How To Lead And Succeed In Times Of Change (video)

In this Expert Insight Interview, Steve Rosen discusses how to lead and succeed in times of change. Steve Rosen is a thought leader in leadership coaching and a seasoned sales management expert.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

The pervasive nature and rapid pace of change
The value of leadership, culture, and focus
Why simplifying your process can lead to improved results at any level

Change

It seems as if change is always upon us these days. It is rapid, sometimes coming out of left field, as evidenced by the many things we’ve had to deal with over the last few years. So, first of all, we all need to take a step back and assess our situation and the magnitude of the change we may be facing.

Change is happening faster than ever, and sales leaders have suffered tremendous changes in the last two years. These problems include supply chain issues but also the way sales leaders are expected to operate, with them spending more time on Zoom than in the field with their people.

Focus

Steve Rosen’s Sales Leadership Framework includes nine questions that look at nine key points and three key pillars, including leadership, culture, and focus. Because of all the stuff going on in times of change, you need to be very focused. At the end of the day, as a sales leader, you need to be driving results.

We live in a world of distractions today, and although we may think we’re busier than ever, we’re just more distracted than ever. This is what makes focus so incredibly important in this day and age.

Simplicity

Simplicity also has a tremendous amount of value because to get something simplified, you need to have very deep thinking. When Steve works with new clients, he doesn’t immediately get into topics like becoming a better leader or building culture. Instead, he works with them on building focus.

One of the first things Steve works on is looking at where his students spend their time. We all have the same 24 hours a day, yet some people are rocking it, and some say they don’t have enough time to do everything they need.

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.

How To Build A Purpose-Driven, Highly Profitable Life And Business (video)

In this Expert Insight Interview, Staci Wallace discusses how to build a purpose-driven, highly profitable life and business that you love. Staci Wallace is the author of Fueled by Fire: Becoming a Woman of Courage, Faith, and Influence. She is also a peak performance coach and a highly sought-after keynote speaker.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

What it means to be purpose-driven
Keeping your core and cultural values intact
The Big 7 F-Words as the pillars of living a purpose-driven life

Purpose-Driven

Since the pandemic, some buzzwords have become very popular, such as “authenticity” and “purpose-driven.” So, what does being purpose-driven really mean? Some people’s definitions of it are a bit nebulous, and the phrase has become somewhat of a “bumper sticker” claim.

Every time people jump on the bandwagon of something, it probably means they’re doing it from a “me too” perspective, but for Staci Wallace, things are different. She and her team have raised companies into the hundreds of millions in profit based on the “North Star” principle, which means identifying what matters most to you and making it a priority in your schedule.

Bigger Is Not Always Better

When we talk about a purpose-driven, highly profitable life, it means doing that without forsaking your peace. Staci and her husband have been elite entrepreneurs with C-suite positions for most of their careers, starting companies from scratch and scaling them up.

What they’ve found is that bigger is not always better. If you don’t know how to keep your core and cultural values intact, it can be easy to make money, but it will never be easy to make a profit in peace.

The Big 7 F-Words

Many executives and leaders are really good at making millions, or even hundreds of millions, but they’re not good at marriage or raising kids. Staci focuses on what she calls the Big 7 F-words: Faith, Family, Finance, Fitness, Freedom, Focus, and Fun.

If any of those seven pillars somehow defrag, what happens is a snowball effect where other areas are also profoundly affected. So, she emphasizes that your purpose is the essence of why you would choose to create a company, why you’re on this planet, or why you find it important to be an influencer, a motivator, or CEO.

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.

What A Brand Is In The Modern Society (video)

In this Expert Insight Interview, Nick Horan discusses what a brand is. Nick Horan is the Global Brand Experience Lead at Reckitt.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

The definition of a brand and how it has changed over the centuries
What a brand is in the modern society
Why authenticity is one of the keys to developing a successful brand

History of Brands

It is incredible how many people still think that logos, colors, and taglines are all that make up a brand. A brand needs to encompass an entire organization and become part of the DNA, so how does one set about on that path of identifying what your brand is and making it part of the company’s DNA?

It is all about acknowledging that history. In its most basic term, a brand was a visual indicator of which sheep were whose. In that era, it was a passive object, but clearly, brands have developed since then. Once we move forward to the 1950s, we see media bias coming into play and brands becoming a representation of a product, person, or company.

Personification

During the second half of the 20th century, visual design plays a significant role, and brands begin to broadcast. However, if we fast-forward to our current era, the 2020s, brands are super personified. They can join a cultural discussion. Nike supporting an equal playing field and taking a stance on the civil rights movement is an example of this.

So, we’re moving to brands being far more community-focused, turning from broadcast to conversational expression, and being part of a cultural context. This makes the modern period an exciting time for brand development.

