Mastermind Army

Alec Ryncavage is a serial entrepreneur, elected public official, and cybersecurity expert -- at 19 years old! He's the founder and CEO of Cybiot - a revolutionary cybersecurity technology for small businesses that protects their retail storefront, office, guest network, employees, and customers while removing the friction of cost, time, and talent. We rallied the troops to solve sales problems together in his business. https://www.cybiot.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/alecryncavage/ Timestamps: 1:10 - Alec's EPIC origin story 3:38 - How did the skills you built early as a teenager tee you up for entrepreneurial success? 5:08 - How Alec founded Cybiot at 14, revamped it twice, and got VC-funded 5 years later 7:11 - How hackers use your thermostat to steal your credit card... 9:37 - Lessons learned pivoting B2C to B2B 10:38 - Cybiot's value proposition compared to Cisco 17:00 - Value proposition to MSP's 18:07 - Problem Solved : Low outbound activity 19:02 - "How do I get my new prospects to do a PAID pilot of my software?" 21:34 - Problem Solved: "Can't I just automate my sales outreach?" 22:22 - Problem Solved: "Is it true if I get a 'NO' I can never reach out again?" When they say "No", the sale begins. 25:45 - Mindset Shift: "No is meaningless, unless you know they REALLY mean it." 29:54 - How do you handle sales calls today? 31:23 - Use the "Up Front Contract" to move "Maybe's" to YES or NO. 35:32 - Alec's #1 Founder Takeaway from the Mastermind =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Jonathan Green joined MongoDB at 32 years old as a Lead Development Representative, the lowest role in Sales. He could've continued being an Account Executive or Sales Manager somewhere else, but he chose OPPORTUNITY over on-target earnings. 4 years, 8 role changes, and 10,000 hours of selling later... He's the Regional Director of Sales at MongoDB, a $21B tech company. In this conversation, we talk about how Jonathan cold-called his way into the best opportunity of his life, what hidden traits he looks for when hiring new sales reps, and how you can create a vision for your career in sales to succeed. Jonathan's hiring @ MongoDB! Hit him up on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanlgreen/ Timestamps: 2:01 - How did Jonathan make a career shift to sales? in his early 30's? 4:47 - How Jonathan cold called his future boss and landed a job offer as an LDR. 7:05 - What were the early lessons learned in your career? 8:19 - Complex technical sales is more like project management. 9:13 - INTERNAL relationships are everything for your career advancement in sales. 12:42 - Success in developing yourself starts with a clear vision. 14:43 - What advice would Jonathan give to himself at the beginning of his career? 14:57 - PICK THE OPPORTUNITY, NOT THE ON-TARGET EARNINGS!!! 17:45 - Picking the right career path boils down to asking hard questions. 19:25 - 8 role changes wasn't glorious; it taught me to stay level-headed. 20:09 - Look for sales candidates that overcame adversity; it's a solid indicator. 23:55 - Q&A begins 24:23 - I'm a new LDR doing qualification and prospecting. What would you suggest I keep in mind as I'm having discovery calls and trying to qualify leads for the sales team? 24:48 - BANT is great, but you need to ask the 3 WHY's: Why Us? Why Now? Why Anything? 27:02 - Look for GRIT, INTELLECTUAL CURIOSITY, and a TRACK-RECORD of being interesting for new sales candidates. 29:30 - Presentation skills are over-rated. You don't need great hair or a great slide-deck. You need to have genuine curiosity and genuine care for your customers + great work ethic. What you didn't get to witness in this conversation: How Jonathan helped another Sales leader develop a new compensation plan that eliminates tension between Account Executives who sell $10k deals up-front only to have Account Managers get commission for $100k up-sells within 6 months.. What cutting-edge prospecting, enablement, and scheduling tools we recommended to a new VP of Sales looking to hire his first SDR and build a sales org.. And much, much more! To listen to the full Mastermind session, go to www.mastermind.army and sign up to our email list.

