Risk Taking and Decision Making in Sales

Risk taking and decision making are key parts in the context of selling and sales. The goal for everyone is to make the best decisions and right decisions to get where you want to go, as quickly and efficiently as possible. Sometimes, it requires risk-taking activities in order to arrive at your goals. Caspar Berry, interviewed by John Golden, explores lessons on risk.

This expert sales interview explores:

• The role that risk-taking plays in sales
• How to consciously manage risk
• Three key skills to have when managing risk

Risk Taking in Sales:

Every decision is an investment decision, be it buying a car, investing time in a relationship, you’re allocation resources, be it reputation, time, or money. When we make this investment and utilize these resources, we want a return on our investment. This is a process that everyone makes and goes through. Looking at it from the lens of a salesperson, the goal is to become in control of that process, instead of the process being in control of you.

Managing Risk:

Risky activities are necessary in the sales world. Things like being honest, or hiring salespeople, are all considered risk-taking activities. But, managing these necessary, risky activities are very possible. Risk is often thought of as this impulse decision to do something risky, but in the sales world especially, this isn’t the case. You can be intentional about the risk-taking behaviors you use, and ensure that you are more likely to get the return on investment from the risk. It involves analyzing the process and weighing the pros and cons of taking the risk and allocating the right resources. It’s a much more conscious, thoughtful process. Creating a system for managing risk is dependent on the market, what you’re selling, and other factors that Berry explains.

Patience, Resilience, and Discipline:

There are three important skills for salespeople to have when navigating the risky world of sales. The first is patience. Patience is about waiting for the right opportunity to come along. There is a tendency of salespeople to jump into the first prospect without qualifying them and ensuring they are in the target market. Like poker where you have to wait for the right hand, you have to be patient and right for the right prospect and deal to come along. The third skill is resilience. There is a lot about the sales world that isn’t controllable. You could be the best salesperson and have the hottest lead, but if you catch that person on the wrong day, you still might not get the sale. There is a gap between what we do and the result that salespeople can’t always control. Resilience is the ability to push through that uncertainty. The third skill is discipline. In poker, the way that you win money is to prepare to take a risk. To make a profit in poker, you have to be prepared to fold. There is a taboo around quitting, especially in the sales world. But every moment that you spend working with a client that isn’t going to buy from you because you want to see the process through is a moment you waste that could be spent on a client that you could actually close a deal with.

To learn more about managing risk and making better decisions in sales, watch the expert sales interview!

About 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.

Justin Cohen’s New Book: Step #3 “Optimism”

Moving right along with the key steps of the formula to win, step 3 is optimism. “I am optimistic that this is going to be an important part of the pitch to win process,” joked Justin Cohen, who was interviewed by John Golden on his six-step formula to pitch to win. Be sure to tune in every week to learn all six steps.

Optimism:

When exploring the central qualities of top salespeople, one might guess that it would be work experience or qualifications that led to success. However, the research suggests that it is actually optimism that makes for great salespeople. People who expect the best are quick to turn a problem into an opportunity. They eat, drink, and breath positivity, and that translates into their performance. When people have the positive expectation that they will get the deal, most often they do.

Getting the Deal:

Part of why optimism is so important in sales is because rejection is a constant. Sellers face rejection at every part of the sales cycle, and if you take a pessimistic approach, you will never get past that first no. It takes between 5 and 12 exposures to a product or service before people will be comfortable enough to buy. A pessimistic salesperson might be very qualified, but if they hear no, they think it’s over. The optimist thinks that if they change their approach, and get back in there, there’s a good chance they’ll get a yes. And often, they do. “The optimist goes back,” said Cohen. “It’s really as simple as that. Optimism is the mindset of persistence. Persistence is critical when it comes to sales, because of all that rejection.”

Why Persistence is Important:

Very few people immediately take on a new product or service. Quite frankly, that would not be very smart. There is a process of assessment that’s required. This assessment process is something that goes back to these caveman brains of ours which, are taught to deal with a threatening environment. If someone has never heard of your product or service before, it is something that could be threatening. Buyers take the time to explore and get to know you and what you’re offering before determining if it is safe to accept into their life or not. The rejection that salespeople face is par for the course, and a pessimistic person will fall short if they do not develop more of an optimistic approach to interacting and selling.

You can watch the rest of the pitch to win series here: Pitch to Win Series 

To get a more in-depth look at how to pitch to win, be sure to check out Justin Cohen’s book

About 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.

Justin Cohen’s New Book: Step #2 “Team”

The next stage of the six-step process of pitching to win is the second “T” part of the TTOPPS acronym, which stands for a team. Justin Cohen explains how vital a cohesive team is for pitching in this discussion with John Golden. Watch the video to learn more, and check back every week for the rest of the steps.

