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Sep 17, 2022 • 40min

Replay: Using GAP SELLING To Make Objections And Closing OBSOLETE | Salesman Podcast

Keenan is the CEO and President of a sales consulting firm, A Sales Guy Inc., and was named one of the top 30 social sellers in the world by Forbes. In this episode of The Salesman Podcast, Keenan is explaining what “GAP Selling” is and why relationships, objections, and closing in sales are dead. You'll learn: Sponsored by: Free SalesCode assessment Learn your strengths and weaknesses in an instant. Taken by over 10,000+ of your competitors. Don't get left behind. Take the free assessment Featured on this episode: Host - Will Barron Founder of Salesman.org Guest - Keenan Best-selling Author and Gap Selling Specialist Resources: BOOK: Gap Selling: Getting the Customer to Yes: How Problem-Centric Selling Increases Sales by Changing Everything You Know About Relationships, Overcoming Objections, Closing and Price ASalesGuy.com Keenan on LinkedIn @Keenan Post: Dealing With The Sales Objection: “I Need To Think About It…” Book: Not Taught: What It Takes to be Successful in the 21st Century that Nobody’s Teaching You Transcript Will Barron: Coming up on today's episode of The Salesman Podcast.   Keenan: So the only place it matters is value, and the thing that helps drive value is credibility. The credibility you establish as someone who can genuinely help them get done what they need to get done, and bring tremendous value in solving problems. They buy from those people. At the core of that is trust because if you don't trust somebody, they can't be credible.   Will Barron: Hello sales nation and Will Barron and host of The Salesman Podcast. The world's most listened to B2B sales show. If you haven't already, make sure to click subscribe. With that, let's meet today's guest.   Keenan: Hey, what's up, peeps, my name's Keenan. I am the author of Gap Selling and CEO and founder of The Sales Guy. You can find me@asalesguy.com and/or on Amazon.   Will Barron: On this episode of the show with the legend that is Keenan. We're diving into gap selling, how we can uncover what the gap is, the insights behind that, how we communicate it? How it makes closing essentially obsolete? How it makes winning new business, once you get all this down at the front of the sales process, a whole lot easier. Let's jump right in.   The Sales Myths That Were True 10 or 20 years Ago That are No Longer True · [01:13]    Will Barron: What myths are currently being banded around the sales training space, the sales industry, as a whole? Whether it's from trainers, whether it's from leadership, whoever it is, what myths have been banded around that perhaps were true 10, 20 years ago, but aren't necessarily true right now?   Keenan: One is that you need to be liked. That's the big one, that you need to be liked to sell. Another one is that good closers are good salespeople. That's a crazy, ridiculous myth. Another one is that price matters and that people buy on price. That is not true.   Keenan: So those are your three big ones that really … I mean, the other one is that your elevator pitch matters. The idea that you need an elevator pitch and that matters. Those are some of the bigger ones that people throw about and still try to teach.   Will Barron: So why is it? Because all these are seemingly counter-intuitive. I know Objective Management Group have data on the fact that salespeople who don't feel … I might kind of screw this up from their terminology, but sales people that don't feel like they need to be liked by their customers, outperform salespeople who want to be liked by the customers, for example.   Trust Versus Likability in B2B Sales · [02:28]    Will Barron: So there's clear data on this, but it's still seemingly counter-intuitive of, we think that people will, and this is perpetrated, of people buy from those that they know, like, and trust. How much of that equation is perhaps then trust? As opposed to actually liking the individual?   “If I have a four-quadrant matrix that spells the whole thing out. Like is on one axis and value is on another axis. The only axis where people buy every time is on value. So if they like you and there's value, then they're going to buy. I mean, I like you and there's value in what I'm buying, so I'm going to buy. But if you go to the, I like you, but there's no value, they don't buy.” – Keenan · [02:46]    Keenan: It's all trust. I mean, at the end of the day, people don't even buy for trust. I have a four quadrant matrix that spells the whole thing out. Like is on one axis and value is on another axis. The only axis where people buy every time is on value. So if they like you and there's value, then they're going to buy.   Keenan: I mean, I like you and there's value in what I'm buying, so I'm going to buy. But if you go to the, I like you, but there's no value, they don't buy. Because I'm not buying you unless you're the product, which is different. Then there's whole bunch of other things. But I'm not buying you, I'm buying a software, I'm buying services, I'm buying a babysitter. I don't freaking know. So I'm not buying.   Keenan: Then the other, excuse me, the other column, which I don't like you, and there's no value. Well, you can only imagine that's just fuck off. I mean, that's just fucking go to hell.   “The only place that matters is value and the thing that helps drive value is credibility. The credibility you establish as someone who can genuinely help them get done what they need to get done and bring tremendous value in solving problems. They buy from those people, and at the core of that is trust. Because if you don't trust somebody, they can't be credible.” – Keenan · [03:41]    Keenan: Then other places they do buy is value, but they don't like you. There's value but they don't like you, they will buy. So the only place that matters is value and the thing that helps drive value is credibility. The credibility that you can garner, or that you can establish is the best word, the credibility you establish as someone who can genuinely help them get done what they need to get done and bring tremendous value in solving problems. They buy from those people.   Keenan: At the core of that is trust. Because if you don't trust somebody, they can't be credible.   Will Barron: How does then the being a closer come into this? Is it as simple as five, 10 years ago, you could push someone down the pathway of the sales process and get them to sign on the dotted line. Whereas now buyers perhaps have more power, and so that somewhat of a ability to either push or manipulate someone, is less useful because people just don't care as much.   Keenan: So great question. So they really don't go hand in hand. The problem with closing, if you remember closing, the assumptive close. Well, okay. This is fantastic. So I'll get you the contract tomorrow. You're assuming the close and that they'll just go along with it.   Keenan: Or if you say, “Hey, if I can get you this and this, then you'll close.” All of that is what I call product centric selling. All of that is based on the premise that you have told them about the product, you told them what they need. You may even listen to them a little bit, but you really have no idea on why they should buy. So you don't know if they're ready to close or not. Or if they should close or not.   “What I argue is that the close is actually at the beginning of the sale. Your ability to actually uncover the intrinsic motivations of why they need to buy, the impact of why they need to buy, their current state or current situation, why they're in trouble, what problems they're struggling with? All of that. When you get all of that, and then you offer a solution, you know if they should buy. You've already addressed all of the things that go into it. So at the end, it's a simple, let's move forward.” – Keenan · [05:16]    Keenan: What I argue is that the close is actually at the beginning of the sale. Your ability to actually uncover the intrinsic motivations of why they need to buy. The impact of why they need to buy. Their current state or current situation, and what's happening? Why they're in trouble? What problems they're struggling with? All of that.   Keenan: When you get all of that, and then you offer a solution, you know if they should buy. You've already addressed all of the things that go into it. So at the end, it's a simple, I don't even know. I can't really call it a close. It's all right, let's move forward.   Keenan: It's done. There is no close. There is no I got to get them to some point. It's already done. It's all done in the beginning, not the end. So if you're going to be a hard closer, you didn't do the upfront work.   The Difference Between Asking Discovery Questions and the Sales Qualifying Process · [06:00]    Will Barron: Oh. So what's the difference then, Keenan, between that and then traditional kind of textbook, just qualifying?   Keenan: So textbook qualifying, in most cases, people are looking for a need. So they're saying go find a need or go find the pain. Well, there's two problems with those. First, a lot of times people confuse the two, which is a whole different set of stories.   Keenan: But if you're looking for need, it assumes the customer knows what they want. That's a huge mistake, huge mistake. I talk about, tell a story in the book, how I thought I needed to charger one time. Then what I ended up needing was actually a case. I had no idea that I needed a case for my Palm Pilot when I thought I needed a charger. It's a great story in the book.   Keenan: Had that salesperson not asked some questions to try to get to my core problem, I never would have got it solved because I went into buy the wrong thing. Well, that happens with customers all the time. So salesmen run out and try to sell them stuff based on what they think the customer needs, because they're looking for a need.   Keenan: The second one is they go in for the quote/unquote, the pain. First, we don't even do it very well. When they do find the pain, that doesn't necessarily mean again, it's the right problem. It can be simply a symptom. So it makes it very difficult to influence a sale if you're trying to shoot for a need or a pain that isn't actually at the root cause and/or isn't what the customer actually needs. So it doesn't allow you to do a good job.   Keenan: The discovery that Gap Selling talks about is about breaking it down into current state plus future state, and that equals the gap, the difference between the two. Then you have a total understanding of what's going on. Where they are today? Where they want to go tomorrow? What the space in the middle is?   Keenan: Then when it comes time to offer a solution, it can be customised because your discovery actually created a custom environment, a unique environment that is only specific to that buyer.   How to Identify if We’ve Uncovered the Symptom of a Problem or the Problem Itself · [07:56]   Will Barron: So how then do we know? I don't know. It's even a weird question to ask because it seems so simple. But perhaps it's profound of how we uncover it because this sets up the rest of the sale and the conversation. How do we know the difference between we have uncovered a symptom of the problem? Versus we know the actual problem itself? How do we separate the two live in a conversation?   Keenan: Yeah. So it happens as you dig deeper. So in Gap Selling, the way we talk about the discovery is first, you got to go after the current state. That's first and foremost. So the current state consists of the physical and literal today. I don't know, it depends on what you're selling and you got to be aware of what you're selling.   Keenan: But if you're selling, I don't know, lead services or plumbing services. I don't care, plumbing services. Then you got to understand, okay, what type of house do they have? How many bathrooms do they have? How many showers? Is it copper piping or plastic tubing? Whatever.   Keenan: You ask all these questions and it's non-judgemental, it just helps you understand the lay of the land. Then after that, you have to understand what are the problems that they're struggling with? So do they get clogged often? Does the water run slowly? Do you not have hot water? I'm just guessing stuff.   Keenan: So now you've got to understand the problems they're having. Then you go to the impact of those problems. The impact is two people can't take showers at the same time. I'm constantly having to buy fricking Drano. Our hot water bill is through the roof. I don't know, what is the impact?   Keenan: Then the next one is what is the root cause? Now as you start to dig into the root cause of the problems, what you start to build is a very, very custom assessment that is only specific to that customer. When you add all four of those things up, the actual problem starts to come together.   Keenan: As opposed to, you're like, oh, okay. I thought that was the problem. Now I realise that's just a symptom. Because as you dig and you dig and you get all four of those layers, the problem becomes automatic.   Is It Fair to Say That Customers Rarely Know What They Need Until a Seller Uncovers the Root of the Problem? · [10:00]    Will Barron: Is there a process of getting the person that we're speaking to, to visualise this and take it in? Other than walking them through it? If that makes sense. Are we asking people to go well … It sounds cliche as I say it out loud. It sounds ridiculous as I say it out loud.   Will Barron: Imagine this problem 10 years into the future, tell me the pain that you'd be in? Almost like a kind of psychologist or psychiatrist would do for us? Are we trying to get into their brains like that?   Keenan: No, you don't have to. It's amazing. Well, so when you asked about traditional discovery. One of the things traditional discovery people do is they go, can you tell me what you need? They just ask this one question. Can you tell me what you need? Or can you tell me about some of the pain you're experiencing? Or they just ask these stupid, direct, direct, direct questions.   Keenan: In Gap Selling, what we do is we encourage people to ask very broad open-ended questions. Literally like, tell me a little bit about your current? I mean, we're running on the stupid analogy, might as well continue with it. Tell me a little bit about your current plumbing and your current bathroom and kitchen environment? Then they'll just start talking and as they talk, you listen very intently. You should know what questions to ask.   Keenan: So as I they, “Well, we have …” I don't know. “We have one bathroom.” Then the next question may be, oh really? How many people live in the house? You should automatically click one bathroom. Is it one person or 10 people? If it's 10 people, that's an interesting problem. If it's one person, not a problem, continue. Do you see what I'm saying?   Keenan: Then they say, “We have a shower and a tub separate.” Okay. Interesting. You just let them go and you keep teasing little more out of them to start understanding the environment. Then when you understand the environment, then you should naturally be able to understand some of the problems that come with that.   Keenan: So you start asking questions to tease out problems there. So say it's a woman and she's 32, and you said, “Do you have long hair or short hair?” Now why am I asking that question right now, Will? Why would I ask if you have long hair or short hair?   Will Barron: Blocking up the drains?   Keenan: Yes, yes, yes. So this is a very complex way of thinking. You have to be very, very in tune with what they're saying and what the problems could be and what the root causes could be. So that as they're talking, and she says, “Long hair.” You can say, “Oh, so do you find that your hair clogs the drain often? Or how many times you get clogged? You get once a year? Is it usually hair related?” “Yes, it is.”   Keenan: Okay. Now I know that if I have any products that can address that, I'm going to bring them up. That's how you do it. You just pay very close attention to the environment and what they're saying to start to look and tease out problems that they're not processing.   Will Barron: First question is, are you having some plumbing work done at the moment? Why is this top of mind?   Keenan: No, I have no idea where this problem came from. Because it's always hard. There's different businesses out there.   Will Barron: The reason I ask is I'm having a kitchen fitted in a couple of weeks. So I've got all this kind of stuff top of mind. So it's just a weird coincidence.   Keenan: Yes. Like if I was working with you on your kitchen. I would ask all kinds of questions. Like, is it you? Or you and your wife? Is it you and your kids? What do you like to cook? What does she like to cook? How do you cook today? How often do you cook today? What type of meals does she cook today?   Keenan: Because I might be thinking you need, it's something as silly as I might even recommend the boiling pot thing that comes out of behind the stove? You know that thing that comes out?   Will Barron: We've been through that conversation. We're not getting one.   Keenan: Yeah, oh god.   How to Set Yourself Up As An Expert Consultant Instead of a Pesky Salesperson · [13:37]    Will Barron: Don't need bullshit like that in the kitchen. All right. Going off track here, Keenan. Let's pull it back on. So how do we? Because it seems like if I was to call, if Richard Branson was to call me up and say, “I've got a few questions about your business, I might be able to help.” I would answer any questions he could possibly imagine.   Will Barron: He might be able to give me, even just nothing to do with consulting with him or working with him in the future, he might be able to give me one or two pieces of information that could blow up my business, or change the way I sell, or anything like that.   Will Barron: But if Joe Boggs emails me saying, “Hey, Will, we've got this new SAS.” I've just changed accounting firms and accounting software. So perhaps Joe Boggs rings me up, calls me. He says, “I've got this awesome new SAS software. Let me get on the phone with you, and I'll solve all your problems.” I'm going to say, “I've probably not got time to get on the phone with you. I've just switched kind of 10 minutes ago.”   Will Barron: How do we frame this up, Keenan, so that we are setting ourselves up as an expert to be consulted with? As opposed to a pesky salesperson, just trying to steal time?   Keenan: Yeah. So notice how you just, you even yourself, who've been doing this whole sale things for years, just lead with a product-centric email. You said, “Hey, I'm Joe Blow with accounting software, I'd like to talk to you about how I can solve all your problems.”   Keenan: You started with I'm with accounting software. What you needed to do. You can say I'm with so-and-so, but you needed to start with a problem, or number of problems that I think you might have. So why did you switch your accounting software?   Will Barron: Because there was zero accounting and bookkeeping done beforehand, and now the revenue's getting to the point where it needs to be done basically.   Keenan: But you had one before.   Will Barron: Essentially spreadsheets.   Keenan: Okay. So you're using spreadsheets, that was your current state.   Will Barron: Yep.   Keenan: So if I know that many of my prospective clients are using spreadsheets, or starter accounting packages, I should know what types of problems that causes. So name one type of problem that you were having because you were on that spreadsheet?   Will Barron: We registered for VAT and it was a mess to go back and see what VAT, this is a kind of tax in the UK that I can-   Keenan: Yeah, Value Added Tax.   Will Barron: Just for the audience who aren't in the UK. Yeah, I need to claim a tonne of it back now that we're registered, we have to pay it so that you can have it offset your bill. It's literally, it means me going through 12 spreadsheets per year for the past four years to kind of put all that data together.   Keenan: Okay. So I might, if I'm good and I know that my target is people like you, small businesses that could be on old accounting systems, I would've led that email with, “Will, if you're having trouble or getting frustrated with having to spend countless hours trying to attack that, do spreadsheets or this accounting software or that counting software.”   Keenan: “I'd love to talk about how we can address that, and many of the other time intensive accounting issues that small businesses have because they don't have the right accounting software.” Would that have gotten your attention?   Will Barron: That would have got a phone call for sure.   “This is what most people don't understand, when you're selling a product or service, that product or service was designed to solve problems, whether we talk about them or not. So you should know what those problems are and talk about those problems first. That's problem centric selling. Don't talk about your product and what it can do. Start with the problems that have to exist before your product has any value.” – Keenan · [16:48]    Keenan: Yes. So notice I'm leading with the problem. This is what most people don't understand, when you're selling a product or service that product or service was designed to solve problems, whether we talk about them or not.   Keenan: So you should know what those problems are and talk about those problems first. That's problem-centric selling. Don't talk about your product and what it can do. Start with the problems that have to exist before your product has any value.   Will Barron: What is the-   Keenan: That's how you do it.   The Key Elements of Problem-centric Selling · [17:19]   Will Barron: I love it. What is the cadence of that, Keenan? What I mean by that is, is this a email with one problem? Then we follow up on that problem, then we pitch a second problem further down the line? The answer is it depends, I'm sure. But is there a structure to build a system around this?   Keenan: It does. It depends. It depends on how big are the problems that you can solve? So if you only solve one really big problem, I would probably stick to it.   Keenan: If you solve several key problems that just different businesses could have. One business could have this, and it's a big one, another one could have this and it's a big one. Then I might round Robin it. But I'd go at least two to three touches on the same problem before I pivot.   Sharing Content with the Buyer to Educate on the Problems they Might Be Facing and Stay Top of Mind · [17:58]    Will Barron: Would you then perhaps, because we talk about social selling and it seems to have died down a little bit now, the kind of hype around that. But are we then sending people content in the next email? Or are we always trying to just get that initial phone call? Is that always the call to action?   Keenan: 85%. Now, if I'm going to add content, I'm going to add content that's going to support or explain that problem. So let's say, I mean, again, I'm on the fly on this, but if we're using your accounting software and I get you on that, hopefully I've got some information that talks about the average half a million dollar a year company, spends 25 hours on that. They have these many mistakes and these mistakes can cause you these problems.   Keenan: So if I educate you on the problem, if you don't feel that it's a problem because you didn't pay a right VAT and you're paying fines in retro, whatever. So I might do that. I might find content that reinforces, just reinforces the problem or explains the problem. So I'll go that route.   Why Highlighting the Impact of a Customer Problem is Crucial in All Sales Conversations · [19:04]    Will Barron: Then I want to rush through this because I feel we can paint a good picture on the subject. The answer is buy the book if you want to go more depth into it. But say we get on the phone call, nine times out of 10, it's probably not going to go as swimmingly and seamlessly as what we're described here. But we uncover it, whatever the issue is, they have that aha moment that we're all searching for.    