Conversational Selling

About Ryan Pollyniak: Ryan Pollyniak is a Cloud Transformation Executive at Western Computer, a Microsoft Gold Partner specializing in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Cloud solutions. Ryan is a seasoned sales professional with a rich background in the Microsoft Dynamics space. Before joining Western Computer in 2015, Ryan spent significant time with an ISV (add-on solution) in the Microsoft Dynamics ecosystem, working closely with partners to sell products to companies using Microsoft Dynamics. Catering to medium- to enterprise-sized businesses, Ryan is well-versed in ERP and CRM strategies and is heavily involved in the Microsoft Dynamics Channel. Check out the latest episode of our Conversational Selling podcast to learn more about Ryan.In this episode, Nancy and Ryan discuss the following:Understanding ISVs in the Microsoft Dynamics Space Aligning sales and marketing strategies for successPrioritizing ideal prospects and avoiding shotgun approaches The importance of transparency and alignment in sales conversationsCritical strategies for ensuring customer satisfaction in complex engagements The role of CRM in organizational successKey Takeaways: Building that network in a closed ecosystem is a continuous act. You can never let your ego or feelings get in the way of treating people correctly because they will come back around.If you sell people things that they don't need, it'll come back to bite you.We're not satisfied if we don't have a satisfied customer at the end of an engagement."And there's a great book out there called Essentialism that focuses on how well some organizations have done that in the past to great effect. So, when taking that line of thought, you want to ensure that your marketing messaging and target audience align with the projects you want to bring in as an organization and what you want your salespeople to follow up on. Otherwise, you end up with a shotgun approach of, you know, getting all kinds of leads in terms of high volume and high quantity, but maybe not particularly the type of companies that you would want to be working with. And that leads to your salespeople getting frustrated, sorting through endless low-value leads. There's a huge cost to that organization." – RYAN"I don't try to convince people very much, which sounds a little bit silly in a sales scenario, but I'm not a big believer in really trying to persuade as much as I am trying to help prospective clients understand once I've identified that we have a good fit and I understand what the client is looking for. It's really about explaining that and making sure that they understand why I am in the position I'm in with all my experience in this industry and why I think the solution is a good fit. And I've had people tell me right out of the gate, 'We're trying to narrow down prospective vendors. Give me the short story; why should I go with you guys?' And I say, my answer to that, Nancy, is, and it takes people back sometimes, is, 'I don't know that we are the right fit yet. Can we talk a little bit more?'" – RYAN"Be honest with people and do what you're good at. Don't try to be all things to everyone, and keep yourself organized in your CRM. That's critical. If your boss is asking you to update CRM or if you're the boss and you're asking people to update CRM, I'm a big believer in systems. Nobody—I can't speak for everybody, but I can't keep everything straight in my head or on paper. I need systems, I need reminders, I need processes. And I think any good salesperson is going to follow those. Any good sales organization will have best practices established in terms of how to use the system and get the most out of it. So don't fight CRM. It is there to help." – RYANConnect with Ryan Pollyniak:LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/microsoftdynamicssolutions/Western Computer: https://www.westerncomputer.com/Try Our Proven, 3-Step System, Guaranteeing Accountability and Transparency that Drives RESULTS by clicking on this link: https://oneofakindsales.com/call-center-in-a-box/  Connect with Nancy Calabrese: Twitter:https://twitter.com/oneofakindsalesFacebook:https://www.facebook.com/One-Of-A-Kind-Sales-304978633264832/Website:https://oneofakindsales.comPhone: 908-879-2911 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ncalabrese/Email: leads@oneofakindsales.com 

About Carlos A. Alvarenga: Carlos A. Alvarenga is an independent researcher, writer, and coach. His new book, "The Rules of Persuasion: How the World's Greatest Communicators Convince, Inspire, Lead—and, Sometimes, Deceive" (Post Hill Press, 2023), not only explains how persuasion works in all forms of human communication but also presents a clear and effective model that can be used in both personal and professional lives. Before his current roles, Carlos was the Executive Director of World 50 Labs, the member-innovation team at World 50, Inc. Before that, he served as a Principal in Ernst & Young's Advisory Practice and as a Managing Director at Accenture. Additionally, he was an adjunct professor at the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. Currently, Carlos is pursuing his Ph.D. in language, writing, and rhetoric at the University of Maryland. Check out the latest episode of our Conversational Selling podcast to learn more about Carlos.In this episode, Nancy and Carlos discuss the following:What motivated Carlos to become an expert in persuasionImportance of defining persuasion and its application in leadershipThe impact of persuasion on sales effectiveness The distinction between coercion, manipulation, and persuasion The potential for persuasion to be used for both good and evil Exploring the dark side of persuasion with historical examples Key Takeaways: It's hard to be good at something you can't define. Persuasion is a fundamental human activity.Persuasion is getting someone to willingly, rationally, and ultimately