Bestselling author of Selling Your Story in 60 Seconds, Michael Hauge, is a story and script consultant, author, lecturer, and coach who works with writers, producers, directors and prominent stars to sell their ideas in the cut-throat competitive world of Hollywood. In today’s episode, Michael shares how sales reps can use emotion as the best tool to create the compelling first impressions that capture a prospect’s attention. Among the topics we discuss are:
CONTACT MICHAEL HAUGE
Drew McLellan is the owner of Agency Management Institute, co-founder and CEO of McLellan Marketing Group, author, speaker, and a widely read blogger for small businesses and entrepreneurs. In today’s episode, Drew tells us what sales reps can do to differentiate themselves in competitive markets and how to connect and engage in a meaningful way with potential buyers. Among the topics we discuss are:
LEARN MORE ABOUT DREW MCLELLAN
What’s your most powerful sales asset?
I ask the questions prospects have never been asked before.
Name one app or tool you use for managing your sales today that you can’t live without.
The weekly meeting
Who is your sales role model?
Walt Disney
What’s one book that every salesperson should read?
What music is on your playlist?
I like an array of music: Big Band, Black Eyed Peas, and Country.
What’s the first sales activity you do every day?
I take a minute to be grateful for what I have.
CONTACT DREW MCLELLAN
Email: drew@mclellanmarketing.com
Art Sobczak is the founder of Business by Phone Inc. and bestselling author of Smart Calling: Eliminate the Fear, Failure, and Rejection from Cold Calling. In today’s episode, Art and I talk about cold calling. And, what every seller can do to master it. Among the topics we discuss are:
● How to close deals by making fewer, yet more informed calls.
● How to get a WIN on every call.
● How to leave a proper voicemail for your prospect.
● How to use a sales script more efficiently.
LEARN MORE ABOUT ART SOBCZAK
What’s your most powerful sales asset?
I am inquisitive.
Who is your sales role model?
I don’t have just one sales role model, I have a combination of many.
What’s one book that every salesperson should read?
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini, Ph.D.
What music is on your playlist?
I like Classic Rock: Rolling Stones, Doobie Brothers, and Led Zeppelin. However, if I want to listen to lyrics, I listen to Country.
What’s the first sales activity you do every day?
I get online and check my email. I never go a day without staying up to date with the most recent sales material.
CONTACT ART SOBCZAK
Jason Swenk is a self-proclaimed defender of truth, justice, and effective business practices. Jason helps small business owners develop the right systems to create winning proposals that drive the growth of their businesses. In today’s episode, Jason shares his key steps to writing a winning proposal. Among the topic we discuss are:
● Eight steps to writing an exceptional proposal.
● The difference between a cover letter and an executive summary.
● The common mistakes most people make when writing a proposal.
● Why you need to stop emailing proposals and present them instead.
● How to increase the closing percentage of your proposals.
LEARN MORE ABOUT JASON SWENK
What’s your most powerful sales asset?
The customer is the star, by asking questions, I change the focus from me to them.
Who is your sales role model?
I would say Steve Jobs for his business acumen and Tony Robbins for his personal attributes.
What’s one book that every salesperson should read?
Winning Ugly: Mental Warfare in Tennis--Lessons from a Master by Brad Gilbert and Steve Jamison
CONTACT JASON SWENK
My regular guest on Front Line Friday is Bridget Gleason, VP of Corporate Sales for SumoLogic. In this episode, Bridget and I share interesting stories from our sales careers and the lessons we have learned along the way. Among the topics we discuss are:
MORE ABOUT BRIDGET GLEASON
My first job in sales?
Selling and networking products and desktop computers for Xerox.
My most powerful sales tool?
LinkedIn Navigator.
One book every salesperson should read?
Winner’s Dream by Bill McDermott.
Music that psyches me up before an important sales call?
I tend to go quiet, and focus and role play the call instead of listening to music.
CONTACT BRIDGET GLEASON
Bridget is VP of Corporate Sales at SumoLogic. With more than twenty years of sales and sales management experience in the technology sector, Bridget joined SumoLogic’s executive team to lead and grow their inside sales organization. Her recent experience includes being VP of Sales for Yesware and SVP of Worldwide Sales for Engine Yard.
Contact Bridget:
Website: www.sumologic.com
John Livesay, is known as the ‘Pitch Whisperer,’ and he is the author of The 7 Most Powerful Selling Secrets. He shows startup companies the keys to becoming irresistible to potential investors. In today’s episode, John discusses his 5 C’s of investor presentations. Be sure to listen to learn the important differences between a sales presentation and an investor presentation. And, why passion and empathy are the keys to connecting with your audience.