Will Barron: Everyone's happy. Everyone's excited. How do we follow up and reinforce the fact that we have discovered this issue? We potentially have a solution. How does this get formalised? Because I guess if we can get someone to agree to what we've said, then we're halfway there to closing the sale, right?   Keenan: Yes. Well, okay. So yes, but the key is this, getting them to accept and own they have a problem is only half of it. Then you need to outline the impact. Remember I talked about those five things, physical and literal, problem, impact, root cause. Then I didn't talk about one, emotion. How do they feel about it?   Keenan: When you have all those on the table, the impact is the motivator. That's where intrinsic motivation lives. So the impact is I'm paying fines. The impact is how much are you paying in fines? X, Y, Z. If you weren't paying those fines, what would you be doing with that money? I'm making this up. What is your marketing budget? Would you have moved that money from those fines to the marketing budget? What does it cost you to pay those fines? Or whatever the impact is.   Keenan: So we're going to lay the whole impact out. Once you get them sitting in the impact, it's a simple transition to the future state now. It's okay, so where are you trying to go? Is your company growing? That's of course, yes, it is growing by 20%. So if this keeps growing at 20% year over year, these fines are going to continue to increase and so is the amount of hours you're spending.   Keenan: So you're going to lose more and more money. So therefore you want to get to a future state where you're not losing this money and you're saving this X amount. Then you start asking questions about what do you want? Where do you want to take the business? What other initiatives do you want to embrace? So now it's, I don't know, maybe I want to start a podcast.   Keenan: It's okay. So now all this 12 hours is going to make it harder to do the podcast. Yes it is. So now I've got them all focused on this whole future state where I can stop paying the fines. I'm not spending 12, 15 hours a month doing this. I can do other things that I'd never thought about. I can forecast my business better. I can get a loan.   Keenan: All this stuff I can do that I can't do now. I spin this whole future state. Then all of a sudden it becomes just a natural transition. I'm here, now I want to be here. The gap is this. That's what we start selling on is the gap. That's where the closing is already starting to be done.   Gap Selling and Why It’s Important · [22:01]   Will Barron: I think it's James Murray who came up with this. Maybe I'm kind of paraphrasing him/15 other people I've talked about on the show. But I always know, without all this structure, in hindsight, I can put some of this in place, that I've done a great sales call. I've added value to a conversation when at the end of it, I can just go, does it make sense to work with us?   Will Barron: The answer is either yes or no, because, and then you can backtrack. Oh, there's an objection or something you haven't covered. Is that the goal that we should have with all of this? That we just get to the end of the conversation and go, does it make sense to move forward?    Keenan: Yes. Yes. It's that simple, it's that simple? Yep. It is that simple. So getting all that information is hard.   Will Barron: Sure.   Keenan: I'll tell a quick little story. I was called, and I talk about it in my book, I was called by this company. They'd already called several sales experts, influencers. Some have been on your show. Some have written books. They're the names we all know.   Keenan: He had seen me speak at a conference and I don't know why he decided to call me. Just something wasn't clicking with the other ones. These are sales experts. These people know how to sell. He got me on the phone and we talked for a while and I went through the whole Gap Selling approach, current state. Obviously don't tell them that, but you're just going through the whole thing.   Keenan: One of the things I dug out, is he told all the reasons he wanted. He was very capable buyer. He was like, “I want this, I need this, this is the problem I'm having.” Dah, dah, dah, dah. So he said all of the other sales leaders jumped right on those things he told them, explained how they could help, and walk through what they do it and all this stuff.   Keenan: Then I went to a place and asked some questions. I said, “You said you're growing.” I said, “So it's not like you're losing money.” He goes, “No.” I asked him some questions about how it was structured. He explained how he's structured. I was like, “Well, that's kind of a little messed up.” I said, “So why is this growth so important to you?”   Keenan: He said, “Well, it's not that growth is important. I just don't want to fall behind.” I said, “Okay, that's interesting.” Then I said to him, “What is your goal? What is your growth goal?” He said, “Well, we want to get to a 48 in 2020.” This was in 2000, end of 2017. I said, “Oh, okay. Where are you now?” He gave his number and I did some quick math while I'm talking to him.   Keenan: I said, “Wait, you're behind.” He goes, “Yeah, we're behind.” I go, “You're behind seven million dollars. At your current growth rate, you're not going to make it.” He stopped and he goes, “Yeah, you're right.” I said, “So this isn't just about growing. You've got to make up some lost revenue here. So you can't just keep growing, you need to grow faster than you're even faster going now to make up what you lost.”   Keenan: He said, “That's a great point.” Then I said this, I said, “Why? Why 48 in 20?” “Well, it's a big BHAG we have.” I said, “That's it? It's just a big BHAG? I mean, okay, that's fine. So if you don't make it, it's not the end of the world.” He goes, “No, but one of our competitors just got bought. When we get to 48 to 50 million, the valuations change dramatically.”   Keenan: I said, “What's dramatically?” He said, “It could be an extra two to four X from where we are now in valuation, plus we're 50 million. So it's really worth 100 million to us.” I said, “Oh. Who owns the company?” He said, “There's just a handful of us.” I go, “Oh.” So all of a sudden, I now know what the intrinsic motivation is here.   Keenan: I was like, okay, “This is what's going to happen. This is what you need to do. This is the only way you're going to get to this.” I got the gig and I tell you the story in that, I beat out a number of very well-known sales experts who didn't do this. None of them uncovered where he was trying to go.   Keenan: None of them uncovered 48 in 20. None of them uncovered that there was a potential exit. None of them uncovered where he was and what was preventing him to get there, and the fact that he was seven million behind. That changed everything. So that's what it's about right there.   Will Barron: So a good part of this seemingly, as I listened to you, and as I process this myself, Keenan, is that you just got to really give a shit about the person that you're speaking to. They can't just be another number, another dial, another email that you're spamming with some kind of automated software.   How New Salespeople Can Shift From Product-centric Selling to Problem-centric Selling · [26:00]     Will Barron: So with that to on side, because I think everyone can appreciate that, everyone can wrap their heads around that. How do we make the leap from say, we're new to sales and we're a junior sales person, and we want to share these insights. We want to dig into these conversations. We want to go deep with it all. How do we make the leap from what you're describing here of I randomly for accounting software. Clearly you've got your finger on the pulse of VAT and different things that you certainly mentioned.   Will Barron: So you have a good head for business. You're an entrepreneur yourself. How does someone compete with that? If they are either new to sales? Or they're new to a specific industry? How do they learn and get all this background knowledge that allows them to ask these really useful and powerful questions?   Keenan: One of the things you do, and the term that I like to say is how do you go from product centric selling to problem centric selling? The way you do that is you start by doing your homework and research on the problems.   Keenan: So I'm waiting for a company that hires me, that lets me build the problem centric selling, training for them. Because if you get a new job and you go into this accounting firm and they're going to teach you everything about the product, everything has to be product centric. They're going to teach you all the different features and functions and how it works and who their customers are. They're going to teach you how to build an elevator pitch and they'll teach you how to build messages that talk about the product. I want someone to flip that script.   “What I do is I create something called a PIC list. It stands for problem identification chart, and it's made up of three columns. The first column is the problems that your product or service solves. What are the problems that you know that your product or service solves for your ideal customer profile? Then the next column is the impact to an organisation if those problems exist. Then the next column is why do those problems exist? Or what are the root causes of those problems? If you fill that out and you are accurate and in depth, excuse me, you're in depth, you now have your guide. That's your map.” – Keenan · [27:24]    Keenan: What I do is I create something called a PIC list. It stands for problem identification chart, and it's made up of three columns. The first column is the problems that your product or service solves. What are the problems that you know that your product or service solves for your ideal customer profile?   Keenan: Then the next column is the impact to an organisation if those problems exist. Then the next column is why do those problems exist? Or what are the root causes of those problems? If you fill that out and you are accurate and in depth, excuse me, you're in depth, you now have your guide. That's your map.   Keenan: You look at the problem. You look at the impact it can have on an organisation. You look at why those problems exist. Then you can start having those conversations with anybody. You can enter the account any way you want through that. You can go to the impact first. You can go to the problem first. You go to the root cause first, or why they happen. You can do any of that.   Is Social Selling and Having an Online Presence Really Necessary Once a Salesperson Masters the Art of Gap Selling · [28:29]   Will Barron: Do we need to do anything else to set ourselves up when we send that email? What I mean by that is, clearly the example you just give, Keenan, someone saw you on stage speaking. So immediately you're an authority in their eyes and they ring you up. You've pre-framed yourself as an authority by that kind of link.   Will Barron: For the, not the average B2B sales professional, but the high performer, or the aspiring high-performing B2B sales professional, if we send an email that highlights the problem, or our hypothesis of the problem that an individual has, is that good enough to get a phone call? Or do we need to do all of this stuff?   Will Barron: If you're for this, it's stuff. If you're against this, it's bullshit. Around building a social media profile and social selling and creating content and being at the front of your industry on multiple levels. If we are good at diagnosing a problem, sending a customised message to the right people, do we need all the other stuff? Or is that necessary in the kind of marketplace we're in?   Keenan: So it depends on how you want to define success. If you just want to be the salesperson that's, I don't know, that's trying to make president's club and try to hit their quota every once in a while, or I guess every day, and just work within the confines of your industry and work within the confines of your company, don't do it.   Keenan: If people are responding to your emails and marketing's providing you inbound leads and people are calling you and your pipeline is big enough, then don't do it. But if you actually want to put gasoline on the fire, if you actually want to be the top in your space. If you actually just don't want to be some average dolt, then yeah, you need to do it.   “If you highlight the problems and you create content on solving the problems, you create content on how those problems impact an organisation. You create content on how the impact can bring down organisations. You just keep creating content and educating people on the problems you solve, by default you'll create your own personal inbound engine. You'll have that credibility. So I don't know why people don't. I just think they're foolish. But absolutely that's what I would do. Absolutely what I would do.” – Keenan · [30:22]    Keenan: Because the cool part is you get out there and you create videos, or you write blog posts, or you write LinkedIn posts, or you spend time on Instagram and you highlight the problems and you create content on solving the problems. You create content on how those problems impact an organisation. You create contact and how the impact can bring down organisations.   Keenan: You just keep creating content and educating people on the problems you solve, by default you'll create your own personal inbound engine. You'll have that credibility. So I don't know why people don't. I just think they're foolish. But absolutely that's what I would do. Absolutely what I would do.   Will Barron: Good. I knew you would say that. I tried to tee it up that way. Let me give a bit of context from this. I'll ask you if this is somewhat common, I guess when you kind of work with individuals, or you're at least pushing them in this direction of being the top of their industry and their spaces.   Will Barron: I get asked to consult on things, to come into businesses, all that kind of stuff, somewhat regularly now. If I don't refuse, I just put a ridiculous price on it so that everyone kind of says, “No, sod off, you lanky bugger. What are you kind of playing out here?” Because I don't want to do it. I've not got time to do it, got other priorities.   Will Barron: But four years ago, if you would've said to me, “Right, you're going to do this podcast. You're going to ask questions that hopefully sales people want to hear. On the other end of it, people are going to be both speaking gigs, and people are going to be throwing consultant jobs at you.” I would never have believed it.   The Distinct Benefits of Having an Online Presence · [31:40]    Will Barron: So what I'm getting at here, Keenan, is, is it worth doing all this? Doing the extra mile? Because it doesn't just separate you and allows you to have your own inbound engine for your sales role. It potentially sets you up for just bigger things in your career moving forward as well, doesn't it?   “Exposure, awareness, and reach are the most valuable assets you can have as a salesperson.” – Keenan · [32:00]    Keenan: Absolutely. What people don't understand, and I talked about it in my first book, Not Taught, is that exposure and awareness and reach are the most valuable assets you can have. I mean, reach is like gold. It's like oil.   Keenan: Look, it's a brilliant example whether we like it or not, but the Jenner twins. Those girls were on a show where they almost never spoke. Okay. Now I haven't seen the Kardashians in a long, long time. So maybe they moved them into a more prominent role. But in the beginning, back when I watched the show with my daughters and my ex wife, because that's what they wanted to do. And before what's her name? Before Bruce Jenner became, I forget who he became. What's her name?   Will Barron: I know the names, but I've never watched it.   Keenan: Carrie or whatever. Before he became, before he changed over, those twins had played no role, but everybody knew who they were. So they had reach, they had exposure. They had millions and millions and millions of people who knew who they were.   Keenan: So once they got older, all they had to do is flip that switch. Just flip it, and then start engaging with those people, talking to those people, doing stuff, sharing their lives. Now Kylie, I think is almost worth a billion dollars.   Will Barron: I think she is. I think she's one of, if not the youngest female billionaire.   Keenan: Okay. So she got over the hump.   Will Barron: I think so, yeah.   Keenan: How did you do that? Yes. She leveraged that reach and started pushing cosmetics. Now it's not to say that if she pushed cosmetics that were bad, she'd be able to do it. But the point is she had the reach because it started with exposure. She didn't have to do anything. She didn't have to do an act. Just people knew who she was.   Keenan: That's why I'm emphasising this. I'm leaving her sisters out because her sisters showed personality. They were on the show. They had speaking roles. They could build that. All the twins did, they were just in the background for the first four, five, six, seven years as nobodies. But because they were there and millions of people saw them, they were building reach. Once they decided to flip the switch, it was gone.   “Why the average American does not spend time building micro reach, whether it's only 1000 people, 5000 people, 10,000, is beyond me. Then what they do when they need something, they go on to LinkedIn and say, “Hey, I've just been let go. I'm looking for a gig.” Where the fuck have you been the last five years? You wouldn't have to do this if you had actually built reach.” – Keenan · [34:01]    Keenan: So why the average American does not spend time building micro reach, whether it's only 1000 people, 5000 people, 10,000, is beyond me. Beyond me. Then what they do when they need something, they go on to LinkedIn and say, “Hey, I've just been let go. I'm looking for a gig.” Where the fuck have you been the last five years? You wouldn't have to do this if you had actually built reach.   Will Barron: Are you familiar, Keenan, with the concept of 1000 true fans?   Keenan: No.   The Concept of 1000 True Fans · [34:25]   Will Barron: So I'm pretty sure his name is Kevin Kelly, he's the founder. Maybe still, maybe not, the chief editor of Wired Magazine. He's got a really good article. I'll link it in the show notes of this episode.   Will Barron: Basically this works for an entrepreneur. It works for perhaps you're a sales professional in a specific industry and you want to turn that into a consulting gig. Or you want to do speaking, whatever it is. Or one of the examples he uses in this blog post article is a band. All you need is 1000 people, 1000 people who love everything that you do, who will spend a little bit of money with you each year.   Will Barron: Say for the band, they buy the $100 EAP. The record, as opposed to just the digital download. As a consultant, maybe it's not 1000 people, maybe it's 100 people, and they all give you $1000 for a day's work or whatever it is. Whatever people are charging as consultants in their specific niches.   Will Barron: Once you suss out that it's so few people and you can reach them so easily, it changes paradigms on this. It changed my mindset on all of this for the podcast. It's just slightly different now what we're doing, but I knew that if I had 10 companies that would give me 10 grand a year to sponsor the show. So I only had 10 customers to sell to, that was the business. Or the beginnings of the kind of seeds of a business there.   Will Barron: So I read this article, I translated it into that. That's how I went about everything. I find that the bigger, not necessarily the bigger, the better your relationship, because we kind of poo-pooed relationships at the top of the show. The more value that you can give these individuals, whether they like you or not.   Keenan: Yes, yes, yes.   Will Barron: I'm learning. It is going in, Keenan.   Keenan: The more value you give to these people, the more they'll pay you. Yes.   Will Barron: The more value you give them in the meantime, the easier they're going to pay you and work with you in the future. That's what I was getting at with that. We're not talking about Kylie Jenner with how many millions or 10s of millions or 100s of millions of followers she's got an Instagram.   Will Barron: We're talking about you, perhaps me, as a medical device sales person in leads. I just need to give value to 32 urologists and I will smash my target, do multiple six figures every year and it's as simple as that.   Keenan: Yes. Yep. You got it.   Will Barron: Good man.   Keenan: That's it. Yeah.   Keenan’s Advise to His Older Self on How to Become Better at Selling · [36:48]   Will Barron: Good. Well, glad I've got to kind of tie it altogether there. Well, with that, Keenan, I've asked you this question about 47 times now. I'm going to ask you again, just to wrap up the show. That is, if you go back in time and speak to your younger self, what would be the one piece of advice you'd give him to help him become better at selling?   Keenan: Nothing.   Will Barron: You got to give me something to work with here.   Keenan: That's what I say every single time.   Will Barron: Go back. What would you right now tell if you could, if you could put it in a letter, in a time machine and send it forward, what would you tell your kind of 60 year old self?   Keenan: Oh, I like that one. Remember what got you here. That is, excuse me. That is there are no rules, family and friends matter. That life is too short, too short. By the way, this is messed up. That's only 10 years from now. Okay.   Keenan: So my 60 year old self, you got to come up with an older year because it's nine years from now, actually. So that's not a good one. But here, that puts it in perspective, is as you said it, it seemed in my head like a long way down the road, but it's really only nine years from now for me.   Keenan: So I won't forget, but I think that's why I am happy with the life I've lived and where I've gotten, is I just have a very youthful, a very high energy life. That just doesn't make me feel that I'm getting older. It's moving down the road.   Keenan: I literally forget that I'll be 51 in April. Forget it. I'll be reading articles and they're like that 52 year old man died, or the 60 year old man. I'm like, God, I hope I'm healthy when I get there. I'm like, oh, snap. I'm there. Like, oh my God, I'm almost there. So it's an interesting perspective that I have myself in. I do not feel that 60 is a million years from now in my head, but it's really only nine.   Parting Thoughts · [39:01]   Will Barron: Good. Well, I could dive into that for another 15 minutes and get your insights for all us young guns who are following in your footsteps, Keenan, but we'll wrap up with that. Tell us where we can find Gap Selling? Tell us where we can find more about you as well because you put out so much awesome video content. It's well worth kind of following it and seeing what you're up to.   Keenan: Thank you, sir. So look, I do a lot of video on LinkedIn. So talking about giving. I just do LinkedIn content, tell people how to handle different sales scenarios, that provides tonnes of value on making you a better salesperson.   Keenan: You can find me on Amazon where you can find Gap Selling on Amazon. I didn't check the last few days, but it's been the number one hot new seller on Amazon for almost two and a half months now, which has blown me away. You can also find me@asalesguy.com, just asalesguy.com.   Will Barron: Good stuff. Well, I'll link to all that in the show notes of this episode, over@salesman.org.   Will Barron: With that, Keenan, I want to thank you for your time, as always, mate. Next time you're on, we'll dive into phase two of the kitchen fitting at my place and the saga that's going on there. With that, mate, I'll speak to you again soon on The Salesman Podcast.   Keenan: Awesome, baby. Love coming out here. You're dope. Appreciate it.  
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Sep 15, 2022 • 19min

