Life is better when you bring some humor into it. Thus, in this Expert Insight Interview, Izzy Gesell discusses applying humor and improv techniques and practices to your personal and professional life. Izzy Gesell is an “organizational alchemist,” keynote speaker, author, workshop leader, professional facilitator, and presentation coach.

The interview discusses:

Applying humor and improv techniques to daily life
Being spontaneous
Recognizing the power of humor
Self-developing through humor and improv

Humor and Improv in Daily Life

Sales is a performance-based and relationships building role. And in those relationships, you cannot control what others assume or believe about you, but you can control how you show up in public. The principles of humor and improv techniques apply to daily life as being able to think on your feet and being comfortable with things not being perfect. Like in sales, in improv, you do not know what is coming next and must adapt to it. The point is that even though there is only one goal, there are many paths that lead to that goal. We have to keep the goal the same while understanding the flexibility of different positions. Thus, we have to be curious to explore, open to listening to the possibilities, and confident to respond to them. We should not try to lead things our way but to be creative, curious, engage in active listening, and let go of positions.

Spontaneity

The reason why comedians practice their work is that they are building a persona. Spontaneity can positively surprise people and bring them laughter. Responding to your clients in a way they did not expect by showing grace and vulnerability builds relationships with clients.

Humor as a Resource

With humor, you can build connections, distract from uncomfortable situations, encourage and put people down, etc. In many cases, humor is an underutilized and underrecognized resource. It can bring people high status and reputation if they use it right. Firstly, recognize where your humor comes from and what feels natural to you. And next, identify what you are trying to accomplish with your humor. Humor has cultural differences, and it is not one size fits all type. Thus, know your audience and pick your humor.

Self-Development

Some people doubt that they are funny. However, there is a line between funny and humor. Being funny is about jokes, but humor is about how you see the world and the ability to see different perspectives. It is about being your authentic self and embracing what comes naturally to you. Especially nowadays, humor and improv are aspects of resilience, self-development, and survival mechanisms for many.

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, Victoria Whitfield discusses what it means to be a visionary in this day and age. Victoria Whitfield is a business reiki master for entrepreneurs. She preaches loving yourself and loving your business at the same time.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

• The problem of workaholism and burnout
• The mindset shifts necessary to achieve great success
• The concept of the inner visionary and the inner anti-visionary

Burnout and Workaholism

Workaholism is very real. We are rewarded for working hard, and we define people as good or bad depending on how hard they work. That approach can get us onto a slippery slope where we keep working harder and harder to prove ourselves.

Unfortunately, this is not a sustainable way to live, and many people end up working so hard that they work themselves into the hospital or into burnout. Entrepreneurs also often burn out their teams because they just keep adding more and more tasks.

Mindset Shift

We know most of these things intellectually, but it is a question of actually putting the changes required into practice. The truth is that we live many different lives during a lifetime, and sometimes we get stuck with a perception of ourselves from the past instead of taking a step back and realizing that we have evolved, developed, and increased our experience.

Unfortunately, many people seem to believe that they must remain within whatever persona they have existed in for most of their lives, and we could name this persona the anti-visionary.

Visionary vs Anti-Visionary

Inside each and every one of us, there is an inner visionary. This is the part of our personality that pulls us forward and helps us make quantum leaps in our lives and businesses. It is there to shake up not just our lives but our business and perhaps even the industry we operate in.

On the other hand, the anti-visionary is the part of our subconscious that wants to play it safe and not “upset the apple cart.” This side of our personality is cautious and does its best to handle quality control. The anti-visionary is essential too because everybody wants stability in their life. However, at the end of the day, if you’re going to achieve massive success, you can only reach it by listening to your inner visionary.

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.

Most consultants struggle with marketing, lead generation, and business development because they have not mastered marketing and positioning. Thus, in this Expert Insight Interview, Ahmad Munawar discusses how to fill in your pipeline with five or six figures consulting deals. Ahmad Munawar is a Founder of Boutique Growth and the 90 Day Pipeline program, helping boutique consultancies to create demand, attract attention, and make revenue.

The interview discusses:

• Power positioning
• The three pillars of power positioning
• The transformational journey

The Power Position

There isn’t any silver-bullet to help you fill out the pipeline but the hard work of power positioning. Power positioning means adopting a position in your target market as the only viable choice for your customers.

People sometimes tend to have a broader target market and later on try to specify it. That depends on the stage of the business. New businesses should distinguish between deals they want and deals they take. As a new business owner, you need to make deals that bring bread to the table. However, the goal is to get to the position where you only pursue and make deals that bring you the highest price for the least effort.

The Three Pillars

Many hesitate to be direct in their messaging about why they are the best for the customers. The hesitance comes from a lack of self-confidence, and confidence is indeed the by-product of positioning. There are three pillars of power positioning. The first one is to get client clarity. Always go for the market that you have the most familiarity with because that is where you will feel the most confidence. The second one is problem specificity. Get clear on the specific problems that you can solve for the clients. And the last one is to find the point of view that makes your offer different and unique.

