The Salesman.com Podcast

Look, everyone’s felt unmotivated at work at one time or another. But salespeople in particular struggle with a lack of motivation the most. And if you’re not motivated to sell, you’re not motivated to earn. So how do to stay on the course to success, even on those “blah” days? You sell by the numbers. You can start by creating your very own One-Page Plan. And today, I’ll show you how. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… “By a massive long shot, salespeople's biggest pain point is motivation.” – Will Barron’s Interview with HubSpot’s Kim Walsh timestamp [30:00] Which is why today we’re covering the best motivation system I’ve found to keep me going—selling by the numbers—breaking down your yearly goals into smaller monthly, weekly, and daily goals. How It Boosts Motivation How does selling by the numbers boost motivation in the first place? Well, there are actually four reasons why this approach to sales works so well. 1. One Path to Success First, it’s a single path to success. Compared to the “winging it” approach, selling by the numbers gives you clear, weekly (and even daily) goals so you can quickly know when you’re winning and when you’re falling behind. Achieve those goals, and you’re making progress. Simple as that. 2. Easy to Communicate Two, it’s easy to communicate to your management. When you’ve clearly defined your goals, it’s easier to get your supervisors behind a plan. And with their support, your 10X more likely to stay on track. 3. Forces You to Decide What You Want Third, selling by the numbers forces you to decide what you want. This framework moves backward, so you’re defining what your goals are right at the start. And as long as you’re following the plan each day, you can rest assured you’re continually working towards those goals that actually matter. 4. Walk Away Power And four, selling by the numbers lets you walk away from bad leads if you want. With this framework, you can easily refer to your plan, see if you need that buyer to hit your numbers, and if not, walk away from all the trouble. And that is something every sales rep would love to do. The Selling By the Numbers Framework Alright so the question is, how does the Selling By the Numbers Framework work? Essentially, this five-step framework starts from the end and moves backward to define how to reach your goals. 1. Define Your Wants Defining your wants. What do you want your life to look like in 5, 10, 20 years? What do you need to achieve that? Now don’t go straight for the income figure. Because money in and of itself isn’t a want. It’s a means to an end. And we’re going to be dealing with it specifically in the next step. Instead, a want is something like being able to send your kid to college. It’s that shiny new Corvette. It’s that safety net to keep your family safe during an emergency. Get it? So step one, determine your want. And then… 2. Set Your Income Goal Step two, set your income goal to achieve that want. How much extra dough do you need to earn to be able to afford that want? Now for tangible goods you can buy right now like that new car, that’s easy. You know the price. But for wants that you don’t need fulfilled right away, you’ll have to work out a savings plan. For example, say you want to be able to send your kid to college in 15 years. Tuition is around $225,000 so that breaks down to an extra $15K saved per year. Make sense? 3. Determine Your Starting Point Determining your starting point. This one’s simple, where are you now compared to your income goal? All you have to do here is take what you’ve earned already and subtract it from the final goal. Then you need to take into account the givens for this year. Do you have recurring revenue from certain accounts? Are you losing any long-time customers? What kinds of sure-things are out there this year? Take it all in when determining where you’re at now. The more accurate you are at this stage, the easier it’ll be to achieve your income goals on schedule. 4. Establish Your Waypoints Step four is where the magic starts to happen. Because this is when you start creating quarterly, monthly, weekly, and even daily goals. Let’s say we’re aiming for the extra $15K per year to afford our kid’s college. What we’ll do here is go backwards from that. If the average commission of a closed deal is $1,000, that means you need to close an additional 15 deals each year. Now it’s time to look at your close rates on each step leading up to a sale. How many proposals turn into a sale? How many demos into proposals? And so on and so on. So breaking that all down, your data may look something like this: Sales target = $15,000 Average dollar value of closed deals = $1,000 Closed deals = 15 Proposals given = 30 Demos scheduled = 60 Discovery calls scheduled = 120 Decision makers spoken to = 480 Calls made = 2400 So if you make an extra 2400 calls this year, you’re on your way to earning that extra $15K. Now with that info in hand, it’s time to break these numbers down into quarterly, monthly, weekly, and daily goals. Which would look like this… Quarterly Calls made = 600 Decision makers spoken to = 120 Discovery calls scheduled = 30 Demos scheduled = 15 Proposals given = 8 Closed deals = 4 Monthly Calls made = 200 Decision makers spoken to = 40 Discovery calls scheduled = 10 Demos scheduled = 5 Proposals given = 3 Closed deals = 2 Weekly Calls made = 48 Decision makers spoken to = 10 Discovery calls scheduled = 3 Demos scheduled = 2 Daily Calls made = 10 Decision makers spoken to = 2 Discovery calls scheduled = 1   And voila! You now have the ultra-specific goals you need to complete each day to achieve your final want. 5. Create Your One-Page Plan Creating your one-page plan. This one-page plan summarizes it all: your want, your income goal, your starting point, and your quantitative waypoints you need to achieve—and it’s all on one single sheet you can look at every day. If we’re sticking with the extra $15K example from before, your one-page plan will look something like this: My One-Page Plan Want: To have enough money saved up over 15 years to pay for Molly’s tuition in full.  Income Goal: $150,000 per year Starting Point: $130,000 + $5,000 recurring yearly revenue (additional $15,000 per year needed) My Waypoints: Quarterly Calls made = 600 Decision makers spoken to = 120 Discovery calls scheduled = 30 Demos scheduled = 15 Proposals given = 8 Closed deals = 4 Monthly Calls made = 200 Decision makers spoken to = 40 Discovery calls scheduled = 10 Demos scheduled = 5 Proposals given = 3 Closed deals = 2 Weekly Calls made = 48 Decision makers spoken to = 10 Discovery calls scheduled = 3 Demos scheduled = 2 Daily Calls made = 10 Decision makers spoken to = 2 Discovery calls scheduled = 1 All that’s left is sticking that one-page plan somewhere you’ll see it every day. I put mine right next to my monitor so I remember to stay focused all day long. And that, my friends, is how you keep up your motivation by selling by the numbers.  

