Watch the replay of this important #SalesChats with Amy Franko on “How To Build a Winning Sales Plan in 3 Steps”

00:00 Introduction

04:30 Step 1 – Key Goals & Milestones

12:10 Step 2 – Key Verticals

18:02 Step 3 – Ideal Target Customers

25:36 Recap

27:21 Power Tip

Now more than ever, companies are having to re-address their sales plans and even look at pivoting into adjacent or completely new markets. The issue is clear but the challenge is how to build a plan that clearly identifies the market, the target buyer and a sales strategy to go after both. And if these challenges are not enough, the timeframes have dramatically decreased given the uncertainty of the times we live in so this sales chat will also address how you plan for much shorter windows than ever. Amy Franko joined host John Golden to answer these important questions.

How to become proactive rather than reactive in sales? In this Expert Insight Interview, Alex Goldfayn discusses a five-minute selling system. Alex Goldfayn is a global sales consultant on creating systematic and predictable sales growth and the author of his new book 5 Minute Selling.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

• Being Proactive
• Positive Mindset
• The Power of Repetitiveness
• The Power of Silence

Be Proactive

Most of the salespeople call their customers reactively when the business is not doing well. What they need to start doing is to call their customers proactively. Five minutes is enough for these types of calls. You would start a call with some small talk and then intentionally pivot it to the business. The point is that when you show presence and communicate your care to your customers often, they will be more approachable and rewarding to you.

Positive Mindset

To boost your sales, you must have the right mindset. Thus, you must believe that you have a tremendous value to offer to your customers and then you must act accordingly as well. You must show confidence, boldness, and optimism in your selling technique. However, it is easier said than done. We know that calls are more effective than emails but most of the people still choose to communicate over the email because they did not overcome the fear and discomfort. In that case, leadership needs to step up and focus on mindset work among its employees. Around 90 to 95 percent of salespeople are reactive, so if you learn to use phone calls proactively you will already be in a huge advantage over the competition.

The Power of Repetitiveness

Five minutes sound little for sales growth. But if you think of five minutes as a system that you use every day for selling then the sales growth starts to make more sense. The power of this system is in its repetitiveness. We know that statistically one out of five “did you know…” questions end up in closing a sale. Those 5 questions to ask will only take 15 seconds, so in this context, five minutes sound like more than enough time. So, for 5,000 questions over a year, a thousand will close a sale. And now, imagine 10 people or more doing this system.

The Power of Silence

Many salespeople feel uncomfortable or scared asking their customers for the referrals and the ones who do ask become extremely nervous during the silence period. However, silence is good because it leaves time for thinking. There are two types of silences. The first one is when you ask a question and leave silence for the person to think and answer the question. And the second one is when somebody talks to you, give them a couple of seconds of silence to remember if they have anything else on their mind.

Our Host

John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.

The volume of live entertainment shows went from 100 percent to 0 percent in such short notice. Regarding that, Jim McCarthy discusses the future of live entertainment in today’s Expert Insight Interview. Jim McCarthy is a co-founder and CEO of Goldstar Events and Stellar.

This interview explores:

• Rise of Online Live Entertainment
• The Platform

The Rise of Online Live Entertainment

Live entertainment is one of the industries hit the hardest by the Covid19 pandemic. However, live entertainment does have strong roots in our culture, and it is something that will have a come-back, we just do not have the answer when. The come-back might be full of ups and downs until the vaccine or appropriate treatment is found, but after that, it should have a steady rise. During this period, people started to improvise and to use the resources they had; thus, we all witnessed the creation of many online shows. The pioneering shows had casually improvised style, but now there is a professional platform designed to give live entertainment producers or venues tools to make online events. For example, Korean pop band BTS held an online concert a couple of weeks ago and sold 750,000 tickets. That same band last year held concerts 3 nights in a row in California and all together sold only a fraction of this year’s tickets. So, the reach that online live entertainment offers made it a supercharge to the entertainment industry.

