Podcasts about salespeople

 If you're ready to lead a team where accountability feels empowering, coaching fuels growth, and high standards drive results, this is your next step.Teach to Sell gives you the exact tools to lead with influence, guide clients and teams with clarity, and build a sales business that consistently produces No Broke Months. Whether you're scaling a team or refining your leadership skills, this book will show you how to create trust, alignment, and success through transformational leadership.Preorder Teach to Sell today and start mastering the leadership skills that move people—and results—forward.https://www.nobrokemonths.com/teach-to-sell-preorderWhat you'll learn in this episode:Why transactional and relational sales are not opposites—but work hand in handHow to scale beyond referrals with a system that consistently nurtures your networkWhy every relationship (except with your mama!) starts with a transactionThe truth about today's low inventory and what it means for your sales opportunitiesHow to use the 30-year mortgage as a long-term wealth-building tool for clientsWhy now is the time to build your foundation for future market shifts To find out more about Dan Rochon and the CPI Community, you can check these links:Website: No Broke MonthsPodcast: No Broke Months for Salespeople PodcastInstagram: @donrochonxFacebook: Dan RochonLinkedIn: Dan RochonTeach to Sell Preorder: Teach to Sell: Why Top Performers Never Sell – And What They Do Instead

Bill and Bryan explore a growing trend that's reshaping the sales landscape: the rise of "accidental salespeople." These are the technical advisors, project managers, engineers, and executives who don't have "salesperson" on their business cards but find themselves increasingly vital to the buyer-seller relationship.The guys discuss why these technically-minded professionals are becoming more important than ever, especially as traditional SDR/BDR approaches burn out prospects with low response rates. They argue that it's often easier to teach technical people the 20% of sales skills they need than to teach salespeople deep technical expertise.=================================Is it time to make a BOLD move in your business? If so, download our brand new book, "12 Bold Moves - Insider Secrets to Reinventing Yourself and Your Business." http://12boldmoves.comThe Insider program is open for enrollment. To check out our small learning group, go to http://advancedsellingpodcast.com/insiderIf you haven't already, join 14,000+ other sales professionals in our LinkedIn group at advancedsellingpodcast.com/linkedinStop being just another vendor - become THE expert they can't ignore. Join ASP Insider September 8th: http://advancedsellingpodcast.com/insider

Procurement is a black box for the majority of Solution Engineers and even Salespeople. Many salespeople treat Procurement as the enemy thinking that their only job is to beat them up on price, so today I have Mike Lander on. Mike is a former head of Procurement but is now helping Sales understand procurement better so they can close deals faster. shownotes: https://wethesalesengineers.com/show326

In this deeply personal and powerfully practical episode, I sit down with legacy alchemist Markus Neukom to unpick the roots of imposter syndrome and its impact on sales leaders and high performers. What starts as a conversation about doubt quickly becomes a masterclass in authenticity, identity, and learning how to lead from your core. We explore how imposter syndrome isn't the real problem – it's a symptom of something much deeper: an authenticity struggle. Markus shares his own experience of burnout and depression, and how facing it helped him rediscover his mission and reshape how he helps leaders thrive. If you've ever questioned your own worth, wondered why success doesn't feel like success, or felt like you're “winging it” at the next level — this episode is for you. How to overcome imposter syndrome by reclaiming your authentic self  Imposter syndrome is not the issue – It's a trick. The real challenge is an authenticity struggle – not knowing who you really are. You are not what others reflect – Most people define themselves based on external feedback, not internal truth. Flip that. Deconstruct your past wins – Look at moments of true success and unpack what really made them work. That's where your core value lives. Know thyself – Until you do, you're reacting to the world instead of being rooted in it. Self-awareness is the real superpower. Don't wait to live your legacy – You don't need to “leave” a legacy when you can live one every single day. Timeline summary [01:12] – “I don't teach anything I haven't experienced”: Markus on walking the talk [04:55] – The moment depression hit and what it revealed about imposter syndrome [07:10] – Why your self-confidence is built on a lie (and how to rebuild it for real) [10:13] – Crabs, fleas and elephants: the brutal psychology of human conditioning [14:46] – Identity that can't be taken from you: how to build confidence that lasts [19:05] – The question every leader must ask: Is this as good as it gets? [23:44] – A practical tool: how to reconstruct your own success stories to reconnect with your value [26:02] – “Imposter syndrome is a compliment” – what it really means when it shows up [27:26] – “If you can dream it, you can do it”: how to crash through the veil and operate in full freedom Links & resources

Selling has always been at the heart of business growth—but how we sell, who sells, and what customers expect has changed dramatically. On this episode of On the Brink with Andi Simon, I spoke with Tsahala David, CEO of Great Revenue, a sales consulting firm that helps B2B software companies grow smarter and faster. With an extraordinary background—MIT MBA, tech founder, and sales leadership roles at IBM and Salesforce—Tsahala has seen sales from every angle. Her story and insights reveal not just how to grow revenue but how to thrive in a new era of sales transformation From Startup Founder to Sales Leader Tshala's journey began in Israel, where she completed military service and studied psychology before shifting into computer science. After founding her own tech company in her twenties, she confronted an early challenge many entrepreneurs face: defining her role. At first reluctant to call herself “CEO,” she quickly realized that imposter syndrome had to be shed—because if you're running the business, you are the CEO That early startup experience gave her first-hand knowledge of the uphill battle founders face in selling products, building teams, and convincing investors. Seeking more tools, she went to MIT for her MBA, then built a 20-year career in sales at global giants like IBM and Salesforce, closing multi-million-dollar deals with clients like Wells Fargo and Cisco. At Salesforce, she learned what she calls the “power of sparkle”—the way a company can attract talent, customers, and attention by combining strategy with personality and brand charisma. These lessons now fuel her work at Great Revenue, where she helps companies align their sales strategies with today's market realities. Common Mistakes in Startup Sales One of Tsahala's most valuable contributions is diagnosing the mistakes founders and sales leaders make at different growth stages. Early-stage startups often believe that signing a few reseller “partners” means they have a sales team. But, as Tshala warns, relying on partners who only earn commission when they sell means sales rarely happen. The real cost isn't money—it's lost time, and in startups, six months of delay can kill your competitive advantage Later-stage companies often get compensation plans wrong. She shared a case where salespeople were paid less for online orders than phone orders. Predictably, reps discouraged online buying and insisted clients call them—hurting profitability and wasting resources. The lesson? Follow the money. Salespeople respond to incentives, so design compensation plans with the outcomes you want Sales management is another weak spot. Too often, managers don't require reps to prepare for pipeline meetings. Tshala recommends using simple forms that force reps to answer key questions—deal size, decision makers, last contact, close date. This not only helps managers track progress but also helps sellers spot gaps in their deals The Role of AI in Sales Naturally, our conversation turned to AI in sales. Tsahala sees tools like ChatGPT as game-changers for research and preparation. Instead of spending hours digging through reports, salespeople can instantly access a company's strategy, leadership, and metrics. But there's a catch: weak sellers often use AI as a crutch, staying at a generic level. Strong sellers know to go deeper, asking sharper questions and tailoring insights to the customer's specific needs. AI, Tshala argues, empowers strong sellers but won't rescue weak ones The future belongs to those who combine technology with human curiosity, empathy, and problem-solving. Shifts in Buyer Behavior Another theme we explored was the dramatic shift in how buyers engage with sellers. Older generations may remember sitting across the table until a contract was signed. But today's buyers often don't work in offices, don't answer phones, and rely on digital channels to research solutions. Events are no longer centralized; instead, buyers connect through fragmented online communities—from LinkedIn groups to Discord servers. That means marketing now owns much of the top of the funnel, while sales must focus on converting leads and building trust. Sellers today must immerse themselves in buyers' digital worlds, positioning themselves not just as vendors but as collaborators in problem-solving Key Takeaways for Sales Leaders As we wrapped up our conversation, Tsahala emphasized that sales is a profession, not a side hustle. Everyone thinks they know how to sell—after all, we've all sold something, even if just a used car or lemonade stand. But true sales success requires expertise, structure, and strategy. Here are her top three lessons for sales leaders and entrepreneurs: Don't go it alone. Sales consulting isn't optional—it's an investment in avoiding costly mistakes. Design incentives wisely. Compensation plans drive behavior. Align them with your business goals. Embrace change. Buyer behavior, sales roles, and technology are evolving. Those who adapt will thrive Why This Matters Now We are living through a great transformation in sales. Marketing and sales are no longer siloed; collaboration is essential. AI accelerates preparation but cannot replace human insight. And customer expectations continue to evolve. For CEOs, founders, and sales leaders, Tsahala David's message is clear: if you want revenue growth, you must rethink your approach to sales. Invest in your people, design smart processes, and leverage technology thoughtfully. Sales isn't just about closing deals anymore—it's about creating value, building trust, and collaborating with buyers in ways that meet them where they are. Watch our interview on YouTube Listen + Subscribe: Available wherever you get your podcasts—Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, YouTube, and more. If you enjoyed this episode, leave a review and share with someone navigating their own leadership journey. Reach out and contact us if you want to see how a little anthropology can help your business grow.  Let's Talk! From Observation to Innovation, Andi Simon, PhD CEO | Corporate Anthropologist | Author Simonassociates.net Info@simonassociates.net @simonandi LinkedIn

In this episode of "The People Not Titles Podcast," host Steve Kaempf welcomes back Alan Stern, founder of Persona Marketing, who shares his journey from DJ and nightclub promoter to successful car salesman and entrepreneur. Alan discusses overcoming early struggles, the value of specialized knowledge and personal branding, and emphasizes continuous learning, adapting to new technologies like AI, and following your passions for a fulfilling career.Podcast Introduction (00:00:00)Alan Stern's Early Journey: DJ to Car Sales (00:00:23)First DJ Gig and Realization About Skills (00:01:37)Struggles in Car Sales and Learning from Failure (00:03:14)Specializing in Corvettes: The Power of Niche Knowledge (00:05:23)Continuous Learning and the Value of Specialized Knowledge (00:07:09)Book Recommendations for Salespeople (00:08:08)Transition to Luxury Sales and Differentiation (00:08:42)Marketing, Lead Generation, and Building Connections (00:10:21)Self-Improvement and Personal Branding (00:12:30)Overcoming Challenges: ADHD and Environment (00:17:00)Introversion as a Strength in Sales and Networking (00:19:08)Networking Strategies for Introverts (00:20:31)Taking the Leap: Becoming a Full-Time Entrepreneur (00:23:24)Turning Passion and Skills into a Business (00:26:23)Narrowing Focus: The Power of Niches (00:27:10)The HEAT Method for Personal Branding (00:28:20)Practical Marketing Tips for Agents (00:28:56)Leveraging AI and ChatGPT for Marketing (00:33:47)Persona Marketing: Courses, Microsites, and Tools (00:37:21)Defining and Controlling Your Personal Brand (00:40:23)Full episodes available at www.peoplenottitles.comPeople, Not Titles podcast is hosted by Steve Kaempf and is dedicated to lifting up professionals in the real estate and business community. Our inspiration is to highlight success principles of our colleagues.Our Success Series covers principles of success to help your thrive!www.peoplenottitles.comIG - https://www.instagram.com/peoplenotti...FB - https://www.facebook.com/peoplenottitlesTwitter - https://twitter.com/sjkaempfSpotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/1uu5kTv...