Over the past six years, The Selling Made Simple Academy has EXPLODED. 2000+ academy students, $992M earned by our members, more than 20 proven frameworks—and we’re not showing any signs of slowing down either. And it’s all thanks to how we make selling simple. Today we’re breaking down our unique sales methodology step by step. And with it, you can start simplifying your sales process and leveling up your career today. So let’s start things off by answering one simple question… Why Use Frameworks at All? Why use frameworks at all? Well first and foremost, one of the biggest problems I’ve seen with my students over the last few years is that they’re confused. They’ve got a million different methodologies pulling them in a million different directions. And instead of taking steps forward, they’re just going around in circles. The problem? They’re overcomplicating things. Expert Note: “So much of what we do in management, in sales, in life, is making things more complicated than they need to be.” Greg McKeown Salesman Podcast What’s great about using step-by-step frameworks is all the guesswork and confusion get taken out of the equation completely. Instead of wondering what to do now, your next step is specifically outlined. And that means you can keep pushing forward. The Simple Selling Method Alright now let’s talk about The Simple Selling Method. This method is built on 20+ proven frameworks. Frameworks that’ve helped more than two-thousand of our students earn nearly $1 billion in revenue. And frameworks that’ve given reps just like you the skills they need to level up their career. Now we’re going to do a quick overview on what these frameworks cover. But if you really want to dive deep, head over to Salesman.org for a closer look. Okay so the first set of frameworks involve… A) Understanding the Market Understanding the market. If you don’t know who you’re selling to and why people buy, you’re going to waste tons of time selling to the wrong customers at the wrong time. If you want to master understanding the market, you need to know how to… 1. Sell By the Numbers One, sell by the numbers. Sales is a numbers game any way you cut it. And the better you are at leveraging those numbers, the more consistently you’ll be able to hit your goals time and time again. 2. Value Proposition Two, proper value proposition design. Your value proposition dictates your messaging your clients, your process, and just about everything else you do as a sales rep. So how do you create one that resonates? 3. Buyer’s Journey Three, the buyer’s journey. This framework helps students understand how their buyers move through the five stages of awareness and shows how to map your product’s unique buyer’s journey. 4. Building a Prospect List And the fourth skill of understanding your market is building a prospect list. How can you keep bringing new, qualified buyers into your sales cycle? What does it take to break into new markets and tap into new lead sources? There’s tons of valuable info we cover here. Now, the second skillset is… B) Getting in Front of Buyers Getting in front of buyers. Now depending on your marketing department, you might already be getting a good amount of inbound leads. But if you want real control over your success and earning potential, you need to be able to generate outbound leads as well. And that takes… 1. Sales Cadences One, knowing how to build sales cadences. And that means understanding the essential elements of a cadence and what cadence templates to use in every situation. 2. Cold Email Two, you have to be an effective cold emailer. How do separate your messaging from the thousands of other emails your buyers receive every day? And don’t worry, there’s a framework for that. 3. Cold Calling Skill number three here is cold calling. Let’s face it, cold calling isn’t every rep’s favorite part of the job. But guess what? It’s downright necessary if you want to be a high-earner. That’s why we developed our five-step cold calling framework for proven cold calling success. 4. Social Selling And last but not least is social selling. This framework shows you how to develop a flywheel lead generation system that practically sells while you sleep. And maybe even lets you *gasp* take a vacation once in a while? Whoa. C) Explaining the Value Alright now skillset number three is a big one. Because it’s all about explaining the value. This one’s made up of six different skills… 1. Run a Diagnosis Call First, running a diagnosis call. More leads doesn’t necessarily mean more sales. You’ve got to have the right customers if you want to get the most bang for your buck. And that means running a proper diagnosis call first. 2. Conduct a Demo After that, you need to know how to conduct a demo. A product demo is one of the most powerful tools in your sales toolbox—when you do it well. And this framework takes out all the guesswork. 3. Upsell Number three is mastering the art of the upsell. Your existing customers are some of the best opportunities you have for making serious bank. After all, they already know you can deliver value. All it takes is following our proven upsell framework. 4. Takeover Competitor Accounts Skill number four is taking over competitor accounts. Now this is a tricky skill to learn. But once you do, you’ll open up the door to leads that already understand your value and may actually be easier to close than any other lead type. 5. Close Effectively And speaking of closing, there are plenty of misconceptions out there about what closing is and what it should be. But in this lesson, we cut through the bullshit and look at a closing method that not just works like a charm, but is simpler than any other strategy out there. 6. Earn Referrals And last but certainly not least, do you know how to consistently earn referrals from satisfied clients? Guess what—it’s easier than you think. All you need to do is follow this four-step framework. So there you have it! Secrets revealed, mysteries solved—you now know exactly what it takes to become a sales industry success story.    