LEARN MORE ABOUT JOHN LIVESAY
What’s your most powerful sales asset?
Confidence
Name one app or tool you use for managing your sales today that you can’t live without.
Infusionsoft
Who is your sales role model?
Tim Sanders
What’s one book that every salesperson should read?
How to Be a Power Connector: The 5+50+100 Rule for Turning Your Business Network into Profits by Judy Robinett
What music is on your playlist?
Adele
What’s the first sales activity you do every day?
The night before, I make sure I’m clear on the first five things I need to do the next morning.
What’s one question you get asked most by entrepreneurs trying to get funded?
Can you introduce me to investors?
CONTACT JOHN LIVESAY
Text the word Funding to 66866 to find out, from John himself, which 3 mistakes to avoid when pitching to investors.
Drew Neisser is founder and CEO of Renegade, the NYC-based marketing and social media agency that helps B2B and B2C clients cut through all the nonsense to deliver genuine business growth, and author of The CMO’s Periodic Table: A Renegade Guide to Marketing. In this episode, Drew discusses Marketing as Service and how to change the focus of your customer communications, in both marketing and sales, from being a message pusher to a value provider.
LEARN MORE ABOUT DREW NEISSER
What's your most powerful sales asset?
Asking myself, “What problem does the customer want to solve?”
Who’s your sales role model?
Daniel Lubetzky
What’s one book that every salesperson should read?
The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to Be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience by Carmine Gallo
What music is on your playlist right now?
I have a huge playlist, including The Rolling Stones, Yes, Toto, etc.
CONTACT DREW NEISSER
SPONSORS
ConnectAndSell:
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LiveHive:
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FREE RESOURCES
Free chapter from Amp Up Your Sales: Powerful Strategies That Move Customers to Make Fast, Favorable Decisions. Ranked as one the Top 20 most-highly rated sales books of all time by Amazon.
Free chapters from Zero-Time Selling, 10 Essential Steps to Accelerate Every Company’s Sales. Awarded one of Top 3 Sales & Marketing books of 2011 by Top Sales World.
ABOUT ANDY
Andy Paul is author of Amp Up Your Sales: Powerful Strategies That Move Customers To Make Fast, Favorable Decisions and Zero-Time Selling: 10 Essential Steps to Accelerate Every Company’s Sales. A sought-after speaker and business coach, Andy conducts workshops, coaches and consults with CEOs and sales teams to teach them how to maximize the value and power of their selling to rapidly increase their sales.
John Spence is a strategist, consultant, speaker, and author of five books including Awesomely Simple and Letters to a C.E.O. He is recognized as one of the Top 100 Business Thought Leaders in America and one of the Top 500 Leadership Development Experts in the World. In today’s episode, John and I discuss why every sales professional must make a commitment to continuous self-education. Among the topics we discuss are:
LEARN MORE ABOUT JOHN SPENCE
What's your most powerful sales asset?
Asking great questions and listening.
Name the one tool you use for managing your own sales that you can’t live without.
Evernote
Who’s your sales role model?
Neil Rackham and Mahan Khalsa
What’s one book that every salesperson should read?
Let’s Get Real or Let’s Not Play by Mahan Khalsa and Randy Illig,
SPIN Selling by Neil Rackham, Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey Moore, and Selling the Invisible by Harry Beckwith.
What music is on your playlist right now?
Vivaldi - John listens to Classical Music while he is reading.
What’s the first sales activity you do every day?
John figures out how to add value to his clients on a daily basis.
What’s the one question you get asked most by salespeople?
How can I get in to see the top level people?
CONTACT JOHN SPENCE
Website: John Spence
Lynn Hidy, the founder of UpYourTeleSales.com, is an expert at creating profitable inside sales teams. In today’s episode, Lynn and I discuss how companies can use insides sales to grow revenues in competitive markets. Among the topics we discuss are:
LEARN MORE ABOUT LYNN HIDY
What's your most powerful sales asset?
Enthusiasm
Who’s your sales role model?
Kendra Lee at KLA Group for Prospecting.
What’s one book that every salesperson should read?
Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative by Austin Kleon
What music is on your playlist right now?
Ramones
What’s the one question you get asked most by salespeople?
How can I make more money and work less?
CONTACT LYNN HIDY
(Make sure you message Lynn and tell her you heard her on my podcast).
