

Conversational Selling
Nancy Calabrese
In today’s world of business, when it comes to picking up the phone, most people hate it and won’t do it.
There’s a belief that cold calling doesn’t work. It won’t work if it’s not done consistently. Today’s audience tends to hide behind social media and uses excuses like “there’s no point, customers will be annoyed. They don’t like receiving cold calls”. That is completely false.
The truth is emotions are difficult to convey through words in a written email or in digital marketing. Bottom line? Robots will NEVER replace human conversation and emotion.
We imagine a time when more sales professionals feel empowered to connect with their clients through personable strategies like picking up the phone, chatting on a video call, or having meaningful in-person meetings. Which will create long-term relationships and stronger customer lifetime value- even if we must persevere through the “no’s” to find the “yes’s”.
The Conversational Selling Audience loves learning about the art of communication between human beings which leads to more meaningful connections. These connections drive new business at the right time and keep you top of mind when the prospect is ready to buy. Selling is not just a business skill, it's a life skill. At the end of the day, sales is just about the human connection.
There’s a belief that cold calling doesn’t work. It won’t work if it’s not done consistently. Today’s audience tends to hide behind social media and uses excuses like “there’s no point, customers will be annoyed. They don’t like receiving cold calls”. That is completely false.
The truth is emotions are difficult to convey through words in a written email or in digital marketing. Bottom line? Robots will NEVER replace human conversation and emotion.
We imagine a time when more sales professionals feel empowered to connect with their clients through personable strategies like picking up the phone, chatting on a video call, or having meaningful in-person meetings. Which will create long-term relationships and stronger customer lifetime value- even if we must persevere through the “no’s” to find the “yes’s”.
The Conversational Selling Audience loves learning about the art of communication between human beings which leads to more meaningful connections. These connections drive new business at the right time and keep you top of mind when the prospect is ready to buy. Selling is not just a business skill, it's a life skill. At the end of the day, sales is just about the human connection.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Feb 20, 2024 • 23min
Chet Lovegren: The Prescription for Successful Selling
About Chet Lovegren: Chet Lovegren is the Founder & Head Sales RX'er of The Sales Doctor, a company that helps clients prevent their revenue bleed from archaic training, coaching, and implementation practices. After working for 7+ years as an individual contributor, Chet started The Sales Doctor in 2020 as a way for salespeople and sales leaders to take a 'prescriptive' approach to diagnose and solve problems in their go-to-market strategy. Since then, he's helped companies raise over $100M in VC Funds and seen over 125 professionals perform at their best, get promoted, and achieve their true earning potential. His foundations and teachings are a combination of his 11+ years in the go-to-market space, both as a seller and leader. Check out the latest episode of our Conversational Selling podcast to learn more about Chet.In this episode, Nancy and Chet discuss the following:Importance of prescriptive approach in salesComparison of sales strategies to medical diagnosisSignificance of onboarding for new sales reps and managersUse of technology in improving hiring processesImportance of measuring performance and engagementStrategies for identifying and nurturing future leadersAdvice on managing and leading sales teamsKey Takeaways: 90% of what I do is an aggregate of all the information I've taken in, eaten the fish, and spit out the bones.Try a lot of things and see what works best for you.The forgetting curve: within 30 days, we forget 87% of what we learned.Empathy does not mean a lack of accountability. "I like to use the idea of prescriptive because if you're a doctor and you are doing it right, it's not a one-size-fits-all all. And the best doctors who have done the most critical work in saving lives have dug deep into the core problems, not solving for symptoms. But why are these symptoms happening? Because you think about if you have a fever, you're gonna have similar symptoms as if you have a cold, their shared symptoms across certain problems or diagnoses, right? And my favorite saying is a doctor who provides a diagnosis without examination is guilty of malpractice. I think many LinkedIn gurus do this, but many sales teams do it for their opportunities and customers. And if we want to be transparent, honest, value-driven salespeople, let's walk the walk and not just talk the talk. And so, you have to dig deep into what's the problem that my customer thinks they have, what's the problem I know they have because I'm the subject matter expert, what's the gap in that way of thinking, and how can I get them to think, not understand my point of view critically? You know, we're in politics season, and I'm sure everybody's watching all these debates going on." – CHET"Yeah, I think one of the best ways to do this is with software. I'm not one to typically plug software, but there's a tool called Yardstick. Founder Lucas Price has built this incredible tool that helps increase the collaboration between hiring managers, department heads, and maybe individual contributors who are also interviewing people for the role and helps them collaborate in real time so that they have a foundation once that new hire starts to be able to go back and measure, do we have who we thought we had? This way, you can essentially know who you have faster, know if they're the person you hired, and if they're not, work with your HR team to get them out of the seat and get somebody