The Platform

This type of platform is made for professional live entertainment no matter the performer’s experience or size. It integrates the ticketing and streaming, so it offers tickets just as if you are at the in-person event. It offers high-quality sound and video, the ability to watch from a TV, interaction with other fans and it even offers applause. This platform is made especially for these types of events and not for meetings or webinars. The platform is used by magicians, bands, comedy clubs, etc. The biggest challenge is to overcome that feeling of an empty auditorium, but live chat offers the needed live interaction with fans. The important thing is to remember that online live and in-person live entertainment are not mutually exclusive. The introduction of online options only expanded the target audience because now people who cannot attend it in-person still have the option to attend the live performance virtually. Online options also increased the value of in-person tickets not financially but in the sense of the whole experience. In conclusion, online live entertainment represents a huge opportunity to become a permanently profitable business model.

Our Host

John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist, he has conducted over 1500 video interviews of thought leaders for Sales POP! online sales magazine & YouTube Channel and for audio podcast channels where Sales POP! is rated in the top 2% of most popular shows out of 3,320,580 podcasts globally, ranked by Listen Score. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.

Do you have an entrepreneurial mind, but you are not quite familiar with the business process and practice? In this Expert Insight Interview, Jeff Chastain discusses the Entrepreneurial Operating System or EOS. Jeff Chastain is the founder and CEO of Admentus, Inc., creator, problem solver, and professional EOS implementor

This Expert Insight Interview explores:

• Importance of implementing your vision
• Trusting the process and employees
• Perfect time for growth

Implement Your Vision

Considering that many entrepreneurs have an idea in mind but not necessarily an MBA background, EOS is a series of business practices, tools, and processes that help to create a business foundation for the entrepreneurial idea. The idea starts with the core team, but then the team starts to expand into the marketing sector, sales sector, etc. When the team expands, it is crucial to stay loyal to the visionary idea that the entrepreneur had from the beginning and to put it into practice in all sectors. Vision represents the company’s core values and everybody should follow those values. Vision also defines the company’s target market, values which bring to that target market, and what differentiates it from the competitors. That way marketing and sales teams are on the same page. The vision includes goals that the company aims to achieve for instance in the next 7 to 10 years as well. When everybody in the team gets excited about the company’s vision then the company is on a good path to success.

Trust

Entrepreneurs are the visionaries in their companies, and they need to learn to step back and to delegate. As the CEO of your business, you are not needed every day in every department overlooking things. The key is to have the process and structure of doing the business established without killing the creativity and flexibility of your team. As long as the results are as required, your team should feel the freedom of doing their jobs their way instead of acting like robots. The process supposed to be flexible, dynamic, and easy for the employees to learn because it is designed to speed up the work and make it more efficient.

Time to Grow

We experience the downturn in the market nowadays due to the pandemic, thus this is the perfect time for the entrepreneurial organization to build and strengthen its infrastructure. During the market downturn, the company should use its resources for research and innovation. If the company becomes more productive and efficient with smaller resources, it will have a huge advantage when the economy starts to lift back up. With the strong infrastructure already put in place, the organization will be well-positioned to scale its business when the market picks up.

Our Host

John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist, he has conducted over 1500 video interviews of thought leaders for Sales POP! online sales magazine & YouTube Channel and for audio podcast channels where Sales POP! is rated in the top 2% of most popular shows out of 3,320,580 podcasts globally, ranked by Listen Score. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.

The traditional way of marketing got an update in terms of digital marketing. So, in this Expert Insight Interview, Paxton Gray discusses how to get the maximum from the money you invested in digital marketing. Paxton Gray is the CEO of 97th Floor, an award-wining, one of the nation’s top digital marketing agencies.

This interview discusses:

The expansion of information offered
How to get market insights

Information Expansion

Digital marketing includes building websites, content, SEO, design, advertising, analytics, etc. The greatest thing about marketing digitalization is that now we can know what is happening from the beginning to the end. We do not need to follow our gut or intuition anymore because there is analytics to show us what our audience and market act and react the best. To learn on which platforms they should promote their business, companies should talk to their customers. They should send surveys, learn where their customers live, learn which platforms they use, even learn which content they consume. For example, in the B2B market, many people underestimate the power of the Instagram platform and emphasize the LinkedIn. Only around 20 percent of B2B businesses are on Instagram and the majority are on LinkedIn, but most of their target audience is using the Instagram platform.