My regular guest on Front Line Friday is Bridget Gleason, VP of Corporate Sales for SumoLogic. In this episode, Bridget and I talk about how paying attention to the details matters for sales success. Among the topics we discuss are:
Special announcement for Accelerate listeners! Bridget and I will conduct a show to answer your questions in regards to sales challenges, sales manager issues, or sales situations. Please email me at andy@zerotimesselling.com, with your name, title, a short description of your situation and question. On an upcoming episode, we will use our collective wisdom of sales to help you solve your issues.
MORE ABOUT BRIDGET GLEASON
My first job in sales?
Selling and networking products and desktop computers for Xerox.
My most powerful sales tool?
LinkedIn Navigator.
One book every salesperson should read?
Winner’s Dream by Bill McDermott.
Music that psyches me up before an important sales call?
I tend to go quiet and focus and role play the call instead of listening to music.
CONTACT BRIDGET GLEASON
Bridget is VP of Corporate Sales at SumoLogic. With more than twenty years of sales and sales management experience in the technology sector, Bridget joined SumoLogic’s executive team to lead and grow their inside sales organization. Her recent experience includes being VP of Sales for Yesware and SVP of Worldwide Sales for Engine Yard.
Contact Bridget:
Website: http://www.sumologic.com/
Matthew Bellows is the founder and CEO of Yesware, a sales automation tool which tracks open and reply rates, links clicked, opened attachments, and presentation page views. He was the Vice President of Sales at Vivox and served as a General Manager for Floodgate, which was acquired by Zynga. In today’s episode, Matthew discusses how to help the end user salesperson be more successful, getting access to their stream of data, and creating more and more benefits to growing businesses top-line. Among the topics we discuss are:
LEARN MORE ABOUT MATTHEW BELLOWS
What's your most powerful sales asset?
Authenticity
Who’s your sales role model?
Andy Grove
What’s one book that every salesperson should read?
Turning Your Mind into an Ally by Sakyong Mipham
What music is on your playlist right now?
The Decembrists
What’s the one question you get asked most by salespeople?
Can I have more leads?
CONTACT MATTHEW BELLOWS
Peter Strohkorb is an international business speaker, mentor, coach and author of a new book called The OneTEAM Method: How Sales + Marketing Collaboration boosts big business. He is the CEO of Peter Strohkorb Consulting International and creator of the OneTEAM Method for superior Sales and Marketing alignment and collaboration. In today’s episode, Peter shares the importance of sales and marketing collaborating together to ensure they get the sale and make their customer happy. Among these topics we discuss are:
LEARN MORE ABOUT PETER STROHKORB
What's your most powerful sales asset?
Peter likes to create an environment where there is no pressure by striking an upfront contract: “Tell me the truth and I won’t pressure you.”
Who’s your sales role model?
Neil Rackham
What’s one book that every salesperson should read?
The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation by Mathew Dixon and Brent Adamson
What music is on your playlist right now?
Kiss and ZZ Top
What’s the one question you get asked most frequently by salespeople?
How can I hit my targets?
CONTACT PETER STROHKORB
Ardath Albee is the best-selling author of eMarketing Strategies for the Complex Sales and Digital Relevance, president of her consulting firm, Marketing Interactions, and member of the Romance Writers of America. When not working, Ardath puts her Australian Shepherd, Bella, through agility routines. In today’s installment, Ardath discusses marketing and sales alignment, starting the conversation with prospects, and why random acts of content marketing do not prevail. Among the topics we discuss are:
LEARN MORE ABOUT ARDATH ALBEE
What's your most powerful sales asset?
Ardath is bold and challenges people to solve a bigger problem which they might not have realized exists.
Who’s your sales role model?
Jill Konrath
What’s one book that every salesperson should read?
Agile Selling: Get Up to Speed Quickly in Today’s Ever-Changing Sales World by Jill Konrath
What music is on your playlist right now?
Adele
What’s the first sales activity you do every day?
Check out Twitter and LinkedIn
CONTACT ARDATH ALBEE
Steve Rodgers, consultant, speaker and author of From Lead to Gold: An entrepreneur’s guide through transition, transformation, and evolution. He was the CEO/President of San Diego’s Real Living Lifestyles Real Estate and President and CEO of Prudential California Realty. In today’s episode, I talk with Steve about the 3 phases: transition, transform and evolve in life and business. Tune in to hear how to change your lifestyle from being money-centric to purpose-centric.
Bullet Points
LEARN MORE ABOUT STEVE RODGERS
What's your most powerful sales asset?
Authentic
Who’s your sales role model?
Brian Tracy
Name one book that every sales person should read.
Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning the Deal by Oren Klaff
What’s your favorite music to get you pumped up?
James Taylor, Pink, Fleetwood Mac, and Rihanna
What’s the first sales activity you do every day?