control their faculties and accept that what you say is true.And the opposite of persuasion is coercion. If I explain to you why doing something is a good thing, that's persuasion. If I trick you, that's manipulation."I explained in the book that if we take these three modes—character, argument, and emotion—we can divide each into seven elements. So, the seven parts of character include, for example, the language you use, your history, where you come from, and these kinds of things. There are seven elements of argument: evidence, logic, and witnesses. Then, there are seven kinds of emotion: positive, negative, contemplative, etc. When I had these 21 elements, I needed a metaphor to help clarify it for me and the reader. I went back to high school chemistry and said, it's like a periodic table. Every message I've ever looked at, and I've looked at thousands, combines these 21 elements. So that's step one. It's like learning chemistry, right, Nancy? First, start with elements like carbon, hydrogen, and whatever else you will use. Then, you learn some very simple formulas. Learn the elements that work for you, which ones you feel comfortable working with, and which you like to work with, and then start putting them to work. Within an hour of coaching, I've seen people become better at this because they now understand that if they use their origin as one of the elements, people will want to believe them more." – CARLOS"Logic is one of the seven elements of argument, so it's on the periodic table. It certainly can be used, right? And people who are doctors and scientists often use logic to persuade. We have broadly spoken about two types of education. If you want to use logic, you can become a philosopher, right? And become a logician and get a PhD in logic. You can become a lawyer. Lawyers also get trained in the use of logic to persuade. But it's one of the 21 elements. We are often persuaded, and we are more often persuaded, I think, by other things. Because you must go to specialized schools to use argument well, most people are not experts at it, either in creating or receiving logical persuasion. So, we tend to be persuaded more by character, for example, or emotion. They operate in different ways. And so, logic is certainly helpful. But I always challenge executives. I say I want you to start persuading me using nothing but logic—strict, well-constructed, internally consistent, effective logical sequences. And if you can make it to three minutes, I'll give you a prize. Unless you're a professional, you can't. Most people fall apart after about a sentence and a half." – CARLOS"Let's start with the fact that persuasion is predictable. Yeah, I can tell you how someone will, what form of listening they'll use most of the time, and whether it'll be effective. And sometimes it's like magic. I work, coach, and say, I want you to change these two or three things you just told me. And the effect is dramatically different. I've had people break into tears when they finally get the message right. And they think it's something that's special. And I say, it's not. You wouldn't be amazed if you went to a chemist and the chemist made you aspirin. Don't be amazed. I'm just following the rules. And if you follow the rules, more often than not, exactly what should happen will happen, just like with real chemistry." – CARLOSConnect with Carlos A. Alvarenga:LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlos-alvarenga/Try Our Proven, 3-Step System, Guaranteeing Accountability and Transparency that Drives RESULTS by clicking on this link: https://oneofakindsales.com/call-center-in-a-box/  Connect with Nancy Calabrese: Twitter:https://twitter.com/oneofakindsalesFacebook:https://www.facebook.com/One-Of-A-Kind-Sales-304978633264832/Website:https://oneofakindsales.comPhone: 908-879-2911 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ncalabrese/Email: leads@oneofakindsales.com

About Hamish Knox: Hamish Knox is a member of the global Sandler network. Hamish supports private organizations in Southern Alberta create and maintain a scalable, repeatable, consistent sales engines and an engaged, motivated team by holding them accountable to implementing the structures, systems, and processes shared in our sessions. Before joining the Sandler network, Hamish worked in various industries, including media, communication services, software, and professional sports, which melded his passions for sales and education. Hamish was named the 2020 David H. Sandler Award winner, Sandler's highest honor, becoming the first Canadian trainer to receive that award. He was the first two-time author in the Sandler network, writing books on topics no one likes to talk about. His first book was on Accountability the Sandler Way, and his second on Change the Sandler Way. Sandler Home Office regularly invites Hamish to speak at Sandler's train-the-trainer conferences and Sandler's public Sales and Leadership Summit in Orlando. Check out the latest episode of our Conversational Selling podcast to learn more about Hamish.In this episode, Nancy and Hamish discuss the following:Hamish's motivation to move to SandlerThe importance of having systems in place for success by design, rather than success by default, in sales organizationsDifferentiating on how you sell, not what you sellThe value of David H. Sandler AwardAccountability and the fear of change in salesThe importance of making the conversation about the buyer and not about the seller's needsKey Takeaways: Without systems, it's very much, you know, flying by the seat of your pants, which is a cliche that gets bandied about. Sandler is not just about a bunch of cheesy lines or techniques or saying these seven things; you'll always get the meeting or the order.If we don't have accountability, if we don't have the boundaries defined, our salespeople are going to make it up.I genuinely love what I do."You know, people, what's the cliche