in who will be. Because that's the unfortunate thing." – CHET"I'm okay accepting no when making 50 cold calls a day. You want to make 20 cause that's what's comfortable for you, and you can do that because you're sending more video messages and doing much more personalized email outreach, and it works for you; that's great. Cause I have another rep who can't convert anything via email, but they're fantastic on the phone. And so, I say, if it's working for you, prioritize that. Do we want to try to upscale you on cold email writing? Sure, but if you're booking 20 appointments monthly to make a hundred cold calls a day, I'm not opposed to that. You're hitting your number, which might be what you're good at. And so, I do want to make you better at cold email writing if there are gaps that I recognize, but there's a whole bunch behind that with email deliverability that might've also happened with that gentleman. So, I think it'd be okay with no, but expect why. And remember that empathy does not mean a lack of accountability; you're not a bad person if you want to instill some accountability in your process. Still, you must pull back the books, use a data-driven leadership model, and show people why accountability is in place. And don't manage to the bottom 20% of people who don't want to be at your org anyway. Stop making rules and things that they must follow. Make rules and processes and accountability for the 80% because all you do when you're reactive, and you manage to the bottom 20% is the other 80% of people that want to be there feel like they're getting squeezed out and they quit, and they go take $5,000 a year to work somewhere else." – CHET Connect with Chet Lovegren:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chetlovegren/The Sales Doctor: https://www.thesalesdocrx.com/Linktree:https://linktr.ee/thesalesdoctor_rxTry 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

Feb 16, 2024 • 21min
Manuj Aggarwal: Embrace AI for the Future
About Manuj Aggarwal: Manuj Aggarwal is the Chief Technology Officer of TetraNoodle Technologies, a company he founded in 2000 that provides startups with technology consulting and ongoing education. Manuj started as a factory worker in India, earning $2/day, and ended up in the boardrooms of Fortune 500 companies in Canada and the USA. Located in Vancouver, Canada, TetraNoodle has served clients ranging from startups to large corporations. They are focused on empowering businesses with Artificial Intelligence (AI) capabilities. They are an end-to-end service provider for all AI and technology solutions. They do whatever it takes to enable AI capabilities for your organization. Whether building data engineering pipelines, enabling cloud migration, developing data products to validate AI models, or performing QA, they provide the full spectrum of services necessary to succeed in your AI plans. They work with three kinds of customers: Early-Stage Startups that want to embed AI into their products, Small and Medium Businesses that cannot have their own AI teams, and Large Enterprises that need AI expertise to guide their teams. Check out the latest episode of our Conversational Selling podcast to learn more about Manuj.In this episode, Nancy and Manuj discuss the following:Manuj's background in technology and AIThe concept of data being the new oil and AI being the new engineHow AI can be both beneficial and potentially harmful, depending on its useThe overlap between technology and human psychologyThe need for businesses to embrace technology, particularly AI, to stay competitiveKey Takeaways: Data can now be converted into dollars.You can create powerful solutions once you understand how to utilize data and use AI to crunch big numbers.AI is a tool to help you be creative faster.We are entering a vast new era of a new way of doing work. Every company is going to be a technology company moving forward. "The world always values useful resources. So, we consume oil. That's a very valuable resource. We consume food. All kinds of materials that we consume are resources. And people who own that resource can charge money for it. Now, if you look at platforms like Facebook or Twitter, they are, or even Google, giving away everything for free. You can use most of the Google products for free, Facebook for free, and Twitter for free. So, how are these companies making so much money? Yeah, by advertising based on the data that they collect on you." – MANUJ"Yeah, every business grows based on a few factors. One is whether they have a great team managing the business. Another one is whether they have good brand credibility in the market. Another one is whether customers are coming in regularly into their storefront or what have you. All of these take a massive amount of skill and energy. You need to find trained people, experienced people. But imagine if you could use AI to supplement their capabilities. So, let's say if you have a team of five people and use AI to double their productivity in the next 30 days, right? That means your business will grow double within the next 30 days." – MANUJ"See, the thing is that AI is analyzing data and recognizing patterns in that data. So, our world is complex. So, I'll give you an example. So, let's say a child, a 10-year-old child, touches a hot stove. They will know that they shouldn't touch it next time because it will hurt. So, our mind has learned one data point. And it has become intelligent now that this is the wrong action to take. But let's say that child is in the middle of Antarctica, and they are wearing heat-resistant gloves, and it's really chilly out there. And now they touch the stove, it will feel warm and pleasant, not hot. So now their mind is learning that, OK, even there are variations of this situation. So, if the parameters are correct, it may be OK to touch the hot stove. Right? Yeah, so our mind collects this data and then understands these patterns. But let's say extrapolate that to large problems like climate change or finding a cure for cancer or anything like that. There are millions and millions of parameters involved in that." – MANUJ Connect with Manuj Aggarwal:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/manujaggarwal/Personal: https://manujaggarwal.com/TetraNoodle:https://tetranoodle.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