Meditate
What’s the most frequently asked question you get asked by salespeople?
How do I break through lagging profit and get to the next level of sales?
What’s one tool you use for you now sales management that you can’t live without?
iPhone
CONTACT STEVE RODGERS
My regular guest on Front Line Friday is Bridget Gleason, VP of Corporate Sales for SumoLogic. In this episode, Bridget and I talk about what sales reps, and managers, can do to maintain high levels of personal motivation. Among the topics we discuss are:
Special announcement for Accelerate listeners! Bridget and I will conduct a show to answer your questions in regards to sales challenges, sales manager issues, or sales situations. Please email me at andy@zerotimesselling.com with your name, title, the short description of your situation and question. On an upcoming episode, we will use our collective wisdom of sales to help you solve your issues.
MORE ABOUT BRIDGET GLEASON
My first job in sales?
Selling and networking products and desktop computers for Xerox.
My most powerful sales tool?
LinkedIn Navigator.
One book every salesperson should read?
Winner’s Dream by Bill McDermott.
Music that psyches me up before an important sales call?
I tend to go quiet and focus and role play the call instead of listening to music.
CONTACT BRIDGET GLEASON
Bridget is VP of Corporate Sales at SumoLogic. With more than twenty years of sales and sales management experience in the technology sector, Bridget joined SumoLogic’s executive team to lead and grow their inside sales organization. Her recent experience includes being VP of Sales for Yesware and SVP of Worldwide Sales for Engine Yard.
Contact Bridget:
Website: http://www.sumologic.com/
Dave Blake is the founder and CEO of ClientSuccess, a platform that helps Customer Success team proactively manage, retain and grow their existing customer base. In this episode, Dave talks about retaining customers, opening doors to up-selling, and minimizing the churn among subscribers focused on helping Customer Success Teams achieve their mission. Among the topics we discuss are:
LEARN MORE ABOUT DAVE BLAKE
What's your most powerful sales asset?
Building genuine relationships.
Who’s your sales role model?
Chris Harrington: President of Domo.
What’s one book that every Customer Success Manager should read?
Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek
What music is on your playlist right now?
Dave listens to all types of music ranging from boy bands, thanks to his five daughters, to Tabernacle Choir.
What’s the first sales activity you do every day?
Dave focuses on deepening his relationships every day with customers and prospects.
CONTACT DAVE BLAKE
John Smibert, is the co-founder and CEO of Australia-based Strategic Selling Group. John is on a mission to elevate the professionalism of sales. Tune into this episode to hear John talk about how the potential risk of too much automation in sales and to learn an efficient approach sales managers should use to train their team. Among the many topics we discuss are:
LEARN MORE ABOUT JOHN SMIBERT
What's your most powerful sales asset?
Discovery
Who’s your sales role model?
Everyone needs to find a mentor or coach., John’s coach, John Hoag changed his life.
Name one book that every sales person should read.
Joshua Principle: Leadership Secrets of Selling by Tony Hughes
Your Roadmap to Sales Management Success by Wayne Moloney
Rebirth of the Salesman: The World of Sales is Evolving. Are You? by Cian McLoughlin
The Art of Commercial Conversations: When It’s Your Turn To Make A Difference by Bernadette McClelland
What music is on your playlist?
Beetles, Bee Gees, Rolling Stones and Classical Music.
What’s the one question you get asked frequently by salespeople?
How do I find prospects?
CONTACT/RESOURCES JOHN SMIBERT
John Murphy is a European-based executive coach who works with senior executives, business owners, and management teams to help them achieve their business objectives. In this episode, John discusses how to bolster your emotional intelligence and how money should not be a company’s sole motivation. Among the topics we discuss are:
LEARN MORE ABOUT JOHN MURPHY
What's your most powerful sales asset?
Passion
Who’s your sales role model?
Sir Richard Branson
Name one book that every sales person should read.
Mindful Work: How Meditation Is Changing Business from the Inside Out by David Gelles
What music is on your playlist right now?
Adele and David Bowe
What’s the first sales activity you do every day?
John sends out articles via email to ten people on his list.
What’s the one question you get asked most frequently by managers?
How can I be better at time management?
CONTACT JOHN MURPHY
Author, speaker, and entrepreneur, Gene Hammett, is the founder of Core Elevation, Inc. He is a business coach to high-achieving leaders and host of the Leaders in the Trenches podcast. In today’s episode, Gene and I discuss the steps entrepreneurs should take to establish a leadership position in the market they serve. Among the topics we discuss are:
LEARN MORE ABOUT GENE HAMMETT
What's your most powerful sales asset?
Listening
Who’s your sales role model?
