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Sales Is King

Author: Dan Sixsmith

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In Season 3, we are focusing on interviews with subject matter experts, authors and though leaders in the Sales arena. A rapidly shifting landscape and uncertain economy is forcing sellers to raise the bar and weeding out some of the mediocre to low performers.
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In this podcast episode, Dan Sixsmith introduces Season 2 of his podcast, Sales King. He discusses the focus of this season on topics relevant to sellers, leaders, and entrepreneurs. Dan emphasizes the importance of staying updated on current events in sales and understanding buyer needs. He also mentions the inclusion of B2C topics and interviews with industry leaders. Dan encourages listeners to share the podcast and leave reviews. The main topic of the episode is the impact of generative AI on sales. Dan explains the different stages of AI integration and highlights its benefits in automating tasks, assisting decision-making, and crafting personalized value messaging. He also discusses the concept of "mentalism" and how AI can enhance salespeople's understanding of buyer behavior. Lastly, Dan discusses the challenges faced by sales professionals and how AI can help address them. He concludes by emphasizing the importance of maintaining momentum and confidence in sales. Timestamps: [00:03:28]*Topic: Introduction to Season 2 and the importance of keeping up with current events in sales. [00:04:49]*Topic: The impact of AI in sales and how it can be leveraged to improve sales performance. [00:09:32]*Topic: The different stages of AI integration in sales, from simple automation to autonomous selling. [00:15:12]*Topic: AI in Sales Discusses the use of AI in sales, including data scraping, solution design, and deal closing. [00:16:49]*Topic: Mentalism in Sales Explains the concept of mentalism in sales, which involves inferring unspoken beliefs and intentions to predict and influence buyer behavior. [00:18:16]* Topic: Leveraging AI in Sales Highlights the benefits of leveraging AI in sales, such as active listening, perspective taking, empathizing, and cognitive decoding.
U2 Rocked The Sphere in Vegas last night with an unbelievable concert experience. What can we learn from this as B2B Sellers: ✔️The Experience Economy is in full swing ✔️Customer Centricity Rules ✔️Embrace and Early Adopt Latest Technology ✔️Storytelling Works ✔️Foster Emotional Connections(Be Unforgettable) ✔️Think Beyond The Deal ✔️Immersion Is King
Dan Sixsmith outlines 13 steps to closing more deals and winning over senior executives. With senior executives participating in the buying process twice as much than before the pandemic, sellers need a C-Suite playbook to be able to impress and convince these executives that their solution is the best choice. Don't forget to subscribe to our podcast for more valuable insights and expert interviews. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review and share it with your colleagues in the B2B sales world. Until next time, happy selling!
Dan Sixsmith discusses the importance of understanding what CEOs care about in order to effectively engage with them. He emphasizes the need to focus on driving top-line growth, technology-related issues, the workforce, corporate financial products and services, customer satisfaction, environmental stability, cost, and sales. Dan highlights that environmental concerns, the workforce, and customer satisfaction are particularly significant to CEOs. He also emphasizes the importance of providing value to CEOs rather than simply delivering a sales pitch. In upcoming episodes, Dan promises insightful interviews with authors on value selling and financial selling. Understanding what CEOs care about and providing valuable insights and solutions is key to successful engagement.
Modern Sellers leverage these three critical traits in creating deeper connections with their prospects and customers. These traits are being leveraged by Sellers to effectively differentiate, deliver a top notch customer experience and win more business. Dan walks us through a new book by Ted McGrath, "Never Be Closing" and his fresh and unique approach to Sales which touches on some of this new philosophy. Admiration- do you know your prospect so well from your research and through your discovery that you actually admire what he or she has accomplished. After all, your prospects want to be respected and liked just as much as you do. Appreciation-As part of your connection development, do you demonstrate a true understanding of your prospect, an appreciation for what they are working towards? Their goals, visions, dreams? Similarly, are you appreciative of the opportunity to connect and become a valued member of their team-co creating value, co -creating a solution, a plan of action. Inspiration- Do you inspire prospects and customers to take action? Are they so moved by your understanding of their goals and desires, and your ability to get creative and collaborate, that they are driven to move forward and become a client?
