Do you go back and forth in thinking whether you should publish a book? In this Expert Insight Interview, Jyotsna Ramachandran discusses how to identify three divine signals telling us that we should write a book. Jyotsna Ramachandran is an author success coach, founder of Happy Self Publishing, best-selling author, and a TEDx speaker.

The interview discusses:

• Noticing the signals
• Taking an action
• Promoting the book

The Signals

The first divine signal showing you that you should write a book is if you see a pattern of some behavior in other people’s lives, which you already successfully overcame, like divorce or depression. Since you went through it yourself and you know a way of overcoming it, your experience makes you more relatable to others than any other expert with a fancy degree. The second divine signal is when you notice that many people come to ask you for advice on the same topic. Sometimes we do not realize how good we are at something until others point it to us. And the third signal is when seeing others talking about it in public makes you angry because you know that you have more expertise about that particular topic than them. There are many so-called experts out there with a couple of years of experience who were brave enough to come out publicly, and seeing them makes you want to come out of your comfort zone and tell the world your story.

Take the Action

Once you notice all the signals, it is time to put your book into action. The first step is to define your purpose for writing this book. For someone that is earning more income, validating the work, or fulfilling a dream, but it has to be something that will make you wake up every morning and put hard work into it. The second step is to finalize the book topic. One topic can have many sub-topics, so narrow it down to the specifics. The third step is to make a writing plan. That includes establishing the daily routine and tracking the progress. Many authors decide to hire a book coach to help them plan, a writing assistant to help in actual writing, or an angel writer who writes the book after interviewing you.

Time Frame and Marketing

The writer focused on the book can get done with writing and publishing in three to four months. Designing your book cover and starting a promotion earlier makes an excellent pre-launch strategy, but it also helps you to feel accountable to finish what you started. And lastly, once the book is on the market, constant promotion, both organic and paid, is required to generate the leads.

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.

Networking and building connections are essential parts of doing business. So, in this Expert Insight Interview, Jake Kelfer discusses bringing authenticity in connecting and networking. Jake Kelfer is a founder of Professional Basketball Combine, Chief Elevation Officer at JK Management, inspirational speaker, and two times best-selling author.

The interview discusses:

• Making a life-changing decision
• Embracing authenticity
• Daily connecting and networking

Make a Change

Do you feel like you are achieving your full potential in your current work? What is your vision of success? Now is the perfect time for self-reflection and rethinking whether we do things we want or things others expect us to do. Considering that people are now more accessible to reach due to pandemic slowing down the lifestyle pace, we can easier get any information we need to take a chance and make a life-changing decision.

Embrace Authenticity

Good business connections are possible to build virtually as well. When you talk to someone online, your authenticity can still be noticed and recognized. And especially in uncertain times, people crave authenticity and a feeling of being connected with others. For networking, it is beneficial to show your true self and to be proud of your personality and your way of building connections. Not everyone is the same, and everyone has their style of how they feel comfortable connecting with people. Someone might love writing blogs, while others like recording videos or doing live interviews. While traditional work settings called for a specific type of personality, the virtual work setting enables us to leverage our strengths in making connections. The key to making connections is to make the other person feel a certain way and to find a way to show them that you care. Nothing builds trust between the people better than listening to, understanding, and validating what others have to say. A great example of that is calling customer service and getting frustrated when a person on the line does not understand our problem and tries to solve another problem.

The Rule of Three

Every business makes connections with three different categories: prospects, current customers, and people who can help in advancing business skills such as potential partners, mentors, etc. All three groups are valuable for your business, but depending on your business goals, you can choose how to scale each of them daily. Another very beneficial thing is habit stacking. Networking usually gets pushed down on the list as not urgent. But if we make networking a habit and stack it up on to some current daily routine, it gets easier to make connections on an everyday basis.

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.

From a macro perspective, Americans do not like to throw or give away their stuff, which explains the high demand for self-storage. Thus, in this Expert Insight Interview, Kris Benson discusses investing in a part of a real estate investment market, called self-storage space. Kris Benson is a Chief Investment Officer at Reliant Investments, which provides institutional quality investments to accredited investors.