Jed Mahrle is a beast. At just 17, he was hired on to be PandaDoc's youngest-ever LDR. He immediately crushed it, got promoted to SDR, and has been crushing it ever since. Jed's now booking 17-35% of ALL outbound meetings for the company. How? Relentless curiosity and experimentation. He scans Salesforce to see how other meetings are getting booked. He asks himself "What CTA's are working? What industries are AE's having success in closing? What language are they using to close them?". He documents his learnings, and immediately tests them out himself. Doing so gives him a new tool every week that makes him 1% more effective. Add up 20, 30, 40 weeks of experimentation, and he's slam-dunk crushing it - because he knows 40 different tools to book a meeting in almost any conceivable circumstance. If you're an SDR looking for new ways to smash your quota, you've got to check out Jed's newsletter: Practical Prospecting Every week, he shares what he's learning and experimenting WITH YOU! https://jed.substack.com/

Step 1: Define your Ideal Customer Profile

Dr. John Musser is the founder and CEO of Enhanced Sales Potential. He shared a TON of invaluable wisdom on so many questions. Just listen to the whole darn thing. It's worth it! 1:52 - What are the most common dysfunctions in Sales organizations? 5:55 - What are quick fixes can a Sales organization make to improve? 7:53 - How can we drive internal change as Salespeople? 9:43 - Forming internal alliances by treating other teams like internal customers. 11:47 - Watch out for VP's that do this... you might have to leave. 12:51 - What are "Green Flags" in sales leadership - traits that the best leaders embody? 16:17 - "I work at a startup. It's just me and the CEO! What can I do to set realistic expectations and get real results? 19:15 - "How do you give healthy accountability to your team?" 22:00 - "This is my first sales role! How do you think about the closing process.. Is 'Always Be Closing' valid?" 30:19 - Keep exploring the buyer's reluctance and resistance. There's a REASON they're not taking action. Push through the discomfort, and seek to truly understand. Provide an open space and listening ear for them. 32:02 - "How do you ask for a raise?" 35:40 - How the heck do you get past Google Assistants? (AI phone screeners) 41:45 - Management is telling us not to call inbound leads that unsubscribe to marketing emails. But they're still good leads! How can I convince my boss to let us call them? 46:00 - My prospect is a VP, but not the ultimate decision maker. The meeting went well, but when I followed up she replied "It was great to have you and we appreciate you taking the time to talk to our team" … what can I do to get the deal back on track? 55:00 - Don't turn prospects off by being needy and desperate. Remember you're on equal footing and equal status. Always "give to get", and ask them to invest in the partnership proportionate to you. 59:18 - Dr. John Musser parts with an extraordinarily inspiring message! ------------------ Connect with John on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-john-musser-he-him-his-10390/ ------------------ Join the Mastermind Army! www.mastermind.army

Ryan Zadrazil asks: How do I send a follow-up email to gain intel on the deal I sent a proposal for without annoying the customer and "just checking in"? I had a call on Monday with the customer where we went over 2 pricing options, and they asked for a contract! I feel comfortable emailing him, but I don't know what to say. 1:30 - Logan Westberg responds: Your next step depends on setting up expectations right correctly. On that first meeting, you need to identify where you're going to go from there, and propose the exact day you're going to follow-up. Don't let them leave it open-ended with them saving "We'll review and get back to you". Ask "What's a good time to follow-up? Next Wednesday at 2:00 PM?" - Set a clear next step. On your next meeting, you can recap what you've shared, and add another piece of content they'd find helpful. You can ask "What else should we discuss, or are you ready to move forward to the next stage?" 5:53 - When you don't really have anything new to add, you probably shouldn't send an email. "Typically, these are reviewed and filled by legal within a week or two. Is there any issue with the terms as it stands or anything I can help with?" 3:08 - Nick Rundlett responds: Never "just check in" on a sales prospect after you send a proposal. It reeks of sales breath, and immediately turns people off. Instead, serve them as "subject matter expert" of the buyer's journey. Proactively help them overcome internal challenges and roadblocks they haven't thought of. "At this phase, your IT/security team will likely want oversight before we can resolve the commercial aspects. They probably have a cloud vendor form we'll want to complete for you; can you share a copy?" 7:25 - Matthew Binder adds: Don't follow-up if you don't need to. Your sales process has 2 discoveries: identifying pain and solution, and identifying how to implement change in the company. Ask what metrics their security/IT/legal/procurement (whatever internal stakeholder) teams will be evaluating the proposal by. ------------------------------------------ Every Thursday at 8:00 PM EST, the Sales Mastermind meets to help each other LEARN SALES FAST. Want us to take a stab at solving YOUR problems? Join our community at https://www.mastermind.army ! ------------------------------------------ Connect with Ryan Zadrazil: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanzadrazil/ Connect with Logan Westberg: https://www.linkedin.com/in/loganwestberg/ Connect with Matthew Binder: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-binder-22946215a/ Connect with Nick Rundlett: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-rundlett/