The Smallest Differences That Expert Salespeople Have Mastered

Why mastering client conversations in Japan defines long-term sales success When salespeople meet new clients, the first few minutes set the tone for everything that follows. This “transition zone” between pleasantries and serious discussion is where trust is either built—or broken. Let's explore how professionals in Japan and globally can own this crucial phase. Why is the sales transition zone so critical? The sales transition zone is the moment when the buyer and seller move from small talk into business. For the client, the first question is usually, “How much will this cost me?”. For the salesperson, the focus is on proving value beyond price. Unless this gap is bridged quickly, the conversation can collapse into a price war. In Japan, where relationship-building and long-term trust are prized, handling this transition with sensitivity is even more critical than in the US or Europe. Western executives may prefer blunt efficiency—“Let's get straight to business”—but Japanese buyers expect context, respect, and subtlety. Mini-Summary: The transition zone is where price-driven client expectations collide with value-focused sales strategy. Mastering it determines whether the meeting builds trust or breaks down. How should salespeople frame the meeting agenda? After greetings, professionals should set a clear agenda that shows respect for the client's time. For example: “I appreciate Suzuki-san introducing us. She felt there may be mutual benefit, so today I'd like to explore how our solutions may support your business. I also want to better understand your needs and see if there's a fit. Are there other items you'd like to cover?” This framing balances structure with flexibility. It prevents the client from feeling “sold to” while subtly keeping control of the meeting. Across industries—from pharmaceuticals to IT services—Japanese clients respond positively when they feel their input is requested early. Mini-Summary: Outlining a flexible agenda signals professionalism and respect, while keeping the salesperson in control of the meeting flow. How can unique selling propositions (USPs) be introduced naturally? Clients don't want a corporate brochure; they want proof of relevance. Introduce USPs in a conversational way: “We are global soft-skills training experts, here since 1963, specialising in sales training in Japan.” This single sentence embeds four powerful points: global scope, world best practice, 60 years of Japanese experience, and local market adaptation. Companies like Toyota, Rakuten, and Fujitsu look for vendors who demonstrate both international credibility and deep domestic roots. Mini-Summary: Well-crafted introductions should deliver layered USPs that combine global credibility, local experience, and proven relevance. How can salespeople prove credibility with results? Proof must be concrete, relevant, and measurable. For example: “Recently we trained a company in your industry. Salesperson confidence rose 40%, and revenues increased 18% within six months.” This approach works across sectors—manufacturing, finance, and consumer goods—because executives trust comparative results. But credibility evaporates if numbers are exaggerated. In Japan, where long-term relationships matter, any suspicion of dishonesty ends future business. Mini-Summary: Share specific, industry-relevant metrics to prove impact. Honesty is non-negotiable if you want repeat business in Japan. How do you smoothly shift to client questioning? Once credibility is established, invite permission to ask questions: “I don't know if we could achieve the same results for you, but may I ask a few questions to better understand your situation?” This low-pressure approach keeps the salesperson in control while respecting the client's space. It allows for uncovering challenges—talent gaps, process inefficiencies, competitive threats—without triggering defensiveness. Japanese executives particularly value humility paired with competence. Mini-Summary: The best transition uses respectful permission to shift into diagnostic questioning, creating trust and revealing real client needs. What if you discover you can't help the client? Not every prospect is a fit. Forcing a solution damages reputation. Instead, tell the client: “This may not be the right match.” This honesty preserves brand integrity. In Japan's tight-knit business networks, reputation compounds: one display of integrity can open doors elsewhere. Global comparisons support this: US firms often admire aggressiveness in sales, but in Japan, restraint builds credibility. Long-term success comes not from a single deal, but from a portfolio of reorders, referrals, and reputation. Mini-Summary: Walking away respectfully when there is no fit strengthens credibility and ensures long-term opportunities in Japan's relationship-driven market. Conclusion Owning the sales transition zone means balancing confidence with humility, structure with flexibility, and proof with empathy. Salespeople who master this moment avoid premature price talk, build credibility through structured storytelling, and earn the right to ask deeper questions. Ultimately, success is not about one transaction but about sustaining long-term partnerships in Japan's trust-based business culture. About the Author Dr. Greg Story, Ph.D. in Japanese Decision-Making, is President of Dale Carnegie Tokyo Training and Adjunct Professor at Griffith University. He is a two-time winner of the Dale Carnegie “One Carnegie Award” (2018, 2021) and recipient of the Griffith University Business School Outstanding Alumnus Award (2012). As a Dale Carnegie Master Trainer, Greg is certified to deliver globally across all leadership, communication, sales, and presentation programs, including Leadership Training for Results. He has written several books, including three best-sellers — Japan Business Mastery, Japan Sales Mastery, and Japan Presentations Mastery — along with Japan Leadership Mastery and How to Stop Wasting Money on Training. His works have also been translated into Japanese, including Za Eigyō (ザ営業), Purezen no Tatsujin (プレゼンの達人), Torēningu de Okane o Muda ni Suru no wa Yamemashō (トレーニングでお金を無駄にするのはやめましょう), and Gendaiban “Hito o Ugokasu” Rīdā (現代版「人を動かす」リーダー). In addition to his books, Greg publishes daily blogs on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, offering practical insights on leadership, communication, and Japanese business culture. He is also the host of six weekly podcasts, including The Leadership Japan Series, The Sales Japan Series, The Presentations Japan Series, Japan Business Mastery, and Japan's Top Business Interviews. On YouTube, he produces three weekly shows — The Cutting Edge Japan Business Show, Japan Business Mastery, and Japan's Top Business Interviews — which have become leading resources for executives seeking strategies for success in Japan.

In this episode of Leadership that Sells, I'm joined by Philip Atkinson — team coach, agile expert, and author of Be Wise: 12 Leadership Lessons from a Busy Beehive. Philip brings decades of global commercial leadership experience and distils it into practical, real-world guidance for sales leaders who want to lead smarter, not just harder. We dig into the surprising (and powerful) leadership lessons we can learn from bees — from how they make decisions, to how they structure teams, to how they know when to let go. If you've ever felt like your team is buzzing with activity but going nowhere, this episode is for you. We talk coaching, team dynamics, seasons of performance, and how to create true alignment in chaotic, high-pressure environments. How to lead like a beehive: collaboration, clarity and cycles Ask better questions and listen more – Great coaching starts with curiosity, not control. Shift from competition to collaboration – Sales teams should compete outside, not inside. Internal competition kills culture. Recognise roles evolve – Like bees, great teams change roles as they grow. Salespeople need progression, not just promotion. Know the season – Performance has cycles. Growth, rest and renewal all matter. Don't expect summer results in winter. Decide like a hive – Gather intel, build consensus, commit. Don't waste time on the wrong decisions with the wrong people. Communicate clearly – Bees deliver messages in the dark, in the noise. You have no excuse. Say less, mean more. Timeline summary [02:03] – Why Philip brought 12 guest experts into his book (and why leaders shouldn't go it alone) [03:05] – The “aha” moment that made beekeeping a leadership metaphor [05:25] – The first thing every sales leader should do? Learn to coach by asking better questions [06:13] – Why most sales teams aren't really teams — and what to do about it [09:30] – What bees teach us about career development and role evolution [14:32] – Understanding energy cycles: why you need to plan for endings, not just beginnings [17:38] – The “murder of the drones” – a dramatic lesson in adapting your skills before you're obsolete [19:22] – How bees make life-or-death decisions as a team (and how your team can do the same) [24:00] – The biggest benefit of collaboration? Thinking harder before doing more [25:15] – What the hive would say if it could talk: communicate clearly, act consciously Links & resources

Andy Elliott breaks down the biggest reason salespeople lose deals and how to fix it with 10 powerful strategies that turn you into a LISTENING MACHINE! Most reps pitch too soon, talk too much, and never truly understand the customer. Andy shows you how to flip that script.Learn how to:

Most salespeople think they're crushing it… but they're actually making the same 20 deadly mistakes that are killing their deals. In this video, Andy Elliott breaks down what 90% of salespeople are doing wrong and how YOU can fix it fast.From talking too much… to skipping follow-up… to selling on price instead of VALUE — Andy exposes the habits that are costing you sales and leaving money on the table.✅ Not asking enough questions✅ Failing to build emotional connection✅ Avoiding role-play and training✅ Ignoring the customer's timeline✅ Selling features instead of solutions✅ Feeling rejection and losing momentum✅ Not tracking your numbers or building a real pipeline✅ Thinking you're too good to practice

WAKE UP!!!If you're stuck in mediocrity, tired of underperforming, or sick of being average in sales and in life… this 20-minute message from Andy Elliott will ignite your fire and force you to take ownership.Andy reveals the TOP 20 Real Reasons why MOST Salespeople FAIL. Not because they're untalented, but because they don't do what it takes. No discipline. No daily training. No belief. No accountability. No obsession.If that hits you… GOOD. Now let's fix it.