The interview discusses:

• Advantages and Disadvantages of self-storage investing
• Investor Requirements
• Volatility through economic downturns

Advantages and Disadvantages

There are two different types of investing. A direct investor is someone who pays for the place and runs it. A passive investor is someone who partners up, invests in the space, and waits for other people’s expertise to deliver the returns. The advantages of investing in self-storage space are tax efficiencies and the fact that it is not dependable on the traditional equities market. This type of real estate investment does not have volatility but rather consistent value. In terms of investment returns, it typically takes around 5 to 7 years to start seeing the return. The disadvantages are illiquidity and the fact that passive investors do not have control of it. What passive investors invest in is the team who will be in control of running the business and bringing the profitable returns later.

Investor Requirements

To become an investor, most of the time, there is an accreditation requirement. Being an accredited investor means having around 2 to 3 hundred thousand dollars yearly income or a net worth of at least 1 million dollars besides the primary residence. However, some platforms allow other investors to raise their equities as well. The returns in this business are around 15 percent, but as previously said, it takes years to return. Thus, this is not a good opportunity for quick-return chasers.

Safe Investment

As an asset class, self-storage space did not suffer as a significant impact from Covid19 as some other industries, but there is a noticeable downturn in 2019 and 2020. However, historically looking, this asset class generally manages through economic downturns very well, which enables prices to stay steady. The new developments are beneficial for the customers because new estates entering the market lowers the market prices. In conclusion, this might isn’t the first thought when it comes to investment vehicles, but it is definitely one worthy of considering.

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.

Have you ever thought about working in Antarctica? In this Expert Insight Interview, Rachel Robertson discusses leadership insights from Antarctica. Rachel Robertson is an international keynote speaker, author, leadership expert, and a former expedition leader in Antarctica.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

• Managing people, not science
• Embracing different views and perspectives
• Being authentic in your leadership style

People over Science

Being stuck with a group of very different personalities from a tradesman to a brainy engineer for a year in a close circle such as Antarctica, plus having to manage them, can be very intimidating. However, the thing to remember in a situation like that is that skills do not require management, but people who perform those skills do. The biggest challenge is to handle the cognitive diversity. Not everyone has to agree with or like each other, but we all have to respect each other.

Embrace the Differences

When we find ourselves in a difficult situation, the best way to manage that situation is to break it down. For example, making short-term plans which do not exceed three months is preferable. Another thing is to celebrate the little victories we win along the way because those victories help us to create a sense of progress and build morale in the team. Good leaders also know how to set boundaries. Many people think that they have poor time management when instead, they haven’t set up the proper work boundaries. “No triangles” rule means that people go to the person they have a difference of opinions with instead of going to the team leader to tell on that person. This rule brings the responsibility back to the team, and it encourages creative conflict leading to innovation and progress. Also, the “no triangles” rule releases the leader from the unnecessary but stressful workload.

Bring the Authenticity

Moreover, good leaders know that people will not always remember what you did or said, but they will remember how you made them feel. Thus, bringing the human element and authenticity into your leadership is of utmost importance. Not everyone has the same career aspirations. Somebody has big career dreams while some people work only to provide income for their families, but all those people deserve the same respect and treatment. In conclusion, being a leader in extreme conditions places as in Antarctica is a great way to test yourself how much do you want a leadership position. Because like everything in life, it comes with its benefits as well as with its sacrifices.

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 do people decide to purchase one item instead of another one? In this Expert Insight Interview, Michael Barbera discusses consumer psychology and sales and marketing alignment. Dr. Michael Barbera is a Chief Behavioral Officer at Clicksuasion Labs, an award-winning consumer psychologist with many 500 Fortune clients, business strategist, speaker, and teacher of consumer psychology.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

• The consumer psychology baseline
• How to control the variables
• How to build trust in B2B

Consumer Psychology

Consumer psychology is a study of decisions and choices. It studies why we choose one item instead of an alternative, and it reduces the barriers between the brand and the consumer’s choice. People think that the price is the main determinator when making a choice which product to buy, but there are other variables as well that impact our decision. One of them is a perceived value. A buyer is willing to pay a different price for the same product in different situations. For example, for the same bottle of beer, a person would be willing to pay eight dollars in the grocery store, twelve dollars in the luxury resort, and fifteen dollars anywhere in a time-limited and pressured situation.

