Mental Selling: The Sales Performance Podcast

Growing a sales team isn’t hard. Growing a sales team that’s successful and feels comfortable in their role… now THAT'S a challenge. And it really comes back to the leadership of the team and the work they are willing to do to take their people to the next level by bringing confidence and humility to every interaction. Hear our conversation with Karin Hurt, CEO and Co-Founder at Let's Grow Leaders, where we discuss: - How to create a psychologically safe and courageous sales culture - Developing new sales leaders - The 6 essential competencies of a sales team Want to learn more about the 6 competencies of a sales team, the 6 competencies of sales leaders AND what companies get wrong identifying and developing sales leaders and how to fix it? Listen now.

It’s 2022 — why is there still a gender gap in sales? Studies definitively show diverse sales teams generate more revenue. So... what’s the hold up? My guest today is Lori Richardson, the Founder of Score More Sales and a passionate champion for #WomenInSales. She’s an author, in-demand speaker, and one of the most popular sales coaches at Harvard Business School. Lori also serves on the advisory board of the Sales Education Foundation, where she seeks to destroy old misconceptions about our industry. Sales is a helping profession. This is backed up by the fact that during the pandemic, many women had to leave the field to stay closer to home or become full-time caregivers. Remote work has increased the accessibility of sales roles, but Lori still encounters all-male teams all the time. But women are the majority of undergraduates now. Many companies haven’t yet realized that female sales pros bring a lot to the table, such as empathy, coachability, and a deep motivation to succeed. Lori believes diversity builds strength, which leads to higher revenues. Customers want to buy from brands that reflect their beliefs and values — and companies lagging behind the times will be on their way out. Check out the full episode 🎧 click the link below!

Customers dread being sold to. It's no different for B2B buyers than it is for anyone else. In fact, research shows that buyers now spend only 17% of their time actually buying. Since that's often divided among many potential suppliers, you might be getting 1% to 5% of their time. What are you going to do with your small fraction of your buyer's time? On this episode of Mental Selling, we speak with Janice B. Gordon, Customer Growth Expert, about why people hate buying and what you can do to make the experience something they love instead, why you should stop using Zoom like a phone and how to maximize its value, the matchless value of self-awareness in sales, and more. Let’s jump right into the discussion! “The buyer has come to you for a particular reason. Your job is to find out what that is.” — Janice B. Gordon

A salesperson today is vastly different than the one you’re probably imagining right now. It’s not all about making the sale anymore — It’s about providing a solution that will be mutually beneficial to seller and buyer. But as we have transitioned to more of a virtual approach, it’s important to not lose those valuable customer connections along the way. Hear our conversation with Tony Alessandra, Founder of Assessments 24x7 as we discuss: - The future of selling & reasons why some still avoid the profession - Who the modern salesperson is and the future of selling - Adjusting to today's savvier buyers and the importance of honesty and building trust - The learning curve of virtual selling & best practices - Assessing and attracting talent today and getting rid of the old views of selling - Matching your selling style to the customer’s buying style “The old days of selling where we give our pitch, close, and overcome objections is still in the mental makeup of too many people.” — Tony Alessandra " People avoid selling because they really believe that you're either a born salesperson or not, which is the furthest from the truth." — Tony Alessandra

