Selling Power Blog

What to Expect from the Peak Performance Mindset Retreat

A few weeks ago, I designed and delivered the inaugural Peak Performance Mindset VIP Retreat for a small group of B2B sales leaders. I had the privilege of working with five world-class mindset coaches. 

Leadership, Race cars, and Tandem Skydiving Jumps

We purposely mixed up presentations with live-action events. On the second day, the group of leaders piled into a bus and drove to a professional racetrack, which had Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Porsches, and other high-performance cars. 

The retreat also offered a tandem skydiving jump from an airplane. The jumps were facilitated by the amazing Jon DeVore, a multiple world record holder of skydiving competitions. One of the retreat participants, Hillary Pryor, said she felt like she was “ready to take on the world” after racing around the track in an Audi R8. After her skydiving experience, she said, “I can do anything now!” 

Embracing these experiences made us realize we can handle a lot more than we assume. I think John Guydon described it best in this video. 

Remember: Your inner magic is capable of generating an insane amount of power; meanwhile, we typically use only a small fraction of that power in our daily lives. 

What Is a Peak Performance Mindset?

Why did I design this retreat experience? For several years now, I’ve been studying the power of mindset. I’m convinced sales leaders can change the world (for ourselves and others) by getting (and keeping) ourselves and others in a state of peak performance. 

The principles of Peak Performance Mindset are rooted in neuroscience. 

Each one of us has an “inner CEO” we can tap for amazing and powerful results. This potential lives in the capacities of the prefrontal cortex of the brain, which is where neural connections form based on our experiences, emotions, and ideas. 

The problem is, most of us never examine our own preconceived notions and feelings, despite the fact that they shape our perspective on life. In fact, only five percent of our mind’s content ever actually reaches the conscious level. That means 95 percent of who you are, what you feel, and what you think is not happening on a conscious level. 

That means our unconscious drives and desires have a significant impact on our productivity and success. For example, it’s a commonly held (and unexamined) belief that we get worse as we get older. Most of us assume our bodies will break down and become weak or ill. Yet recent research shows that believing negative ideas about the process of aging can actually decrease your life expectancy by 7.6 years. That means people with a positive mindset actually live longer!

What We Learned about Mindset and Sales Leadership

I was impressed how everyone in our group at the VIP Peak Performance Mindset Retreat committed to highly ambitious goals. Here’s just some of what we learned. 

Mindfulness

In her presentation, “How to Become a Mindful Leader,” Alexis Pokorny taught us the power of mindful leadership. Specifically, she illustrated how ineffective we are when we take on multiple tasks at once instead of working on one task at a time. She also led us through a 10-minute meditation exercise aimed at developing our brain’s ability to focus and concentrate.

“Inner Magic” 

I spoke about the concept of “inner magic.” To me, this is the reason we all exist. By practicing observation and appreciation, leaders can inspire others to live more courageously, intelligently, and joyfully. 

Passion and Purpose

In his presentation, “Mindset in Action,” Jim Cathcart reminded us that, when we understand our passion and purpose, we can live them more fully. He urged us to “know our ‘why,’” explaining that, when we find meaning in what we do, we bring more value to what we do.

Physical Fitness

In his presentation, “Age-defying Health Habits,” David Bush explained the link between our health and our mental clarity and optimism. He laid out a 28-day health challenge plan that included improving nutrition, prioritizing an active lifestyle, and decreasing stress.

One of the last activities we offered was a hole-in-one golf challenge. Listen to Russ Walker describe how working on his mindset transformed his ability to get the closest he’s ever been to a hole in one on the course. 

One participant told me the weekend was more like an awakening than a retreat. Another posted, “I learned from many others. I only see dreams and possibilities and nothing else. The weekend changed me forever.” Still another said, “I discovered that I was operating at a much lower level of energy and focus. I realized that I have a lot more gas in the tank.”

So many participants used the retreat as an opportunity to open up and talk about the toughest battles in their personal lives. We learned that what had brought us through adversity was refusing to give up. 

The weekend reminded me there is no obstacle that can’t be overcome. Any sales leader who participates in the VIP Peak Performance Mindset Retreat will walk away with a greater awareness of his or her true capacities, a clear vision, and a definitive sense of purpose. You’ll also get mutual support and regular accountability checks. As Hillary said, you’ll feel “ready to take on the world.” 

I’m excited to host the next Peak Performance Mindset VIP Retreat in Orlando March 13-15th 2020 at the Four Seasons Hotel. To get your invitation contact me at gerhard@sellingpower.com for details. 

How to Align Your Organization with a Sales Focus

Today’s post is by Anita Greenland, vice president of sales at The Brooks Group, where she brings 25+ years of customer service, sales, sales management, and sales training experience. In her role, Anita is responsible for leading and executing The Brooks Group’s sales growth strategy.