Authenticity

Brands have started to expand, and some are getting into different areas, but you have to start from a base of who you are. If you try to be something you’re not, as some companies do, you end up with “bumper stickers” on your website, making these proclamations that are not reflected in the company.

You have to start by figuring out if your brand authentically reflects your company’s culture. It is about unlocking your brand’s purpose and uncovering what it stands for, what conversations it should have or has a right to have, what personality it has, and what values and beliefs it has.

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.

How You Show Up On Your Best Day (video)

In this Expert Insight Interview, Michael Allosso discusses how you show up on your best day. Michael Allosso is a master communications expert and self-awareness specialist who coaches CEOs, teams, and individuals on day-to-day communication, dynamic presentations, and leadership excellence.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

Self-awareness as the key to a good life
How the lockdown has contributed to a lack of self-awareness
Why being in the moment is one of the keys to self-improvement

Self-Awareness

Self-awareness is the most important key to freedom, prosperity, and a good life in general, but it seems difficult to achieve, and we often come to it too late or don’t even understand what it is.

This is especially the case when you’re on the executive track, as people don’t give you any feedback, so you live in a vacuum where no one tells you what they authentically see and hear. Michael Allosso has been able to make a business simply sitting or standing in rooms or on screens and telling people what he sees and hears.

Lockdown Consequences

By and large, people feel unseen and unheard, and subsequently, their self-awareness goes down the tubes. This is because they are not getting enough feedback about how they are performing and being.

The lockdown and switch to virtual meetings and environments have exacerbated that because people got lazy, turned off their cameras, and did not see or hear others. This meant people were no longer aware of their challenges, so they had no chance of improving themselves and creating opportunities.

Focus and Concentration

Firstly, self-awareness isn’t discussed enough these days. Secondly, we live in a strange culture of continual distraction, so you don’t have to spend any time with yourself or do any introspection because you have something else to distract you. We are constantly moving and seem very busy even though we’re really just distracted.

There are many ways to maximize yourself and become your best self, and Michael Allosso came up with 35. This is what he takes on the road and uses to help people. The number two rule on that list is Focus and Concentration. This means you must always stay in the moment if you wish to become your best authentic self.

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.

Customer-Centric vs Customer-Driven (video)

In this Expert Insight Interview, Matt Edmundson discusses customer centricity. Matt Edmundson is Managing Director at Aurion Digital, an eCommerce Services business that takes away the pain and uncertainty of running an eCommerce business.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

Bragging about being customer-centric vs. being customer-driven
The fact that customers are not fooled by cheap marketing tricks
How to know whether you’re being customer-centric

Bumper Stickers

Many companies like to brag about being customer-centric, but when you engage with those companies as a customer, you get a very different experience. Putting these “bumper stickers” up on your website if you’re not, in fact, customer-centric, puts you in a worse position than if you hadn’t advertised customer centricity in the first place.

Margaret Thatcher famously said that being a leader is a lot like being a lady — if you have to tell people you are one, you’re probably not. It is the same with customer centricity. You don’t have to say to your customers that you’re customer-centric; usually, the first sign that you’re not customer-centric is that you advertise it on your website.

Authenticity

Most businesses are not, in fact, customer-driven organizations, and customers know this. Recent Hubspot research has found that an overwhelming number of people see right through these false promises, so you would do yourself more harm than good by pretending to be something you’re not.

There’s a trend of people looking for authenticity in companies they deal with. This began way before the pandemic but was undoubtedly accelerated by it.

Gauging Customer Centricity

One of the ways in which you’ll know whether you’re being customer-centric is by looking at the number of repeat customers you have, especially compared to your industry average. If you are good at customer service and truly focused on your customers, they will come back time and time again, and if they’re not, there’s a disconnect somewhere.

When a customer contacts your customer support or service team, are you focused on closing the ticket or genuinely interested in trying to help the customer, giving them additional information, etc.? If you’re doing the former, you’re not customer-centric.

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.

Why People Should Tackle Complex Challenges (video)

In this Expert Insight Interview, Jerry Holl discusses his bestselling book and the journey that inspired it. Jerry Holl is the author of the three-time international award-winning bestseller Downhills Don’t Come Free: One Man’s Bike Ride From Alaska to Mexico.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

What gave Jerry Holl the impetus to write his bestselling book
How a cycling trip helped him understand what he was made of
Why more people should tackle complex challenges

Going Away

You would expect a book with this title to be written by somebody who was an avid cyclist, but Jerry Holl wasn’t one. According to Jerry’s admission, this endeavor was a bit foolish and made for an insane story, but that is also part of the book’s charm.