When you're new to sales working at a startup, you've got a lot on your plate. You've got to handle cold calling, pitching, customer relationships, demos, prospecting, follow-ups, and your entire pipeline. In today's episode of the Sales Mastermind, we help Joel Bein get started off with his Sales career on the right foot working at https://www.crash.co as head of partnerships & content. Connect with Joel Bein for inspiration, wisdom, and personal growth: https://www.joelbein.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/joel-bein-9b8343110/ Timestamps: 0:00 - 3:20 Introduction & Joel Bein's role overview at Crash.co 5:40 Overview of Joel's beginner tech stack, and how to improve: Entry level CRM suggestions: Hubspot, Close, PipeDrive Email tracking via Gmail with chrome extensions Cheap software to run email cadences directly from Gmail 11:11 How Joel thinks about prospecting by finding clues that his prospect resonates with Crash's mission 17:19 Overcoming psychological resistance to following-up multiple times Logan Westberg offers a tactic: Make an up-front commitment to continue following-up if they don't hear back. That takes responsibility off you and shifts it to them. Brandy Drzymkowski offers encouragement: If you've done your research, you trust your research, and you genuinely believe you can help someone, people appreciate that energy and enthusiasm. 21:41 Reid Anderson asks: Who are you reaching out to at the colleges specifically? 24:02 Nick Rundlett concludes: Always pick up the phone and call when you can! That's how true relationships start, and that's how you make your money as a sales professional.

Topic #1: What do you do when a gatekeeper says "We'll get back to you if we're interested"? How do I reach the decision maker and move forward? 1:43 - Beginning Topic #2: How do I help newcomers land their dream jobs early in their career? 16:36 - Beginning Topic #3: What are the best practices for setting next steps early in the sales process? 35:14 - Beginning Hidden Topic #4: What are the psychological principles we can use in political dialogue to influence others? To get exclusive access to hidden off-the-record content, weekly mastermind recaps, and more, sign up for the Mastermind Army newsletter at: https://mastermind.army

Networking Events are an underrated tool for professional development. It's cliché, but only if you go into it with the wrong mindset. Jerrod Harlan managed to double his salary from $50k to $100k+ in 24 hours by having the right kind of conversation with the right kind of person. He shares actionable advice on how to do the same, regardless of your industry. Everything is sales! Even networking :) Timestamps: 1:01 - How Jerrod Harlan went from doing "BizOpp" copywriting (which he hated) making $50-60k/yr to making $100,000+writing in the health niche (which he loves!). 2:25 - The sheer power of going to live events in your industry. 3:37 - Don't be afraid to spend big money going to live events. 4:46 - Specific numbers and ROI on going to events. 7:16 - The importance of moving past small talk to deeper conversation. 10:47 - Question: How long did it take for you to build the relationship to the point where you were offered a job? 14:17 - How Jerrod found out about the event that got him a new job. Connect with Jerrod Harlan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jerrod-harlan-650643a7/ Copywriting Live Events: https://www.awai.com/live-events/ https://copychief.com/ = https://copychief.live/

