Sales Gravy: Jeb Blount

Sales Presentation Skills That Get You To "Yes" Faster In this episode of the Sales Gravy Podcast, Jeb Blount talks to renowned sales experts Richard Fenton and Andrea Waltz about their “Go For No” approach to embracing rejection in sales. They discuss how the fear of “no” sabotages sales presentations and what salespeople can do to deliver more successful and engaging presentations that get them to “yes”. The fear of failure and rejection can sabotage sales presentations and affect performance. Embracing rejection and understanding its value can lead to more successful sales presentations. The "Go for No" strategy involves intentionally increasing failure rate and using each "no" as valuable data for growth. Preparation and structure are essential in delivering compelling sales presentations. Improvisation in sales presentations can come across as unprofessional or unprepared. Don't just show up and throw up. Storytelling is a powerful tool to engage the audience and connect with them on a deeper level. Sharing stories about overcoming challenges and how your solution helped can capture attention and emotions. Losing your place or stumbling over words during a presentation is common, but maintaining composure and smoothly continuing is key. Well-prepared presentations instill confidence in the salesperson and engage the audience more effectively. But it's important to bring passion and authenticity to sales presentations rather than striving for perfection. The Fear Of “No” Derails Sales Presentations In the dynamic world of sales, where each presentation is an opportunity to forge valuable connections and secure vital deals, a formidable adversary often lurks in the shadows—the fear of failure and rejection. It's a sentiment that frequently courses through the veins of salespeople, affecting their confidence and ultimately their performance. This fear, while entirely human, can become an insidious obstacle to delivering compelling sales presentations. But here's the paradox: it's precisely this fear, when understood and harnessed, that can catapult a salesperson from mediocrity to mastery. This podcast delves into the heart of this challenge, exploring why salespeople often grapple with the fear of rejection and failure, how it affects their ability to engage their audience, and most importantly, why embracing this fear can be a game-changer in the competitive world of sales. What Is “Go For No” All About? The concept of "Go for No" is about intentionally increasing your failure rate and intentionally hearing "no" more often. The idea behind this is that when you embrace rejection, it paves the way for more "yeses" to come. However, this doesn't mean that you should simply keep hearing "no" without making any improvements or using the feedback from those rejections. It's important to treat each "no" as valuable data for growth. For instance, you can set goals based on the number of "no" responses you aim to receive, and actively seek out opportunities to hear "no." Don't Show Up and Throw Up In the world of sales presentations, there's a phrase that often rings true: "Don't show up and throw up." It's a cautionary mantra that reminds salespeople of the importance of preparation and structure in their interactions with potential clients. Showing up unprepared, with no more than a vague idea of what to say, can lead to a meandering and unconvincing pitch. Instead, successful sales presentations require careful planning. Salespeople should have their notes ready to go, create a basic outline for the conversation, and prepare specific talking points. While improvisation might seem like a way to appear more "natural," it often results in coming across as unprofessional or unprepared. A well-prepared presentation not only instills confidence in the salesperson but also engages the audience more effectively. And the truth is, when people speak without preparation, they often start in the middle and then backtrack to mention something they forgot. Eventually, they