 

Organizations with a strong sales focus consistently outperform those that leave selling up to chance. Establishing a strong sales focus doesn’t happen overnight, however. It takes intentional planning and support from the top levels of your organization.

Here’s how leading companies align their organization with a sales focus to achieve exceptional revenue growth.

1. They Schedule Regular Sales and Marketing Alignment Meetings

Research from Marketo reveals that businesses are 67 percent better at closing deals when sales and marketing work together.

Sales-focused organizations bring the sales and marketing teams together to establish clear goals for both parties – and strategies for achieving them. They align criteria for lead generation and qualification, and keep lines of communication open. 

Most importantly, they operate around a consistent sales process and stay aligned on what collateral, education, and touch points prospects and customers need through every stage of the buyer’s journey. 

Set aside a time for regular alignment meetings – and stick to them. Whether it’s once a week or once a month, a collaborative meeting between sales and marketing offers the chance for leaders from both teams to determine the strategies and processes that best position your organization and sales team in the eyes of your prospects.

2. They Align Sales and Customer Service

Happy customers become repeat customers, and loyal customers become sources of valuable referrals. Consistently solving problems at every stage of the customer relationship not only leads to a positive client experience, it also can reveal untapped revenue opportunities.

Forward-thinking sales organizations align their sales and customer service teams to improve customer experience, and to increase cross-selling and upselling opportunities.

Create open lines of communication and hold both service reps and salespeople accountable for sharing problems and challenges with each other, as well as knowledge and insights. Encourage team problem solving and reward collaborative behavior among departments.

You should also consider training your service reps to be more effective in providing an excellent customer experience and identifying additional solutions. IMPACT for Customer Service is a training program that teaches your team how to serve and delight customers – and translate their efforts into additional revenue for your organization.

3. They Extend CRM Software beyond the Sales Team

Sales-focused organizations make sure everyone on the team understands and stays connected with the sales process, and has access to a common database of knowledge.

Extend your CRM to provide access to marketing, customer service, finance, and any other departments that could benefit from the information it contains. Most CRMs now offer limited licenses for non-sales roles, making this an affordable and effective way to provide everyone with access to customer information in a centralized location.

4. They Establish a Strong Company-wide Sales Culture

Sales-focused organizations know the sales team is not the only department needed to make a sale. Successful selling is like a relay race: Regardless of who crosses the finish line with a win, there was a team behind them working together to move the baton forward.

A strong sales culture is one that encourages every member of the team to support the sales function, and to think about how they can provide value to customers during every interaction.

Consider including non-sales team members in sales methodology and sales process training. When all your people speak the same sales language, your sales process can become your operating system.

Conclusion

To strengthen your sales focus and improve your organization’s performance, you must lay the foundation with a well-planned sales enablement strategy.

Maximum IMPACT Sales Enablement (MISE) will help you establish a sales process as your operating system, and align your organization to achieve both your short- and long-term goals.

Learn more about MISE here, and how it can help meet your team where it is today, while giving you a roadmap to get you where you need to be in the future.

Make Your Sales Training a Big Success

Today’s post is by Haley Katsman, vice president of account development & growth at Highspot, the highest user-rated sales enablement solution. Connect with her on Twitter and LinkedIn.

 

Today, most sales organizations are still enabling salespeople with classroom onboarding, certifications, and assessments. These methods are outdated and don’t reflect the dynamic, responsive way modern sellers engage with buyers. And they’re hurting your bottom line.

Salespeople are hungry for an immersive, interactive learning experience – one that delivers the right content and guidance at the right time through the channels where they live.

And reps have every reason to have this appetite. Technology has transformed the way we sell – so it’s time technology changed the way we approach sales training, too. 

Most Organizations Get Sales Training Wrong

Sales training is typically treated like a box that needs to be ticked: Certify reps and they have been “trained.” But the one-directional, static learning formats dominating our industry don’t support the breadth of scenarios reps encounter in the field.

Quizzes, certifications, and classroom sessions can’t cover every unique selling situation, nor can they prove long-term knowledge retention.

A global survey by McKinsey & Company found that effective training:

1. provides content that meets the learner’s needs,
2. happens on a continuous basis, and
3. adopts modern delivery channels and techniques, such as digital content libraries and gamification.

If these elements sound familiar, it’s because they mirror the methods used by leading consumer education platforms. Gamification has led to Duolingo’s success, while self-guided, just-in-time video courses and microcontent from Khan Academy, Coursera, Udacity, and Codeacademy have yielded numerous success stories. A close look at how these platforms drive comprehension and retention reveals a pattern: Interactive methods that meet learners where they are, with content in context, yield optimal results.