Sales is one of the only professions where we allow it to be defined by the people who do it badly. Top salespeople are ones who earnestly want to improve life for their customers. When purpose driven sales becomes part of the culture and bigger than the transaction- and your ‘true north’ is improving life for customers- you’ll actually wind up making more money. Successful salespeople want to know that what they’re doing counts for something- that their work matters. If what you are selling is being bought by customers, you’re improving their lives. Hear our conversation with Lisa Earle McLeod, Founder at McLeod & More, Inc. and author of the bestseller Selling with Noble Purpose. Listen as we discuss: - 3 questions to ask that every salesperson should be able to answer - The real reasons salespeople leave their jobs - How the noble seller differs from the transactional seller - The difference between customer-centricity and purpose-driven sales - Overcoming the negative external perceptions of sales with confidence- and how your customers will feel it - The “it” that customers really want you to get to… - What mistaking profit for their purpose signals to your salespeople and employees - Why sales numbers are a lagging indicator and sales leaders need to coach to mindsets vs. outcomes - Why the people that have bought from you before are the key to understanding how your products make a difference - Sales managers as the “front-line belief builders” “When you have a noble purpose, when your true north is improving life for customers, you wind up making more money.” — Lisa Earle McLeod Selling, at its heart, is not about talking people into something they don’t want. Selling, at its heart, is about finding the people who can benefit from what you have and making it easy for them. The data is fundamentally clear. The top salespeople are the people who want to improve life for their customers. The data tells us you will be more compelling, you will be more engaging, your win rate will go up, and you will ultimately close more deals. “A noble purpose seller starts a call thinking, How can I make a difference to this customer? A transactional seller starts a call thinking, How can I close this deal?” — Lisa Earle McLeod Raise your Mental Selling acumen with us at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, on our website, or anywhere you get podcasts. Please rate our show — it really helps us!

What is it that your customers truly want and value beyond the basic transaction? And what happens when companies give 'non-traditional sales roles' more responsibility for uncovering new sales opportunities with customers? When we change our mindset so that customer service and sales become one and the same, then everyone within the company can comfortably and confidently embrace more of a sales mentality. And when done right- for the right reasons- customer expectations are met like never before. This episode of Mental Selling is our conversation with Bobbi McVey-Blath, banking industry expert and Owner at Level Up Facilitation Group. Listen as we discuss: - how a simple yet critical mindset shift about the traditional negative perceptions of selling can teach us to embrace sales - how every customer-facing role across a company is 'selling' whether they realize it or not - questioning techniques, listening skills and 'reading between the lines' to problem solve and uncover and deliver superior customer value - the importance of integrity and trust in both the customer experience AND employee experience - the role that beliefs play in continually creating benefits for customers - training and retaining employees during the Great Resignation- what employees expect today and what companies are too often getting wrong - the role of leaders in serving, inspiring and developing employees, extending training beyond basic onboarding and helping them understand how their work directly contributes to the organization's overall purpose. In recent years customers have grown to expect not only faster but more comprehensive service. They expect not only speed and responsiveness of the transaction but efficiency, ideas, and suggestions that can help them mitigate risk, increase convenience, navigate change and fill (often unstated) needs. And that's synonymous with what good selling looks like today. “How do we change our mindset from this is a sale to this is a service?” — Bobbi McVey-Blath

Company culture, communication and resilience are not just an internal concerns; they also directly affect your daily interactions with clients and, ultimately, your ability to meet and exceed sales goals. But how do you take them from concepts to action plans? And how can you measure progress and impact along the way? And how do you prevent it from being back-burnered by 'the urgent' of the day? In this episode, I speak with two senior leaders with Russell Investments, Tina Downing, Senior Director and Lead of AIS Business Solutions and Scottland Jacobson, Global Director, Talent Development, Learning & Development and HR Operations, about the importance and impact of purposefully building company culture, adapting sales to a remote environment, and much more. Join us as we discuss topics such as: - Company culture— what's different about attracting and retaining employees in a remote environment? - How remote selling can actually shorten the sales cycle - The 'Three P Process' that Russell Investments uses to guide and create better client conversations - How you can create more resilient, motivated sales teams  - Feedback- both positive and constructive- as the foundation of company culture and making everyone across the company better “You always have a company culture, whether it’s by plan or default...” -Tina Downing, Russell Investments Welcome to Mental Selling, your favorite sales podcast. Please rate our show, subscribe and leave a comment— we value YOUR feedback!

