Executive Engagement
#SalesChats: Episode 48

In large-scale deals especially, executive engagement is almost always required. It can be difficult to get this executive engagement, though, which can severely hinder your ability to close a deal. Lisa Magnuson discusses executive engagement in this #SalesChat, hosted by John Golden and Martha Neumeister.

Magnuson explains:

• The difference between executive engagement and other types of engagement
• The importance of having an executive sponsor if you are trying to close a large deal
• How risk and reward and profit drivers influence executives
• Techniques to move from the person in the company who has the need that you make initial contact with, up the ladder to the executive and final decision makers. This involves paving the road for executive sponsorship early in the sales cycle and getting support from the person you have day to day contact with
• Motivating your day to day contact person so they will sponsor you and vouch for you to upper-level management that ultimately makes the decision
• The most important thing you can do as a salesperson: Pre-call planning
• How to be confident in what you bring to the table, and have an equal, yet respectful conversation
• Ensuring you create a strategy for dialoguing with executives
• Building on your initial contact with the executive in order to create a continuing relationship and keep the door open through building value

Our Guest

Lisa Magnuson

is an expert in corporate strategic sales and TOP Line Account™ revenue building. As a respected sales consultant and author, Lisa works with clients to build successful strategic sales programs that drive revenue from large new accounts and enable growth from existing high value customers. Learn more at Top Line Sales.

Links › toplinesales.com | twitter.com | linkedin.com

Our Hosts

John Golden

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.

Martha Neumeister

Martha is social media strategist, responsible for all social media platforms of Pipeliner CRM. She is a communication expert with social media affinity, which she has been focusing on throughout her professional career. She has a bachelor´s degree in Entrepreneurship & Management and a master´s degree in Online Marketing which supports her in her career as Social Media Strategist.

About SalesChats

SalesChats is a fast-paced (no more than 30 minutes) multi-media series that provides leading strategies, tactics and thinking for sales professionals worldwide. It can be found on Twitter (#SalesChats), as a live Google+ Hangout, and as a podcast available on iTunes, SoundCloud and right here on SalesPOP! If you think you would make a great guest for #SalesChats, please contact co-host Martha Neumeister.

SalesChats is co-hosted by John Golden, CSO Pipeliner CRM, and Martha Neumeister, Social Media Strategist Pipeliner CRM.

What do you think is the single biggest revenue multiplier in an organization? You might be thinking about the sales team, or perhaps a top of the line CRM, but really, the biggest revenue multiplier for an organization is a sales manager. John Golden interviews Steven Rosen, who wrote a book outlining the top 52 tips for Sales Manager.

Learn sales tips for sales managers in this expert sales interview:

• The importance of a sales manager
• How to use the preemptive strike
• Understanding how to be a great sales coach
• Hiring the best people for the job

Sales Manager’s Success Guide

If you have a good sales manager, they’ll bring out the best in your salespeople. They’ll manage the pipeline properly, they’ll coach adequately, and they’ll get a higher performance out of your sales team. They will be your company’s greatest revenue multiplier. “Most sales executives understand the importance of having a sales manager, but just don’t put the investment into hiring one,” said Rosen. “They don’t put their money where their mouth is. When doing surveys over the last two years, we found that only one-third of companies have support for new sales managers.” Despite being so valuable for companies and generating revenues, the unfortunate truth is that even when a company does have a sales manager, they are often underdeveloped.

Often, a sales manager will be selected from the current candidate of top sales reps already working for a company. There is this expectation that if they were a great sales rep, they will seamlessly transition into a sales manager, without proper training. This results in the company taking two hits with one decision. First, they lose an excellent salesperson, and second, they have a poor sales manager. Rosen uses the example of Wayne Gretzky, who is regarded as one of the best hockey players in history, but was a mediocre coach when he transitioned into that role.

The Sales Manager’s Remedy

There are several things to do to remedy this situation. First, it’s recommended that sales managers seeking more training ask their company to provide it. “Don’t wait around for your company to provide it,” said Rosen. “Be proactive.” If that doesn’t work, an alternative plan of action is to do independent research on how to improve as a manager. A great place to start would be with Rosen’s book! He explores a few essential tips from his book in the expert sales interview.

