The Sales Evangelist

Many salespeople are bombarded with countless tech tools to make their lives easier. But what if one tool helped unify your department’s sales process? On today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by the CEO and co-founder of Scratchpad, Pouyan Salehi, to discuss how sellers can utilize Scratchpad to eliminate their sales stack drag. Salespeople have many tools at their disposal but often rely on their own systems. People are digitally duct-taping a workspace together to do the job they need rather than using a unified system. This means sellers can spend hours each week updating the next steps for management to view, creating a massive waste of time.  Scratchpad unifies sellers’ efforts by creating a space for sellers to work. Athletes have gyms, artists have studios, and salespeople have Scratchpad - a workspace for them. The end goal? Eliminate sales stack drag. For salespeople, drag is an important concept; it’s the burden on salespeople that prevents them from doing their best. This could be due to many reasons, from the available tech stack and new sales methodologies to product information and new competitors. Salespeople have to hit quotas and solve these challenges that create drag in their work. Sellers, on average, only spend 40% of their time selling.  Scratchpad gives you back time in your day, helping you reinvest that time into efforts that contribute to your bottom line.  It helps sales teams share client information to make selling seamless, eliminating additional conversations to verify information already gathered. Scratchpad was built with the seller in mind because If they love it, they’re more likely to encourage adoption to leadership.  After adoption, sales leaders often realize Scratchpad doesn’t just increase sales performance but also employee morale. From individual usage to departmental adoption: Everyone processes information differently, and that level of flexibility should exist within a team’s space.  Scrathpad’s deliberate customization meets salespeople where they are and is built to go anywhere with you. It removes bouncing between tabs, uniting everything you need in just one place. The concept of a new tool is thought of as another thing sellers have to learn. But anyone can start seeing value with Scratchpad after just a few minutes of use. Visit scratchpad.com to sign up and get started using this helpful platform, and connect with Pouyan on LinkedIn for more great content. This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn Sales Navigator. The Great Resignation has become the Great Reshuffle, meaning it can be difficult for sales professionals like you to find leads and close deals. Luckily, Sales Navigator from LinkedIn is here for you! Sales Navigator from LinkedIn is the only tool that uses real-time alerts and up-to-date insights to help you know when prospects are ready to buy. And, with over 30 advanced filters, sales professionals can quickly find genuine leads with the intent to purchase. Gain the advantage of accurate, quality lead generation data from LinkedIn Sales Navigator. You can get a 60-day free trial of Sales Navigator at www.LinkedIn.com/TSE.  This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real. But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by Closers.io. Closers.io helps sales reps land their dream remote sales gig, where they can set their own hours, work from anywhere, and make six or even multi-6 figures per year. That sure sounds good to us! Committed to helping sales reps make a shift, Closers.io will place you in an available sales role that will increase your commissions and help you live the life you want. Apply for free now at go.closers.io/TSE. This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad. Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution. Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com.  As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

You can’t keep begging for a piece of the pie; you need to bake the whole pie yourself! In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald discusses three reasons why he baked his pie (and by that, we mean creating his own business development event.) Tune in to learn about Donald’s upcoming event to master the art of social selling! Why create the event? While Donald loves West Palm Beach, Florida, he found that existing sales meet-ups did not really pertain to B2B sellers.  Wanting a place for B2B sellers to learn and grow alongside one another, Donald created his own! It’s all-around business development. Whether you’re a full-cycle sales rep or a frontline seller; if you’re looking to find new strategies and tips, BusDev22 is the event for you. Are you not local to Florida? Then, purchase a virtual pass to gain all the knowledge from the comfort of your home. Donald’s three reasons to make BusDev22: You can’t wait for people to do stuff for you; you have to take action. When it comes to the event, Donald wanted to make it happen. Take risks and try new things to succeed! Donald saw and attended other events, but they never lived up to his expectations. He knew he wanted it to be workshops - a space to take notes, interact, and learn with others. This isn’t a college class - it’s a space to learn and apply new findings. It’s something fun that helps others. If your company hasn’t quite found a way to crack the code to top-tier selling, there’s no better opportunity to learn how to get there. To find out more, go to thesalesevangelist.com/busdev to learn more and purchase a ticket. This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn Sales Navigator. The Great Resignation has become the Great Reshuffle, meaning it can be difficult for sales professionals like you to find leads and close deals. Luckily, Sales Navigator from LinkedIn is here for you! Sales Navigator from LinkedIn is the only tool that uses real-time alerts and up-to-date insights to help you know when prospects are ready to buy. And, with over 30 advanced filters, sales professionals can quickly find genuine leads with the intent to purchase. Gain the advantage of accurate, quality lead generation data from LinkedIn Sales Navigator. You can get a 60-day free trial of Sales Navigator at www.LinkedIn.com/TSE.  