about people fear three things: death, taxes, and change? Because our brains are wired to keep us safe, which usually means stuck. Because no matter where you believe that we all came from, whoever, you know, the listeners out there, wherever you believe that humanity emerged from, ultimately, our brains are still wired that way, right? Our brains are still looking for the lions and the saber-toothed tigers that are going to eat us. And so, ultimately, change used to mean that you died, or you went hungry, and then you died. So, you were dead, but you were just more or less full in your stomach when you died. And so, our brains are still back there. So, no one likes change. And the book Change the Sandler Way is really about the human side of change because, ultimately, Nancy, change is super simple. Like, it's, we don't have a CRM today, we do have a CRM tomorrow. That's change. Human beings don't change, they transition, and transition is almost like the five stages of grief. And so that book is all about how we support leaders who go through these same emotions well before their team members actually manage a successful change. I recently saw that 89% of all corporate change initiatives fail. Yeah, like it was a number that blew my mind. And you think about how many probable billions of dollars are spent on these initiatives from buying the product or service and having the team meetings and getting things going to have it fail that much. There's got to be a better way." – HAMISH"Sandler is a number of things. So, number one, it's about differentiating on how you sell, not what you sell. Because what we sell is a commodity in the minds of our buyers. It doesn't matter what we're selling. And the only way to differentiate a commodity is typically by price. And so, with Sandler, we seek to create clarity with our buyers. I was talking to a very, very successful entrepreneur yesterday. We're in a mastermind group, and they were saying, well, what do you suggest I do? Because I'm the primary seller. And I said, well, let's pretend I'm your client. What would you say to me when I say, well, what's going to happen today, right? We booked a call. What's going to happen today? And they're like, well, you know, here's our process for building out, you know, the services that we offer. And I said, well, that's great. But what's gonna happen to me now in this sales call? And he said, well, I don't know. And I said, well, that's a problem because no one wants to talk to a salesperson. And so, If we don't create clarity upfront with our potential, with our buyers, all they're thinking is when is Hamish going to ask for my wallet? They're not actually listening. So, we need to create that clarity upfront using the upfront contract, and which is like a supercharged agenda for listeners who haven't heard about it before. And then pain, humans are animals, biologically that's true, biologically we're animals and animals are wired to move away from pain or towards pleasure. There was a study done in Vegas, which is a great place to study both pain and pleasure, that pain was a five times greater motivator than pleasure. And a lot of people, when they hear that, they don't wanna think about pain. And what I tell my clients is you're never going to say pain to your buyer. You're never gonna say, "Nancy, let's talk about your pain with getting real qualified opportunities in the top of your funnel," because you're going to look at me like, "You went to a sales training class, didn't you? You've got a shiny new toy you want to try out." – HAMISH"The one takeaway I want the audience to go with is it's never about us, it's always about the buyer. So, if the buyer calls up and goes, if we ring ring hello and the buyer goes, what, that's not about us. And if the buyer says, well, why should I work with you? And you say, well, here's some reasons why other people have worked with us. Are any of those relevant to you? So always making it about the buyer and never about us and getting our emotional needs met is very, very powerful." – HAMISHConnect with Hamish Knox:LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/hamishknox/Sandler: https://www.hamish.sandler.com/howtosandlerTry Our Proven, 3-Step System, Guaranteeing Accountability and Transparency that Drives RESULTS by clicking on this link: https://oneofakindsales.com/call-center-in-a-box/  Connect with Nancy Calabrese: Twitter:https://twitter.com/oneofakindsalesFacebook:https://www.facebook.com/One-Of-A-Kind-Sales-304978633264832/Website:https://oneofakindsales.comPhone: 908-879-2911 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ncalabrese/Email: leads@oneofakindsales.com

About Usman Sheikh: Usman Sheikh is the visionary founder and CEO of xiQ, an award-winning B2B sales and marketing platform. With the fusion of generative AI (x GPT), behavioral science, and a curated up-to-the-minute business corpus, xiQ is revolutionizing the industry with its groundbreaking personality-driven sales approach. As a futurist and design thinker, Usman aims to humanize B2B sales and marketing by harnessing the power of generative AI and psychology. Through xiQ, sellers gain the ability to understand the mindset of prospective buyers, facilitating hyper-personalized engagement throughout the sales cycle. Usman strongly believes in achieving excellence through disciplined and relentless execution. Check out the latest episode of our Conversational Selling podcast to learn more about Usman.In this episode, Nancy and Usman discuss the following:The transformative power of AI in B2B sales and marketingxiQ's use of generative AI, behavioral science, and chat GPT to personalize sales approachesThe evolution from pre-internet to the internet era and now to the AI eraHow AI simplifies tasks, saves time, and enhances productivityThe importance of understanding personality-driven salesKey Takeaways: AI made it so much simpler, gives one