The handwriting's been on the wall for a while. We’re all inside sales now. Probably 10% of account executives are going back to the office after this pandemic's over. Everyone else is selling virtually. The technology is there, and companies are eager to use it. That said, technology alone can't solve sales problems. Technology and sales enablement tools have to improve efficiency. The tools you use need to help and not hinder the experience for salespeople and customers. Let’s guard our sellers against technology overload. Let’s make sure our tools add value and efficiency and productivity. The best of the best selling happens when there is trust. Let's slow things down a bit. We don't have to race to turn every demo into a sale. Slow down. Dig deep. Find the real issues. Advise. Teach. Coach. Be there for your customers. That's the type of inside salespeople we all want to do business with. On this episode of Mental Selling, I spoke with Bob Perkins, Founder and Chairman of the American Association of Inside Sales Professionals (AA-ISP), about the impact and future of remote sales teams, creating the sales leaders of tomorrow, and much more. Join us as we discuss: - Remote work—will salespeople want to come back to the office? - How to more efficiently use sales enablement technologies - Hunters vs farmers—how do you measure responsibilities? - Retention & developing the next generation of sales leaders - Encouraging internal sales team development via prioritizing sales coaching 163363

Relationships are not a one and done situation. You wouldn’t consider someone a friend if you spoke to them once and then didn’t hear from them again for years. Customer relationships are no different. If you create that initial contact, only to move onto the next lead shortly after, you’re setting yourself up for massive amounts of customer churn. You’ve spent time with a customer to identify a problem and commit to change. Don’t expect the customer to stay on course without holding their hand. Spend the time needed to gauge their progress. Communicate what is and isn’t being done. Otherwise you’re leaving all your hard work to chance. I speak with Matt Heinz, President & Founder of Heinz Marketing and host of Sales Pipeline Radio, about maintaining (and expanding) these relationships and more. “One of our largest jobs as sellers is to help build internal consensus towards a commitment to change.” -Matt Heinz Join us as we discuss: - Account based sales and marketing: how it has evolved & how to strategically select the right targets - The role an MQL (marketing qualified lead) can still have in an organization - Account based customer retention strategy & salesperson expectations - Rethinking the buying community & building your brand Want to learn more about the strategy, mindset and focus needed for account based sales and marketing strategies to work? Rethinking the buying community & building your brand? How to discern the right metrics to focus on from the wrong ones? This episode of Mental Selling is for you.

"Everyone acts like prospecting is binary- there's sending and not sending. It isn't. It's more than that. It's sending WELL vs. not sending well." -Ryan O'Hara What’s the best differentiator you have for standing out to prospects? It’s got to be the intricate, well-researched template you use, for sure… Or is it? 👀 Buying is individualistic now, which means sellers need to embrace the artistry and humanity of social selling. It turns out people are looking for more than a carefully constructed prospecting email sequence. They’re looking for YOU—your personality. I spoke with Ryan O’Hara about the shifting nature of sales and how he’s innovated his approach to connecting with new prospects. Join us as we discuss: ● The shift to individualistic selling and buying ● Strategies for injecting humor and personality into prospecting ● How leaders can enable sellers to prospect with individuality and personality Key Takeaways: - Harness the power of advanced sales prospecting to boost your clientele - Master the dynamics of hunter/farmer roles for increased profitability - Explore cutting-edge prospecting tactics to capitalize on hidden markets What to Listen For: - [02:58] The time and effort sales should spend on prospecting - [09:51] Getting out of a prospecting rut - [16:15] Injecting humor into your messaging - [20:56] The impact of creating 'win channels' - [22:41] Leveraging video for all it's worth - [33:20] Creating opportunities for people to get to know your name - [44:15] Obstacles and openings created for sales by the pandemic There is much to be done with personalization, and it doesn’t have to be stressful. In fact, it can (and should) be FUN. Ryan has cracked the code for having fun and breaking out of the “Groundhog Day” effect. From channeling the voices of different characters in emails to recording engaging videos, he’s tried it all. The future of sales and marketing is in unique connections, and people like Ryan are paving the way. “I want to figure out a way to attack (prospecting and social selling) in as creative a way as possible. And make it so that not only do they feel loved, and that I care about them, but they feel like I'm an interesting person that they want to do business with on an individual level.” — Ryan O’Hara Ready to take your prospecting and customer relationships to new heights? Listen now.