Effective Sales Training is Dynamic

Sellers are people, too – and the way they want to learn is no different.

But there is an additional layer to consider: Contemporary selling is more dynamic than ever, and sellers need ongoing training that helps them navigate their ever-changing sales environments. Effective training requires elements that mimic the different ways sellers and buyers interact. Harvard Business Review explains, “Most of the problems we encounter during our everyday working lives are ill defined rather than well structured, so they do not have an objectively correct solution, requiring adaptive rather than technical learning.” 

Training must, therefore, extend beyond the textbook – teaching reps to apply techniques and methodologies to real-world scenarios.

For instance, my team stages workshops where we critique buyer calls and then role-play, which reinforces knowledge by allowing reps to act out what they’ve learned. But training can’t stop there. Because no single workshop, session, or quiz can cover everything reps need to know, self-guided learning becomes essential. This is where technology plays a critical part.

Great Training Requires Great Technology

The right approach paired with the right technology is the key to unlocking sales training success.

Advanced platforms have the ability to provide insight and guidance next to content, enabling the self-guided experience reps need to be flexible. On top of that, solutions that have invested in AI and machine learning can learn alongside reps – continuously curating and recommending content that allows sellers to stay relevant to their buyers.

Consider the following example: A rep is engaging a prospect in the healthcare industry. To prepare for her upcoming call, she must understand the way healthcare sales operates and what her contact’s pain points are – and the certification she completed six months ago is inapplicable. She turns to her sales enablement platform to find relevant content paired with expert sales methodology, giving her the just-in-time training she needs to have an effective conversation.

Sales Training for Today’s Sales Reps

Immersive learning experiences unburden reps of monotonous and static approaches and empower them with actionable knowledge. The result? Businesses that invest in continuous training see an increase in quota attainment as well as increased retainment and higher win rates.

Salespeople can’t sell effectively unless they learn effectively. It’s time we set them up for success with the perfect combination of sales training and technology.

Boost Your Situational Awareness to Win More Sales

Today’s post is contributed by Dr. Leff Bonney, vice president, research and product innovation at VantagePoint Performance, a leading global agile sales training company for sellers and frontline managers. Leff is also head of Florida State University Sales Institute.

 

We heard about a study where pilots went into a programmed simulation and were stopped halfway through without warning. After stopping, they were first asked things about their virtual flight, like altitude, speed, and enemy location. Then, they were asked about what they thought was going to happen next based on their experience to that point.

There were correct answers to these questions, because the simulation had been fully programmed, and the pilots had the training and knowledge necessary for appropriate anticipation and reaction. This research was testing the pilots’ ability to be situationally aware – because that skill is literally a matter of life and death. And, it got us thinking.

Many Factors Contribute to Salesperson Awareness

While deal viability and probability are not on par with national security or military safety, they do have enormous impact on organizational health. So, we wondered:

• What about salespeople and their situational awareness in client meetings – and what does that ultimately mean for deal outcomes?
• How would consistent performance affect this awareness?
• What impact would, or could, sales managers have on meeting awareness?
• Finally, is there anything else that contributes positively and/or negatively to reps’ consciousness in meetings?

Research from Florida State University found that high-performing salespeople are typically more alert in customer interactions, but that level of situational awareness often diminishes in reps who have recently been top performers – because they tend to become overly confident. It’s as if continued, consistent success numbs reps’ senses. That means ongoing management check-ins and coaching are critical for the situational awareness of all your reps – and not just those who are average or underperforming.

Speaking of coaching, we also found that management coaching styles influence all levels of salespeople. If your managers are very prescriptive in discussions prior to client meetings, our research shows that your salespeople will have lower situational awareness. This is because they will essentially be going through a mental checklist about what to do and when – and focusing less on what’s unfolding in the room. As a result, they will have lower awareness about what is actually happening in their meeting, which will impact their perception of how it is going.

But, if your managers take a collaborative approach with your reps, that helps the salespeople think through contingencies and possible alternatives – and increases situational awareness in the meeting itself.

Finally, interactive presentations (such as whiteboarding) increase situational awareness, while more scripted approaches (such as standard, “canned” decks) decrease situational awareness. Your managers need to develop and choose wisely because the types of content and presentation tools you provide, and the expectations you set for prep, will affect salesperson awareness in customer meetings.

Salespeople Need Strong Situational Awareness to Win

Just like fighter pilots, salespeople need to develop their situational awareness. Without it, they might fall victim to their own success, become overly dependent on pre-call coaching, or fumble their presentations. Therefore, it’s important to monitor your reps’ ongoing meeting outcomes, your managers’ involvement in prep and planning, and the resources your teams are using to execute.