Feb 13, 2024 • 22min
Chris Weiher: Leveraging Video for Business Growth
About Chris Weiher: Chris Weiher owns CLEAVER Creative, which produces high-quality videos to get clients' ideas out into the world. They believe that now there is more need than ever to own and understand the value of effective video marketing, and they seek to not only tell the client's story but make sure your audience hears, sees, and feels it. Chris started his career directing and producing short films before founding CLEAVER Creative in 2013. He grew the company by creating animation videos for companies including Accenture, Salesforce, and SAP. In 2019, before the pandemic struck, Chris discovered significant organic traction by creating videos on LinkedIn. Since then, he's been helping businesses develop their video strategies through B2B videos on LinkedIn to grow their brands authentically. Check out the latest episode of our Conversational Selling podcast to learn more about Chris.In this episode, Nancy and Chris discuss the following:The importance of video in the modern sales worldStarting your way in video marketingFirst video creation suggestions The most beneficial places to post videosChris'es recommendations of mixing personal and professional topics to engage viewersWhy should your dress code match the style of ideal clients Key Takeaways: The hardest part for most people is to try and get started.LinkedIn is still the best place to post business-related content and videos.I think where people go wrong with video is they want it to be perfect because we want to be seen as perfect.You must continue to be creative and think of other things, but that can be as easy as just going into your living room and filming a video there: it's not rocket science. "So, a really easy way to get started is to write out 10 FAQs, frequently asked questions, that you receive from your prospective clients. And then 10 questions you don't get asked, but you wish somebody would, you wish someone would say. Well: "Why do I need to be using your service?" That's often a question that people don't come to me with because, by the time we're talking, they know they want to use video, but they don't ask why. And those frequently unasked questions are a good place to start because it gives you a chance to speak your mind about things that people aren't asking you but are very important, and you want to tell them." – CHRIS "I recommend one video a week. There's a lot of folks out there that are in the social media game that are saying you need to have something out every single day. I totally disagree with that. For most people, it will burn out your audience, and they will ignore you. If you are a real B2B company, one video a week is plenty for people to see your face, see you. It's just like going to a networking event. You don't go every day; you go once a month or weekly. And then you want to have some other supplemental material you're also putting out. That could be an article, that could be newsletters, or it could be other kinds of posts to supplement that video. But for some of my clients, they really were doing one, one of my newest clients, he's doing a video a week, and he's already getting referrals from that." – CHRIS"Technology is moving very quickly. That said, the human component will be the hardest thing to replace. And if you can leverage video as a part of your communication strategy, I think that element is never really going to be fully replaced, but it will be supplemented, I think, by AI." – CHRIS Connect with Chris Weiher:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisweiher/CLEAVER-Creative: https://www.cleavercreates.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

Feb 9, 2024 • 22min
Tim Fitzpatrick: Accelerating Business Growth with Marketing Tips
About Tim Fitzpatrick: Tim Fitzpatrick founded Rialto Marketing, which provides marketing consulting, advisory, and outsourced or part-time marketing executive services. They help B2B professional service firms grow faster without the commitment or cost of a full-time executive. Tim achieves this by identifying and removing revenue roadblocks in three key marketing areas: Strategy, which serves as your fuel; Planning, your marketing vehicles; and Leadership, the driver behind it all. Aligning these three elements is crucial for accelerating your revenue growth. Tim tends to work with growth-focused B2B professional service firms like MSPs, IT consultants, cybersecurity firms, business consultants, accountants/tax advisors, attorneys, insurance brokers, etc. Check out the latest episode of our Conversational Selling podcast to learn more about Tim.In this episode, Nancy and Tim discuss the following:Tim's journey from a mathematics major to entrepreneurship in marketingThe common pitfalls businesses face in wasting time and money on marketing due to information overloadWhy having a narrow target market is crucial for effective marketingInsights on the frequency and value of marketing messagesThe benefits of 90-day planning cycles over year-long plans. Key Takeaways: I will be the first person to tell you from a marketing standpoint that it is about testing: there is a lot of marketing you will do that will not work.I am a huge proponent of narrowing your market.The Revenant Roadblock Scorecard is a self-assessment and takes less than five minutes.How can you expect to consistently convert leads if you don't have a sales process?"There are several reasons why people are wasting time and money on marketing. In my opinion, what happens with marketing most of the time is that people battle information overload. There are so many different marketing channels and tactics within those marketing channels today. We're just like, where do we even start? And what