The Importance of a Team:

In a complex sale, you are rarely selling on your own. You’re usually working together with other salespeople on the sales team to create a united front. Plus, you’re generally not selling to just one person, you’re working with multiple buyers. There are many occasions where you may pitch on your own, but the major pitches that are more difficult are usually with various people. Plus, if you can get more than one person into the pitch, it is very impressive to the prospect. They realize that they’re not dealing with an individual, but with a team.

Backed by Experience:

“Almost everything in the pitch to win process was created through direct experience. If you had told me at the beginning that ‘team’ was going to be part of the formula, I would have said, ‘what for?’ It was only through work making multi-million dollar sales, and lots of experience, that I discovered how vital unifying a team of salespeople is,” said Cohen.

The Importance of Cohesion:

I realized that when was team discord, it was caused because they were nervous, and highly stressed. In situations like this, it’s easy for individuals to rub each other the wrong way. This conflict, though, negatively impacts performance. “It was very clearly apparent to me that you have acknowledged why you are part of a team,” said Cohen. “If I were choosing a team to come into my business, I would want to know that my team is cohesive and works well together.”

Buyer Perspective:

The buyers are right to judge you on how cohesive you are as a team. There was a study conducted surveying 360 business units. This study found that the number one factor in determining the success of a team is how the members felt about one another. High affinity amongst group members and a general likeness of one another is indicative of high performance. Low affinity tends to create the low performance.

You can watch the rest of the pitch to win series here: Pitch to Win Series 

To get a more in-depth look at how to pitch to win, be sure to check out Justin Cohen’s book

About 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.

Getting the Consumer’s Attention

The way that consumers interact with marketing advances has changed in the last few years. One of the primary goals of the sales and marketing teams are to find new prospects and convert them into customers. This has become difficult, though, as the consumer population has become resistant to advertising in traditional marketing methods. People are becoming very savvy in their tactics for getting away from advertising. They are using things like add blocks or fast-forwarding through TV commercials, which has created a challenge for sellers to get their message to consumers. Jamie Turner, interviewed by John Golden, explores specific marketing hacks that you can do to get people to engage with your brand and ultimately buy your product.

This expert sales & marketing interview explores marketing hacks:

• Nonlinear Marketing
• How to Market on a Budget
• Creating authenticity in marketing

Nonlinear Marketing:

Traditional marketing is very linear and in your face. Nonlinear marketing is a new era of communicating with prospects that weaves the fabric of the brand into the consumer’s life. Instead of interrupting the consumer with a 30 second TV commercial or video, you’re instead becoming part of the consumer’s life so that it’s a seamless experience. They are participating in the brand’s life, and the brand is participating in the consumer’s life, and the result is that it doesn’t feel like advertising or marketing. It’s connecting with people, as opposed to shouting at people.

Marketing on a Budget:

Marketing might be a concern for smaller companies with smaller budgets. But, the more experiential, engaged form of linear marketing is easier to do with a smaller budget than the more passive linear marketing. For example, you can host events around town, use sidewalk chalk to send messages, or create another method of advertising where people see a new, novel thing to engage with. Do things that are innovative, interesting, positive, and different. It’s not about the amount of money you spend, it’s about the breakthrough ideas that you have, and using them to seamlessly engage with the consumers.

Authenticity in Marketing:

Particularly in today’s’ environment, people are looking for authenticity, not salesmanship. The idea of being loud and selling to someone isn’t effective. An authentic, participatory environment where buyers can become part of the brand resonates with consumers and works for businesses. One company that did this effectively is RedBull. They disregarded traditional marketing in exchange for hosting events, sponsoring sports teams, and publishing music. They also hosted an air race event. This event was created not just to slap their logo on an activity, but instead to create something that was adrenaline inducing, unique, and that resonated with their target market. It was more than just sponsoring an event; it was building an event around their consumer and the goals of their consumer.

Getting Started:

It’s difficult to think about how to take marketing to the next level when it’s already a struggle to finish your current to-do list. To adopt linear marketing, start small. The goal is to set up a series of meetings where you have a team that starts brainstorming ideas. This can be a low-pressure meeting where the goal is to just get options onto the table. Even if most of the brainstorming isn’t useful, there will be a few stand out ideas that can eventually percolate into something more tangible.

To learn more about marketing hacks and integrating nonlinear marketing, watch the full expert sales interview.

About 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.

Pipeliner CRM empowers sales managers to specifically train, mentor and coach teams. Try it for free today.

We all face disasters in life. Sometimes when people have disasters, they don’t embrace it as an opportunity. They don’t move forward, and they let the disaster negatively define the rest of their lives. However, this doesn’t have to be the case. Adrian Gilpin, interviewed by John Golden, shares his story about how his disaster transformed his life for the better.