Take Control

We cannot eliminate the variables that impact our buying choices, but we can reduce and control them. The solution for that is message framing, and IKEA is doing a phenomenal job in framing its messages. Firstly, when we arrive at IKEA, the sight of an enormous warehouse makes us think that we can find in there everything we need. But, if it does happen that a couch we were looking for is not there, the sign-in IKEA will have an “oversold” message. The sign will not say “out of stock” or “unavailable” like in other stores. That way, IKEA takes the blame off itself and makes us, the buyers, to blame other buyers for buying the product we wanted. So, now because of the social proof, we must have that couch. The other example is airlines changing their “delayed “message to “slightly behind” for their late flights.

Build Trust in B2B

Regarding specifically B2B, the way to reduce and control the barriers is to build a trustworthy relationship and friendship with the buyer. The reason for that is because no decision made by a human being is entirely objective without any emotion. Businesspeople also make choices lead by emotion. Sometimes, just a phrase that we use makes a person feel a certain way, which determines whether we close the sale or no. The main mistake people make in B2B sales is that they put their objectives in front of the buyer’s goals. Building a perceived trust with the client is crucial, which means putting yourself in a position that the client trusts your performance without thinking that you would take any advantage.

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 can we become leaders when the odds are against us? In this Expert Insight Interview, Joya Dass discusses a community leadership group for south Asian female leaders, called LadyDrinks. Joya Dass, a former TV host and Business News Anchor, is a founder of LadyDrinks organization serving to develop leadership in South Asian businesswomen through events.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

• Empowering women through a support system
• Networking
• Hiring a business coach

Women Power

Many women in business lack access, voice, but also the courage to ask for the support system that could help them to become successful leaders. From early childhood, south Asian women are raised not to be interested in making business contacts as that is more for men. Therefore, there is a membership-based platform in which businesswomen provide support to each other by asking questions and sharing pieces of advice and contact information regularly. It is in women’s nature to be more reluctant to take chances. For instance, women are more prone to give up on sending a resume for a job because they do not satisfy all the requirements listed on the job description. Thus, it is necessary for women in business to start valuing and protecting their work and to start pushing back when they see injustice.

Business Network

There is a whole generation of south Asian women who are in prime age to be business leaders. And what those women need is networking with other business people and experts in their fields such as business coaches, branding coaches, communication coaches, etc. Networking is of crucial importance for any entrepreneur. The pandemic did not hurt networking. Instead, it even benefited it by expanding the reach of people who can attend countless online events from far. An online meeting can create a strong bond between people who never met in person. One of the very creative networking events is a virtual wine tasting, where people from LA to New York can meet on Zoom and talk while drinking wine delivered to their addresses by FedEx.

Professional Help

To be able to advance in our jobs, we have to be willing to invest in ourselves. However, people would rather pay for a golf coach instead of a business coach. It might be because they think that the company should invest in them, or maybe they fear that hiring a business coach is an act of admitting that they do not know their job. But coaches see the perspective more objectively, and they can direct us on which things we need to improve to become more successful. A professional coach can help you get where you want to get faster. He or she will not do the work for us but will lead us in the right direction. Hiring a coach shows that we have a mindset open for learning, taking opportunities, and wanting more for ourselves.

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 modern world we live in can be the cause of stress, anxiety, and overwhelming feeling we get. Thus, in this Expert Insight Interview, Deborah Riegel discusses how we can handle stress and anxiety in the sales business. Deborah Riegel is a keynote speaker and leadership consultant who teaches at Wharton and Columbia Business Schools and a regular contributor to Harvard Business Review. She is also an author of the book Overcoming Overthinking: 36 Ways to Tame Anxiety for Work, School, and Life.

