The Sales Evangelist

On today's episode of The Sales Evangelist, we're talking with Curt Rapp about how sellers can benefit from the experiences and knowledge of others, and how that knowledge creates shortcuts. Curt works as an independent contractor selling luxury outdoor products to consumers. During the holidays, that means Christmas lights and decorations. During the warmer months, he sells outdoor cooling systems and mosquito control. He has access to marketing collateral like CRM and other resources, but he has to bring purpose and a sense of direction to the process. He has to take ownership in the sales process and get focused. TSE Hustler's League Curt took part in our online coaching program, previously called TSE Hustler's League. He said the most valuable part of the experience was learning from other people's mistakes. Curt calls them shortcuts because he's borrowing knowledge from other people. [03:15] Learning how other people handle the daily dogfight of sales helps him borrow their knowledge the next time he finds himself in a dogfight of his own. In TSE Hustler's League, even as the administrator of the course, I learned shortcuts and other tricks from people in other industries. Silos Salespeople tend to isolate themselves because they focus on the fact that their industries are different from other industries. The truth is that although the sales industries are very different, people who sell cars can learn from people who sell bicycles. Curt said it took him several years to understand that he could learn from other people. Early on, he didn't listen to people or their advice, and he ignored shortcuts that could have helped him be more successful. [05:31] By learning from others, he gets to benefit from new information, and then he gets to share it with other people. [Tweet "Learning new information and sharing it with others means you learn twice: once when you hear it, and again when you teach it to someone else. There's tremendous value in learning from other people. #sharedexperience"] Having a plan Curt said that early in his sales career, he took everything that came his way. He wasn't selective in the choices he made. He saw opportunities all around but he didn't wait for the right opportunities. [07:08] Many of his past mistakes stemmed from dealing with people incorrectly and failing to intentionally set his expectations. As a new seller, he got excited about phone calls and appointments because he didn't have the confidence to expect them to happen. Now, he has the confidence to know that he can set appointments and close deals, and it has changed his focus. Confidence has made everything easier in the sales arena. Also, it's important to be humble enough to acknowledge that you don't have all the answers. Once you do that, you can accept help from other people. Positioned for the future Curt learned from his TSE Hustler's League experience that you must always be learning. He came to sales from an IT background, and he didn't know what he was doing. He had to be humbled, and that happened when he got around other people who were also hungry for knowledge. [10:40] Group training sessions helped Curt in a variety of ways: It gave him situational awareness. When an unfamiliar situation cropped up, he could draw on discussions he had heard other people share about the topic. It improved his skills. Group training improved his accountability. He learned that he couldn't be the guy sitting quietly in the corner of the group. He had to share and contribute something to the group. To quote the book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, if you aren't sharpening your saw every day, you'll be passed over. Nothing will be handed to you. Once Curt changed his mindset to understand that he didn't know everything, his situation started to change. The TSE Hustler's League group training helped him shift his mindset to always be learning. Engage with successful people Find people who are successful. Use social media. Use online training. Become aware of all that you can learn and then put yourself in a position to learn something new. Be open to the possibilities. Change your mindset and your mentality. [13:01] Your future may not look the way you think it will, but it will likely be better than you expected. "Shortcuts" episode resources If you'd like to know more about Curt and to find out about the project he's launching in 2019 connect with him at curtisrapp.com and on Instagram @CurtisRapp. This episode is brought to you in part by prospect.io, a powerful sales automation platform that allows you to build highly personalized, cold email campaigns. To learn more, go to prospect.io/tse. It will help you with your outbound to expand your outreach. It allows you to set it and forget it. Your prospecting will never ever be the same. Previously known as TSE Hustler's League, our TSE Certified Sales Program offers modules that you can engage on your own schedule as well as opportunities to engage with other sellers in other industries. This episode is brought to you in part by mailtag.io, a Chrome browser extension for Gmail that allows you to track and schedule your emails. It's super easy, it's helpful, and I recommend that you try it out. You'll receive real-time alerts anyone opens an email or clicks a link. I hope you enjoyed the show today as much as I did. If so, please consider leaving us a rating on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or wherever you consume this content and share it with someone else who might benefit from our message. It helps others find our message and improves our visibility. If you haven't already done so, subscribe to the podcast so you won't miss a single episode, and share with your friends! Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

On today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, I am introducing our new program – the TSE Certified Sales Program. If you are a sales leader in a company – this program is for you. If you are an executive or business owner of a small firm and your sales reps don’t have a process – […] The post TSE 975: TSE Certified Sales Program – What Is It? appeared first on The Sales Evangelist.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

On today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, we talk to Chirag Gupta, founder of NoD Coworking, about documenting processes and how it will help your organization become more efficient and more profitable. Chirag has been an entrepreneur since college, and his coworking space in Dallas has achieved profitability, a goal many startups never achieve, largely as […] The post TSE 974: Sales From The Street: “Document Everything” appeared first on The Sales Evangelist.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

On today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, we talk to content marketing leader Pam Didner about the critical role content plays in sales and the importance of collaborative sales and marketing. Content plays a critical role in educating customers and prospects, making sales enablement a natural extension of content marketing. Pam is the author of Effective […] The post TSE 973: Achieve Sales Growth Through Collaborative Sales And Marketing appeared first on The Sales Evangelist.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

On today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, we discuss the value of following every step in the sales process, and how you can prevent your sales team from skipping steps in the process. Sales processes aren’t intended to add burdens to your role as a sales leader, but should actually free you and your team […] The post TSE 972: How To Get Salespeople Not To Skip Steps In The Sales Process appeared first on The Sales Evangelist.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

On today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, we talk with global sales team leader Michael Wills about how to develop a sales process that works. Many sellers have no real sense of direction, but they expect to be successful despite the lack of a plan. Defining a sales process A sales process provides a way […] The post TSE 971: How To Develop A Sales Process That Works appeared first on The Sales Evangelist.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

On today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist Hustler’s League, we’re talking about how you can exert influence into the buying process even when you are too late. TSE Hustler’s League is our online group coaching program that brings together sellers from all industries and all abilities to share ideas. Executives I’m reading a book called […] The post TSE 970: TSE Hustler’s League – “You Are Too Late” appeared first on The Sales Evangelist.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

  On today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, we talk to John Crowley, author of Knuckle Dragging Sales, about the difficulty of sales and a return to simple ideas about selling. John helps sales professionals build a personal brand so they can increase their visibility and their earnings. Knuckle dragging John said he has gotten a […] The post TSE 969: Sales From The Street: “Knuckle Dragging Sales” appeared first on The Sales Evangelist.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

On today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, we talk to Kory Angeline about the right questions, and how you can help your customers feel comfortable without feeling pushed. No matter what industry you’re in, you’re probably going to find yourself selling. And truthfully, a lot of us aren’t good at it. Kory offers the idea […] The post TSE 968: How To Ask A Potential Customer The Right Questions That Make Them Feel Comfortable And Not Pushed appeared first on The Sales Evangelist.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

One of our listeners reached out to me the other day about Mark Zuckerberg’s recent quote: “Move fast and break things.” On today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, we discuss the idea that if you’re not moving fast enough to break things, then you aren’t moving fast enough, and how that statement relates to sales. […] The post TSE 967: How Does The Statement “Unless You Are Breaking Stuff, You Are Not Moving Fast Enough” Apply To Sales? appeared first on The Sales Evangelist.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com