I know you are concerned with sales.  It's easy to determine how well your people are selling to your customers.  But your customers are more concerned with how well they are being served by your salespeople.           Why is that important?  Because you are in it for the long run.  In one sense, your business is not really a sales business, it's a relationship-building business. In this podcast, I drill down into one aspect of that:  Serving the customer.        Dave Kahle's goal is to provide sales leaders and small businesspeople with practical actionable ideas that can make an immediate impact on your sales performance.          Dave is a B2B sales expert, and a Christian Business thought leader.  He has authored 13 books, presented in 47 states and 11 countries and worked with over 500 sales organizations.  In these ten-minute podcasts, his unique blend of out-of-the-box thinking and practical insights will challenge and enable you to sell better, lead better and live better.        Subscribe to these ten-minute helpings of out-of-the-box inspiration, education and motivation. Dave's Substack page  Subscribe to Dave's Newsletters Check out the website

At the age of sixteen, I was wandering around the streets of a lower working class area in the suburbs of Brisbane, working my first job, trying to sell expensive Encyclopedia Britannica to the punters who lived there.  Despite my callow youth, I had a tremendous gift as a salesman.  I could tell by looking at the house from the outside whether they were interested or not in buying Encyclopedia Britannica and so could determine whether I should knock on their door or not.  I was saying “no” for the client.  Obviously, I had no clue what I was doing. The only training we received was to memorise, word for word, a twenty five minute pitch for the buyer, synchronised with showing the flash looking pages inside the encyclopedia.  I am sure though there are many much older and wiser salespeople out there, still making that fundamental error I was making.  Eventually, I discovered I didn't have any x-ray vision gift. I was just an idiot.  There will be plenty of opportunity for the buyer to say “no”, so we shouldn't be joining in to support them on that quest. Even before the call, we will have anticipated some potential pushback and we are fully armed and ready to go when it emerges.  I was reminded of this x-ray vision into the buyer problem recently.  The top salesperson of an organisation I know, said “no” for the buyer.  He was an intermediary for me with the client and didn't like one of the conditions of the sale I was proposing.  This was an important source of his commissions for him and they had been a big buyer over a number of years.  He had them wrapped up in cotton wool and was extremely nervous about maintaining the relationship. I have learnt the hard way and so I don't believe in saying “no” for the buyer, so I pushed it.  I rejected his rejection and told him to put my request to the client.  We got into an elongated email wrangle over this, but not only am I dim most of the time, I am also supremely stubborn, especially when it comes to sales.  Stubborn and dim is a lethal combination. He didn't like it at all, but he held his nose and put my proposition to the client. Guess what? They went for it.  As we say in Japan, “even the monkeys fall from the trees” and even Mr. Number One sales guy can get it wrong.  I refrained from mentioning that Japanese proverb of course or being a smarty pants and just thanked him for his cooperation. One common case of saying “no” for the client is when the prices are raised for the product or service.  Salespeople invariably will start whinging to the boss, that the client will never agree to buy at that higher price.  Effectively, they are saying “no” for the buyers.  There are many ways to dilute the pain of raising the price.  The terms of payment can be elongated.  The guarantees and warranties can be expanded. The rise can be counterbalanced by discounts for volume purchases.  The proposition can be ramped up on the value equation scale.  Additional incentives can be packed together with the original offer to justify the price rise.  Services can be thrown into the product purchase process to make it more palatable and vice versa. Interestingly, salespeople complaining about the price increase, spend zero time thinking about how to sell the value increase to the client. Price increases are one thing, but defending existing prices against discounting is another case of having to say “no” to the customer. In Japan, salespeople are very weak in front of the customer.  The buyer here isn't King but GOD and GOD doesn't brook hearing “no” from salespeople.  The constant complaint from our clients is that their firm's salespeople identify too closely with the client and don't defend the company's policies well enough, including pricing.  I had the same problem with one of my salespeople.  He was happy to discount and take a lower commission, even though the firm made very little profit.  He got his base salary and some commission, so he was happy.  I wasn't so happy. I get it - the logic is simple.  The salesperson heavily invests in the relationship with the buyer and works hard to defend that relationship, even against their own employer.  This sounds crazy, but they know the value of an existing customer, compared to the pain and effort to find a new buyer. This is where the value element has to be worked on more, so that salespeople can justify the existing pricing, without resorting to discounts to get the business.  The basic sales skills of the team have to be improved, especially their communication skills.  This don't say “no” for the client arena, shows the real capabilities of the salesperson.  Sadly, there is a major population decline underway here and salespeople are in increasingly short supply.  The quality of the people we can hire isn't going to improve, so our sales training mechanisms and our sales leadership mechanisms, become even more important than any time in the past.  Are you ready for this and are your people ready to say “yes” for the buyer?

I know you are concerned with sales.  It's easy to determine how well your people are selling to your customers.  But your customers are more concerned with how well they are being served by your salespeople.           Why is that important?  Because you are in it for the long run.  In one sense, your business is not really a sales business, it's a relationship-building business. In this podcast, I drill down into one aspect of that:  Serving the customer.        Dave Kahle's goal is to provide sales leaders and small businesspeople with practical actionable ideas that can make an immediate impact on your sales performance.          Dave is a B2B sales expert, and a Christian Business thought leader.  He has authored 13 books, presented in 47 states and 11 countries and worked with over 500 sales organizations.  In these ten-minute podcasts, his unique blend of out-of-the-box thinking and practical insights will challenge and enable you to sell better, lead better and live better.        Subscribe to these ten-minute helpings of out-of-the-box inspiration, education and motivation. Dave's Substack page  Subscribe to Dave's Newsletters Check out the website

In this episode, Ray Higdon discusses how to effectively recruit and onboard top salespeople for your business. He emphasizes the importance of marketing and advertising content that provides value and authenticity, and advises against hype and superficial promises. Ray also highlights the significance of maintaining a confident posture in conversations with potential recruits, having a robust pipeline of prospects, and a well-structured onboarding process. He shares personal anecdotes and insights on overcoming limiting beliefs to enhance one's recruitment and onboarding strategies. Listeners are encouraged to learn more about his 'Four P Method' for improving these areas. ——

Our internal voice can often sabotage our confidence and success. Join Mark Hunter for a mindset shift! Discover how creating a list of 100 personal achievements can serve as a powerful reminder of your past accomplishments. Mark also shares on the importance of celebrating the success of others; this episode promises to reshape how you view challenges and triumphs alike. This week, take small but meaningful steps towards your own success and create a supportive community that thrives on mutual achievement.

Check out the TIES Sales Showdown at www.tx.ag/TIESVisit The Sales Lab at https://thesaleslab.org and check out all our guests' recommended readings at https://thesaleslab.org/reading-listTo listen to The Sales Lab Podcast on your favorite apps, visit https://thesaleslab.simplecast.com/ and select your preferred method of listening.Connect with us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/saleslabpodcastConnect with us on Linkedin at https://www.linkedin.com/company/thesaleslabSubscribe to The Sales Lab channel on YouTube at  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCp703YWbD3-KO73NXUTBI-Q 

An interview with LinkedIn profiler Tony K Silver The truth about what doesn't work—and how to fix it fast Common mistakes, missed opportunities, and strategies that work Is your LinkedIn profile costing you sales? Find out what our expert says Practical advice to turn your LinkedIn presence from ignored to irresistible From spammy to strategic: How real sales pros win business on LinkedIn

This is from our video on Will AI Replace Salespeople. You can watch the video here https://youtu.be/pWsGtUN8Cbg?si=ZCaSMeb1NAllFGVH

The zero accountability salesperson is at a big disadvantage. Selling is all about being able to produce. And the only way you're able to produce is if whoever is doing the selling has some level of accountability, whether it's to themselves or to a sales manager, or to your spouse, whoever it is, right? If you get home from work, and you didn't sell anything as a salesperson, you might get in more trouble at home than you got in at work. So accountability is always big. David: Hi, and welcome back. In today's episode, co-host Kevin Rosenquist and I discuss the zero accountability sales person. Welcome back, Kevin. Kevin: Good to see you. Zero accountability salesperson. What does that look like in a sales team? David: Salesperson? Salespeople? It's not pretty, man. It is not pretty. And it's nothing that anyone deliberately sets out to do. In most sales organizations, the problem is that the company itself does not have the systems and processes in place to allow their salespeople to become more accountable to anything. I mean, a lot of times salespeople are held accountable for sales. Are you hitting your numbers? Are you generating the sales that you need to generate? But if they're not tracking other things, then they really have no idea what it is that's going to get them to the numbers that they really need to reach. Kevin: So how does that lack of accountability affect the overall sales performance of the team? David: Well, it's not good because it's just erratic. It's all over the place. You'll have some salespeople who are very good and very consistent because that's the way they're wired, and you'll have other salespeople who are all over the place. And the reason I thought this was a good topic to have, is that I was having a conversation with someone earlier today, someone who's considering joining our Total Market Domination program, and she was talking about the fact that she's got a number of salespeople in her organization, and she doesn't feel like they're all sort of on the same page. They're not doing the same things. And when I started talking to her and asking her about what sort of accountability was in place, she was sad to admit that there wasn't a whole lot of it. And what happens when you're in this situation, as a business owner or as a sales manager, if you find that you're having conversations with your salespeople and you're saying to them, so what's going on? How's everything going? And they say, oh yeah, it's going great. Having a lot of great conversations. Got a bunch of people on the fence or people I'm working, got a lot of leads I'm working and everything like that. That tells you nothing, right? It tells you nothing. It's feel good talk, but it's wasted words. Because until you are able to provide any sort of metrics, any sort of numbers, any sort of accountability that turns those comments into something real, you just don't have anything that you can even help them with. Kevin: I think a lot of times salespeople have their methods. They love their methods. That's their tried and true, understandably so. Is it hard to get sales teams on the same page when it comes to accountability when people want to kind of do it their own way? David: Well, it certainly can be, and if you've got a sales person who is a high performer, that person may just want to do it their own way, and they might not be open to a whole lot of conversation or a whole lot of interpretation Kevin: And you might not worry about it. David: Exactly. And that's very true. And I'm not saying that you should have different standards for different people in the organization. I'm just talking about what actually happens in the world. And so when you've got salespeople who are very good at what they do, and they don't need to provide you with some of the additional data that would allow you to help them figure out where things might be going wrong,

Most salespeople think their role is to complete a bunch of semi-random activities to “hopefully” get a deal over the line. They set targets to complete a specific number of cold calls, business cases, sent proposals, discovery calls… And this is not how high performing salespeople operate. Having our focus spread across lots of non-connected […] The post How to Get Ahead of 99% of Salespeople appeared first on Salesman.com.