This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real. But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by Closers.io. Closers.io helps sales reps land their dream remote sales gig, where they can set their own hours, work from anywhere, and make six or even multi-6 figures per year. That sure sounds good to us! Committed to helping sales reps make a shift, Closers.io will place you in an available sales role that will increase your commissions and help you live the life you want. Apply for free now at go.closers.io/TSE. This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad. Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution. Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com.  As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

In today’s special episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald discusses the highlights of his new book! Sell It Like a Mango, available on Amazon or at thesalesevangelist.com/mango, is full of principles, practices, and tips to sell your product through a shift in mindset and approach to sales.  The premise of the book: Donald saw many mango vendors in the street growing up in Jamaica. But they all sold the same product! So, why did some mangos sell better than others? Because the seller made the deal. If your product has value, you sell it at that value. Donald set up a mango stand in his front yard, but people couldn’t see him and didn’t come.  The takeaway? Get outside your comfort zone to be a successful seller. This applies to everyone - people will sell the same thing as you, so you need to stand out. In the book, Donald points out common sales misconceptions: Misconception 1: My role as a seller is to convince the buyer to make a purchase. The real job is to educate the buyer to know they should make a purchase. Misconception 2: The work doesn’t require a drive. Whether that’s a passion for the product or a desire to be in a better financial state, drive to sell is what will sell. What else can you learn? Handling and overcoming rejection. Sellers often encounter rejection, and it can be stressful and disheartening to experience. How can you bounce back? Identify and attract the right prospect. Because while your product might be able to benefit everyone, you shouldn’t try to sell to everyone. How to think like an entrepreneur. Sales reps don’t have the business on their back - if you don’t hit a quota, your business won’t fall apart. But how do you overcome adversities to succeed?  Closing. The “close” doesn’t have to be an event. Don’t blow it out of proportion! You need to understand that nothing happens until you help people commit. Help prospects commit to minor things throughout the journey, like scheduling demos and signing papers to make it easier to close later! Sell it Like A mango is a great resource, regardless of your experience as a seller. Visit thesalesevangelist.com/mango to preview the first chapter and leave a rating or review online! Let’s evangelize the world of sales. This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn Sales Navigator. The Great Resignation has become the Great Reshuffle, meaning it can be difficult for sales professionals like you to find leads and close deals. Luckily, Sales Navigator from LinkedIn is here for you! Sales Navigator from LinkedIn is the only tool that uses real-time alerts and up-to-date insights to help you know when prospects are ready to buy. And, with over 30 advanced filters, sales professionals can quickly find genuine leads with the intent to purchase. Gain the advantage of accurate, quality lead generation data from LinkedIn Sales Navigator. You can get a 60-day free trial of Sales Navigator at www.LinkedIn.com/TSE.  This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real. But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by Closers.io. Closers.io helps sales reps land their dream remote sales gig, where they can set their own hours, work from anywhere, and make six or even multi-6 figures per year. That sure sounds good to us! Committed to helping sales reps make a shift, Closers.io will place you in an available sales role that will increase your commissions and help you live the life you want. Apply for free now at go.closers.io/TSE. This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad. Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution. Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com.  As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

Social selling is a topic many salespeople are familiar with. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by the CEO of Pipeline Signals and Sales for Life and pioneer of social selling, Jamie Shanks, to learn how he utilizes relationship mapping to land more enterprise deals. Three triggers matter to your audience:  Buying intent - Who is googling a keyword or downloading something off your website? Product usage - Who uses which software, and how does that integrate with you? Following the human - Humans make business decisions. Whether for a customer company or a pending relationship.  How can you maintain this high-level maintenance for all your prospects if people are shuffling and moving positions in this great resignation? It’s not impossible to do it all yourself, but it’s very challenging. Missing sales intelligence is happening with all of your prospects because it’s just too much information for one person or team to stay on top of while maintaining their actual sales work.  