Pop quiz hotshot—what’s your best channel for bringing in quality leads? Is it cold calling? Or email? Maybe LinkedIn? [Buzzer sound] Bzzzzzt. Wrong. Wrong wrong wrong. These are all okay sources. But they’re far from the best. It turns out it’s your own buyers that are the most superior source of leads. Because they open up the door to the holy grail of all lead types—the referral. The question is, do you know how to earn those referrals without alienating your clients? Why Referrals Rock What’s so great about referrals anyway? Well simply put, referrals are just plain better than any other type of lead. Here’s why. A) They’re The Easiest Leads You’ll Ever Uncover First up, they’re the easiest leads you’ll ever uncover. According to a report from Social Media Today, more than half of marketers (54%) say referral marketing generates more cost-efficient leads compared to other marketing channels. Expert Note: “The most important way of generating future business, if you're thinking about the longevity of your career, is the advocacy and evangelism of your customers.” Christian Kinnear Salesman Podcast B) The Best Way to Gain Instant Influence Referral leads bypass all that time-consuming rapport-building right off the bat. And that means they’re more likely to convert. Marketo found that referred leads have a better conversion rate than any other channel—at 10.99% from lead to opportunity, 3.74X the average rate. Compare that to sales prospecting (0.90%, 0.31X), inbound (3.82%, 1.30X), paid marketing (2.98%, 1.01X), and email (0.55%, 0.19X). C) Easier Closing Referred leads are easier to close. 70% of sales leaders and 69% of frontline sales reps report that referrals close substantially faster than traditional leads according to Influitive and Heinz Marketing. Nice. D) Bigger Purchases Plus, referrals spend more. The Wharton School of Business found the lifetime value of referral customers is 16% higher than your average customer. E) Flywheel Referrals Referral leads bring in even more referrals. With each referral you bring in, you’re not just earning a single new customer. You’re also expanding your network of potential referrals and boosting the odds that you’ll bring even more of these high quality leads. Because according to Invesp, referred customers have a 37% higher retention rate and are 4X more likely to refer more customers to your brand than non-referrals. Alright alright, enough with the stats. Let’s get to the meat of it all… The More Referrals Framework The More Referrals Framework. How do you ask for referrals in the first place? Expert Note: “You don't necessarily ask for referrals, you have to earn referrals.” C. Lee Smith Salesman Podcast And that means you have to deliver real, tangible value for your customers. But if you have delivered, all you need to do to earn a referral is follow this four-step framework… 1. Confirm Your Value One, Confirm Your Value. Basically, this is where you prove to your buyer that you’ve earned some serious results for them. And to do that, just follow this mini-framework we’ve put together… Document the following: Problems the buyer had when they started working with you. Results you promised to deliver. Whether you delivered those results. Things you’ve done above what was promised. What you want to improve next quarter. Set up a call with your buyer and run through your documentation. Be sure to email the documentation ahead of time (to give them time to look it over). Go through each step on the call. Confirm value. At the end of the call ask, “So it’s fair to say that we’ve delivered/over-delivered on what was promised?” Optional: Follow up with, “For my records, if I send you a quick email, can you reply and confirm that again so that I can share it with my boss?” 2. Ask “Who Else?” Ask “Who Else?” Who else is in their network that you can help? No need to overcomplicate here. Just follow this simple script… Seller: “Is it fair to say that we’ve solved X problems, with Y solution, and you’re happy with it?” Buyer: “Yes, that is correct.” (If they say no, refer them to your previous documentation that they have agreed to) Seller: “Do you know anyone else who has X problem? I’d love to see if I can help them solve it too.” Then you shut up. No kidding—don’t say anything else. Let the buyer think about it on their own and don’t help them out. Don’t point them in the right direction. Don’t say a word. It might be awkward for a minute or two. And that’s okay. But remember—you’ve made a promise and delivered value to the buyer at this point. They’ve agreed to it. And now it’s time that they do you a favor in return. After the buyer gives you a name and their contact info, don’t give up there. Instead, say: Seller: “OK great. Is there anyone else?” Don’t be satisfied with just one name. Keep going until the buyer really has tapped out of potential referrals they can introduce you to. After you’ve got multiple leads to reach out to, it’s time to… 3. Make a Specific Ask Make a Specific Ask—get your buyer to set up a quick introduction. Here’s the difference between a regular ask and the specific intro we should be aiming for: Bad Ask: “Is there anyone you think you could introduce me to?” Specific Ask: “Can you introduce me to Barry Jones from ACME industries, via email? I can send you a templated introduction email if that would make things easier.” See the difference here? The best way to make this step more successful is by doing a lot of the work upfront. And that means passing on this template the referral source can use. Hi [NAME], I’ve been working with [YOUR NAME] and [he/she] has helped us with [COMMON PROBLEM]. I know they have really useful content and insights that they can send over.  