He was 57 years old and had been in corporate sales and sales leadership for over 30 years. Eventually, every transaction started feeling the same to him, despite taking a lot of skill to execute. At a certain point, Jerry asked himself: “is this all there is?” This is where the idea for this journey came from.

The Adventure of a Lifetime

Before going on his epic cycling trip, Jerry Holl had read every adventure book known to man, looking at the “pickles” the men and women in these books had put themselves into, and he couldn’t help but think to himself, “what would I do?”

On a related note, he wanted to see what he was made of and what he would do in one of these unusual situations, and he found an answer to that question during his journey. Finally, he thought about what he would do if he only had a single day left on this planet. He realized that one more deal would not make his life more fulfilled, so he decided to do something big.

Growth and Change

It seems as if so many people are tired of their lives and are looking for something bigger, but people don’t take the plunge. They don’t take the mindful risk to change their lives and experience growth. Jerry believes you need growth and change to stay young, youthful, exuberant, and excited about the next thing.

If you take on a big challenge and attack it, growth and change will happen by default. You don’t have to go to a growth and change conference; take something big and attack it in the face of uncertainty and the unknown. Use your judgment and skills to overcome the obstacles along the way, and you will experience growth.

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 Art & Science of Lead Generation and Lead Magnets (video)

In this Expert Insight Interview, Luke Charlton discusses getting more leads. Luke Charlton is known as The Aussie Hermit. He is a master of marketing, a student of persuasion, and a drinker of whiskey.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

How Luke Charlton got started in the world of marketing and lead generation
The art and science of lead generation and lead magnets
How to have success with email marketing

Spaghetti at the Wall

Luke Charlton has done an incredible amount of research on acquiring leads throughout his career, but he started with the “spaghetti to the wall” approach, as he puts it. He moved from Australia to London in 2013 because he thought it would be a good place to branch out.

He figured it would be easier to get clients since there were more people in London than in Canberra. Once he got there, he tried everything. He went to networking events five nights a week, published press releases, did webinars, got into Facebook and LinkedIn groups, and so on. Despite employing all these different strategies, he only managed to get one client in 12 months.

Lead Magnets

Luke’s experience is shared by many entrepreneurs, small businesses, and marketing people today. Many people are still throwing spaghetti at the wall, trying to be on every platform and hoping for the best.

What changed things for Luke was understanding the art and science behind lead generation. He realized that instead of chasing prospects, you could get them to chase you. A straightforward way to do that is through lead magnets. Also known as a “client carrot,” a lead magnet is a piece of content that attracts leads, and you can use it to attract your dream client.

Email Every Day

Having a successful piece of content as your lead magnet is only one piece of the puzzle. A great lead magnet will get people to sign up for your mailing list, but it’s back to square one if you can’t get the emails opened and read.

Luke teaches his clients to send an email every single day. This is because, using his approach, the more you email, the more you make. He doesn’t teach sending how-to content or just pitching. Instead, he leads with entertainment and goes into the lesson from there.

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.

Sales and Sales Coaching (video)

In this Expert Insight Interview, Ian Koniak discusses sales and sales coaching. Ian Koniak is one of the world’s strongest B2B sales leads, a highly sought-after elite sales coach, and the founder of Ian Koniak Sales Coaching.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

Strategies salespeople can employ to make their jobs more enjoyable
Shifting from an inward to an outward focus to achieve your goals
Genuine Curiosity and Care

Job Fulfillment

Many people default into the sales profession after graduating college and getting a degree in something else. So, many people end up in sales not by choice but by default, and sometimes it works out, but sometimes they get stuck with a not particularly fulfilling career. So, what can you do to turn this around and make your job enjoyable if you’re a salesperson and will be a salesperson for the foreseeable future?

Ian Koniak says you should stop focusing on hitting your quota, as counter-intuitive as it may sound. Once you start focusing on helping and serving your customers, your job fulfillment will grow exponentially.

Inward vs. Outward Focus

As soon as Ian stopped thinking about hitting the numbers, his performance improved. If your entire goal in sales is to hit your quota, instead of trying to help others solve problems or achieve goals, it will feel like a grind.

On the other hand, when you make it about who you’re helping, and dig deep to understand their situation and how the challenge or problem they have is impacting them or their customers and show them how they can solve this problem through the use of your service and product, you’ll feel a lot better. This, in turn, will help you drive much larger deals.

Genuine Curiosity and Care

Part of “getting out of your own head” in this sense is switching to being genuinely curious and wanting to understand more about who you’re dealing with, the issues they have, and so on. You must have genuine curiosity; otherwise, you’ll never even embark on the journey.

Being a great salesperson starts with caring. If your entire goal is to get a sale, you’re just going to do whatever you can to get that sale. There’s certainly a time and a place for that, especially when you know you’re helping the customer, but the best salespeople are those that genuinely care about their clients.

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.