How to Turn Sales Objections into Opportunities

Today’s post is by Lance Tyson, president and CEO of Tyson Group. Lance is a seasoned entrepreneur known for training sales talent for some of the biggest names in professional sports and entertainment, including Topgolf, the Dallas Cowboys, the Miami Dolphins, and the Tampa Bay Lightning. Lance is author of the best-selling book, Selling Is an Away Game: Close Business and Compete in a Complex World.   

 

We’ve all had experiences where we feel a sale is going pretty well, and we feel the momentum gaining. Then, out of the blue, brake lights. Everything comes to a screeching halt. A prospect will suddenly tell you that your price is too high, or that they don’t have the budget, or that they aren’t sure your product or solution really has value.

The job of the sales professional is to take those sales objections and turn them into opportunities. Sometimes, the best outcomes stem from situations where you have to overcome the greatest obstacles. 

The Value of Proactive Dialogue

The other day I was driving down the highway when, all of a sudden, another car swerved in front of me and cut me off. My initial reaction was fear, because I had narrowly avoided a serious accident. Then, on the heels of a rush of adrenaline, I became angry at the other driver’s carelessness. 

There were three levels to my reaction, with varying degrees of control:

• React. I immediately hit the brakes and honked. This reaction was pure reflex, and I had very little control over it.
• Respond. I considered whether I should find a safe place to pull over and regroup, or catch up to the other driver and flip him off. Ultimately, I chose not to do either, but considering these options required me to evaluate the situation and make some sort of decision, which offered me a bit more control.
• Anticipate. I realized I had just experienced a near miss, and recognized I was still upset. Instead of responding to the other driver directly, I turned my thoughts toward figuring out how to avoid having this kind of experience again.  I then took some proactive, corrective action by lowering my speed and leaving over 30 feet between me and the vehicle in front of me. This option enabled me to exercise some influence over my experience, and afforded the greatest amount of control.

Salespeople are faced with the same levels of reaction and control every day. They can either choose to react reflexively when an objection comes up, or they can choose to take proactive control of the situation by having a dialogue that addresses the objection before the prospect raises it. 

If, for example, the objection is about price, salespeople can either get blindsided and lose the sale, or they can start talking about value well before it turns into a problem. 

How to Resolve Sales Objections 

Salespeople often get caught in a trap of reactivity around objections. When this happens, they start throwing better deals at the buyer without truly understanding what the objection is about. This puts the salesperson into a reactionary stance, and turns the negotiating process into a game of Whack-a-Mole.

Cost. Value. Budget. Price. Those words mean very different things to different people. In every single sale, be it complex or simple, there comes a time when you’re going to have to get the prospect to define, explain, and defend how they are defining these terms.

Rather than being reactive, it’s better to have a candid, proactive dialogue about objections. This enables us to get a clear understanding of what the buyer is actually saying, rather than making incorrect assumptions.

To establish a dialogue, follow these four steps:

1. Extract the sales objections. Rather than hiding from potential obstacles, good salespeople lean directly into them. Ask the prospect, “What is your biggest concern about this deal?” or, “Is there anything that could derail this?” It’s important to have this dialogue early in the process so you can identify potential problems before they arise.
2. Clarify concerns/issues. Make sure you understand what the prospect is really saying. Don’t assume you know – instead, have the courage to ask the tough questions.
3. Find points of agreement. Identify common ground, and keep the end objective of the deal at top of mind.
4. Resolve the sales objections. You won’t be able to negotiate unless the objections get resolved, so find ways to either remove the obstacles or navigate around them, in order to move forward.

To learn more about how to gain a competitive edge in your selling process, contact Tyson Group at https://tysongroup.com/contact/.

What Is the One Driver of Sales Performance?

Today's blog post is by Tom Stanfill, CEO and co-founder of ASLAN Training and Development, a global sales training company with seven consecutive years in the Selling Power Top 20. Since 1996, ASLAN has worked with many of the largest sales organizations in the world, training more than 50,000 sellers and leaders in more than 33 countries. Through numerous speaking engagements and published articles, Tom is widely recognized as a thought leader in selling and sales leadership. His passion: helping organizations and individuals embrace the idea that we are more successful and fulfilled when we serve.

 

In the past few months, I’ve attended two conferences for sales and sales enablement leaders. At both, the main focus was this: The economy is up, but sales performance is on a continued decline.

Everyone seems to be scrambling to find the big fix. And this is probably why the latest sales productivity tools are so hot right now.

According to Gerhard Gschwandtner, founder and CEO of Selling Power magazine, there are now more than 3,000 sales productivity tools on the market (with AI tools at the top of the list). Everyone, it appears, is looking for something to make selling easier.

