Sell Without Selling Out: A Guide to Success on Your Own Terms (video)

In this Expert Insight Interview, Andy Paul discusses his latest book, Sell Without Selling Out: A Guide to Success on Your Own Terms. Andy Paul is the host of the podcast Accelerate with Andy Paul and an author of multiple books.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

His latest book, Sell Without Selling Out
The negative impact of aggressive sales tactics
How being strategic brings a lot more benefits than being salesy

Sell Without Selling Out

The need to write this book came from Andy’s work with various companies, the conversations he had on his podcast with sales leaders, and looking at the data. In essence, there’s this feeling that we’re not getting any better at selling, and arguably, we’re getting worse.

Andy was examining the reasons behind this and realized that we’re still relying heavily on these outdated salesy behaviors that cause people to believe that sales professionals are pushy, sleazy, and unreliable. In fact, he realized that we’re using some of the new technologies we’ve come up with to amplify the negative impact of these salesy behaviors.

Aggressive Sales Tactics

There’s so much transition and change going on at the moment. There is also the perception that the market is highly competitive and that salespeople are adopting tactics or being even more aggressive with their use of technology. This all leads to the realization that the entire sales sphere is becoming a huge pile-on instead of a strategic game.

We don’t do sellers any favors in the long run by insisting that this is the way to act. When Andy talks about this on podcasts, LinkedIn, and other places, he occasionally gets pushback from people saying that that type of behavior doesn’t happen anymore, which is simply not true.

Being Strategic

Andy Paul defines selling out as behavior that has no value for the buyer or the seller. He says that we could stop these behaviors cold turkey today. We need to agree not to do these things anymore, and no one would be worse off for stopping being salesy.

Unfortunately, there’s a nervousness and fear that you could be left behind if you take a more strategic, thoughtful approach, or progress will take a little longer. This is not the case at all; in fact, Andy argues that the opposite is true.

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 Role of Body Language in Communication (video)

In this Expert Insight Interview, Martin Brooks discusses deciphering what somebody is thinking through body language. Martin Brooks has always been curious about how the world’s top communicators use their body language to enhance their performance, make an impact, and boost their chances of success, which is why he became the Impactologist.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

The role of body language in communication
How to use awareness to get the upper hand
Why body language matters even more in virtual meetings

Awareness

The main thing about body language, both reading other people and understanding the signals you are putting out, is awareness. We need to start paying more attention to body language when we communicate.

Most of us hate watching recordings of ourselves. It is essential to get past that discomfort and start paying attention to ourselves and what others give out. You can start by paying attention to people that you like, people that inspire, motivate, and influence you. This can help you learn what it is about their body language that is drawing you to them.

Using the Whole Package

So how do you make sure that you’re not communicating the wrong thing when you’re engaging with people?

The best presenters pay attention to how they will use their body, their voice, and the words they choose — not just the technical data that they need to present to win over their audience, but the whole package — what they say, how they say it, and how they look while they’re saying it. This gives them the best possible chance of success.

Body Language in Virtual Meetings

One of the biggest misconceptions going on right now is that body language doesn’t matter in virtual meetings. Martin Brooks argues that body language is even more critical virtually than when you’re talking with someone face-to-face.

This is because it is so easy to disengage from a virtual meeting. You can keep your phone just out of view of your webcam and scroll Instagram while pretending to listen. This is something you could never do in a live meeting. The counterbalance to that is to be engaging and shake your audience up enough with your body language that they’re just engaged from the get-go.

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 are the Common Investment Mistakes (video)

In this Expert Insight Interview, Michael Prendergast discusses common investment mistakes. Michael Prendergast is a Director and Advisor at Altfest. He helps clients with all aspects of investment and personal financial planning matters.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

The phenomenon of recency bias and how it dictates many people’s decisions
How to avoid rearview mirror investing
Why it is crucial to diversify your portfolio

Recency Bias

With COVID and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, there is so much investment panic. In fact, people had been panicked about investing even before these crises, so many people, especially casual investors, are confused about what they should do right now.

There’s this phenomenon called “recency bias,” whereby people tend to think that what has happened recently will continue to happen. However, it is essential to remember your goals for your portfolio. For example, if you’re saving up for retirement, it doesn’t make much sense to radically change your portfolio based on a short-term event, which would disrupt your chances of reaching a long-term goal.

Rearview Mirror Investing

One of the mistakes you should try to avoid when you’re starting in investment is “rearview mirror investing.” Often people take a look at their portfolio at the end of the year and get rid of the things that didn’t do very well while buying more of the things that did well.

This makes sense if you assume that the winners will keep winning and the losers will keep losing, but as we know, change is the only constant thing. The winners will not be winning forever, and the losers will not be losing forever. What you want is to have a highly diversified portfolio.