How To Use Deal Management To Win More Business, In Less Time | Salesman Podcast

As a sales professional, you'll often find yourself working on more than one deal at once. You'll hold conversations with different people with different needs and viewpoints. You want to close each of these effectively to ensure you keep smashing your sales quotas. Staying on top of all this can leave you overwhelmed, confused, and sometimes lost. Luckily, effective deal management can help simplify and organize the various aspects of your sales deals and improve your performance, efficiency, and conversions. How Can Deal Management Help You Become a Better Sales Professional? Effective deal management can drastically improve your sales performance. Here are the three most significant benefits of deal management. Greater Preparedness Having a deal process provides you with all the necessary information and tools to help you make informed, versatile decisions. Suppose your manager is unavailable for a client call due to a bad connection. If your organization has a well-defined deal management system, you can: Speak on behalf of your superior Make the best decisions using the information available to you Keep the deal moving forward You'll be better prepared to pivot and respond to situations and can create a more resilient and sustainable organization that recovers faster from setbacks. Better Consistency Your ultimate goal is to close as many deals as you can. But to achieve this, you have to eliminate any human error or personal preference-caused inefficiencies. Having a clearly defined deal management process makes this possible. With refined deal parameters in place, you can engage proactively with prospects as per the set standard. What's more, having a repeated process will also strengthen your selling skills, helping you deliver consistent and improved client experience throughout the sales cycle. Shorter Sales Cycle Time can be a sales rep's best friend or the worst enemy. Whether it's your friend or enemy depends on your management style. We've found that the longer the sales cycle, the less likely is the prospect to convert. Why? Many things can go wrong if the deal gets dragged. For instance, the prospect may lose interest or have another urgent matter to attend to; a pandemic might hit… anything can happen. With a carefully established deal flow management system, you can speed up your sales process while maintaining an excellent prospect-rep relationship and providing a solution-based engagement. What Are the 5 Stages of Deal Management? Deal management is an entire process designed to inform you what to expect when selling and ensure optimal deal management. It can be broken down into five stages to streamline your processes, letting you make the most of available sales opportunities. Stage 1: Process Planning You need to create an effective deal management that can be implemented company-wide. At the same time, your strategy must align with your organization's objectives, needs, and resources. That's why your deal management strategy should be flexible and streamlined to account for all kinds of client agreements effectively. Consider the following factors to develop an effective deal management strategy: What kind of deals is your company working with? Who is responsible for the different stages of the sales process? What issues have taken place in the past that resulted in a failed deal? What resources do you need to implement your strategy effectively? Answering these questions will help you set the ball rolling for the next stage. Stage 2: Process Implementation Once you've outlined your deal management process, it's time to implement it. We highly recommend using a deal management software tool like Monday.com or HubSpot Deal Tracking Software. You can import your data and onboard your suppliers into a centralized platform, allowing you to set up and execute all your deals with ease. Onboarding is a critical aspect of the implementation stage. Every person involved in the deal should know about your goals and how to use ideal management software. Otherwise, you'll find yourself resolving tons of errors and issues introduced into the deal management process. Ensure you and your team are aware of the new process and follow all procedures to the T to make deal management more reliable and efficient. Stage 3: Pre-Deal At this stage, you've established the foundation of your deal management process. Next, you'll implement it when creating new deals with your prospects. If you want the prospect to invest in your product or service, you should focus on the solution and not the product. It's why effective negotiation and overcoming client objections is such a big part of the pre-deal stage. Ensure you have access to all data that helps you understand the prospect's requirements and then tailor your sales pitch accordingly. Stage 4: Handover (Optional) If your organization has a system where the people negotiating the deal are different from people managing it, you have to hand the prospect over to them. On the other hand, if you're responsible for closing the deal yourself, you can skip this and move on to Stage 5. The thing is, handovers can be tricky. Prospects don't like it since they're back to square one, where they have to communicate with a brand-new person they haven't interacted with before and, more importantly, don't trust. Your job is to make the handover as smooth as possible, ensuring everyone involved in the deal management process knows what they need to do to see it to its conclusion. Be sure to walk the next person to the details of the deals and introduce them to the prospect to make the transition seamless. Stage 5: Closing the Deal This is the stage when you take the plunge and ask for the sale. Make the prospect feel comfortable about saying yes to the deal. A good strategy is to create a sense of urgency by setting a deadline for the prospect to respond. Be sure the prospect is aware of the terms of the deal. Once everyone has agreed on the terms and signed the contract, you've got yourself a brand-new customer. Congratulations! 3 Effective Tips for Better Deal Management Below, we've compiled a list of tips that can help you improve your sales processes and add value to each client or customer experience. Collect All Relevant Data Measurable data allows you to initiate quality engagement with prospects, which will ultimately help you close more deals. Think of the whole process as mapping your roadmap before you start your journey: you'll have a better idea of where you're going, where you shouldn't go, and know where others have gone wrong before. Try to find out more about your prospect—what are their long-term goals, threats to those goals, and their specific pain points. You can then use this information to establish trust and pitch your products or services. Expert Note: “Once a deal has been approved to move through the sales process, the sales leader is responsible for every step along the way.” Tom Searcy Salesman Podcast Create Multithreaded Relationships Sales 101: Never put all your eggs in one basket. Buying decisions generally involve more than one person. So if your point of contact doesn't have the power to make buying decisions, there's a chance you may not close the deal. Create a multithreaded relationship, where you connect with more than one person at the company. This will ensure the deal doesn't rely on a single connection, improving your chances of securing a sale. Stay Patient During the Pricing and Procurement Process Despite everything going perfect, you can still lose the deal if you don't handle the pricing and procurement process effectively. You may feel like rushing the last few steps of the deal, but staying patient and strategic is incredibly important here. After presenting your prospect with pricing details, hit pause. Give the prospect time to respond and resist the temptation to throw out a discount to close the deal faster. Be confident in the way you managed the deal to this point and the value you presented. Trust me, the prospect will notice. If you have successfully established a genuine connection with the prospect, you won't face any difficulty addressing their concerns when they get back to you. Deal Management Tools B2B sales teams often need deal management tools to generate intelligent industry insights and visibility of potential commercial growth. Deal management software can often quickly improve the number of deals that can be worked on in real time and reduce operational constraints at the same time. If you're not happy with your current CRM or deal management software of choice, feel free to drop us an message and we can offer our unbiased opinion on some potential solutions for your business. Next Steps Are you thinking to relax after successfully converting the prospect? You don't want to make that mistake. Following up after the close is critical in effective deal management. Make sure your brand-new customer gets the product or service on time and is satisfied with everything. It'll help you build better relationships, resulting in repeated sales.
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Sep 12, 2022 • 10min

A Rough Quarter Ahead for Salespeople (How To Actually Set More Meetings) | Selling Made Simple

Do you feel that? You can practically smell it in the air. *Sniff* *sniff*—a recession is coming. Are YOU prepared? If you want to come out of this economic dip intact, you need to start preparing. Like NOW. And one of the best ways to do that is by setting MORE meetings and begin the work of overloading your pipeline. Today we’re covering that dreaded word on everyone’s mind, “recession.” Not whether it’s going to happen or what the fallout will be. But what you can do to protect yourself or heck, even come out ahead, by booking more meetings TODAY. Now, experts agree that there’s a recession looming not too far off on the horizon. How big it will be or how long it will last is anyone’s guess. But what we do know is how it will affect buyers as a whole. What a Recession Means First and foremost… 1. Less Spending Your clients and potential buyers are spending less money. When money becomes tight (and it will), your buyers are going to be way less likely to shell out for a product they aren’t desperate for. And that means you need to get better at driving urgency, selling value, and showing buyers why you’re a solid investment. 2. Scared For Their Job Number two, buyers are scared about the future of their job. Zooming in from a company level, your buyers are going to have their own fears. How secure is their job? Is their department first on the chopping block? And how will making a buying mistake affect their chances of sticking around? 3. Prioritizing the Status Quo Buyers are also shifting their priorities. In a growth market, companies are looking for opportunities. Chances to get bigger, to get better. They want to expand. But in the face of a recession, a lot of businesses are looking for ways to secure the status quo. How will they simply keep afloat so they can wait out the storm? 4. Scared of Change And number four, they’re scared of change. Change carries risk. And as a result, buyers are going to be waaaaay less likely to spend their already tight budget on big-shift products. Change is already scary enough. But in a recession, it’s a nightmare. Alright, so with all that in mind, the question becomes… How to Book More Meetings (3 Steps) What can you do to capitalize on these shifts to book more meetings? There are three things in particular you as a sales professional can do to keep your pipeline packed. 1. Up Your Qualification Game Up your qualification game. When the market is booming, you may have the time and resources to focus on anyone who shows even an ounce of interest. But when times are tight, every second counts. And that means you need to spend your day working with only the best leads. Now you’re going to be running into three types of leads here. People with money to spend now. People who will have money once things lighten up and get better. And people who don’t have money now and aren’t sure how they’ll be later either. Your goal is to prioritize people with the money to spend now. Put 80% to 90% of your efforts into them. Because they’re the only ones who you’ll have even a chance with. The buyers who are waiting for the economy to shift should be priority number two. Don’t leave them out entirely. Because once things do turn around, the relationship you’ve built right now can lead to some seriously massive quarters in the future. And finally, the “can’t do now, not sure about later” leads. Light touches here. Keep them in your loop for now. But don’t spend too much time with them. Instead, just follow up after everything changes. And invest the bulk of your time in the first two lead types instead. The better you are at qualifying, the better you’ll fare right now. 2. Adjusting Your Value Proposition Technique number two is adjusting your value proposition. In regular times, you’re probably used to hitting some core points when talking about your solution’s benefits. “It can increase revenue, help your company expand, grow your market” – that type of stuff. Go-tos, right? Well, things have changed. And in a recession, belts are tightening and growing takes a back seat to maintaining. So what does that mean for you? To maximize your booking rate, you need to shift your value proposition to how you can help get more from less. Instead of focusing on ROI and investing in growth, talk about how you can boost efficiency. How your product lets them cut costs, reduce time spend, and make the budget they have now go further. And as a cherry on the top, show your buyers how your solution doesn’t just streamline the business as a whole. It also means it’ll make their job more secure. 3. Demonstrate the “Costs” Status quo reigns supreme during a recession, that much is clear. But your buyers shouldn’t just be focused on not growing. They should also be looking for ways to prevent problems. Not acting in and of itself is a problem, particularly during a recession. Companies will go under. And the ones that survive SHOULD actively be looking for ways to increase their competitiveness. So when you’re working on a new buyer, be sure to hit the costs of not changing especially hard. The more they see that inaction is costly, the more likely they’ll be to consider your solution. right now and continue making selling simple…”
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Sep 10, 2022 • 39min

Replay: How To Steal Your Competitors Business And Eat Their Lunch | Salesman Podcast

