In this Expert Insight Interview, Danielle Mulvey discusses how to stop the insanity of settling for less than five-star employees. Danielle Mulvey is from a company called 5 Star Employees, and for the last ten years, she has developed, tested, and shared with others exactly how to recruit, hire, and retain five-star employees.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

• Why hiring is still such a gamble
• What hiring managers typically fail to do
• The advantages of the 5 Stare Employee rating system

Six-Month Gamble

Despite all the technological advancements we’ve seen through the years, hiring is still challenging and remains a 6-month gamble. Interestingly, people don’t typically plan for the hiring process — it most often comes from desperation.

Suppose you genuinely want to hire five-star employees. In that case, you must dedicate some time to going all-in on your recruitment and hiring process to attract five-star candidates and, more importantly, repelling one-, two-, and three-star candidates who you don’t want to be tempted by.

Hiring Mistakes

Hiring managers are typically people with good hearts with a position to fill and who want to believe people. So, when someone says they can do something, they seem eager and enthusiastic; a hiring manager with a warm heart who likes to see the good in people will say, “OK, let’s make this work!”

Unfortunately, what this hiring manager has failed to do is make sure that this person isn’t just saying they can do it and that they can actually do the work. Many essential things in the recruitment and hiring process allow managers to attract five-star candidates.

5 Star Employee Rating System

Most people succeed in hiring a five-star employee about 25% of the time, so one out of four hires ends up being a rockstar employee. Sadly, you’re missing the mark on three out of four candidates.

When you use an objective system like the 5 Star Employee rating system to assess the candidate, you can get a 90% success rate in hiring a five-star candidate.

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.

In this Expert Insight Interview, Andrew Dupy discusses why you should think about publishing a business book and how a company like Leaders Press can help you do that. Andrew Dupy is the Chief Relationship Officer at Leaders Press, which has a whole methodology for assisting people in publishing books and getting them on the Wall Street Journal best-selling list.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

• Why business executives and entrepreneurs choose to write books
• How the Leaders Press team approaches each book idea
• What drives successful people to tell their stories

Everyone Has a Story

Everybody feels like they have a book in them at some stage, and it takes experts like Leaders Press to help people figure out what that book is. Authors that Andrew and his team speak to are primarily people who have been in the business world for some time, usually CEOs and entrepreneurs.

At that stage, there’s some kind of story for each of them — whether it’s a legacy story about how they got there or a book that will serve as a funnel for their business, effectively replacing their business cards with books.

Leaders Press Approach

When someone comes to Leaders Press with an idea for a book, they immediately know how to talk to people and get that book out of them while understanding how the book fits inside the market.

Leaders Press likes to talk strategy early on in the process. The question Andrew asks anybody when they first get into a room with him to talk about a book is, “What is this book going to do for you?” Depending on their answer to that question, he and his team pick the topic and idea that would help the author achieve precisely what they want.

Drive and Motivation

Very few people get rich off of business books, so that’s not usually the driving factor. So, what are some of the different motivations people have to publish books, and why is it still a good idea to do this nowadays?

The main thing that drives a lot of authors is their desire to be able to tell their stories and help others. These people have had many ups and downs getting to the point where they are in business, and they almost always have something unique about themselves that they can share.

https://leaderspress.com/how-to-get-a-book-published

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.

In this Expert Insight Interview, Ulli Appelbaum discusses the art and craft of brand positioning. Ulli Appelbaum is a well-known, award-winning marketing and brand strategist and the author of The Brand Positioning Workbook: A Simple How-To Guide to More Compelling Brand Positionings, Faster.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

• Ulli Appelbaum’s definition of branding
• Why a brand is a lot more than your logo, brand colors, and tagline
• How marketers create brands through cooperation with their customers

Definition of Brand

Ask ten people what a brand is, and you will get twelve responses. Ulli Appelbaum defines it as everything your desired audience or most essential customers associate with your offering. This can be independent of anything you do, but your job as a marketer is to determine the core association you want your consumers to connect with you.

Once you have determined this, you will be able to stand out from your competition and remain relevant. So, the sum of the associations about your specific offering is your brand. Even though this definition sounds simplistic, it is very actionable.

Brand vs. Brand Assets

This approach to branding allows you to understand why people choose to do business with you and what they associate with your brand that might explain that behavior. Then, you can think about the desired brand associations that you want to create with your offering.

Once you have defined those, which is a difficult task in itself, you can determine whether you’re supporting your desired brand association with everything you do regarding product development, advertising, web design, etc. Although many people think their brand is their logo, brand colors, tagline, and so on, these are just brand assets. These allow you to create brand recognition.