that information in seconds, and saves hours that would have been spent. What used to take me six hours out of my day has now been reduced to 30 minutes. We need to master AI. We need to make it work for us. "And we use AI to help you formulate these kinds of capabilities, bringing them into sales to personalize the sales engagement. Nobody wants to talk to somebody who doesn't know who you are, doesn't understand your problems, and cannot empathize with or relate to your actions. They're just in there to sell, and nobody's interested in that, especially in high-ticket sales. So, it becomes increasingly important to be able to find the sweet spots of the person within their personality and cater to them so you can have a better chance of winning." – USMAN"We're not a plug-in to LinkedIn, although I think we get a lot of data from LinkedIn. Think of our platform as an independent search engine; we throw a very wide net out there to collect information. So, you type in the name of a person in their company and start looking for them. You find the person by clicking on them if there is more than one. And it goes, fetches information, analyzes it, and makes a prediction call. All of it, less than three seconds." – USMAN"So, we were living in the pre-internet era. Would that be correct? I was. I saw the internet come. You did, right? And everything was paper-based. If you needed to look up a person or do some research, you had to use Encyclopedia Britannica or one of those, right? There was no Google. It was a different world. And the big brands that were there were those serving Yellow Pages and all that stuff. Those were the brands. But then came the internet age, Google and Yahoo, and now ZoomInfo and Salesforce, and all of these became tools that people used, right? And the old Yellow Pages and so on didn't translate into becoming the ZoomInfo of the business world. It was like the Yellow Pages of the business world in the pre-internet days, right? And so, two things happened. The way we did business changed. Secondly, the players that provided the technology changed as well, and the solutions changed as well. Now, we're entering the AI era. It's a big leap. So, if the internet was a thousand to the paper-based era, then AI is a hundred million to the thousand. That's the big leap, okay? Because it can crunch out this big data and make sense of it in microseconds, right? And so, it can crunch a lot of data to do that, right? Pretty much the whole internet, right? And then some. So, but you know, we as humans need to be able to access that data, that much data in a consumable manner to be interesting." – USMAN"I think not to be afraid of AI. AI provides a lot of new opportunities. So, if the audience is in sales or any business, use AI to discover new opportunities. Everybody who's going to use AI will realize that it can create a lot of new worlds. As a matter of fact, what McKinsey is quoting in terms of generative AI creating net new value for sales is $1.4 trillion a year in sales productivity. That's a lot, right? That's a huge amount. So, that's the opportunity. And as a result of that, Nancy, the way we used to sell, traditional sellers used to create fear, uncertainty, and doubt. And here we have a chance to move away from that selling into more selling hope and opportunity because there's a lot of hope and opportunity with what we can do with AI." – USMANConnect with Usman Sheikh:LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/usmanmsheikh/xiQ, Inc: https://xiqinc.com/Try Our Proven, 3-Step System, Guaranteeing Accountability and Transparency that Drives RESULTS by clicking on this link: https://oneofakindsales.com/call-center-in-a-box/  Connect with Nancy Calabrese: Twitter:https://twitter.com/oneofakindsalesFacebook:https://www.facebook.com/One-Of-A-Kind-Sales-304978633264832/Website:https://oneofakindsales.comPhone: 908-879-2911 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ncalabrese/Email: leads@oneofakindsales.com

About Kelly Lichtenberger: Kelly Lichtenberger has a strong background in sales and marketing, with experience in various leadership roles. From 2021 onwards, she has worked as the Global Head of Sales Development at Avanan. Before this, she worked at The InsideOut Technologies Company as a Principal, focusing on building and optimizing Inside Sales teams. From 2017 to 2019, Kelly held multiple roles at Razberi Technologies, including Vice President of Marketing and Inside Sales. She was key in delivering network video recording, cyber security, and remote health management solutions during her time there. Before that, Kelly was the President of Consulting Services Group (CSG), where they provided superior customer experience and implemented top talent and technologies for business success. Kelly was also involved in building high-performance sales teams and instituting best-selling processes at Carousel Industries as the Vice President of Inside Sales. Overall, Kelly Lichtenberger has a wealth of experience in sales development, marketing, and team management and has consistently demonstrated success in driving revenue growth and achieving results. Check out the latest episode of our Conversational Selling podcast to learn more about Kelly.In this episode, Nancy and Kelly discuss the following:Value of the human element in sales despite advancements in AI Overcoming fear of rejection in cold calling Differing views on the use of scripts in sales calls Building and maintaining successful inside sales teams Role of emotional intelligence (EQ) in prospecting and sales Benefits of emotional intelligence for women in sales Key Takeaways: You can have a script, but knowing how to play within that keeps the human element there. Women do phenomenally at sales. The worst answer in sales is "maybe." We all have a mutual benefit for everybody, being happy and wanting to stay."I still very much believe in the human element. We