Concentration vs. Diversification

For a beginner or casual investor, it is imperative to understand the power of diversification. Instead of a portfolio concentrated on U.S. large-size stocks, aspiring investors should diversify their portfolios as much as possible.

This means having different types of stocks of various sizes, nationalities, value stocks vs. growth stocks, treasury bonds, corporate bonds, mortgage-backed securities, inflation protection securities, alternative investments like real estate, precious metals, infrastructure funds, etc.

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 Challenges & Opportunities Organizations Face in Hybrid-Workplace (video)

In this Expert Insight Interview, Laura Goodrich discusses Remote LeaderShift. Laura Goodrich is an expert on the future of work and technology with over 20 years of experience as an executive coach. She is the founder of GWT Next, which provides a unique process to transform the underlying assumptions of the workforce, and has been recognized by Thinkers 360 as one of the top 20 thought leaders in transformation, future of work, change, culture, and technology.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

Laura Goodrich’s motivation to create the GWT Next program
How the hybrid workplace will change the way businesses operate
Why companies will need to be more flexible and open-minded than ever

GWT Next

When COVID-19 began, it was immediately apparent that organizations would put their head down and plow into business continuity. And to the surprise of many leaders, particularly legacy industries that would have denied the possibility of that being successful, it worked.

If there is uncertainty, people will become tethered to what they know, even if it is not working. This is why it is essential to help leaders realize that reconstructing their social and emotional health would be critical to their ability to innovate and change, which was Laura’s impetus for producing the GWT Next program.

Hybrid Workplace

More than ever, people are reconsidering their whole approach to work in terms of who they want to work for, where they want to be located, etc. People are more hesitant to move close to their office in a high-cost area only to be shown the door when things go wrong.

All of this is creating quite a challenge for organizations. In the hybrid workplace of the future, some people will be in offices; others will work remotely; some will be employed full-time; others will be hired on a project-by-project basis or work part-time for several companies, etc. There are many more challenges to building a team and keeping it connected now than ever before.

Flexibility

Companies need to be more open-minded and more innovative now. During the lockdown, some people have realized that they prefer working from home and that they are perhaps more productive in that environment.

This means that many businesses will need to understand how to have a more results-oriented approach, be more flexible about the working hours, etc. Companies that keep trying to force people back into the way things were before the pandemic started will fall behind.

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.

Selling with Love: Earn with Integrity and Expand Your Impact (video)

In this Expert Insight Interview, Jason Campbell discusses his book Selling with Love: Earn with Integrity and Expand Your Impact. Jason Campbell is an author, public speaker, sales and marketing consultant.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

The negative public perception of salespeople and why it is inaccurate
The endless possibilities provided by the sales career path
How understanding your contribution makes you a better salesperson

The “Slimy” Salesperson Cliche

Unfortunately, salespeople have never been portrayed very well in popular culture, often being presented as “slimy” and manipulative. In reality, sales can be the most fantastic job in the world if you have the right mindset — salespeople bring solutions to people, and there’s no greater feeling in the world than helping someone.

Ethical business and mission-driven entrepreneurs are limiting themselves from the power of embracing sales to push their message forward because they associate it with all this negativity. Selling is nothing more than an energy exchange between conscious people, and when you know what you offer is so much more than what you ask in return, that’s where the emotion of love comes in.

Endless Possibilities

So many people default into sales as a secondary option, having studied marketing, for example. These people are often uncomfortable with sales and almost apologetic about where they ended up instead of embracing it as an opportunity.

If you look at the CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, you’ll find that many of them have a sales background. So, although you’ve perhaps ended up in sales as a secondary option, you should understand that you find yourself in an industry with almost infinite possibilities of upward mobility and an increased potential of earning.

Mindset Shift

It is not necessarily about which position you have within the company, but rather whether you align with the impact that the company ultimately makes when every sale is made. If you can be clear with yourself on why you do what you do, you’ll have much more power as a salesperson.

The biggest reason aligning your sales success with a positive impact makes you a better salesperson is that it helps you stand out. Your customers are more likely to enjoy engaging with you if you genuinely believe that what you’re doing is benefiting not only them but the community in general.

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 Obstinate Persistence is Crucial to Achieving Success (video)

In this Expert Insight Interview, Dr. Cheryl Wood discusses developing obstinate persistence to thrive in business. Dr. Cheryl Wood is an international motivational speaker, best-selling author, master speaker, and development coach for women. She is committed to empowering and equipping women with the tools to share their unique voice, story, and subject-matter expertise.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

What “obstinate persistence” means and why it is necessary for success
Why we must nurture the spirit of stubbornness and train our “resilience muscle.”
How social media is affecting our perception of what it takes to achieve success

Obstinate Persistence

The adjective “obstinate” is defined as “showing stubborn refusal to change a course of action.” Persistence means continuing in a course of action despite any difficulty, delay, opposition, or failure.