Michael Port
Name one book that every sales person should read.
Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek
What music is on your playlist right now?
Gene doesn’t listen to much music; mainly, he listens to podcasts.
What’s the first sales activity you do every day?
Gene looks at his schedule for the upcoming day and begins to think about how he can serve his clients.
CONTACT GENE HAMMETT
My regular guest on Front Line Friday is Bridget Gleason, VP of Corporate Sales for SumoLogic. In today’s episode, Bridget and I talk about managing and coaching under-performing sales reps. Sometimes, that can include respectfully managing those reps into other career opportunities. Be sure to join us for this information-packed episode! Among the topics we discuss are:
MORE ABOUT BRIDGET GLEASON
My first job in sales?
Selling and networking products and desktop computers for Xerox.
My most powerful sales tool?
LinkedIn Navigator.
One book every salesperson should read?
Winner’s Dream by Bill McDermott.
Music that psyches me up before an important sales call?
I tend to go quiet and focus and role play the call instead of listening to music.
CONTACT BRIDGET GLEASON
Bridget is VP of Corporate Sales at SumoLogic. With more than twenty years of sales and sales management experience in the technology sector, Bridget joined SumoLogic’s executive team to lead and grow their inside sales organization. Her recent experience includes being VP of Sales for Yesware and SVP of Worldwide Sales for Engine Yard.
Contact Bridget:
Website: http://www.sumologic.com/
T.A. McCann is a serial entrepreneur and a co-founder of Rival IQ, a digital intelligence gathering tool which enables you to analyze your performance, gain critical insights and beat your competition across social media, SEO keywords and website content. In today's episode, T.A. and I discuss how sales teams can leverage real-time intelligence about the digital activities, and successes, of their competitors to become smarter and more competitive sellers. Be sure to tune in today!
Rival IQ has been helping understand competitors for 3.5 years. The company spans over 40 countries with over 400 customers. This solution was built for digital marketers to compare themselves quickly to other enterprises on a variety of different platforms.
It’s simple. Add your URL and insert the company’s URL you want to compare to, then the magic happens behind the scenes. Rival IQ will take a screenshot of your competition’s major web pages; it will find the top SEO keywords and their general SEM, check out all of their social media platforms and will get and rank all of the content. The process of gaining all of this useful knowledge usually takes less than 5 minutes with Rival IQ, but could take hours upon hours to research.
Digital marketers utilize this program to automate their process of reporting, receiving and understanding of new content areas, and monitor all of the content in a 24 h cycle. Every day the program checks if there is anything new going on that you should be aware of and will send you alerts.
Rival IQ has made exporting data simple and easy using a CSV or PowerPoint format. This program isn’t just for marketing and is also geared for salespeople. The alerts, which are powerful for sales reps, will continuously look for changes and inform the sales rep so they can reach out to the potential buyer and offer them suggestions based on those alerts.
Rival IQ starts out at $200 per month and will give you valuable ways to connect with your customer or prospect. This product in combination with other tools that analyze companies’ changes in technologies can give sale reps and corporations an interesting perspective on what their clients are doing. Mighty Signal is a program that does the same thing, but primarily for mobile apps.
T.A. is a board member of FullContact, a contact management company that effectively creates a connection for everyone you interact with, enhances it with social media profile, syncs to all of your platforms, and de-dupes all of the contacts to have a socially enhanced book of contacts. There is also an API format that you can check out on the website.
Rival IQ’s most valuable tool at the moment is a program called Intercom, a customer platform with a plethora of different products for live chat, feedback, marketing, and support.
LEARN MORE ABOUT T.A. MCCANN
What's your most powerful sales asset?
Customer Advocacy
Who’s your sales role model?
Nathan Cowan
Name one book that every sales person should read.
The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg
What’s your favorite music to get you pumped up?
The National
What’s the first sales activity you do every day?
T.A. looks at how the most recent successful customer closes with knowledge of how closely they match the perception of the personas they are selling to.
What’s one tool you use for you now sales management that you can’t live without?
Intercom
CONTACT/RESOURCES T.A. MCCANN
How winning the America’s Cup is like building a successful startup
Meridith Elliot Powell is an award-winning author, speaker, and coach. She has authored several books, including Winning In the Trust & Value Economy and her latest, Own It: Redefining Responsibility-Stories of Power, Freedom & Purpose, which is about how to build cultures that inspire ownership to create profits. In today’s episode, I chat with Meridith about how salespeople and companies should practice the art of relationship building with their prospects and how to continue adding value to their existing customers. Tune in to learn how you can be the one to win the sale over your competition. Among the topics we discuss are: