Conversational Selling

About Roger Martin: Roger Martin is a Co-Founder and Managing Member of the industry-leading health and wellness franchises, RockBox Fitness and beem Light Sauna. Prior to RockBox Fitness and beem Light Sauna, operated as the Chief Operating Officer of a solid oral dosage pharmaceutical development and manufacturing organization. Previously served as President of a large topical semi-solid and liquid CDMO, as a National Sales Director and Sr. Vice President leading sales and marketing teams of up to 500 sales representatives in the specialty and big pharma market. Extensive expertise in pharmaceutical sales management, leadership, sales force deployment, business development, strategic selling, contract negotiation, business-to-business service contracting, licensing, and pharmaceutical and contracted service marketing. Knowledge of myriad dosage forms and therapeutic classes, as well as regulatory environments and payer systems. Check out the latest episode of our Conversational Selling podcast to learn more about Roger.In this episode, Nancy and Roger discuss the following:The definition of high-impact communicationThe difference between persuasion, influence, and manipulation in salesThe importance of storytelling in sales, positioning the customer as the heroThe value of continual learning and personal investment versus traditional financial investmentsKeypoints from Roger’s book, An Insider’s Guide to BusinessKey Takeaways: The best way for a salesperson to make an impact in their industry, in the world, and on others is to start with genuinely understanding what their prospect needs.Buying behavior is this: you're telling a story, and the customer is the hero.People will buy from people they like, but more people will buy from people whom they trust to solve their issue."High-impact communication, by my definition, is when two individuals have a complete, thorough, and empathetic understanding of each other's wants and needs. And what do I mean by that? Whether it's a personal relationship, a family relationship, a business relationship, or even a vendor-customer relationship, it's about both sides understanding what each other needs to thrive in that relationship. Too often, especially in today's digital world, communication becomes overly transactional. I love how you started by saying that every business and everything else starts with a human interaction.” – ROGER"I appreciate the question because it will allow me to delineate the difference between persuasion, influence, and manipulation. And they are too often conflated. The consumer conflates them; even salespeople conflate the two when really persuasion and influence are about empathetically trying to understand what your pain point, your issue, your area of opportunity is—something that, you know, you're at point A and you're trying to get to point C, let's say. And then I help through persuasion, and I'm going to persuade you to understand that this problem needs to be acted upon. If you think about it for a long time, if you just keep wondering about it, if you stress about it, you're not going to solve your issue. So I'm going to persuade you that you need to take action. And I'm going to do that through very ethical means and just skillful means, but to help build that bridge—just think of, you know, in your mind, literally building a bridge over a small river from A to C, and my product or solution and support and services will help get you from A to C. Now, manipulation is, "Hey, I want to get you to C because I make a big commission off of it, but you really don't need C, and your A is just fine for you, or another vendor would get you to C a lot easier and cheaper than me. But I'm going to use, you know, tricks and slick lines and all that, you know, to get you there." […] People will always exchange money for a solution to a problem that is causing them pain or a solution to a problem that will help them grow to be even more successful. And too many times—and you know this—too many times a salesperson will boast about their company, they'll boast about their track record, about their service record, about their customer satisfaction record. You know what? Those are great. The customer couldn't care less. The customer wants to know, "Can you solve my problem?" You know, "Can you solve my problem?" – ROGER"I would challenge them to continue learning, listen to Nancy's podcast, you know, buy those $997 courses from genuine, great people that you can trust and who will deliver value. Go to that weekend seminar, invest the two grand to do that because you should be investing in yourself as much as you're investing in your business and investing in the stock market. I mean, the stock market is going to make 8 to 10% over the long run. You put that same two grand into yourself, you can quintuple that money in a year. You know, to me, it’s a no-brainer about continual learning." – ROGERConnect with Roger Martin:LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/realrogermartin/Thrive More Brands:  https://thrivemorebrands.com/Try Our Proven, 3-Step System, Guaranteeing Accountability and Transparency that Drives RESULTS by clicking on this link: https://oneofakindsales.com/call-center-in-a-box/  Connect with Nancy Calabrese: Twitter:https://twitter.com/oneofakindsalesFacebook:https://www.facebook.com/One-Of-A-Kind-Sales-304978633264832/Website:https://oneofakindsales.comPhone: 908-879-2911 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ncalabrese/Email: leads@oneofakindsales.com

About Jake Stahl: Jake Stahl is a Fractional Chief Learning Officer who mixes innovation and mind science to redefine training and skill-building. The Chief Learning Officer (CLO) is the linchpin for organizational learning and development initiatives. Collaborating closely with key executives such as the Chief Revenue Officer, Chief Operating Officer, and Chief Marketing Officer, the CLO crafts and executes comprehensive training programs. With over 10,000 professionals trained in six countries, he has created more than 100 proprietary courses, facilitated thousands of workshops, and navigated the complexities of leadership development. His approach transcends traditional training, integrating value-based selling with the latest psychological techniques and neurolinguistic programming to offer personalized, high-impact solutions like his Adaptive Conversational Blueprint. Throughout his extensive career, he has doubled and tripled sales, sculpted award-winning sales representatives, and ignited leadership potential across ten distinct industries. His seven patents in the field force technology arena, the prestigious International Gold Award for Instructional Design, and invitations to speak nationally and globally on training and development highlight his dedication to excellence. With him, one isn't just investing in a program; they're embracing a custom-made experience that caters to specific needs, fueling growth and reimagining success. Check out the latest episode of our Conversational Selling podcast to learn more about Jake. In this episode, Nancy and Jake discuss the following:How does a fractional Chief Learning Officer differ from other traditional roles in salesDifference between adaptive conversational blueprint and standard sales scriptsJake's 2-10 ruleHow neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) can be used to adapt to a customer's communication style quicklyThe power of establishing trust and matching a prospect's communication styleNot selling is the best way to sellKey Takeaways: I teach representatives how to adapt to that quickly in a conversation so they don't need a sales script. If I could eliminate any phrase from the English language, it would probably be, "Hi, how are you?"Two five-year-olds are the best conversationalists on the planet.Remember, everybody wants to be heard."I've been doing this for 30 years across six countries. I've trained over 10,000 people. And to me, the baseline of a good conversation will be trust. I think our flaw is that we don't take time to build that trust in the beginning by listening, understanding the situation a person is in, and then being able to adapt our conversation accordingly. These factors are things like emotional intelligence and the company's perception of your company, and you are taking a lot into play. But conditioning and perception, to me, are huge. If we can understand the other person's position when it comes to conditioning and perception, and we can build trust, the sale typically follows." – JAKE"Yeah, when most people have a conversation or start with somebody for the first time, they're anxious to tell them about themselves because that's always our favorite topic, right? We talk about ourselves. So, when you get into that conversation, my theory—and it's really shown itself to be true over the past 30 years—is that the more time I can give you at the beginning of a conversation to talk about you, the more receptive you're going to be to me. And the more I check in with you during a conversation, the more receptive you'll be to me. So, I established something called the 2-10 rule, which says every two minutes, check in with the person you're talking to in some way, shape, or form. Make a statement, ask a question. So, every two minutes, you do this. And I have some of my clients set a stopwatch because this is really tough for some people to get a hold of. At the end of 10 minutes, regroup. So, Nancy, I've been talking for the past 10 minutes. I've really been let loose. Do you have any questions about what we've talked about so far? Is there anything you don't understand? So, every 10 minutes, you do that. And when you do that, it takes care of one basic thing: the Q&A people typically have at the end. This whole premise, Nancy, is based on the fact that for every 10 minutes you talk, you generate two minutes' worth of questions in the other person's head. So, the 2-10 rule flips it on its head and says every two minutes check-in, every 10 minutes summarize and ask for questions, and your call and your trust level will go through the roof." – JAKE"How it works is by being interested versus interesting. So, when I get on the phone with a potential client, let me give you a great example. When I reach out on LinkedIn and try to connect, my first four connections with that person have nothing to do with me. So, I'll reach out the first time and say, 'Hey, I see you're another fractional executive. Just curious if you'd want to connect and catch up.' Then they write back, and I write—no matter their response—I write back and say, 'So, what's your ideal customer profile? Who are you looking for in the way of a customer?' And then the third reach-out is, 'So, what verticals are you in? What's the place that you live in the most?' And a miracle happens, Nancy. By the end of that third conversation, 80% of the time, somebody either says to me, 'Can I get on a call with you?' or, 'I've been talking all about myself. Tell me what you do.' Either way, Nancy, I'm a winner. And I hadn't even talked about what I did yet." – JAKEConnect with Jake Stahl:LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakestahl/Jake Stahl Consulting: https://jakestahlconsulting.com/Try Our Proven, 3-Step System, Guaranteeing Accountability and Transparency that Drives RESULTS by clicking on this link: https://oneofakindsales.com/call-center-in-a-box/  Connect with Nancy Calabrese: Twitter:https://twitter.com/oneofakindsalesFacebook:https://www.facebook.com/One-Of-A-Kind-Sales-304978633264832/Website:https://oneofakindsales.comPhone: 908-879-2911 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ncalabrese/Email: leads@oneofakindsales.com