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training Are you stuck chasing new clients while ignoring the goldmine in your past customer list? Does your agency feast on projects but starve for predictable revenue? Today's featured guest knows what it's like to hit a growth ceiling and being tired of the one-and-done client hamster wheel. He shares how he pivoted his agency after becoming a HubSpot partner, why he turned to project-based work after customer habits changed following the pandemic, and how he got out of the dreaded “no man's land”. Eric Baum is the CEO and founder of Bluleadz, a HubSpot Onboarding and Implementation Agency dedicated to transforming the way companies market, sell, and service their customers through the power of the HubSpot platform. He'll discuss his cash flow challenges, pricing mistakes that almost tanked the business, and how EOS helped him escape “no man's land.” If you're stuck in the fulfillment hamster wheel or scaling past $5M feels like pushing a boulder uphill... listen up. In this episode, we'll discuss: Reinventing his agency as a HubSpot partner. The real scaling struggle: cash flow. Why project-based doesn't mean profitless. Strategic partnerships are the future. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources E2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design, and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency and get 10% off for the first three months of service. Accidental Founder, Intentional CEO Back in the Yellow Pages era, Eric was running two service-based franchises and needed a better way to market them. He brought marketing in-house for PPC, SEO, web dev, and that hire didn't just turn things around. It turned into a new business. Fast-forward a few months, and other franchise owners across the country started asking for help. Eric spun that in-house team into an agency, and had 50 clients out of the gate. As many owners before have admitted to, Eric started out charging way too low—$250 to $500/month. “I don't know how I didn't go broke right out of the gate,” he laughs. And if you've ever undercharged in the early days, you'll feel that one deep in your soul. Reinventing the Agency (and Himself) Around HubSpot The turning point came when Eric discovered HubSpot and pivoted Bluleadz to become a certified partner. That's when the “real” agency began, as he started to study the industry and figure out what he had to do to be profitable, take care of his team, and do it without necessarily doing all the sales work all the time. From there, Eric leaned into strategy, profitability, and systems. He stopped trying to be the everything guy and started building an agency that didn't need him in the trenches every day. Fifteen years later, his agency isn't just thriving. It's structured, profitable, and on track to hit 8 figures. Life in “No Man's Land” – The $1M to $5M Plateau After fifteen years in the industry and getting closer to the eight-figure mark, one of the things that most surprised Eric was getting stuck in the ugly middle: the zone between $1M and $5M where a lot of agency dreams go to die. Many call it “no man's land,” and if you've been there, you know the pain. “It was up, down, up, down,” he says. “I'd grow, then lose key employees. Revenue would spike, then tank. I kept asking, ‘What am I doing wrong?'” The answer: a lack of structure. So about nine years ago, Eric implemented EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System). That gave his agency the foundation it needed—vision, accountability, and a cadence to scale. It didn't fix everything overnight, but it got the business out of reaction mode and into growth mode. The Real Scaling Struggle: Cash Flow Even with all that success, Eric's biggest constraint today isn't clients or talent. It's cash. In the agency world, sometimes you can grow so fast that you can actually outpace your ability to fund it. As Eric explains, “Receivables stack up. You can't hire, build, or invest without the cash reserves in place to hit the down terms.” For instance, just this year his agency was down 20% compared to last year because of all the uncertainty for businesses. Sound familiar? So far, Eric's solution has been airtight payment terms. They moved away from waiting on client deliverables and toward milestone-based billing. They typically charge: 50% upfront 25% after month one 25% at month two or fixed date Not based on deliverables. Based on time. Why? Because waiting on clients kills momentum (and your margin). “We used to wait months to get that final 50%. Now we're often 100% paid before a project is even done.” Moral of the story? Set clear terms and stop letting clients hold your agency hostage. Project-Based Doesn't Mean Profitless If You Structure It Right Five years ago, 85% of Bluleadz's revenue came from retainers. Then COVID hit. Buying behavior shifted fast. Clients wanted results without long-term commitments. So Eric pivoted hard into project work—today, 80–85% of their revenue comes from one-off HubSpot onboarding and implementation projects. That means 50–75 new customers per month, each on 30 to 90-day timelines. The lesson: project-based doesn't have to mean chaos - if you systemize delivery and payment. However, Eric does admit he and his team had been failing to recapture clients for a second or third project. “We were just focused on getting new clients through the door.” Instead of nurturing clients post-delivery, they handed off the project and moved on. Meanwhile, past clients drifted—only to come back a year or two later in total chaos saying, “We lost our HubSpot guy. Can you help?” The opportunity cost was massive. They are currently working on recapturing these relationships. By reselling past clients, his agency could double or triple revenue in a year. The Triple-Team Model: Sales, CSM, Implementation In their efforts to start creating more lifetime value for customers, Eric's agency introduced Customer Success Managers (CSMs)—not just to check in, but to hunt for value. CSMs dig into each client's needs post-project, surface upsell or cross-sell opportunities, and feed them back to the sales team. Now they're farming the base, increasing LTV, and stacking wins without chasing cold leads. This third new role adds a new layer to his team's structure, which he now breaks down as: Salespeople close net-new deals and join key milestone calls.           Implementation Specialists own delivery and are the client's main point of contact. CSMs sit above delivery, watching for success gaps, retention issues, and upsell opportunities. “Salespeople are hunters, not farmers. Trying to make them farm didn't work. So we changed the model.” This layered structure gives clients clarity, keeps teams focused, and ensures no growth opportunity slips through the cracks. Strategic Partnerships Are the Future Another key reason Bluleadz is scaling so quickly is partnerships. They're one of HubSpot's top onboarding partners, and at one point this partnership drove most of his agency's net new leads. More recently, however, as they start to expand their efforts to engage past clients, only 40% of their leads come from HubSpot, while 30% comes from existing customers, and another 30% from their inbound marketing efforts, other strategic partners, and referrals. This makes for a more balanced pipeline: “Inbound, outbound, and strategic partnerships”. Those are the three pillars in the Playbook. You've got ‘em dialed in. As for Eric, he's all in on strategic partnerships, which he considers to be the way of the future. The One Thing Eric Would Do Differently If he could go back and give his younger self advice on agency ownership, Eric would say “Let go faster.” He held on too long to sales, finance, client services… all of it. And every time he finally let go, the agency grew again. Today, Eric has zero departmental responsibilities. His job is vision, strategy, and leadership—and it's paying off. Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset? Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.

I welcome back renowned persuasion expert and bestselling author Jay Heinrichs. Jay, widely celebrated for his book “Thank You for Arguing,” returns to share insights from his latest book: “Aristotle's Guide to Self-Persuasion: How Ancient Rhetoric, Taylor Swift, and Your Own Soul Can Help You Change Your Life.” Jay dives into the personal journey that inspired the book—a year-long experiment where he applied the classical tools of rhetoric not just to business or negotiation, but to overcoming his own struggles with motivation, self-doubt, and a significant physical setback. Using a daunting mountain-running challenge as the backdrop, Jay explores how reframing your internal dialogue and negotiating with your mind and body can lead to surprising breakthroughs, both professionally and personally. Outline of This Episode [03:41] How Jay improved his negotiation skills through personal adversity. [07:04] An overview of mastering negotiation skills overview. [10:22] Honing negotiation skills while coping with chronic pain and limited mobility. [15:37] Evaluate desires vs. needs, question materialism, and align actions with one's true self for self-worth and persuasion. [19:04] Ancient Greeks explored self-dialogue, changing negative self-talk, and reframing thoughts can improve one's mindset. [23:32] Mind training is the practice of convincing your body to go beyond its perceived limits. The Art of Persuading Yourself After years spent teaching organizations how to persuade, he was challenged to turn those tools inward during a period marked by low motivation, self-pity, and a debilitating physical ailment. Jay explains how much harder it is to separate yourself as a negotiator and client when you are both the persuader and the persuaded. Inspired by Aristotle's teachings and his desire for change, Jay embarked on an experiment: Could the classical tools of rhetoric, updated for the modern age, help him overcome deep-seated doubts and achieve what seemed impossible? The Self-Persuasion Experiment The crux of Jay's journey was a literal mountain—Mount Moosilauke in New Hampshire, an Olympic training ground with a 3.7-mile run and a 2,800-foot elevation gain. At nearly 58 years old, told by doctors he might never walk again, Jay set a goal to become the first person over 50 to “run his age” up the mountain, climbing it in fewer minutes than his age in years. The process was nothing short of transformational. It demanded significant lifestyle changes: losing an eighth of his body weight, training for hours each day, giving up alcohol, and enduring a groundbreaking (and painful) medical procedure. As he struggled to reach his goal, Jay leaned on rhetorical strategies—not just to stay motivated, but to redefine his relationship with challenge, pain, and self-doubt. Reframing Reality Through Rhetoric One of the episode's standout lessons is the power of “reframing”—a quintessential rhetorical move. Jay describes how hyperbole, often dismissed as mere exaggeration, can become a tool for motivation: “What if you can believe in throwing something beyond yourself and then chase after it like a dog after a ball?” In this way, ambitious (even seemingly impossible) goals can become motivational hyperboles, stretching our perceived limits and moving us beyond inertia. He also draws from Aristotle's lesser-known work, On the Soul. Here, the concept of the “ideal self” or “soul” becomes the internal audience you must convince. The three classical elements of ethos—craft, caring, and cause—become the benchmarks of persuasion, not just with others, but with that idealized version of yourself. Negotiation as a Daily Practice Whether you're persuading a client, navigating a difficult deal, or pushing your limits in training, the process is the same: a series of negotiations with your goals, excuses, fears, and aspirations. Jay's year of self-persuasion wasn't about achieving physical greatness; it was about discovering happiness and gratitude, negotiating, ultimately, for a better relationship with oneself. Watts highlights the universal nature of this lesson, referencing cinematic moments of grit and perseverance, and reminds us that the real challenge is not just winning the deal, but winning yourself over, again and again. Resources & People Mentioned Peter M. Loescher, MD  Connect with Jay Heinrichs Jay Heinrichs  Connect With Paul Watts  LinkedIn Twitter    Subscribe to SALES REINVENTED Audio Production and Show Notes by PODCAST FAST TRACK https://www.podcastfasttrack.com

This week, in episode 259, Jaci Russo tells David C. Barnett and Kate Morgan how the hiring of her agency's first top-level sales person went wrong. About four months ago, when Jaci first told us about this big step, she sounded thrilled. She said her new sales chief was a delight to be around, had hit the ground running, and had already lined up at least one impressive client. Unfortunately, none of that panned out. But Jaci, who is hardly the first business owner to have an important placement go off the rails, offered to walk us through her process to see what lessons we can all learn: Were the interviews flawed? Was the onboarding effort insufficient? Was it the executive recruiting firm she used? Was it the compensation structure? Or was it the remote-work arrangement? Plus: We also discuss the mounting evidence that companies have stopped filling entry-level positions. And should that trend continue, where will owners find the next generation of leaders?

“There's No Good Roofing Salespeople” — How to Build Them Anyway | Dominic CaminataStruggling to find good roofing salespeople? You're not alone. In this episode, Tim Brown sits down with Dominic Caminata, CEO of Renaissance Roofing, to break down why great roofing sales reps are so rare—and exactly how to develop them in-house.You'll learn:Why the roofing industry has a sales talent shortageThe traits to look for when hiring sales repsHow to create a training system that actually worksWhy culture beats commission in long-term performanceHow Dominic built one of the most respected roofing sales teams in the countryIf you want to grow your roofing business beyond yourself, this episode is a must-watch.

