Selling Power Blog

How Does Your Implanted Mindset Control Success?

Most of us take for granted the enormous influence our parents have over our mindset.

Our parents give us what’s called our “implanted mindset.” Our parents or caretakers implanted ideas in us that explained how the world works. They laid down the rules, the do's and don’ts, and how to get along.

Think of the implanted mindset as a garden with flowers, weeds, and rocks. The flowers are the gifts we received from them that we treasure every day. The weeds are the unpleasant memories we wish we could do without. The rocks are the heavy experiences we had to endure that weighed us down.

The implanted mindset can be hard to change; however, we have a choice to water the flowers and stop watering the weeds. We can also remove the rocks and plant new seeds.

As an example, I think about my interview a few months ago with Keith Krach, chairman of DocuSign, I asked him about his childhood growing up in a small town in Ohio. His father had taken a gamble and started his own machine shop at age 40, and Keith grew up working summers in the shop. Here’s some of what Keith shared about his father:

I think of him as the best leader I’ve ever known in my life. I’ll never forget, I was [about] 15 and we were driving to the machine shop and I said, “Everyone just loves you, Dad. Why is that?” He told me, ‘When you’re with the pope, you pray. When you’re with a drunkard, you drink. Everything in between goes, but always be yourself.’ What I learned from him is [to] respect other people but maintain your integrity.

Keith’s early experiences with his father shaped his mindset and set him up to become the successful leader he is today. Not only has Keith served as the chairman of Docusign for eight years and as the CEO for six years, his leadership pushed DocuSign to expand globally from 75 employees to more than 2,000 employees, including four acquisitions. During his tenure, DocuSign established the benchmark for trust in the industry by facilitating the creation of the xDTM Standard.

You can watch my video about Keith below to learn more, or check out http://keithkrach.com/.

What kind of mindset did your parents provide you? Have you learned to enhance or alter your implanted mindset in order to achieve higher levels of success for yourself – either as an individual contributor or a leader? Please share your thoughts and feedback in the comments.

What Are Your Self-limiting Beliefs?

We all have self-limiting beliefs that hold us back from achieving our goals and reaching our full potential.

A few weeks ago, I spoke with three sales experts to find out their personal self-limiting beliefs. We also discussed some ways sales managers can identify what’s holding their sales teams back from reaching revenue goals. Here are some highlights:

Mark Hunter shared that circumstances helped him overcome some major self-limiting beliefs:

I became a disc jockey because I stuttered. From there, that led to a career in sales – only because of another self-limiting belief that I couldn’t sell. I could do it on the radio, but I couldn’t do it in front of people. Until…the Seattle police department gave me a few too many speeding tickets and I had to get a job that supplied me with a company car. We get through self-defeating limits many times because of external factors that force us to the next level.

Umar Hameed revealed his insight that his need to be liked sometimes holds him back:

It’s kind of interesting how we get these self-defeating situations and beliefs and that’s the very area that the universe wants us to grow. Here’s the paradox: I’m articulate, I’m smart, I’m semi-good looking, but I still have a need to be liked. And there’s lots of evidence that I am. But still, [sometimes] you’ve got this belief inside that trumps reality.

Someone heard me do a presentation a long time ago in my career. And he said, ‘Umar, you’re monitoring what you’re saying because you want to be liked.’ For me, sometimes, I won’t totally “go for it” at the level I want because of what other people might think.

Victor Antonio helps people move from self-limiting beliefs to self-empowering beliefs. He has found that shining a flashlight on the outcomes of self-limiting behavior can be a big motivator for change:  

I found out that people are not motivated so much by, “Come on, you can do it! You can turn it around!” What they’re motivated by is the reality that, if things don’t change, things will go downhill that much faster. The biggest thing I walked away with was…there’s something about predicting where things are going that wakes them up.

Watch the full video below for specific advice for sales managers about how to eliminate self-limiting beliefs to help salespeople achieve their numbers before the end of the quarter.

How to Properly Motivate Top, Middle, and Low Sales Performers

Today’s post is by Steve Damerow, CEO of Incentive Solutions, which manages hundreds of incentive loyalty programs for companies in a wide range of industries. Steve Damerow can be reached at sdamerow@incentivesolutions.com or 678/514-0203.

