The Salesman.com Podcast

Podcast discusses the importance of creating urgency in B2B sales to prevent deals from stalling. It explores the concept of 'pain of implementation' and uses the analogy of weight loss to showcase short-term thinking. Strategies for building and maintaining sales urgency include strategic questioning and promoting product benefits.

Want to find better buyers and weed out the crappy leads that only end up wasting your time? Then be sure to ask the 9 qualification questions we’re talking about in this video on each of your discovery calls. Diagnosis calls are slightly different to traditional discovery calls because they cover discovery, qualification, product positioning and micro-closing in a single call rather than spreading all of this out over multiple engagements. 1) Uncovering Pain Is your prospect dealing with a problem? And are they in enough “pain” to drive the right amount of urgency to buy? A “yes” to both is downright necessary. And to get to the bottom of it, you can ask two questions in particular… “You booked this call with me today, what led to getting this call booked in?” What’s the main reason they’re talking with you right now? You’ll have to do a bit more digging of course. But even in the most tight-lipped buyers you’ll still uncover at least a kernel of truth. “What’s stopping you from solving this issue yourself?” One of my favorite follow-ups to the previous question. Not only does this question uncover any roadblocks to implementation you may hit down the road. But it also gives you a clearer idea of how big this problem really is. Because if it really was a problem, the buyer should have been working to solve it themselves. 2) Timeframes Not all timelines will line up. And one of your chief concerns when qualifying is whether your prospect’s timeline matches your own. When do they want this problem solved? Today? This quarter? Next year? As a rule of thumb, the buyers you want to work with should all want to solve their problems quickly. Because if they don’t have urgency, they won’t be compelled to act. And that might mean feet dragging, ghosting, and an overall waste of your time. “When does this issue need to be solved by?” This straightforward question gives you no-bullshit timeline you can use to assess if your timeframes are a match. 3) Confirming Fit And for this category, you actually need to ask yourself… “Do I have the solution for this buyer’s problem?” Honesty is key here. The best reps don’t oversell their product’s capabilities. Why? Because they know a dissatisfied and duped buyer ruins reputations, doesn’t provide referrals, and never ever comes back to buy again. So you need to think long and hard about whether your solution will really make the buyer’s problem a thing of the past. 4) Calculating ROI No matter how big or how small, every new solution takes effort to implement. Buyers need to change vendors, hire new staff, train on novel systems, or fight for a change to the budget. The question is, is the value your solution provides worth that discomfort? How much will they have to change to accommodate it? And when all is said and done, will they look back on the investment as a good purchase or one that ate up too many resources? You can start figuring that out by asking… “How would things be different if we solved this for you?” What will actually change for the buyer once they implement your solution? Is it a simple quality of life difference? Or does the switch lead to real change for the business on a fundamental level? This one’s key because no matter how well you think you understand the industry, every business is different. And asking the buyer outright will give you better insight into the real value your solution offers. 5) Understanding Process Be sure your buyer is willing to adapt to your process before working with you. Check to see if they’re willing to stop working with current vendors, put in the necessary time for training, and whatever other “musts” need to be done to get maximum value from your solution. To get to the bottom of this one, ask… “When your organization has done similar projects in the past, what process needed to happen?” This question gives you a clearer idea of what lies ahead should the buyer be a reasonable fit. How much work will they have to put in to overhaul their system? How much work will you have to put into training and getting their team up to speed? Basically, is the work required reasonable or out of line? 6) Agreeing Budget As Experiment 27 Founder Alex Berman told me in our interview… “Find the right people because if your buyers have a budget and they're ready to buy, it's very easy to close them.” – Interview with Alex Berman, Founder & Chairman of Experiment 27 [23:35] – Salesman.com Podcast Budget talks can be touchy subjects, it's true. Which is why you may want to avoid the topic until later in the conversation. But on the other hand, you need to be 100% clear on whether your prospect has the funds to pay for your solution. Otherwise, what are we talking about here? “How are projects like this funded?” Not all projects fall under a clean and uniform budget. Sometimes they’re spread over multiple teams and departments instead. With this open-ended question, you’re getting a better idea of how many hoops your buyer will have to jump through to get proper funding. On top of that, you’ll have a better idea if they’re the final decision-maker or if they’ll have to loop in other department heads before settling on yes or no. 7) Identifying the Champion Your buyer’s decision is going to be influenced by other individuals in the business. It could be heads of other departments, higher-ups in the C-suite, or even influential team members below them. That’s why it’s important to figure out who these other individuals (or “champions”) are before you decide the buyer’s a fit. And is there someone else you should be talking to here? “If you were to make a purchase decision, who else would help with that process?” Without asking the question directly, this subtler approach will help you uncover any other decision-makers that may influence the passing of the deal. It also avoids hurting the buyer’s pride. After all, no one wants to feel like they aren’t in charge here. 8) Getting Agreement It’s up to you to get your buyer’s verbal commitment on the call. Otherwise, they’re liable to walk away after days or even weeks of your hard work. So when you’ve determined that a buyer is a solid lead, don’t end the call before asking the discovery call question below. “You’re a good fit to work with us. If we can solve X, will you commit to Y?” This time-tested formula has it all—validation, a hint of flattery, results anchoring. By asking this question, you’re tying your solution to a specific result. And equally importantly, you’re influencing the buyer to commit to that solution, provided you can achieve the results you promise. After that, the only thing left to do is nail down the specifics and sign the papers. So there you have it, 9 probing questions you should always be asking in your discovery calls. If you ask each of these questions, you’ll have all the intel you need to know if the prospect you’re talking with is a picture-perfect fit or a fish you should throw back to sea.