For B2B sellers, nearly every account will experience a turnover, promotion, or job change in your target department each month. If you try to maintain his information yourself, identify your core customers critical to your business and focus on them. At the very least, set up alerts on LinkedIn. Jamie’s four-step guide to messaging the same person with a new job:  Social connection - Bring them back to how they know you. Value creation  - Explain how you can help the prospect make money, save money, or mitigate risk for their business. Knowledge or value exchange - when booking a meeting, you aren’t selling a solution - you’re providing a knowledge exchange. Give something worth spending time on. The call-to-action. Jamie’s major takeaway? If you have hundreds or thousands of accounts, it will amaze you how many sales you can unlock by having a monitored database. It’s valuable to know what’s going on. To learn more about Jamie’s companies, visit their corresponding websites at Pipelinesignals.com and salesforlife.com. Connect with Jamie on LinkedIn for more great content. This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn Sales Navigator. The Great Resignation has become the Great Reshuffle, meaning it can be difficult for sales professionals like you to find leads and close deals. Luckily, Sales Navigator from LinkedIn is here for you! Sales Navigator from LinkedIn is the only tool that uses real-time alerts and up-to-date insights to help you know when prospects are ready to buy. And, with over 30 advanced filters, sales professionals can quickly find genuine leads with the intent to purchase. Gain the advantage of accurate, quality lead generation data from LinkedIn Sales Navigator. You can get a 60-day free trial of Sales Navigator at www.LinkedIn.com/TSE.  This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real. But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by Closers.io. Closers.io helps sales reps land their dream remote sales gig, where they can set their own hours, work from anywhere, and make six or even multi-6 figures per year. That sure sounds good to us! Committed to helping sales reps make a shift, Closers.io will place you in an available sales role that will increase your commissions and help you live the life you want. Apply for free now at go.closers.io/TSE. This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad. Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution. Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com.  As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

Every seller wants the same things: more prospects and more sales. So why not use the best tools to help you get there? In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by VP of Sales and Marketing at GPSLockbox Andrew Velker to discuss his favorite sales tools. Andrew’s favorite tools start with the swiss army knife of CRMs: CRMs are the first and most important part of a sales tech stack, and Andrew prefers one that satisfies two questions: First, can it connect with other tools? Second, is it easy to use? Hubspot fulfills both. Hubspot offers easy integration and is incredibly inclusive of other technical applications you might need. Use LinkedIn Navigator to connect with the exact people you want. Further turbo-charge LinkedIn Navigator by using Seamless.ai to connect with people you know fit your exact target demographic. Finding the right people and having the right conversations will make your prospecting life immeasurably easier. With these tools, you’ll automatically update contacts with new opportunities and touchpoints, which will dramatically diminish administrative work. Other essential tools sellers should consider: ZoomInfo and 6sense have robust tools to measure audience intent. For government-focused sellers, GovSpend shows what different states and government sectors purchase. SalesLoft is a powerful sales engagement platform that, when used correctly, helps keep a consistent cadence of communication to prospects. All of these tools, if used correctly, help you find time to do the things that matter more - genuine engagement with quality prospects.  Andrew’s final tool recommendation? His least sales-tech-stack tip is to use follow-ups, flags, and advanced search features to master your email inbox without the long administrative effort other organization efforts might take. To contact Andrew and further discuss his tech stack, add him on LinkedIn (@andrewvelker) or visit his company website at gpslockbox.com. This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn Sales Navigator. The Great Resignation has become the Great Reshuffle, meaning it can be difficult for sales professionals like you to find leads and close deals. Luckily, Sales Navigator from LinkedIn is here for you! Sales Navigator from LinkedIn is the only tool that uses real-time alerts and up-to-date insights to help you know when prospects are ready to buy. And, with over 30 advanced filters, sales professionals can quickly find genuine leads with the intent to purchase. Gain the advantage of accurate, quality lead generation data from LinkedIn Sales Navigator. You can get a 60-day free trial of Sales Navigator at www.LinkedIn.com/TSE.  This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real. But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by Closers.io. Closers.io helps sales reps land their dream remote sales gig, where they can set their own hours, work from anywhere, and make six or even multi-6 figures per year. That sure sounds good to us! Committed to helping sales reps make a shift, Closers.io will place you in an available sales role that will increase your commissions and help you live the life you want. Apply for free now at go.closers.io/TSE. This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad. Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution. Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com.  As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