reveal their main point, which they were saving for the end. Sometimes, the desire to sound natural can be exaggerated. However, it is perfectly fine to take a step-by-step approach. For example, lawyers in a courtroom follow a clear path. They ask a question, receive an answer, and mark it as completed on their yellow notepad. Feature Dumps Don't Engage Audiences, Storytelling Does Sales presentations are not just about pitching products or services; they're about engaging the audience. One powerful way to achieve this is through storytelling. Rather than launching into a dry pitch, consider weaving a compelling narrative into your presentation. Share a story about someone who faced a challenge similar to what your audience might be experiencing and highlight how your solution came to their rescue. Stories have a unique ability to capture people's attention and emotions, making them lean in and connect with your message on a deeper level. In the realm of sales, it's not just about what you're selling, but the story you're telling. What to Do If You Lose Your Place During a Presentation Even with the best preparation, unexpected hiccups can occur during a sales presentation. One common fear is losing your place or stumbling over your words. The important thing to remember in such moments is not to freeze. A momentary pause to collect your thoughts can work wonders. Your audience is unlikely to remember a minor fumble in your presentation. What they will remember is how you handled it. By maintaining composure and continuing smoothly, you demonstrate professionalism and resilience. So, the next time you find yourself momentarily lost during a presentation, take a deep breath, regain your bearings, and confidently continue. It's a small hiccup in the grand scheme of your presentation's impact. Bring Passion To Your Presentations, Not Perfection However, when I started out, I would replay my speeches and criticize myself. I would be embarrassed and beat myself up over mistakes or missed elements. It was excruciating, and I would feel so horrible that I didn't want to face anyone. But then, people would tell me that it was the best speech they had ever heard. I realized that nobody really notices when you make a mistake, unless it's a major blunder. People don't pay much attention to it. You may notice and feel the mistakes, but they don't. They see you responding to adversity with grace, and they can relate to that. But I realized that people appreciate me giving my all, even if I stumble or make up words sometimes. As a salesperson, you may not be speaking in front of thousands of people, but the same principles apply. I bring my own energy and authenticity, and that's what people love. So, first off, remember that you don't need to be perfect. Be yourself and bring your passion to your presentations. That's what will resonate with your audience. Overcoming The Fear Of Failure Is Crucial To Your Success Embracing rejection and overcoming the fear of failure is crucial for success in the dynamic world of sales. By intentionally increasing our failure rate and treating each "no" as an opportunity for growth, we pave the way for more "yeses" to come. It is important to approach sales presentations with careful planning, preparation, and structure, avoiding the pitfall of showing up unprepared. Utilizing storytelling techniques helps to engage the audience on a deeper level, while maintaining composure and confidently continuing in the face of unexpected hiccups showcases professionalism and resilience. Ultimately, it is not about striving for perfection, but about bringing our passion and authenticity to our presentations, resonating with our audience and forging valuable connections in the competitive realm of sales. The innovative Sales Gravy University sales training platform gives on the go individuals and entire teams easy, affordable access to the world’s top sales trainers in both live and on-demand courses. Now you can learn how to win in sales anywhere, anytime, and on any device.