If you want to consistently win at sales then you need to be strategic in your approach. It’s not good enough to randomly be connecting with prospects and hoping that they will buy from you. You need to implement step-by-step systems that allow you to find and close business like clockwork. And that’s where the three sales strategies that I’m going to cover in this post come in. Right Message, Person, Timing The first sales strategy is designed to rapidly improve your prospecting. It’s deadly simple. For every prospecting activity you do, ask yourself if you’re sending the right message, to the right person, at the right time. If not, then don’t send it. This simple framework forces spammy sellers to stop spamming and it encourages sellers to share too much information to pull back. When I’m coaching the students in my Salesman.com Academy program I find that most prospecting issues come down to the fact that the individual isn’t: Sending a message that is going to leave the prospect in a position where they are excited to book a call. Connecting with the real decision maker that can move a deal forward. Communicating at a point in the buyer’s journey where the prospect has enough urgency to get a deal done. Critique every single step of your sales prospecting cadence against the criteria of; right message, right person, right time and your meeting booking conversion rate will sky rocket. Which leads me to the next sales strategy of understanding “buying temperature”. Buying Temperature Understanding the required buying temperature for your prospects to commit to getting started is integral to sales success. Think of your sales process as needing a certain level of temperature put into the system before it hits an “activation energy” where the deal happens naturally. Your goal as a seller is to increase this buying temperature with every single interaction you have with the prospect. Every time you send a crappy email like, “Hey, not heard from you, just checking in?” The buying temperature decreases. Alternatively, every time you share an insight, build trust or create curiosity in the fact that your product is likely to help the prospect solve a painful problem, you increase the buying temperature. As the temperature in the system increases you go from the prospect thinking “I don’t care”, to “OK, I’m interested”, to “Let’s do this!” It’s only at the point that the prospect commits to becoming a customer. The sooner you can help them make that psychological shift, the shorter your deal cycles will become and the easier it is to increase deal sizes. So remember to ask yourself, “is this going to increase or decrease the prospects buying temperature” every time to attempt to interact with them. And that leads us into our third sales strategy. This strategy is how you practically increase your prospecting buying temperature by leveraging the “curiosity loop”. The Curiosity Loop The curiosity loop is essential when prospecting to book your first meeting with a buyer and when you’re trying to get a deal over the line. When you implement the curiosity loop you eliminate the risk of oversharing which is a trap most sellers fall into. Most sellers try to explain the problem that they solve and then how they solve it in their communications to the buyer. This often leaves the buyer with the feeling that they know the “how” and so they can then go and resolve the problem themselves. Of course nine times out of ten, they don’t solve the problem and continue living in pain. A much better way to increase buying temperature whilst keeping the attention of your prospects is to open a curiosity loop and then only close it on the next meeting. For example, in your cold outreach you might explain that you hypothesize the buyer has a problem. You share that you might just be able to solve this painful issue for the buyer. But rather than tell them how you will solve it, you ask them to jump on a quick call to see if you might be a good fit to work together. If you’ve sent the correct hypothesis of pain (right message), to someone who has this specific pain (right person), at a moment of time where they have the budget to resolve the issue and the power to make that final purchasing decision (right timing) then this person would be crazy not to jump on a quick call with you. Humans all, naturally have high levels of curiosity. When you can pique it and then give them a logical next step to fixing an issue, you’ll see your calendar get flooded with new meetings.