When we think of team selling, we imagine a room with the buyers on one side of the table and we are lined up on the other.  There is another type of team selling and that is taking place before we get anywhere near the client.  It might be working together as a Sales Mastermind panel to brainstorm potential clients to target or strategising campaigns or plotting the approach to adopt with a buyer.  Salespeople earn their remuneration through a combination of base salary and commission or bonus in Japan.  There are very few jobs here in sales, which are 100% commission, simply because salespeople don't have to accept that model.  There is always a demand here for salespeople and in fact the declining population is keeping a lot of dud salespeople afloat. Given there is not much 100% commission selling going on, there is also not so much salesperson competition going on with each other.  There is competition, but the losers usually don't get fired, as they might in some Western business environments.  So the opportunity is there to collaborate more on approaches to the client and generating more business.  What often happens though is, salespeople tend to operate from within their own little castles.  They have their moat around their existing clients, which they serve and they spend their time trying to find new clients by themselves.  They may have sales managers, but in these modern times, sales managers are expected to produce revenues as well.  That means there isn't a lot of coaching going on. If we have one person looking at the client through the prism of their own experience, things get a bit thin quickly, if that person doesn't have such a wealth of experience.  It would be more logical to gather a team of salespeople together and look at the best approach for that client, rather than relying on the best efforts of a single person.  But we don't do this very often.  This tends to be because of a territorial concept, where each salesperson has their clients and they should take care of them, without wasting anyone's time, especially when they are getting paid a commission or a bonus, for the sale. This does make sense at one level, but we are missing out on the sum of the parts being able to exceed the whole here.  This is often a culture issue within sales teams.  If you run things with tight individual accountability, it is hard to get other salespeople to assist a colleague.  As leaders we need to establish a framework for teamwork even in a commission based world of focused individual benefit.  The money getting paid out doesn't change, but the time becomes the sticking point.  How do we get salespeople to spend time to help others be more successful? One way to do this it to treat a particular client as a project and pull in other salespeople to work on the best approach. Once the salesperson in question has spoken with the client, then we need to gather the Sales Mastermind together again and brainstorm what would be the ideal solution.  This should be one of the tasks for the sales manager, but often they are swamped with their own clients and trying to keep the whole sales team coordinated and moving forward.  Breaking out time for one-on-one discussions may simply not be happening and the salespeople are often left to their own devices. When we approach this on the project level, the time required becomes contained and less oppressive for the other salespeople.  It is also a case of quid pro quo too, because it will be their turn to benefit next time, from having more heads than one tackling client problems and helping match the best solutions.  This is where the sales manager can play a role in setting up the project teams and monitoring progress.  It is good for the salespeople because one day they will become sales managers and will need to introduce similar systems into their own teams.  Funnily enough, we often have the experience of learning a lot ourselves, when we are working on someone else's problem.  We can be too close to our own issues and be blind to aspects which could have an important bearing, but we cannot see the wood for the trees.  Somehow looking at another's problem brings clarity for us about our own contemplations. There are many benefits to using Sales Masterminds from within the team, working together for the best outcomes for the client.  There is an education process going on both up and down the scale of experience, as we all come away from the process that little better educated in our craft.  

Mike Keene shares an awesome story of how we learn to sell at a VERY young age.Global Dealer Solutions offers a network of high-performance providers while remaining product agnostic. Knowing which tools to deploy makes a big difference. Having a trusted adviser; priceless. Schedule your complimentary consultation today. https://calendly.com/don-278. BE THE 1ST TO KNOW. LIKE and FOLLOW HERE www.linkedin.com/company/fixed-ops-marketinghttps://www.youtube.com/channel/@fixedopsmarketingGet watch and listen links, as well as full episodes and shorts: www.fixedopsmarketing.com/wtfJoin Managing Partner and Host, Russell B. Hill and Charity Dunning, Co-Host and Chief Marketing Officer of FixedOPS Marketing, as we discuss life, automotive, and the human journey in WTF?!#podcast #automotive #fixedoperations

Once considered a glamorous career among the clouds, the role of cabin crew has evolved into one increasingly focused on sales.Flight attendants, once seen purely as caretakers of passenger comfort, are now often viewed as frontline salespeople, offering everything from snacks to duty-free goods mid-flight.But, has this shift changed the way we perceive cabin crew?Terry Prone, Columnist with the Irish Examiner & Chair of the Communications Clinic, has been writing about this, and joins Andrea as well as former Air Hostess and Author of ‘Confessions of an Air Hostess' Marisa Mackle and Travel Journalists Joan Scales and Yvonne Reddin to discuss.

Here's a question that'll drive you absolutely crazy: How do you sell professional services without giving away everything for free? That's the burning question from Laura and Adam, attorneys who are struggling with the classic professional services dilemma. Their intake team and attorneys want to showcase their expertise by giving away everything for free during sales conversations. Meanwhile, they're also trying to figure out what kind of salesperson they need to hire to sell high-value legal services effectively. If you're nodding your head right now, you're not alone. This is the most common trap I see professional service providers fall into, and it's bleeding them dry while their competitors who keep their mouths shut are crushing them in conversion rates. The Professor Problem: Why Being Smart Is Making You Broke Laura nailed it when she described their current approach as "professorial." They show their talents and knowledge, thinking, "How can they not want to hire us because we're so brilliant?" But here's the brutal, kick-you-in-the-gut truth: The more you teach on sales calls, the lower your closing ratio becomes. Period. No exceptions. The less information you give, the higher your closing ratio goes. This isn't just theory—it's what I've learned from years of training consultants and professional service providers. When practitioners get on sales calls, it's incredibly hard not to show all our cards or teach people during the conversation. But you're not running a free consultation. You're running a sales process. Why Information Is Your Leverage—Not Your Gift Here's what Laura and Adam's team needs to understand: Information is your leverage. Are you going to give your leverage away for free? The key is teaching your intake team how to ask questions and bring the person through a process. You're connecting with prospects, learning about them, getting them talking about their fears, helping them articulate what they want, and then building a quick value bridge to why they should sign with your firm. Then—and only then—do you ask for the commitment. When prospects start fishing for free legal advice, you shut it down fast with this exact response: "That's a really, really good question. And that's exactly why we need to get you booked with an attorney so that you can sit down with a professional who can walk you through that strategy. Let's go ahead and get you signed up." The High-Stakes Hire: What to Look for in Professional Services Salespeople When you're selling high-value services instead of products, you need a special type of salesperson. Here are the three make-or-break qualities that will determine whether your hire is a rockstar or a disaster: They Need to Be Street Smart - Not book-smart—street-smart. They need to think on their feet because you've got different types of people coming to you with different cases. If someone is used to just following a script, they're not the right person for you. High Emotional Intelligence with Outcome Drive - This is the tricky balance. They need high emotional intelligence to quickly connect with people and build relationships. But they also need enough outcome drive to ask for the commitment and not let people off the hook. You're essentially running a one-call close. A person comes in, you take them through the journey, and then you ask them to make a commitment. If they don't commit on that call, your chances of signing them as a client go down exponentially over time. The Goldilocks Zone - If you hire someone too far on the outcome-driven side, they'll be pushy schmucks who pressure people, strongarm prospects, and destroy your reputation. You'll end up with buyers' remorse and angry clients. If you hire someone too relationship-driven with too much empathy, they'll have great conversations and make wonderful friends—but they won't convert anybody into customers.

 was studying an online learning programme from Professor Scott Galloway, where he talked about Appealing To Human Instincts.  His take was from the strategy angle, but I realised that this same framework would be useful for sales too.  In sales we do our best to engage the client.  We try to develop sophisticated questions to help us unearth the stated and unstated needs of the buyer.  Professor Galloway's pedagogical construct can give us another perspective on buyer dynamics. The first Human Instinct nominated was the brain.  This is our logos, our rational, logical, analytical mode.  What are the unanswered questions and key internal conversations occupying the minds of our buyers.  If we can meet the buyer in their thought process, then we are more likely to be able to understand their needs and then be in a position to meet those needs.  We know that some buyers will be analytical types, for whom three decimal places is unremarkable when considering data.  Often though salespeople are big picture. Macro types who shun this level of detail because they feel it is boring.  They love the sale and abhor the paperwork which goes along with it.  I had two insurance salesmen in my home trying to get me to buy various policies.  What astounded me was they were middle aged, well experienced gentlemen and yet they couldn't fill out the paperwork correctly, so we had to do it again.  They loved the conversation with me but not the conversation with the fine print in the contract. The next instinct was the heart.  Our emotions are there for all to see, if the right stimulation is provided. We laugh, cry, get angry, become determined and give up, based around our emotional configuration at any point in the day.  Salespeople walk into a mine field of buyer emotions, with no way of knowing which particular configuration we have bumped into today.  Our job is to gauge as quickly as possible where the buyer is emotionally and how they prefer to communicate at that moment.  We know our tempers once frayed, tend to trigger a supreme impatience with everything.  Woe be tied a salesperson who cannot “kuki wo yomu” or read the air, as we say in Japanese, to understand this client needs another visit on a better day for them. Instinct number three was the gut.  This reminded me of Maslow's hierarchy of needs where survival was at the bottom and became the prism through which information and ideas were judged.  Company buyers are always bound firmly by risk reduction, budget stringencies, cash flow imperatives and fears for the future.  Everyone loves a bargain except salespeople, especially those salespeople who have commissions attached to the sale price.  Value is the only antidote for this price discount swamp fever infecting buyers.  Babbling on about features won't cut it.  Yet amazingly this is the step where many salespeople check out.  They never even attempt to consider scaling the summit. We had better migrate up the value scale and talk about the application of the benefits.   We need to lock in the evidence where this has worked magnificently somewhere else, for this buyer to feel safe that there are precedents.  The fourth instinct was sex appeal.  Buyers want to attract attention to themselves as capable, highly promotable, sexy beasts attracting a lot of favourable accord.  Our role is to make them look like heroes, legends, masters of the universe.  They want to elevate their worth, status and value within the organisation.  “Look at me, I am clever” they want to say. We become their instrument to promote that message by giving them our product or service, which becomes a game changer inside the client company. Salespeople have to be master jugglers, elevating many balls in the air at the same time.  We need to see our buyers in a holistic manner, to fully appreciate the tack we need to take buyer by buyer, because they are all different.  This takes a change in the sales mindset because most salespeople are focused on themselves, their commission, their Beemer upgrade and a thousand other things, which the buyer couldn't care less about.  So next time we sit down with a buyer, we need to make sure we are engaging all of their human instincts and appealing to them from many angles. 