Sales teams are constantly looking for ways to maximize productivity and increase sales, and tech stacks are a big part of that goal. Only sometimes, these tools don’t always give us the results we want. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald shares three common issues salespeople face in finding the right tech stack. Ask yourself: Can you use it? Leadership often implements new tools and tech without consulting the sales staff who’d use them.  Analyze the current selling practices of your organization before purchasing a new tool. If it doesn’t fit the existing methods, it might not receive high adoption rates. The sales tools are implemented to cover lousy selling. It doesn’t matter if you have the premium tier package of a piece of technology - if you don’t know how to sell properly, it’ll likely go to waste. If you have bad selling practices, a new tech stack will help you sell poorly… at scale. (Not the most ideal result.) Before you push for a new tech tool, find out if you can perform the basic task without it to practice and improve. There are just too many tools. During your next sales meetings, see which parts of your current tech stack salespeople use more frequently and think are more beneficial. Watch training videos, read books, and visit Reddit groups and other platforms to learn how to maximize capabilities with your current tech before adding on more. What other issues do you see in your tech stack? Let Donald know on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/donaldckelly/. This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn Sales Navigator. The Great Resignation has become the Great Reshuffle, meaning it can be difficult for sales professionals like you to find leads and close deals. Luckily, Sales Navigator from LinkedIn is here for you! Sales Navigator from LinkedIn is the only tool that uses real-time alerts and up-to-date insights to help you know when prospects are ready to buy. And, with over 30 advanced filters, sales professionals can quickly find genuine leads with the intent to purchase. Gain the advantage of accurate, quality lead generation data from LinkedIn Sales Navigator. You can get a 60-day free trial of Sales Navigator at www.LinkedIn.com/TSE.  This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real. But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by Closers.io. Closers.io helps sales reps land their dream remote sales gig, where they can set their own hours, work from anywhere, and make six or even multi-6 figures per year. That sure sounds good to us! Committed to helping sales reps make a shift, Closers.io will place you in an available sales role that will increase your commissions and help you live the life you want. Apply for free now at go.closers.io/TSE. This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad. Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution. Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com.  As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

In today’s episode, Donald is joined by executive coach Susie Tomenchok to learn how sales professionals can master the skill of negotiating without manipulating. Negotiation isn’t manipulation: Incorporating negotiating strategies and techniques help you and your team reach its needs or goals and open the door for priorities to rearrange and be met. It’s not a winner/loser situation - negotiation should come from a place where you look to satisfy everyone. Low-stakes negotiation happens every day. Mastering negotiation is the key to developing long-term success. Conveying your interests isn’t manipulation - it’s telling your story to meet your needs. Barriers to entering a high-stakes negotiation: PACE: Prepare - aware - close - evaluate Prepare, think at the moment, and be as objective as possible. Be aware of both your and the other party’s interests. Uncover relevant information to reach the close. If you don’t know what you want, how can you expect yourself to negotiate well? There are many pieces of leverage at play when in negotiation. Be cognizant of those levers to explore and realize what solution honors both parties. Understand the solution from their perspective: Negotiating conveys interests and beliefs - it’s an opportunity to connect and learn to know, like and trust another person. As a seller, asking questions about the other party helps you learn more about them and why they’re not siding with you on the issue. Even if you know the answer, never make an assumption. Let the other party be heard.  Be intentional with silence: Practice what you say, and teach yourself not to ramble after speaking. Some people think of it as a game - just practice not talking, and you’ll grow more comfortable with it. We listen least actively to people we know. Practicing silence can interrupt that cadence and convey attention to the other party. Susie’s final takeaway? Anchor ideas you want others to know early on to allow the other party to get their head around it. For more great content from Susie, visit her website for more information or connect with her on LinkedIn. You can find her book, The Art of Everyday Negotiation without Manipulation, on Amazon. (Visit negotiationlove.com for giveaways and other great content as well!) This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn Sales Navigator. The Great Resignation has become the Great Reshuffle, meaning it can be difficult for sales professionals like you to find leads and close deals. Luckily, Sales Navigator from LinkedIn is here for you! Sales Navigator from LinkedIn is the only tool that uses real-time alerts and up-to-date insights to help you know when prospects are ready to buy. And, with over 30 advanced filters, sales professionals can quickly find genuine leads with the intent to purchase. Gain the advantage of accurate, quality lead generation data from LinkedIn Sales Navigator. You can get a 60-day free trial of Sales Navigator at www.LinkedIn.com/TSE.  This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real. But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by Closers.io. Closers.io helps sales reps land their dream remote sales gig, where they can set their own hours, work from anywhere, and make six or even multi-6 figures per year. That sure sounds good to us! Committed to helping sales reps make a shift, Closers.io will place you in an available sales role that will increase your commissions and help you live the life you want. Apply for free now at go.closers.io/TSE. This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad. Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution. Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com.  As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

One of the best ways to build rapport with prospects is through their topics of interest. (And what better way to do that than by podcasting?) In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by Co-founder and CEO at Salescast Collin Mitchell to learn how he uses podcasting to build rapport with his clients. Use podcasting to build a professional relationship. People go on podcasts to contribute thought leadership and share knowledge with the world. Therefore, finding podcasts your clients or prospects have spoken on is a great way to learn more about them. Listen Notes is a helpful resource to view podcasting information like topics, guest names, and show popularity. You can also search for specific people to see if your client or prospect has been on a podcast!  People are often more personal and vulnerable on podcasts. So listening to a prospect’s guest episode is a great way to learn about them to use in conversation later. For example, people on this show frequently talk about how they got involved with their organization, started their career, and sales methodology. That’s all great information to bring back to the prospect.  Even more important is that you took the time to research and show up differently than everyone else. Other podcasting strategies to build rapport: Obviously, you can host your own podcast. There are many opportunities to get into podcasting, and the barriers to entry are low.  Remember, the goal isn’t to get sponsors and downloads. It’s to get access to another person. If you’re an enterprise seller, you can reach out to those in your target account list and ask if they want to join you for an episode. You’ll receive incredible engagement.  Everyone is thankful to join a podcast. They appreciate being elevated alongside their peers, highlighting their expertise to their community. You still need to build the relationship, don’t just try to sell something immediately after the recording stops. Creating content for social and video opportunities: Social media is huge, especially for sales. LinkedIn is a major platform to connect to your audience. When we’re busy, creating original and consistent content is the first thing that falls by the wayside. But it’s a powerful tool to create growth. Social media, if managed correctly, will be a powerful rapport-builder to connect and build relationships with more people in your industry. Collin’s best video tip- use it as often as possible. A video conveys the authenticity and the human behind the screen, which shows who you are as a person and builds trust. For more insightful sales content from Collin, check out his podcast Sales Transformation. This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn Sales Navigator. The Great Resignation has become the Great Reshuffle, meaning it can be difficult for sales professionals like you to find leads and close deals. Luckily, Sales Navigator from LinkedIn is here for you! Sales Navigator from LinkedIn is the only tool that uses real-time alerts and up-to-date insights to help you know when prospects are ready to buy. And, with over 30 advanced filters, sales professionals can quickly find genuine leads with the intent to purchase. Gain the advantage of accurate, quality lead generation data from LinkedIn Sales Navigator. You can get a 60-day free trial of Sales Navigator at www.LinkedIn.com/TSE.  This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real. But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by Closers.io. Closers.io helps sales reps land their dream remote sales gig, where they can set their own hours, work from anywhere, and make six or even multi-6 figures per year. That sure sounds good to us! Committed to helping sales reps make a shift, Closers.io will place you in an available sales role that will increase your commissions and help you live the life you want. Apply for free now at go.closers.io/TSE. This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad. Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution. Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com.  As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

As a salesperson, you (hopefully) enjoy interacting with your prospects. However, a typical sales mistake is forcing the prospect to fit our communication style rather than the other way around. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by the author of The Savage Leader and founder of Group Sixty, Darren Reinke, to discuss building rapport the way the prospect wants.  Sellers assume prospects like to communicate in the same style as the seller. Selling should start with the understanding that we’re all different. Establishing that early on will impact your ability to build rapport. Some people might like starting with a conversation; others prefer to focus on the tasks at hand. We’re all different. Get a sense of the customer’s style by learning what motivates and drives them. Listen to the prospect and pay attention to their tone and how they conduct themselves to understand how to communicate. Three steps to learn a prospect’s communication style: Intention: Have a willingness to change and do something different. Question if there are better ways to build rapport as a seller and think about the potential achievements. Reflection: Know what kind of seller you are and use that understanding to change your communication (when necessary.) Action: Analyze someone’s body language, tone of speaking, and how they interact and put that change into play. A focus on the commission can ruin the relationship.  