Sales Game Changers | Tips from Successful Sales Leaders

This is episode 356. Read the complete transcription on The Sales Game Changers Podcast website. RODERICK'S TIP FOR EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "First, get away from being viewed as the fixers of broken things. Sales Enablement is not the junk drawer where you've got a thimble and a spoon, a paper clip and a dirty sock. You have to put together a charter that outlines and defines specifically what your organization is responsible for and what it's not responsible for, and that doesn't mean this is NOT what we do. What it means is this is not the highest level of value that we will bring to the organization. You've got to have that charter, otherwise, you become the fixers of broken things and that junk drawer. Lastly, you cannot HOPE that this is going to work, you can't hope that Sales sees the value. You can't hope that you're going to get the results that you're going to need. You can't hope that you're going to be able to right size your organization and you can't hope that you're going to be viewed as an integral partner internally. Because as my hashtag goes, #HopeIsNotAStrategy.

This is episode 355. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. CAROLINE'S TIP FOR EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "I really think it gets down to the person on the other end of the phone always wants to be heard. We as salespeople come armed with a deck and want to bulldoze over them. Take the time just to listen to the other person, let them feel heard, let them feel like you understand where they're coming from. Don't be afraid to be that thought leader and push them into a new direction, push them to what other companies are doing that you deem as the best that are out there. That is the best steward you can be for the company of changing mindset and how you all can support them." NICOLE'S TIP FOR EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Ask your leader and your customer what your reputation is, how are you perceived? That can be a simple one, but it's a hard one. Be ready for the response and have an open heart when you ask it. Go to your leader right now and ask what your reputation is in the company. Go to your top customers right now and ask what your reputation is. Or say, "Why are you still doing business with me?" I think that is probably some of the most valuable information you'll ever get. Feedback is a gift, and if we create that as part of our culture, make it open, make it as a very positive thing in your culture and your team, I think you can really get yourself to the next level."

This is episode 354. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. VIV'S TIP FOR EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "When you share video posts on LinkedIn, you get engagement there. You get people commenting, and that gives you an opportunity to start a conversation. Video can absolutely help to drive leads back to your website, back to your calendar link. Basically, whatever you want to share with people. And it's a great way to tap into new audiences, especially on LinkedIn. Because think about it, you share a post, it happens to get a lot of visibility. Someone, maybe a POC, a Point of Contact at one of your named accounts sees that video and starts multi-threading it through their buying community. To where you're suddenly in front of, not really, but your video is in front of seven out of the nine members of the buying committee. And that has built that KLT (know, like, trust)."

This is episode 353. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. ALICE'S TIP FOR EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "My #1 tip to salespeople is you are the master of your success, you cannot rely on your sales manager, you have to rely on yourself. What does that mean? It means read everything you can, listen to podcasts like this one, like your listeners are already doing. It might mean get an accountability partner, it might be hire your own coach, that's what you have to do in order to get comfortable with anything, no matter whether you're one month into your sales profession or 33 years into it."

This is episode 352. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. KRISTINA'S TIP FOR EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Subscribe to the Washington Business Journal or the one in your market. To me, this is my business bible. I read it every week and there's just so much information in here. You can write personal letters to people. When I say letters, I mean letters and not emails because emails these days are just stuck in spam blockers. Send personal letters, reach out to these people on LinkedIn. In the back of the magazine, there's a place called People on the Move. Those are people that are very successful that just got promoted. Send them a $50 gift card and your business card. Do you know how many people get back to me and say, "Thanks for the gift card and thanks for reaching out." Don't forget the Washington Business Journal Book of Lists. Every lead you could possibly imagine is in here, and that's how we were able to diversify our markets." VINCE'S TIP FOR EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Do not be afraid of using the phone to reach out and call people. Whether they're customers, connections, friends, or people you haven't talked to in a long time, set time aside every day. Follow up on LinkedIn. Send handwritten notes, express your empathy and the fact that you genuinely care and all these things will repay themselves. You'll not only feel better but you'll make these people feel better too that somebody cared enough to reach out to them."

This is episode 351. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. RACHEL'S TIP FOR EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "10 things I want you to remember that you can do today that you can also be looking for in other people. I think it will help you remember that you can do so many more things than maybe you're giving yourself credit for and will set you apart from the competition. Being on time. Work ethic. Effort. Your body language. Your energy. Attitude. Passion. Being coachable. Doing extra. Being prepared TWIGS' TIP FOR EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "I think as a woman in sales where I have started to feel most comfortable as my professional self is when I stop trying to be anyone else. I think we can embrace life, and I think this pandemic's really forced us to, there's crying babies and barking dogs and we're all people outside of what we wear a blazer to do. Don't be afraid to be silly. This reminds me that I was on a call with a prospect and we had a meeting. She had a screaming crying toddler at home, it happens. We're trying to talk and it's just not working, and we're talking about rescheduling and I put on the Zoom filter that had the silly bunny ears. So I'm now giving a sales pitch with silly bunny ears moving my head back and forth and raising my hands. But at the end of the day, we got the call done and eventually got the sale. For me, it just reinforced that okay, we can have fun, we can do this, I can be myself and still be professional and still be successful.

This is episode 350. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. FRANK'S TIP FOR EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "The requirements for financial literacy in sales are increasing dramatically. You better be up to speed with those finance issues because those are the questions you're increasingly getting. What you need is what I call managerial finance which is making sure you understand how balance sheets and income statements really work. I also think it is going to be increasingly important to separate signal from noise with data. Right now, what is going on in many sales organizations is this huge proliferation of data that the rep gets lost in, and that the managers tend to focus on what I call interesting but marginal factoids. And increasingly the job of the sales manager is to understand what is that handful of things."

This is episode 349. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. CARSON'S TIP FOR EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "I think the only real difference between how I approach social selling and others is that not only do I focus on quality, quantity and consistency, but it's a people and process game. Sales is relationships and probability. If I reach out to more people than anybody else and I do it with the right messaging, I have a higher probability of getting those meetings. And if I can't get the CEO or the CFO meeting right out of the gate, I'll swarm, I'll reach out to every influencer in that relationship and eventually, I'll get to the person that I want. And I use social selling to accomplish that."

Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. TAMARA'S TIP FOR EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Don't be afraid to ask someone to mentor or sponsor you. Don't be afraid to put yourself out there, don't be afraid to let people know that you need help. A lot of times people are just afraid to ask so just be organized, document and think about what you need and then ask. Have a specific reason you are looking for them to help because you might be going to the wrong person or they might not have the perfect skill set that you're looking for. You could also consider multiple people."

This is episode 347. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. WES' TIP FOR EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "This is kind of hard, but if you do it, it'll make all the difference. I tell everybody to detach, detach from the outcome. Make sure you're taking the right steps, chunk your time down to 15-minute increments, make sure every 15 minutes you're doin g the right thing. I tell everyone, look at what you do two or three times a day or four or five times a week and have a process for it. If you can, automate it. Figure out what you do repeatedly, and at minimum and then automate it."