The post 5 Things Broke Sales People Do, That High Performers Have Worked Out appeared first on Salesman.com.

If you want to stop chasing prospects and start closing with authority, this episode is your blueprint. I sat down with Armand Farrokh, founder of 30 Minutes to President's Club the #1 sales podcast in the world and we broke down how top 1% sellers diagnose deeper problems, dismantle objections with tone (not pressure), and use identity reframes that make prospects sell themselves.  Armand didn't just grow revenue from $0 to $13M at Pave he engineered it with precision-level sales skills most reps never learn. This episode goes beyond surface-level tactics to show you how to disarm resistance, create urgency, and get buyers to fight for your solution. Watch this and you'll understand why most salespeople are stuck in the shallow end and how to get out fast. Chapters (00:00) Introduction (03:38) Building the Gap: Roleplay with Live Audiences (04:42) How to Clarify Objections Without Triggering Defensiveness (08:25) Reframing Price Objections with Results-Based Thinking (12:12) Why You Should Push Prospects Away (at First) (17:00) The Power of Tone to Trigger Curiosity and Doubt (20:14) Turning Surface-Level Problems Into Emotional Stories (25:38) Magic Moment Questions That Unlock Real Pain (30:03) The 4 Types of Salespeople (Which One Are You?) (33:34) Identity Framing: Making Prospects Justify the Sale (42:17) Why Prospects Buy From You—Even If You're More Expensive

Most sales hiring failures aren't about the rep. They're about the missing structure.In this episode of the CEO Sales Strategies Podcast, Doug C. Brown sits down with David Sliman, CEO of Sales Performance, to explore why sales teams underperform—and how to fix it before your next hire.You'll learn:✅ Why KPI clarity is non-negotiable before hiring✅ How to build onboarding that drives early wins✅ The 4-part sales execution model that scales✅ Why great coaching requires structure, not pressure✅ How to create a system where top producers thriveIf your business depends on 1:1, high-ticket B2B sales—this episode will change how you build and lead your team.

There's a theory that if a seller focuses on a buyer's inner feelings, then they'll be more effective in closing a deal. This will require you to put your therapist cap on to tap into the customer's emotions.My guests, Jack Frimson and Zac Thompson, sales professionals and co-authors of Selling Is Therapy, share their techniques from their latest book. Listen to learn more about how you can start selling like a therapist to close more deals.Meet Jack Frimson & Zac ThompsonJack and Zac are seasoned sales professionals and co-founders of an agency specializing in helping clients book more high-quality appointments. Together, they have worked with hundreds of clients, developing practical, actionable strategies to make sales conversations more empathetic, effective, and rewarding for everyone involved. Why the Therapist Approach?Salespeople often default to outdated, aggressive tactics that leave both parties feeling slimy.Drawing inspiration from therapy, Jack and Zac discovered that the best sellers act less like “persuaders” and more like thoughtful guides, catalyzing customer self-discovery.Permission-Based Questions & “Softening the Blow”Simply asking before posing tough or blunt questions disarms prospects, making conversations feel safer and more genuine.This approach helps navigate tough topics, such as budget or decision-making authority, without sounding confrontational.Levels of ListeningGreat salespeople distinguish themselves by noticing what isn't said—body language, hesitations, or changes in tone.Calling out the “elephant in the room” (with empathy) opens space for honesty and trust.The “Test Close”Instead of forcing meetings or pushing agendas, the “test close” invites prospects to design the most valuable meeting for themselves (“What would make a call next week worthwhile for you?”).This boosts the chances of attended and effective appointments—and prospects are more invested because they helped build the agenda.The IKEA CurveWhen prospects participate in creating the solution (“If you could design your perfect platform/campaign/vendor, what would it look like?”), They feel a greater sense of ownership and buy-in.This technique is especially effective in competitive sales situations and discovery calls.Low-Stakes Practice & Continuous ExperimentationJack and Zac encourage sellers to experiment with these tactics in everyday settings, like at a coffee shop, to build confidence before using them in sales calls.Letting Go of AttachmentThe healthiest sales approach is one where you're unattached to the outcome—focused instead on helping, not convincing.If you're struggling with this, evaluate your alignment with the product, company, and your belief in the impact you deliver."Softening the blow is when we seek permission before we ask one of those big, big questions." - Jack Frimson."You always want to be calling out the elephant in the room. Another chapter of the book talks about the levels of listening. It shares how salespeople tend to miss the things that aren't being said." - Zac Thompson. ResourcesGrab a copy of their book on Amazon.Follow and reach out to Jack and

The Unvarnished Truth About Sales: Lessons from the UK's Most Hated Sales Trainer, Benjamin DennehyIn the world of sales, few voices are as candid—or as controversial—as Benjamin Dennehy, widely known as the UK's most hated sales trainer. In this episode, hosted by Josh Elledge, Benjamin pulls no punches as he exposes the uncomfortable realities of sales, debunks persistent myths, and offers actionable strategies for founders, salespeople, and small business owners. This blog post distills the key themes and expert advice from their conversation, providing a comprehensive guide for anyone looking to elevate their sales game.The Realities of Sales and Building Repeatable SuccessBenjamin starts by addressing an uncomfortable truth: most people in sales didn't choose the profession—they stumbled into it. This lack of passion often leads to mediocrity, with many salespeople operating at a “seven out of ten” level, performing just enough to get by. To break through this, Benjamin advocates for treating sales as a craft that demands continuous improvement and investment in proper training. He emphasizes the importance of building a repeatable sales process, focusing on long-term relationships rather than just closing deals.Benjamin also talks about the “founder-led sales trap” where entrepreneurs, passionate about their products, often dread the sales process. Founders frequently hesitate to delegate or hire the right salespeople, leading to burnout and stagnation. He encourages founders to invest in structured sales training, create a clear sales process, and treat sales with the same importance as product development or finance. This shift in mindset is crucial for scaling a business beyond the founder's efforts.Finally, Benjamin discusses the common pitfalls businesses face when hiring salespeople. He warns against hiring based on charisma alone and stresses the need to look for candidates who demonstrate solid sales processes and results. Without a clear and documented sales approach, businesses will continue to struggle with underperforming teams. He advises on setting clear metrics and ensuring new hires are onboarded with proper training to drive predictable and repeatable sales success.About Benjamin DennehyBenjamin Dennehy is the Founder of Sales Matrix Courses, a platform offering comprehensive training and coaching for sales professionals. Known for his blunt, no-nonsense approach, Benjamin helps businesses confront uncomfortable truths about sales, break through mediocrity, and achieve repeatable success.About Sales Matrix CoursesSales Matrix Courses is a sales training platform created by Benjamin Dennehy. The courses are designed to help professionals and businesses develop stronger sales foundations, overcome common challenges, and create repeatable, predictable sales outcomes.Links Mentioned in This Episode:Sales Matrix Courses WebsiteBenjamin Dennehy on LinkedInEpisode Highlights:Why most salespeople fall into the profession without passion or preparationThe “founder-led sales trap” and how to avoid itThe importance of treating sales as a craft and investing in ongoing trainingWhy hiring the right salesperson requires more than just charismaHow big companies fail at...

Sales leader and author Nigel Green joins Scott Leese and Richard Harris on the Surf and Sales podcast and discuss the critical skill of hiring elite salespeople. Nigel shares his expertise on why this is the single most important sales leadership skill, and how to effectively identify, attract, and integrate top talent onto your team. The conversation covers a range of valuable topics, including: Why elite salespeople don't apply to job postings, and how to proactively recruit them Techniques for uncovering the non-obvious behaviors that separate top performers from the rest Strategies for aligning your executive team and compensation plans to land elite talent The dangers of promoting your best salesperson into a leadership role Why small teams of elite reps can outperform larger average teams    

All links and images can be found on CISO Series. Check out this post for the discussion that is the basis of our conversation on this week's episode co-hosted by me, David Spark, the producer of CISO Series, and Steve Zalewski. Joining us is Jason Thomas, senior director, technology security, governance, and risk, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. In this episode:  The trust deficit Defending the non-technical roles The business accountability gap The communication imperative Huge thanks to our sponsor, Query.ai Query is a Federated Search and Analytics platform that builds a security data mesh, giving security teams real-time context from all connected sources. Analysts move faster and make better decisions with AI agents and copilots that handle the grunt work and guide each step. Learn more at query.ai