How to Get Market Insights

The truth is that many businesses do not have market insights, but there are marketing tools to get it. Analytics will track everything including all conversions that happen on your website. Market research will through keywords give insights into the areas that people are interested in. Customer experience review will show if your company fits the industry landscape. Checking the purchase cycle will show what leads to ultimate conversion and what is irrelevant on the website. This type of in-depth market research and analytics takes time; thus, it is important not to expect immediate solutions. It varies by the company, but based on the company’s budget and time frame, there are certain KPIs that serve as a goal to be reached. The common misconception is that since digital marketing is online it is very cheap. Yes, there are ways to promote your business for little money and that is okay if you are a start-up small business. But, if you start running ads and if you do it wrong, it can take a huge amount of money from you quickly because you will get in the race with large companies that are financially stronger than you. LinkedIn is for example notorious for taking a big amount of money from you quickly. In that case, the solution is in content and knowing your audience.

Our Host

John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist, he has conducted over 1500 video interviews of thought leaders for Sales POP! online sales magazine & YouTube Channel and for audio podcast channels where Sales POP! is rated in the top 2% of most popular shows out of 3,320,580 podcasts globally, ranked by Listen Score. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.

This year brought dramatic changes in our lives. And, stress is usually directly related to the change. So, in this Expert Insight Interview, performance coach and business psychologist Sue Firth discuss how leadership can manage its stress.

This interview explores:

• How right leadership reduces stress
• Practical things to do

Reduce Stress with Right Leadership

Leaders tend to be more open to the things that are out of their comfort zone, thus they approach many things with less stress than other people. But this Covid19 situation affects them significantly and differently than other people. As very goal-oriented people, the best thing they can do is to create short term goals for the business considering that nobody has long-term answers yet. Leaders are the backbone of the organization at this moment and the ones who must show the resilience to their employees. Many companies became virtual and leaner during a pandemic, thus the internal communication is the key now. It is very important to send more personal messages to the employees rather than a generic email. Also, it is important to stay open and honest with your employees, but at the same time sensible enough not to worry them. The communication needs to be constant. Virtual work became the norm for many businesses which allowed for more flexibility regarding the workplace and hours. Measuring performance by the results is still the same, thus as long as employees produce the same or better results there is no need to worry about their productivity and efficiency. Managing and leading people still have the same fundamentals.

Things to Embrace

Considering that our reality changed, we must change as well. Leaders should pace their day to have enough time to devote to the exercise and rest because having constant Zoom meetings will cause an overwhelming feeling. They should also meet with other leaders to discuss the tips, situations, and just to get a feeling that they are not alone in this. They should also model their behavior to the employees. Staying positive, accepting the change, and taking control of what we can at the moment are great models for the employees to follow. A moment like this call for resilience. Coming up with a one-line mantra such as “we will get through this” will help the overall team to embrace the resilience they have in themselves. If the business does not go well, there are many options to diversify the business. For example, if you produce plastic, you can start making much-needed plastic visors. In conclusion, there is always a silver lining for everything that happens in life. Thus, this is a great time to reflect on what is important for us and what makes us happy and to continue to do those things even when the pandemic finishes.

Our Host

John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist, he has conducted over 1500 video interviews of thought leaders for Sales POP! online sales magazine & YouTube Channel and for audio podcast channels where Sales POP! is rated in the top 2% of most popular shows out of 3,320,580 podcasts globally, ranked by Listen Score. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.