About Stan Gibson: Stan Gibson is passionate about guiding organizations to build thriving, human-centered cultures. Through his engaging keynotes and leadership coaching, Stan equips companies with frameworks and tools to put people first. He advises executives on adopting transparent, collaborative leadership styles that tap into teams' collective wisdom. Stan's actionable insights help leaders role model vulnerability, foster psychological safety, and unlock the full innovative potential of their people. Organizations that work with Stan soon benefit from improved trust, communication, and knowledge sharing. By focusing on developing a shared sense of purpose and community, Stan enables companies to boost engagement, agility, and performance.Check out the latest episode of our Conversational Selling podcast to learn more about Stan. In this episode, Nancy and Stan discuss the following:The critical role of emotional intelligence in leadership How emotional intelligence, well-being, and productivity are interconnectedStrategies for preventing burnout and maintaining balanceKey habits to optimize your mornings for a productive dayThe importance of balancing mind, body, and soulTechniques to manage energy levels for peak productivityKey Takeaways: I think that when leaders learn to coach, employees learn to lead. Emotional intelligence is one of the critical things that I believe.You've got to know your system; when you are green, yellow, or red, you work around that.Do things right up front and create a legacy."And so, I really work with many clients on how to start the day so that they have the energy, power, and passion to take care of everyone and everything they do. Despite being only 2.5% of our body weight, our brain consumes over 20 to 30% of our energy. When we spend a lot of time on Zoom, staring at our own reflection, it's like a 1.5 to 2X tax on our brain. Understanding these dynamics helps explain why an eight-to-nine-hour workday can feel like a 14-hour day. So, understanding the three-legged stool—emotional intelligence, well-being, and productivity—is crucial. Effective habits and systems that support asynchronous work, rather than endless meetings, are where I'm focusing my efforts with organizations, Nancy." – STAN"The first thing when you get up, is to thank God you are getting up. I think, "I'm alive, I'm well." The first thing I do is head out to get some water. Your body hasn't had any fluids for the last 10 hours, so it's important to hydrate. [...] The lemon juice comes in a glass bottle, which is better than plastic. This helps me get my electrolytes; even Olympic athletes hydrate first thing in the morning. The second thing I focus on is what I call "mind, body, and soul." You can tackle these in any order you prefer, but I believe you need to work on all three. If you want to work out next or go for a walk, that's great. I'm adapting my approach because, although I used to be a "no pain, no gain" type of person—an ex-athlete who pushed the limits—I understand the tremendous benefits of simple movement. Walking three miles or whatever you can manage in a day is incredibly valuable." – STAN"One tool I use is the Enneagram. I like the Enneagram—and for those who don't know, it's spelled E-N-N-E-A-G-R-A-M—because it identifies nine different personalities. This system is probably over 2,000 years old. The reason I like it is because it's part of your DNA. When you're born, you possess one of these nine types. Strength Finders is more about how you are in your current season of life, because it can change a little bit. But the Enneagram is so unbelievably accurate. It even delves into your fears, your stresses, how you act under stress, and how you react to fears. It explores a whole new element of things that I believe leaders really need to understand. For me, it's fantastic. It's just a real holy grail for self-awareness." – STANConnect with Stan Gibson:LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/oxygenplus/Stan Gibson Speaks: https://www.stangibsonspeaks.com/Try Our Proven, 3-Step System, Guaranteeing Accountability and Transparency that Drives RESULTS by clicking on this link: https://oneofakindsales.com/call-center-in-a-box/  Connect with Nancy Calabrese: Twitter:https://twitter.com/oneofakindsalesFacebook:https://www.facebook.com/One-Of-A-Kind-Sales-304978633264832/Website:https://oneofakindsales.comPhone: 908-879-2911 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ncalabrese/Email: leads@oneofakindsales.com 

About Danielle Cobo: Danielle Cobo is a speaker, author, and podcast host who works with organizations to develop the grit, resilience, and courage to thrive in a rapidly changing market. She is the author of the book and hosts the podcast "Unstoppable Grit" Breakthrough the 7 Roadblocks Standing Between You and Achieving Your Goals." This "monster truck driver in heels" gets Lou to jump in the truck while she's racing toward greatness in an unstoppable episode of Thrive LouD. As a former Fortune 500 Senior Sales Manager, she propelled her team to the top national ranking despite the upheaval of downsizing, restructuring, and acquisitions. Her commendable leadership earned her the prestigious title of Region Manager of the Year. Her resiliency motivated her to earn four consecutive national Sales Excellence Awards in a male-dominated industry. Check out the latest episode of our Conversational Selling podcast to learn more about Danielle.In this episode, Nancy and Danielle discuss the following:Danielle's upbringing and how she was raised resilient by her single momThe fear of the unknown and imposter syndromeThe importance of confidence in achieving sales successDanielle's career journey in medical sales and her transition to entrepreneurshipThe inspiration behind Danielle's book, "Unstoppable Grit"Danielle's perspective on failure and the importance of learning and growthBelieving in oneself is the key to success Key Takeaways: And imposter syndrome is a big roadblock that can paralyze our career. When we have confidence, we're willing to take more risks.I've always loved sales training and leadership development, and that's always been my favorite part: mentorship and leadership.I think my upbringing is why empathy is one of my core values."In my book, I talk about the seven roadblocks that stand between us and achieving our goals, and one of the most common roadblocks that we often run into is this fear of the unknown. Our mind likes to know what will happen in the future, but we don't always know what will happen in the future. And so sometimes when we're stepping in, when we're presented with an opportunity per se, say, it's a new job opportunity or a new sales opportunity, a new opportunity to work with a client, sometimes that fear of the unknown can be paralyzing because we don't want to fail. But at the same time, if we don't put ourselves out there and try and explore new avenues of growing our business, career, and life, we'll never know what's out there unless we try. So, fear of the unknown is a big roadblock that a lot of us run into." – DANIELLE"What inspired me to write the book is when working with clients, I saw some commonality amongst many of the clients I was working with. It was those common roadblocks: the fear of the unknown, perfectionism, imposter syndrome—all of these common roadblocks. I saw some consistency in what I saw and the advice I gave. I also found that many people continuously said, when in my initial conversations with them, "I want clarity. I want clarity on what the future is going to bring." So, in the book, I give people each chapter as a story, learning lessons learned through different experiences and practical advice that they can take away and apply to their life on how to build a career and life that they truly love, feel fulfilled and purposeful in. That's what inspired the book: I wanted more people to see what is possible truly, to think outside the box of what's possible in their career and their life, and have clarity on what they want." – DANIELLE"I would say that failure, we don't fail. I believe that when we say, "Well, we failed," it means it's definite. We did something, failed at it, and that's it. And if we look at failure as something that didn't work out, we miss the opportunity to learn and grow for something. So, I believe that we don't fail. We either choose to learn and grow. We learn and grow from every experience that we want. Maybe it didn't go in our desired direction, but we still took something out of it. So, to say that we failed gives ourselves a disservice of going through that experience." – DANIELLEConnect with Danielle Cobo:LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniellecobo/Try Our Proven, 3-Step System, Guaranteeing Accountability and Transparency that Drives RESULTS by clicking on this link: https://oneofakindsales.com/call-center-in-a-box/  Connect with Nancy Calabrese: Twitter:https://twitter.com/oneofakindsalesFacebook:https://www.facebook.com/One-Of-A-Kind-Sales-304978633264832/Website:https://oneofakindsales.comPhone: 908-879-2911 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ncalabrese/Email: leads@oneofakindsales.com 