Moreover, fall in love with the market that you serve and not in the solution you provide. If you fall in love with the market, you will become resilient and adaptable to the market’s dynamics.

The Transformation

And lastly, focus on a transformation that your client is going through and not on a single transaction. The transaction kicks off the long transformational journey. How much time you spend with your clients depends on the level of expertise. While some consultants like to embed themselves in the organization, experts want to provide short and effective service. They want to be present when it is the messiest, deliver the transformation and leave. That way, they can install the capability and build trust in clients to become self-efficient.

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, Melanie Weller discusses the role of the vagus nerve in leadership and performance. Melanie Weller is a medical visionary with a paradigm-shifting process to access genius, health and flow in your body and business using the vagus nerve as a portal to health, growth, and success.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

• The role of the vagus nerve
• How a dysfunctional vagus nerve can lead to many physical and psychological problems
• Why treating the body is more effective than focusing on our mindset

Vagus Nerve

The vagus nerve is the most significant component of our parasympathetic nervous system. It is what counters your fight or flight responses. This nerve is what gives you your grace under pressure, it is what keeps you cool when you’re on stage in front of a big group of people, and it is also the bridge between your story and your body.

As a physical therapist, Melanie Weller has spent many years helping people give the vagus nerve more space to move.

Transverse Structures Within the Body

When the vagus nerve is dysfunctional, a lot of things can be awry. Most commonly, this leads to anxiety, stage fright, or general nervousness when surrounded by or expected to speak in front of other people.

The dysfunction of the vagus nerve can contribute to many physical issues as well. We know that stress and trauma always affect the voice and the breath, for example. This is because our vocal cords and diaphragm are among the many horizontally oriented structures in our bodies, and we embody stress and trauma on that transverse (horizontal) plane.

Information Superhighway

Treating these horizontal structures in the body can be very powerful in transforming how we influence others, how we are perceived as leaders, and how we move in general. Because the vagus nerve goes all the way from your brain stem down to your pelvis and uses the same neurotransmitter that your muscles do, you can get very far-reaching effects by treating it.

Our bodies send information to our brain at 11 million bits per second, but our conscious brain can only process 40 bits per second. This means that when we focus on treating our bodies rather than changing our mindset, we get on the superhighway of information and we’re much more equipped to treat our problems this way.

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 Bosworth discusses the power of storytelling in creating connections and trust with prospects and buyers. Mike Bosworth is a well-known sales guru, author, speaker, sales philosopher, and story-keeper.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

• The power and importance of storytelling
• How storytelling is changing in the modern world
• How to leverage the power of storytelling in sales

Importance of Telling Stories

Over the last year or so, due to the lockdown and the isolation people have experienced, there seems to be a greater-than-ever craving for human connection in all of our interactions, including sales-related ones. That said, the importance of storytelling spans way beyond this.

Humans have been around for roughly 200,000 years, and during the vast majority of that time, there was no written language. That means that everything human beings learned throughout most of their history was passed down in the form of a story. Aside from this, stories have always served as a powerful tool for leaders to inspire people to do things that needed to be done.

Storytelling in the Modern World

People love stories. There’s a rich oral tradition in the human race, and we have become accustomed to the importance of storytelling throughout the generations. Moreover, many studies have shown the measurable impact storytelling has on brainwaves and neural patterns.

Unfortunately, the modern world of instantaneous gratification, social media, and bite-sized experiences seem to have moved people further away from being able to really connect and tell stories because they seem to defer to the path of least resistance.

Permission and Anticipation

Our attention spans are getting shorter and shorter, which is why salespeople who are looking to leverage the power of storytelling have to obtain permission to tell their stories. As a salesperson, even if you have your story down to a brief 60 seconds, there are very few strangers that will simply let you walk up to them and tell a 60-second story.

Getting permission is the real secret to successfully leveraging the power of storytelling in sales. It creates anticipation within the listener and creates an environment in which the story can take full advantage of its power and potential as a sales tool.

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 holds you back from being unstoppable? In this Expert Insight Interview, David Wood discusses how 30 percent more courage can double your revenue and happiness. David Wood is a Founder at Focus, helping entrepreneurs to double their revenues and be extraordinary.

The interview discusses:

The comfort zone
Getting a coach
Choosing to have control over your life

The Comfort Zone

Staying in your comfort zone can provide you with a pleasant life, but you will never know what hides beyond that comfort zone. That is where the courage and the willingness to feel uncomfortable are stepping in. The reward that is waiting for you is just outside of your comfort zone.

Get a Coach

People usually do not realize the limitations of their comfort zone, and they need someone to points them out. That is why coaching is the key. It is beneficial to have someone who can see things objectively yet is honest with you, stays on your side, and wants to give you a little push. Or maybe a person already pushes so much on so many different areas, and a coach can help that person slow down.