The Pre-Emptive Strike:

The pre-emptive strike is a technique that Rosen coined to handle the inevitable problems that happen during the day to day business. “There’s always going to be issues,” said Rosen. But, the pre-emptive strike is a technique that sales managers can use to eliminate the frustrations of upper-level management. The method is simple. When something goes wrong, a sales manager should survey the situation, come up with a plan to remedy the solution, and then present the problem with the answer to the problem to upper management. You’re letting senior company members know that the situation is handled, and there is no need to worry. This proactive technique will help you excel as a sales manager and maintain positive relationships with higher up’s.

The Sales Manager as a Coach

Nobody wants to be told what to do. And great coaching involves a lot less telling, and a lot more asking. To be a great sales manager, ask your sales team about what they are thinking, what their obstacles are, and create a plan together about how to overcome them. “It’s very easy to tell,” said Rosen. “But it’s a known fact that people believe more in the conclusions that they come to themselves over anything that someone else tells them.” Not only do you get positive feedback, and a decision that your sales rep is more on board with, but you get to involve your team in the decision-making process and explore their ideas. Move from asking to coaching to improve your sales management skills.

Hiring people:

Don’t hire the plug and play. To clarify, the “plug and play” move is to bring on the easiest hire, but not necessarily the best hire. The easiest hire is someone who knows the industry, who knows the customers, and you can put them right into the role and not need to spend much time with them. However, these people come with baggage. They “plug” the hole, but they don’t actually solve the problem or patch the hole. On the contrary, Rosen recommends hiring the person with the best attitude that can be trained well. These people can be molded to fix the hole perfectly, instead of just using a temporary fix.

For more tips on being a great sales manager, 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.

Have you ever thought about transitioning into being an entrepreneur? More people are looking towards entrepreneurial endeavors as they realize that they want to take more charge over their own life. The days of having a 30-year career with a company are mostly gone. People are less likely to partner with larger companies because it could result in a lay off while living in a high-cost area. Instead, becoming an entrepreneur gives freedom and the chance to take control of your career. Joel Comm can help you understand if making the switch into entrepreneurship is right for you in this expert sales interview, hosted by John Golden.

Explore entrepreneurship as a career, and other topics such as:

• How technology has changed entrepreneurial abilities
• The positives and negatives of entrepreneurship ventures
• How to identify if you are an entrepreneur type or not

How do you know if you have an entrepreneurial spirit?

Comm’s book is all about understanding if you are fit for entrepreneurship. It’s an inventory of sorts that explores specific characteristics of entrepreneurs. One of the things in the inventory is having good ideas, but not having your superiors listen to your thoughts or take them seriously. Comm recalls his own experience with a similar situation. “I always had ideas. Ideas that when shared with my superiors could intimidate them. I got fired for being strong in my position and being threatening to the position in the job above me. If the ideas are nonstop, and if sharing those ideas causes friction with those superiors, those could be a great sign that you’re an entrepreneur.”

Positives and Negatives:

As with any job, there are positives and negatives to making the switch into an entrepreneurial role. On the positive side, you have the freedom to set your own time, do what you want, and you have a lot of control over your position. The commitments that you are obligated to fulfill our obligations that you have created for yourself, not a boss or someone else. However, there is also a negative side to entrepreneurship. There is limited job security, except the protection that you provide for yourself. It also takes a specific kind of personality to be able to stay oriented and disciplined when working for yourself. Ultimately, though, Comm stresses that their dream, rather than money drive entrepreneurs. “Working just to make money can be empty,” Comm said.

Entrepreneurship and Technology:

Because the internet and technology have created so many opportunities, it has expanded the possibilities of becoming an entrepreneur. You can make money by doing thousands of different things at home from your computer, leveraging the power of technology. There’s so much that can be done, including managing goods, services, providing services, social media, e-commerce, and others. If you’ve decided that you want to pursue entrepreneurship, there are vast amounts of options for you to use as a segway into the entrepreneurial world.

For more information on entrepreneurship, and ways that you can decide if you want to be an entrepreneur or not, watch the expert sales interview!
500 companies.

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.