About Nancy Zare: Dr. Nancy Zare is a sales psychologist, holding an MSW in Organizational Planning and Development and a Ph.D. in Social Work and Organizational Development from Boston College. She is also a founder of multiple ventures, including Rapport Builderz, which helps salespeople develop relationships with prospects that lead to new business, and the author of several books. She helps her clients learn the right words and know the right approach to attract new businesses without appearing "sales-y." Using her knowledge of human behavior and experience in sales, she started Rapport Builderz, where she advises service-based entrepreneurs on how to prospect online, generate leads, open sales conversations, follow up, and get hired. Check out the latest episode of our Conversational Selling podcast to learn more about Nancy. In this episode, Nancy and Nancy Zare discuss the following:AlikeAbility™ System for turning prospects into clientsFour personality styles and how they influence communication and decision-makingTechniques for quickly identifying a prospect's communication styleThe intersection of psychology and salesUse of spirituality to enhance communication and connection in salesEmphasis on focusing on the buyer's perspective rather than just the selling processKey Takeaways: Once you know their style, you're ready to connect their language quickly and authentically, which can translate into doing business together.The more you understand how that buyer makes decisions, the better you can communicate with them in a language they understand and can embrace.My focus is on how buyers buy, not how to sell.Talk so your buyer says: "Wow, I feel comfortable with you!""I've discovered that there are four different ways that people are hardwired, and they communicate and make decisions based on one of four personality styles. And they actually coordinate with the quadrants of the brain. And so, when you speak to people in general, it turns out that you're only connecting maybe 25 % of the time with someone. The other 75%, you're not speaking their language. Hence, your words fall flat, and you're not making connections. " – NANCY"I was born a psychologist. It's true. My parents had a stormy marriage, and I was the youngest child, the only girl in this family. And I watched these adults and my older brothers. I mean, everybody was in a tizzy. And so, I was watching all of this, trying to figure out my place in this, you know, family. And it turns out that around the age of 10, I saw a TV show with an idea of how to get people to get along. So, I tried it on my folks. And I did, and they let me, which is a surprise, but I think it indicates, Nancy, just how distraught they were with their own relationship. Or maybe they saw something in their daughter that suggested I could help them. At the end of this conversation, I turned to my Dad; both parents were present, and both were native-born, English-speaking adults. I translated and said to my Dad, "This is what Mom needs you to do so she'll feel loved." And I turned to my Mom and said, "And this is what Dad needs for you to do so he will feel respected." And notice the words changed, and that's because Mom was the I in DISC. She was the one who needed lots of love, attention, you know, that sort of thing. And Dad was much more the S. He needed respect. He needed a system." – NANCY"Well, spirituality is definitely a big part of who I am. I may have majored in psychology, but I minored in philosophy. So, I've always been intrigued by understanding, you know, what's the meaning of it all and, you know, what's going on behind me. And, by the way, that's very typical of the I. The I tends to be one of those, you know, thinking in the stratosphere and thinking about doing things of significance beyond self. And so, spirituality to me is important because it allows me to connect again in an authentic way, to bring my heart, not just my head, into the sales conversation. So, I bring all of me. Does that make sense?" – NANCYConnect with Nancy Zare:LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/nancyzare/Rapport Builderz: https://rapportbuilderz.com/Try Our Proven, 3-Step System, Guaranteeing Accountability and Transparency that Drives RESULTS by clicking on this link: https://oneofakindsales.com/call-center-in-a-box/  Connect with Nancy Calabrese: Twitter:https://twitter.com/oneofakindsalesFacebook:https://www.facebook.com/One-Of-A-Kind-Sales-304978633264832/Website:https://oneofakindsales.comPhone: 908-879-2911 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ncalabrese/Email: leads@oneofakindsales.com

About Ryan Pollyniak: Ryan Pollyniak is a Cloud Transformation Executive at Western Computer, a Microsoft Gold Partner specializing in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Cloud solutions. Ryan is a seasoned sales professional with a rich background in the Microsoft Dynamics space. Before joining Western Computer in 2015, Ryan spent significant time with an ISV (add-on solution) in the Microsoft Dynamics ecosystem, working closely with partners to sell products to companies using Microsoft Dynamics. Catering to medium- to enterprise-sized businesses, Ryan is well-versed in ERP and CRM strategies and is heavily involved in the Microsoft Dynamics Channel. Check out the latest episode of our Conversational Selling podcast to learn more about Ryan.In this episode, Nancy and Ryan discuss the following:Understanding ISVs in the Microsoft Dynamics Space Aligning sales and marketing strategies for successPrioritizing ideal prospects and avoiding shotgun approaches The importance of transparency and alignment in sales conversationsCritical strategies for ensuring customer satisfaction in complex engagements The role of CRM in organizational successKey Takeaways: Building that network in a closed ecosystem is a continuous act. You can never let your ego or feelings get in the way of treating people correctly because they will come back around.If you sell people things that they don't need, it'll come back to bite you.We're not satisfied if we don't have a satisfied customer at the end of an engagement."And there's a great book out there called Essentialism that focuses on how well some organizations have done that in the past to great effect. So, when taking that line of thought, you want to ensure that your marketing messaging and target audience align with the projects you want to bring in as an organization and what you want your salespeople to follow up on. Otherwise, you end up with a shotgun approach of, you know, getting all kinds of leads in terms of high volume and high quantity, but maybe not particularly the type of companies that you would want to be working with. And that leads to your salespeople getting frustrated, sorting through endless low-value leads. There's a huge cost to that organization." – RYAN"I don't try to convince people very much, which sounds a little bit silly in a sales scenario, but I'm not a big believer in really trying to persuade as much as I am trying to help prospective clients understand once I've identified that we have a good fit and I understand what the client is looking for. It's really about explaining that and making sure that they understand why I am in the position I'm in with all my experience in this industry and why I think the solution is a good fit. And I've had people tell me right out of the gate, 'We're trying to narrow down prospective vendors. Give me the short story; why should I go with you guys?' And I say, my answer to that, Nancy, is, and it takes people back sometimes, is, 'I don't know that we are the right fit yet. Can we talk a little bit more?'" – RYAN"Be honest with people and do what you're good at. Don't try to be all things to everyone, and keep yourself organized in your CRM. That's critical. If your boss is asking you to update CRM or if you're the boss and you're asking people to update CRM, I'm a big believer in systems. Nobody—I can't speak for everybody, but I can't keep everything straight in my head or on paper. I need systems, I need reminders, I need processes. And I think any good salesperson is going to follow those. Any good sales organization will have best practices established in terms of how to use the system and get the most out of it. So don't fight CRM. It is there to help." – RYANConnect with Ryan Pollyniak:LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/microsoftdynamicssolutions/Western Computer: https://www.westerncomputer.com/Try Our Proven, 3-Step System, Guaranteeing Accountability and Transparency that Drives RESULTS by clicking on this link: https://oneofakindsales.com/call-center-in-a-box/  Connect with Nancy Calabrese: Twitter:https://twitter.com/oneofakindsalesFacebook:https://www.facebook.com/One-Of-A-Kind-Sales-304978633264832/Website:https://oneofakindsales.comPhone: 908-879-2911 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ncalabrese/Email: leads@oneofakindsales.com 