Clare Dorrian, SugarCRM's CMO, joins Jeb Blount to discuss prioritizing customer service, outbound prospecting for pipeline growth, and building a strong sales culture. They explore the role of relationships in modern selling, multichannel engagement, and delivering a next-level buying experience through real connection.

A Great Modern Seller Leverages These 5 Skills In this podcast, Jeb Blount and Amy Franko discuss the importance of modern sellers having strong business acumen and an ownership mindset. They emphasize the value of being able to provide insight to executives based on knowledge of their organization, rather than regurgitating information that can be found online. They also discuss the importance of discipline and habits in maintaining success as a salesperson, especially when working from home. Finally, they touch on the rebirth of field sales and the importance of building strong relationships with leadership. Instead of simply regurgitating information that can be found online, sellers must have a deep knowledge of their clients' organizations in order to provide business insights that are truly valuable. Ask provocative questions that create awareness of potential problems or opportunities within the organization. Build strong relationships with leadership and even going as far as getting into the "bowels" of the organization to get a better understanding of what's happening. Modern sellers must also have an ownership, or entrepreneur, mindset. They should look at their sales territory as a business, and make decisions based on the top and bottom line as well as weigh risks and opportunities. Discipline and habits are also crucial for maintaining success as a modern seller. For instance, you should build a strong plan, set goals, track your activities and metrics, and adapt to changes in the sales landscape. Building strong relationships with leadership and being able to adapt to changes in the sales landscape. What Differentiates A Modern Seller? The truth is that there are core basic activities that every salesperson must perform. Modern sellers have elevated these skills, honing the craft of selling to rise above their competitors and sell differently - and better. When Amy was doing research for her new book, The Modern Seller, she noticed a particular set of skills that stood out from the rest in terms of indicators of success for salespeople. There are the "everyday skills" of prospecting, presenting, negotiating, and closing. Then there are five skills that modern sellers consistently do better than others, and are clear differentiators. Agility Entrepreneurship Holistic Sales Territory and Pipeline Management Strategic Relationship Building Ambassadorship Through Amy’s career and observations, she has found that mastering these five skills is key to standing out as a top seller. Whether you are an individual seller or a leader building these skills in yourself or your team, these are skills that you should prioritize for the future. Modern Sellers Are Masters Of Business Acumen One of the biggest challenges for sellers today is the level of business acumen that they are expected to have. It's not just about having a feature-benefit-price conversation anymore. Instead, sellers must study the client's business and industry to have more in-depth, business-oriented conversations. Modern sellers need to display a level of business acumen that other sellers may not possess, or they may need to focus on improving these skills. Ultimately, a modern seller is someone who truly differentiates themselves and stands out for their clients. The best sellers out there cannot be separated from their product or service because they are a crucial factor in the equation of their client's success. Business acumen is essential to connect with clients and demonstrate the value of your services or products in addressing their individual and unique business challenges, issues, and opportunities. In longer cycle sales, where the complexity is higher, simply providing a standardized proposal deck is not be enough to stand out. Instead, you need to be able to build a bullet proof business case that clearly demonstrates ROI. This requires the ability to show the actual outcomes that the client can expect by implementing your service or product, and how it will impact their business. If you excel at building relationships and connecting with people, but are unable to articulate how you can help their business, build a compelling business case, or provide guidance in finding an alternative path, then your efforts will be in vain. The Effectiveness Quotient Is A Game Changer Being able to build relationships while also having a high IQ about your client's industry and their specific business is crucial. In addition to having a high IQ and emotional intelligence, understanding your clients' industry and business, there is also the value of a high effectiveness quotient. Being effective means analyzing the tactics that you use in your sales week and determining exactly how they help your clients. One of the key differences between modern sellers and those who came before is their focus on both efficiency and effectiveness. They know how to achieve the greatest possible outcomes in the shortest amount of time possible. How A High Technical Quotient Keeps You Agile One of the reasons why modern sellers have a high TQ (technical quotient) is their ability to leverage technology and information. This allows them to spend more time with people and be more efficient with their time. They adopt and adapt technology to their particular situation, while still prioritizing the human-to-human connection that is essential in sales. What separates the highest performing salespeople from other sellers is the ability to use technology effectively and use the right tools to take their performance to the next level. Embracing technology and the right tools can move you from being an A player to a top performer. Remember that though technology is advancing at a rapid pace, it should never overshadow the importance of the human element in sales. Customers buy the salesperson first, then the product or service. 2 Ways You Can Get Ahead In Today’s World First, take a look at your relationship with your direct manager and leadership team. Do you have a healthy and connected relationship with them? By building strong relationships with your leaders, they become more aware of your work and are less likely to be unaware of what you're doing. This is one way to ensure good communication with your superiors. Another important factor is developing effective habits and discipline in your daily routine. Are you focusing on the right strategic activities? If you are, and you track your progress as needed, your leadership will recognize your efforts, which can significantly contribute to exceeding your quota. What It Takes To Be A Modern Seller Being a modern seller requires discipline, good habits, and following a sales plan. These fundamentals will help you work towards achieving excellence. However, you must also have the internal drive and motivation to pursue excellence. You must take ownership of your day, your sales life, and be willing to make the necessary sacrifices to be successful. Working from home and being in front of clients is a privilege, and when you view it as such, along with your desire to be excellent, you will have the internal fire and motivation to do what needs to be done. You can learn more about what it takes to be a modern seller, how to be more agile, and develop an entrepreneurial approach to selling in Amy Franko's courses on Sales Gravy University.

In this episode, Jeb Blount interviews David Newman, author of Do It! Marketing and Do It! Selling. They discuss the importance of strategic planning and research for sales and marketing professionals, targeting a specific market, establishing credibility, and using interviews as a prospecting channel to gather intelligence and build relationships with high-level decision makers.