When pursuing your big dream, you must have a stubborn continuance of one course of action until you get exactly what you desire. To manifest everything that you’ve been dreaming, journaling, and vision-boarding about, you have to stay the course. There should be no option to quit or abandon ship.

Resilience Muscle

Let’s face it; we’re excellent at giving ourselves out clauses or external reasons why we couldn’t pursue something. Plus, whenever you embark on a journey, there’s always a rough patch at some stage that is discouraging, and that is the part that you have to work through.

No one will ever go through a journey to any level of success without challenges, setbacks, obstacles, and roadblocks. We have to have a spirit of stubbornness, getting back up every time we’re knocked down. That requires some mindset work and the ability to work out our “resilience muscle.”

Peeling Back the Curtain

Resilience is almost counter-culture today because we live in a world where everything is supposed to be easy. Our attention spans are shortening, and we’re all looking for instant gratification, so working hard at something, sticking with it for an extended period, and going through a rough time is not “in” at the moment.

Social media is largely to blame for this situation, with people creating a narrative of instant success which is not realistic. This is why Dr. Wood peels back the curtain with her clients and shows them what she goes through daily to create success.

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.

Change Your Mindset to Make Coping with Change a Little Easier (video)

In this Expert Insight Interview, Cyriel Kortleven discusses how to change your mindset to make coping with change a little easier. Cyriel Kortleven is a global speaker who has inspired organizations like IKEA and NASA to approach change with courage, confidence, and enthusiasm for more than 20 years. His pragmatic advice has earned him the nickname “The Simplifier.”

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

Why it is a good idea to simplify business processes
How corporations slow their decision-making down as they grow
The concept of “yes, and” in business meetings

Simplification

Sometimes we tend to make things unnecessarily complex. This is undoubtedly the case in the business world. If something goes wrong in our work environment, instead of having a simple chat, we go to HR to develop a procedure to ensure it never happens again.

Then, when an exception inevitably happens, we come up with another rule and another one, and after a while, we don’t even know why those rules and regulations are there. Although simple solutions cannot solve everything, they could potentially fix 75–80% of our problems — we just need to remember to keep it simple.

Decision-Making

If you sit people down to put a process in place, they will start building exceptions rather than the rules. This is because the world will change anyway; there will always be people going in a different direction from what you originally intended.

It is impossible to predict every possible decision someone will make in the future and put it all in a system. That is part of why startups often make progress much faster than big corporations. Startups can often just try things out and see if they stick, while in a big corporation, you need several people to sign off each decision, slowing things down significantly.

“Yes, And”

As human beings, we often approach change with a lot of resistance from the outset. We have a negative bias toward new ideas and changes. Cyriel advises everyone to suspend their judgment at the very start. Instead of saying “yes, but,” say “yes, and.”

This helps you create a more accepting atmosphere, where ideas are welcome, and enables you to build things you previously might not have thought possible. Not all of these ideas will be perfect, but you could create something special if you can pick a few pieces out of each one.

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.

Create Content that Reaches the Right Audience (video)

In this Expert Insight Interview, Christine Hansen discusses creating a content flow to bring in perfect clients. Christine Hansen is a one-of-a-kind business coach and the founder of Sleep Like a Boss and Christine Means Business.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

How to start creating content that reaches the right audience
Why it is crucial to write and talk about things that interest you
The difference between long-term and short-term content

Being Egocentric

Everybody is struggling to get to the right target audience today. Our buyers are distracted, our sellers are distracted, everybody is overwhelmed with information. So how do you start to build something that can flow and build on itself in this environment?

Christine teaches her clients to “be very egocentric,” which goes against everything we’ve ever been taught. We’re taught to be looking after others, put others first, and know that “it is not about us.” However, when you are creating content, it is actually all about you.

Finding What Interests You

Whatever it may be, your content has to start with the question of what is important or exciting to you. Looking at SEO, what is trending, and which pieces of content are performing best is important. However, that should only come after deciding what you are interested in and what matters to you.

This will kindle your passion for what you are selling, doing, or helping with. Come up with topics that interest you, so you can potentially look at analytics and find a crossover or a gap you could fit into. As a content creator, Christine hires people for the SEO side of things because “analytics bore her to death.”

Short-Term vs. Long-Term Content

Many people think that you have to produce content daily to be successful. The trick is to differentiate between long-term and short-term content. Long-term content is about “schmoozing” Google through platforms such as a blog, a podcast, YouTube, and Pinterest, while short-term content is about social media.

You don’t necessarily need to do something daily for your long-term content. You only need to do as much as you can come up with to keep it high-quality and value-driven. It is a bit more tricky when it comes to the short-term, but if you stick with what you’re interested in, you’ll find it much more manageable.

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.