This expert sales interview explores transforming disaster:

-The beginning of Gilpin’s journey
-How he got inspired
-Creating ideas that work
-The importance of daily discipline
-How to rewrite your story

The Beginning:

Endings often lead to new beginnings. That was the case for Adrian Gilpin. He was involved in a business project in which he invested his entire life. This included two to three years of hard work and investing financially in company shares, only to lose all of it. After selling his house and moving in with his grandparents, he managed to get through this difficult time. “I supposed that I was ready to meet a teacher, to bump into somebody who was going to light a path,” said Gilpin. And he did. This mentor was Anthony Robbins. Gilpin went to one of his seminars. “This evening picked me up and shook me and rattled me about, and inspired me just to take more steps,” said Gilpin. “To step forward and do something different. I was the beginning of a very long journey of learning and discovery for me.”

The Inspiration:

We have all attended a seminar or conference with the hopes of being inspired and getting new ideas to help propel us forward. But more often than not, the things learned at these seminars are not put into place, and don’t become the catalyst for long-term change. Gilpin did not fall into this common pitfall. “I think it was probably an accident of circumstances, various pieces of a jigsaw puzzle coming together,” said Gilpin. He credits the ideas shared at the various seminars and events that he attended, as well as reading books on personal efficacy, energy and emotion, all things that had never before been part of his landscape. This, in combination with the desire to support his young family, created a motivation that pulled him out of his rut.

Ideas that Work:

“There was a need to stop sitting around licking my wounds feeling sorry for myself, so I decided to put some of the ideas into practice. And, they do work,” said Gilpin. “The simplest of ideas around personal development work. If you do something different, you’re going to get a different result. It wasn’t long before I convinced myself that thinking in a new way and being more optimistic and determined and taking action on these ideas was making a difference. Things were beginning to happen for me.” It begins with small steps that create momentum that lead to more significant, concrete changes.

Daily Discipline:

One of the things that Gilpin did to start transforming disaster was to set a goal and work towards it daily. His goal was to speak and teach others, and he began by slowly documenting some of his ideas. “I thought, ‘wouldn’t it be great if I could stand up on a platform and stand in front of people and facilitate people through learning some of the ideas that I had heard?’” said Gilpin. This daily practice of writing ideas turned into speaking these ideas out loud into a recorder. He then transcribed the tapes, enriching and adding understanding as he wrote them out. These documents formed the basis of his first teaching seminar and the outline of his book. Sometimes a path leads to a destination, and sometimes a path leads to another path that will eventually get you to your destination. The important part is to continue traveling.

Write Your Own Story:

We all have anxieties. It’s part of human nature. Some of these anxieties and inhibitions are very obvious, like public speaking or making a cold call. But, many of them are hidden fears. Gilpin considers these anxieties stories with an inevitable outcome; Unless you rewrite them. “If I hold onto my doubts and fears and anxieties, they will become true. I learned to notice those stories, and rewrite them, and turn the page, and write a new chapter, and develop a story, my story, in a different way,” said Gilpin. “It’s a fundamental part of the way I try to live my life. I hear the wrong stories, the stories that are going to lead me astray, I say ‘that needs rewriting.’ I tackle it like I’m writing a script.”

About 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.

Pipeliner CRM greatly enables precise lead management. Try it for free today.

Accountability in sales is crucial, yet it’s often neglected. We’re all great at finding excuses. We can always find outside forces to back up our struggles. But who do excuses ultimately serve? In the end, excuses only hurt the people making them. We have to look at ourselves, and how we can take responsibility and put ourselves in the right position, and sales managers have to help their sales team get there. Mark Keating, interviewed by John Golden, explores this topic.

This expert sales interview explores accountability in sales:

• How to remove the excuses mentality
• Get busy… Doing the right things
• The sales managers job

Removing the Excuses Mentality:

The excuses mentality is an ongoing challenge that has spread across the sales world. The top sales performers take 100% responsibility, accountability, and ownership of their results. When things are going well, that’s fantastic. And when they face a challenge, they take ownership for their results. “I’ve just seen an increase in the lessening of responsibility and ownership amongst mediocre to poor salespeople,” said Keating. And, it’s not just the salespeople that fester this mentality. Sales managers often neglect their responsibilities to have important conversations with their sales team, which in turn allows the excuses mentality to continue. “If the sales manager is backing up your excuses, or allowing you to hide behind excuses, it permeates through the whole sales organization,” said Keating.

Get Busy:

So how do you remedy the excuses mentality? The starting point to changing things and creating more accountability starts with getting busy doing the right things. At the start of every day, top performers get busy doing the right things that they need to be doing. Poor performers get busy too, but they’re doing the wrong things. Sales managers have to have a conversation with their team that helps them to reorient their priorities. Help your salespeople decide the best course of action to start fulfilling their goals. Show them that if they carry on doing what they’re doing, there is going to be consequences, and the salesperson is going to have to live with those consequences. “Sometimes one conversation is not enough,” said Keating. “We may need to go away and think about it over a weekend to continue the conversation.” 