Elite Sellers are gifted storytellers and that doesn't mean they spin a yarn about the good ole days, college exploits or last night's ballgame. They follow a well thought out approach to selling that connects emotionally with their prospects and customers. Dan walks us through the formula used by sales expert John Livesay.  A Few Highlights: Your happy client, the one whose problems you solved, is the hero of the story(not you). What do you solve? Paint a picture "And what this means to you is...." "Does that sound like the type of journey you'd like to go on with me?" Check in moments Creating Intrigue Tune in for groundbreaking tactics to telling compelling stories and making selling easier than it has ever been before 🎧
Dan switches it up and reads his popular new LinkedIn article which implores reps to stop complaining about a lack of leads and to take on greater accountability- in short, transforming themselves into modern sellers. This episode focuses on the following key areas: 1. Personal Brand/POV 2. Giving a sh*t/Empathy 3. Always Adding Value 4. Creating Your OWN Demand Don't miss this new spin on modern selling 🎙
A new Forbes article says it all: the game of Sales is in a constant state of flux with sales reps grappling with a myriad of new techniques, approaches and methodologies to follow. Ask questions, don't ask questions, the prospects already know what they want, the prospects need to be led, deliver insights, connect problems to your solution, differentiate, add value, be persistent, but not pushy...need I say more? The state of Selling today requires a close connection between sales leaders and reps. Dan boils it down(with the help of an Inside Sales article) to the 5 key traits needed for success in sales today.   🎙Listening Skills 🎙Resilience and Grit 🎙Empathy 🎙Preparation 🎙Motivated + Competitive 🎙Product Knowledge/Subject Matter Expertise Let's face it, Selling is in a state of disruption, which means that we've hit a fork in the road. Will you choose the path the leads to riches or the one that will take you to mediocrity and potential extinction?  
Stated over and over and over lately: Sales Reps need to be problem solvers. Easy right? Nope.  While 83% of Reps are proficient in asking discovery questions, the number plummets to only 33% of Reps that can actually connect their solution to solving the problem. Even more on issue, only 12% of Reps can create a sense of urgency in Buyers. Dan breaks down the key characteristics of effective problem solving in Sales today.  Furthermore, Reps need to be accomplished storytellers, say the experts. Well, that's great but what the bejesus does this mean? Dan walks us through a new article by the folks from the Challenger Sale for some guidance.  These are two pivotal skills for success in 2019, so grab your walkman and listen NOW, damnit 🏅
Are you capable of making millions as an elite seller? Are you a Wolf? Or a lamb? Dan puts a bow on 2018 with a killer program which details the motivation and tactics in step by step fashion of Jordan Belfort, the Wolf Of Wall Street's Straight Line Selling methodology. Don't miss the last episode of the season! 🤟
Dan is interviewed by Mari Anne Vanella on her program "Outstanding Outbound" and comes out swinging in a harsh criticism of sales leaders and later outlines the 3 steps required to maximize sales leaders' success in 2019: 1. Decide which skills are important and hire the right sales reps that demonstrate those skills 2. Learn how to COACH 3. Hold yourself accountable Grab your popcorn, get comfy and hit PLAY.
While 74% of the wins in B2B Sales go to those reps that engage early and helping to set the buying agenda(vs only 26% occur in the late stage RFP/bake off/feature fight), many sales execs struggle with asking the right questions and uncovering a reason for the prospect to move along the sales cycle. Thus only 17% of reps get invited to a second meeting. Dan takes a look at the reasons why people BUY, their motivations from a psychological perspective which is key to understanding what drives decision-making. There are dozens of reasons why a buyer will pull the trigger on a purchase. If, as a modern seller, you can engage and uncover one or more of these motivations, there is a great chance you are going to be in the drivers seat. But you need to be skilled to unlock this path to success. Tune your dial to the latest Sales Is King and learn how to CONVERT more meetings into $$$. 🎙
In How To Become A Rainmaker, by Jeffrey J. Fox, the author talks about the need to sell money rather than products or services. You are not selling medical devices, stocks, software, technology, services, etc. If you are doing it right, you are selling MONEY. What Fox is saying is to sell value instead of widgets. Dan, in this new episode, uses this as the launching point for this eye opening episode where he details the steps Sales Reps need to take to effectively sell value. Dan walks us through a new report by the RAIN group which states that nearly 60% of buyers find meetings with sales people useless. There are 5 key areas to where sales reps and sales leaders need to focus and improve to adequately grow in 2019: 1. Sell With Value 2. Train and Coach 3. Grow Existing Accounts 4. Improve Sales Management Effectiveness 5. Improve Time Management(e.g spend more time selling, man!) Turn on your CarPlay and listen now! 🚗
Sales is a pressure game. Hero one day, goat the next. What have you done for me lately. Quotas, disappearing prospects, price pressure, objections, bitching, lying, deadlines, wild goose chases. New research shows that only 50% of sales reps will make quota. The 10th year in a row this metric has taken a dive. Can you handle this? 50% of us can. What about the other half? Do you use pressure as fuel or do you fold up tent and go into your excuse routine? Dan discusses what sales reps need to do in looking back on 2018 and prepping for 2019. He also calls out sales leadership for a poor job in 2018. Those quota numbers are on them too. Another RANT to help us shift into high gear and crush our numbers! Can you take it?