The interview discusses:

• Buyer perspective
• Seller perspective
• Management perspective

Empathize with the Buyer

Salespeople usually find themselves dealing with stress coming from both sides, their managers, and their clients. We hear so much about the importance of empathy towards our clients for the successful closing of a sale. But it is crucial not to confuse being empathetic with being sympathetic. By being empathetic, we understand the client’s circumstance. Human emotions are valuable data because they can provide us with information about the client’s needs, values, and interests. So, if we manage to use that information in the right way, we can create a strong relationship with the client. Making a sale decision can be very career-enhancing or career-limiting for a buyer, so that decision causes a lot of stress and fear. And the more fear we feel, the less we can use our rational thinking and problem-solving skills. Thus, understanding our clients’ circumstances can help us to help them to make a purchasing decision.

Accept Different Outcomes

From the seller perspective, we cannot allow ourselves to attach to only one possible outcome. We need to allow ourselves to accept other end-results as success as well. For example, maybe we would not close a sale, but we would get a referral or contact information for the future. Also, when we receive a rejection from a prospect, it is useful to ask for feedback on what that no means. That way, we could try later in the future again if the client said that now is not a good time, or we can move on if the client shows general disinterest in our service. Sometimes, a prospect will be willing to explain and sometimes not, but that rejection usually has nothing to do with us personally.

Show Interest

From the management perspective, we first need to learn which function the stress we feel serves us. What does that stress remind us to do? Furthermore, regarding our employees, we need to show them that we have been in the same situation and that we do understand the stress they feel. We need to show them our authentic and vulnerable side as well. Also, we need to reach out to them to see what we can do that will be the most helpful and beneficial to them in overcoming stressful situations.

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.

Traditionally, an influencer is someone who has many followers on Instagram and other social media but nowadays, influencing has evolved into a legitimate marketing strategy. In this Expert Insight Interview, Magda Houalla discusses influencer marketing. Magda Houalla is a Director of the marketing strategy at AspireIQ and a community intelligence marketing leader.

The interview discusses:

• Developing the influencer program
• Brand Ambassadors
• Maintaining the influencer program

Develop the Program

Influencers have become valuable to organizations because their stories influence people to take actions such as to become a new customer or to stay loyal to the brand. To develop an influencer program for the organization, it starts with establishing goals. Brand awareness can mean different things for different brands. When the organization identifies its goals, it becomes easier to target the people who can contribute to achieving those goals. For example, by establishing cooperation with a social media influencer, that influencer creates high-quality content that your organization has the right to use for marketing purposes.

Furthermore, customers react positively to providing them an experience of belonging to the community. Lululemon company creates an authentic sense of belonging to its community for its customers by organizing in-store yoga classes as well as yoga retreats for more influential members of their community. The point is to provide value for the people beyond the product you offer so that they stay motivated to become a member and grow together with your organization.

Brand Ambassador

The difference between influencers and brand ambassadors is that influencers can work with many different brands while ambassadors usually have an exclusive, long-term contract with one brand. That way company can notice and lock in the talented ambassador early if he or she shows the potential to grow. It is also beneficial if the ambassador is already familiar, or even better, a fan of the product. That way, an ambassador would be able to tell the stories better and more enthusiastically.

Maintain the Program

In B2B, an influencer is a subject matter expert who has the credibility to validate the story of your business. In the sales business, Dreamforce has a significant influence, for example. It depends on the industry, but the majority of business influencers are on the LinkedIn platform. Regardless of the brand’s industry, each influencing program needs auditing and being kept up to date because new cutting-edge platforms show up all the time. And lastly, the influencing program needs to have a healthy process of finding new people because sometimes it requires bringing new influence.

Do you have any influencer that you follow daily on social media? In today’s Expert Insight Interview, we welcome Magda Houalla to discuss the trend of influencer marketing.

Has following any influencer on social media ever made you decide to become a customer of a product he or she promoted? Our today’s guest in Expert Insight Interview is Magda Houalla, and she discusses influencer marketing as a strategy.

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.