Collaboration with Customers

We often see marketers start their branding process by thinking about what they want to communicate about the brand without really thinking about what the customers associate with it. It is important to remember that the brand you will end up with is the result of a sort of partnership between you and your customers.

Large companies spend millions of dollars on innovation and research. They live and breathe their product and brand 24/7 and are excited about that, so they want to talk about it with their customers. On the other hand, consumers don’t care that much about the behind-the-scenes aspect. All they want is a quality product for a reasonable price.

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.

In this Expert Insight Interview, Sarah Williams discusses the benefits and challenges of shoppable live streams and how this channel ties into the future of sales in general. Sarah Williams is an on-air host and actress.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

• The definition of live selling and shoppable live streams
• Why live selling works for both consumers and brands
• How to lean on authenticity and interaction to build your brand through live streams

Live Selling

A shoppable live stream is just what it sounds like – you can shop while watching a live stream. Many people think of QVC or Home Shopping Network when they hear live-stream selling. This is not necessarily an incorrect way of thinking, but live selling and shoppable live streams are the next level.

Shoppable live streaming is digital, connected through social media and platforms like Amazon, and it’s very grounded. Hence, the salesperson is typically not coming on with a heavy sales-oriented approach. It is about building a community, connecting with the audience, offering brand and product education, and answering questions live in the chat.

Big Benefits

Viewers love live selling because they get to make a more considered purchase. They have the convenience of shopping from home, but they can talk to an expert as if they were in a brick-and-mortar store.

Brands, retailers, and businesses love this form of selling because they can offer their viewers a more considered purchase. So, the conversion rates are higher, the return rates are lower, and it is an excellent way to humanize a brand in a very authentic way.

Pillars of Shoppable Live Streams

In the transition to online business and sales, interaction and authenticity are typically the pieces that tend to be missing. Most online retailers have done an awful job of engaging their audiences and giving them a sense of human interaction.

Sales is the #1 pillar of shoppable live streams. But during these streams, you also want to offer brand and product education, which you want to come across organically. Community building is another essential element of this sales and marketing channel. As you’re crafting your live-stream strategy, you can lean on any of these different aspects in different moments, making it so versatile and exciting.

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.

In this Expert Insight Interview, Dr. Reza Abraham discusses his book InControl: A Systematic Approach to Taking Complete Control of Your Life and Career. Reza Abraham is the founder of the InControl Group. He is an author, executive coach, leadership consultant, and speaker on various topics, helping people get control of their lives.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

• The epidemic of powerlessness we are facing today
• The core elements of living an in-control life
• Why consciousness is the crucial first step toward taking control over your life

Powerlessness Epidemic

It is fair to say that people feel more out of control nowadays than ever. They think so many things are out of their power and as if life is happening to them when they should be actively plotting their course.

It feels like there’s an epidemic of powerlessness among people, and when Reza Abraham wrote his book, he wasn’t explicitly targeting people whose lives are out of control. He feels as if everyone out there should be striving to get control over their life and career, and that is the primary mission behind the book.

Four Key Elements

When he talks about taking control of your life, Dr. Reza doesn’t say you can control every single aspect of every situation. What he means by “living an in-control life” is living a life where you take complete responsibility, remaining fully responsible for what you can control, so you don’t have to apologize for something that you cannot control.

This means that you should aim for a life where you love what you do, who you do it with, who you do it for, and how you do it. These are the four elements that Reza speaks about in his book, building an entire system around each one.

Consciousness

Unfortunately, we seem to be living in a world where the pervasive culture promotes the opposite of taking personal responsibility or being accountable for things within our control. The first step to taking control is to realize that you are responsible for your life and control a large amount of it, primarily over how you show up.

When attempting to take control over your life, you must start with the core of the whole system, which is consciousness. This means becoming aware that an in-control life is a possibility. If you don’t become conscious of this, there is no way to help you. Unfortunately, too many people are just waiting for things to happen to them.

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.

In this Expert Insight Interview, Mike Stevenson discusses that although we’ve been through a lot, the best is yet to come. If Mike Stevenson’s life were a film script, it would be dismissed as far-fetched. He was expelled at 15 with no qualifications, which led him on a downward journey through homelessness, depression, and drug addiction during the swinging 60s in London. He eventually escaped to Dublin and became friends with probably the greatest hard-rock band the world has ever seen — Thin Lizzy with Phil Lynott and Brian Downey. He went on to build several businesses and become very successful.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

• Why Mike Stevenson believes that the best is yet to come
• The increasing belief in respect and humanity
• The widespread need for human connection

Optimism for the Future

To some people, the topic of this Expert Insight Interview sounds overly optimistic because everybody expects one crisis after another these days and a continuous downward spiral. But, although Scottish people are not often known for viewing the world in a positive light, Mike Stevenson believes we are headed for a bright future.

