Sales Game Changers | Tips from Successful Sales Leaders

This is episode 446. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. RUSS' TIP: "I think we always forget to do this. Ask for a referral in every sales call. If you get a no on the phone, ask if they know somebody you should talk to. If you're in a sales meeting, ask who else they know in that industry or that market. Ask for referrals, it goes a long way to building your pipeline." PETE'S TIP: "Get out of your own way. 2018 is over, there's a new normal, get on with it. Embrace the change, pick up your game or be left behind. You've got to get going."

This is episode 445. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. Attend the next Institute for Excellence in Sales Women in Sales Leadership Forum starting January 14, 2022. Register here. KATIE'S TIP: "I use the same phrase when people ask me, "I want to be a Blue Angel someday. How do I get there?" I say, "Calm seas don't make a skilled sailor." What I mean by that is it's not the easy times in your life, it's not the calm seas that shape you as a person. It is those hard times. It's the rough seas. It's the failures. It's the adversity that you face. How you deal with that, that will shape you as a person, as a mother, as a spouse, in my case, a Marine, a leader, and now as a businesswoman. That's really what I would say, is adversity is a way to improve yourself. Rather than get down in the dumps about it, use it to polish yourself."

This is episode 444. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. Bob's TIP: "Shifting your focus from getting to giving and when we say giving in this context, we simply mean constantly and consistently providing immense value to others understanding that doing so is not only a more pleasant way of conducting business, it's actually the most financially profitable way as well. When you're that person who is able to take your focus off of yourself and place it onto that other person genuinely and authentically, looking to discover what they need, what they want, what they desire, how you can help make their businesses, their lives better, help bring them closer to happiness, people feel good about you. People want to get to know you, they like you, they trust you, they want to be in relationship with you, do business with you and so forth. They're going to buy from you only because they believe they'll be better off by doing so than by not doing so."

This is episode 443. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. KIM's TIP: "It's okay to fail and fail fast but learn from it. Improve from it, iterate on it, iterate your process, iterate your style. We're all very stylistic in what we do as sales professionals and sales leaders. Last year was a year of resilience, this year is also going to be a year of resilience and that's a key theme in my team, and we see in the market. Grow your clients and yourself through trust, and that's how you're going to grow your success as a sales professional and elevate your game." JEREMY'S TIP: "Be a problem solver. In your first conversation, ask that customer, "Give me a project, give me a task," nothing relatable to having to sell something to solve that problem. Literally, ask for a task, come back and do it better and faster than anyone else and you will automatically earn the right to ask for the next thing, have a seat at the table, and you'll be making a lot of friends when you deliver on that as well."

This is episode 442. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. Brian's TIP: "When we talk about ethically influencing people, there are three keys that have to be present. First is truthfulness. Now, it's not enough to tell the truth, we never hide the truth either, because if we know something will materially impact someone's decision and we withhold it, we're not being ethical. They will not look at us as an ethical influencer if they find that information out after the fact. The second thing is we only use the psychology that we find naturally in the situation. For example, if there's no real scarcity for your product or service, don't claim that there is. Then the third thing that we look to do is create situations that are good for both parties. I like to say, "Good for you, good for me. Then we're good to go." If we can hit all three of those criteria, we can look ourselves in the mirror and say, "You know what? I'm dealing with people in an upright, ethical manner."

This is episode 441. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. JENNIFER'S TIP: "Move forward. You have to keep moving forward. Have that courage to try something new, pivot, change. Just move forward. As long as you keep moving forward, you're going to be okay." CLINT'S TIP: "You succeed only – and I underscore only – when your customers succeed. Pick a customer, sit down with a blank piece of paper and see if you can articulate your customer's top three business priorities. Draw a line and then see if you can articulate the three biggest problems they face to achieve those opportunities. If you can do it, great, you're well on your way to helping your customers solve their hardest problems. If you can't do it, you need to go back and do some more listening and some more investigation about what's important to your customer."

This is episode 440. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. CHRISTA'S TIP: "I always say this, "I can't help a leader who doesn't care about people." You have to generally have a desire that you want to do good, even if maybe you're maybe not achieving that level of good that you want to be doing. Not being in integrity, that is a huge cost. Being honest with yourself like I mentioned with myself, where I wasn't being in integrity. I was saying, "These things are important to me, but I'm living in this way." Being honest, looking at that, and making a commitment to integrity, and yes, people might not like you. When you say no, people might not like you. I can promise you that. You might piss some people off. But what's more important at the end of the day, to be liked or to have integrity? That's just something else to bite off on and think about leaving this conversation.

This is episode 439. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. Tim's TIP: "Turn knowledge into action. As an organization, you know what you're doing isn't working right now. You know that you've got to get on social and you've got to do something about it. Sometimes, that's going to need to you be courageous and stand up, and actually, sometimes disagree with people because there are going to be some people that are going to want to do it like we did it 30 years and 40 years ago. This is a call to action in terms of standing up, being courageous and turning what you know is right into action."

This is episode 438. Read the complete transcription on The Sales Game Changers Podcast website. This show was sponsored by Cox. Learn more at For the Love of Sales. CATS TIP: "Everything that we're talking about has everything to do with marketing and sales. How are you positioning yourself and how are you "convincing" someone that it's time for you to be promoted? The first thing is all about authority. How are you branding yourself? Are you identifying the job that you want? Are you communicating it and are you positioning yourself as an authority? And there's community. Your job, especially in the corporate space, is to make your boss look good. If you want it to work, then start looking at what you're doing and how you're showing up. The third piece is how you Engage. Identify that sponsor, who, and invest in them. This is about giving them value, support them. So many people want to take and they don't give first. Look at what you can do to help them, support them. Find out what are they looking for."

This is episode 437. Read the complete transcription here. BRYNNE'S TIP: "Resonate, curiosity, teach your customers something new. Get them thinking differently about their state and lead them to your solution."