth of organizations making decisions with a committee or group model. More people involved in the decision make it harder to track, maintain, and influence necessary stakeholders.  Because committees complete research before reaching out to salespeople, it’s more difficult for the seller to show a differentiation point. 75% of people are groups and committees are prepared to make a decision before they contact a seller. Three core pillars to modernize sales selling strategy: Build your digital brand. Sellers understand that their digital brand is what buyers will evaluate as they undergo their research. Your network is imperative. It’s not what you know but who you know.  Leveraging your network to get into new organizations and make additional connections helps create a stronger sales strategy. Content: Do you have a thought-out, pragmatic, and consistent strategy for sharing content? Buyers want to know your opinion, your industry, and even who you are as a person.  Creating a digital brand: Acknowledge that selling is digitally-focused. A few decades ago, your brand was done by the initial physical impression. And while those days aren’t over, they are less frequent. If you’re a seller who doesn't buy into digital branding, that’s akin to showing up to a meeting in your pajamas. Or with bad breath. Allocate time to determine every point your digital brand touches, consider owning the domain rights to your first and last name, and build out the social profiles that might be involved in a conversation. Utilize your network: It’s always easier to get business from people you currently do or have done business with. Modern sellers can (and should) spend more time with this audience - those via referral. It’s an outbound sales skill that doesn’t get measured or chartered as outbound work. It’s no longer as direct as asking for referrals - it’s sharing content and using LinkedIn to get an intro or mention rather than an all-out referral. Build a content strategy: Most sellers do not have a consistent content strategy - just by doing that; you’re differentiating yourself. Get conversations started that are around you, your company, and your industry. Before the internet, we’d go to trade shows, public forums, and live demos to hand out flyers, brochures, and demonstrations. Today, you just need an internet connection to make it happen. It’s not about creating everything from scratch, but instead taking content, distributing, and creating it to form an opinion. To start, set a calendar appointment for a quiet time and develop a content sharing strategy. Once allocated, choose a free scheduling tool like Buffer or Hootsuite to schedule your content.  Contact Jesse on LinkedIn, visit empireselling.com, and read his book Carry that Quota on Amazon for more great content and information.   This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn Sales Navigator. The Great Resignation has become the Great Reshuffle, meaning it can be difficult for sales professionals like you to find leads and close deals. Luckily, Sales Navigator from LinkedIn is here for you! Sales Navigator from LinkedIn is the only tool that uses real-time alerts and up-to-date insights to help you know when prospects are ready to buy. And, with over 30 advanced filters, sales professionals can quickly find genuine leads with the intent to purchase. Gain the advantage of accurate, quality lead generation data from LinkedIn Sales Navigator. You can get a 60-day free trial of Sales Navigator at www.LinkedIn.com/TSE.  This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real. But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by Closers.io. Closers.io helps sales reps land their dream remote sales gig, where they can set their own hours, work from anywhere, and make six or even multi-6 figures per year. That sure sounds good to us! Committed to helping sales reps make a shift, Closers.io will place you in an available sales role that will increase your commissions and help you live the life you want. Apply for free now at go.closers.io/TSE. This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad. Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution. Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com.  As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

How can you modernize your sales approach to stay up to date on your and your team’s sales approach? In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald kicks off our latest content series centered on modernizing your sales tactics and techniques. In today’s episode, Donald discusses three ways to change your mindset and specific tactics to update your sales strategy.  Unite sales and marketing:  Traditionally, a  seller would fill their pipeline through cold calling, but the process has changed.  Account-based selling is the future of sales, prioritizing a unification of data-driven decisions combining sales and marketing. With marketing, they can target accounts with ads, emails, and other collateral to guide people to the sales funnel. Automate selling techniques: Modern selling requires a mixture of automated and personalized messaging. Personalization has two sides: a generic pain focus or a LinkedIn or specified message. The latter is great to supplement and redirect them to generalized personalizations. Outreach, Apollo, and Salesloft are all platforms that can help automate tactics you don’t need to do yourself. Remove outdated tactics: Stop using the tactics modern buyers consider “gimmicky.” Establish yourself as a consultant, not just a seller looking for a commission check. Become a brand authority: When Donald was a full-time sales rep, creating content was the best way to set himself apart. Once he left the company, his brand came with him! Using platforms like LinkedIn or even TikTok to share relevant and engaging content is helpful for prospective buyers, and subsequently you. Use technology: This goes in tandem with automation. However, tools like Fathom helps extrapolate information from sales meetings to improve your meeting skills.  Other platforms like LinkedIn Sales Navigator help you make data-driven decisions and find data-driven prospects for your business. Use these tools to help reach new goals! Bonus tip: Use Donald’s sales planner to improve your time and take control of your day! This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn Sales Navigator. The Great Resignation has become the Great Reshuffle, meaning it can be difficult for sales professionals like you to find leads and close deals. Luckily, Sales Navigator from LinkedIn is here for you! Sales Navigator from LinkedIn is the only tool that uses real-time alerts and up-to-date insights to help you know when prospects are ready to buy. And, with over 30 advanced filters, sales professionals can quickly find genuine leads with the intent to purchase. Gain the advantage of accurate, quality lead generation data from LinkedIn Sales Navigator. You can get a 60-day free trial of Sales Navigator at www.LinkedIn.com/TSE.  This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real. But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by Closers.io. Closers.io helps sales reps land their dream remote sales gig, where they can set their own hours, work from anywhere, and make six or even multi-6 figures per year. That sure sounds good to us! Committed to helping sales reps make a shift, Closers.io will place you in an available sales role that will increase your commissions and help you live the life you want. Apply for free now at go.closers.io/TSE. This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad. Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution. Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com.  As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Hill.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