Does it make sense for me to introduce [YOUR NAME] so they can see if they can help you out too?  Thanks, [BUYER] Nothing complicated here. But the goal is to make everything as easy as possible for your buyer. And once you’ve made the specific ask, you can move on to… 4. Use the 1-1-1 Follow Up Using the 1-1-1 Follow Up method. You can’t get lazy after you’ve gotten buy-in from the buyer. Because most of the time, they won’t act unless you do a bit of pushing. That’s why it’s up to you to create a system that ensures your buyer is making good on their promise. I’ve found the 1-1-1 Follow Up method is the best way to stay on top of your referral sources. Check it out… 1 Day – Follow up with the buyer and ask if they’ve sent the email. 1 Week – Follow up with the buyer and ask if they’ve sent the email. Add the potential buyer on LinkedIn. Your introduction message should mention the previous buyer. 1 Month – Follow up with the buyer again. Now start prospecting the potential buyer, regardless of whether the introduction has been made. That’s all there is to it! So if you’re not getting the results you want with normal prospecting, turn to mining referrals.  

[spp-player] All professionals use frameworks. A framework is a step-by-step process to achieve a predetermined goal. Well-defined frameworks separate professionals who win, from hacks that can only dream of success. A surgeon doesn’t guess their way through an operation. They follow a framework to remove the tumor. An engineer doesn’t use a hunch to decide how deep the foundations need to be. They follow a framework to calculate the correct depth. For salespeople, frameworks are the key to reliably beating quota and making serious money. There are selling frameworks to convert competitor accounts and selling frameworks to connect with potential buyers. Frameworks to become more assertive and frameworks to generate more referrals. There are 27 fundamental selling frameworks in total. But if frameworks make winning that simple, why doesn’t everyone use them? The biggest hurdle to using frameworks in sales is intuition. Selling culture has embraced the intuitive seller. We don’t talk bout the salesman who worked 9-5, followed the frameworks and reached 140% of his sales target. We do bang on about the seller who followed their passion, went above and beyond for their buyer or who used some new psychological trick to close a deal. Salespeople stress when their manager asks them about their pipeline progress. But they bustle with excitement when they share a gut feeling about a deal. If selling frameworks make you nervous, it’s probably because they threaten your reliance on intuition. It’s time to get over it. If you want to beat quota and make some serious money, start using frameworks. It’s time to become a professional. Ready to get started? I’ve outlined all 27 of the fundamental selling frameworks a free training video and workbook. You can find it for a limited time at Salesman.org/Training.

[spp-player] Make more calls. Send more emails. Knock on more doors. Use more technology. More! It doesn’t work. The problem for most salespeople isn’t that they need more. The problem is that they don’t know how to sell. At a certain point, giving a racing driver more power, more grip, more downforce doesn’t make the car go faster. Skill becomes the limiting factor. Would I beat Lewis Hamilton in a race if my car had 20% more horsepower? Heck no. Would I be able to keep up with Lewis if I had an instructor next to me and another additional 50% horsepower? Nope. If your buyer doesn’t care about your story and the value that you deliver to the market, then it doesn’t matter how many times you reach out. More isn’t the solution to your problem. Getting better at selling is the answer. “So, Will you big smart arse, how do I get better at selling them?” There are four steps – Personality – Become the person who is comfortable talking about money, being rejected, and doing the work. Process – Understand the step-by-step frameworks that take a person from prospect to buyer. Platform – Become known in your industry as an expert and shortcut the sales cycle by going straight to adding value. Performance – Turbocharge your efforts by becoming motivated, productive, and influential. More interruption is lazy. It’s lazy because if you really did know how to sell, you’d impact your prospects rather than send them more crap.