most people do is jump right to tactics. I need to have a website. I need to have a YouTube channel or a podcast, or I need to be on Facebook. We just immediately jumped to acting. But when we do that, we're skipping strategy. And the way I think about strategy is strategy is like fuel. The marketing tactics, the channels, those are vehicles. And when we jump right into the vehicle with no fuel, we all know how well that's going to work, right? " – TIM"Too many businesses do not have a firm handle on their ideal clients. And because they don't have a firm handle on who their ideal clients are, their message to the market sucks. You can't create a message that will attract and engage people until you know who the heck you're trying to attract and engage. Without those two elements in place, it is very difficult for your marketing to work consistently and, frankly, for you to know why it's working. Because most people are just throwing the spaghetti up against a wall, hoping it sticks. So, if we can take a step back and invest the time in strategy and then go back to the marketing vehicles, it's going to work much better, it's going to be more effective, and you're going to experience much more consistent, repeatable results with it." – TIM"the pandemic is a perfect example of this. If you had a year-long marketing plan that you had put in place at the beginning of 2020, come March, that plan either went into a drawer or you lit it on fire. Because here's why I don't like yearlong plans. One, there is no year-long plan. And this goes with marketing. It goes with any other planning you're doing for your business. In my opinion, year-long plans are the same at the end as they were at the beginning. They change, and they change quickly. And what tends to happen with year-long plans is they become very complex. There are too many moving pieces, and complexity is the enemy of results. We need to keep things simple. And when we can keep them simple, we have a much higher likelihood of effectively implementing and executing them. And if it's going to change quickly anyways, why take the time?" – TIMConnect with Tim Fitzpatrick:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timpfitzpatrick/Rialto Marketing: https://www.rialtomarketing.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

Feb 6, 2024 • 21min
Mike Bosworth: The Power of Story in Sales
About Mike Bosworth: Mike Bosworth is the author of three books on selling, a keynote speaker on sales, marketing, and leadership, and in his later years, enjoys being known as a 'sales philosopher.' Mike's passion is helping people land the job of their dreams, assisting salespeople in exceeding their goals, and supporting their families. He enjoys leading experiential workshops on sales and leadership. Mike began his career in the information technology industry in 1972 on the Help Desk for Xerox Computer Services. He was their top new business salesperson in 1975, managed the "Branch of the Year" in 1979, and was promoted to Manager of Field Sales in 1980. Mike founded his Solution Selling business in 1983. Mike has a B.S. in Business Management and Marketing from California State Polytechnic University. Check out the latest episode of our Conversational Selling podcast to learn more about Mike.In this episode, Nancy and Mike discuss the following:The science of selling through emotional connectionWhy most people do not like salespeopleThe importance of asking for permission to tell the storyThe science behind storytelling for sales success Leveraging the psychology of storytelling in sales conversations Key Takeaways: The authentic secret sauce of connecting with strangers is a 60-second customer hero story.When you're in sales, that's like original sin.No matter how good your story is, you can't go up to a stranger and start telling even a 60-second story: you must get permission."The biggest problem large organizations with lots of salespeople have been trying to solve for the past 40 years that I've been a sales trainer is that 20% of the people sell 80% of the business. And that top 20%, the real difference—and it took me years to figure this out—is that they have an intuitive ability to connect and build trust quickly with strangers emotionally. So, my mission as a sales trainer for all these years has been to help the bottom 80%, the people who are not natural intuitive trust-building connectors, help them feed their families, buy a house, and send their kids to college. And when you go into the enterprise sales range, for instance, in the mid-90s, in my Solution Selling organization, we trained 15,000 IBM salespeople. " – MIKE"So, if you think about it, most people will not admit a problem to someone they don't trust, so the story creates an emotional connection and enough trust that they could risk sharing their problem. And once they share a problem, they go from suspect to prospect." – MIKE"The best salespeople I've known over the last 40 years rarely have to close because their EQ, their emotional intelligence, is so high, and they're willing to help the buyer buy rather than try and "sell" them something, and people love to buy. Human beings hate to feel sold to, but they love to buy. So, the very best salespeople rarely must close because they're so good at facilitating the buying. So smart companies, when they hire new salespeople, they don't teach them about the product; they teach them how their customers use the product." – MIKE Connect with Mike Bosworth:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikebosworth/Story Seekers: https://www.storyseekers.us/We Concile: https://weconcile.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

Feb 1, 2024 • 20min
Nate Morse: LinkedIn Strategies for Business Growth