In today's episode, we tore down cold cold calls from multiple SDR's. For more epic teardowns, sign up for our free email list at www.mastermind.army 0:00 - Intro 0:45 - Logan Westberg introduces his call. 1:51 - Logan Westberg's call begins! 2:16 - His pitch GOES FOR THE DEMO CLOSE?! 4:15 - We literally can't believe this guy. 8:36 - When they're engaged, just go for the close! 10:10 - He literally can't stop eating out of Logan's hand... 12:38 - Logan's founder INVENTED the prospect's objection... 13:11 - Logan goes for the final demo close.. and wins! 15:47 - Takeaways and key princicples When a prospect says "Send me more information", it's not a "no". They're just not sold that what you're offering is worth their time. You need to ask more qualifying questions that demonstrates industry expertise. Pacing your speech in a similar rhythm to your prospect is important. Don't have 9/10 energy if your prospect is at a 3/10. That will create friction in your interaction that benefits neither of you. Asking questions is what opens your prospect up. It demonstrates curiosity, competence, caring, and creativity. The quality of your questions dictates the emotional buy-in of the prospect. This cold call was a successful implementation of the Challenger Sale "Idea Drown" - Logan bombarded him with facts and information about his product and how it solves pain points for the prospect until he accepted a meeting. 18:04 - "The Bucket Technique" This technique suggests 2 or 3 pain points your product can solve really well, and gives the prospect the opportunity to identify with them. "The s I talk to typically fall into X bucket or Y bucket." Example: "The IT Directors I talk to typically fall into the bucket of being stuck in legacy hardware without the budget to refresh, or having too little visibility on what the oldest equipment in the data center even is." 19:02 - The "Negative Reverse Ask" This technique lowers the psychological barrier to entry for a prospect to agree to a meeting (or any next step). "Would it be ridiculous if we set up time to even look at it? Just to see once and for all if this is something that would even be relevant to you.."

Philip Lakin is the Founder and CEO of Propulsion Lab - they help new B2B SaaS companies quickly penetrate the Enterprise market to create big logos, case studies, and glowing testimonials. He also founded Quick Question - giving you instant video assistance from vetted experts when you're stuck in any software. Philip shared his story how he's managed on onboard tens of thousands of employees across multiple companies using completely automated systems involving no code whatsoever. This call has insider resources, implementation strategy, and more to help you eliminate tedious manual work out of your daily processes with No Code. Connect with Philip Lakin on LinkedIn or Twitter. https://www.linkedin.com/in/philip-lakin/ https://twitter.com/PhilipLakin Timestamps: 0:00 - Introduction, Phil's Background 1:31 - Defining #NoCode - what can it help you achieve? How Phil got into it 4:52 - What kind of problems can you solve with No Code? 5:30 - How Phil built Quick Question with No Code 7:22 - How Phil built Propulsion Lab with No Code QuickQuestion Tech Stack: 6:22 - Knowledge Management App Guru 6:31 - Calendar Scheduling App - Calendly 6:36 - 1-Click Instant Live Video App - Gruveo Propulsion Labs Tech Stack: 8:45 - Whitelabel Private Community Platrom - WarmIntro Where to Learn NoCode Skills: 13:51 - NoCode Community and Training - Makerpad 14:15 - NoCode Community and Training - NuCode Also Mentioned: Removed - 2-Way Real-Time Data Syncing - Piesync 16:13 - Organize Any Data However You Need - AirTable

In this throwback bonus clip, we talk about how to handle the legendary sales objection: "send me an email". - Ask for what specifically they want to see in the email, and use that hook to ask more qualifying questions. - Challenge them; take them to "no" - respond "Look, I don't want to waste your time if you're not interested. Do you have problem X?" - Acknowledge them; but ask a question anyway - "Huh.. okay - do you have problem X?