hear a lot about AI and tools, what these tools can do, and what this system can do. We miss a big part of the sales cycle when we leave out the human element. I talk to my team often about this, and I think what happens is it comes down to skill set. There are a lot of people who don't have the skill set to use the phone as a selling device appropriately. So, it's easier to say it doesn't work and it's dead. The more people say that, the more it helps me and my teams because it opens the doors. Fewer people are calling, so I'll get through." – KELLY"So, when you think about emotional intelligence, it's the same as EQ. People have heard of IQ, which is knowing how. EQ is knowing you. Emotional intelligence encompasses self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills. It's really about adding the human element into sales. When working with a team, I tell them, "We're not going in to sell on step one of the first conversation. We're looking at how to build a relationship, even in your personal life. It's about being you." One of the things that people forget to do often is to focus so much on the product know-how and forget that there's an actual person on the other end. Do we understand their role? Their pain points? What would be helpful to them in their position? If you're facing rejections, know how to handle it, pivot, and not get upset if you have a day where there are many hang-ups or didn't get through and set up the demo. Knowing that motivation, if you're not doing those things again, how do you turn something like cold calling into a skill set and not just give up because it's not working for you? Many people do. Then again, they want to say, "This didn't work." Well, maybe it's that you didn't work on that one." - KELLY"So, active listening is a big part of emotional intelligence, which comes in a few places. It's going to come into social skills. It will come into self-awareness, but really, the social skills of understanding. Knowing when to let somebody speak and actively listening to have it be heard allows you to respond appropriately. When we call someone, I must remind them that they may not always love our product or think that everyone on the planet needs it, but not everybody does, or maybe they don't see it. So, how do we have conversations to open up what they need? And if we fit, great. If we don't, then at least know how to build that relationship because, down the road, there might be something new added into your line of products that they could need." – KELLYConnect with Kelly Lichtenberger:LinkedIn:www.linkedin.com/in/kellylichtenbergerAvanan: www.avanan.comTry Our Proven, 3-Step System, Guaranteeing Accountability and Transparency that Drives RESULTS by clicking on this link: https://oneofakindsales.com/call-center-in-a-box/  Connect with Nancy Calabrese: Twitter:https://twitter.com/oneofakindsalesFacebook:https://www.facebook.com/One-Of-A-Kind-Sales-304978633264832/Website:https://oneofakindsales.comPhone: 908-879-2911 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ncalabrese/Email: leads@oneofakindsales.com 

About Isabelle Fortin: Isabelle Fortin is a standout mindset facilitator, entrepreneur, and public speaker. Her journey is marked by determination and creativity. Through Izzy Fortin Coaching, she uses her experiences and insights to help others grow professionally and personally. Isabelle faced a significant challenge when she was just five years old: she lost her mother. Being the youngest of three siblings, she had to learn how to be strong and resilient early on, and these qualities have guided her throughout her life. Isabelle's career path is wide-ranging and impressive. She served in the Canadian Air Force, an experience that taught her discipline and structure. Afterward, she spent 23 years as a devoted massage therapist, improving her ability to heal and care for others. Check out the latest episode of our Conversational Selling podcast to learn more about Isabelle.In this episode, Nancy and Isabelle discuss the following:Isabelle's transition from military to salesDefinition of a rebel and the importance of rebels in salesStrategy: "Make friends before you make clients."Value of honesty and authenticity in salesAligning company culture with sales team needsImpact of military experience on sales approachTurning rebellious salespeople into rock starsKey Takeaways: You can't go against who you areMake friends before you make clientsIf you give the rebels the tools that they need, they will become rock starsAlways quit a toxic relationship"I think that most sales rebels are extremely people-oriented. They're extremely community- and relationship-minded. And it is truly for them about cultivating relationships more than anything else. They make friends before they make clients. Of course, you know, the business that you are in has to give you that opportunity. I mean, if you're a salesperson in a store, maybe, you know, that's a little bit less, especially if it's a chain store, it's a little bit less of that. But even then, how many great people do we find or quite the opposite? You go to a store, and the person, you know, won't look at you, engage with you, or ask anything. Well, we are less likely to go back, right? So, I think that that's in their nature—to build relationships—and it is about selling who they are first." – ISABELLE"I believe that, of anybody, but especially when it comes to salespeople, thrive when the culture of the company that they work for understands that they cannot be treated like every other employee because they are different. And I find that you know, sales managers—only 6% of them get training in management. And yeah, only 6%. The stats are scary. Very often, I believe that either the company took their top salesman and decided to make them the manager, or worse yet, they took somebody from another department and decided, "Hey, you're a good manager. So, you