This episode of the Live Better Sell Better Podcast features your host, Kevin "KD" Dorsey. Too many times calls end the wrong way because we're not thinking about what the buyer is about to go through. If you struggle with closing, you're most likely really struggling with discovery, and this cascades into bad championing and mobilizing prospects. KD also touches on the upfront agreement and how sellers can ask for too much too soon. HIGHLIGHT QUOTESProblems with closing are actually problems with discovery - KD: "Almost every single time I have a rep struggling with closing, they're actually struggling with discovery, and that sets up a bad close and a bad championing and mobilizing."Live Better. Sell Better. is sponsored by our proud partner:Vidyard | vidyard.comChili Piper | chilipiper.comRocket Reach | rocketreach.coOrum | orum.comClari | clari.com

This episode of the Live Better Sell Better Podcast features Charles Muhlbauer, Lead Revenue Enablement Manager at CB Insights. The upfront contract is a tricky thing as many sellers end up asking for too much when they haven't provided the prospect any value yet. Charles shares the ways you can deliver it so that the prospect feels comfortable enough to tell you no.HIGHLIGHT QUOTESThe upfront contract gives your prospect an out from the conversation - Charles: "There are really kind of one of two outcomes from this conversation. Either one, you say, Charles, this conversation was garbage, totally useless, not interested, thanks but no thanks. Or it's compelling enough to talk further and see whether or not there could be something here." You can find out more about Charles in the links below:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlesmuhlbauer/Website: https://www.cbinsights.com/Live Better. Sell Better. is sponsored by our proud partner:Vidyard | vidyard.comChili Piper | chilipiper.comRocket Reach | rocketreach.coOrum | orum.comClari | clari.com

This episode of the Live Better Sell Better Podcast features Charles Muhlbauer, Lead Revenue Enablement Manager at CB Insights. Discovery can seem like a seller ticking boxes of questions. Charles shares how to make the conversation flow by taking your prospect's answers and contextualizing them back to them. He also gives tactical advice on being accurate rather than optimistic and how this takes the pressure off of the prospect to be upfront about "no."HIGHLIGHT QUOTESBase your questions on what the prospect just said - Charles: "You can have the best discovery questions on planet Earth, but if your discovery questions are not based on what the prospect literally just told you, it will be an interrogation."Get a reply by being accurate rather than optimistic - Charles: "The main reason a prospect will ghost you is that they are afraid to tell you no. So I love always telling the prospect I'd rather be more accurate than optimistic here. It's okay to tell me no, don't worry about it. I'll say it all day." You can find out more about Charles in the links below:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlesmuhlbauer/Website: https://www.cbinsights.com/Live Better. Sell Better. is sponsored by our proud partner:Vidyard | vidyard.comChili Piper | chilipiper.comRocket Reach | rocketreach.coOrum | orum.comClari | clari.com

This episode of the Live Better Sell Better Podcast features Charles Muhlbauer, Lead Revenue Enablement Manager at CB Insights. There are 4 triggers during discovery that alert sellers that they should stay and keep asking questions. Charles shares what these triggers are and how you, as sellers, can stay curious and STAY in the conversation.HIGHLIGHT QUOTESKeep the mindset of curiosity and stay there - Charles: "It's a mindset and the mindset is I want to complete, as an AE, I want to completely forget about myself totally and I just want to stay in curiosity land. And for people who have trouble being curious, I tell them to try to act as if the person that is telling you something is telling them something that's one of the most interesting things they've ever heard of in their life, and stay there." You can find out more about Charles in the links below:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlesmuhlbauer/Website: https://www.cbinsights.com/Live Better. Sell Better. is sponsored by our proud partner:Vidyard | vidyard.comChili Piper | chilipiper.comRocket Reach | rocketreach.coOrum | orum.comClari | clari.com

This episode of the Live Better Sell Better Podcast features Charles Muhlbauer, Lead Revenue Enablement Manager at CB Insights. During discovery, you want to make prospects think about problems. But to get to this conversation, you must create trust first. Charles shares the roadmaps he uses which aim to gain the trust of the prospect.HIGHLIGHT QUOTESThe roadmap for gaining trust through teaching - Charles: "Team them something first which is problem-related. So I'm a big fan of roadmaps. I love roadmaps. So roadmaps to ask a question, roadmaps to answer a question, followed by asking another question, etc. So the mini roadmap is one... sharing context, two sharing insight, three humbling disclaimers, and four asking an open-ended question to what extent." You can find out more about Charles in the links below:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlesmuhlbauer/Website: https://www.cbinsights.com/Live Better. Sell Better. is sponsored by our proud partner:Vidyard | vidyard.comChili Piper | chilipiper.comRocket Reach | rocketreach.coOrum | orum.comClari | clari.com

This episode of the Live Better Sell Better Podcast features Charles Muhlbauer, Lead Revenue Enablement Manager at CB Insights. Discovery is the foundation of everything in the sales process and Charles shares his insights on the differences between qualifying questions and discovery questions. He provides examples that show how qualifying is all about finding a fit to talk more while discovery questions make the prospect think.HIGHLIGHT QUOTESMake comp plans simple and data accessible - Charles: "Discovery gives you the AE a chance to give the prospect the ability to think. That's why discovery is everything you're allowing the prospect to think about how they're doing things today. To think about an insight that you found that might surprise them." You can find out more about Charles in the links below:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlesmuhlbauer/Website: https://www.cbinsights.com/Live Better. Sell Better. is sponsored by our proud partner:Vidyard | vidyard.comChili Piper | chilipiper.comRocket Reach | rocketreach.coOrum | orum.comClari | clari.com