Can You Make Selling Easier?

More power to them! Selling is hard, and any edge you can get is worth pursuing. But here’s the truth about selling: There is no secret sauce, silver bullet, or magic fairy dust (pick your favorite metaphor) to mastering the profession.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m a big fan of the tools, pro-tips, insights, or anything that will make it easier to sell. Our company has invested heavily in such tools.

But, just like learning to play golf or the violin, sellers need a defined set of capabilities and skills to succeed. There are no shortcuts. If you’re struggling to hit the ball in the fairway, you could invest in the latest driver – but rigorous practice is required to fix your swing.

As long as sellers are talking to customers, there are no shortcuts to mastering the art of influence.

So this begs the question: What is the most effective strategy for developing a seller’s capabilities? Is it sales training? Nope. Is it delivering real-time microlearning to your sales team? Nope.

Frontline Sales Leaders Are the Key to Better Sales Performance

Here’s what we have learned from 20 years of research, conducting control group studies, and analyzing the highest performing sales organizations: If you want to change your sellers’ performance, there is nothing more effective than focusing on your frontline sales leaders.

Training, microlearning, and productivity tools are all critical to improving sales performance, but nothing has more impact than the leader/coach. The leader drives the culture and engagement, and is the key to developing the seller’s competency. Change happens one-on-one, not in a workshop.

I know this idea, on face value, isn’t revolutionary. You’re probably a big believer in sales coaching. You love the whole sales coaching movement. I get it – almost every organization I’ve worked with supports this idea.

When I spend time in the field, I ask questions to assess how well teams are being coached, including these:

• “When was the last time your manager rode with you?”
• “After a ‘coaching session,’ what is the plan to build a new skill set?”
• “How are you measuring a seller’s competency level or engagement level?”
• “What are the seller’s personal development goals?”

And, in response, I often get blank stares.

Most sales coaching sessions are really management meetings or strategy sessions. They are discussions about what went wrong, what went right, what the plan is to win, and how the numbers are looking.

Even if it’s an incredibly collaborative exchange, where the seller successfully diagnoses opportunities for improvement, nothing changes without practice. And, honestly, even the best reps can’t accurately assess their abilities without another set of eyes.

My point? Effective sales coaching takes time – and most organizations are still looking for the quick fix.

The very best tool, in the hands of an incompetent rep, will yield very little. To learn to “play,” we all need a coach to help us see our blind spots, encourage us, challenge us, and continually support the skill development process.

No judgment; I get how tough it can be. Our organization struggles regularly with coaching; and, when we fail to make it a priority, performance suffers. If you want to change performance, ask yourself: Are the frontline leaders the number one priority?

What Is Your Sales Leadership Score?

If you suspect there is a need to refocus on the frontline sales leader – or you want to personally assess your approach to developing your team and improving sales performance – check out our leadership diagnostic. In about five minutes, you will see if there are quick wins you can implement.

Here’s a quick snapshot of what you will discover:

• How well are you igniting the desire to change?
• Is your current culture enhancing or diminishing engagement and performance?
• What are the real metrics that matter?
• How much time, realistically, should be allocated to coaching?
• Are you focused on the three elements of coaching that change performance?
• Are you coaching the right people?
• Are you assessing and measuring the eight competencies that determine ability?
• Have you created the most effective development strategy for the four types of sellers?

Want to assess your own sales leadership abilities? Take one or both of our five-minute quizzes: motivation assessment and coaching assessment. 

How to Create a Winning Business Proposal

Today’s post is by Jay Mitchell, founder and president of Mereo LLC. With a heart for serving, Jay’s others-focused values inspire his clients and peers alike – as reflected in Mereo’s purpose of Seek to Serve, Not to Sell™. Follow Jay’s thought leadership on LinkedIn. 

 

A business proposal holds the power to win over buyers. It is your best salesperson in the form of a document, because it is on hand for buyers to share with all relevant stakeholders, and it contains your business’ solutions and capabilities.

Every business proposal presents you an opportunity to truly serve the buyer with real value. Yet most business proposals suffer from a few common pitfalls.

First, many proposals fail to deliver what a prospect needs. Your prospect’s needs and your own needs are usually very different. And, ultimately, it is vital sellers change to meet buyer expectations if they wish to prove their value and land deals.

Buyers’ Business Proposal Needs

Mereo had the opportunity to participate in the development of a business study conducted by The Ohio State University that targeted more than 1,000 executives at organizations making enterprise purchases. The first portion of the study asked, “What do you need to be able to sell a business proposal internally?”