Sales expert Jeb Blount provides solutions to tough sales challenges for Mastermind Group Incredible. Topics include standing out in interviews, targeting bigger accounts, contacting hard-to-reach stakeholders on LinkedIn, and scaling a business. Strategies discussed include putting a wedge between the incumbent vendor and the customer, personalized service for small companies, and using voice messages or video messages on LinkedIn. The power of persistence, challenges of LinkedIn for sales, and the impact of chat GPT on salespeople are also explored.

Chris Beall, CEO of ConnectAndSell, discusses the connection between cold calling and market dominance. He explains the importance of building trust and demonstrating curiosity in sales conversations. Sales reps can improve their skills by breaking down the conversation and practicing each part in training.

Learn about building and leading a successful sales team, the importance of trust, relationships, and professional development, creating career pathways for personal growth, adapting to virtual selling during the pandemic, mindset shifts and overcoming challenges, the power of positive thinking, and reflections on the pandemic and lessons learned.

Sales Training Is An Investment In YOU In this episode of the Sales Gravy Podcast, Jeb Blount is joined by Sarah Browner, the Global Sales Enablement Manager at Adobe. If you are a sales leader, sales enablement professional, or training facilitator, you will want to tune in for their conversation about keeping learners engaged and using feedback to improve enablement initiatives. As for salespeople, you’ll find out why it’s critical to continue advancing your skills and investing in yourself throughout your sales career. Sales enablement is a critical investment for companies looking to increase sales. Sales skills, particularly soft skills, are perishable and need to be continuously developed. Taking advantage of free training opportunities is crucial for personal and professional development. Learning is never wasted, and even reviewing familiar concepts can provide new perspectives. Leaders and trainers should give learners options and ask for feedback to keep them engaged. Meeting learners where they are means providing information in a modality that works best for them. Increase Skills to Increase Sales As part of Sarah’s role, she is responsible for curating enablement for over 2000 individual contributing sales reps for Adobe, globally. She either finds or creates the information that their sales reps need to perform their jobs more effectively. Adobe, like hundreds of other companies that we work with at Sales Gravy, invest in sales enablement and training for one simple reason— to increase sales, sellers need to continually increase their skillset. Why Invest In Sales Enablement? Sales training and enablement isn’t just for new hires. Salespeople must not only master the basics and fundamentals of selling, but in order to see continued success and growth, it is crucial that they advance their skills— long after the onboarding process has concluded. One of the frustrations that sales enablement leaders face is hearing dissent from salespeople who think they know everything and don't need to learn more. This way of thinking is dangerous. Sales as a profession is changing constantly, especially with the never-ending advances in technology. To make your number and stay ahead, you need to be adept with these new technologies and always be looking for opportunities to expand your knowledge when it comes to your product, your competition, and the selling tools at your disposal. There Is No Unused Learning You might be instructed or advised to join a team-wide training session or read a book as part of a team book club. And you might think, “There’s nothing new here.” The truth is, this cynicism is holding you back. Almost everything we learn, everything that's presented to us, someone has already thought of. The important part of taking in information, even if it’s something you knew already, is the chance to reconfigure your thinking. In sales, we apply the fundamental basics of how we interact with people, from soft skills to how we develop our products, to different contexts and circumstances. Products, services, and software change, and we must learn to navigate those changes out of necessity. In training, you might learn a concept or hear a practical piece of advice you’ve heard before, but you can get a new perspective on existing knowledge because it’s presented or applied in a different context. Learning is never wasted. Never Turn Down Free Training Your company likely provides training opportunities, so it's wise to take advantage of them. Workshops, even virtual ones, are delivered in a live format and watching a recording won't provide the same benefit. Attending training sessions live or in person allows you to learn from your coworkers, share ideas, and expand your way of thinking. Investing in your education and training is important, because it makes a difference. At Sales Gravy University, we have 30,000 users, most of whom work for small companies that typically don't have a significant training budget. These users are paying their way to get educated because they believe in the value of training. If you work for a larger company