About Nate Morse: Nate Morse founded the APEX Conversion System, a company dedicated to helping industry leaders generate high-quality leads on LinkedIn. Apex's mission is to assist those with valuable offerings who struggle to find and attract the right clients. They have a three-phase approach that begins with a discovery phase, where they identify the client's values and target audience. Nate's experience in the online world has taught him that understanding the buyer's journey can significantly impact lead generation. Apex Conversion System works with coaches, consultants, agencies, nonprofits, and financial advisors who offer high-ticket products or services. Nate has also authored a book, "The LinkedIn High Ticket Handbook," which guides optimizing LinkedIn profiles and building an audience for conversion. This book is a valuable resource for individuals who know they should be on LinkedIn but need help getting started and making their profiles stand out. Check out the latest episode of our Conversational Selling podcast to learn more about Nate.In this episode, Nancy and Nate discuss the following:APEX's approach to helping industry leaders generate high-quality leadsIdentifying ideal clients and standing out on LinkedInWhy is it that some businesses thrive on LinkedIn and others are lostThe importance of relevancy and personalization in messagingRating clients based on various criteria to identify the best fitOptimizing profiles and avoiding brochure-like content Key Takeaways: The Better Client Blueprint is a process we go through, and we have clients rate their current clients based on different criteria.On LinkedIn, we're not playing the quantity game.The number one reason businesses fail statistically is the lack of market research.When trying to build genuine, lasting relationships on LinkedIn, most people underestimate the initial reason they're reaching out. " So when we talk about industry leaders, I want to ensure that that's defined because we want to look more at the revolutionary aspects. So, they're leading an impact inside the market. And those are the people that their clients, the clients they get, essentially decide what the business creates and turns into—figuring out who is the best client we should be going for. And then what we help them do, once we've helped them figure that out, is find those that are in the market right now and how to stand out versus all the other competition that's trying to go after those ideal clients. So, we do that through LinkedIn. " – NATE"When I was younger, I did door knocking. I knocked on a lot of doors for door-to-door sales and cold calling. In both of those, I noticed that if I knew something about the person I was talking to, there was a way higher chance that they would listen to me because of a genuine relationship. But if I was just approaching them and trying to give them, you know: "Hey, here's the offer," then no matter how good the offer was, it never really hit because it was like approaching someone in a dating scenario and being like, the first thing you say is like: "Hey, here's all the reasons that we should get married." It doesn't matter if you're a good fit or not; that initial building of it must happen. Then we went, okay, how do we help people do this at scale without having to door knock or cold call? That's where we ended up on LinkedIn because we can add a connection note, and we can reach out directly to their ideal clients and make sure their profile is optimized, make sure their messaging converts highTop of FormBottom of Form." – NATE"I think that you're doing, everybody's doing acquisition. They're trying to get new clients, but they need to take a step back and look at and evaluate their current clients and the clients that are getting to see like: "What's the actual impact that you can act strategically versus reactively?". Whether you're on LinkedIn or doing, you know, Facebook or whatever clients you get are, are super important. So before going out there and wanting to be like, Hey, I just need to get clients focused on getting like, okay, who's the right client? What's the impact they're going to have on my culture? All of this, and then when you have that down, everything that you do from there is going to be much more relevant to them, and most likely, even your energy about who you're going after is going to change in other areas of your business." – NATEConnect with Nate Morse:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/conversion-marketing/APEX Conversion:https://apexconversionsystem.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

Jan 30, 2024 • 22min
Malina Poshtova Delamere: Sailing to Success in the Sales World
About Malina Poshtova Delamere: Malina Poshtova Delamere is the Founder and President of Vida Rose Coaching Solutions, a leading executive coaching practice for women whose business, career, and life are in growth mode. Trained and certified by the Center for Executive Coaching and the Fowler International Academy of Professional Coaching, Malina is a Certified Executive Coach, Certified Professional Coach, and Certified Disaster Recovery Coach. She is a Fellow Member of the Institute of Coaching at McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School and a member of the International Coaching Federation (ICF). A former Fulbright Scholar, Malina holds Master of Arts degrees from New York University (Journalism) and St. Kliment Ohridsky University of Sofia, Bulgaria (English Philology). Malina's coaching practice helps people - leaders, entrepreneurs, team builders - to achieve goals, accelerate growth, solve problems, move forward, and drive change.Malina is a lifelong learner. She is fluent in English, Bulgarian, and Russian and nearly fluent in French. In 2019, Malina learned to sail; Vida Rose is the name of her yacht. Sailing has taught Malina much about leadership, teamwork, trust, resilience, and creative problem-solving. Check out the latest episode of our Conversational Selling podcast to learn more about Malina.In this episode, Nancy and Malina discuss the following:Malina's position in coaching primarily womenThe difference in coaching a woman versus a manWhy Adventure Makes People Better LeadersMalina's belief that opportunities often come in disguiseSuccess is an attitudeHow sailing and the sales world are connectedKey Takeaways: Women tend to be more creative but slightly hindered by limiting beliefs.You're not just a woman leader; you're a leader! Period!You never know where your next opportunity is going to come from.You can overcome your biggest fears with the right team in the right circumstances.When you meet someone, listening to their story and looking for connecting points is important. " My dream job is to coach women. And here's why. Obviously, as a woman myself, I have been there. I have experienced the challenges of professional women, be they business owners, be they on the corporate career track, or entrepreneurs; I've been there, I've done it, I've felt it, I've learned a lot of lessons that I love to share with my clients to help them succeed. As a woman, I am deeply invested in women's success. And I've also had a lot of practice in my 20 years of corporate experience and corporate leadership experience. I coached a lot of men. So I also have the other side's view, if you will. And that is a very helpful perspective." – MALINA "Growth mode is my way of saying you are ambitious, you have goals, and perhaps you need a little bit of help to get you there, or you need an accountability partner or a sounding board to check your decisions. But you are a woman on a mission who wants to succeed, whether in private practice, a corporate career, or as a business owner, and you have very specific goals. At least I can help you clarify and get those goals. So it's not just I want to start a business and grow it; it's more you know I want to start it within the next three, six, 12, 18 months. My goal is to achieve X in my first year and Y in the second year. X and Y could be monetary targets, revenue targets, the size of your team, and how many employees you want to have. I wanna grow my business to where I get to sell it to a larger corporation Top of FormBottom of Form." – MALINA"My unique idea is that adventure makes people better leaders. When you put someone very comfortably and safely out of their comfort zone. For example, I own a small yacht and take my clients sailing. It's not about the sailing. It's about being out on the water, making fast decisions, being aware of the situation, being in a small space with other people, and learning how to communicate with them clearly and impactfully set a strategy, for example, going back to the sailing. Depending on which way the wind blows, it may take you a longer time to get to your destination or a longer time to get back. And it would help if you kept that in mind when planning. Where are you going? Do you have enough time to get there? Do you have enough time to get back? What if changes or the current? What if there's other shipping traffic all around you? On my boat, which is fantastic, I have two helms and two wheels to drive the boat side by side. So, I like to put clients on one side. It's perfectly safe because a qualified captain is holding the other wheel or is standing by at the other wheel. But you put someone who wants to be a leader on a boat with six other people and tell them, hey, you've never driven a boat before; six other people's lives depend on you, drive. Yes, exactly. It's a very safe and controlled environment. But on the other hand, it puts you out of your comfort zone, and it challenges you to make fast decisions, to look all around, to be aware of what's going on." – MALINAConnect with Malina Poshtova Delamere:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/malinaposhtovadelamere/Vida Rose Coaching Solutions:https://www.vidarosecoaching.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

Jan 26, 2024 • 21min
Nicolas Toper: From Spam to Glam: Mastering Email Deliverability
About Nicolas Toper: Nicolas Toper is the Co-founder at Inboxbooster. His mission is to help email senders achieve better deliverability and avoid spam filters. With over 15 years of experience in web development, email technology, and cloud computing, he is passionate about creating innovative and scalable solutions for online communication. Before launching Inboxbooster, Nicolas founded and led CritSend, the first SMTP relay service that guaranteed email success. He also invented Pilo, a renewable energy battery that recharges when shaken. Nicolas holds multiple patents and certifications in computer science, and he graduated from Y Combinator and the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers. Fluent in French, German, and English, he enjoys sharing his insights and learnings in his newsletter. Check out the latest episode of our Conversational Selling podcast to learn more about Nicolas.In this episode, Nancy and Nicolas discuss the following:Nicolas' story of getting into this businessPractical tips for email senders to achieve better deliverability and avoid spam filtersHow to avoid getting important emails to spamGmail and Outlook practical insightsHow long does it take to correct spam issues?Why do emails from the same sender intermittently shift between my inbox and spam folder?Key Takeaways: Ten years ago, sending emails was straightforward with clear rules, but today, it's a complex and unclear landscape, creating a significant challenge for email senders.Outlook wants your domain to have a good history, whereas Gmail doesn't care about the IP and the domain, but they care about your users' behavior.If you're doing cold emailing, you need to test your email on InboxBooster or another way once a week to ensure you don't have any problems." So, you have a free tool on our system, the InboxBooster, that tells you how to, analyzes your little list, and tells you where you're emailing. Because if you're emailing just on Gmail, it's not the same thing as if you're emailing on the form of two Fortune 500 companies, which is not the same thing if you're emailing, so there is kind of because usually a lot of SMBs are using Outlook. Some other kinds of startups, lots of startups, are using Google Workspace. So, you really, the first step is really to investigate that. And until you know that it's kind of, you will not be able