This is what the study uncovered:

Business Proposal Element	Percent of Buyers Who Expect It
Project Description	100 percent
Solution Description	80 percent
Key Value Drivers	71 percent
Technical Specs	9 percent
Project Plan	69 percent
Three-year ROI Review	54 percent
Five-year ROI Review	46 percent
Budget Impact/Budget Set	54 percent

In the same study, real insights came with the second part of the question: “How often are your business proposal needs being met?”

The greatest disparity between what buyers and prospects need in a business proposal and what they are given appears in the project description (88 percent of sellers provide versus 100 percent of buyers expect); key value drivers (14 percent sellers provide versus 71 percent expect); tech specs (77 percent of sellers provide versus just 9 percent expect); and budget impact (12 percent provide versus 54 percent expect).

Turn Business Proposal Needs into a Compelling Story

Though the aforementioned insights can benefit sellers in focusing their intents, crafting a winning business proposal is more of an art than just sticking in the key value drivers and including a project description.

You are not just selling to a buyer – nor are you only helping them sell to their internal teams. You are inspiring them to transform from where they are to what your solution can help them achieve.

Accordingly, the effectiveness of any business proposal can be vastly improved by storytelling from the buyers’ point of view. And there is no better framework for telling a story than through pain, solution, gain, and proof.

Pain: What problems is the buyer struggling with? Stress these, especially if they persist as the status quo, and illustrate how they can negatively impact your buyer’s bottom line. 

Key elements: Project Description, Key Value Drivers     

Solution: How can your buyers rescue their business and their customers from these pains? This is not about your business (e.g., how many employees and offices you have) but about your buyer’s new capabilities and benefits powered by your solution.

Key elements: Solution Description, Project Plan

Gain: What will happen if your buyer uses your solution as opposed to what is at stake if they forgo using your solution? Expound on their potential successes, including benefits and ROI.

Key elements: Three-year or Five-year ROI Review, Technical Specs (briefly), Budget Sets

Proof: What other, similar buyers have realized success using this solution?

Key elements: Client Success Stories

Your business case becomes all the more compelling when you can prove, using a story that resonates with buyers, that:

1. You understand the buyers’ pains
2. You can provide real value
3. Your solution will deliver sustainable benefits and ROI

And, when they’re won over, your buyer will be enthusiastic about selling your solution to their own internal stakeholders.

For more “Seek to Serve, Not to Sell” insights, connect with Mereo on LinkedIn.  

What Does It Take to Be a Successful Salesperson?

Today’s post is by Austin Ries, a content marketing manager for Zoho CRM. You can connect with him on LinkedIn.

 

Do you assume introverts suck at selling? Do you think salespeople always win by being highly competitive and aggressive? Does a lack of sales experience doom a potential career in sales?

The Truth about Sales Stereotypes

Almost everyone has assumptions and stereotypes about what it takes to succeed in sales. But, if you want to crack the code of sales success, don’t think about what or who you need to be – think about what customers want.

The bottom line is, customers don’t want to buy from people they don’t trust – and they don’t trust people who aren’t genuine. They don’t want to sit through closing spiels that are unrelenting and unnerving. They want a connection.

With this in mind, I talked with a few sales leaders to get their take on three common assumptions about what it takes to succeed in sales. Here’s what they had to say.  

Assumption #1: Salespeople need to be extroverts.

“A lot of people think you have to be outgoing and likable, but some of the most effective salespeople are nonchalant, very casual, and people you wouldn’t necessarily think of as being in sales,” said Kia McGuire, director of sales and marketing at OralWise Inc.

The true definition of an introvert is often misconstrued and mischaracterized. It doesn’t mean an individual is shy or hates interacting with people. Introverts prefer alone time to recharge after their energy is depleted by a long day of interacting with and being around others.

Where you land on the introvert-extrovert continuum is also misunderstood. Most people aren’t one or the other, but somewhere in between. And, while salespeople do need above-average communication skills to interact with people effectively, that doesn’t mean all sales job postings come with “introverts need not apply” clauses.

In fact, not being an extrovert salesperson has several advantages. Introvert salespeople spend more time listening and asking questions during sales interactions – two essential skills when ascertaining potential customers’ needs.

Introverts also communicate best in one-on-one situations, take time to reflect before speaking or answering questions, and enjoy forming deeper relationships with customers. All of which makes for a great salesperson people want to buy from.

Assumption #2: Salespeople need to “always be closing.”

Alec Baldwin’s iconic “always be closing” speech in Glengarry Glen Ross makes for some pitch-perfect Hollywood drama doesn’t evoke sales dogma any more than Grey’s Anatomy is the truth about working in a hospital. More than ever, consumers have access to an abundance of information about any product or service. They do their research, read about the competition, and know the best price before ever talking to a salesperson on the phone or in person.