Ever feel like your sales strategy hit a wall? You're not alone. Many struggle with methods that just don't cut it anymore, leaving you frustrated and questioning what's missing. But what if you could turn it all around? Today, we're breaking down the ‘4 Rules of Sales' that'll transform your approach and skyrocket your results. Whether you're a seasoned pro or just starting out, these insights are your key to unlocking a whole new level of success. Rule One: Treat Sales Like a Game Let’s start with the first rule of sales: Treat it like a game, not a chore. Now, before you roll your eyes and think, “Games are for kids,” hear me out. What makes a game? Inputs, variable outcomes, and feedback loops.   Think about it. In a game, you make a move, see what happens, and adjust your strategy. Sales are the same. In sales, your inputs are the calls you make, the emails you send, and the presentations you nail. These are your moves on the chessboard. But here's where it gets interesting – not every move wins the game. You'll face rejections, and guess what? That's your feedback loop. It's the game's way of saying, “Try a different move.” And just like in any game, outcomes vary. Some deals are your bonus level, easy and rewarding, while others are that boss battle you prepare for, strategize, and maybe even struggle to conquer. Now, think about this. What's the real cost of losing a round in this game? Zero. Nada. Nobody's getting hurt if your pitch doesn't land. No prospect is out there plotting revenge because your product didn't dazzle them. The stakes might feel high, but in reality, you're just playing a game where the worst outcome is a “no,” and the best? Well, that's the big win, the high score, the dream house. But here's the kicker – it's not just about playing the game; it's about mastering it. How? By understanding that success in sales, much like in any game, comes down to how well you play. Your tools are simply words and strategy. Your reward? More than just bragging rights – think bigger, think a house with a view. And remember, while you're playing this game, you're not alone. You're competing, sure, but every player has their eye on the prize. And that’s what I’ll reveal in the the fourth rule of sales. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. For now, let's focus on mastering the game in front of us. Because, at the end of the day, in the grand game of business, there's room for just one winner. So, as we gear up to reveal more rules of this game, think about how you've been playing so far. Have you been making moves without seeing them as part of a bigger strategy? Stay tuned, because we're about to take this game to a whole new level. Rule Two: You’re Not Selling a Product Rolling into the second rule of sales, and this one's a mind-bender: you're not just selling a product; you're selling a bridge. Imagine for a second, your buyer's living in their own version of reality, right? But it's not where they dream of being. That's their current reality. Now, there's this sparkling, shiny future they've got their eyes set on—that's their future reality. And what are you offering? You're the savvy guide handing them the map to cross from here to there. This is the Reality Gap Method in action. It's like you're holding the key to a secret passage that leads them to their treasure chest of dreams. Every product, every service you sell, it's not just an item or advice; it's a ticket to their future. The whole economy's running on this fuel—people chasing better realities. So, when you're talking to your potential buyers, it's not about the specs of what you're selling. It's about painting that picture of where they could be and showing them how what you offer is the bridge to get there. Once they see that vision, selling becomes as easy as connecting the dots. Remember how we talked about the game of sales? Think of this as unlocking a crucial level where you help players navigate from point A to B. Rule Three: Get the Meeting Jumping into the third rule of sales: the key to closing a sale is getting that meeting. It's all about the perfect blend of A, B, and C. A is your killer message, the one that turns heads. B, your ideal customer, exactly who needs to hear your pitch. And C, the timing, hitting them when they're most receptive. This is the essence of your strategy: Value Proposition, Ideal Customer Persona, and Trigger Event. Prospecting is your initial test, a mix of guesswork and strategy, honing your approach as you learn. It's about finding that sweet spot where your message, the right person, and the perfect time intersect, leading to that all-important meeting. Once you're in, it's diagnosis time. Are these the right variables for your buyer? If not, it's quick pivot time—tweak your message or find the real decision-maker. Closing hinges on aligning your value proposition with the buyer's needs, ensuring they're the decision-maker, and pinpointing a trigger event that compels action now. Hitting a snag? Reflect on these: Is my message impactful? Am I engaging with the decision-maker? Is there an urgent reason for them to act? Master these elements, and you're not just playing the game—you're strategizing for the win. Rule Four: It's a Zero Sum Game Now to the fourth and final rule of sales, and it's a game-changer: sales is a zero-sum game. Picture this—only one victor, no runner-ups, no consolation prizes. In the cutthroat world of B2B sales, it's win or go home. But the truth is you don't need to be a sales superhero; just being 1% better than the rest can clinch the deal. If your rivals are lagging, you're already ahead. The power's in your hands. Struggling against the competition? Time to level up by that crucial 1%. That's how you turn the tables and start winning big.