Many top sellers using account-based selling are within large tech and SaaS companies. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by sales coach and consultant Ian Koniak to discuss how those large enterprise companies create and coordinate successful sales strategies. Transitioning from transactional to strategic selling: He tried to approach his sales techniques in a more activity-scientific manner instead of qualitative. When Ian transitioned to Salesforce, quantity and hustling didn’t work. It wasn’t practical to get in the door or drive change. Three qualities for top-performing sellers in tech: They’re authentic. People have a bad image of salespeople, but top performers are genuine and there to help their prospects and clients solve a problem. They care for the clients before, during, and after the commission check. They have Integrity for the work. The best sellers help potential clients solve their problems to ensure the client’s long-term success. Differentiating a top seller: Their work habits are different, they’re focused and organized, and they value their time. They determine the different needs and solutions a specific company might have and build relationships across multiple stakeholders to understand those issues. Identify where employees spend their time and how your solutions can apply to them. They understand where the company wants to go, what’s stopping them from getting there, and what they can do about it. It all comes down to focus. The seller knows when to say no, and focuses on strategic accounts and strategic executives within those accounts. They invest their time in the change agents who can make the largest impact within the company. Connect and contact Ian for more content and coaching on LinkedIn, YouTube, and his website untapyoursalespotential.com. This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn Sales Navigator. The Great Resignation has become the Great Reshuffle, meaning it can be difficult for sales professionals like you to find leads and close deals. Luckily, Sales Navigator from LinkedIn is here for you! Sales Navigator from LinkedIn is the only tool that uses real-time alerts and up-to-date insights to help you know when prospects are ready to buy. And, with over 30 advanced filters, sales professionals can quickly find genuine leads with the intent to purchase. Gain the advantage of accurate, quality lead generation data from LinkedIn Sales Navigator. You can get a 60-day free trial of Sales Navigator at www.LinkedIn.com/TSE.  This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real. But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by Closers.io. Closers.io helps sales reps land their dream remote sales gig, where they can set their own hours, work from anywhere, and make six or even multi-6 figures per year. That sure sounds good to us! Committed to helping sales reps make a shift, Closers.io will place you in an available sales role that will increase your commissions and help you live the life you want. Apply for free now at go.closers.io/TSE. This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad. Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution. Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com.  As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

The days of “spray and pray” selling are over. So how can sellers maintain a consistently full pipeline of prospects and leads? Through targeted and account-based selling. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by the VP of Sales Management at Crunchbase, Ang McManamon, to discuss how she uses account-based selling in her own work. Why go into account-based selling? A year ago, Ang’s team talked to their best clients and saw an appetite for account-based selling. Prospects would use Crunchbase for funding and capital management news, and people liked the database options for prospecting. There are so many sales tools today, yet finding high-quality accounts and decision-makers is still tricky. Before, there were no strategic ways of looking at accounts and contacts. Now, you can be intentional with your actions. Setting up Crunchbases’s account-based selling: First, figure out the target audience. Companies say they do it, but they frequently don’t get precise enough to best impact the audience. Narrow down organizations by size, but look for people based on many factors. Ang targeted 50 accounts per person on her 35-person team. Then, they researched the messaging, cadence, and outreach that would best apply to those targets. Look at the potential buyer intent. What web pages have they visited on your website? Luckily, Crunchbase has great name recognition. However, prospects often don’t know the specific things they can do with the platform. It takes diligence as a leader to hold sellers accountable. While the account list is a priority, it’s not necessarily a restriction. If the seller isn’t getting anywhere with a target account, they should be able to move on and find new targets. For outbound selling, sellers use Crunchbase to view recommended accounts or new contacts within those accounts. Then, they create an automatic email from Outreach and set up a cadence. Sellers use strategic intent tools to inform them of their best outreach method, and they use Salesforce to track data and activity. Potential problems (and solutions) with ABM: Initially, Ang’s team wasn’t using Crunchbase and wasn’t ‘surrounding’ the sale, interacting with 1-2 people rather than 4-5 who could impact the sale. Incentivizing the sale for larger-scale prospects can help get your foot in the door. Finds reps with a higher sense of ownership when using account-based selling because sellers feel more in control over the process. When working with strategic accounts, win rates increase roughly 48%, but the cycle is slightly longer. It sounds like a great trade-off to us. Ang’s major piece of advice? Account-based is here to stay, and it’s a better and more strategic way to sell your products. It takes time to nail down, but it’s worth it. Visit Crunchbase.com or email sales@crunchbase.com to see what the Crunchbase platform offers. This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn Sales Navigator. The Great Resignation has become the Great Reshuffle, meaning it can be difficult for sales professionals like you to find leads and close deals. Luckily, Sales Navigator from LinkedIn is here for you! Sales Navigator from LinkedIn is the only tool that uses real-time alerts and up-to-date insights to help you know when prospects are ready to buy. And, with over 30 advanced filters, sales professionals can quickly find genuine leads with the intent to purchase. Gain the advantage of accurate, quality lead generation data from LinkedIn Sales Navigator. You can get a 60-day free trial of Sales Navigator at www.LinkedIn.com/TSE.  This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real. But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by Closers.io. Closers.io helps sales reps land their dream remote sales gig, where they can set their own hours, work from anywhere, and make six or even multi-6 figures per year. That sure sounds good to us! Committed to helping sales reps make a shift, Closers.io will place you in an available sales role that will increase your commissions and help you live the life you want. Apply for free now at go.closers.io/TSE. This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad. Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution. Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com.  As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com