Sales Experts Advice and Tips

In surveys and studies year after year, “quota attainment” comes up again and again as a key issue for sales organizations throughout the world. This makes total sense—if sales quotas aren’t attained, revenue targets aren’t met, and companies struggle to succeed. So, obviously, quota attainment is where it all begins!

Host John Golden talks with three of the industry’s top experts on the subject of sales quota attainment.

Meridith Elliot Powell
Voted one of the Top 15 Business Growth Experts to watch, Meridith Elliott Powell, CSP, is an award winning author, keynote speaker and business strategist. She helps her clients decrease stress and increase profits through her work in sales, leadership and employee engagement!

Ken Thoreson
Ken Thoreson “operationalizes” sales management systems and processes that pull revenue out of the doldrums into the fresh zone. During the past 16 years his consulting, advisory, and platform services have illuminated, motivated, and rejuvenated the sales efforts for organizations throughout the world. He was ranked for the fourth year in a row by Top Sales World Magazine as one of the Top 50 Sales and Marketing Influencers. Ken has written five books, most recently SLAMMED! for First Time Sales Managers. He provides keynotes, consulting services, and products designed to improve business performance.

Roy Osing
Roy Osing is a former President and CMO with over 33 years of leadership experience covering all the major business functions including business strategy, marketing, sales, customer service and people development. He is a blogger, content marketer, educator, coach, adviser and the author of the book series Be Different or Be Dead.

John Golden spoke at the Sales POP! & Pipeliner CRM Power Breakfast in Santa Monica on May 4th 2017.

In today’s networked world, who you are and what you project is almost as important as what you sell. Are you giving yourself every advantage in this ever competitive market by putting the best version of you forward? Learn about the different dimensions that go into building your Brand of Gold!

John Golden, Chief Strategy & Marketing Officer (CSMO) with Pipeliner is the best selling author of two books “Social Upheaval: How to Win @ Social Selling” & “Winning the Battle for Sales”. An acknowledged thought leader and speaker on sales and business strategy, he is the former CEO of Huthwaite (SPIN Selling) and Omega Performance, both global consulting companies and Focused Revenue Results, a management consultancy group. John has spoken to audiences across the globe on various business topics and continues to write prolifically for Sales POP! magazine.

7 Point Success Path To Your High Performing Sales Process
#SalesChats: Episode 27

The sales process is vital, and yet so many organizations don’t understand processes or don’t implement them. If you want predictability and consistency, or you want to scale, it’s important to have defined metrics that are meaningful and actionable in nature so that you can predict and understand how to get to the revenue goals that you’ve established. Marylou Tyler discusses a high performing sales process in this #SalesChat, hosted by John Golden and Martha Neumeister.

Tyler explains:

• The first steps required to get started developing, integrating, and maintaining a sales process
• How to leverage people, process, and technology to understand what you already have to help reach your goals, and what you need to add in order to get where you want to be
• Addressing the resistance that salespeople often have towards using a sales process
• Even considering the difference between each customer, there is still a process at play
• The importance of movement through the sales process and through the pipeline, and how to generate a predictable revenue formula that will keep deals moving
• Predictable revenue = the pipeline itself + average deal size + time
• Signs of stagnation, and how to remediate this and get your buyer moving through the sales process again
• What metrics and analytics to examine both inter-stage and intra-stage to understand a companies unique benchmarks
• The importance of putting thresholds on each step of the process
• Quality versus quantity leads, and the dangers of packing a lot of things into the pipeline to give the false idea of revenue potential
• Creating checks and balances for prospecting lists
• Common errors that companies make when trying to create and implement a sales process
• Ensuring you use a customizable CRM system
• Examples of positive implementation of a sales process

Our Guest

Marylou Tyler

is a renowned sales process improvement expert, author, speaker and the CEO of Strategic Pipeline. She has helped businesses like Apple, Bose and UPS grow their revenue by increasing their sales pipelines. Marylou’s passion is helping B2B sales professionals go from cold conversations to qualified opportunities.

Links › MarylouTyler.com | twitter.com | linkedin.com

Our Hosts

John Golden

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.

Martha Neumeister

Martha is social media strategist, responsible for all social media platforms of Pipeliner CRM. She is a communication expert with social media affinity, which she has been focusing on throughout her professional career. She has a bachelor´s degree in Entrepreneurship & Management and a master´s degree in Online Marketing which supports her in her career as Social Media Strategist.