When potential buyers start walking away from a deal, most reps do one of two things. 1) They re-emphasize the value of their product. Or 2) they offer a discount. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. But there’s a third option here too. And that’s down-selling. Down-selling is one of the most underutilized tools in a sales rep’s toolbox. And when you know how to do it right, it can mean a serious boost to your monthly earnings. How to down-sell the right way so you can salvage more deals, boost your numbers, and bring in a fatter commission check. Sound good? Then let’s go. What Is Down-Selling? What is down-selling anyway? Well let’s start with a definition we can all agree on. Down selling is the art of strategically closing prospects when they are on the way out of the door. When you down-sell, you close sales that otherwise would have gone to your competition. And when you down-sell, you’re getting deals done even if they are less profitable than what you would have liked. It’s not ideal, sure. But it’s better than the alternative—no sale at all. Expert Note: “If you don’t have a thought of what you’re going to do if you don’t get a deal, then you’re in trouble.” Gavin Pressman Salesman Podcast Now if you aren’t down-selling your prospects, you’re wasting all that time and energy you spent on winning the sale. Think of it like this – not down-selling is like buying a show-bound pedigree puppy. You’re spending a fortune feeding, grooming, and training the dog. Driving them to a dog show, all happy and content that you’re going to win some awards… and then leaving them in the car as you watch in the stands. You’re throwing it all away! Clearly this would be bad for the dog, and you’ve wasted a lot of time and energy as well. So make sure you’re down-selling the buyers who might get away. Now let me give you a couple of examples of down-selling – Examples of Down-Selling Let’s say that you are selling SAAS (or software as a service) to the engineering industry. You might have multiple tiers of service that you can offer. Say a buyer engages with you. So you then go through the entire sales process with them, and you know that they should be on your premium tier service. However, at the last minute, something changes within the prospect's organization, and now their budgets have been slashed in half. At this point, you have invested considerable time into the deal. So with all that spent time and effort, it’s definitely worth down selling them on a different tier service so that you can still recuperate some of those costs. Another example of down selling would be reducing your minimum contract length on a monthly service product and giving the buyer a little bit more freedom to leave if the service does not sue them. Of course, you don’t want to start the sales process by offering discounts, pitching cheaper services, or making contract concessions. But if that’s what it takes to stop a deal going to your competitors, then sometimes biting the bullet can definitely be worth it. So other than getting the deal done, what are the benefits of down-selling the buyer? Benefits of Down-Selling The biggest benefit to down-selling a buyer is that you build trust. When you show that you’re willing to work with an organization to implement your service at a price they can afford, you build trust in the organization. And that means once the deal’s closed, you can then upsell to help recoup costs. Often called the “land and expand” approach to selling, this is often the best way to close very large service accounts. When I was selling medical devices, I would often down-sell a customer in the first instance so that I could get a deal completed very quickly. Then I would sell larger deals into the account over time because they already had our company approved as a supplier within the procurement department, and they already trusted us to deliver on our promises. The other major benefit to down-selling a buyer is that you manage to claw some revenue in that otherwise would’ve disappeared into the market. Although it might be disappointing for you to get the deal you want originally, down selling can often help cushion the blow and keep your commissions coming in strong. And last but not least, it maintains customer retention. You don’t just have to use down-selling when working with new prospects. You can even use it on existing customers. If during an annual call, for example, your customer’s budget or needed features have changed, you can offer a lower-tier service to keep them around. Who knows, maybe their needs will change, and you can upsell them back up to a better package! How to Down-Sell Now last but not least, let’s talk about how to down-sell. The process of down-selling is actually simpler than you might think. All you need to do is go into every sales conversation having a BATNA… Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement Negotiation researchers Roger Fisher and William Ury first came up with the term. And it’s basically your plan B in case your plan A of closing the bigger deal doesn’t work out. Is there a lower-tier product that already matches up with 75% of your client’s needs? Come to the sales call with that information in hand. Got a finicky buyer that seems unwilling to commit to a long-term partnership? Work out how long you can shorten your contract with your employer first. That way you can come to a meeting knowing what you can offer before they run off. See how that works? Now it’s important not to discount at the beginning of the sales process. And don’t ever offer concessions on your service or contracts the first time a buyer asks for them. But always have a BATNA ready to down-sell your buyers if the original deal starts to fall apart.