About Carlos A. Alvarenga: Carlos A. Alvarenga is an independent researcher, writer, and coach. His new book, "The Rules of Persuasion: How the World's Greatest Communicators Convince, Inspire, Lead—and, Sometimes, Deceive" (Post Hill Press, 2023), not only explains how persuasion works in all forms of human communication but also presents a clear and effective model that can be used in both personal and professional lives. Before his current roles, Carlos was the Executive Director of World 50 Labs, the member-innovation team at World 50, Inc. Before that, he served as a Principal in Ernst & Young's Advisory Practice and as a Managing Director at Accenture. Additionally, he was an adjunct professor at the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. Currently, Carlos is pursuing his Ph.D. in language, writing, and rhetoric at the University of Maryland. Check out the latest episode of our Conversational Selling podcast to learn more about Carlos.In this episode, Nancy and Carlos discuss the following:What motivated Carlos to become an expert in persuasionImportance of defining persuasion and its application in leadershipThe impact of persuasion on sales effectiveness The distinction between coercion, manipulation, and persuasion The potential for persuasion to be used for both good and evil Exploring the dark side of persuasion with historical examples Key Takeaways: It's hard to be good at something you can't define. Persuasion is a fundamental human activity.Persuasion is getting someone to willingly, rationally, and ultimately control their faculties and accept that what you say is true.And the opposite of persuasion is coercion. If I explain to you why doing something is a good thing, that's persuasion. If I trick you, that's manipulation."I explained in the book that if we take these three modes—character, argument, and emotion—we can divide each into seven elements. So, the seven parts of character include, for example, the language you use, your history, where you come from, and these kinds of things. There are seven elements of argument: evidence, logic, and witnesses. Then, there are seven kinds of emotion: positive, negative, contemplative, etc. When I had these 21 elements, I needed a metaphor to help clarify it for me and the reader. I went back to high school chemistry and said, it's like a periodic table. Every message I've ever looked at, and I've looked at thousands, combines these 21 elements. So that's step one. It's like learning chemistry, right, Nancy? First, start with elements like carbon, hydrogen, and whatever else you will use. Then, you learn some very simple formulas. Learn the elements that work for you, which ones you feel comfortable working with, and which you like to work with, and then start putting them to work. Within an hour of coaching, I've seen people become better at this because they now understand that if they use their origin as one of the elements, people will want to believe them more." – CARLOS"Logic is one of the seven elements of argument, so it's on the periodic table. It certainly can be used, right? And people who are doctors and scientists often use logic to persuade. We have broadly spoken about two types of education. If you want to use logic, you can become a philosopher, right? And become a logician and get a PhD in logic. You can become a lawyer. Lawyers also get trained in the use of logic to persuade. But it's one of the 21 elements. We are often persuaded, and we are more often persuaded, I think, by other things. Because you must go to specialized schools to use argument well, most people are not experts at it, either in creating or receiving logical persuasion. So, we tend to be persuaded more by character, for example, or emotion. They operate in different ways. And so, logic is certainly helpful. But I always challenge executives. I say I want you to start persuading me using nothing but logic—strict, well-constructed, internally consistent, effective logical sequences. And if you can make it to three minutes, I'll give you a prize. Unless you're a professional, you can't. Most people fall apart after about a sentence and a half." – CARLOS"Let's start with the fact that persuasion is predictable. Yeah, I can tell you how someone will, what form of listening they'll use most of the time, and whether it'll be effective. And sometimes it's like magic. I work, coach, and say, I want you to change these two or three things you just told me. And the effect is dramatically different. I've had people break into tears when they finally get the message right. And they think it's something that's special. And I say, it's not. You wouldn't be amazed if you went to a chemist and the chemist made you aspirin. Don't be amazed. I'm just following the rules. And if you follow the rules, more often than not, exactly what should happen will happen, just like with real chemistry." – CARLOSConnect with Carlos A. Alvarenga:LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlos-alvarenga/Try Our Proven, 3-Step System, Guaranteeing Accountability and Transparency that Drives RESULTS by clicking on this link: https://oneofakindsales.com/call-center-in-a-box/  Connect with Nancy Calabrese: Twitter:https://twitter.com/oneofakindsalesFacebook:https://www.facebook.com/One-Of-A-Kind-Sales-304978633264832/Website:https://oneofakindsales.comPhone: 908-879-2911 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ncalabrese/Email: leads@oneofakindsales.com