About SalesChats

SalesChats is a fast-paced (no more than 30 minutes) multi-media series that provides leading strategies, tactics and thinking for sales professionals worldwide. It can be found on Twitter (#SalesChats), as a live Google+ Hangout, and as a podcast available on iTunes, SoundCloud and right here on SalesPOP! If you think you would make a great guest for #SalesChats, please contact co-host Martha Neumeister.

SalesChats is co-hosted by John Golden, CSO Pipeliner CRM, and Martha Neumeister, Social Media Strategist Pipeliner CRM.

Judy Carter joined us for our Power Breakfast in Santa Monica on May 4th 2017 to talk about the “Message of You!” – watch the video to see Judy in action.

Judy’s message of using humor as a transformational tool led to her being featured in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, The Oprah Winfrey Show, CNN, as well as being a frequent contributor to NPR’s “All Things Considered” and a weekly blogger for Psychology Today.

Currently, Judy is an international keynote speaker, speaking coach, and workshop leader on the power of personal stories and humor to inspire others and decrease workplace stress.

As an author, Judy doesn’t like to brag, but she did write the Bible. No joke, she’s the author of “The Comedy Bible” (Simon & Schuster) as well as, “Standup Comedy: The Book” (Dell Books). Judy’s book, “The Message of You: Turn Your Life Story into a Money-Making Speaking Career” (St. Martin’s Press), teaches readers how to be powerful speakers and even earn money from it. (More info at http://judycarter.com)

Creating High-Impact Sales Presentations
#SalesChats: Episode 26

Want to craft sales presentations that will help persuade prospects? The art of delivering high impact, effective sales presentations is vital. Julie Hansen discusses high impact sales presentations in this #SalesChat, hosted by John Golden and Martha Neumeister.

Hansen explains:

• The habits and tendency of salespeople including an overview of the organization and other introductory information in presentations, and why this is harmful considering the customer expectation that things should be customized
• How to start your presentation properly in a way that draws in the customer using a relevant, insightful, valuable introduction that sets a positive tone for the rest of the presentation
• Examples of good ways to start a presentation, including using a discovery or insight
• Use it, lose it, or react to it
• Techniques for keeping your audience engaged for the entire time you are presenting, including dividing your speech into chunks using time markers
• Ways to reengage the audience when they lose focus, and how to maintain confidence when people get distracted
• How technology has changed the way that presentations are done, and how to transition your skills to virtual presentations
• The importance of a “stage,” be it online presenting to a virtual audience, in a boardroom, or other settings
• Focus on the things that you can control, like how you present yourself and how you show up to a presentation
• How to gauge if a presentation is going well or not, including your audience asking the right questions at the right time and being engaged overall

Our Guest

Julie Hansen

Julie Hansen helps salespeople craft and deliver presentations and demonstrations that engage and persuade today’s busy decision-makers. Julie is the author of Sales Presentations for Dummies and ACT Like a Sales Pro! and the founder of Performance Sales and Training, offering sales presentation workshops, coaching and keynotes that combine today’s best practices with proven tactics from the world of performance for greater sales success.

Links › performancesalesandtraining.com | twitter.com | linkedin.com

Our Hosts

John Golden

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.

Martha Neumeister

Martha is social media strategist, responsible for all social media platforms of Pipeliner CRM. She is a communication expert with social media affinity, which she has been focusing on throughout her professional career. She has a bachelor´s degree in Entrepreneurship & Management and a master´s degree in Online Marketing which supports her in her career as Social Media Strategist.

About SalesChats

SalesChats is a fast-paced (no more than 30 minutes) multi-media series that provides leading strategies, tactics and thinking for sales professionals worldwide. It can be found on Twitter (#SalesChats), as a live Google+ Hangout, and as a podcast available on iTunes, SoundCloud and right here on SalesPOP! If you think you would make a great guest for #SalesChats, please contact co-host Martha Neumeister.

SalesChats is co-hosted by John Golden, CSO Pipeliner CRM, and Martha Neumeister, Social Media Strategist Pipeliner CRM.