If you see someone as a dollar sign, you probably won’t build rapport anytime soon. Ask prompts to directly understand the audience - How do you like to receive information? How do you want to communicate? Asking questions (and listening to the answers) will indicate how you can best communicate. Be more intentional with your questions. People will come back to the conversation repeatedly because they like talking to you. Less talking and more listening is the best way to build relationships. Darren’s biggest takeaway? Don’t sell the way you like to sell; sell the way the prospect wants to be sold. Tailor your style to engage your audience. Find Darren on LinkedIn, visit his website thesavageleader.com, and find his book on Amazon. This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn Sales Navigator. The Great Resignation has become the Great Reshuffle, meaning it can be difficult for sales professionals like you to find leads and close deals. Luckily, Sales Navigator from LinkedIn is here for you! Sales Navigator from LinkedIn is the only tool that uses real-time alerts and up-to-date insights to help you know when prospects are ready to buy. And, with over 30 advanced filters, sales professionals can quickly find genuine leads with the intent to purchase. Gain the advantage of accurate, quality lead generation data from LinkedIn Sales Navigator. You can get a 60-day free trial of Sales Navigator at www.LinkedIn.com/TSE.  This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real. But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by Closers.io. Closers.io helps sales reps land their dream remote sales gig, where they can set their own hours, work from anywhere, and make six or even multi-6 figures per year. That sure sounds good to us! Committed to helping sales reps make a shift, Closers.io will place you in an available sales role that will increase your commissions and help you live the life you want. Apply for free now at https://go.closers.io/TSE. This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad. Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution. Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com.  As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com

Building rapport with prospects is the bridge that fosters trust needed to move through the sales process. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald introduces our newest season of content centered around building rapport with prospects. So what are three things that sellers get wrong with rapport-building? Find out in today’s episode. Sellers put on their fake corporate persona. Just because you represent a company doesn’t mean you need to sound like their answering machine. Avoid fake, salesy language that isn’t your authentic self. Whether speaking to your next prospect or your close friend, you should sound the same. Sellers aren’t interested enough in their prospects. Be interested, not interesting. You should want to listen to your prospect, not try to inform them about yourself (beyond what’s necessary.) People love talking about themselves. So allow your prospects to do that by talking about their interests, career, and company goals. Sellers don’t create a dialogue with their prospects. Don’t just give the prospect your full attention; demonstrate it. In virtual meetings, it can be difficult to  Focus your time on what they do or don’t say rather than what your following dialogue will be. A bonus: Use the person’s name in the conversation! Mentioning a prospect’s name throughout the conversation is a great way to build rapport. It shows you're trying to create a genuine and authentic connection. Make sure you don’t overdo it, however. It should fit the context of the conversation. This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn Sales Navigator. The Great Resignation has become the Great Reshuffle, meaning it can be difficult for sales professionals like you to find leads and close deals. Luckily, Sales Navigator from LinkedIn is here for you! Sales Navigator from LinkedIn is the only tool that uses real-time alerts and up-to-date insights to help you know when prospects are ready to buy. And, with over 30 advanced filters, sales professionals can quickly find genuine leads with the intent to purchase. Gain the advantage of accurate, quality lead generation data from LinkedIn Sales Navigator. You can get a 60-day free trial of Sales Navigator at www.LinkedIn.com/TSE.  This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real. But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by Closers.io. Closers.io helps sales reps land their dream remote sales gig, where they can set their own hours, work from anywhere, and make six or even multi-6 figures per year. That sure sounds good to us! Committed to helping sales reps make a shift, Closers.io will place you in an available sales role that will increase your commissions and help you live the life you want. Apply for free now at https://go.closers.io/TSE. This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad. Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution. Scratchpad is the first Revenue Team Workspace specifically designed to adapt to each salesperson’s workflow, so you don’t have to change your habits. Scratchpad creates a streamlined workflow that allows everyone to be a little more productive each day without the hassle of updating a database with whatever info you can find. Get Scratchpad free at Scratchpad.com.  As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.Mentioned in this episode:HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOSHubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com