to sound efficiently. " – NICOLAS"Email has become a bit of a puzzle lately, and let me break it down for you. A decade ago, sending emails was a breeze—clear rules, automated stuff, and personal messages. Fast forward to today, and the line between human and machine-generated emails is blurred, thanks to outreach tools like AdRage and Apollo. Cold emails, though less annoying than cold calls, face skepticism, especially from Google, which prefers ads. Now, onto a fixer-upper story about Y Combinator: despite its strong brand, it battled spam on Gmail. Why? They imported a MailChimp template, and some pruning oversight led them back to the promotion tab. We sorted it out, and they saw a 35% click boost. The lesson? Fixing email glitches is like solving a puzzle, sometimes iterative but worthwhile." – NICOLAS"Sometimes we have customers sending probably more than a couple of thousands of emails per day on cold average, and it's working very well. So, it depends on what you're selling. The key elements are as follows: First, you need to know who you sell to if you do cold average. You need to know: "OK, So this is my ICP," and know those people will sell. And then what I'm saying usually is if you don't know who your ICP is, you need to experiment until you figure it out, but you shouldn't sell a lot of emails to be very careful. In deliverability, once you know who you're selling to, you can sell a lot. And the second thing is sometimes because you care about who you're selling to, so basically, what's your revenue? There is another side to it, and I mentioned it: engagement. So, you want one unsubscription link. One clicks the unsubscription link, now it will be a requirement for Google. And the second thing you want is to be between 0.5 and 1.5 of the unsubscription rate. If you do that, you're fine. This means that you have found a Via Negativa if that makes sense, your ICP. If you want people to unsubscribe a little bit because it's a little bit trying to sell them some stuff and some are not going to be interested, then that's fine, but you don't want too many of them not to be interested because if you're there, this means they don't care, and you're not emailing the right people." – NICOLASConnect with Nicolas Toper:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolas/Inboxbooster:https://inboxbooster.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: 908-879-2911LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ncalabrese/Email: leads@oneofakindsales.com

Jan 25, 2024 • 21min
Joe Pallo: The Art of Selling Nothing
About Joe Pallo: Joe Pallo is the Founder of Sell Nothing, a consulting company where he works with C.E.O.s, E.V.P. s, top salespeople, and sales leaders who want to grow their business by establishing emotional relationships with their clients and team members. Drawing from 35+ years of commission sales and 30,000+ sales calls, Joe Pallo is a top sales producer who first earned his hard knocks and big rewards with door-to-door selling. He's developed proven systems and processes through which hundreds of top producers double or triple their business without investing additional time. Clients include non-profit organizations, defense contractors, financial advisors, the top mortgage broker in the United States, and an Olympic champion and flag bearer. As a coach, he focuses on understanding and implementing basic sales principles. He adds a layer of accountability while training and modeling relationship-building skills. Joe is also a creator of the E.A.R.N.I.N.G™ Sales System and a bestselling author of How To Sell Nothing. Check out the latest episode of our Conversational Selling podcast to learn more about Joe.In this episode, Nancy and Joe discuss the following:Why the word "selling" is such a scary word for so many peopleSell Nothing: The story under the company namePeculiarities of the E.A.R.N.I.N.G Sales System™Four uncommon ways to ask for quality referrals without being a jerkThe importance of script in salesKey Takeaways: We've all been on the receiving end of being part of a bad sales presentation or a bad sales call.Referrals are given to confident people.Get a silver bullet on your existing referrals, freshen them up, and then leave a message in a voicemail.E.A.R.N.I.N.G Sales System™ is the essence of selling Nothing.Listening and then repeating back what they said - that's the talking you should do: ask questions and repeat back." It seems like we all know there are two sales that need to happen to get to the next step, or two buckets that need to be filled: the logical sale or the logical bucket, and the emotional sale or the emotional bucket. Both are important, but we all know the emotional bucket needs to happen first; that makes people decide. The logical bucket confirms the sale, and the emotional bucket makes it happen. "Sell Nothing," the book, was written with the concept that we want our clients, my clients, to tell me what they want and why they want it. That's the emotional sale. My role as the salesperson is to fill that logical bucket with words because I know all the logic and numbers, and I have a marketing department behind me. I'm good at making that logical sale. The emotional bucket is filled up with their words. Emotions are weird things—they're fickle and change. They don't make sense. We have to get them talking about what they want and why they want it. The art of selling Nothing is selling what people want and why they want it" – J.O.E."But that's the value of the silver bullet. Yeah, it gets them calling back in, and it will work. It's incredibly effective, but you must take your time and get them immediately. Right? I'll also say something else that may help your listeners. This works well when you get a referral, but it also works well with all the referrals you've gotten for the past three or six months. What's to stop you from returning to the referral and saying, "Hey, a while back, you referred me to so and so. I tried catching them, but what type of decision-maker is he? A numbers guy, is he a