About Hamish Knox: Hamish Knox is a member of the global Sandler network. Hamish supports private organizations in Southern Alberta create and maintain a scalable, repeatable, consistent sales engines and an engaged, motivated team by holding them accountable to implementing the structures, systems, and processes shared in our sessions. Before joining the Sandler network, Hamish worked in various industries, including media, communication services, software, and professional sports, which melded his passions for sales and education. Hamish was named the 2020 David H. Sandler Award winner, Sandler's highest honor, becoming the first Canadian trainer to receive that award. He was the first two-time author in the Sandler network, writing books on topics no one likes to talk about. His first book was on Accountability the Sandler Way, and his second on Change the Sandler Way. Sandler Home Office regularly invites Hamish to speak at Sandler's train-the-trainer conferences and Sandler's public Sales and Leadership Summit in Orlando. Check out the latest episode of our Conversational Selling podcast to learn more about Hamish.In this episode, Nancy and Hamish discuss the following:Hamish's motivation to move to SandlerThe importance of having systems in place for success by design, rather than success by default, in sales organizationsDifferentiating on how you sell, not what you sellThe value of David H. Sandler AwardAccountability and the fear of change in salesThe importance of making the conversation about the buyer and not about the seller's needsKey Takeaways: Without systems, it's very much, you know, flying by the seat of your pants, which is a cliche that gets bandied about. Sandler is not just about a bunch of cheesy lines or techniques or saying these seven things; you'll always get the meeting or the order.If we don't have accountability, if we don't have the boundaries defined, our salespeople are going to make it up.I genuinely love what I do."You know, people, what's the cliche about people fear three things: death, taxes, and change? Because our brains are wired to keep us safe, which usually means stuck. Because no matter where you believe that we all came from, whoever, you know, the listeners out there, wherever you believe that humanity emerged from, ultimately, our brains are still wired that way, right? Our brains are still looking for the lions and the saber-toothed tigers that are going to eat us. And so, ultimately, change used to mean that you died, or you went hungry, and then you died. So, you were dead, but you were just more or less full in your stomach when you died. And so, our brains are still back there. So, no one likes change. And the book Change the Sandler Way is really about the human side of change because, ultimately, Nancy, change is super simple. Like, it's, we don't have a CRM today, we do have a CRM tomorrow. That's change. Human beings don't change, they transition, and transition is almost like the five stages of grief. And so that book is all about how we support leaders who go through these same emotions well before their team members actually manage a successful change. I recently saw that 89% of all corporate change initiatives fail. Yeah, like it was a number that blew my mind. And you think about how many probable billions of dollars are spent on these initiatives from buying the product or service and having the team meetings and getting things going to have it fail that much. There's got to be a better way." – HAMISH"Sandler is a number of things. So, number one, it's about differentiating on how you sell, not what you sell. Because what we sell is a commodity in the minds of our buyers. It doesn't matter what we're selling. And the only way to differentiate a commodity is typically by price. And so, with Sandler, we seek to create clarity with our buyers. I was talking to a very, very successful entrepreneur yesterday. We're in a mastermind group, and they were saying, well, what do you suggest I do? Because I'm the primary seller. And I said, well, let's pretend I'm your client. What would you say to me when I say, well, what's going to happen today, right? We booked a call. What's going to happen today? And they're like, well, you know, here's our process for building out, you know, the services that we offer. And I said, well, that's great. But what's gonna happen to me now in this sales call? And he said, well, I don't know. And I said, well, that's a problem because no one wants to talk to a salesperson. And so, If we don't create clarity upfront with our potential, with our buyers, all they're thinking is when is Hamish going to ask for my wallet? They're not actually listening. So, we need to create that clarity upfront using the upfront contract, and which is like a supercharged agenda for listeners who haven't heard about it before. And then pain, humans are animals, biologically that's true, biologically we're animals and animals are wired to move away from pain or towards pleasure. There was a study done in Vegas, which is a great place to study both pain and pleasure, that pain was a five times greater motivator than pleasure. And a lot of people, when they hear that, they don't wanna think about pain. And what I tell my clients is you're never going to say pain to your buyer. You're never gonna say, "Nancy, let's talk about your pain with getting real qualified opportunities in the top of your funnel," because you're going to look at me like, "You went to a sales training class, didn't you? You've got a shiny new toy you want to try out." – HAMISH"The one takeaway I want the audience to go with is it's never about us, it's always about the buyer. So, if the buyer calls up and goes, if we ring ring hello and the buyer goes, what, that's not about us. And if the buyer says, well, why should I work with you? And you say, well, here's some reasons why other people have worked with us. Are any of those relevant to you? So always making it about the buyer and never about us and getting our emotional needs met is very, very powerful." – HAMISHConnect with Hamish Knox:LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/hamishknox/Sandler: https://www.hamish.sandler.com/howtosandlerTry Our Proven, 3-Step System, Guaranteeing Accountability and Transparency that Drives RESULTS by clicking on this link: https://oneofakindsales.com/call-center-in-a-box/  Connect with Nancy Calabrese: Twitter:https://twitter.com/oneofakindsalesFacebook:https://www.facebook.com/One-Of-A-Kind-Sales-304978633264832/Website:https://oneofakindsales.comPhone: 908-879-2911 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ncalabrese/Email: leads@oneofakindsales.com

About Usman Sheikh: Usman Sheikh is the visionary founder and CEO of xiQ, an award-winning B2B sales and marketing platform. With the fusion of generative AI (x GPT), behavioral science, and a curated up-to-the-minute business corpus, xiQ is revolutionizing the industry with its groundbreaking personality-driven sales approach. As a futurist and design thinker, Usman aims to humanize B2B sales and marketing by harnessing the power of generative AI and psychology. Through xiQ, sellers gain the ability to understand the mindset of prospective buyers, facilitating hyper-personalized engagement throughout the sales cycle. Usman strongly believes in achieving excellence through disciplined and relentless execution. Check out the latest episode of our Conversational Selling podcast to learn more about Usman.In this episode, Nancy and Usman discuss the following:The transformative power of AI in B2B sales and marketingxiQ's use of generative AI, behavioral science, and chat GPT to personalize sales approachesThe evolution from pre-internet to the internet era and now to the AI eraHow AI simplifies tasks, saves time, and enhances productivityThe importance of understanding personality-driven salesKey Takeaways: AI made it so much simpler, gives one that information in seconds, and saves hours that would have been spent. What used to take me six hours out of my day has now been reduced to 30 minutes. We need to master AI. We need to make it work for us. "And we use AI to help you formulate these kinds of capabilities, bringing them into sales to personalize the sales engagement. Nobody wants to talk to somebody who doesn't know who you are, doesn't understand your problems, and cannot empathize with or relate to your actions. They're just in there to sell, and nobody's interested in that, especially in high-ticket sales. So, it becomes increasingly important to be able to find the sweet spots of the person within their personality and cater to them so you can have a better chance of winning." – USMAN"We're not a plug-in to LinkedIn, although I think we get a lot of data from LinkedIn. Think of our platform as an independent search engine; we throw a very wide net out there to collect information. So, you type in the name of a person in their company and start looking for them. You find the person by clicking on them if there is more than one. And it goes, fetches information, analyzes it, and makes a prediction call. All of it, less than three seconds." – USMAN"So, we were living in the pre-internet era. Would that be correct? I was. I saw the internet come. You did, right? And everything was paper-based. If you needed to look up a person or do some research, you had to use Encyclopedia Britannica or one of those, right? There was no Google. It was a different world. And the big brands that were there were those serving Yellow Pages and all that stuff. Those were the brands. But then came the internet age, Google and Yahoo, and now ZoomInfo and Salesforce, and all of these became tools that people used, right? And the old Yellow Pages and so on didn't translate into becoming the ZoomInfo of the business world. It was like the Yellow Pages of the business world in the pre-internet days, right? And so, two things happened. The way we did business changed. Secondly, the players that provided the technology changed as well, and the solutions changed as well. Now, we're entering the AI era. It's a big leap. So, if the internet was a thousand to the paper-based era, then AI is a hundred million to the thousand. That's the big leap, okay? Because it can crunch out this big data and make sense of it in microseconds, right? And so, it can crunch a lot of data to do that, right? Pretty much the whole internet, right? And then some. So, but you know, we as humans need to be able to access that data, that much data in a consumable manner to be interesting." – USMAN"I think not to be afraid of AI. AI provides a lot of new opportunities. So, if the audience is in sales or any business, use AI to discover new opportunities. Everybody who's going to use AI will realize that it can create a lot of new worlds. As a matter of fact, what McKinsey is quoting in terms of generative AI creating net new value for sales is $1.4 trillion a year in sales productivity. That's a lot, right? That's a huge amount. So, that's the opportunity. And as a result of that, Nancy, the way we used to sell, traditional sellers used to create fear, uncertainty, and doubt. And here we have a chance to move away from that selling into more selling hope and opportunity because there's a lot of hope and opportunity with what we can do with AI." – USMANConnect with Usman Sheikh:LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/usmanmsheikh/xiQ, Inc: https://xiqinc.com/Try Our Proven, 3-Step System, Guaranteeing Accountability and Transparency that Drives RESULTS by clicking on this link: https://oneofakindsales.com/call-center-in-a-box/  Connect with Nancy Calabrese: Twitter:https://twitter.com/oneofakindsalesFacebook:https://www.facebook.com/One-Of-A-Kind-Sales-304978633264832/Website:https://oneofakindsales.comPhone: 908-879-2911 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ncalabrese/Email: leads@oneofakindsales.com