The Managers Responsibility:

People in sales don’t get out of bed and say, ‘I hope that I fail today. I hope today goes badly.’ Everyone wants success. And yet, salespeople are often have gotten beaten down. They’ve lost their belief in themselves, and lose sight of a structured plan to achieve the goals that they used to have their sights set on. Sales managers get distracted because they’re focused on the end of month numbers, or reporting, they forget to coach and mentor on the plan, as opposed to just being focused on the end result. Another thing that sales managers can do to increase accountability in sales is to help their team create some of these laid out plans, and encourage them to set these goals and get on track with selling. This structure also creates a secure accountability system, because salespeople can see step by step if they are measuring up.

About 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.

Pipeliner CRM greatly enables precise lead management. Try a free trial now.

Pitch to Win 6 Step Formula by Justin Cohen

Justin Cohen has a new book that details the formula for pitching to win. He uses the acronym of “TTOPPS” to explain each of the six steps that when combined will teach salespeople how to improve their pitching. Each week, John Golden will explore one of these six steps to help you pitch to win. This article examines step one, how to tune in to your buyer.

The Six Steps:

There are six steps to pitch to win. The first is to tune in, which is explored below. The second step is team, which incorporates pitching together as a unit with other salespeople. Optimism is the single most important psychological driver for salespeople. Presence is our nonverbal communication, including tone of voice and facial expression. The purpose is our mission, which is to sell a service or product. And finally, the last step, story, is the content, the heart of what we are selling.

Tune in:

“As we started to dig deeper and explore how to pitch to win, I realized that salespeople knew very little about who they were pitching to,” said Cohen. “The idea of a pitch can create the misconception of a Broadway show; a one size fits all that you’re just going to put out there for anyone and everyone. But, this couldn’t be further from the truth.” Salespeople have to know who they are pitching to. It can be imagined like a small antenna coming out from behind your ear that tunes into the buyer, with all focus on them and their needs.

What’s In It For Me?

There is one very simple frequency to tune into when connecting with a potential buyer. A buyer is focusing on, “what’s in it for me?” They don’t care about the salesperson, the business, the staff; What they care about is what they need, what they want, and the best possible way to get it. “What we’re pitching has to service those needs and desires. The first step to pitching to win has to be to tune in,” said Cohen. “It’s the only way to develop an adequate understanding of what the buyer really wants.”

You can watch the rest of the pitch to win series here: Pitch to Win Series 

To get a more in-depth look at how to pitch to win, be sure to check out Justin Cohen’s book

About 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.

95% of business don’t know what their competitive advantage is. This shocking statistic means that the vast majorities of companies are not promoting and utilizing their top skill sets that customers want, and are likely losing out on revenue. Jaynie Smith discusses competitive advantage with John Golden.

This expert sales interview explores competitive advantage with topics such as:

• Defining competitive advantage
• Common mistakes companies make
• How to start improving your competitive advantage

What is a competitive advantage?

Competitive advantage is the value proposition that you bring to your customers. It includes the top three things that customers value about companies in your industry. They answer the question: Why should I do business with you, and not your competitor? “When we go into a company, we ask what they think their competitive advantages are before we reveal the findings to the industries,” said Smith. “95% of companies get it wrong. They don’t know what their customer’s top buying criteria are.” Worse yet, many companies don’t even measure or track the things that customers care about. “Without knowing or measuring, you can’t have a competitive advantage.” If you want potential buyers to do business with you, and not your competitors, you have to know your competitive advantages.

Common Mistakes:

Most companies talk about things that they are already good at because they want to highlight their strengths. They also want the customer to care about the things that they are good at. But this is not always the most productive strategy. For example, an organization might advertise as being skilled at product knowledge. But, after doing research and exploring what that organization’s customer wants, the buyers report that product knowledge is not that important to them. As a result, this disastrous mistake has two-fold consequences. For one, you might be deterring customers who are looking for an organization that has skills that they value. And two, you aren’t drawing in new customers by advertising your company’s strengths properly. You can fix these common mistakes by understanding your competitive advantage, and marketing to what the customers want.

Where to Start:

Mistaking strengths for competitive advantages is one of the most significant flaws that companies make, and is a good starting off point for companies that want to try and change. Strengths are things that you excel at as an organization. Competitive advantages are things that your customers want from you that separate you from your competition. Take a step back, look at how you’re presenting yourself. Are you advertising your strengths or your competitive advantages? Are you advertising generalities that other companies are also advertising? Is the company promoting things like quality customer service that should come standard with every organization? Explore how you promote your brand and tweak it to reflect unique competitive advantages, not general or expected services or things other organizations also advertise.

About 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.