[spp-player] Everybody loves a remarkable story. The difference between an average story and a remarkable one is the amount of imagination that is captured. Remarkable stories take your buyers somewhere new. Remarkable stories aren’t always factual, but they are always consistent. Buyers have a tough time working out if the hero was called Barry or Brian but they’re very good at sniffing out inconsistencies in how the story starts and ends. Remarkable stories build trust. In a world where nobody trusts anyone anymore stories are an increasingly powerful weapon of mass attention. We don’t trust the news. We don’t trust vaccine manufacturers. We don’t trust salespeople… unless they tell a remarkable story. Remarkable stories don’t require high production values, slide decks or a conference room. Either the buyer is eager to listen, or they’re not. Remarkable stories are never aimed at an entire market. What is remarkable to you isn’t remarkable to me. When you dumb down a story to make it fit for many, it becomes average to all. The most remarkable stories match the world view of a tiny audience and then the tiny audience amplifies it on your behalf. Finally. remarkable stories don’t teach buyers anything new. Instead, the very best stories agree with what the buyer already believes and makes them feel smart. The more secure you can make the buyer feel with your stories, the more likely they will be to buy your product.

In a perfect world, we would all make decisions based on logic alone. But the science tells us that the majority of our choices are influenced by biases—automatic modes of thinking we don’t even realize are controlling us. Better understanding these 8 cognitive biases lets sales reps like you get in the heads of your buyers, subtly influence leads, and secure your sales success. 1. Anchoring Bias The first cognitive bias is called the anchoring bias. When making decisions, humans rely more heavily on the first lot of information they receive over any subsequent lots of information that come their way. The issue is, the first lot of information isn't always the most reliable. For example, say I'm selling a product and I tell you it's worth $20,000 a month. Then two days later I come to you with a credible story that I can now offer it to you for the low, low price of $10,000 a month. Seems like a complete bargain, right? This is because your judgment on what pricing is fair is based on the initial information that you received. This is an example of how “anchoring” is used as a tool of influence. Many organizations sell their products by anchoring a fictitious price that the product never actually sells for. Then they pitch the lower price afterward to secure a deal. This can also be used more subtly too. For example, if I ask you whether the tallest building on the planet was more or less than a thousand feet high, I've already anchored this number in your brain which can skew your response. So if you were thinking of a number between 800-1300 ft, then my question that mentioned 1,000 feet specifically skewed your answer. As it turns out, the world’s tallest building is in Dubai and is 2700 feet tall! See how that works? 2. Availability Bias The availability bias is when people overestimate the importance of the information they've already accepted. And that causes them to ignore other information that might contradict what they think they already know. A good example here is that a lot of people in the Western world consider terrorism a very real threat to their safety. Why? Because terrorism is screamed in our faces every single day through newspapers, TV shows, and of course Youtube videos. So most people assume because of the availability bias that you have a real chance of being killed by terrorists, and something needs to be done about it… The reality is, you're more likely to die from a coconut falling on your head or being struck by lightning than being attacked by a terrorist. Yet most people don't worry about these things. If you live in America, you're 130x times more likely to be killed by a police officer, the people who are there to keep you safe from terrorists, than die from a terrorist attack. How crazy is that? This cognitive bias works because most people do not make decisions based on facts; they make them based on stories as stories sink into our brains easier. This is an essential cognitive bias to remember when you're selling. The lesson here is you should blend facts about features and benefits with customer success stories. That’ll leave an impression on your potential customer's mind that will be hard for a competitor to change. 3. Bandwagon Bias See, people tend to believe what other people think. People like to be a part of the crowd rather than nervously looking on as they make a decision that doesn’t fall in line with everyone else. And in sales, you can really use that to your advantage. If you position yourself as either the industry-standard product or the hot new start-up service or service that everyone is flocking towards, you're instantly given an incredible amount of credibility. If everyone is using your product, it must be the best right? That’s how the potential customer will see it anyway. All because of the bandwagon bias. The bandwagon effect is especially devastating when you look at the financial markets. The world economy can technically be in a recession for months or even years before anyone pays attention to it. But when people start selling their shares, it encourages other people to sell theirs too. And that causes a scare and eventually a full-blown market crash. People aren't selling their stocks because they've analyzed the company and its performance. They’re doing it because everyone else is doing it. And that’s the bandwagon bias at play. 4. Decision Bias People tend to defend themselves once they've committed to a decision. This defensive stance is essential for sales professionals to understand. Because if you annoy a potential customer and they say they won’t do business with you, they’re usually going to stick to their guns. And that means you should just move on. Or better yet, don’t annoy them in the first place! Another example of this is what people call “fanboyism”. You can see this with nerds that love Apple products such as the iPhone or MacBook. Feature-wise, these devices aren’t very different from the competition. But even still, Apple fanboys will only buy Apple products. So even as the price of these products goes up and up, they’ll defend their purchase and proclaim they are far more differentiated than what they are. 5. Confirmation Bias When people search for information, they usually pay attention to content that confirms what they already believe. So if you were born into a religious household, you’re much more likely to follow the religion of your parents. You’re more likely to watch YouTube content about that religion, more likely to have friends in the same religious group, and so on. The flip side of this is some religious people haven't chosen their religion at all. It was dumped onto them as a child, and they've never questioned it or researched other religions that with hindsight, with objective thinking, may be more appropriate for them. You see this an awful lot within the world of health and fitness too. For example, if you enjoy drinking red wine, your brain pays attention to the scientific publications that suggest red wine is good for you. But, if you think alcohol is bad, you'll naturally pay more attention to the studies that show links between alcohol and cancer. So make sure you're genuinely open to the opposite side of discussions; otherwise, you might also fall into the… 6. Ostrich Bias The ostrich bias is the subconscious bias that encourages you to ignore any negative information that comes your way. This goes beyond not proactively looking for negative information by watching the news, for example. This bias causes you to become blind to the negative information, even when it’s staring you right in the face. An example of this could be when you know you're behind on your sales numbers but you “put your head in the sand”, like a cartoon ostrich, and choose to ignore this fact. You continue procrastinating and you don't do anything about the issue. Until eventually it’s too late to make a difference. Now in the short term this bias can relieve some stress that we might face if we embrace the gravity of the situation. But over the long term, this bias always makes things worse. 7. Outcome Bias The outcome bias is the tendency for us to evaluate decisions based only on the results. Even when those decisions were crappy ones. This is easiest to understand with an example. Say you were in massive credit card debt and decided to take out an additional loan to buy a bunch of lottery tickets. Then by some miracle you won, managed to pay off your debts and still had money leftover. The outcome bias would push you to believe that you made the right decision. But the reality of course is that this was downright idiotic. You just got lucky. This happens a lot in business too. Let's say a manager is making a purchasing decision. His team and all of the data tell him to buy product A, but his gut tells him to purchase product B. On one occasion, his gut decision to buy B happened to be the correct decision, even though it went against all of the logical evidence. The outcome bias will then make this manager trust their gut on purchasing decisions in the future. And guess what? They’ll make countless mistakes in the future because of it! 8. Survivorship Bias This final bias is when you judge something based on the surviving information rather than all the information that you have. Example. Right now you’re watching this video. And we’re nearly at the end. So you will have a different opinion on the content than someone who viewed 30 seconds and clicked off because they were bored. When we only listen to the people who have actually completed the process, we ignore lots of feedback from the people who didn't. And that feedback can actually be some of the most valuable. This is a real problem in the sales training industry. You get lots of middle-aged, angry dudes in suits that don't fit banging on about cold calling and all the other weird sales techniques that worked in the 90s. Because these techniques worked back then, these guys had some success and so started training others. Now they have survivorship bias and will only focus on what worked for them, ignoring the facts that the marketplace has changed, and nobody answers cold calls anymore, and also their audience isn’t like them. Otherwise, they would have already had success cold calling. Right? This is one of the reasons that the Salesman.org training platform includes an assessment that then tells you, specifically, what training will work best for your personality type. This is the most effective way to ramp up selling results, fast. Because it doesn’t rely on the faultiness of survivorship bias.

We all know mastering your cold calling game is essential for sales success. But what a lot of reps don’t come prepared for is voicemail. And that’s a real problem since 4 out of 5 cold calls end in a no pickup. So, how can you up your voicemail game and maximize the value of every one of your calls? Simple—just use these three word-for-word voicemail templates. So, ready to beef up your voicemails with these templates? Great, then let’s jump in. 1. The Foundation The Foundation Template. This is the template that each of the other voicemail templates are built on top of. And it goes like this: Hello, this is [your name] from, [company name]. I’m calling because, [reason for calling]. This benefits you for, [benefits]. I will follow up with an email right now and I look forward to speaking with you shortly. Have a great day. Goodbye. It’s simple. And it’s effective. Now let’s take a look at what using this template looks like in the real world. Real World Example So this is a word-for-word example of what I say when selling our Selling Made Simple Academy to the VP of Sales: Hi this is Will Barron, calling from Salesman.org.  I’m calling because we’ve just improved your competitor’s revenue by 24% with 4 weeks of training and we can do the same for you.  I will follow up with an email right now and I look forward to speaking with you shortly.  