About Kelly Lichtenberger: Kelly Lichtenberger has a strong background in sales and marketing, with experience in various leadership roles. From 2021 onwards, she has worked as the Global Head of Sales Development at Avanan. Before this, she worked at The InsideOut Technologies Company as a Principal, focusing on building and optimizing Inside Sales teams. From 2017 to 2019, Kelly held multiple roles at Razberi Technologies, including Vice President of Marketing and Inside Sales. She was key in delivering network video recording, cyber security, and remote health management solutions during her time there. Before that, Kelly was the President of Consulting Services Group (CSG), where they provided superior customer experience and implemented top talent and technologies for business success. Kelly was also involved in building high-performance sales teams and instituting best-selling processes at Carousel Industries as the Vice President of Inside Sales. Overall, Kelly Lichtenberger has a wealth of experience in sales development, marketing, and team management and has consistently demonstrated success in driving revenue growth and achieving results. Check out the latest episode of our Conversational Selling podcast to learn more about Kelly.In this episode, Nancy and Kelly discuss the following:Value of the human element in sales despite advancements in AI Overcoming fear of rejection in cold calling Differing views on the use of scripts in sales calls Building and maintaining successful inside sales teams Role of emotional intelligence (EQ) in prospecting and sales Benefits of emotional intelligence for women in sales Key Takeaways: You can have a script, but knowing how to play within that keeps the human element there. Women do phenomenally at sales. The worst answer in sales is "maybe." We all have a mutual benefit for everybody, being happy and wanting to stay."I still very much believe in the human element. We hear a lot about AI and tools, what these tools can do, and what this system can do. We miss a big part of the sales cycle when we leave out the human element. I talk to my team often about this, and I think what happens is it comes down to skill set. There are a lot of people who don't have the skill set to use the phone as a selling device appropriately. So, it's easier to say it doesn't work and it's dead. The more people say that, the more it helps me and my teams because it opens the doors. Fewer people are calling, so I'll get through." – KELLY"So, when you think about emotional intelligence, it's the same as EQ. People have heard of IQ, which is knowing how. EQ is knowing you. Emotional intelligence encompasses self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills. It's really about adding the human element into sales. When working with a team, I tell them, "We're not going in to sell on step one of the first conversation. We're looking at how to build a relationship, even in your personal life. It's about being you." One of the things that people forget to do often is to focus so much on the product know-how and forget that there's an actual person on the other end. Do we understand their role? Their pain points? What would be helpful to them in their position? If you're facing rejections, know how to handle it, pivot, and not get upset if you have a day where there are many hang-ups or didn't get through and set up the demo. Knowing that motivation, if you're not doing those things again, how do you turn something like cold calling into a skill set and not just give up because it's not working for you? Many people do. Then again, they want to say, "This didn't work." Well, maybe it's that you didn't work on that one." - KELLY"So, active listening is a big part of emotional intelligence, which comes in a few places. It's going to come into social skills. It will come into self-awareness, but really, the social skills of understanding. Knowing when to let somebody speak and actively listening to have it be heard allows you to respond appropriately. When we call someone, I must remind them that they may not always love our product or think that everyone on the planet needs it, but not everybody does, or maybe they don't see it. So, how do we have conversations to open up what they need? And if we fit, great. If we don't, then at least know how to build that relationship because, down the road, there might be something new added into your line of products that they could need." – KELLYConnect with Kelly Lichtenberger:LinkedIn:www.linkedin.com/in/kellylichtenbergerAvanan: www.avanan.comTry Our Proven, 3-Step System, Guaranteeing Accountability and Transparency that Drives RESULTS by clicking on this link: https://oneofakindsales.com/call-center-in-a-box/  Connect with Nancy Calabrese: Twitter:https://twitter.com/oneofakindsalesFacebook:https://www.facebook.com/One-Of-A-Kind-Sales-304978633264832/Website:https://oneofakindsales.comPhone: 908-879-2911 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ncalabrese/Email: leads@oneofakindsales.com 

About Isabelle Fortin: Isabelle Fortin is a standout mindset facilitator, entrepreneur, and public speaker. Her journey is marked by determination and creativity. Through Izzy Fortin Coaching, she uses her experiences and insights to help others grow professionally and personally. Isabelle faced a significant challenge when she was just five years old: she lost her mother. Being the youngest of three siblings, she had to learn how to be strong and resilient early on, and these qualities have guided her throughout her life. Isabelle's career path is wide-ranging and impressive. She served in the Canadian Air Force, an experience that taught her discipline and structure. Afterward, she spent 23 years as a devoted massage therapist, improving her ability to heal and care for others. Check out the latest episode of our Conversational Selling podcast to learn more about Isabelle.In this episode, Nancy and Isabelle discuss the following:Isabelle's transition from military to salesDefinition of a rebel and the importance of rebels in salesStrategy: "Make friends before you make clients."Value of honesty and authenticity in salesAligning company culture with sales team needsImpact of military experience on sales approachTurning rebellious salespeople into rock starsKey Takeaways: You can't go against who you areMake friends before you make clientsIf you give the rebels the tools that they need, they will become rock starsAlways quit a toxic relationship"I think that most sales rebels are extremely people-oriented. They're extremely community- and relationship-minded. And it is truly for them about cultivating relationships more than anything else. They make friends before they make clients. Of course, you know, the business that you are in has to give you that opportunity. I mean, if you're a salesperson in a store, maybe, you know, that's a little bit less, especially if it's a chain store, it's a little bit less of that. But even then, how many great people do we find or quite the opposite? You go to a store, and the person, you know, won't look at you, engage with you, or ask anything. Well, we are less likely to go back, right? So, I think that that's in their nature—to build relationships—and it is about selling who they are first." – ISABELLE"I believe that, of anybody, but especially when it comes to salespeople, thrive when the culture of the company that they work for understands that they cannot be treated like every other employee because they are different. And I find that you know, sales managers—only 6% of them get training in management. And yeah, only 6%. The stats are scary. Very often, I believe that either the company took their top salesman and decided to make them the manager, or worse yet, they took somebody from another department and decided, "Hey, you're a good manager. So, you can now lead the sales team." Sales is a different kind of species. And if you treat them the same as everybody else, they're going to underperform, and they're going to look for a job very quickly. And I think that that is the biggest mistake that most companies do—is deal with their salespeople the "wrong" way." - ISABELLE"The connection that I brought to my personal life from the military was you can work well with somebody you don't like and don't need to. I hear coaches say that very often—find the commonality, find, you know, if that person likes ballet or bowling or whatever, and you like that too, then you know, that's something to base the relationship on. And I'm not saying it's a bad thing. Sometimes, the commonality is that you're both humans living on this planet. So, you don't have to share a passion with somebody to get along with them. And that's where I got that from the military because in service, you literally, like a firefighter the same way. Police officers are the same way. You don't have to like someone. You need to recognize that that person is doing their best with the hand they've been dealt. And so that's what I bring from my military career to my consulting company now." – ISABELLEConnect with Isabelle Fortin:LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/isabellemfortin/Izzy Fortin: https://izzyfortin.comTry Our Proven, 3-Step System, Guaranteeing Accountability and Transparency that Drives RESULTS by clicking on this link: https://oneofakindsales.com/call-center-in-a-box/  Connect with Nancy Calabrese: Twitter:https://twitter.com/oneofakindsalesFacebook:https://www.facebook.com/One-Of-A-Kind-Sales-304978633264832/Website:https://oneofakindsales.comPhone: 908-879-2911 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ncalabrese/Email: leads@oneofakindsales.com 