Anthony Iannarino is an international speaker, author, and experienced sales leader. In this episode of The Salesman Podcast, Anthony shares how we can take business from our competitors and essentially “eat their lunch”. You'll learn: Sponsored by: Free SalesCode assessment Learn your strengths and weaknesses in an instant. Taken by over 10,000+ of your competitors. Don't get left behind. Take the free assessment Featured on this episode: Host - Will Barron Founder of Salesman.org Guest - Anthony Iannarino International Speaker and Experienced Sales Leader Resources: Book: Eat Their Lunch: Winning Customers Away from Your Competition TheSalesBlog.com @Iannarino Book: The Lost Art of Closing: Winning the Ten Commitments That Drive Sales Book: Consultative Selling: The Hanan Formula for High-Margin Sales at High Levels ZoomInfo.com  Transcript Will Barron: Coming up on today's episode of the salesman podcast.   Anthony Iannarino: This is the thing about human relationships. Fast is slow and slow is fast. So the faster you try to go, the slower you go and the easier you try to make things for yourself, the more difficult it is for you. And when you do the hard things, the easier it is for you to generate the results you want. It just works that way. I didn't design the universe. I had no say… I mean, God didn't consult with me to make this law. It was the law when I showed up here. That that tends to be the way things work.   Will Barron: Hello, sales nation. I'm Will Barron host of the salesman podcast. The world's most istened to B2B sales show. If you haven't already make sure to click subscribe and let's meet today's guest.   Anthony Iannarino: I'm Anthony Iannarino. I'm a speaker, I'm a writer, I'm a teacher. And you can find me thesalesblog.com.   Should Salespeople Be Aiming To Be the Best Professionals They Possibly Can Be, or Do They Just Need To Be 1% Better Than the Next Best Competition? · [01:18]    Will Barron: On this episode, Anthony, will dive in into how you can go into a competitor account, how you can take their lunch, how you can steal the business away from them, the step by step process to do this. And it's incredible that we haven't really covered this on the podcast before. This is probably the, not necessarily quickest, but the most efficient and best way to really crush your target, not just now, but over the years and decades to come. And so with all that said, I'm hyped up, you should be. This is a real important show for us. Let's dive right in. To set the story, to set the scene for the audience should be to be sales professionals, should they be aiming at all times to be the best professional they could possibly be, learn everything they could possibly learn and give as much value as they possibly can. Or do they in reality only really need to give and be that 1% better than the next best competition.   Anthony Iannarino: I love that question because I see this thing go by on Facebook and it's like a regular post that just always comes by in my feet for some reason. It says, I don't want to be better than anyone else. I just want to be better than I was yesterday. And I love that platitude. But what I would want for you is to be better than you were yesterday and better than your toughest competitor today. Because if you live in the red ocean and your a competitor, then you have to be better. And the way that you frame that up is sort of a mutually exclusive sort of choice.   “A lot of people are so focused on their competition that they forget that it's a contest to create value, and that there's absolutely nothing you can do about your competitors. So if you can't do anything about them, then what should you be working on? That leaves you. So you better start working on that because that's all you've got.” – Anthony Iannarino · [02:20]    Anthony Iannarino: Like, do I need to be the best version of me or do I need to be better than them? Both. It's an and. You need to constantly work on this, but you do hint to something where a lot of people are so focused on their competition, that they forget that it's a contest to create value. And that there's absolutely nothing you can do about your competitors. So if you can't do anything about them, then what should you be working on? That leaves you. So you better start working on that because that's all you've got.   How Much of the Marketplace is Already Taken Up By the Competition Versus New Buyers Who’ve Never Used Our Type of Product or Service Before? · [02:47]    Will Barron: Good. I expected hope for that answer and that makes total sense for me. So hopefully it makes sense for the audience. And with that context and the kind of back in mind as we go through this conversation Anthony, how much… I don't know if there's a percentage, I don't know if there's statistics on it. So I don't want to kind of put you on the spot, but how much of a marketplace, if we are a B2B sales professional is taken up with the competition already having an account versus what we spend typically most of our time on which are trying to convince people that they want our product.   Anthony Iannarino: It's an interesting question. And I think from vertical to vertical and industry to industry there's variances. And a new industry where things are interesting when you look at, especially all the tech stuff that goes on our world of sales, there's a lot of people trying to capture leads. And for some reason they think leads are better than targets because somebody raised their hand. And I had a conversation with a group of people I was speaking to and they said, the biggest challenge we have is turning marketing qualified leads into sales qualified leads. And I said, well, what does that mean? And they said, a sales qualified lead is somebody who shows up ready to buy. And I said, then why do they need you? I mean, you're redundant now. They're already ready to buy.   “The thing that I've always struggled with as somebody who's run businesses of my own is people that come in and say, “we should call on people who don't buy our services and teach them the value of the services because they're not already buying.” And I would say, “well, why do you think they're not already buying? Because they don't care about what we sell. They don't believe they'll benefit from it.” So why not spend all of your time or at least a disproportionate amount of the time on the people that already see what you sell as essential, as strategic, as necessary as something that's going to help them move their business forward.” – Anthony Iannarino · [04:04]    Anthony Iannarino: So I know that's what you want, but that's not how it tends to work. People have issues that they're trying to resolve and questions that they need answered and concerns that they need help with and all these other things. For most of us, I don't know what the percentage is, but the thing that I've always struggled with as somebody who's run businesses of my own is people that come in and say, we should call on people who don't buy our services and teach them the value of the services because they're not already buying. And I would say, well, why do you think they're not already buying? Because they don't care about what we sell. They don't believe they'll benefit from it. So why not spend all of your time or at least a disproportionate amount of the time on the people that already see what you buy as essential, as strategic, as necessary as something that's going to help them move their business forward.   “For most of us, if you were to make a list of your dream clients and say, who are the companies and the people that my value proposition is going to resonate with so strongly that they're going to see me as a strategic resource, they already have somebody sitting in your seat. I mean, they weren't waiting for you to come along like, “we'd really like to do this but nobody's reached out to us.” Everybody's reaching out to them. So I think most of our dream clients, probably a hundred percent of them already belong to a competitor. So what should you do about that? I mean, you can look for an easier way and say, well, if I had really good leads, that would be great, or you can decide to target them and then come up with a strategy that allows you to penetrate that account and develop the contacts and the relationship so that you can displace your competitor.” – Anthony Iannarino · [04:38]    Anthony Iannarino: And for most of us, if you were to make a list of your dream clients and say, who are the companies and the people that my value proposition is going to resonate with so strongly that they're going to see me as a strategic resource, they already have somebody sitting in your seat. I mean, they weren't waiting for you to come along like, we'd really like to do this but nobody's reached out to us. Everybody's reaching out to them. So I think most of us that are dream clients, probably a hundred percent of them already belong to a competitor. So what should you do about that? I mean, you can look for an easier way and say, well, if I had really good leads, that would be great, or you can decide to target them and then come up with a strategy that allows you to penetrate that account and develop the contacts and the relationship so that can displace your competitor.   Is Displacing a Competitor all About Having the Right Mindset? · [05:30]    Will Barron: So I want to dive into specifically displacing competitors and the strategy behind that in a second. But just to wrap up, I guess the intro here Anthony, is this a mindset issue? Is this that humans will… Most humans will typically go for the easiest route if there's two routes to an end goal. Do we have it wrong in our heads that we think that educating someone who doesn't know anything about our product service, perhaps even industry or value, we think that is an easier proposal versus educating someone who or reeducating someone who is already somewhat educated, who's already spending money, we see that as harder. And if that is the case that we've got those perceptions, is that necessarily true?   “Convincing somebody that doesn't believe they’d get value from what you sell to value it, that's really difficult. Finding somebody who already values what you do and has a belief that they could have even better results, it takes more time for certain but it's easier for you to generate the outcome that you want. And there's a difference.” – Anthony Iannarino · [06:13]    Anthony Iannarino: The way that you stated it is exactly right. We want to do what's easy. And what's easy is actually the most difficult thing to do. So convincing somebody that doesn't believe they value from what you sell to value it, that's really difficult. Finding somebody who already values what you do and has a belief that they could have even better results, it takes more time for certain but it's easier for you to generate the outcome that you want.    “This is the thing about human relationships, fast is slow and slow is fast. So the faster you try to go, the slower you go. And the easier you try to make things for yourself, the more difficult it is for you. And when you do the hard things, the easier it is for you to generate the results you wanted. It just works that way. I didn't design the universe. I had no say… I mean, God didn't consult with me to make this law. It was the law when I showed up here. That tends to be the way things work.” – Anthony Iannarino · [06:32]    Anthony Iannarino: And there's a difference. This is the thing about human relationships, fast is slow and slow is fast. So the fast you try to go, the slower you go and the easier you try to make things for yourself, the more difficult it is for you. And when you do the hard things, the easier it is for you to generate the results you wanted. It just works that way. I didn't design the universe. I had no say… I mean, God didn't consult with me to make this law. It was the law when I showed up here. That tends to be the way things work.   Will Barron: Sure. I guess if the law was different, it would still reach an equilibrium, right? Of, if spamming called emails with no customization and no care or thought and it worked, which maybe it did at one point, it's not going to work at some point in the future. So this is always constantly ebbing and flowing, right?   Will and Anthony Talk About the Increasing Amounts of Spamming That’s Present on LinkedIn · [07:14]    Anthony Iannarino: You are apparently having the same LinkedIn experience that I'm having.   Will Barron: Probably not to the extent as you are, because everyone knows I have zero budget to spend on absolutely anything, but I still get… Yes spammy emails and LinkedIn messages all the time.   Anthony Iannarino: That's funny. I mean, I get the worst messages. I have sales trainers offer me sales training continually. And I'm like, did you even look at the profile at all? You had… No. The answer is no they didn't.   Will Barron: I had someone reach out to me the other day. And maybe you've had this with your experience in kind of your podcast as well, Anthony. But I had someone who's obviously scraped my podcast for all the guests and then were reaching out to them to offer them a podcast booking service, to get them booked on another podcast. It was a called email. There was no customization other than a name and then my podcast. And someone had literally written in this… Or spam this email to me that said, Hey Will, I've seen that you… Or I loved your episode on the salesman podcast.   Will Barron: Would you like to get a more podcast like the salesman? I was like, I had to email the guy. I was like, look, I don't need the service. I don't mind you spamming my audience because I will look for other podcasts such as yours to find great guests and I'll do my own research on the back of that and reach out to them. But this is not leading… This isn't going to leave a good taste in anyone's mouth. Because clearly it's… Clearly to me it's spam, but to other people they're going to see right through it as well.   Anthony Iannarino: I didn't realise that I was supposed to be interviewing you on this podcast. So at some point we'll have to do it takeover and ask you a bunch of questions.   The First Step of Trying to Take Over a Competitor’s Account · [08:58]   Will Barron: Yeah. Well off the record, we should probably do that as well. I think that'd be a good way to kind of… The audience would probably enjoy that. We've done it once before in the past. And I think you'd be a good interview to do that on. But as a sidetrack we'll come back to that when we kind of stop recording perhaps, but how do we then implement this? How do we… Clearly there is a strategic process here, but is there a strategic process and what's the first step of it? How do we even just get our foot in the door with an account to maybe they're somewhat happy with the brand, the organisation that they're using at the moment.   Anthony Iannarino: I always know how far people read into the book when they reach out to me and send me emails because the first about three chapters are so consuming for people and the results that they get change immediately as it comes to prospecting that I start getting notes that say I have 17 meetings next week and after reading the first three chapters. The first chapter is a very… It's an important chapter. And it's probably the thing that I've been teaching the longest, but it only made it into the third book because I felt like I had to put the other two books before this one. First I had to give people a competency model. So you could be somebody worth buying from in the first place. That made selling way easier than anything else. Just actually being somebody people want to buy from. The second thing that I wrote was a book called the Lost Art of Closing. That's how do you gain the commitments and have the difficult conversations that move clients forward and their process of trying to create better results.   “Most of us say something like, “well, I’d love to come out, introduce myself and my company, tell you about the products and services and the companies like yours that we’re helping and then learn a little bit about you and what you do.” That is just not a great value proposition, but that's what we offer people when we're prospecting.” – Anthony Iannarino · [10:26]    Anthony Iannarino: And then we got to this book and this is the first place where I felt like I could now start talking about the four levels of value creation. And the reason that they took so long to get here is because the concept it's sort of difficult in execution, but it's a very simple idea. Most of us say something like, well, love to come out, introduce myself and my company, tell you about the products and services and the companies like yours that were helping and then learn a little bit you and what you do. Okay. So that is just not a great value proposition, but that's what we offer people when we're prospecting. And it's what we offer them when we show up in their office to have a conversation. So let me start by telling you my company's great story and our great history.   “The first level of value is what's the value of the product that you sell, and it's critical and it's important that you have a great product. But it's not what people are really buying. If you show up and you start from that part of the conversation, you look and sound like a commodity. The second level of value is what kind of experience do you offer? Are you easy to do business with, do you have the service and support? Because you're going to give me your product or your service and it's going to create problems for me. So I need to know that I can get those problems taken care of. The third level of value is really what I would just call tangible results. So let's imagine you're a company that's shipping something. Can you get it from point A to point B? Does it show up? That's an outcome. But it's not a strategic outcome. And level four is the strategic outcome. So why are you doing this in the first place?” – Anthony Iannarino · [11:03]    Anthony Iannarino: So we go back decades and decades to begin a story with somebody who's actually concerned about right now and they're really not worried about 1972 or some time period before that. So the first level of value is what's the value of the product that you sell and it's critical and it's important that you have a great product, but it's not what people are really buying. If you show up and you start from that part of the conversation, you look and sound like a commodity. So the second level of value is what kind of experience do you offer? Are you easy to do business with, do you have the service and support because you're going to give me your product or your service and it's going to create problems for me. So I need to know that I can get those problems taken care of.   Anthony Iannarino: The third level of value is really what I would just call tangible results. So let's imagine you're a company that's shipping something. Can you get it from point A to point B? Does it show up? That's an outcome. But it's not a strategic outcome. And level four is the strategic outcome. So why are you doing this in the first place? And the first book I used a quote from a Harvard marketing professor named Theodore Levit, who once said, people don't buy drills, they buy quarter inch holes. And that was to say, if they could have the hole without the drill, they just take the hole. But we're at a point right now in the evolution of markets and economies and sales to where instead of showing up and saying, I can get you a hole, which everyone can do. I have to start by saying, first of all, you don't know that you need a hole.   Anthony Iannarino: You don't need to know what the hole looks like yet. You don't have that covered. You don't know what wall you need to drill the hole on in the first place. So we have to get to the first principle, which is what is the strategic outcome that somebody's trying to accomplish. And what we call this in the book is entering from the right. So if you imagine a PowerPoint deck with level one on the left and level four on the right, everybody has been taught to enter from one to say, let me demonstrate my credibility to you by talking about my company, when you really need to show up and say, listen, these are the systemic challenges that are facing your business. These are the strategic outcomes that we should be talking about and you enter the conversation at a much higher level.   “What we're trying to do is make the case for there's a reason to change. And if you say, “well, I have a really good product and my competitors all have really good products.” Well, then I don't really need to change. And if you say, “well, I could probably save you a little bit of money.” Enough money to make it worth my while to go through the trouble of changing all the things that I've set up and I already know these people. They're the devil I know. So I've figured out how to do all the workarounds I need to get this result and I'm going to start over with you, why? So you have to move up to a higher level of value if you're going to have that displacement conversation.” – Anthony Iannarino · [13:46]   Anthony Iannarino: Now you're still going to wrap up your product, your services and the tangible results you produce at some point in time. But it's just not a great starting point for the conversation. That's the first chapter, but it's followed very closely by a chapter about capturing mind share. And the view here is that every client that you are calling on has a lens in front of their face that they're looking at the world through and they're looking it through their experience, their challenges, the other people's content that they read and consume that shapes that lens. And what you have to be able to do is walk in and either replace that lens or sharpen that lens so people see something different to say, wait a second. We haven't quite looked at it like that before. And that changes my view because what we're trying to do is make the case for there's a reason to change.   Anthony Iannarino: And if you say, well, I have a really good product and my competitors all have really good products, well, then I don't really need to change. And if you say, well, I could probably save you a little bit of money, enough money to make it worth my while to go through the trouble of changing all the things that I've set up and I already know these people. They're the devil I know. So I've figured out how to do all the workarounds I need to get this result and I'm going to start over with you, why? So you have to move up to a higher level of value if you're going to have that displacement conversation. And basically the start of that book is what gives people a different view of how to prospect and how to open these conversations. That just results in greater opportunity to have a discussion that ends up with you displacing your competitor.   The Differences and Similarities Between the Process of Displacing Your Competitor and Consultative Selling? · [14:47]   Will Barron: Is this… I'm removing because of people call other people have books about consultative selling and things like that. So removing all that from the conversation for a second of other people's brand and IP, and that side of things. Is this essentially what consult… When we're told to consultative sell what we should be doing in that we should be leading with insights that perhaps our competitors don't have so that differentiates us when we reach out. But then insights that all of this sharpens the lens of how people are looking at the landscape, the customers that we're going to work with. Is this what consultative selling should have been all along as opposed to some kind of buzzword, if that makes sense.    Anthony Iannarino: I love that question too. I got a chance to speak to [Mack Hanan 00:15:18] before he died. He wrote the book consultative selling in 1970. And in the book, he recommended that you focus on pips, not a personal improvement plan, but a profit improvement plan for your client. And his whole view was you should figure out how to make them more profitable, which is a really good starting place. But he literally wrote the book on consultative selling. And this must have been last. Before he passed away, I think in 2014 or something like that, I'd had a chance to spend a little time with him on the phone. And I have these calls recorded with Mack who was at 85 years old as sharp as any human being you've ever met. And I asked him, we've known this for 40 plus years and we haven't done it. “Consultative doesn't mean that you're not high pressure and that you don't use a hard sell. And consultative doesn't mean you ask really good questions. That could be a part of it too, but that's not what it means. Consultative means you provide your best advice as to how they run their business better. So, that's the starting point. When people say, “I really want to be consultative.” And then they say, “well, I don't want to tell them because they know their business better than I do.” Then why are you sitting in front of them? I mean, if they know their business better and you don't have a point of view about this, if you don't have some way that you think you can create greater value, then how are you going to consult with them at all?” – Anthony Iannarino · [16:03]    Anthony Iannarino: Why not? And he said, I have no idea why we haven't done this. Consultative doesn't mean that you're not high pressure and that you don't use a hard sell. I mean, you don't do those things anyway. And that might be something that is an attribute of somebody who's consultative and consultative doesn't mean you ask really good questions. That could be a part of it too, but that's not what it means. Consultative means you tell people, you provide your best advice as to how they run their business better. So, that's the starting point. When people say I really want to be consultative. And then they say, well, I don't want to tell them because they know their business better than I do. Well then why are you sitting in front of them? I mean, if they know their business better and you don't have a point of view about this, if you don't have some way that you think you can create greater value, then how are you going to consult with them at all?   Anthony Iannarino: And I think that it is how we're supposed to be doing this work. I don't think that the insights necessarily have to be unique because as I lay out in the book there's systemic challenges that affect every business. And you sort of can look and say, these are the factors but you do have to have a point of view about it. And you do have to have a set of values that say, this is a better idea than that idea. And this trade off is the right trade off for you to make, but it's not the right trade off for somebody else to make and here's why, because you're pursuing different strategic outcomes. Somebody might say, I'm trying to increase my profitability. And some other company you work with might look at the same solution and say, I don't care about being more profitable.   “This is probably the primary question I get, “How do I compel people?” Well, find out what's already compelling them and figure out how to help them with what they want already. If you're trying to compel them to buy a product, they don't want a product. They want some strategic outcome. And if you can latch onto that and help them with that initiative, you're going to do a lot better.” – Anthony Iannarino · [17:46]    Anthony Iannarino: I don't want to make any money on this. I want to capture market share faster than anyone else. And I'm going to invest in this for a different reason. You have to be able to understand those things and have that conversation, which is why I've been writing about business acumen for 10 years. Because you have to understand that what they want and people ask me… This is probably the primary question I get. How do I compel people? Well, find out what's already compelling them and figure out how to help them with what they want already. You're trying to compel them to buy a product. They don't want a product. They want some strategic outcome. And if you can latch onto that and help them with that initiative, you're going to do a lot better.   Anthony’s Thoughts on Why Salespeople Should Learn About Sales Consultancy Themselves Without Waiting on Marketing or Leadership Input · [18:07]    Will Barron: So is this our own points of view, our own own values, our own ability to understand a marketplace, or is this what has been dripped fed to us by the organisation that we are representing?   “You only need two things to be a trusted advisor: trust and advice. That's it.” – Anthony Iannarino · [18:18]    Anthony Iannarino: I continue to say this, Will, to every sales audience I have. You only need two things to be a trusted advisor, trust and advice. That's it. Okay. So if nothing and you're like, well, I don't really know anything, but my marketing department gave me this killer slide deck, you should see it. Well, why don't I talk to somebody who knows more than you? I mean, you have to get the business acumen yourself. And that's the hard part. The business acumen comes when you're out doing the work and you're paying attention and you're reading and you're learning. But yeah, you have to have something that makes you the advisor. You cannot be a know nothing. And I call this concept in the book, a 52% me. If you can't go on a meeting because you can't have a discovery conversation without having a subject matter expert with you, then you are not the subject matter expert.   Anthony Iannarino: And you have to have enough of this, that when you're sitting across from your client, there's information disparity. We know something, we have ideas and how could it be otherwise? So you think about a salesperson that sells enterprise resource planning software. How many times does the average buyer buy that in their life? Hopefully in their opinion once. Like, hopefully I never have to do this again, because it's a root canal, a colonoscopy, a brain surgery and quadruple bypass for your business all in the same day. That that's too much. It's hard.   “There should never be information parity. And if there is, you're serving hundreds or thousands of customers, how do you not have greater insight about what decisions to make and in what order to do things than your client who's going to buy it once?” – Anthony Iannarino · [19:53]    Anthony Iannarino: How many times does an enterprise resource planning salesperson sell that. Hundreds of times. So who has a better idea of how you should think about it? What kind of trade offs you should make? The person that has all the experience doing that. So there should never be information parity. And if there is, I think if you were to challenge a salesperson, look inside your four walls, you're serving hundreds or thousands of customers. How do you not have greater insight about what decisions to make and in what order to do things than your client who's going to buy it once.   How to Gather and Administer Sales Insights That Give You the Competitive Advantage in the Marketplace · [20:10]    Will Barron: How do we… Because it's one thing to say this, Anthony, but it's another I guess to live it and to document it. So what insights can we gather that give us a competitive advantage when we're doing these, hopefully doing these deals in sales every day, months, and and years to come. What should we be looking out for? Or what is… What would be a counter intuitive insights? How would we uncover something that makes someone go aha, as opposed to kind of facts and figures that are obvious. How do we go that level deeper with this?    Anthony Iannarino: Yeah. And some of the facts and figures are obvious, but what are you going to do about them? So in the book, I used my experience because I came out of temporary staffing and I would walk in and say, well, right now there's 11,000 baby boomers retiring in the United States every single day. So that's 368,000 people a month and we're creating 220,000 new jobs a month. So we now have a gap opening up. That's for 4.3 million people retiring. How are you going to find what's your strategy right now to acquire the talent you need and how do you skill them up to give them the experience of somebody who's been in an industry for 30 years. And first off, no one knows that 11,000 baby boomers are retiring. Second off, no one's ever asked themselves, what's the implications for our talent strategy when there's going to be a massive gap because the baby boomers in the United States is our largest generation followed by two smaller generations.   “If you're not doing the work as a salesperson to have the advantage in the conversation, to know facts and to know what the implications of the facts are, more importantly, then you can't be the trusted advisor. And what happens is executives are busy running their business. And I know what the internet says. I know LinkedIn and I know the social selling stuff very well like, ‘your customer is researching and they're reading and they're studying.’ They're not. They're trying to run their business. They're not doing those things. And when you walk in and you start sharing these concepts with them, they're like, great, now I don't have to think about it at all because I have a really smart person who's doing this work for me.” – Anthony Iannarino · [21:47]    Anthony Iannarino: Where are you going to find the people? ? And you think, well, that's a well documented fact because it is. But people don't know that fact. They don't know it. They're not reading and studying. And if you're not doing that work as a salesperson to have the advantage in the conversation, to know facts and to know what the implications of the facts are more importantly, then you can't be the trusted advisor. And what happens is executives are busy running their business. So they're not out. I know what the internet says. I know LinkedIn and I know the social selling stuff very well like your customers researching and they're reading and they're studying. They're not. They're trying to run their business. They're not doing those things. And when you walk in and you start sharing these concepts with them, they're like, great.   Anthony Iannarino: I can find somebody. They think about this nonstop. They're concerned with this. They understand the implications. They have strategies. Now I don't have to think it at all because I have a really smart person who's doing this work for me. That's back to the beginning of our conversation today. That's just a decision. Like, do you want to be that person that can come in and help people? Or do you want to lean on the product and hope that it's something external that allows you to beat your competitor and take a deal away from them. But it's not, it's going to be you. The product's not going to be enough. Your company's not going to be enough. They need somebody to help them say there's a better way for us to move forward. So you just have to make a decision to do that. And you will find novelty.   Anthony Iannarino: I mean, when you start looking for what's really going on in the world and you will find implications, but it's just enough. It tends to be enough when you walk in and you show up as a subject matter expert. It's not like I'm going to walk into a chief marketing officer and say, listen, I'm not sure if you know this or not, but people are using their mobile phones for everything now. And those chief marketing officers going to go, what! There's a thing called a mobile phone. Of course they know, but you have to say, well, the implication to this from our view right now is that if you're not putting the ads in front of them where they live right now, you're probably missing a large part of the market if you care about 18 to 24 year olds. And I'm going to have facts that can demonstrate that. And I mean, they hope that you know this. You're demonstrating that you belong in the room with them.   Will Barron: I've lived this. And just a super quick example for the audience of selling from one hospital to another. So I'd have here in beautiful Yorkshire in the UK, I didn't manage Leed's hospital, but I managed Bradford. Bradford's colorectal centre is one of the… Some of the surgeons there, some of the best colorectal surgeons in the world and it was all the whole theatre anthem was kitted out with the last organisation I worked for. I would very often just go on the Leed's hospital website, see what they were up to, which anyone could do, and then report that back to the team at Bradford.   Will Barron: And they'd be loving it. There was almost a news ticker for them. And then that would get me meetings. And that just continue that relationship and kind of not what we were talking about today in this episode of securing account. But I went in there then every Friday and secured that account by just doing that very simple task. And it's very difficult for anyone to get a foot in the door because there wasn't many insights if someone was to do this against me to compete against. Because I was the one who kind of always at first through the door with all of this and-   Anthony Iannarino: That's chapter 12. The continuation of creating new value. So you come in and you create new value. Look, there's something else for you to pay attention to. Well, I don't need to look at anybody else yet because you keep coming back with new value. It's a great retention strategy.   Will Barron: I wish I knew it was a retention strategy. For me, it was just, it's the local hospital… Most local hospitals where I live. So I'd go in every Friday afternoon and just sky there for a few hours, do some emails. But inadvertently I'd be winning over the account. And that probably did 20, 30% of my revenue every year by just doing that and popping in on a Friday. And I was almost a rep, a consultant, a service person trying to go in and solve any problems whilst I was there by just doing that. So for people with medical devices, that probably makes somewhat sense to them if you go in hospital to hospital but other people may not. But with that said, Anthony, I want to wrap up the show here with something real practical for the audience. Because we're only really on like stage one of the outreach.   The Strategic Framework for Reaching Out to Prospects When Trying to Convert an Account · [25:50]    Will Barron: So we'll have to of you back on to get deeper into the topic of converting accounts. But is this a reasonable structure or is there a better structure for whether it's a call, an email, meet someone at a conference. But it seems like if we've got some kind of fact, then we have the implication of the fact and then we ask them an intelligent question about their strategy with regards to this. Is that a framework reaching out to someone and if so, is that the best way to go about it? Or is there perhaps enough way?   Anthony Iannarino: Yeah. When people change their language, it's interesting. So you and I were talking and I've mentioned people sending me notes that they have 17 meetings the following week after changing their approach. But their approach went from, love to stop by telling you about my company, tell you about the customers that we work with, to look like you and how we're helping them and learn a little bit about you, which means what's keeping you up at night and I hope you have enough pain or dissatisfaction I create an opportunity. But if you show up and you say, well listen, I'd love to ask you for a 20 minute meeting where I can give you an executive briefing on what's going on in digital transformation inside sales organisations. And a lot of this you're going to be aware of, but some of it is probably going to have some novel implications for your business based on what I can see right now.   Anthony Iannarino: And listen, even if there's not a next step, I'm going to leave you with a deck. I'm going to leave you with some of the questions that you're probably going to want to talk to your management team about as you think about your next 18 to 24 months. What do you look like Thursday for an executive briefing? And I promise this is going to be worth your time. Okay. Now I'm trying to trade enough value to earn a meeting. So the first value prop is you get to listen to me talk about my company, which should be a very interesting experience for you, right?   Anthony Iannarino: And then I'm going to tell you about me, which should just be a delightful way for you to spend your Thursday afternoon. And then I'm going to tell you about our products and services. Okay. Well, I already know all those things because I have people who do what you do. And then you're going to ask me, what's keeping me up at night. I'm a hard pass on that. I have to wash my hair that day. So I can't meet with you.   Will Barron: That's a hard pass for you if you need to wash your hair Anthony.   “The higher people get up into an executive leadership role, the more concerned they are about the things that they don't know. And the more they start looking outside to find somebody who understands something in a way that gives them a competitive advantage without them having to do all the work. And that's just a decision. You either want to be that in your space or you want to try to find an easier way to that conversation.” – Anthony Iannarino · [28:06]    Anthony Iannarino: Exactly. My eyebrows maybe. The other value prop is, I want to have a conversation about strategic outcomes and what's going on in your world and the trends and things that we're concerned with and we're helping our clients answer because that's what this person's looking for. They're looking for ideas. And the interesting thing about the higher people get up into an executive leadership role the more concerned they are about the things that they don't know. And the more they start looking outside to find somebody who understands something in a way that gives them a competitive advantage without them having to do all the work. And that's, again, it's just a decision.   Anthony Iannarino: You either want to be that in your space or you want to try to find an easier way to the conversation that we had at the beginning. You want to try to make it easier. Well, wouldn't it be easier to have a lead come in? It would be easier to have a lead come in, but would it be easier for you to reach your goals with leads? No. You're going to have to go find the largest accounts in your territory and displace people if you really want to perform at the highest level in sales.   Why Salespeople Need Sales Targets and Not Sales Leads · [28:48]   Will Barron: It seems though on another level of all of this as well. If we do have a lead come in, they've raised their hand, they're interested, they've done a lot of the research, right? And I know we kind of poopooed this at the beginning of the show a little bit. But if a lead comes in, it's likely they've put the hand up because they've researched five companies because they want a quote from you to do the comparison because of the done a lot of work on this themselves. Versus if you are given an executive briefing, you are almost start… You're not quite starting at zero because you've done a lot of the qualification has been pre-done for you of there's a need and all this kind of stuff. But it seems like a better position to start from regardless to anything else, just that meeting versus perhaps even getting a meeting with someone who is somewhat raised their hand.   Anthony Iannarino: I mean, if you have a target and they're spending millions of dollars in the category, they're already qualified. I mean, you don't have to worry about that conversation. That book either lunch starts like, you need targets, not leads. And I don't know how much research people do and my experience, and I have a lot of experiences that tell me they don't do much. And if they do, it's a surface level, like who are they? What do they do? It's not a deep dive into what are their views and values and how would they structure a deal different than somebody else? Or how would they structure a solution different than their competitors? They can't see that on your website. I mean, I know everybody wants to have the website doing all this work for us, but the fact of the matter is, in a displacement that's not going to be the way that it tends to happen for most people.   “I spoke to a group of people this last week and they were very excited that two of their dream clients downloaded something and they saw their email addresses. And I had to say to them, if those are your dream clients, and you're excited about this, why didn't you just call them and ask them if you could share something with them that would create value for them. I mean, why did you wait? You're waiting two years for somebody to find you, why? You know what you want, go start doing something about it.” – Anthony Iannarino · [30:38]    Anthony Iannarino: And the truth of the matter is, if you want mind share, if you want to capture mind share, why would you wait until anybody researches your company and offers you an RFP? That would be the exact opposite of what you would want to have happen in real life. So why let that happen to you? Why don't you just get on your front foot instead of your back foot and go start having these conversations. I spoke to a group of people this last week and they were very excited that two of their dream clients downloaded something and they saw their email addresses. And I had to say to them, if those are your dream clients, and you're excited about this, why didn't you just call them and ask them, if you could share something with them that would create value for them. I mean, why did you wait? You're waiting two years for somebody to find you, why? You know what you want. Go start doing something about it.   Salespeople Need Verified Opportunities and Not an Email Address in the Name of a Marketing Qualified Lead · [31:08]    Will Barron: How much of this then? Because I fell foul to this a little bit. I've not really had other than the podcast advertising, I don't really have a B2B product to sell. And the product is the podcast essentially in this point, and there's the sales school, which is we're building a specific product there that can be sold to B2B so I can continue selling and build a sales team and document it all later on. So that's kind of another conversation, but how much of this comes down to… I don't want to give up responsibility for any of this. How much of it comes down to marketing, focusing on perhaps content marketing rather than actually driving MQLs, which obviously then marketing qualified leads, which then we work on the backend of things.   Will Barron: Because it seems like a lot of organisations are getting excited that someone's downloaded this white paper, that they've never open or someone's watched this video and… I've had people email me, go on the LinkedIn statistics and now four people from this organisation have viewed my profile, but none of them have reached out, connected or done anything. How much of this craziness comes from marketing as opposed to just sales alone?   “I think marketing needs to shift to, what are our insights, what are our views and values? What are the kinds of trade-offs that we think people should be making? What do we believe about these things? What do we believe the future means and so much of it is not geared towards that. It's geared towards getting a name and an email address and a phone number. Okay. I did my job. I gave you a lead. That's not a lead. And it's certainly not an opportunity.” – Anthony Iannarino · [32:43]    Anthony Iannarino: I don't think it's marketing. I think it's technology. I just think that we're so enamoured with technology and have been for the last, let's call it 10 to 12 years. We're just so enamoured with the fact that we can capture this data and that we can see these things and we want it to have meaning. They downloaded the white paper. They downloaded our white paper, this is the greatest thing. Not because they're trying to buy what you sell because you had a white paper that had an interesting topic there. And I'll tell you what I think marketing needs to shift to. Marketing needs to shift to, what are our insights, what are our views and values? What are the kind of trade offs that we think people should be making? What do we believe about these things?   “I think marketing, the shift that they have to make is from lead generation to opportunity creation because that's what we're really trying to do, is create an opportunity to displace a competitor, not just get a name and a phone number. That's easy now.” – Anthony Iannarino · [33:12]    Anthony Iannarino: What do we believe the future means and so much of it is not geared towards that. It's geared towards get a name and an email address and a phone number. Okay. I did my job. I gave you a lead. That's not a lead. And it's certainly not an opportunity. So I think marketing, the shift that they have to make is from lead generation to opportunity creation because that's what we're really trying to do is create an opportunity to displace a competitor, not just get a name and a phone number. That's easy now. There's a whole bunch of people, Zoom info. We can get you the name and the phone number and the email address. That's not hard. The interest and the decision to change, that's a different conversation.   When to Talk About the Competition During an Executive Briefing · [33:40]    Will Barron: Okay. So final thing to wrap up on all of this. Say we get our… You described it as an executive briefing. I love that. Just using that language alone separates you for most of the competition, right? So we get the meeting. It goes, well, we've got 20 minutes. We're giving them all these insights. They are kind of perking up. We can see the body language. They're excited. They're almost drooling into work orders in some capacity, just so to keep access to all this data, information, insights, whatever it is. When do we bring up the fact that they've got an incumbent supplier. Do we go straight in for the jugular of all this and just try and just differentiate ourselves, and then say, look just converge, come over. Or is there an element of nurture to all of this?   Anthony Iannarino: There's a long… I mean, the exploration of change happens first. You're going to have a couple conversations. What happens within a briefing like that is people start asking questions. They start saying, well, what do you guys think about this? And what do you think about that? And at some point you have to go back to the second book, the Lost Art of Closing and be willing to say something that sounds like, Will it sounds like there's a couple areas here that are still worth exploring. What I'd like to recommend is that we get back together and let me share a little bit about some of the choices other people have made and see if any of it might make sense for what might come next for you and your organisation. I mean, I have to start getting into a discovery conversation to say, now we're going to collaborate and figure out what the right answer might look like.   Anthony Iannarino: And now I'm going to build consensus and start bringing in the other stakeholders because you're not walking in having a meeting with an executive and them firing their long time partner of 15 years. Like, this guy came in with a great deck. We're going to fire you today. No, it doesn't work that way. It takes time and you have to go through a process. And again, the reason I put the books in the order that I did is first be somebody worth buying from. Second, know how to control that process and have this conversation. And then you can start worrying about the displacement. So this is the book. The books are really kind of a trilogy in that they kind of belong together. Not like Lord of the Rings kind of a trilogy, but sort of you have to go through the process of becoming somebody that's worth buying from. Truly becoming consultative and having difficult conversations and then the rest of this gets easier.   Anthony’s Advise to His Younger Self on How to Become Better at Selling · [35:55]   Will Barron: Makes total sense. Well, clearly we'll recommend all the books at the top of the show and in the show notes. But with that, Anthony, I've got one final question to ask everyone that comes on the show. I've asked you a couple of times now. I'll ask you again. And that is, if you could go back in time and speak to your younger self, what would be the one piece of advice you'd give him to help him become better at selling?   Anthony Iannarino: I'm going to tell you what I now believe to be my final answer on this question. Okay. So this is my final answer. I wouldn't tell the younger me anything. He was perfectly dumb and made tremendous mistakes and those mistakes are why he's slightly less dumb now. And I would just let him make the mistakes. Like just make them and be thoughtful enough not to repeat them over and over again. So I'm not going to say anything. I'm just going to sit by and watch and let him learn.   Will Barron: Fair enough. Astute advice. We talked about this on a previous episode recently of, I was a complete idiot until I was 25. Then when I was 30, it went up to, I thought I was an idiot until I was 28. And now being 32, I was an idiot of everything I was doing with the podcast when we first launched it kind of three and a half years ago. And it'll probably go on further. So, I'm kind of coming around to your way of thinking here of [crosstalk 00:37:00]   Anthony Iannarino: I promise you, it goes on forever.   Parting Thoughts · [37:15]    Will Barron: Good. Well, that's that's food for thought for perhaps some of the younger audience who are trying to instil all this and osmosis it. In other words, use osmosis to get it into their brains. With that, Anthony tell us where we can find the book and kind of give us the trilogy and where we can find out more about you as well.   Anthony Iannarino: The books you're going to find at amazon.com or bookstores. I don't know about the UK. Tougher there. All in the United States, all Barnes and Nobles have the books. Amazon.com is the best place probably to get those, unless you buy them in bulk. And then you go to 800 CEO read, because you're going to get the best deal. And they're real book people. I mean, they actually care about books. Best place to find me, thesalesblog.com and the best thing to do when you get there, sign up for the Sunday newsletter. Goes out to about 80,000 people now. And that's my best work every week. At least is my favourite work every single week.   Will Barron: Perfect. Well with that, again, appreciate the time. We've only gone through a third of the book here. So hopefully we'll have you on to dive through the other two thirds in the future. And with that, I want to thank you for joining us again on the salesman podcast.   Anthony Iannarino: Thanks for having me.
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Sep 8, 2022 • 13min

How To Destroy The Most Common Sales Objections | Salesman Podcast

Here’s an eye-opener for ya—92% of sales reps quit after hearing “no” four times. But it turns out 80% of prospects say “no” four times before saying “yes”! The lesson here? Sales objections happen. But success boils down to how you respond to them. That’s why in this video we’re covering how to respond to the 5 most common sales objections you’re bound to hear. Alright but before we jump into that, just a word on sales objections. Sales objections are not bad. Not by any means. Instead, what you’re getting from your buyer here is an open window. An open window into what makes them tick, what they’re concerned about, and most importantly, what’s holding them back from saying yes. So if you can turn that sticking point of an objection into a “Yes”, that question mark into an exclamation point, you’re going to have a more enthusiastic buyer on the other end of things. You just have to know how to address these objections properly. And that’s what we’re covering right now. So let’s dive in. The Two Pathways The two ways you can respond to an objection. No matter what the objection is, there are two pathways you can take when a buyer brings up an objection. A) The Circle Back Method The Circle Back Method. See, most objections come from a lack of understanding. And when the prospect learns more about your offering, like later on the call, then the original objection is no longer an issue. These aren’t “stupid” objections. They’ll just get answered over the natural course of the presentation. So in these situations, just respond with “Okay, we’ll come back to that in a minute.” Simple as that! Then there’s pathway number two… B) Solve the Issue Solve the issue. If it’s a real objection, solve the issue. And then, and this is important, follow up to make sure it’s solved. In some cases, these objections might come out as a knee-jerk response. For instance, if you have a buyer that says, “I don’t think we have the budget for this,” and you haven’t even hit pricing yet, push the issue rather than let it go. Ask them, “Do you know what the price is?” In many cases, you’ll find that a little bit of pushing reveals that they don’t actually understand the product like they think. In cases like this, some simple information can solve the problem in a second. If they don’t actually know what the pricing is, tell them. If they don’t think it’s right for their industry, point to their competitors that are using your product. Another simple solution. Now, where it gets complicated is when they have all the information they need and still have objections. And that’s when it’s time to bring out the big guns. So, let’s look at the 5 most common sales objections and how to respond to them. 5 Most Common Sales Objections 1) “This Is Too Expensive” First up, this is too expensive. According to a survey from Sales Insights Lab, budget is the number one reason a strong sales opportunity falls apart. And it makes sense! Business is money. And if you hear this sales objection, it’s because they don’t see ROI from working with you. But instead of closing up shop right then and there, ask… “If I could show you a strong ROI that you could expect from working with us, would it make sense to continue the conversation?” In 99% of cases, the answer is going to be yes. All you have to do then is point to past success stories with a great ROI. If the ROI makes sense to them, Bam! Sold. If not, they weren’t going to be happy with your product anyway. Best to move on. 2) “Now Isn’t a Good Time” Now isn’t a good time. Here the buyer either doesn’t see the value that you offer OR they’re not qualified to do business with you. Now you could handle this like any other sales rep and just leave your contact info. But if you did that, you’d NEVER hear from them again. Instead, you need to close on the next conversation. And you can do that by following up with… “You seem like a great fit for what we do. When would it make sense to chat?” Now you’ve got a date you can call back on without running into any friction from the buyer. Alright third objection… 3) “I Already Have Another Supplier” I already have another supplier. So selling to a brand new customer in your market is one thing. You’ve got to convince them of your value, push their pain point buttons, and get them to fight for the budget. But for buyers that already have a similar solution, you’ve got to focus on how your value proposition stacks up against who they’re already using. In some situations, these customers can be even easier to win over than brand new ones. You just need to find out how their current solution isn’t making the cut. Simple solution here. Ask… “Are you thrilled with how X are performing for you right now?” This will open up the door to where they’re falling flat and let you see if you’re in a position to help. 4) “Just Email Me Some Information” Just email me some information. The ultimate blow-off. It typically happens at the very beginning of a call. And here, they don’t care about you… YET. Your job now is to make them care about you. And you can do that by sending them the right kind of info. That’s why you should follow up with… “Can I ask you a couple of quick questions to make sure that I’m sending you the correct information?” Two things going on here. First, you’re learning more about the buyer and their problem so the info you send is just what they’re looking for. But beyond that, you’re also qualifying the buyer. Are they even a fit for what you’re selling? If not, you can cut them loose and save yourself a whole lot of time. 5) “I Need to Ask My Boss” I need to ask my boss. This is the one that’s your fault. You’re not speaking to the right person within the account. And that means you need to bring the real decision-maker into the conversation. And you can do that with one simple response… “Does it make sense to book a quick call with both your boss and yourself to run through this?” What’s great about this response is it doesn’t cut out your initial contact. And that means you won’t risk embarrassing them or putting them on the defensive.
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Sep 5, 2022 • 11min

The Book That Made Me Proud to Work in Sales | Selling Made Simple

Look, “selling” gets a bad rap these days. But after reading this monumental book, I realized that EVERYONE sells, especially in the modern workplace. To sell is to be human. And when you do it with the right approach, it’ll make you proud to be in sales, just like I am. Today we’re talking about the book that made me proud to work in sales, To Sell Is Human by Daniel Pink. We’ll be covering two foundational concepts covered by his work. Selling: We All Do It We aaallll are sellers. From the retail professional over at GAP to Fortune 500 secretaries, mom-n-pop accountants, and traveling HR consultants. No matter who you are or what you do, odds are you’ve had to sell someone on an idea before. Pitched an idea in a meeting? That’s selling. Asked for a raise? That’s selling. Convinced your co-worker to speed up signing the checks so you could get them out in today’s mail? S.E.L.L.I.N.G. Pink took this idea and used it to form what he calls Contemporary Selling. This kind of selling is about moving others to exchange resources that include but do not revolve around money. Contemporary selling isn’t about PRODUCT. It’s about SERVICE. Okay, so what does this all mean for you, a sales professional? The New Paradigm: What That Means for Professional Sales It means there’s a new sales paradigm. Rather than “selling” in the traditional sense, your job is to render a service to your prospects and clients. And your job is to do it with the end goal of improving their lives. Now there are two specific steps you can take to sell better in this new paradigm.   1. Making It Personal I’ve seen lots of reps try to keep their relationships all-business and ultra “professional.” To a fault even. While there’s a time and place for that, leaning too heavily into it creates distance rather than forging a connection with the customer. Instead, try coming from a place of passion. You LIKE what you’re selling. You believe in it. And you want others to get the same value from it that you do. When you approach your relationships this way, you come off as credible, not profit-driven. And that builds trust. Example Here’s an example of making it personal for you. Say you sell a certain type of large-scale project management software for Fortune 500 companies. And guess what? You hate what you sell. It’s inefficient. It’s overpriced. And frankly, it just doesn’t do a great job of solving your buyers’ real problems. Since you know making a sale won’t actually help the prospects you’re selling to, you have to find value in other aspects of the deal. You’re making money. You’re boosting your numbers. You’re shooting for a promotion and this will seal the deal. Ultimately the potential buyer becomes a means to an end. And that leads to devaluing them and their needs… not good for sales. But on the other hand, say you love what you’re selling. You know it works. You’ve seen how it makes your other clients’ lives easier. And you think your potential buyer will get a lot out of it too. When you approach a sale with that mindset, your genuineness shines through. You’re there to provide a service. And your buyers can tell. So they trust you, what you have to say, and the value of your product.   2. Make It Purposeful It’s easy to get caught up and bogged down in the specifics of your solution. The nitty-gritty features, the in-the-weeds technical details, the straightforward use cases. And if you spend too much time here, you may not realize that what you’re selling is actually connected to a broader purpose. As it turns out, studies show the desire to serve is innate. It’s built right into us. And you’re most successful when you believe you’re serving not just you, not just the client. But also a larger person than both of you. When you connect your solution to that larger purpose, you’re more passionate. You’re more service-oriented. And more driven than ever. So to be more purposeful, focus on how your service can improve society as a whole and frame it that way to potential buyers. Example Say you sell accounting software specifically for mom-and-pop sized businesses. Your product is powerful enough to keep these businesses’ costs down by keeping things compliant. But it’s also easy enough to use that they won’t have to hire an accountant. Your product also works really well, your clients love it. That alone is a great driving force you can get behind. But take things a step further. You’re helping these businesses stay afloat. But you’re also contributing to a world where small but valuable businesses can compete with the big box stores. You’re making it easier for new ideas to thrive and not be immediately squashed by monopolies. And you’re also helping contribute to the values of the free market—competition, ingenuity, and the freedom for anyone to participate. And you thought you were just selling accounting software! When you make your work purposeful, you make it important. That shines through with your buyers. And when you do that, you too will be proud to work in sales.
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Sep 2, 2022 • 40min

Replay: What To Do When A Prospect Sales "No!" | Salesman Podcast

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFNyQUXDlL4&feature=youtu.be Tom Hopkins is a sales training legend. Since 1976, Tom Hopkins International has been dedicated to providing the finest sales training strategies and techniques to individuals and companies alike. On this episode of The Salesman Podcast Tom shares 4 ways you can deal with a potential customer saying “no” to your sales pitch. Resources: TomHopkins.com Book: When Buyers Say No: Essential Strategies for Keeping a Sale Moving Forward
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Sep 1, 2022 • 22min

Storytelling in Business - Drive More Engagement With Prospects | Salesman Podcast

The everyday sales pitch is boring. Running through features, hitting on target metrics, going through product slide after product slide after produ… Truth be told, the everyday sales pitch sucks. And your buyers think so too. But it doesn’t have to be this way. You can deliver a powerful, effective message while driving engagement, stirring emotions, and generating real buying intent. And it’s all thanks to storytelling in business. In this guide, I’ll show you how to incorporate compelling stories during your sales pitch using a simple five-point framework. I’ll also cover why business storytelling drives serious selling success, pro tips for how to tell a good story, and three goals every sales story should have. Now, let’s dive into this potent sales technique Why Storytelling in Business Just Plain Works If there’s one thing that unites all humans, it’s that no one likes change. It can be scary. And adapting to it takes work. So, why should you go through the necessary changes to bring storytelling into your processes? As it turns out, there are four reasons in particular why a business story just plain works. A) Engaging on a Fundamental Level First and foremost, a compelling story is engaging. And not just “meh” engaging. But engaging on a fundamental, biological level. See, we’ve been hard-wired for thousands, even tens of thousands of years to pass on important information via storytelling. In fact, some of the earliest evidence of stories come from cave drawings in France that go back as far as 30,000 years. Studies have shown that how character-driven a story is can predict how much people are willing to donate to charitable causes. A message wrapped in a well-constructed story is more likely to be understood (and even recalled weeks later). And even our conception of ourselves, our own identity, is built on a storytelling foundation. Humans are storytellers and story-listeners. And when you incorporate that nature into your selling process, you’re tapping into that biological underpinning. B) Taps Into Emotions Logic is an important aspect of any sale. If you can’t make the numbers, the buyer isn’t going to bother giving you a try. Hey, it’s just business. But sales is about emotion too. Sometimes it’s even more important than logic. Emotion is the driving factor behind decision-making. It’s the excitement, the trust, the gravitational pull that causes buyers to say, “Yes! I want this.” And logic, while important, is more about justifying that purchase decision. When you’re telling your great story to prospects, you’re helping them feel the same ups and downs as your “characters” or past buyers. And as a result, you’re priming their emotions to make a purchase decision. “Fundamentally, we make decisions emotionally, and if all we're doing is spouting features and benefits, we're really engaging the logical part of the brain. The logical part of the brain does not make decisions. But analyses and captures information to weigh pros and cons, but decisions are made emotionally. And what stories do is they tap into the emotional center of the listener, and that's where the decisions are made.” – Interview with Adrian Davis, President & CEO of Whetstone Inc. C) Lets the Buyer Feel Like the Hero In the same vein as the last point, when your buyer feels the emotions of your narrative’s hero, they start feeling like the hero themselves. And that is key to driving real action. Unfortunately, a lot of sales reps don’t get this point until far later in their careers. They try to make themselves look like the hero—the rep who knows it all, who has all the expert knowledge, and who has helped countless others. But the truth is, the buyer does not care about you. On a human-to-human level, of course they do. But when they’re faced with serious change (switching vendors, putting their reputation on the line, etc.), they need to feel the jubilation that comes from being the reason for a massive business success. And it’s up to you to help them feel that way. “I think most of us want to come in as salespeople, and I sell all the time, so I'm no different, and we want to be the hero. Well, I’ve got bad news, we're not the hero, we need to make our customer the hero.” – Interview with Ken Rutsky, Consultant, Speaker, Mentor, & Author D) A Subtle Way to Boast Success Last but not least, a story is a way to hint (just hint) at your own success. Without straying too far from the real hero of the story—the buyer—telling a story about a past client lets you say, “Hey, I’ve helped plenty of people like you. See?” As we all know, social proof is the undisputed king of tools for building trust. But if you bombard prospects with testimonials and case studies right off the bat, they’re only going to head for the hills. They’re just not at that stage of the buyer’s journey yet. But when you tell a story that really connects with your prospects, you’re helping them understand the problem, explore the solution, and see that you are ultimately the gatekeeper to their success. This lets the prospect know that you have a deep understanding of your target audience. That you've seen relatable experiences and you answer their questions in an authentic way. Pretty cool, right? The Sales Rep’s Storytelling Framework Now that you understand why storytelling in business-to-business sales is so important, it’s time to dive into the how. Lets get into some storytelling skills for the business world. Now, there are plenty of different ways to approach great storytelling. But what I’ve found works the best is following a simple five-step process I like to call The Sales Rep’s Storytelling Framework. It looks a little something like this: Illustrate the Current Reality Dive Into the Unresolved Pain Encountering the Success Blockers Illuminate the Future Reality Build the Reality Bridge 1. Illustrate the Current Reality The very first step to telling an effective sales story is to start with a previous customer you helped overcome a problem—a problem that’s strikingly similar to what your current prospect is going through. Maybe it’s that their business’ growth has stalled in recent months. Or their team isn’t working nearly as efficiently as they should. Or it could be that they’ve hit a success roadblock that they just can’t seem to overcome. Whatever the problem is, it should be a problem that resonates with your prospect. And it should be a problem that they themselves are encountering in their current reality. Some points to drive home here are that: The current reality, well… it sucks. And frankly, it might always suck. Unless something’s done about the situation of course. It might not be the hero’s fault. Things change in business. And most things are out of people’s control. They’re a victim of circumstance. This stage is laying the groundwork for the amazing solution to come later. So the bleaker you make this part of the story, the better. How to Tell a Good Story Pro Tip: Do your research. The more intimately familiar you are with your prospect (problem they’re facing, pain points, goals, etc.), the more this introduction to the story is going to resonate with your prospect. And consequently, the more effective the story will be.  “If you want to close deals, if you want to win business, make it about them. It's not about you. It doesn't matter how great your product is. What is it going to do for them? Do your research on them, give them as many good examples of how it's helped similar people, but make it 100% about them.” – Interview with Daniel Disney, Author, Speaker, & Founder/Owner of The Daily Sales 2. Dig Into the Unresolved Pain Once you’ve introduced the hero and the broad strokes of the problem, it’s time to really drive the pain home. In copywriting terms, this is what’s known as “agitating” the pain. And it’s an essential step to get your prospect to really connect with the story on an emotional level. Your goal here is to make your prospect really feel what the hero is going through. And you do that by adding more detail, fleshing out the thoughts and emotions of the hero, and upping the tension. Some questions you may want to cover are: What are the consequences of this pain? – Think along the lines of missed revenue goals, delayed product launch, costly inefficiencies, etc. Who do they look stupid in front of because of the pain or problem? – Their boss? Their colleagues? Their family members and friends? Who is judging them? – Saying they could do the job better? Thinking the hero should never have had the position in the first place? What is on the line? – A raise or bonus? A job? An entire department? How to Tell a Good Story Pro Tip: Come at the problem from all the angles here. Money is a motivating factor, sure. But it’s not the only thing people consider when making a choice. Don’t be afraid to dive into the social consequences too.  “The number one fear that will stop most people from doing most things isn't failure, it's embarrassment.” – Interview with Michael Reddington, Certified Forensic Interviewer & President of InQuasive, Inc 3. Encountering the Success Blockers At this stage of the story, the unrelenting pain points should force the hero into action. But before they settle on a solution (your solution), they encounter two roadblocks to success: The Status Quo They’re Lost Blocker #1: The Status Quo As we all know, the status quo is the existing state of affairs—it’s where we’re at now. It’s where everything stays the same and nothing changes, for the worse or the better. And as a sales rep, you should know that the status quo is generally the enemy. It’s what keeps buyers from finding new (and more effective) solutions to their problems. And it’s what needs to be dealt with before they adopt your solution. In our story, the status quo is built including four elements: Selection Overwhelm – Selection overwhelm is when a buyer knows that they have a problem, but they don’t take action because they see so many potential solutions in the marketplace. This is where product differentiation comes in, a topic I’ve talked about plenty before. And at this stage in the story, it’s a great spot to reiterate just what makes your solution so superior to the competition. Confirmation Bias – Confirmation bias is one of the tougher aspects of the status quo to overcome. Essentially, this bias is our mind’s tendency to stick by our previous decision and defend it wholeheartedly. The reason we have this bias is because it protects our self-image. If we admit that the previous solution we chose isn’t up to snuff, it’s a blow to our ego. And rather than finding a new, better solution, we stand by our old one. It’s your job to prove that this is a mistake. Blowback Risk – The blowback risk is the very real risk that your potential buyer will look stupid if your proposed solution does not work out. Your reputation and brand in your industry will make a massive dent in this fear when you demonstrate your expertise and develop a network of satisfied customers. Initial Cost of Change – Finally, the initial cost of change is that first chunk of energy that the buyer needs to spend to start using your solution. Fighting for the budget, implementing your product, and any other number of time-consuming tasks may all need to be taken care of before the buyer starts seeing benefits. The easier you can make it for the buyer, then, the more likely they’ll be to sign on. “Buyers are looking to make a choice or an improvement in their environment. And a ‘do nothing deal’ happens when they decide to stick with their status quo.” – Interview with Tom Pisello, Chief Evangelist for Sales Enablement at Mediafly Blocker #2: They’re Lost That status quo is without a doubt the biggest barrier to buying. And when you deal with it effectively (or rather show how you dealt with it with past customers), there’s only one blocker left: the buyer is lost. They don’t have all the answers. At least not yet, anyway. And in the complicated world of B2B buying, knowing which solution is right for their problem (and how to implement it effectively) is confusing. That’s why they’re looking for help. They’re looking for a guide, a mentor of sorts, that can simplify the process for them and tell them exactly what they need to know to make the right decision. Sound familiar? Yep, that’s you! But don’t jump into the story just yet. Instead, we’re first going to move on to the next step to really build the excitement. 4. Illuminate the Future Reality Now that we’ve explained the current reality for the hero, dug deep into their pain points, and effectively described their success blockers, it’s time to paint a picture of their reality after implementing the solution. The goal of this step is to generate enthusiasm in the buyer and to put them in the shoes of the hero. How did the hero’s life improve after adopting the solution? Were they able to achieve or even outperform their professional goals? Did their stress levels drop? Did the higher-ups recognize all the hard work the hero went through to achieve these results? Now’s the time to show just what’s possible when your buyer breaks through their wall of status quo and finds the right guide to get them the results they’re after. How to Tell a Good Story Pro Tip: Get visceral with the future. Details are key here to driving real connection here. The more detailed and relevant you can make this for the buyer, the better they’ll be able to imagine themselves in the shoes of the hero. And that’s exactly what we’re after here.  “The average human being struggles to envision the future. They can see the present, they can see the past, but they really struggle to see the future. And what a before and after picture allows someone to do is think of the present photo, and that after photo as the future. That's why I think that salespeople have an opportunity, and I would dare say maybe even a responsibility, to preview the future for their customers that their customers aren't going to be able to envision on their own.” – Interview with Joey Coleman, Author, Speaker, & Chief Experience Composer at Design Symphony 5. Build the Reality Bridge Finally, it’s time to tie everything together. It’s time to explain that you are the guide/mentor that took the hero from their current reality to their better future reality. It was you that let them bridge the gap across their success blockers. It was you that helped them see why your product stood out from the competition. Why adopting a new solution is a good investment. Why they don’t have to be concerned about blowback. And why implementing your solution doesn’t have to be stressful and time-consuming. It was you that helped them achieve those jaw-dropping performance results, reduce their stress, and show the C-suite why the buyer is the best person for the job. And yes, of course, you can do the same thing for the prospect too. You can make them the hero in their own story. All they have to do is say, “yes.” If you’ve done everything right up until this point, you’ll now be talking to an engaged, excited, and ready-to-start prospect who’s just dying to work with you. And it’s all because you told an excellent story. “How you know that you actually won the prospect over is when they lean forward and say, “Can you tell me more about how you worked with Fred? What exactly did you guys do?” – Interview with Adrian Davis, President & CEO of Whetstone Inc. How to Tell a Good Story: 3 Goals Now that you understand how to tell a good story during your sales pitch, let’s go over three guiding principles you should never forget. These are the ultimate goals you should be shooting for with your storytelling. When you hit the three goals below, you’re using storytelling in business to its maximum effect. Goal #1: Connect to the Buyer Above all else is connection. You want the buyer to feel like they are the heroes of the story. They are the ones that can achieve all the success you touched on. And in order to do that, you need to drive buy-in. So, how do you get your prospect into the shoes of the hero? First is research. Match your story to the real problems, pain points, and other details to those of the prospect. Second, try dropping in key phrases that “transport” the prospect into the story. Phrases like: “Does this sound familiar?” “How would you have solved this?” “Could you see yourself there too?” Beyond just putting the buyer into the role of the hero, they also keep your audience engaged and part of the story. Goal #2: Requalify the Prospect Your story is also a great way to actually requalify the prospect to see if they’re a good fit for your solution. Ask the buyer outright, “do you have these issues?” or “how would you have solved this?” If their response is no, that’s fine. Just pivot to a different story and test that. But if you aren’t making any headway and continue to get negative responses, it’s a good sign that this lead isn’t right for your business. And from there, you can take the appropriate actions to refer the lead to someone else. Goal #3: Close, Close, Close Finally, the goal of the story is to (duh) close, close, close! If the buyer has been nodding their head throughout the story, you know it’s time to pounce. After you share that you’re the mentor that they’re looking for to achieve similar outcomes, ask, “Would it make sense for me to help you navigate this too?” Making this ask is a powerful way to close the emotional side of the sale right then and there. “If you can understand what your customer’s “good” looks like in six months time, guess what, you're selling to his perception or her perception of value. And that's what a customer buys. Customers don't buy technology, they buy outcomes, I believe.” – Interview with Julian Reading, Sales Enablement Expert Wrapping Up Storytelling in business is a powerful tool for any sales rep looking to boost their selling effectiveness. That’s because it’s fundamentally human, taps into a prospect’s emotions, lets them feel like the hero, and subtly sells your success. But to get the most benefits possible, you need to know how to tell a story. And with The Sales Rep’s Storytelling Framework, effective storytelling in sales is easy. Just: Illustrate the Current Reality Dive Into the Unresolved Pain Encountering the Success Blockers Illuminate the Future Reality Build the Reality Bridge With this framework, you can add some life to your sales pitch. No more driving buyers to sleep by endlessly slogging through features and metrics. Instead, prospects will be more engaged, more receptive to your solution, and (of course) more likely to buy from you. So, who’s ready to tell a story?
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Aug 30, 2022 • 21min