Young people have been brought up with different values. They see climate change as an imperative we have to deal with now, not something we can plan long into the future. We’ve also got the growth of artificial intelligence and the freedom of digitalization offered by positive globalization.

Respect and Humanity

Mike also thinks there’s a widespread desire to return to humanity. Whether at work or home, no matter what you’re doing, you want to be treated as a human being, and sometimes we forget that.

Some of the exploitative labor practices we used to see in places like Bangladesh, India, and Africa over the past several decades seem less likely now. People see the protection of human rights as an imperative and generally agree that everyone deserves to be treated with value and respect.

Connection

Even before the pandemic, the more connected we became through social networks, the more disconnected we were. The pandemic has accelerated this, and people now realize how much they need human connection and to feel like they have a place in the world.

There has been a reawakening not just among young people but in people of all ages. If you’re not getting up in the morning with a sense of purpose, all you’re doing is something routine to fulfill a role.

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.

In this Expert Insight Interview, Karen Curry Parker discusses the hidden causes of burnout. Karen Curry Parker is a number-one best-selling author, human-design specialist, trainer, professional speaker and creator of Quantum Human Design and Quantum Alignment System. She is a high-performance life coach who has coached over 10,000 people and taught many more.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

• The common misconceptions about burnout and its effects
• How burnout manifests itself
• Addiction to devices as an early warning sign of burnout

Misconceptions About Burnout

Most people think burnout is a hugely dramatic culmination event that suddenly happens, but it is a slow and steady process. Another thing we often miss about burnout is that it doesn’t always manifest itself physically. It can also be emotional or motivational.

Sometimes if you’re procrastinating, putting things off, spending a lot of time on Netflix, eating Cheetos, and just trying to survive, those are symptoms of burnout. You’re probably burned out if you’re not excited about your life.

Burnout Symptoms

We often hide burnout by not making healthy choices for the care of our bodies, it starts to take its toll on our relationships, and we begin to project on our partners that they should be doing all the work or they should be rescuing us, or somehow, they should be giving us a break.

When we’re burned out, we fail to recognize that part of what’s going on is that we’re in a wholly compromised position in every area of our life because we’re not living in alignment with what’s good and right for us and who we are.

Early Warning Signs

The early warning signs of burnout are so prevalent that it is terrifying. The first thing we see these days as a sign of burnout is that people become addicted to devices. They can’t have dinner without their phones or, God forbid, spend an entire day without them.

We often use media as a substitute for cultivating true meaning and alignment. If you can’t sit without contact with a device for a couple of hours, there’s a pretty high probability that you’re burned

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.

In this Expert Insight Interview, Harry Spaight discusses his recently-released book and the concept of selling with dignity. Harry Spaight is a keynote speaker, coach, and author of Selling with Dignity: Your Formula for Life-Changing Sales Results.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

• How the book Selling with Dignity came about
• How switching to a service-minded sales approach changed everything
• How automation can help facilitate the human element in sales

Genesis of the Book

Harry Spaight used to be a missionary before he got into sales. So, when he began his sales career, he was a complete fish out of water or a missionary in a sales bullpen, if you will. If you’re familiar with movies like Boiler Room or Wolf of Wall Street, you might have an idea of a sales bullpen. Harry was a guy who had just come from a foreign country, and he hadn’t sworn in 15–20, and being in a sales bullpen, his world was upside down.

He learned quickly that the best way for him to sell was to go back to his roots, which was to serve people, and that’s not promoted in sales, or at least it wasn’t 25 years ago. Harry wanted to write a book to show others who were service-minded that they could succeed in sales and sales leadership without necessarily being a pushy, egotistical, all-about-me salesperson.

Service-Minded Sales

Harry says he had to switch to a more service-oriented mindset because he failed miserably as a traditional salesperson. He understood that the thing he did best was serving people, and so he decided to be the best customer-service-minded salesperson there was.

Once he started doing that, everything turned around. Suddenly it was all about serving people, and what he could do for them, so everything started to change. Not only did sales start to happen for him, but he got more and more referrals because of how he treated his clients.

Automation and the Human Element

The human element has come into stark focus in sales recently. Automation, AI, and other technological advancements are great if they are helping enable people to be more human and build better relationships, but they don’t work so well in trying to replace that human element.

Harry left one of his jobs as the VP of Sales in Washington D.C. in 2013 because everything was about metrics. There was so little emphasis on people, relationships, trust, and guts that he became disenfranchised with sales and thought he was done with the profession entirely.
Thankfully, he found out this wasn’t the case everywhere and that intelligent people, especially small business owners, are not looking for metrics as much as they are looking for sales.

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.