The hardest thing for people is to find their edge. The practice that can help with that is to ask yourself a question what would you do if you were fearless. Take a piece of paper and a pen, and write answers down for your personal and business life. You do not have to do all the things that you wrote down but a couple. And when you decide to go for it, get a coach because things tend to look less scary if you start looking at them from a different perspective.

Choose the Control

We can choose whether we want to be the drivers in the car of our lives or sit in the passenger seat. Over time, people get busy with things, adopt patterns, and default to the passenger seat without noticing it. To step out of those patterns, you need some disruption. It is necessary to take ownership of the situation and to realize that you always have a choice. Thus, choose to be in control of your own life, push further, and look for breakthroughs.

Getting only 30 percent more courageous encourages taking small steps towards something bigger instead of setting up unattainable goals. When setting a goal, ask yourself what it is going to take and is it possible because setting a goal and not reaching it gets people demotivated.

Another thing that prevents people from getting out of their comfort zone is the fear of success. Thus, keep asking yourself what life would look like if you would think bigger and act bigger.

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.

Some of the common mistakes that companies make are using random technologies without proper strategies and internet tools that do not resonate well with their target customers. Thus, in this Expert Insight Interview, Kevin Snow discusses sales automation. Kevin Snow is a Founder and Chief Strategist at Time on Target, helping small businesses to integrate technology into their sales and marketing strategies and processes to scale effectively.

The interview discusses:

• Approaching sales automation
• The future of sales automation
• Integrating sales teams in decision making

The Approach

The purpose of automation in sales is to free up time for people to do more high-value tasks by completing all the tedious and repetitive tasks for them. However, sometimes people get addicted to automation and start thinking that automation will take care of everything. Thus, all the best automation systems have human touchpoints built-in as well. That way, high-value human activities still have to be done for the process to complete.

Another thing that people need to pay attention to when automating their sales process is to avoid being too aggressive towards their customers. For instance, start contacting customers only when you see that they are around the pricing page and not as soon as they enter your website. Buyers nowadays can get information and research on their own. Thus, the most important thing is to provide them with a great experience. Not all people consume information the same way nor want to engage the same way. It is your job to figure out if the best way to approach the prospect is through email, text, phone calls, etc.

The Future

People finally started adopting digital transformation, and the pandemic played a significant role in it. However, many companies went into reactive mode and tried to implement it fast and without much thinking of strategies and sustainability in the long run. Thus, the next step is to figure out how to optimize it and incorporate it into the hybrid-style selling process. The goal is to take all the benefits that automation can provide while leveraging activities that require real people to interact with customers.

Decision Making Process

Sales team should participate in designing digital transformation for the sales process. Managers do not know all the things that sales teams go through in their daily operations and what makes their work more effective. Also, a good understanding of what and why will something be used in the future will create less reluctance among employees once they start integrating the new process into their daily work.

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 long-term sustainable business? In this Expert Insight Interview, Amos Schwartzfarb discusses his new book Levers: The Framework for Building Repeatability into Your Business. Amos Schwartzfarb is a Managing Director at The Techstars, working with businesses to get them on a high level of repeatability and build long-term sustainability.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

• Focusing on your repeatability
• Identifying your ideal customer
• Identifying KPIs
• Understanding financial model

Repeatability

Starting a business brings so much excitement about growing and scaling that people usually do not think of repeatability. However, to scale your business, you should first develop repeatability. Following some frameworks can bring you closer to achieving repeatability. Those frameworks help you identify your ideal customers, business model and its drivers, what you should prioritize, and how to measure your business.

The Ideal Customer

Knowing your target customer is essential when starting a business. Repeatable sales are necessary for startups, and they come from targeting ideal customers. Strive to close your sales 100 percent of the time. And you can do that only if everything aligns regarding your offer and customers’ timing and personal wants and needs. If somebody says no, that means that person is not your target customer today. Thus, start with customers who completely align with your ideal target, and eventually, when you build repeatable sales, you can expand your target market.
Priority

Another essential is to identify all the assumptions on your business and to start prioritizing them. Prioritizing things saves you time and energy to do things that are the most effective for your business. Start ignoring anything that is low priority. Anything that is a high priority and validated, focus on it. Those are daily things that help your business grow.

KPIs

Understanding how KPIs work in business is a must. Focusing solely on your revenue formula means focusing on a lagging indicator that you cannot change. Thus, focus on things that are directly related to some part of your revenue formula. Those things can change very often, and you can take action on them, meaning they are leading indicators. Doing one thing unlocks something else and ultimately leads to unlocking revenue.

Financial Model

Sometimes people go into opening their business with superficial knowledge of finances, which makes them overoptimistic. However, things usually take longer and cost more than we thought. The financial model helps you understand how the future would look like if certain things happen. Then, you use that understanding to track your business progress, learn from it, and evolve it over time because you have a clearer understanding of how to leverage against unexpected circumstances.

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.