Writing a book about your business is a great way to introduce yourself to the world. In this Expert Insight Interview, Michelle Vandepas discusses how to write a book and what it can do for your business. Michelle Vandepas is an expert for entrepreneurs, personal development experts, and quantum healers wanting to tell their stories by becoming authors. She is also the co-Founder of GracePoint Matrix and GracePoint Publishing companies.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

• Book Benefits
• The Process

Book Benefits

Writing and publishing the book on your expertise gives you instant exposure and credibility with a mass audience. Sometimes there is a direct correlation between reading the book and hiring the author, and sometimes it is a marketing tool to expand your brand awareness. Book sale brings the income as well, but the main point of publishing the book leads to a different call to action. Most of the time the book is a sales letter for service that you provide.

The Process

Writing a book requires a strategy. The first thing to do is to determine what is the primary thing you want your readers to know. For example, if you would write a marketing book you would want your readers to know how you determine your target audience. Is it demographics, age, gender? Also, you can explain the process of determining which group spends more money and which spends less but it is a repeat customer. That would be your outline. Since you are not a professional writer, there are writing coaches who can help you in writing and editors who will polish your book at the end. Remember, your main point is to put your idea out there. Many authors start feeling the Imposter syndrome doubting themselves and their expertise, but there are things to do to eliminate the self-doubt. Things like creating a cover page, getting a headshot, or starting a promotion on social media can bring back the excitement. The process takes different times for different people. It depends on your commitment and pace, but the writing process usually takes between 3 months to a year. After the writing is done, it takes around 3 more months to edit, design, extra proof, and finally to publish. Books are nowadays offered in hard copy, eBook version, or even as an audiobook. This is a great time to write a book because people have more free time to devote to themselves, thus, they can read or listen to the book during that time. In conclusion, if you have an idea that you want to tell the world, overcome the fear, and just do it.

Our Host

John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist, he has conducted over 1500 video interviews of thought leaders for Sales POP! online sales magazine & YouTube Channel and for audio podcast channels where Sales POP! is rated in the top 2% of most popular shows out of 3,320,580 podcasts globally, ranked by Listen Score. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.

Company culture plays an important role in growing your business. In this Expert Insight Interview, Bill Higgs discusses how an intentional culture can double your bottom line. Bill Higgs is one of the founders of Mustang Engineering, Inc., one of the 500 fastest-growing companies in America. He is the culture code champion and an expert in building high-performance company culture.

This interview discusses:

• Creating a people-first culture
• Virtual way of doing business

People First Culture

Company culture is simply how you get things done. By creating a people-first culture within your company, you will reduce your turnover and save great cost on hiring and training new workers. People’s culture does not mean providing pool tables and massage chairs for your employees, but rather hiring people who will be a great addition to the company and respecting and valuing them. In a company that values performance, all employees must take accountability for their actions. However, accountability comes naturally if we succeed to break the silos and perfect internal communication and handoffs. So, if everybody does their part of the job right and hand off to another person within the deadline, people will naturally take accountability for their actions. Building the culture in which employees will be efficient and the company will “stay lean” in the good times will help the company stay efficient during the downturn as well. And when the downturn like this pandemic happens, the leadership needs to lead on creating a positive mindset within the organization.

Virtual Way

We could say that one good thing that came out of this pandemic is that it pushed us about 15 years in the future regarding virtual offices. Everybody knew that virtual work is possible, but for some reason, the minimum amount of people were doing it. And now, the majority of companies set up their systems to allow their employees to work from home. And for many businesses, employee performance and efficiency went up because this type of work naturally requires better communication and handoffs between employees. And even when the pandemic is done, many companies will continue this virtual trend of doing business. This type of work allows for flexibility in work hours as long as the deadlines are met, lowers travel time, and enables people better work-life balance. The traditional way of doing business is starting to change. In conclusion, the important things to do to create a performance culture are to perfect the internal communication and to create a sense of team that everybody wants to get into because then you can choose who you want into your team. Remember, from selection comes quality. And lastly, make sure that your team has secured jobs because then they will focus on productivity and performance instead of looking for other jobs.

Our Host

John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist, he has conducted over 1500 video interviews of thought leaders for Sales POP! online sales magazine & YouTube Channel and for audio podcast channels where Sales POP! is rated in the top 2% of most popular shows out of 3,320,580 podcasts globally, ranked by Listen Score. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.