 

If your sales team is like most, you have a star group (20 percent) of top performers, a core group (60 percent) of solid performers, and a laggard group (20 percent) whose performance is consistently underpar. The question for sales leaders is: What’s the proper way to motivate each group? Let’s examine the who, why, what, and how of each group to determine the best sales motivation strategy for each.

Laggard Performers

Laggards are your lower-tier, or bottom 20 percent of, performers. They’re most likely in this group because they lack the experience, skill set, or motivation of other groups.

What motivates them?

• Small, frequent accomplishments can keep laggards motivated and engaged in their work. This persuades them to keep striving – even if they’re not closing big deals.

• Peer pressure can drive them to improve their performance and catch up to be part of the “pack.”

How should you reward them?

• Reward for early accomplishments to keep them on a path of growth – their first sale or their first million dollars sold, for example. A noncash merchandise reward acts as a trophy to symbolize their achievement.

• Public leaderboards tap into peer-pressure motivation. Show off sales performance rankings to remind laggards they have room to grow.

• Short-term rewards keep them focused on improving. According to a sales incentive study in Harvard Business Review, “Removing quarterly bonuses from laggards’ incentives – and keeping only an annual bonus – would decrease their overall performance by 10 percent. The same change decreases the performance of core and star salespeople only 2-4 percent.

Core Performers

Core performers are the standard performers who make up the middle 60 percent of your sales force. They’re likely still finding their footing as skilled salespeople, or have become comfortable and plateaued in their performance.

What motivates them?

This group is thinking about the future. They’re likely younger salespeople of Generation Y and Z, still excited when they close individual sales and hungry for the tools and knowledge that can make them better.

How should you reward them?

• Feed their need for knowledge by providing them training rewards when they attend seminars, expand product knowledge, complete training curriculum, or add on to their skill set.

• Smaller incentive rewards for meeting quotas and hitting new milestones will keep them engaged and eager to grow.
  
  
• Highlight their achievements on a leaderboard. This provides a reminder that they’re not quite at star level yet, but they can get there.

Star Performers

Star performers are the top 20 percent – the best performers in your sales force. They’re most likely the Gen Xers and Baby Boomers on your team who’ve put in the time and effort to become the best at what they do.

What motivates them?

Star performers have likely earned most or all of the short-term incentive rewards you offer. They’ve put in the time and talent to help your business excel and appreciate recognition for that contribution. They’re more motivated by rare or once-in-a-lifetime reward opportunities or recognition for top-tier performance.

How should you reward them?

• Recognize their status by making them part of a President’s Club or advisory council. Reinforce their value to your company. Your competition is likely courting them, so promote corporate loyalty.

• Offer them exclusive incentive travel opportunities. An incentive trip is the kind of unique, impactful reward experience that can capture star performers’ attention.

All of the above sales incentive strategies may seem like too much to manage, but that doesn’t have to be the case. Today’s advanced incentive technology can provide the power of a diverse reward experience. “With SaaS platforms, you can be more flexible and have non-cash incentives for different tiers of performers,” says Luke Kreitner, VP of sales at Loyaltyworks, a sales incentive program provider. “Online features let you segment sales promotions by specific qualifying groups, display leaderboards, and provide a wide range of reward pay-outs.”

Without online technology in your sales incentive program, it’s much more difficult to control your sales force’s reward experience. Using the right tools, however, you can tailor your sales incentive program so it motivates each member of your sales team – at each stage in their development.

Three Actions that Will Help You Collaborate with Customers

Today’s post is by Ben Taylor, content marketing manager at Richardson. He has an MBA in finance from LaSalle University and more than a decade of business and writing experience. He has covered content for brands such as Nasdaq, Barclaycard, and Business Insider.

 

Today, more customers are leveraging their resources to build business solutions without the involvement of salespeople. Meanwhile, those who do engage a seller are pushing this step to later in the process – when most decisions are fully formed.

These trends have caused everyone to call into question the real value of salespeople.

In fact, today’s buying environment is quickly separating great B2B sellers from those who are merely adequate. To remain competitive, sellers must bring a renewed focus on collaboration in the sales process.

A collaborative approach drives results unseen elsewhere because it keeps the focus on solving challenges specific to the customer. There are three actions sellers can take to become more collaborative in selling.

1. They must leverage insights through questioning
2. They must avoid seller-centric behaviors
3. They must work from facts rather than assumptions

Let’s look at each of these actions in more detail.

Action #1: Ask Smarter Questions

Incisive questions get to the core of the customer’s needs fast. This kind of interplay creates a cooperative environment by revealing challenges unseen by even the customer. However, to elicit detailed responses, sellers must demonstrate their preparation by asking smarter questions.

This consultative selling strategy is particularly important today because customers feel more rushed than ever before. Sellers should expect that customers will have only so much willingness to detail their challenges. Therefore, it’s critical that sellers front-load their most pressing inquiries to get to the essence of the problem fast.

Anticipate resistance at first. The questioning process requires both sides to acknowledge the stature of the business challenges, which can be uncomfortable. However, this strategy avoids the false positivity that can lead to short-sighted solutions.

The net result is an openness that gives the seller an edge over the competition. Additionally, questioning affords the opportunity to float ideas. Buyers may be more willing to entertain new ideas when the seller frames concepts as questions. Effective questioning is at the core of collaboration, which develops to a sense of shared commitment. This step is important because there can be no closing without collaboration.    

Action #2: Avoid Seller-centric Behaviors

Seller-centric behaviors are difficult to avoid. Amid pressing deadlines and quarterly quotas, sellers are under immense pressure to close. Too often this burden leads to impulsive behavior – like jumping to the sale – that compromises trust. However, strong sellers keep the customer at the fore of their thinking.

One effective way to do this is to elicit periodic feedback from the customer. This practice helps gauge how connected the customer is to the conversation, while determining if the seller is on the right track. Moreover, checking in with the customer reveals if the seller has offered any ideas that are incongruous to the customer’s perspective. These details become important in seeking gradual buy-in that culminates in a successful closing.

A consistent customer focus is critical because, in the dialogue stage, the customer is “trying on” the relationship with the seller. The customer is not only seeking the seller’s insights, but also the seller’s dependability. When buyers see sellers’ actions as customer focused, they establish knowledge-based trust: the tendency to build trust based on prior actions.

Make sure every outreach to the customer offers value. Why? Customers need more reasons to act than ever before. A 2017 Richardson survey shows that 26 percent of sellers believe “combating the status quo” is the biggest challenge buyers face when making a purchasing decision.

Action #3: Work from Facts, Not Assumptions

We need to make assumptions in life; we would never move forward without them. However, we need to periodically check them – or even change them – because unquestioned assumptions can appear as facts. Simply put: assumptions must remain flexible.  

Too often, sellers enter meetings with preconceived notions that rest on a foundation of outdated information or conventional opinions. Sellers, however, can move beyond this tendency. They must acknowledge the anchoring bias, which occurs when we rely too heavily on the first piece of information we receive.

Sellers can overcome this problem by seeking facts through a customer dialogue. These discussions help uncover valuable information and move the sale forward. Avoid the anchoring bias by practicing mindful listening. This strategy of “tuning in” helps sellers dig deeper and re-examine long-held assumptions about positioning a solution.

There’s no question that selling has gotten tougher. However, sellers who take a collaborative approach will discover they can close more sales with solutions that focus on solving challenges specific to the customer. Making this work means asking smarter questions focused on the nuances of the customer to help move beyond assumptions.

If You Can See It, You Can Achieve It

Today’s post is by Jamie Crosbie, CEO and founder of ProActivate. Jamie is a certified peak performance mindset trainer. Contact her at jcrosbie@proactivate.net or 214/720-9922 to learn more about how her training can help your sales team reach peak performance levels.

 

We’ve all seen the inspirational posters that tell us to imagine success. They may seem trite or overly simple, but the truth is that many of the top people of their fields use visualization techniques as part of their road map to success.

Athletes use it to gain an edge on their competitors. Fortune 500 companies and high-powered CEOs use it to help them close deals, become more confident, lower stress, and solve problems.

And there is some solid science behind it too. In one study, for example, weightlifters were asked to imagine adding more weight, rather than just doing it. The result? They reaped real benefits in the form of muscle strength. On average, they gained 30 percent more muscle than those who had not imagined the extra weight.

And what was most surprising was the fact that the visualization group actually gained nearly half as much muscle mass without the actual physical workload increases.

Working Out in Your Head

But how does that help in the professional salesperson? Well, brain scans show that thoughts produce the same mental instructions as actions. Visualization impacts many cognitive processes in the brain, such as perception, motor control, attention, planning, and memory. In essence, you are training your brain for actual performance. This could be a sales pitch to a big client, getting that promotion, or even asking your boss for a raise.

Imagine meeting that big client and giving him your sales pitch. See the room. Hear his voice. Smell the coffee. Use all your senses to put yourself in mind and actually “see” the whole process from start to finish. And do this more than once. The more you visualize the event, the more you will be ready when the time comes to actually “close the deal” in real life.

So, exactly how do you put this into practice?

Setting a Goal

What do you want to make happen? Set your goal – just be sure to focus on the positive rather than the negative. In other words, focus on what you want, and not what you don’t want. The basic idea is to focus on what you CAN control and not on what you can’t. A smart public speaker will focus on the speech and not the applause at the end. If you visualize yourself with a positive response – seeing yourself smile, relaxed, and optimistic – then those responses will be more natural when you put them into action. Remember, you are in control of your actions, and picturing yourself doing them will help you keep your calm.

Practice. Practice. Practice.

Then practice some more. Visualization does not come easily to everyone. In fact, most people struggle with it. Closing your eyes to bring up crystal-clear images is usually a skill that takes time to develop. Everyone has the ability to visualize – it just takes practice.

Be consistent. Set aside a few minutes every day to practice your visualization. It helps if you commit to the same time each day rather than trying to fit it in whenever you think about it. Find a time that is stress free. Many people find the best time for them is first thing in the morning before they have had time to think about the oncoming stress of the day.

Even if you do not feel it is working, keep at it. It will become easier until, one day, you will not only be able to see that crystal-clear image, you will be able to hear, feel, and smell it as well. Even if you do not think it is working, stay with it. Your brain will reap the rewards – and so will your career.

For more tips on achieving and maintaining a Peak Performance Mindset, please contact me – jcrosbie@proactivate.net or 214/720-9922.

Five Tips for SDRs Trying to Break into the C-Suite

Today’s post is by Sharon Gillenwater, founder and editor-in-chief of Boardroom Insiders, which maintains an extensive database of the most in-depth executive profiles on the market, from Fortune 500 companies to independent non-profits, to help sales and marketing professionals build deeper relationships and close more deals with clients. Gillenwater is a long-time marketing consultant with expertise in marketing strategy, account-based marketing, and CXO engagement programs.

 

In a recent conversation with our sales team, I was asked to write about how our executive profiles can support sales development representatives (SDRs), the people on the front lines of selling.

“Wait a minute,” I said. “I thought SDRs were the most junior, fresh-out-of-school people in sales. Surely companies don’t have them calling into the C-suite.”

“But they do,” said one colleague.

Whoa. That got my attention. I couldn’t imagine being accountable for having conversations with CXOs when I was 25. I would have been shaking in my shoes! Most people don’t have the business acumen and confidence to pull off a conversation with a CXO that early in their careers.

Now, I’m not going to argue why the most junior people on the team should not be calling CXOs. I have to assume our customers and prospects know a lot more than we do about how to carve up the enterprise sales process to maximize sales success – they wouldn’t be doing it if it didn’t work.

So I decided to do a little research on SDRs.

First I found this, written by Glen Lipka, head of magic (PM/UX) at Engagio:

“Sales development representatives (sometimes called business development reps) are typically junior employees, often right out of college, who qualify accounts against a number of criteria such as budget, buying authority, and company fit. The SDR job is to make sure that senior account executives don’t waste their time on poor opportunities. The ability to focus the attention on achievable deals is the lifeblood of the salesperson. The SDR is supposed to filter out all of the bad deals.”

So SDRs are the most junior people on the team. And their main job is to qualify leads and opportunities. Here are some of the things expected of an average SDR, which were pulled from real SaaS company job listings:

• Prospect into a target account list ranging from the Fortune 500 to medium-sized organizations
• Self-source own pipeline of Enterprise customers and process inbound leads
• Make 50-60 prospecting calls a day
• Form relationships with managers, directors, and C-level executives
• Email and network with potential customers
• Ask thorough and pointed questions, guiding potential clients through needs analysis and discovery sessions to qualify the lead and drive new opportunities
• Hit monthly sales metrics

These job listings were typically targeting people with between six months and one year of experience.

My take is that a lot is being asked of people with very little experience. But, having hired a few salespeople myself, I know that, if you hire smart, ambitious people and give them the right mentoring, training, and tools, they can deliver great results.

We want to be part of the solution – and the success of SDRs. So, given that our experience and focus at Boardroom Insiders is on C-suite selling, here are five tips for SDRs charged with prospecting in the C-suite:

Tip 1: Commit to a different approach for CXO prospects.

C-suite prospecting should not be lumped in with other kinds of prospecting. It can’t be automated or standardized. You can’t use a one-size-fits-all message or approach. Always remember: a CXO is a segment of ONE. And that first touch – and here is where the SDR comes in – can make or break an opportunity.

Tip 2: Do your homework on each individual CXO – before you contact them.

If you want to cut through the “noise” in a CXO’s inbox or get past their gatekeeper, your message has to be relevant – and it has to be about them, not you. To achieve this, you have to know what they care about, so invest some time in learning something about them. Now, it is likely the CXO will just forward your well-crafted email on to one of his lieutenants to handle the conversation. But you still had better know what the top brass cares about – the company’s strategy and initiatives – because, no matter who you talk to, they will be marching to that same drum beat.

Tip 3: Build your first communication around one compelling “hook.” Keep it short and sweet.

In the course of your research (see Tip 2, above), look for one (yes, just one) “hook” that shows you know something about them and that they can benefit from the product or service you sell. It is always best to find something they said and quote it back to them. Few people can ignore you when you are using their own words. Be brief – the goal is to capture their interest and get them to ask for more.

Tip 4: Be politely persistent and continue to add value.

It is rare to get a reply from a CXO on your first try. Don’t give up. Look for ways to deliver more value while showing you have done your homework and understand their business. For example, send them a piece of content you know is relevant, based on something they have said. Continue to keep up to date on what they are saying in interviews and on earnings calls – and look for more hooks that connect the dots back to your products and services being a good fit.

Tip 5: Bring in the big guns – and brief them appropriately.

Most SDRs are probably not experienced enough to pull off a business conversation with a CXO. Even if you are, CXOs typically want to speak with someone in a more senior role. In the spirit of not treating CXOs like any other lead (See Tip 1, above), keep your managers apprised of any CXO conversations you are having and share the homework you have done on these prospects so they can seamlessly pick up where you left off.

Is There a Promotion in Your Future?

I can guarantee that SDRs who consistently follow these five tips will make a good impression – not only with CXO prospects, but with their own managers.

Why It's Perfectly OK to Fail Sometimes

Today’s post is by David Mattson, CEO and president of Sandler Training, and is excerpted from the book You Can’t Teach a Kid to Ride a Bike at a Seminar. Copyright © 2015 Sandler Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

 

You have to learn to fail to win. When it comes to making cold calls, generating referrals, replying effectively to emails, or doing anything else a professional salesperson must be prepared to do on a daily basis, it’s OK to fail. Failure is a part of the human condition.

Everybody fails at something. Failure is how we learn. People who achieve a great deal fail at many things. Recognizing failure as a potentially positive experience gives you a new freedom: the freedom to try new things, be more creative, and stretch outside your comfort zone.

I had the distinct privilege and honor of knowing David Sandler, the founder of Sandler Training, from 1986 until his passing in 1995. He was a great mentor and a great coach because he made sure you always felt safe, and one of the ways he did that was by giving you permission to fail within clearly recognizable boundaries.