can now lead the sales team." Sales is a different kind of species. And if you treat them the same as everybody else, they're going to underperform, and they're going to look for a job very quickly. And I think that that is the biggest mistake that most companies do—is deal with their salespeople the "wrong" way." - ISABELLE"The connection that I brought to my personal life from the military was you can work well with somebody you don't like and don't need to. I hear coaches say that very often—find the commonality, find, you know, if that person likes ballet or bowling or whatever, and you like that too, then you know, that's something to base the relationship on. And I'm not saying it's a bad thing. Sometimes, the commonality is that you're both humans living on this planet. So, you don't have to share a passion with somebody to get along with them. And that's where I got that from the military because in service, you literally, like a firefighter the same way. Police officers are the same way. You don't have to like someone. You need to recognize that that person is doing their best with the hand they've been dealt. And so that's what I bring from my military career to my consulting company now." – ISABELLEConnect with Isabelle Fortin:LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/isabellemfortin/Izzy Fortin: https://izzyfortin.comTry Our Proven, 3-Step System, Guaranteeing Accountability and Transparency that Drives RESULTS by clicking on this link: https://oneofakindsales.com/call-center-in-a-box/  Connect with Nancy Calabrese: Twitter:https://twitter.com/oneofakindsalesFacebook:https://www.facebook.com/One-Of-A-Kind-Sales-304978633264832/Website:https://oneofakindsales.comPhone: 908-879-2911 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ncalabrese/Email: leads@oneofakindsales.com 

About Alice Myerhoff: Alice Myerhoff is the Founder of Myerhoff Consulting, which helps mission-oriented startups and SMBs with growth strategy, partnerships, and sales processes to increase revenue and maximize their positive social impact. Alice is a Sales and Business Development leader, author, and strategic deal-maker who has built customer portfolios from the ground up and client bases from ZERO. She brings a wealth of multicultural experience across several corporate, education, and nonprofit sectors. 20+ years background in online media/news/advertising/events, educational technology/software, social impact/businesses, real estate, computer gaming, and financial services. Previously held executive-level positions at workforce development, gender equity, and education-focused organizations. Check out the latest episode of our Conversational Selling podcast to learn more about Alice.In this episode, Nancy and Alice discuss the following:Definition of mission-driven organizations Significance of effective sales strategyConsistency of sales principles across industriesMaximizing conference ROI Conference attendee privacy Evaluating conference investments The Sales Glow Up initiative with Lisa ScottoKey Takeaways: I'm interested in supporting organizations that will leave the world in a better place.You can be very methodical about approaching a conference, even as just an attendee, so you get your money's worth out of it.I think if people at the beginning of their sales careers can embrace that and not have it be such an emotional roller coaster, which sales sometimes is, they could save a lot of stress."I think having a definition around who you're targeting is kind of the baseline number one issue. You can't really reach out to your targets if you don't have a target in mind. A phrase that I like to use is, 'You can't boil the ocean,' right? So, let's think about who the client is, how we can reach them, where they are, what they care about, and their pain points. That's the first step. And then having some methodology, like, do you have a CRM? Do you have it set up in a way that allows you to make strategic decisions based on the data you're collecting? Those types of things are pretty key. I like to get my hands dirty, you know?" – ALICE"Attendees don't like to be spammed. Imagine attending a conference; you'd have a hundred exhibitors, and everybody knew you would be there. How many emails are you going to get? And they'll annoy you. And maybe you won't attend the conference again because you don't want to be on that list. So, conferences don't do that. But that doesn't mean you can't figure out who's likely to be there, right? So, you can – this sounds super basic, but sometimes people don't think of it – look at the agenda for the conference. Who are the speakers? You know they'll be there, right? They must show up. Or, you know, sponsors, exhibitors –they will have people on site. And you can even build outreach campaigns just around that information, right? You can make a pretty good guess. This type of company will probably send out a salesperson or a marketing person, depending on what the conference is about. And even if that is your specific target, they can maybe help you connect with that person." - ALICE"People kind of like that idea of showing up at a conference and winging it. I think a lot of people are selling the same way. They're sort of winging it, and you can pick up little tidbits here and there. There's lots of thought leadership stuff happening. I mean, our little videos are part of that, too, even. But building a methodology that allows you to be consistent and have some rigor can make a huge difference. So yeah, I support that. And you know, Nancy, the bigger vision with Sales Glow Up is to create something like that." – ALICEConnect with Alice Myerhoff:LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/alicemyerhoff/Myerhoff Consulting: https://www.myerhoffconsulting.com/Try Our Proven, 3-Step System, Guaranteeing Accountability and Transparency that Drives RESULTS by clicking on this link: https://oneofakindsales.com/call-center-in-a-box/  Connect with Nancy Calabrese: Twitter:https://twitter.com/oneofakindsalesFacebook:https://www.facebook.com/One-Of-A-Kind-Sales-304978633264832/Website:https://oneofakindsales.comPhone: 908-879-2911 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ncalabrese/Email: leads@oneofakindsales.com 