According to research from Revenue Grid, organizations see a 25-40% increase in average deal size and win rates with better coaching. So how can you build a strong coaching program that helps your team win, especially with the support of new technologies like AI? Riley Rogers: Hi, and welcome to the Win-Win podcast. I’m your host, Riley Rogers. Join us as we dive into changing trends in the workplace and how to navigate them successfully. Here to discuss this topic is Carrie Kuhrt, who leads sales enablement in the Americas for FCM Travel. Thank you so much for joining us. Carrie, I’d love if we could just start by talking a little bit about yourself, your background, and your role. Carrie Kuhrt: Lovely to be here again. My name’s Carrie Kuhrt, based in Denver. Most of my professional journey has been within sales, whether that’s inside sales, outside sales. Been with FCM for nearly six years now, and just for over two years, I’ve been in the enablement function for the Americas region. Just been an adventure for the last six years with FCM, and I am just all team enablement now. RR: Awesome. Well, we’re so excited to have you here, especially knowing that you’ve kind of bridged that gap from sales to sales enablement and can bring that dual perspective to this conversation. So I know before your current role as an enablement leader, as you mentioned, you worked in sales at FCM Travel, so can you share a little bit about how you made that transition into enablement and then how that background maybe shapes your enablement approach today? CK: Yeah, well, kind of a funny story. I actually rejoined FCM after the pandemic the same day Highspot was rolled out with FCM. So it was just really kind of funny timing, how it’s all come really full circle. So I’ve always found myself wanting to help others succeed, and I have just a really big — like, I just really love all of the enablement tech stack and thought it just is an absolute game changer for the selling role and found myself always helping or always wanting to lend a helping hand to my peers.And so when the opportunity came up to join the enablement team, I eagerly embraced it, wanted to help fine-tune our sellers and using that enablement tech stack that the business has invested in. RR: Amazing. I love that take, and I love that this full-circle moment. I’m so happy you could join us and kind of bring this story almost to its conclusion.I’d love to maybe double-click a little bit into your approach and talk specifically maybe about how you develop your teams. So I know you lead the development of training and coaching at FCM Travel, so I’m wondering if you could talk to us a little bit about some common challenges you’ve faced when creating effective learning programs and then maybe some solutions you’ve created to address ’em. CK: Yeah, just knowing myself as a learner, we all learn in a different way, so I wanted to make sure that when creating something, it’s important to incorporate all the different learning styles that people have, whether that is through videos for people who’d like to watch, or people who like to read, or just a little bit of a mixture, and then including the hands-on approach.I really like the knowledge checks that you can do where it’s a little bit less test-centric and a little bit more of just making sure everyone is understanding that information and having it kind of connect the dots in their mind. So I think that’s always really good to incorporate in having like a welcoming and affecting learning environment for everybody.Just knowing that not every single person is the same. You wanna be able to have the ability to kind of touch everybody in the way that they need to help understand any initiatives. RR: Yeah, I think one of those biggest challenges too — any sort of learning program — is the assumption that one-size-fits-all works.It never does. I love that approach and that acknowledgement that everybody learns differently, and in order to get where you need to go, you need to meet them where they are. I think definitely a very actionable take that listeners can take away.Shifting gears a little, I’d like to touch on an aspect of enablement’s role that I think maybe goes a little bit unspoken, which is that in addition to creating effective programs, enablement is often tasked with building a culture of ongoing learning and development. So do you have any best practices for creating that culture and driving that culture of ongoing learning? CK: Yeah, I like to talk about it as kind of like an internal sell.So having that sales background kind of comes into play here, and we’ve actually branded our training and coaching as Take Flight. Being a travel management company, we love the puns. It worked perfectly. And so with Take Flight, we have created logos that you’ll see everywhere within Take Flight, as well as the same imagery over and over again, just kind of helping to reinforce this is where you go to learn, to upskill, to onboard, whatever it might be.And so using those on all of the training materials, helping everything remain consistent, it helps kind of guide your users to where they need to be for that training and coaching, because training and coaching — sometimes people might be like, oh, I don’t wanna do that — but Take Flight sounds so much more fun.I mean, who doesn’t wanna take a flight, hop on, and go somewhere new or learn something new? So that’s kind of the approach we have taken. RR: Yeah, the internal sell. I love it, and I love the branding. That’s so much fun. Your sellers are your customers, and I think you’re serving them well.I’d like to maybe chat a little bit about how you’re using technology to support programs like these.I know that in May, actually, you joined us here in Seattle for a workshop in the Highspot office. We chatted about real-world coaching capabilities, and you shared that you’re working on a pilot program to roll some of them out to your teams. So can you talk us through how you’re developing this pilot program and how you plan to leverage these capabilities to help with that ongoing learning culture? CK: Yeah, so we like to roll out all of our initiatives through pilot programs. We are leveraging Highspot across all of our sales organization globally now. And so having the peers involved — for my customers, our internal sellers — it’s really helped involve them and being able to be more impactful and engaging, understanding they are in the seat, they are utilizing it, and so using those pilot programs to help reinforce what’s gonna work best and being able to kind of test things out before full rollout globally.It’s just incorporating even those champions, as we like to call them, in part of the training so they’re able to talk about their experiences during the pilot testing as well. RR: Yeah, that sounds like a really thoughtful approach to a pilot program. You know, you build buy-in with a few, and then that kind of disperses out, and then all of a sudden you’ve won over the entire team.I’d love to know a little bit more about that like early getting-started phase — so how you’re planning to identify and select users for your pilot, and then maybe once you have selected those soon-to-be champions, how you enable them on your new approach. CK: Yeah, so we tend to select champions based on those who use the platform quite a bit.So our top users, they help guide us. And for the meeting intelligence pilot that we’re working on right now, we’ve chosen about five champions in different roles within the sales org and each region to start using the feature. So they’re gonna collaborate with myself and my partner in enablement that sits in Europe to help navigate those best practices, figure out what does work well, where we can improve, and like just sharing the feedback on the process because it is something brand new, something that we’ve never done before.But why not have like a test phase to work out those kinks before you roll out something globally? Just wanting to make sure that we have everything sorted and ready to go to make it as easy of a change as possible with — I mean, change management being key. It’s a new feature. Not everybody’s gonna be comfortable with it. You’re gonna make some people a little uncomfy, so why not bring in people who are in their same role, who can help kind of drive the value of it home? RR: Yeah, again, because you know when you are making that internal sell, you do need that evidence. And so when you have people in those roles speaking to it, you have a little bit more validation than just you kind of top-down being like, “Hey, let’s do a thing.” So I love that approach. And it seems like you and the team have obviously put a lot of work into this new strategy.So I’d love to know, maybe as you’re progressing, what outcomes you’re hoping to see and then what success looks like for you. What, at the end of the day, would make you be like, we did what we needed to do? CK: Yeah, I think for kind of the initiative, initial purpose is — as we all know — technology is fantastic except when it doesn’t like to play nicely.So working out those bugs is a huge part of it. That’s not something that might need our attention, but we carefully check and make sure all the platform integrations are working smoothly, kind of working those out beforehand, even before the pilot group even starts.To be completely honest, I’ve been within meeting intelligence since I could — I mean, just trying it out so I can figure it out, understand it, ’cause I am that hands-on learner, kind of talking back to how we approach that. But making sure that we have everything for the AI part of it — we are very much invested in AI. We have an AI Center of Excellence here within Flight Centre Travel Group, and so really leaning on that and making sure that the results that we’re getting do work for our business, as well as kind of those topics that meeting intelligence does use, making sure that we have everything listed that makes the most sense.And until we have users actually in-platform using it, we won’t know that. And so that’s kind of where we’re looking to make sure everything's — all the boxes are checked, that it’s gonna have the most impact on that feedback portion, because at the end of the day, that is what it’s all about — being able to get that feedback from an AI perspective to then have their manager come in and help drive home that feedback. RR: Awesome. Well, I think you guys are looking at all of the things you need to, to set yourself up for success, and I'm excited to check back in a couple months and see how things are going and see, you know, kind of the early wins you’re achieving.But speaking of success and wins, I know you’ve actually found quite a bit already. For instance, we’ve heard that you’ve already achieved a really impressive 67% active learner rate in Highspot, so I’d love to know how you’re driving that adoption. CK: Yeah. Again, I think this goes back to that branding aspect of Take Flight. Everybody knows where to go, and having it in like one centralized spot — just knowing that. But also, we do a lot of group enrollment for courses and things of that nature so that it’s everybody globally is doing it. It’s not just singling out certain people or certain regions — everyone is taking part of it.And I mean, I don’t think I’ve ever been in a sales role where every one of my peers doesn’t have that competitive spirit. So we do throw in some contests in there — some incentives. Salespeople love the incentives. So when we can make it a friendly competition, it even helps drive it home, ’cause it’s like, I wanna beat you.Like, you have that competition, and it helps really drive that end result of getting people involved in the training and the coaching, the lessons, all of that adoption. I mean, I know our adoption across Highspot in general is really, really high, which I think kind of talks about what the platform has done for us as a business. RR: Well, amazing. I love to hear that. And so what I’m taking away is that adoption is purely just a combination of branding and competition. That’s what you need to get your salespeople activated. CK: You can make it more complicated than that, but at the end of the day, they need to know where to go and who to beat. And so I think that really plays a huge part of it, for sure. RR: Wonderful. I love it. Well, aside from, you know, the impressive active learner rate that we just chatted about, I’d love to know what metrics you’re looking for when you’re evaluating the success of an enablement program — and in particular, down the line as you’re evaluating the success of your new real-world coaching program.You know, as you were saying, you wanna make sure the metrics are working towards what the business is looking for. So what will you be looking for when you’re making that call? CK: I think a huge thing — and it’s something that I got to see back in Seattle in May — was the initiative scorecard. To be able to link what we’ve rolled out as an initiative, whether that be training and coaching, or the meeting intelligence and that real-world feedback — being able to see that directly reflect.We finally worked out all the kinks with the Salesforce integration to making sure everything is linked. So now we can see, all right, based on this date and this initiative rolling out, we can see those wins populating and compare it to where we were last year.So being able to see the just direct correlation between the two and positively influencing our conversion rate equals won business. RR: Awesome. So it’s that tracking activity all the way through outcome — so important to prove your impact as an enabler and really tell that your programs are doing what you hope they will.Again, excited to see how in a few months, as you’re setting that up, how it goes. We’ll certainly have to check back and see how things are going.Thinking a little bit — we’ve been talking about the future — but let’s talk about the present maybe, which is, I’d love to know how, since launching Highspot, how things are going, what results you’ve seen, any key wins, notable business outcomes you could share? Anything that you and your team have accomplished recently that you’re super proud of? CK: Yeah. To be completely honest, Highspot has been a game changer for us at FCM. It’s made a remarkable difference, saving our sales team so much time. I won’t talk about other platforms, but they can find things a lot faster than they used to be able to, and so they can pull information in 30 seconds if they’re on a call with someone or they wanna share that information with a prospect — they can do that very, very quickly and find what they need.And I think that’s like a collaboration between sales enablement and marketing to make sure all of that is housed and easy to find for our sellers. I think it’s also really helped us connect more on a global scale. We can see what’s going on in other regions instead of being siloed between regions with the time zone conflicts and all of that. It’s just made an enormous difference.And then the other thing, which we’ve rolled out — I’d say probably in the last six months or so, maybe even… maybe it’s almost been a year, gosh, time flies — a lot of our RFP submissions, so our business proposals, if it’s not through a specific platform, we utilize Highspot. And that is a differentiator.Because we like to say we are not just another vendor for our clients. We are a true partner. And so we can actually put forth our proposal and have that partnership show through — whether it’s the co-branding of our logo with their logo. Sometimes we get a little fun and have a little bit more of that collaboration in terms of the coloring and things like that in the Digital Room.It’s definitely marked us as a clear differentiator. We’ve heard feedback from our — previously prospects, now customers — that it is something that has made a huge difference because it does show that we want to partner with them. We don’t just want to be another vendor. We’re not just another contract for them to sign. We truly have a partnership with our clients. RR: Amazing. I love to hear how Highspot kind of fits into your goals as an organization to be that partner, and I’m so happy that we can kind of help along the way where we can.Just one last question for you. So to wrap up, what is one, maybe two pieces of advice that you would offer to enablement leaders who are looking to build successful coaching programs? CK: I think there’s no necessarily need to reinvent the wheel. A lot of us already have a lot more of that material — the training materials — in our arsenal. It's existed.We haven’t been able to onboard people without having training and coaching. It exists. And so being able to just improve upon it — having gone through and recently taken just our very static playbooks for onboarding and turned them into courses and lessons just to make it more interactive and not just as stagnant — but keeping kind of those playbooks in place so that they can refer back to them whenever they need to.But like, not having to reinvent the wheel. You have the wheel. Let’s just grease it up a little bit and make it run a little bit smoother. Just to be clear, thoughtful, and driving the impact that you have with that feature. It just — it makes things so much easier, and you are able to see the exact results from it when you’re able to transition it from just viewing, okay, how long has someone viewed a playbook, to seeing them actually understanding the information to be able to present it back.One of the big things that we’ve used is that recording option within a lesson, so I’ve been able to have new hires go through, learn about FCM, to then present back their elevator pitch — and being able to help guide them and help them improve upon it.And we kind of revisit it a lot. So we have them do it six months later — how has it changed? How much more have you learned about the business?So just — you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. It already exists. RR: Just improve it. Amazing. I think that’s fantastic advice. And also I think advice everybody wants to hear — you don’t need to build more things from scratch. You already have them. Just use them to your advantage. CK: Yeah. We don’t have time in enablement. We know — I know very well that you are very limited in the amount of time in a day. Unfortunately, we can’t make that change for people, but we can improve upon what we have. RR: Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Carrie. It’s been so wonderful to chat with you today, and I think I speak for myself and our listeners when I say that it’s been really delightful to learn from you.To our audience, thank you for listening to this episode of the Win-Win podcast. Be sure to tune in next time for more insights on how you can maximize enablement success with Highspot.