Why Leaders Must Help People Feel Safe to Fail

I can’t overstate the value of an employee feeling safe within an organization. Safety allows people to thrive on the things they do well – and it lets them focus on doing the things that need to get done.

When you’re afraid, you don’t do the things that are necessary to excel to greatness. You hold back; you’re hesitant; you second-guess yourself. The safety David provided was through what he called the two Ps: protection and permission. He would protect you. He would make sure you knew you were safe – as long as you were operating within the boundaries you had agreed to. He knew you might not get it right all the time. If your heart was in the right place and you did the right things, then he always regarded the outcome as a learning experience – even if it wasn’t what he wanted, needed, or expected. That kind of protection allowed you the freedom to think on your own and take chances.

David’s second P, permission, was also an important part of how he made you feel safe. You knew what the boundaries of your decision process were, so you knew you had permission to make decisions within those guidelines. You never felt inhibited. You never thought, “I’d better go ask him before I decide.” Of course, David required you to do your due diligence, to be prudent, to be conservative, to take calculated risks. He required you to defend your decisions – but he always gave you permission to make them, and that meant he gave you permission to fail as well.

Reducing the Risks Associated with Failure

Most people don’t get their decisions 100 percent right 100 percent of the time, and David knew that. So, if you stayed within the agreed-upon boundaries, you never felt as if your job was on the line.

Fortunately, the failures that came along weren’t great, and when they did come, they were important learning experiences. If you had a strong opinion and you stuck to it, and it didn’t pan out, David would always respect the fact that you had tried. He knew there were always bits and pieces of even “failed” projects and opinions that could be used for the greater good. He would extract what was useful and use it in other areas.

My own time with David Sandler was special. In the formative years of my career, he taught me how to think, how to analyze, and how to communicate. Last, but not least, he gave me permission to fail. And those gifts, I find, are what most people get out of the Sandler process.

Download your free chapter of the book, Winning From Failing, to learn more about creating a positive environment for your team.

13 Words that Can Kill a Sale

Today’s post is by Chris Orlob, senior director of product marketing at Gong.io, the number one conversation intelligence platform for B2B sales teams. Gong helps you convert more of your pipeline into revenue by shining the light on your sales conversations.

 

Comedian George Carlin once said there were “no bad words – only bad thoughts and bad intentions.” While Carlin was right about so much, when it comes to sales, it seems there really are some bad words – 13 of them, in fact.

This is not conjecture, but scientifically proven data. The data science team at Gong.io used AI to analyze 519,000-plus B2B sales call recordings from SaaS companies. The technology transcribed all the calls, speaker-separated them, and analyzed them using machine learning and natural language processing. What the team found was that there are 13 words and phrases that will drop your conversion rates.

1. “Competitor”

Evoking this word might make it seem like you view the current sale as a conquest in a game you are playing against others. It’s OK to mention competitors once or twice, but too many mentions can detract from what is supposed to be a conversation about the prospect’s needs.

2. “Billion”

Who’s afraid of big numbers? Apparently, customers are.

And it’s not just billions, but “million,” “100 million,” and other large numbers, too.

Though it’s possible they are actually suffering from meganumerophobia, a more likely explanation is that such numbers don’t summon an image but, instead are rather abstract. As Dilbert creator and former hypnotist Scott Adams has noted, “When you cause someone to picture something, you gain a degree of control over their thinking.”

If you’re trying to make a point about the number of widgets you sold last year, maybe point out instead that it was “one for every two U.S. households” and your prospect will picture that instead.

3. “Discount”

Drop this word during a sales call, and the likelihood of you closing the deal drops by 17 percent.

Why? Likely because it commoditizes and cheapens the product. Does Apple ever talk about discounts? No, and they’re doing pretty well.

4. “Roadmap”

This bit of jargon sounds innocuous enough, right? Well, that’s the problem – it’s jargon. It also smacks of disingenuousness because salespeople aren’t product managers and usually can’t say with a degree of certainty what will be on the roadmap. Customers know this.

5. “Contract”

This word has the same effect “marriage” does during a first date. Mention a contract and your close rate falls 7 percent. Say “agreement” or “paperwork” or “form” instead.