Like-ability, which used to be at the top of the list of sales rep requirements in the pre digital era is now turning into one of the biggest weaknesses for sales reps today. A new study by the Objective Management Group confirms this. Those reps that find themselves needing to be liked by the prospect or customer and that work in a producer role in a consultative, longer selling cycle role are outperformed by a wide margin by their counterparts who do not care about being liked. Tune in as Dan takes us through each of the categories and the score comparisons, the consequences for reps, and what we reps need to do to avoid this common downfall and turn things around.
A buyer calls up and says he has thoroughly researched all of the solutions available and believes you and your company may be just what he is looking for. He just needs a demo and a quote and he'll be good to go. Good news? Not really. Only 26% of deals are won in this scenario. In this episode, Dan reveals that some buyers may think they know what they need but the sales rep's job is to take a step back and diagnose the situation much like a medical doctor would with a patient that comes in asking for a particular drug. One of the most difficult sales moves is to pull(gently) the buyer potentially out of his 'journey' and into your sales process. There is a multi point approach that is required when a sales exec encounters this type of buyer: 1. Find out where the buyer is in the process 2. Uncover his motivations and reasons for believing you can help him 3. Shift/pivot into Discovery/Assess mode uncovering motivations/issues 4. Validate that you can in fact help 5. Use phrases like, 'help me understand..." and "have you considered...?" 6. Value/Gap Sell based on your Discovery
Dan returns from a short break with a high impact episode designed to give the power back to salespeople. With so much conversation around the power of the Buyer and the challenges facing Sales, it is easy to cede control of leverage in our sales process. Dan outlines a multi step approach for taking control and grabbing back the leverage from the buyers including: -highlight what the problem costs them today. what happens if this remains an issue? -turn the tables on risk -deliver info they did not previously know -sell value -differentiate -sales is an exchange-they benefit(mindset) -mine your current and happy customers -other income streams -principle of least interest -antenna always up -make sure this is a deal/client you want Grab your victrola and listen 🤴
Making excuses is the fastest way to derail your sales career. Making excuses is essentially giving yourself a pass for poor performance. Dan returns to the studio to detail the dangers of what he calls "excuse selling" which focuses on all of the reasons why you can't close more business; why you missed quota; your bad marketing department, etc. Dan delivers a passionate plea to drop your excuse selling and delivers a multi point plan to do just this: 1. get your head right 2. know there will be obstacles 3. create your plan to overcome obstacles 4. become self aware 5. own the losses as well as the wins 6. learn from both the wins and losses 7. take 100% responsibility Get you headphones on now and listen 🎧
Less than 2 out of 10 of us ever get invited back to a prospect for a second meeting. That means we are fumbling the first meeting. Our first chance is going to be our last chance if we don't get the first meeting right. Dan delivers a first meeting blueprint which will ensure that we dramatically improve our chances of a prospect moving through the buying process with us and ultimately doing business with us. The following key steps are required for success in the first meeting: - RESEARCH/HOMEWORK - YOUR SOCIAL PROFILE - SME - AGENDA - EARN RIGHT TO ASK QUESTIONS/CREDIBILITY - CONVERSATION OR MONOLOGUE - UNEXPECTED VALUE - INSIGHTS - UNCOVER A NEED - MINIMIZE RISK OF MOVING FORWARD - STATUS QUO BUSTER - BUYING PROCESS - RAPPORT The bottom line is that having success in a first prospect meeting requires a ton of upfront work and then executing against a well orchestrated game plan. Grab your 🎧 now!
It's not sexy, but patience is rising to the top of the key traits of the successful modern seller. Dan returns with another high impact studio episode which highlights the changing buyer requirements and increased complexity of the selling process which are pushing sellers to evolve and adjust their approach. There are no short cuts or quick fixes in the modern sellers toolbox and patience with the process, looking at the bigger picture and playing the long game are major keys to success in this Next Wave of Digital Commerce.
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