This episode of the Live Better Sell Better Podcast features Sean Paulseth, VP of Strategic Partnership at Wedge. Partnerships can grow startups from the localized AE to AE level all the way to the company to company level. Sean shares how networking is key and how members of every rank in the sales team can capitalize on others' expertise and wisdom.Integrating with other organizations makes winning enterprise clients more attainable. Sean discusses how to discern the best types of partners for your growth, as well as the mindset of giving first to activate a partnership. He also talks about how to find a partner you can go all in with to ultimately win together.HIGHLIGHT QUOTESApproach potential partners with a win-win proposal - Sean: "If you're scaling a small startup, maybe there's another one out there, maybe there's another one that's emerging, and you know for a fact that if we work together or we integrate or we work together and we come to an enterprise client, we'll be like, we're actually more cost-effective than an enterprise product here and a Salesforce."Have a clear understanding of your partner's goals and metrics - Sean: "I think that is the key to a partnership is going in there and understanding. I know all the partner leaders that have been in partnerships much longer than me understand that going in there with a bigger product and a bigger player, what is that metric that helps drive them? Why did we integrate into the first place? And let's highlight all of these things with like a top-down approach." You can find out more about Sean in the links below:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-paulseth/Website: https://www.wedgehr.com/Live Better. Sell Better. is sponsored by our proud partner:Vidyard | vidyard.comChili Piper | chilipiper.comRocket Reach | rocketreach.coOrum | orum.comClari | clari.com

This episode of the Live Better Sell Better Podcast features your host, Kevin "KD" Dorsey. He rounds out the discussion on how to perform problem-based discovery by providing tips and tactics on notetaking, asking about the cost of staying the same, and learning how to save some of your questions for the demo.HIGHLIGHT QUOTESDon't just sell a better future as people change because of the NOW - KD: "The cost of staying the same. These are also great discovery questions. So what happens if nothing changes? What happens if this is still a problem a year from now? What is this costing you right now? What would be better after? That's fine. We want to talk about what it's causing now."Ask the minimum amount of discovery questions so you can ask more during the demo - KD: "Keep your powder dry. Save some questions for the demo. So often, every once in a while, someone takes me through a great discovery but then they ask nothing in the demo because they asked all of their questions. Discovery can be 7 to 10 questions." Live Better. Sell Better. is sponsored by our proud partner:Vidyard | vidyard.comChili Piper | chilipiper.comRocket Reach | rocketreach.coOrum | orum.comClari | clari.com

This episode of the Live Better Sell Better Podcast features Dan Goodman, Founder, and CEO of TruCommish. The conversation about a seller's comp plan should be simple and transparent, with computations upfront, to meaningfully drive certain behaviors.Otherwise, compensating on variables other than the sale itself will just create unnecessary clutter that makes it more difficult to pay sellers, a key factor in retaining top talent. Dan also stresses the need to give employees access to the data. Not doing so creates distrust and can even expose companies to legal action.   HIGHLIGHT QUOTESMake comp plans simple and data accessible - Dan: "It's not so much the variables. Obviously, the fewer, the better, and the more simplistic it will be. But as long as you have the reporting and it's easy to understand and access and the calculations are at the forefront or easy to back up, then I'm okay with somewhat complicated comp plans to drive certain behaviors and incent reps in a certain way."Compensating fairly means leaders have a longer-term view of the company - Dan: "What I would really recommend to leadership is to take more of a longer view. I mean, there's so much pressure on the month-to-month and quarter-to-quarter performance, I think that's what's driving all of this really bad behavior by leadership. They're trying to earn their bonuses, they're trying to keep their investors happy, they're trying to pump up their sales in the perception of what things look like." You can find out more about Dan and get their app in the links below:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-goodman2001/Website: https://trucommish.com/App: https://app.trucommish.com/Live Better. Sell Better. is sponsored by our proud partner:Vidyard | vidyard.comChili Piper | chilipiper.comRocket Reach | rocketreach.coOrum | orum.comClari | clari.com

This episode of the Live Better Sell Better Podcast features Stephanie Valenti, Chief Revenue Officer at SmartBug Media. Lead conversion is the biggest indicator that personalization works. Stephanie shares her insights on bringing old-school customization tactics back to the field.She digs into how salespeople need to learn to grind it out over the phone, learn to use the mailer to send snail mail, and rethink their in-person meetings which can close big deals. The point is to slow down and become more creative in prospecting to truly stand out.HIGHLIGHT QUOTESOld school methods provide creativity in selling - Stephanie: "We had followed Sandler methodology, so then you use that mailer as your pattern interrupt. Did you get the card I sent you? When the receptionist would stop you, are they expecting your call? Yes, they are. You're not lying. You said you were going to be reaching out and they received your card."So we would plan those and then reach out a week later from the card sent to make sure they received it, opened it, et cetera. But so it kind of goes into personalization, but it also goes into how are you getting creative and trying something new and giving them a reason why you are calling outside of what you're selling."Target hand raisers and personalize a message to them - Stephanie: "On a hand raiser, why not take a second? Why not utilize the tools that you have, such as ZoomInfo? Why not go research the company a little bit, understand what they do, and customize a message saying, I know that you inquired, and this is why I think that we should meet. And then provide that simplicity of scheduling." You can find out more about Stephanie in the links below:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/valentis/Website: https://www.smartbugmedia.com/Live Better. Sell Better. is sponsored by our proud partner:Vidyard | vidyard.comChili Piper | chilipiper.comRocket Reach | rocketreach.coOrum | orum.comClari | clari.com