Learn how to pre-frame a sales discovery call like a doctor's diagnosis for successful engagement. Discover the structured three-step approach to uncovering buyer's pain points and desired outcomes. Personalized sales process guidance offered for exceeding quotas with less stress.

Want to go from loser to rich? Then you need to learn how to like, heck, even love doing things that other people find hard. I used to avoid doing hard stuff. I’d procrastinate on everything. I used this 4 tricks to get over it and since built a 7-figure sales training business, run two YouTube channels, and am now more productive than ever. How did I start liking doing hard stuff? I killed my lizard brain.  The Lizard Brain What is it? Well, this is the part of your brain that’s leftover from your pre-human ancestors. It’s focused only on the now. It doesn’t understand the future or the past. And it just reacts according to your most basic needs. On the other side of things, you’ve also got your “human” brain. This is the rational side of you. It can use the past to predict the future. It can plan. And it can choose to avoid pleasure now in exchange for greater gains in the future. But for as advanced as the human side is, it doesn’t deal well with abstraction. If it can’t find a clear pathway to completing a task, it gives up control to the lizard brain. And the lizard brain’s go-to method for dealing with a problem is good ol’ fight or flight. The problem is you can’t fight abstract goals like “increase revenue this quarter” or “boost commissions by 10%.” So the lizard brain chooses flight. It runs. It procrastinates. And your human brain finally swoops in to justify all the reasons not to start in the first place. The good news is you aren’t trapped in this cycle. You can kill your lizard brain and stop procrastinating for good. You’ve just got to do a bit of brain hacking to get the job done. And there are four techniques to do just that. Number one… Goal Priming When you’re faced with a daunting task like spending hour after hour prospecting, it’s hard to find the motivation to get started. But that’s because you’re focused on the difficulty of the task. So instead, focus on the end result. How will your work pay off? What will your life look like after you’ve achieved your goals? If you’re focused on boosting your commissions but hate cold calling, think about what that extra money will mean for you. What will having an extra $50K a year do for you and your family? What about the career opportunities that will open up as a result? The more you think about the rewards, the less you’ll think about the costs. Overload Reduction Technique two, overload reduction. There is such a thing as having too much choice. It’s called “Choice Overload Bias.” And it’s the documented phenomenon of people having a harder time deciding when they have more options. Worth noting is that they’re also less satisfied with their choice when all is said and done. If you find yourself struggling to get a task started, take a step back for a minute. Are you deciding between 3, 4, 5 ways of doing the task? That’s your problem. Instead, limit your options. Cut down your choices. And just get started. Don’t worry too much about making the right choice. You can always pivot later on. What matters here is moving forward. Deconstruction Next up is deconstruction. The bigger the goal, the more intimidating it’s going to be. When you’re dealing with something as huge as earning $50K more this year in commissions, it can seem like there’s no way to start making headway. That of course kicks your lizard brain into high gear. And it makes you 10X less likely to ever get started. But here’s a trick. Break your giant goals down into smaller, more achievable milestones. Shooting for $50K extra this year? Okay, that boils down to $12,500 a quarter or about $4,200 extra a month. How many sales does that mean you have to make in a month? And given your current success rate, how many cold emails do you have to send or cold calls do you have to make to get there? Then you can start chipping away at that larger goal day by day. Instead of earning $50K more this year, you just have to spend an extra 30 mins prospecting each day. And that’s a lot easier to swallow. The 5 Minute Rule The last technique we’re talking about is the Five Minute Rule. And it might be the most immediately powerful. See, the hardest part of most tasks is getting started—the initial hump. But if you can get past that, the momentum you build along the way will usually be enough to carry you through to the end. So instead of avoiding that task that takes you 30 minutes to do, commit yourself to just five minutes. Hate cold calling but need it done? Just do five minutes. Can’t stand updating your CRM? Give it five. Always miserable while learning product specs? Cinco minutos mi amigo. Five minutes is all it takes. So at the next sign of procrastination, just commit to five minutes. You’ll be surprised at how quickly you get the motivation to keep it going.

Learn how to succeed in sales by implementing the 'two-sale process' for prospecting decision makers and end users. Distinguish between Major and Minor Ideal Customer Personas to tailor messaging and close deals effectively. Enhance your sales strategy with a revolutionary step-by-step process for increased sales and reduced stress.