talker, a driver?" Right? Get a silver bullet on your existing referrals, freshen them up, yeah, and then you leave it on a message on a voicemail." – J.O.E."Um, I would say it's using scripts when you're selling, having a talk, having scripts. Yeah, if I'm speaking in a group and I'm going to talk about scripts, I'll always say, "Hey, just curious if there are any idiots. Can you raise your hand?" And a couple of people do because they're idiots. But I kind of joke that the reason I ask is that I'm going to talk about using scripts, and many times, I hear people saying, "I can't use a script because I'll sound robotic." And here's my thinking on that, which people may disagree with. But we work hard to get the name; they get the phone number. Then, if we get the phone number, we must get through to the secretary. That's a lot of work. Or we try to get the cell number; we don't have to get him on the phone. That's a lot of work to talk to a prospect. Right? Well, let themselves be passive and sound robotic on a live call. Right? And if that's the case, that person may be in the wrong job. Now, if you think about it, and here's the thing, you didn't sound robotic when I was doing my role-play and calling Aaron. You heard me insert a chuckle. That's intentional because that makes me focused and present on the call. You cannot be passive and insert a chuckle, you know? I'll repeat, it says when I talk to him, I said, "Aaron, it's Joe Pallo. I don't want you racking your brain trying to figure out who I am. We haven't met yet, right?" I'm chuckling right there; he hears it. Yeah, because if you say the same thing consistently, you'll get consistent results." – J.O.E.Connect with Joe Pallo:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joepallo-sellnothingllc/Influence People: Sell NothingThe E.A.R.N.I.N.G Sales System: Joe’s free gift linkTry 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: 908-879-2911LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ncalabrese/Email: leads@oneofakindsales.com

Jan 15, 2024 • 20min
Ben Albert: The Art of Genuine Business Connections
About Ben Albert: Ben Albert is the owner of Balbert Marketing LLC. He found in marketing that he has a unique opportunity to empower business people to reach the RIGHT community, the RIGHT clients, and the RIGHT partners, who share the same beliefs and values as the clients. He is also the curator of The "Real Business Connections Network," where he hosts five podcasts: "Rochester Business Connections," "Learn Speak Teach," "Ben's Bites," "Five Minute Fridays," and "Real Hits." Ben chats with everyone from executives, entrepreneurs, convicts, behavior scientists, sales trainers, wellness experts, and more. It's his role to extract the best nibbles of wisdom from these experts so we can compress decades of wisdom into minutes for the listener. Check out the latest episode of our Conversational Selling podcast to learn more about Ben.In this episode, Nancy and Ben discuss the following:The Real Business Connections Network podcasting umbrellaBenefits of Podcasting: Building genuine connections and Reputation gainImportance of human-to-human connectionsAuthenticity as a core value of LinkedIn's algorithmCrucial importance of sharing successes, asking for testimonials, and leaving feedback in the business worldVideo Marketing as the fastest trust builderImportance of mindset and inner work in salesKey Takeaways: We want to reach the audience where they are rather than where we are.It's better to be different than just a little bit better.If someone helps you, leave them an endorsement, a testimonial, and a review.The inner work makes you a way better sales representative than any specific tactic ever could."Great minds think alike. You understand that in sales, in general, the best way to get a sale is from a referral. Like that's kind of simple, common sense. And I don't even like to call them referrals. I like nominations or recommendations. And at the end of the day, when you're, um, creating content and sharing influence with brilliant people, it leads to reputation gain. It leads to thought leadership, which leads to people talking about you and being impressed with you because you're adding value to their lives. What do you think that leads to? That leads to recommendations, nominations, and referrals. It's simple." – BEN."AI and tech are taking over the world in one way. But at the core, humans purchase solutions from other humans. We're fulfilling products and services for humans, by humans, to help humans. All the tech is just facilitating that process. Really, marketing, adding value, and then making the sales process so simple for you or your team will never go away. The better you are at building those human-to-human connections, and that can be in person, but it can be through social selling. It can be through content marketing or podcasting. The better you are at building those human-to-human connections, the better art you are going to be in business. And the AI can't replace you because there's only one you." – BEN."There's so much going on in video at the core. People say, "I don't have all the lights and the setup." But if you have a phone that can take videos, you can share them. And I think the biggest reason it's hot is that it's such a trust builder. It shows your face, expressions, style, and personality. So, when someone gets on a call with you when someone does meet you, there's already a rapport built because they've watched you, know you, and listened to you. So I think the reason video is so popular is one, it's entertaining, but two, in a sales and marketing context, it's the best way to build easy trust because you're unveiling the person behind the profile, behind the phone. You're showing an extra part of yourself." – BEN. Connect with Ben Albert:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/realbenalbert/Balbert Marketing LLC:https://balbertmarketing.com/Real Business Connections: https://realbusinessconnections.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