About Nigel Green: Nigel Green is an Advisor to Founders and Sales Leaders and the Author of "Revenue Harvest: A Sales Leader's Almanac For Planning The Perfect Year." Executives and sales leaders hire Nigel to improve sales team performance. By the age of 31, he was a Fortune 300 executive sales leader who had led sales for two healthcare companies that both experienced successful financial exits. Since publishing Revenue Harvest, he has advised dozens of sales teams on building a best-in-class sales team. Two of his clients have scaled and sold for more than 3X EBITDA, while others have attracted investments from top venture funds. Most importantly, they hit their sales targets. Check out the latest episode of our Conversational Selling podcast to learn more about Nigel.In this episode, Nancy and Nigel discuss the following:Problems sales leaders face dailyFocus areas for sales leaders: revenue, profitability, new customersFrequency of team meetings for sales leadersImportance of asking better questionsSales aptitude tests: context and applicationHiring based on competency alone vs. considering chemistry and characterDistinction between a good salesperson and a good sales leaderKey Takeaways: You must build a team to create customers at scale that aligns with the business's overarching strategy.Good sales leaders are productively paranoid about what is right around the corner that could derail my team.At least once a week, the leader has to meet with the team and remind them of this responsibility to meet and exceed future business expectations."I think the problems that sales leaders face could be bucketed under majoring in the minor things. And what that means, if we were to unpack it, is that if you found yourself in this position, it would sound all too familiar to you. You look back on your day; you were busy and did a lot of stuff. Most of what you did was probably internal and not enough external, meaning that you were on, especially today; we're recording this on a Monday. So, a lot of sales leaders today will spend their entire Monday in meetings that will probably not create one single customer, and they will probably not be involved in any training or development of the sales team. And it's certainly not going to be involved in the overarching strategy of the business. It's probably going to be meetings that involve updates around product or operations, updates that have already happened and that you cannot control and ultimately won't matter in creating a customer, training a rep, or the overarching strategy of the business. And that's the biggest problem: many sales leaders don't have enough autonomy in their schedule. And if they do have autonomy, they're still not spending it on the three areas of the business that matter most: customers, reps, strategy." – NIGEL"I ask a lot of really good questions. So, it gets to where I'd never really have to ask anyone for an investment or to hire me because they see through the power of my questions that their life might be better if they had me as an extension of their team. So, that translates, I think, naturally to the types of things that I work on in my coaching business, which is primarily what I do as coach sales leaders. I help them improve the quality of their questions. And as they start asking better questions, they start having better problems. Better problems lead to better results. So, we get to this place where we don't have an activity problem, or we don't have a "we're not hitting our sales" problem. We start having deeper problems around strategy, positioning, technology, compensation plans, team structure, data, and augmenting sales reps with better support systems—not just hiring more people but hiring various sellers for different types of roles in the sales organization. And we start having better problems." - NIGEL"If you want to transform your sales team, you've got to understand that your sales team is only as good as your worst rep, and your worst rep is probably the one that gives you an insight into your sales leader's tolerance threshold. And so be pushing yourselves later to always try to replace your worst rep with a new one. And sometimes replacing your worst rep with a new rep is taking that individual and making them better, making them fundamentally. I'm not advocating for just creating a bunch of turnovers, but I think, you know, if I'm a leader of an organization, I'm trying to find out where's my weakest link and how do I go about systemically attacking that to making it better." – NIGELConnect with Nigel Green:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/revenueharvest/Revenue Harvest: https://www.therevenueharvest.com/Try Our Proven, 3-Step System, Guaranteeing Accountability and Transparency that Drives RESULTS by clicking on this link: https://oneofakindsales.com/call-center-in-a-box/  Connect with Nancy Calabrese: Twitter:https://twitter.com/oneofakindsalesFacebook:https://www.facebook.com/One-Of-A-Kind-Sales-304978633264832/Website:https://oneofakindsales.comPhone: 908-879-2911 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ncalabrese/Email: leads@oneofakindsales.com 