About Alice Myerhoff: Alice Myerhoff is the Founder of Myerhoff Consulting, which helps mission-oriented startups and SMBs with growth strategy, partnerships, and sales processes to increase revenue and maximize their positive social impact. Alice is a Sales and Business Development leader, author, and strategic deal-maker who has built customer portfolios from the ground up and client bases from ZERO. She brings a wealth of multicultural experience across several corporate, education, and nonprofit sectors. 20+ years background in online media/news/advertising/events, educational technology/software, social impact/businesses, real estate, computer gaming, and financial services. Previously held executive-level positions at workforce development, gender equity, and education-focused organizations. Check out the latest episode of our Conversational Selling podcast to learn more about Alice.In this episode, Nancy and Alice discuss the following:Definition of mission-driven organizations Significance of effective sales strategyConsistency of sales principles across industriesMaximizing conference ROI Conference attendee privacy Evaluating conference investments The Sales Glow Up initiative with Lisa ScottoKey Takeaways: I'm interested in supporting organizations that will leave the world in a better place.You can be very methodical about approaching a conference, even as just an attendee, so you get your money's worth out of it.I think if people at the beginning of their sales careers can embrace that and not have it be such an emotional roller coaster, which sales sometimes is, they could save a lot of stress."I think having a definition around who you're targeting is kind of the baseline number one issue. You can't really reach out to your targets if you don't have a target in mind. A phrase that I like to use is, 'You can't boil the ocean,' right? So, let's think about who the client is, how we can reach them, where they are, what they care about, and their pain points. That's the first step. And then having some methodology, like, do you have a CRM? Do you have it set up in a way that allows you to make strategic decisions based on the data you're collecting? Those types of things are pretty key. I like to get my hands dirty, you know?" – ALICE"Attendees don't like to be spammed. Imagine attending a conference; you'd have a hundred exhibitors, and everybody knew you would be there. How many emails are you going to get? And they'll annoy you. And maybe you won't attend the conference again because you don't want to be on that list. So, conferences don't do that. But that doesn't mean you can't figure out who's likely to be there, right? So, you can – this sounds super basic, but sometimes people don't think of it – look at the agenda for the conference. Who are the speakers? You know they'll be there, right? They must show up. Or, you know, sponsors, exhibitors –they will have people on site. And you can even build outreach campaigns just around that information, right? You can make a pretty good guess. This type of company will probably send out a salesperson or a marketing person, depending on what the conference is about. And even if that is your specific target, they can maybe help you connect with that person." - ALICE"People kind of like that idea of showing up at a conference and winging it. I think a lot of people are selling the same way. They're sort of winging it, and you can pick up little tidbits here and there. There's lots of thought leadership stuff happening. I mean, our little videos are part of that, too, even. But building a methodology that allows you to be consistent and have some rigor can make a huge difference. So yeah, I support that. And you know, Nancy, the bigger vision with Sales Glow Up is to create something like that." – ALICEConnect with Alice Myerhoff:LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/alicemyerhoff/Myerhoff Consulting: https://www.myerhoffconsulting.com/Try Our Proven, 3-Step System, Guaranteeing Accountability and Transparency that Drives RESULTS by clicking on this link: https://oneofakindsales.com/call-center-in-a-box/  Connect with Nancy Calabrese: Twitter:https://twitter.com/oneofakindsalesFacebook:https://www.facebook.com/One-Of-A-Kind-Sales-304978633264832/Website:https://oneofakindsales.comPhone: 908-879-2911 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ncalabrese/Email: leads@oneofakindsales.com 

About Nigel Green: Nigel Green is an Advisor to Founders and Sales Leaders and the Author of "Revenue Harvest: A Sales Leader's Almanac For Planning The Perfect Year." Executives and sales leaders hire Nigel to improve sales team performance. By the age of 31, he was a Fortune 300 executive sales leader who had led sales for two healthcare companies that both experienced successful financial exits. Since publishing Revenue Harvest, he has advised dozens of sales teams on building a best-in-class sales team. Two of his clients have scaled and sold for more than 3X EBITDA, while others have attracted investments from top venture funds. Most importantly, they hit their sales targets. Check out the latest episode of our Conversational Selling podcast to learn more about Nigel.In this episode, Nancy and Nigel discuss the following:Problems sales leaders face dailyFocus areas for sales leaders: revenue, profitability, new customersFrequency of team meetings for sales leadersImportance of asking better questionsSales aptitude tests: context and applicationHiring based on competency alone vs. considering chemistry and characterDistinction between a good salesperson and a good sales leaderKey Takeaways: You must build a team to create customers at scale that aligns with the business's overarching strategy.Good sales leaders are productively paranoid about what is right around the corner that could derail my team.At least once a week, the leader has to meet with the team and remind them of this responsibility to meet and exceed future business expectations."I think the problems that sales leaders face could be bucketed under majoring in the minor things. And what that means, if we were to unpack it, is that if you found yourself in this position, it would sound all too familiar to you. You look back on your day; you were busy and did a lot of stuff. Most of what you did was probably internal and not enough external, meaning that you were on, especially today; we're recording this on a Monday. So, a lot of sales leaders today will spend their entire Monday in meetings that will probably not create one single customer, and they will probably not be involved in any training or development of the sales team. And it's certainly not going to be involved in the overarching strategy of the business. It's probably going to be meetings that involve updates around product or operations, updates that have already happened and that you cannot control and ultimately won't matter in creating a customer, training a rep, or the overarching strategy of the business. And that's the biggest problem: many sales leaders don't have enough autonomy in their schedule. And if they do have autonomy, they're still not spending it on the three areas of the business that matter most: customers, reps, strategy." – NIGEL"I ask a lot of really good questions. So, it gets to where I'd never really have to ask anyone for an investment or to hire me because they see through the power of my questions that their life might be better if they had me as an extension of their team. So, that translates, I think, naturally to the types of things that I work on in my coaching business, which is primarily what I do as coach sales leaders. I help them improve the quality of their questions. And as they start asking better questions, they start having better problems. Better problems lead to better results. So, we get to this place where we don't have an activity problem, or we don't have a "we're not hitting our sales" problem. We start having deeper problems around strategy, positioning, technology, compensation plans, team structure, data, and augmenting sales reps with better support systems—not just hiring more people but hiring various sellers for different types of roles in the sales organization. And we start having better problems." - NIGEL"If you want to transform your sales team, you've got to understand that your sales team is only as good as your worst rep, and your worst rep is probably the one that gives you an insight into your sales leader's tolerance threshold. And so be pushing yourselves later to always try to replace your worst rep with a new one. And sometimes replacing your worst rep with a new rep is taking that individual and making them better, making them fundamentally. I'm not advocating for just creating a bunch of turnovers, but I think, you know, if I'm a leader of an organization, I'm trying to find out where's my weakest link and how do I go about systemically attacking that to making it better." – NIGELConnect with Nigel Green:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/revenueharvest/Revenue Harvest: https://www.therevenueharvest.com/Try Our Proven, 3-Step System, Guaranteeing Accountability and Transparency that Drives RESULTS by clicking on this link: https://oneofakindsales.com/call-center-in-a-box/  Connect with Nancy Calabrese: Twitter:https://twitter.com/oneofakindsalesFacebook:https://www.facebook.com/One-Of-A-Kind-Sales-304978633264832/Website:https://oneofakindsales.comPhone: 908-879-2911 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ncalabrese/Email: leads@oneofakindsales.com 