“[At least in my industry] the hardcore ‘always be closing’ mentality doesn’t work,” said Lisa Blizzard, ecommerce sales manager at Continental Mills. “It’s more low-key, sharing information; less about the relentless pressuring and more about building relationships and selling based on answering questions.”

This is excellent news for consumers, but especially for those just getting into sales who aren’t comfortable with pressuring people or haven’t honed opening and closing lines. The modern salesperson identifies needs by asking thoughtful questions, listening attentively, and showing genuine interest in helping people – not by using canned lines or responses.

In many cases, customers avoid high-energy and assertive salespeople and prefer to talk with more relaxed and more thoughtful salespeople – especially if they have a lot of questions after spending a number of hours educating themselves on the space or product.

If you take care of those things, closing deals will take care of itself.

Assumption #3: Salespeople can’t win without prior sales experience.

There are plenty of career fields where experience is not only helpful, but also required. Sales isn’t one of those. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been in sales for three years or three weeks. If you have the desire to work hard, do the right things, and be persistent, you can flourish.

“[Experience] helps but it’s overrated,” said David Oman, sales director at Twist-Ease Inc. “Anyone can be successful in sales as long as you learn about the product, learn to listen twice as much as you talk, and have a desire to be successful.”

In many instances, years of experience can lead to cynicism. Sales is a daily grind and requires a relentless pursuit of increasing your product knowledge, building relationships, and following up with every lead you have. And none of that has to do with being someone you’re not.

So, for those launching their careers in sales – or even those who have been at it for years – think about how you would like to be spoken to or treated as a potential buyer. Then, imitate it.

Yes, You Can Be Successful in Sales

To have a successful sales career, you don’t necessarily have to be extroverted, aggressively focused on closing deals, or highly experienced. You just have to be the kind of person customers want to buy from, and you have to use the right tools.

With Zoho CRM, salespeople can customize their sales process to fit their needs, automate routine sales activities, and track every sales interaction so they can focus more on the customer throughout the relationship.

Why All Effective Sales Leaders Have High EQ

Today’s post is by Jeff Seeley, CEO of sales and leadership training company Carew International, as well as a frequent keynote speaker, columnist, and blogger. Find him online or connect with him on LinkedIn.

 

Success as a sales leader begins and ends with the quality of our relationships.

Those with an ear to the ground have likely noticed increased attention recently to the “soft skills” required to win in “high-value” interfaces with customers. These days, the pressure is on to optimize the customer experience and expand the customer life cycle.

Five Trends That Impact Sales Teams

I read with great interest Gerhard Gschwandtner’s recent eBook, 5 Trends That Will Impact Your Sales Team in 2019. The five trends included AI/CRM, value, customer experience, sales training, and conversational intelligence. Gschwandtner was spot on in identifying these key areas – four out of five of which center on the quality of customer relationships and the degree to which sales professionals can connect with customers to cultivate trust, credibility, and rapport. And, for the most part, current thinking on sales skill development aligns with these trends.

Yet, as I survey the landscape relative to sales leadership development, I worry about the lack of attention on soft skills and relationship building, and that we are overly focused on AI and CRM for leadership effectiveness. How can we recognize the critical role of relationship building and communications skills for our sales teams and so egregiously ignore these same skills when it comes to sales leaders?

In business, we continue to focus our assessment of professional worth in terms of knowledge, experience, intelligence, and education. Sales professionals are typically promoted to leadership roles because of what they know, how long they’ve worked, or how well they’ve sold rather than their EQ (emotional intelligence) or skill in managing others.

This dynamic drives a misconception among sales leaders: that they should have all the answers. This means they tend to spend most of their time talking and telling rather than listening and understanding.

Add to that our preoccupation with hitting our sales numbers and improving sales cycle efficiencies, and it’s no wonder sales leaders are missing a key link in their quest to cultivate optimal performance among sales team members.

What Is EQ?

What, exactly, is emotional intelligence? In their book, Emotional Intelligence 2.0, authors Bradberry and Greaves define emotional intelligence as “your ability to recognize and understand emotion in yourself and others, and your ability to use this awareness to manage your behavior and relationships.”

High EQ fosters leaders who are approachable, relatable, human – and trustworthy. The significant impact of EQ is widely recognized and documented: Research has shown that people with the highest levels of intelligence (IQ) outperform those with average IQs just 20 percent of the time, while 90 percent of top performers have high emotional intelligence (EQ). Bradberry and Greaves say EQ skills are more important to job performance than any other leadership skill.