that pays for training, it's already provided for you. It's free, so why not take it? Even when you're looking for a new job and a potential employer asks, "What have you done to advance your career?" answering "nothing" because you haven't taken advantage of available training opportunities seems like a waste of time and effort for everyone, especially in sales. If you're not improving, you're wasting your time and effort. Passing on the opportunity to take company-provided training is self-destructive. So why not make the effort to improve yourself and your own personal bottom line? Sales Skills Are Perishable Investing in yourself is crucial because sales skills, especially soft skills, can deteriorate over time. Selling involves doing discovery, interacting with people, asking questions, dealing with rejection, handling objections, sales strategy, and adapting to change, all of which are perishable skills. Bad habits can develop, and even subtle changes can have an impact. Most sales training is designed to help you get back to the basics. If you work for a company like Adobe, where innovation and software changes happen frequently, knowing their products inside and out is essential. To effectively engage with your customers, you must be able to ask meaningful questions, understand what matters to them, and demonstrate how your solution aligns with their desired outcomes. Without knowledge of the product, your learning and expertise will be useless. Even if you have a deep understanding of the product, if you are unable to communicate its value to others, your knowledge will be wasted. It's essential to know how to effectively communicate the information to others, as that is ultimately your job. How To Help Salespeople Develop The Right Learning Mindset It’s the responsibility of sales leaders, trainers, and enablement professionals to help salespeople build and maintain an open mindset towards continuing their learning. One of the best ways to approach this, especially for individuals who are particularly hesitant or even resistant to attending or participating in training, is by giving them options. Not everyone is going to have a naturally instilled drive to take every opportunity to learn something new and expand their skills. Truly meeting learners where they are means giving them the information in a modality that is most conducive to their preferred learning style, whether it's through a podcast, a book, or in-person training. At scale, this could mean implementing a system where learners can subscribe to a class of their choosing, enroll, and stack and blend training in different ways. No matter how they want to consume the training, there's something for everyone. Leaders And Facilitators— Ask For Feedback! To keep learners engaged in the classroom, they need to receive the kind of training and facilitation that works best for them. The only way to know what is working for some people and not working for others, is by asking for feedback. You or your organization may already do this in the form of surveys and assessments. These are a couple of examples of feedback in practice. However, this might prompt mostly negative reactions and comments that aren’t necessarily productive. If people don't tell you what's working for them, you won't know. Instead of fielding complaints about why your salespeople “hate” being in training, studying materials, or taking assigned courses, ask them what they want to see more of. Ask learners what they like, or what their preferences are. Perhaps the content is rich, but too overwhelming and they would like shorter, video-based content because they learn better visually. Or for some learners, a workshop session would be more helpful for a chance to role play or ask questions in real time. Take this feedback with a grain of salt, but by opening the door to feedback, you will discover whether you’re meeting your audience's learning preferences, and if not— how to get there. The innovative Sales Gravy University sales training platform gives on the go individuals and entire teams easy, affordable access to the world’s top sales trainers in both live and on-demand courses. Now you can learn how to win in sales anywhere, anytime, and on any device.

In this podcast, Jeb Blount interviews Robin Hills, a business psychologist and emotional intelligence expert. They discuss the importance of emotional resilience and mental resilience in sales, including strategies for managing emotions, building support networks, and interrupting negative self-talk. They also explore the power of affirmations and making positive choices in sales. This episode provides valuable insights into emotional intelligence for salespeople.

Dr. Jim Karrh, a sales messaging expert, joins Jeb Blount to discuss the essentials of sales messaging, the impact of poor communication skills, prioritizing positioning, connecting with prospects using empathy, creating a framework for sales conversations, and using automation tools like Chat GPT. They highlight the importance of translating marketing messages into effective sales conversations and the significance of good writing skills in sales and leadership roles. They also emphasize the need for authentic messaging and offer promotional courses on Sales Gravy University to enhance writing skills.