Salespeople ask me all the time: “Jen, do you still teach the 10 Steps to the Sale?” The answer is YES — but with a modern spin for today's showroom and remote selling environments. In this episode, I break down the first two steps: ✅ Meet & Greet — Creating instant comfort, using body language, and ditching robotic openers. ✅ Build Rapport & Discovery — Going deeper than small talk with powerful, curiosity-based questions. Plus: I share real-world examples of salespeople shifting their approach and closing more deals by simply changing how they say hello. Whether you're on the lot or behind a phone, this one's a must.

Points Define Your KPIs Sharpen Your Skills Gain Your Competitive Edge Beat Your Competition

Summary In this episode of the AI for Sales podcast, Chad Burmeister and Townsend Wardlaw explore the profound impact of consciousness on business growth, the evolution of user interfaces in the age of AI, and the critical role of empathy in sales and personal transformation. Townsend emphasizes that IQ is becoming obsolete, while emotional intelligence and empathy are paramount for success. The conversation delves into the importance of understanding trust and integrity, and how true transformation comes from shifting one's consciousness rather than merely acquiring information. Townsend shares insights on how to cultivate empathy and the necessity of looking beyond surface-level problems to uncover deeper truths in coaching and sales. Takeaways Consciousness is the ultimate tool for growing your business. In the age of AI, emotional intelligence is more valuable than IQ. Empathy is essential for effective coaching and sales. Transformation comes from applying information, not just acquiring it. Trust is about the degree to which someone will do what they say. Empathy allows us to see the world from another's perspective. Salespeople must engage beyond the customer's initial problem. Consciousness shifts can lead to profound personal and professional growth. AI cannot replace the human experience of empathy and transformation. Understanding one's own consciousness is key to helping others. Chapters 00:00 The Role of Consciousness in Business Growth 02:39 The Evolution of User Interfaces and AI 05:39 Empathy vs. IQ in the Age of AI 08:35 The Importance of Transformation Over Information 11:16 Understanding Trust and Integrity 14:14 Demand Creation vs. Demand Response in Sales 17:07 Consciousness as a Tool for Transformation Proudly brought to you by Nooks.ai and BDR.ai, we share proven strategies and cutting-edge technologies that enable sales teams to dramatically accelerate outcomes. Learn how to leverage AI, automation, and conversational intelligence to 5X, 10X, or even 100X your impact. The future of sales is here—let's build it together.

Steve Heroux is a sales thought leader, author of The Sales Contrarian, and founder of The Sales Collective. Known for his humorous and no-fluff approach, Steve challenges outdated sales methodologies and champions a people-first philosophy. With roots in comedy and admiration for icons like Bob Ross and Larry David, Steve brings heart and honesty into the world of sales, coaching, and leadership. "He didn't paint to show you how good of a painter he was. He painted to show you how good of a painter you could be." – On Bob Ross's influence and philosophy. "Selling ice to an Eskimo doesn't make you a great salesperson. It makes you an asshole." – On ethical, value-driven sales. "You have to teach people how to swing like them, not like you." – On individualized coaching and leadership. Steve Heroux joins the podcast to dismantle traditional sales myths, challenge robotic training, and advocate for purpose-driven selling. From detaching from outcomes to building self-awareness, Steve shares personal stories and strategies that ignite self-leadership and redefine success—proving that joy, ethics, and humility are the real game changers in sales.

Just because someone excels in their role doesn't mean they should interview new hires—especially if they're a salesperson. In this episode, Dan Sullivan and Shannon Waller reveal why great salespeople often make the worst hiring decisions, how to spot the right evaluators for your team, and the mindset shift that separates a persuasive seller from a discerning buyer. Here's some of what you'll learn in this episode:The role of a job seeker in an interview.The role that an interviewer should be playing.Why Dan isn't involved in the hiring process at Strategic Coach®.A secret ingredient in the Strategic Coach hiring process.The powerful question you should ask every prospective customer and team member. Show Notes: Salespeople shouldn't conduct interviews because they'll treat every interaction like a sale—focused on overcoming objections rather than evaluating fit. Great salespeople are wired to close deals, which means they'll prioritize getting a "yes" over finding the right candidate. A sales-driven interviewer risks hiring the wrong person simply because they couldn't resist "winning" the interaction. As the person doing the hiring, you're the buyer, not the seller. It's the job of the applicant to convince you they're the right fit. It's not the interviewer's job to get the applicant excited about the position. Your hiring team should be dispassionate evaluators—think poker players, not persuaders. The best hires are those who sell you on their ability to contribute to your company's future. Confidence in hiring comes from being decisive, not from convincing someone to join. Trust your instincts—if a candidate feels off early on, that feeling rarely improves over time. Resources: Unique Ability® Free Zone Frontier by Dan Sullivan How To Improve Business By Asking Good Questions Always Be The Buyer by Dan Sullivan Your Business Is A Theater Production: Your Back Stage Shouldn't Show On The Front Stage

In Episode 252, Kelly is joined by Ben Wise and Darren Chiu—two senior leaders at Google and co-founders of Captivate—for a raw and insightful breakdown of what truly drives persuasion in today's world. They reveal why facts alone don't move people, and how emotional strategy, trust, and authenticity are the real keys to influence. From sales calls to boardrooms, they show how mastering emotional connection will radically transform how you pitch, sell, and lead.Packed with powerful concepts like the Pratfall Effect and the Maya Principle, this conversation digs into how the best communicators choose the emotion they want to elicit—before they speak. You'll learn how to make people feel, how to build trust through imperfection, and how to stop pitching and start persuading. This episode isn't just advice—it's a playbook for anyone who wants to connect deeper, sell smarter, and lead with impact.Key Takeaways: 1. Emotion is the first trigger in any decision-making process, and facts only come into play after the emotional choice is made.2. Building trust and genuine human connection will always outperform even the most logical, fact-filled pitch.3. Before you pitch, define the exact emotion you want your audience to feel—then tailor everything around creating that feeling.4. Storytelling is a persuasion superpower because it activates emotion, builds relatability, and makes your message memorable.5. Showing imperfection, like spilling coffee or tripping on stage, can make you more likable and trustworthy to your audience.6. The MAYA Principle teaches that the best ideas feel new but still familiar—too much innovation too fast creates rejection.7. True persuasion happens when you listen actively and adjust your message based on what the other person feels and needs.8. Salespeople who focus less on impressing and more on understanding are consistently more effective and trusted.9. Even cold outreach can create trust if it's written with warmth, relevance, and emotional awareness.10. Long-term success in persuasion doesn't come from learning every trick—it comes from practicing and mastering a few core principles.

Donny Hackett is the founder of VeriDeal.He is launching this with a friend/partner because when he got laid off from AWS, he found his job efforts thwarted by other sales reps who had no problem lying about their accomplishments.So he created a new SaaS platform for sales reps to verify and track their closed deals. We get into Donny's background in sales, the importance of trust and verification in the sales process, and how technology, particularly AI, is changing the landscape of sales. I grilled Donny pretty hard about how he has developed VeriDeal and how it solves the problem he says it does.Whether you need the app or not, you will benefit from listening to how he has balanced a growing family, his day job, and entrepreneurship.He's excited about the launch as am I, so let's get this party started.00:00 Introduction to Truth in Deals18:23 Donny Hackett's Sales Journey21:05 The Need for Verideal24:00 Challenges in Hiring and Verification26:49 Building Verideal: The Technical Side29:48 Balancing Day Job and Startup32:33 Preparing for Launch35:28 Future of Verideal and Market ImpactUnlock the secrets of sales success by understanding what makes people do the things they do—access your free training: https://wesschaeffer.com/dailyBecome unstoppable in 12 weeks for free, with the 12 Weeks To Peak™ habit tracker: https://wesschaeffer.com/12wConnect with me:X -- https://X.com/saleswhispererInstagram -- https://instagram.com/saleswhispererLinkedIn -- http://www.linkedin.com/in/thesaleswhisperer/#12WeeksToPeak #SalesTraining #GoalSetting #PersonalDevelopment #GrowthMindset

Most salespeople know how to pitch. Fewer know how to handle the moment everything shifts. In this episode, sales expert Lance Tyson joins Kwame Christian to reveal the exact skill that transforms average closers into elite negotiators. You'll learn: – How to recognize the hidden moment when a sale becomes a negotiation – Why objections aren't problems—they're opportunities – The deadly mistake most salespeople make when pressure shows up – And how to build guardrails that protect your profit without killing the deal If you've ever lost a deal you thought you had, this episode will show you why—and how to fix it. Connect with Lance Tyson Buy the Book: The Human Sales Factor By Lance Tyson⁠ ⁠Follo Lance on LinkeIn⁠ ⁠Tyson Group⁠ Contact ANI ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Request A Customized Workshop For Your Company⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow Kwame Christian on LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠negotiateanything.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Click here to buy your copy of Finding Confidence in Conflict: How to Negotiate Anything and Live Your Best Life!