About Roy Osing: Roy Osing is a former president, CMO, and entrepreneur with over 40 years of successful and unmatched experience in executive leadership in every aspect of business. As President of a major data and internet company, his leadership and audacious 'unheard-of ways' took the company from its early stage to $1 Billion in annual sales. He is devoted to inspiring leaders, entrepreneurs, and organizations to stand apart from the average boring crowd and achieve their true potential. He is a resolute blogger, keen content marketer, dedicated teacher, and mentor to young professionals. As an accomplished business advisor, he is the author of the no-nonsense book series 'BE DiFFERENT or be dead.' Check out the latest episode of our Conversational Selling podcast to learn more about Roy.In this episode, Nancy and Roy discuss the following:Importance of differentiation in businessRoy's concept of the "only statement" Use of passionate language to capture attention Cultivating a client-centric culture An unconventional approach to recruitment: "Hiring for Goosebumps" Embracing audaciousness to stand outKey Takeaways: Differentiation is the key issue facing businesses today. Without it, organizations eventually die.Step outside your comfort zone and do things differently.Treat discomfort as your strategic ally. Be audacious, be brave, and choose to be different every day.Stand out by doing things others aren't doing."And so, I came up with this hiring for Goosebumps approach, which went as follows. First, I, as President of the company, was involved in panel interviews with most of the people we were hiring. And I did that for a specific reason. First, I wanted to show the people in my organization who sat around me what to do, and hopefully, hopefully, that they would copy what I did. Secondly, it shows the person applying for a job that they are important. So, I asked them two fundamental questions. I go, "Nancy, what I'd like to know is, do you love human beings?" Now, you would typically go, "Wow, okay, I've never had that question before. I think I know the right answer, but I have no idea where this dude is going with it." And you would say, "Well, yes, I do, Roy. I love human beings." I'd say, "Okay." So, the second question would be, "Tell me a story. Tell me a story that proves to me that you love humans." Now, this is the killer question, okay, because it separated the wheat from the chaff. The people that treated this as an academic exercise would give me a story that left me cold. Okay. There wasn't any truth to it. It was all mumbo jumbo, superficial, narcissistic chatter from this individual, right? But the person that had the gene told me a story that was so rich and passionate in terms of how they related to people and their feelings for people. Guess what it did, Nancy. It left me with goosebumps, and I got him right now. I would hire that person and teach him the business. People thought I was crazy. To this day, I can have; a while ago, I had a podcast with a PhD in HR in New York, and I told her this story, and she just went apoplectic. In fact, we had to stop the interview. She couldn't take it." – ROY"I want you to be different. I want you to go out, be brave, be audacious, and choose to be different today, right now, in the moment, in some small way. I want you to be uncomfortable. I want you to treat discomfort as your strategic ally. I want you to do it. And tomorrow, I want you to do two things and be different. And the next day, I want you to do three things. I want you to sort of get this persona strand going for you because we need you to be different. Okay, we don't need you to conform. We don't need you to comply with the rules. Now, I'm not talking about being illegal. I'm saying step out, be creative, be innovative, and do things other people aren't doing. That's the source of joy. That's the source of economic opportunity. And we need you in business and organizations to be that way. And you salespeople, if you're not the only one that does what you do, Why do you have a job?" - ROY"Step outside of your comfort zone, but do things differently than everybody else does. Okay, I don't want you to be uncomfortable and continue to do the same thing as everybody else. I want you to be uncomfortable because you're doing things differently, right? In a way that people care about. And the only point I want to make here is that this is not about you doing things for yourself. This is about you doing things differently in a way other people care about. So, my whole "be different" philosophy, Nancy, is about serving others in a way that no one else does. And salespeople, I want you to do that. I want you to serve your clients like no one else does. And I don't care about the textbook. Okay, the textbook got you this far. I want you to put it down. I want you to put the textbook down and do some practical human things that are different than everybody else, including the textbook, that light fires in your client's eyes. And guess what it does to them? It wants them to buy from you because they believe in you, trust you, follow you, and be loyal to the company. Boom. And there goes the revenue lineup. And that's what we want you to do." – ROYConnect with Roy Osing:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/royosing/BE DiFFERENT or be dead: https://www.bedifferentorbedead.com/Try Our Proven, 3-Step System, Guaranteeing Accountability and Transparency that Drives RESULTS by clicking on this link: https://oneofakindsales.com/call-center-in-a-box/  Connect with Nancy Calabrese: Twitter:https://twitter.com/oneofakindsalesFacebook:https://www.facebook.com/One-Of-A-Kind-Sales-304978633264832/Website:https://oneofakindsales.comPhone: 908-879-2911 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ncalabrese/Email: leads@oneofakindsales.com 

About Jason Friedman: Jason Friedman is the Founder and CEO at CXFormula, LLC, helping small businesses and entrepreneurs grow and scale their businesses, increasing customer engagement, loyalty, retention, revenues, and profits while improving their customer experience and creating raving fans. Their approach is at the intersection of psychology, theatre, business, and marketing. With decades of theatre experience between them, they combine the art of storytelling with the science of human behavior to create reliable and consistent customer momentum, generate massive engagement, and achieve incredible business growth. Jason has worked with some of the biggest brands in the world, including Nike, Disney, Foot Locker, Bank of America, and Harvard, to name a few. He's changing the way people look at the customer journey. Check out the latest episode of our Conversational Selling podcast to learn more about Jason. In this episode, Nancy and Jason discuss the following:How his journey in theater inspired Jason to develop the Kinetic Customer FormulaThe importance of shifting perspectives to prioritize the customer experienceFlipping the sales funnel to focus on customer successAdopting a strategic approach to over-delivery. The transformative effects of prioritizing customer success.Key Takeaways: Onboarding is how we help people move from one type of relationship to the next, like every transition, and a relationship is an opportunity for onboarding.Overdelivery is going to kill your business.Focus on the experience you're creating for your customers: take a look at it through their eyes."What we did in theater, it's like: people come into a show, and all the problems in the world are going on for them. Suddenly, they disappear as the orchestra plays, the lights fade, and they become very present. As the story continues, they laugh at certain moments, shriek back at others, and clap. It's all choreographed to the end, where they are on a journey, experiencing a transformation, moving to their feet with glorious applause and standing ovations. After like 20 years of doing this, I realized, you know what? Like, I know how to keep customers' attention and bring them in, crafting the journey that customers go on with brands, companies, online businesses, offline businesses, products, services - you name it. We help businesses create deeper engagement, focusing on clients and building deeper relationships. It results in much bigger businesses, helping you scale your business. That's what the Kinetic Customer Formula is: all those years of experience packed into one nice little package." – JASON"Because what ends up happening is the first light bulb that goes off is the realization that we as businesses make it hard for our customers to do business with us. [...] And so, the first thing I do is have them learn how to shift their perspective and understand the business from the customer's point of view. And when you do that, you realize: "Oh God, this is like, I wouldn't want to be my customer in many ways." And that first kind of light bulb that goes off is an emotional light bulb. Some people have, you know, felt bad because they have done everything they've done, and all they have decided to help the customers. [..] The second light bulb is where people start to understand: "Well, okay, I get it. We can remove the friction, but I still have all this competition, spending all this money on ads and all my clients. I'm still not getting as many people in. I'm still not optimized". And the second light bulb is that we spend all our energy focusing on how to get strangers to come to our business and talk to us, and very little of our energy and money resources on helping the people who said yes to us get those results. Now, I will help them shift their focus to the other side of the funnel. So, we flip the funnel. Those are the first two big light bulbs that blow up for people. And then from there, we go we go further." - JASON"If you can understand your customers that deeply, you can start to provide the journey they need to go on and make them feel safe and comfortable going on because you understand them. And most businesses know such superficial information about our customers, but when we start to go into this kind of a way to look at it, we uncover so much more. And that's where we start to realize: "Oh, you know what? I can look at the business through their lens. I get them now". In fact, in most companies that we work with, Nancy says to me: "Jason, you're great. I used to hate some of my customers. I have fallen in love with them. I understand them better, and they appreciate me more because they know they feel understood". And that changes the entire dynamic." – JASONConnect with Jason Friedman:LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasondfriedman/CXFormula, LLC: https://www.cxformula.com/FREE PDF: https://gift.cxformula.com/conversational-sellingTry Our Proven, 3-Step System, Guaranteeing Accountability and Transparency that Drives RESULTS by clicking on this link: https://oneofakindsales.com/call-center-in-a-box/  Connect with Nancy Calabrese: Twitter:https://twitter.com/oneofakindsalesFacebook:https://www.facebook.com/One-Of-A-Kind-Sales-304978633264832/Website:https://oneofakindsales.comPhone: 908-879-2911 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ncalabrese/Email: leads@oneofakindsales