Your B2B Buyer's Journey: A Comprehensive Guide For Sellers | Salesman Podcast

Times have changed for B2B salespeople. Not too long ago, buyers used to do light research on a solution before reaching out to a sales rep for more detailed information. These interactions helped educate buyers about the product. But they also gave salespeople all the power when it came to controlling the buyer's journey. These days, however, the buyer's journey is in the hands of the buyer. Pricing, product features, case studies—these sales assets (and many more) are typically all available online. And buyers now move through 70% of the buyer's journey on their own, not at the urging of a sales rep. So, how do you navigate this new B2B selling landscape? And how do you determine what your own buyer's journey is for your ideal customers? That's exactly what this guide examines. Inside, we'll be defining the buyer's journey, explaining how it's changed over the years (and what that means for you), and detailing what you need to consider when redefining your buyer's journey. What Is the Buyer's Journey? As a quick refresher, let's outline exactly what a buyer journey is. Also known as a customer journey or purchase cycle, a buyer's journey is essentially how your buyers go from being unaware of their problem to deciding to purchase your solution. As you know, buyers don't wake up one day and make purchase decisions on a whim (especially true in the B2B world). Instead, buyers need to first recognize they have a problem, learn more about it, and research the best solutions before deciding on a solution. The length of a buyer's journey tends to depend on the level of risk involved. For pricier solutions, the buyer's journey is longer. Buyers need to do more research to justify their purchase. And they'll need more convincing to jump onboard. For less expensive solutions, the opposite is true. With less at stake, buyers feel more comfortable making quick decisions. As a buyer progresses through different stages of the customer journey, they'll have different concerns that need addressing before moving to the next stage. And it's your job as a successful sales rep to meet those needs every step of the way. For example if your buyer is already at the consideration stage because they've consumed someone elses inbound marketing efforts then their buying process is nearly complete and it's going to be difficult to win business from them. Alternatively, if you're prospecting a slightly different buyer persona and they're still in the research and decision process then you've still got a chance to solve a pain point or two and influence their purchase process. Breaking Down the Buyer's Journey Stages So, what are the buyer's journey stages? First, let's take a closer look. No Awareness – This stage is when the buyer doesn't even know they have a problem. That can mean they're entirely unaware of it in the first place, or (more likely) they don't understand that a current inefficiency can actually be fixed. Awareness stage – This is when the buyer acknowledges the problem exists and seeks out more information about it. A buyer in this stage will respond to content types that examine their problem and shed light on why this problem exists in the first place. Exploring Solutions – Now that your buyer fully understands the problem they're dealing with, they're going to start researching solutions. What types of solutions are out there on the market? And which type will fix their problem? Comparing Vendors – This is when buyers get into the nitty-gritty. After determining the solution type, it's time to drill down into how the vendors stack up against one another. Which has the most valuable features? How do they compare on price? And what services will align best with their business? Purchase Decision – The final stage of the B2B buyer's journey is making a purchase decision. This stage is when buyers have settled on a solution but still need a bit of a push over the edge. They need reinforcement that they're doing the right thing. And they need reassurance that this solution is right for them. Then Vs. Now – What's Changed in the B2B Buyer's Journey? While the stages of the B2B buyer's journey haven't changed, the sales rep's role in that journey certainly has. And that's all thanks to an increasingly digitalized sales cycle. According to HubSpot, a whopping 77% of purchasers won't talk to a salesperson until they've done their own research. And that was in 2015. These days, the numbers are even higher. Decision-makers are relying on their research to learn more about their problems and possible solutions than ever before.  They're leaning into marketing automation and search engine results pages to educate them rather than calls with sales reps. As a result, sales reps like you need to understand the difference between the old buyer journey and the new buyer journey and then tailor your sales process accordingly. The Old Buyer Journey In the old days, the sales rep would shoulder most of the burden to ushering potential buyers through the active research process and customer journey. As you can see from the traditional buyer's journey above, educational materials would only play a role in informing buyers about the problem and touching on the solutions. But after that, sales reps would hop in to: Build rapport Outline potential solutions Differentiate their product from competitors Close the sale From the third stage on, buyers would get most of their information and educational materials from the reps, not from their own research. This, of course, put a lot of control in the hands of the reps and this is why a hard sales pitch became common place. Reps could assess where the buyers were in their journey and feed them materials that they needed to move on to the next phase. These materials might include: Articles How-To Guides Relevant content White Papers Product Spec Sheets Case Studies Demo Videos Product Comparison Guides Free Samples The New Buyer Journey Where the traditional buyer's journey allowed for maximum control, the modern buyer's journey is much more hands-off for sales reps like you. Rather than coming to you for educational materials, buyers now expect to access much of that information independently. And that's even more true today in a post-COVID era. A 2020 McKinsey study, for example, found that 70-80% of B2B decision-makers prefer remote human interactions or digital self-service models vs. “traditional” in-person models. Just 20% of buyers said they hope to return to in-person sales. And that's even in industries where field sales have dominated, like pharmaceuticals and medical products. Buyers now expect to access the content they need to move through the first four stages of a customer journey by themselves. They want to learn about their problems, possible solutions, and various vendors on their own first. Then and only then are they willing to get on the phone with a salesperson. You'll also notice the modern buyer's journey is longer than the traditional journey. Whereas educating buyers and closing a complex sale could happen in the span of just a few days before, most buyers are now taking longer to get to that “yes” decision. What This Shift Means for You So, what does all this mean for you as a B2B salesperson? Well, there are a few key takeaways here. A) Prepare for a Longer Sales Cycle Turning a prospect into a confirmed buyer takes longer than ever. Demand Gen Report found about 58% of buyers report their decision-making process is becoming longer year over year. Part of that is due to more readily available competition. With so many products ripe for the picking in the digital world, B2B buyers have many options to choose from. Of course, some of those options won't be right for the job. But even still, simply weeding through all the not-right products out there takes time. On top of that, B2B deals are becoming increasingly complex. On average, it takes input from 6 to 10 decision-makers to settle on a solution, according to Gartner. That means there are bound to be more emails, product demos, sales calls, and nurturing cycles than most B2B salespeople were used to even a decade ago. Here's how you can adapt to a longer sales cycle: Avoid pushy sales tactics and adopt an educational attitude. Develop a solid sales cadence to keep prospects engaged over time. Work on building out educational and valuable content for every stage of the buyer journey. Keep detailed accounts of what content your buyers have engaged with so you understand when to step in. Focus on customer lifetime value where possible with your buyer personas. It's far easier to close one target audience more than once than it is to close fresh prospects over and over. B) Focus on Strategic Content In the world of B2B sales, the salesperson with the best content is king. These days, buyers are interacting with content more than ever before. And they're doing it on their own too. Research from FocusVision found that B2B buyers now consume at least 13 pieces of content before making a buying decision. That's why it's so important for you as a sales rep to make the shift to creating valuable, customer-focused content for every stage of the buyer's cycle. On the one hand, it reinforces you as a thought leader. Selling expert Victor Antonio said the same thing when Salesman.org interviewed him: “The majority of executives don't want to talk to a salesperson, they simply don't. They want to do the whole customer journey by themselves. And then, when I'm ready, I'll reach out to you. Well, how do I reach out? Well, this is the guy that's got content, he seems to know what he's talking about. I'm going to go call Will, see what's happening over there.” Great content, then, builds trust. And it funnels more buyers into your pipeline. Beyond that, great content also caters to your buyers' desire to move through the cycle at their own pace. You're meeting them where they want to be rather than forcing them into a journey they don't want to participate in. And that is how you appeal to buyers today. C) Adopt an “Education First, Salesmanship Second” Mindset The modern B2B buyer's journey is no longer linear. Instead, decision-makers will flow from Awareness to Exploring Solutions to Comparing Vendors and back to Awareness again, all in a single cycle. What's more, they may dip their toes in each stage at the same time. Rather than a straightforward path, then, Gartner suggests a B2B buyer journey may look closer to this: Throughout such a complicated journey, individual salesmanship is likely to be lost in the shuffle of information. What takes its place in importance is your ability to provide educational materials every step of the way. And the more focused you are on delivering value rather than simply talking your way into a sale, the better your numbers will be. D) Equip Yourself With Alignment Tools You've already seen how the modern buyer's cycle is heavily dependent on delivering quality, educational content. In the old world, you would know exactly what content your buyer is consuming because, well, you showed it to them in the first place. But with so much research and engagement happening before you even speak to a lead, you need to know exactly what your buyers have interacted with beforehand. That's where your CRM tool comes in. With the right CRM (customer relationship management) tool, you'll have a complete record of which content leads have already consumed and where they may be at on the buyer's journey. Mapping Your Buyer's Journey The purpose of changing up your buyer's journey is to create a sales cycle that more buyers respond to positively. And for most B2B businesses, that means shifting away from a product-focused approach and towards a buyer-focused model. Jeff Koser of Zebrafi put it best in a recent interview with Salesman.org: “[Buyers] don't care about your product, they care about themselves. And they have to. It's their job. That's why there's such a fundamental difference between the buying journey that a prospect wants to go down versus a sales cycle that most salespeople try to conduct. And by shifting to pain, business issues, and value, you're actually making more of the shift to the buyer's journey that they want to participate in.” To figure out how your own customers are moving through the buyer's journey, you need to take into account the following factors: Which step you're meeting them at Where they've been What pain points they're experiencing What their next step will be How you get them to that next step 1) Which Step Do You Meet Them?  Where are you currently reaching out to buyers? Again, if it's in the earlier stages, you should consider shifting that to later in the sales cycle. Generally speaking, you will likely want to steer clear of direct interactions until late in the Comparing Vendors Stage/Purchase Stage. True, there was a time when you could swoop in during the solution exploration stage. But today, ushering buyers through this part of the customer journey is better left to educational content. It is worth noting, of course, that every industry is going to be different. And your unique buyers may respond better to earlier outreach. But the key here is to test alternative contact points and measure the varying effectiveness. Don't rely on old models to tell you when you should push for a call and when you should step back and let the buyer take the lead. 2) Where Have They Been?  You'll also need to consider the context for how they're moving through your buyer's journey. Which stages have they been through already? Have they shown strong engagement with materials from those previous stages? A robust CRM will be helpful here as it'll let you see what content from which stages buyers have consumed so far. 3) What Pain Are They In?  Next up is determining the pain points buyers are likely experiencing. In general, there will be specific pain points associated with particular stages in the buyer's journey. To give you an idea of where to start, buyers may experience the following pain points in these stages: No Awareness I know my business can be run more efficiently, but I don't know-how. Can we generate more revenue? Is it possible to attract more qualified talent? Awareness There is a gap in our processes that I need to understand better. We are missing out on earning potential; let's figure out why. There is a problem in our business, we need to give it a name and define it. Exploring Solutions We don't know which solution types will solve our problem. We don't know which solution types apply to our business model. We don't know which solution types are available in our industry. Comparing Vendors Which product offers the features we need to make this a successful solution? Which product offers additional features that increase their business value? Purchase Decision I'm concerned this isn't the right decision and needs reinforcement. 4) What Is Their Next Step?  Next, you'll need to define where you want the buyer to go next. This can be as simple as naming the next stage of the buyer's journey. For instance, if you determine the optimal place to interact with buyers is in the Comparing Vendors Stage, the next step would be ushering them into the Purchase Decision Stage. 5) How Do You Get Them To The Next Stage? For most stages of the buyer's journey, the answer here will be valuable content. Content should be the backbone of your buyer journey. And content (not pushy salesmanship) should be the driving force of what moves a buyer from one stage to the next. But what content type works best for each stage? Below are just a few examples of the best content types for each stage of the buyer's journey. No Awareness & Awareness Stages: Blog posts Social media posts Educational webinars Checklists Exploring Solutions Stage: How-to video Whitepapers Ebooks and in-depth guides Comparing Vendors Stage: Product comparison guide Product spec guides Case studies Reviews and testimonials Purchase Stage: Sales calls Consultation offer Discounts Live demo Free trial Creating Your Journey Statement A journey statement is essentially the combination of all the information you learned when defining your buyer's journey. It should help you define: When you're meeting buyers What stages of the buyer journey they've been through What pains they're currently experiencing What are their next steps How you help move them to that next step It should look something like this: I help (buyers at the optimal engagement stage), who have (which stages they've been through), solve (main pain points at that stage) and move towards (next stage) by (how you move them).  Example: I help buyers at the Purchase Decision stage, who have made their way up through the Comparing Vendors stage, justify their decision to buy our product and move towards a purchase by showing them what it's like to work with us using live demos and more. Your journey statement (when well-defined) will help you better understand your role as a sales rep and let you engage buyers at the optimal point in the buyer's journey. Wrapping Up The buyer's journey isn't the same as it used to be. Buyers have more control over their progression. B2B salespeople need a more sophisticated content strategy. And a more modern cycle requires reps to shift from a product-focused approach to one focusing on providing value instead. And while acclimating to this new B2B sales landscape may take some adjustment, you can do so successfully if you put in the work and focus on customer success more than anything. As Wistia VP of Sales and Customer Success, Peter von Burchard, put it in our interview: “Customer success is really understanding the journey that the customer is on, and the problem that you're solving as a solution and finding a way to align yourself as a company with getting those customers to achieve that end. And I think it's really about aligning the business and the solution with the goals of the customer and helping execute on that.”
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Aug 29, 2022 • 0sec

How To Create a Winning 30-60-90 Day Sales Plan (+ Sales Plan Template)

You’ve got a job interview for your dream sales job. You have the experience and a track record of success. The only thing between you and your offer letter is your (hopefully) future sales manager. Impress them with your exceptional selling skills and expertise, and you’ve got the job. But the question is: how? This Salesman.org sales plan template guide will show you how to put together a winning 30-60-90 day sales plan to impress your sales manager with your sales knowledge and expertise and nab your dream sales position. What Is a 30-60-90 Day Sales Plan? A 30-60-90 day sales plan outlines the measurable goals for your first three months on the job. Think of it as your personal value proposition that shows your superiors you’re a self-starter and helps you be laser-focused on achieving results. It expands on what success looks like in the first 30, 60, and 90 days, respectively. The idea here is to lay out your clear-cut plans for measuring a successful transition and keeping everyone focused in the right direction. Why Do You Need a 30, 60, 90 Day Plan? Your dream sales job is also somebody else’s dream job. This means you have to stand out in your interview and make sure the hiring manager can see what a great addition you can be to the organization. The only way to do this effectively is to create a sales plan that shows your vision of the future of the sales territory or customers you’ll be taking over. It should outline your interaction with your sales team, sales strategies, sales cycle, target audience and revenue goals. Each aspect of your 30-60-90 day sales plan should detail a specific focus, your priorities and goals, and a plan for measuring success. Getting this right will help you maximize your progression into a new role by identifying potential partners to sell two and establishing a general framework for success. Here’s are the biggest benefits of developing a 30-60-90 day plan: Creates a clear focus for your first 90 days on the job, boosting your productivity and maximizing results Ensures your goals are set properly in your 30-60-60 day plan, letting you integrate quickly and smoothly into the organization Proves you’re capable of self-management and achieving goals and are an employee worthy of development. If you bring in a well-thought-out plan into a job interview, you’ll have an advantage over other under-prepared candidates, significantly improving your chances of getting hired. Other Scenarios Where Having a 30-60-90 Day Sales Plan Makes Sense Putting together a 30-60-90 days sales plan takes time and effort, but the good news is you don’t have to do it often. When you write a sales plan it becomes a sales tool that can be used over and over. Besides the interview process, you can also use your sales plan for the following circumstances: Scenario 1: First Week on the Job You got a brand-new job—or maybe you’ve earned an internal promotion. Regardless of the circumstance, you should create a 30-60-90 days sales plan within the first week on the job. Doing this will demonstrate your commitment to your new role and give you a well-defined plan to ensure you’re off to a good start. Scenario 2: New Territory Management Assignments If your company follows the territory management approach, creating a 30 60 90 day plan for new sales territory is a no-brainer. Your plan should clearly define geographic boundaries for territories you’re responsible for and the metrics you’ll use to evaluate territory performance. It should include any new business goals, changes in the company mission or types of sales that you'll be making. Steps To Create a Winning 30-60-90 Day Sales Plan Template Next, let’s understand how you can draft an effective 30 60 90 day sales strategy plan. Step 1: Know Who You’re Creating the Plan For You should know who you’re making the plan for. This involves thinking from the perspectives of two stakeholders: your team and you. A) Align Your Plan With Your Organization’s Goals Understand your sales team’s priorities and goals and align your sales plan with them. For a job interview, try to connect with a salesperson already working with the company on LinkedIn. Strike a polite conversation and ask them what goals they’re being pushed towards corporately. If you’re new on the job or handling a new territory, speak to your sales manager and ask them about goals that matter most to the organization. Find out current revenue targets, sales and marketing initiatives and any strategies and tactics that are working for the sales team. B) Identify Your Own Priorities What are your current priorities and personal goals?  Do you want to earn more money? Or do you want to focus on building now to set up your territory for even bigger successes? Maybe you want to position yourself as a legendary adviser for all things sales. You must identify your own priorities before you start building your 30 60 90 day plan. This will give you a clearer perspective on how to approach things and set yourself up for success. Do you want to install new sales tools, motivate your team or start pushing a new product or service? Creating your sales plan can reduce the time to implement a more effective sales action plan. Don’t worry; we’ll also share a super-easy template you can follow and ensure better outcomes. Step 2: Figure Out How to Measure Your Success Now that you know your sales goals, your next step is to measure progress against those goals. In the words of Peter Drucker, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” When you know how to measure success, you can improve your plan further by identifying and eliminating weak aspects. Here are a few tips to help you get started on the right track: Gain in-depth knowledge of product features Have the ability to demo the product at a high level Have built key relationships built-in potential growth accounts Developing a more targeted customer profile Become known, liked, and trusted with all current partners Improved sales performance or increased sales activities Have a list of 100 potential partners to prospect over the next 12 months Step 3: Draft Your 30-60-90 Day Plan Breakdown At this point, you’ve already done most of the hard work. You can now focus on documenting the information you currently have to create a more formal 30-60-90 day sales plan that you can then share with your sales manager. For each section of your plan, ask yourself “what does success look like?“. Note: We’ve also added critical questions below to help you create a more impressive sales plan. Stage 1: 30 Days As mentioned, the first step is to ask yourself what success looks like after 30 days are complete. When applying for a job, success in the first 30 days is likely completing your onboarding and training process successfully. In addition, you can also add the following criteria if you want to be more specific: Understanding corporate priorities, new roles and responsibilities Intermediate knowledge of key products and services Knowing the product's position in the market vs. the competition Developing key connections within the organization with customer support, sales leadership, team members etc Going through previous rep's sales CRM data and outlining a few key accounts to target The 30-day section of your sales plan should define your success goals and briefly explain how you plan on achieving them. It should also share how you‘ll know you’ve been successful in meeting these goals.  Let’s explain this using an example. Success goal: Having intermediate knowledge of key products and services offered by the organization. To complete I will: Spend an hour every week with the product specialist for each product and have them quiz me on my knowledge. I will have success if: In the 30-day review meeting with my sales manager, they can quiz me about our product range like a potential partner would and I can answer their questions confidently. This will allow you to show off your self-starting nature and help you understand your responsibilities better. Be sure to schedule a meeting with your sales manager to discuss successes and any issues you had during the 30 days before moving on to the 60-day and 90-day time periods. It’ll make the transition smoother. Stage 2: 60 Days With the first 30 days up, you have to amp up your sales efforts in the second month. You’ll be spending more time in the field or talking to potential partners at this stage. Keeping this in mind, you should understand your marketplace and products at a high level. Regardless of what you’re selling, after 60 days of being immersed in it, you should know everything related to the offering—big or small. Another good tactic is to role play with co-workers and shadow your senior sales professionals to understand their sales processes and approaches. Here are some pointers to include in the 60-day section of your sales plan. Notice how some of them are mandatory, while others are more flexible depending on your role, experience, and onboarding process. Started developing at least five new leads — Mandatory  Have shadowed the top two performing sales reps in the company — Mandatory  High-level understanding of key products — Mandatory  Completed role-playing sessions with other sales professionals in the team Have contributed to a sales meeting by adding value to the conversation Completed all formal sales onboarding or training that needs to be done Of course, these objectives will vary depending on why you’re drafting the 30-60-90 day sales plan. For instance, if you’re an experienced sales professional who has been recently assigned a new sales territory, your success criteria will look something like this: Knowing your target territory — Mandatory  Setting measurable and realistic setting goals — Mandatory Developing a territory management plan — Mandatory Recording daily development in CRM Attending meetings with other sales professionals Information overload, we know. But getting this step right will help you achieve greater success. Plus, once you get the hang of things, everything will become easier.  Stage 3: 90 days This is where you hit the ground running. Your 31-90 day plan sets out what you’re planning on doing for the rest of the time in the specific sales role. Here, you should have an optimized prospecting list and have your foot in the door with at least a couple of potential new key accounts.  Only a few things can go wrong at this point, which might stop your 30-60-90 day sales plan from being fabulous. Don’t worry, though. We’ll cover 30-60-90 day sales plan mistakes later to make sure all your hard work pays off. At this point in your new sales role you should have a lead generation strategy, be on top of all the new sales enablement tools and content, understand your customer pain points and have a few new customers on the go. At the 90-day meeting with your sales manager, discuss any 3-4 points from the following success criteria: Clear and optimized prospecting list in use — Mandatory Daily schedule established for prospecting, following up and staying on top of everything else — Mandatory Become a solid member of the team — Mandatory Had at least one round of feedback on performance from the sales manager Closed at least a couple of deals without too much babysitting from others Foot in the door with a couple of exciting key accounts And that’s it! That’s how you create a solid 30-60-90 day sales plan. Mistakes To Avoid When Creating a 30-60-90 day sales plan The whole point of creating a 30-60-90 day sales plan is to give you a clear direction in your new sales role. But there are a few errors that may make it less effective… Mistake 1: Not Including Success Measurement We get it: you don’t want to make promises you can’t keep. But not including specific ways of measuring your success on your sales business plan is a huge red flag that may cause your sales manager to question your capabilities.  You must be willing to put your money where your mouth is. So make sure you include measurable success criteria for each section of your 30-60-90 day sales plan. Mistake 2: Making an Ambiguous Plan  Planning is about being specific and granular.  If you’re going to be ambiguous, your plan isn’t going to inspire confidence in your new sales leadership role and may fall flat. Sales managers want to see numbers and progress towards a target rather than vague business strategy and generic sales plans. Mistake 3: Lack of Sales Manager Follow-ups Similar to how following up is necessary to win deals, holding meetings with your sales manager is important for improving your 30-60-90 day sales plan and self-improvement. Don’t forget to schedule meetings with your sales manager at the 30, 60, and 90-day points to review your progress and ask for advice on your sales process. 30 60 90 Day Sales Plan Template As promised, right click and save as to download your 30 60 90 day sales plan template. This free template will take you through the process of creating a sales plan.

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