So let’s break down this template so we can understand what we’re really trying to do here. First off, you can see that I’m not doing anything weird or manipulative. The old-school way of selling would be something like this: “I’m calling as I have something incredibly exciting to share and I need you to call back right now before you lose access to it…” I’ve even heard old-school sales trainers tell reps to start sharing a benefit and then purposefully hang up halfway through the sentence so it sounds like they’ve been cut off. Both of these tactics are gross and obviously manipulative. Imagine using a tactic like this with a surgeon, which is who I used to sell to when I worked in medical device sales. They’d think you were an idiot at worst and at best, it would severely devalue you as an industry expert in their eyes. Why It’s Effective Let’s look at this template again and see why it works: Hello, this is [your name] from, [company name]. I’m calling because, [reason for calling]. This benefits you for, [benefits]. I will follow up with an email right now and I look forward to speaking with you shortly. Have a great day. Goodbye. The main thing that we are trying to communicate is that we are an expert calling upon someone that we can help. We’re also getting them used to our voice and preempting the fact that we are going to continuously follow up with them until they give us a response. That is all we are really asking for from a voicemail. Unless you’re halfway through the deal and you have something specific to talk about, most of the time your prospects won’t reply directly to your voicemail. And that’s why we always follow up with an email that builds on the trust and rapport our voicemail just created. Now what’s great about this template is that you can tweak it for a variety of situations. And that brings us to template number two… 2. The Referral As you might’ve guessed, this is the template you can use to increase response rates by pointing to a referral. So for example, every time I provided a high level of service to my surgical customers, I would ask them if they thought any of their colleagues could also benefit from the same value. Often, they would provide a referral which I would then use voicemail, calls and email to follow up on. So let’s look at how we can use this basic voicemail template specifically for referrals. Hi, [prospect name], my name is, [your name], and I’m calling from, [company]. [Referrers name], suggested I should book a meeting with you and gave me your details because we have, [benefits to original prospect], for them and they think we can do the same for you. I will send you an email right now with a little detail on how, [referrers name], thinks we can help you and it will be great to speak with you this week. Why It Works So in this voicemail we’ve leveraged a number of the principles of influence. Let’s break them down. The voicemail includes: Social proof from including our referrer’s name and recommendation. We’ve been polite and likable, setting the foundation for rapport building. And we’ve also started to build a little bit of authority because we have solved the problem that our prospect is facing for somebody else. That’s not bad for a quick voicemail, right? So now let’s look at a voicemail template for when you have “no show events”. 3. The Follow Up Prospects don’t always show up to product demos, scheduled meetings, and other sales events. This is all a part of doing business and truth be told, it’s nothing to be worried about. But we do need to relentlessly follow up on no-shows so we can either get a “no” from them and remove them from our pipeline or we can get another meeting booked in our calendar so we can progress the sale forward. Therefore, if somebody no-shows, don’t follow-up by email. Instead, call them immediately. Be assertive here. They may have a very valid reason for not showing. But they’ve wasted your time, your company’s time, and your resources. Not acceptable for high-value dealmakers like you. If you call the individual and they don’t answer, leave a voicemail using the following template: Hi [prospects name]. I’m calling regarding our [meeting/call/demo] that we had booked for [time/date] which is today. I want to make sure you’re not having any connection issues and as my schedule is now booked up, I want to see if I can squeeze you into another timeslot that fits. I will call you again in an hour to get this wrapped up. Why It Works Here you can see that we’re not letting the prospect off the hook by saying that we will email them to rearrange another meeting or by framing the conversation that “maybe it was our fault, and we got the date wrong”. If you go into the sales process being unassertive like this, your prospects will walk all over you and treat you like an amateur. Again, think of the principles of influence that we have tapped into with this “no-show” voicemail template. We have shown authority We have scarcity because we are saying our schedule is nearly full We have assertiveness as we are saying that we’ll follow-up in an hour on the phone rather than being passive and asking them to get back to us with another timeslot. Now before we go, I want to leave you with a… Bonus Tip Make sure that the tonality of your voice does not go up at the end of each of your sentences. When you go up at the end of each sentence, it sounds a little something like this… When you go up at the end of your sentences makes you sound uncertain about what you’re asking from the prospect. Additionally, I don’t have a particularly powerful or deep voice. But when I stand up straight, have good posture, and I talk a little slower, my voice projects a lot more authority. So try doing that when you’re leaving voicemails too.

The internet is an opportunity and an issue for sellers. A few clicks and you have infinite data. More is being added to the infinite every second. But you can’t consume, research or act on infinite. If there were infinite rules to a sport, we wouldn’t watch it. If there were infinite Disney characters, they’d have no brand value. Humans are not wired for infinite. And here steps in our sales automated outreach tools… “Artificial intelligence will scour the infinite sales data you have and give you exactly what you need…” Maybe someday. Right now AI can’t even keep obvious spam out of my inbox. Until recently, having more data helped salespeople. Suddenly, more data adds confusion and procrastination to their days. You know who has the exact information you need? Your buyer. It’s much more effective to call your buyer and ask them a question than it is to stick another software tool in your “sales stack”. Computers are great at gathering general data. Humans are better at uncovering the important bits. Computers will tell you the numbers, metrics and charts. Humans are better at finding why people do things. Computers are better at algorithmic math. Humans are better at motivating other humans. Computers will mine your online activities and spit out a persona that marketing loves. Humans will influence another human and close the damn sale. So if you’re struggling to get in front of or influence people in the market right now, stop starring at endless dashboards and pick up the phone and ask a couple of people who bought from your recently – Why did you buy from us? How did you find out about us? What could we have done to speed up the sales process? And then do more of that. Make selling simple. Click here to see if Salesman.com Academy can help you simplify your sales process.