About Roy Osing: Roy Osing is a former president, CMO, and entrepreneur with over 40 years of successful and unmatched experience in executive leadership in every aspect of business. As President of a major data and internet company, his leadership and audacious 'unheard-of ways' took the company from its early stage to $1 Billion in annual sales. He is devoted to inspiring leaders, entrepreneurs, and organizations to stand apart from the average boring crowd and achieve their true potential. He is a resolute blogger, keen content marketer, dedicated teacher, and mentor to young professionals. As an accomplished business advisor, he is the author of the no-nonsense book series 'BE DiFFERENT or be dead.' Check out the latest episode of our Conversational Selling podcast to learn more about Roy.In this episode, Nancy and Roy discuss the following:Importance of differentiation in businessRoy's concept of the "only statement" Use of passionate language to capture attention Cultivating a client-centric culture An unconventional approach to recruitment: "Hiring for Goosebumps" Embracing audaciousness to stand outKey Takeaways: Differentiation is the key issue facing businesses today. Without it, organizations eventually die.Step outside your comfort zone and do things differently.Treat discomfort as your strategic ally. Be audacious, be brave, and choose to be different every day.Stand out by doing things others aren't doing."And so, I came up with this hiring for Goosebumps approach, which went as follows. First, I, as President of the company, was involved in panel interviews with most of the people we were hiring. And I did that for a specific reason. First, I wanted to show the people in my organization who sat around me what to do, and hopefully, hopefully, that they would copy what I did. Secondly, it shows the person applying for a job that they are important. So, I asked them two fundamental questions. I go, "Nancy, what I'd like to know is, do you love human beings?" Now, you would typically go, "Wow, okay, I've never had that question before. I think I know the right answer, but I have no idea where this dude is going with it." And you would say, "Well, yes, I do, Roy. I love human beings." I'd say, "Okay." So, the second question would be, "Tell me a story. Tell me a story that proves to me that you love humans." Now, this is the killer question, okay, because it separated the wheat from the chaff. The people that treated this as an academic exercise would give me a story that left me cold. Okay. There wasn't any truth to it. It was all mumbo jumbo, superficial, narcissistic chatter from this individual, right? But the person that had the gene told me a story that was so rich and passionate in terms of how they related to people and their feelings for people. Guess what it did, Nancy. It left me with goosebumps, and I got him right now. I would hire that person and teach him the business. People thought I was crazy. To this day, I can have; a while ago, I had a podcast with a PhD in HR in New York, and I told her this story, and she just went apoplectic. In fact, we had to stop the interview. She couldn't take it." – ROY"I want you to be different. I want you to go out, be brave, be audacious, and choose to be different today, right now, in the moment, in some small way. I want you to be uncomfortable. I want you to treat discomfort as your strategic ally. I want you to do it. And tomorrow, I want you to do two things and be different. And the next day, I want you to do three things. I want you to sort of get this persona strand going for you because we need you to be different. Okay, we don't need you to conform. We don't need you to comply with the rules. Now, I'm not talking about being illegal. I'm saying step out, be creative, be innovative, and do things other people aren't doing. That's the source of joy. That's the source of economic opportunity. And we need you in business and organizations to be that way. And you salespeople, if you're not the only one that does what you do, Why do you have a job?" - ROY"Step outside of your comfort zone, but do things differently than everybody else does. Okay, I don't want you to be uncomfortable and continue to do the same thing as everybody else. I want you to be uncomfortable because you're doing things differently, right? In a way that people care about. And the only point I want to make here is that this is not about you doing things for yourself. This is about you doing things differently in a way other people care about. So, my whole "be different" philosophy, Nancy, is about serving others in a way that no one else does. And salespeople, I want you to do that. I want you to serve your clients like no one else does. And I don't care about the textbook. Okay, the textbook got you this far. I want you to put it down. I want you to put the textbook down and do some practical human things that are different than everybody else, including the textbook, that light fires in your client's eyes. And guess what it does to them? It wants them to buy from you because they believe in you, trust you, follow you, and be loyal to the company. Boom. And there goes the revenue lineup. And that's what we want you to do." – ROYConnect with Roy Osing:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/royosing/BE DiFFERENT or be dead: https://www.bedifferentorbedead.com/Try Our Proven, 3-Step System, Guaranteeing Accountability and Transparency that Drives RESULTS by clicking on this link: https://oneofakindsales.com/call-center-in-a-box/  Connect with Nancy Calabrese: Twitter:https://twitter.com/oneofakindsalesFacebook:https://www.facebook.com/One-Of-A-Kind-Sales-304978633264832/Website:https://oneofakindsales.comPhone: 908-879-2911 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ncalabrese/Email: leads@oneofakindsales.com 

Jason Friedman, Founder and CEO of CXFormula, shares his expertise in enhancing customer engagement, loyalty, and business growth. He discusses how his theatrical background inspires the Kinetic Customer Formula, emphasizing the importance of prioritizing customer success over traditional sales tactics. Listeners learn about the customer commitment journey and the need for empathy in building strong relationships. Jason also highlights strategies to transform business perspectives and remove barriers to create a seamless customer experience.