We often wonder why successful sales professionals don’t succeed in leadership roles. Perhaps it’s because they set aside EQ-driven relationship-building behaviors that served them well in sales, and instead favor the managing, talking, and telling behaviors they perceive as leadership behavior.

EQ Practices to Help Sales Leaders

What if sales leaders fully leveraged their existing EQ and sales development practices as the foundation for their leadership development? This might include the following practices.

• Explore and then listen to understand and identify needs and motivations
• Be open, interested, and curious rather than judgmental
• Consider each sales team member’s perspective instead of your own
• Focus first on building trust – helping and adding value – before making demands
• Make emotional investments in your sales and sales support teams

With these fundamental practices in place, sales leaders would be able to fully leverage strong, trusting relationships with sales team members. They would be able to apply their EQ while honing and deploying specific leadership functions such as providing prescriptive and actionable feedback, assessing performance, managing conflict, solving problems, and motivating each team member to maximum performance.

I don’t mean to suggest that AI and CRM are not powerful tools for sales management; they absolutely are – particularly as a means to identify trends and problem areas and to drive efficiencies in the sales process. But these tools cannot cultivate the human-to-human relationships that foster trust, credibility, respect, collaboration, motivation, problem solving, coaching, and performance counseling.

As leaders, our communication is ineffective if people don’t connect with it – and us – on an emotional level and view us as resources and partners in their success.

What about the role of EQ in developing and retaining top sales talent?  Maya Angelou famously said, “People will forget what you said and did, but they will never forget how you made them feel.” People don’t leave jobs; they leave managers.

Establish Trust, Credibility, and Rapport

Sales leaders who fail to connect with team members for meaningful conversations will have sales team members who feel isolated, unappreciated, and insecure. It’s a dynamic that drives sales rep turnover and undermines sales performance. Conversely, the leader who is able to engage and model relationship-building skills will reduce turnover and cultivate sales team members who are better prepared to build trust, credibility, and rapport with their own customers.

How AI Automation Will Change the State of Sales

Today’s post is by Jessica Munday, a content marketing specialist at Automation Hero, an intelligent process automation (IPA) company combining RPA and AI for next-level businesses.

 

Sales productivity is the number one challenge for 65 percent of B2B organizations. It’s an industry-wide problem that heavily impacts revenue margins and a company’s bottom line.

The biggest inhibitors to productivity are the inefficiencies within the sales process. According to Salesforce, the average sales rep spends 64 percent of his or her time on non-selling tasks – 25 percent of which are administrative tasks.

The burden on sales managers grows as executive leaders push for higher revenue gains. The solution managers have discovered? Implementing sales AI to automate inefficient processes that prevent sales reps from selling. These technologies make it so the data entry and busy work are still done, but salespeople have more time to sell and drive profits for the company.

Rapid Growth in Sales Tools

The current sales tech landscape has more than 700 tools – up from around 300 in 2015. Growth in the sales technology space will continue to accelerate over the coming years, resulting in a flooded market with thousands of productivity tools.

While many of these tools promise to increase productivity, the number of vendors and products out there add even more noise and confusion for sales managers. In this hyper-growth market, managers can find it difficult to select the right tools for their business needs. They waste time comparing and evaluating vendors to find “the needle in the haystack.”

Many of these basic productivity tools add even more steps to the already-inefficient sales process, further preventing sales teams from selling.

What Makes Sales AI Better

Sales AI tools differ from traditional sales technology because they’re built with intelligence to improve the sales process and enable salespeople to be as productive and sales focused as possible. Sales AI optimizes the sales process through automation and augmentation.

Automation is when an intelligent machine performs low-level, repetitive tasks automatically with little assistance from the sales rep – and, as previously stated, sales reps spend a majority of their time on administrative tasks. Sales automation cuts down that time by performing tasks like CRM data entry, researching contact information, scheduling meetings, and drafting emails.

Augmentation is designed to elevate human intelligence to help people work smarter. Augmenting the sales team’s intelligence leads to sales reps making smarter decisions. Tasks that can be augmented include “next-step” engagement recommendations, prospecting, and cross-sell and up-sell suggestions. Gartner predicts that, by 2020, 30 percent of all B2B companies will add intelligence augmentation to augment at least one of their primary sales processes.

Sales AI Adoption

A Forrester survey shows that 46 percent of companies are looking to implement AI systems specifically for their sales and marketing teams. Salesforce says it’s the top growth area for sales teams, with adoption expected to grow 139 percent over the next three years.

Early adopters are already seeing results. Eighty-three percent of the most aggressive adopters of AI and cognitive technologies say their companies have already achieved either moderate (53 percent) or substantial (30 percent) benefits. Research shows that high-performing sales teams are 3.4 times more likely than underperforming teams to already be using AI.