6. “Absolutely” and “Perfect”

These words are fine when used sparingly; but, when they’re used more than four times during a call, advance rates drop 16 percent. It’s likely the repetition undercuts the meaning. Things are rarely perfect or absolute in real life, and overuse of these words comes off as a happy-talk tic.

7. “Free Trial”

People like the idea of free trials, but they don’t like that terminology (probably because it makes you sound like everyone else.) Say “free trial” and you’ll decrease your likelihood of proceeding to the next step by 5 percent. “Pilot” is a good alternative term to use.

8. “Implement/Implementation”

Like “contract,” these words trigger the “What am I getting into?” reflex. Saying “onboarding” is nearly as bad, according to the data. A better way to convey the same thought is by saying, “get started.”

9. “Show You How”

This is another phrase that’s OK in moderation, but can be poison if overused. If you say “show you how” more than four times in a call, your close rate will drop 13 percent. Spend more energy showing them “why” instead.

10. “We Provide”

This phrase seems to put you on an equal plane with the ShamWow guy in terms of trust and believability. When used four or more times, close rates dropped 22 percent, according to the data.

11. “For Example”

This may seem like another head-scratcher, but it may just fall under the heading “Things Salespeople Say” in many people’s minds. While it’s good to try to prompt a visual image in a subtle way, “for example” seems to be a little too forceful an approach.

12. “Payment”

This is another word that sets off alarm bells. It is important to phrase it properly to not scare your prospects away. Instead of “The monthly payment for the software is $2,500,” say, “The monthly amount for our software is $2,500.” “Amount” isn’t as emotionally charged as “payment.”

13. “However”

Another word that falls under the 4X rule: use it more than four times and you’re sabotaging yourself. “However” is a bit high-falutin and smacks of sneakiness. Use “but” instead.

Bonus Tip: Go easy on your company name. Drop it 4X and close rates plunge 14 percent. Drop it six times and they fall 19 percent. People want to have a conversation, not hear an ad.

My Inspiring Mindset Moment with Bill McDermott at the Sales 3.0 Conference

One of the many highlights for me at the recent Sales 3.0 Conference in Las Vegas was my fireside chat with Bill McDermott, CEO of SAP.

I’m a great admirer of Bill’s. I’ve interviewed him before and I knew he would bring valuable and heartfelt insights to our audience of B2B sales leaders.

In fact, one of the reasons I worked so diligently to create a last-minute opportunity to get Bill onstage with us (he was not originally scheduled to speak, and graciously created an opening in his schedule after I learned he would be in Las Vegas during our event) was because I believe that Bill’s remarkable mindset could help our attendees on a personal and professional level. One of the many things I’ve learned about mindset over the years is that our success or failure is often dictated by how we choose to respond to events in life – even random accidents.

Almost immediately as we began our interview, I could feel the emotion and energy in the room as Bill shared stories from his childhood and his time in leadership positions.

Powerful leadership insights from @SAP CEO @BillRMcDermott at @Sales30Conf. Storytelling at its finest. #s30c pic.twitter.com/c1GBzMGfNn

— Phil Horn (@PhilKingsTix) September 19, 2017

During our chat, I decided to ask Bill about a freak fall he suffered in 2015, which led to several surgeries and, eventually, the loss of one eye. As he said, he knew while he was lying on the ground that it was a life-threatening situation. Something inside him compelled him to crawl out of the house and to the street, where he hoped someone would see or hear him. And that’s exactly what happened.

I was moved to see Bill become slightly choked up while recalling these events and the lessons he’s learned as a result. Although he may have lost some of his vision (which is the reason he now wears dark glasses), he told us sincerely, “Vision is not just about what you see. It’s about what you feel and how you make other people feel.”

As with many highly successful people, Bill chooses to feel gratitude about this setback, rather than feeling sorry for himself, or depressed. Although surely the recovery process has had dark moments, nothing could dampen his love of life and people.

This is the core of what makes Bill McDermott a great leader and human being. As he told us, “You can get anything in this life that you want if you help enough other people get what they want.”

Join me December 4 in Philadelphia for the last Sales 3.0 Conference of 2017. Learn more at www.sales30conf.com/Philadelphia2017.