Sales Strategy & Enablement by Revenue.io

That saying about failing to plan is from Ben Franklin. And, while Mike Weinberg may or may not be Ben Franklin, he is one of the smartest people I know in sales. And, in our conversation, Mike describes the two essential planning steps that every sales manager and sales rep must take at the beginning of a new sales to increase their chances for success. He provides a simple framework for creating an effective individual sales plan that sales reps should use as a roadmap throughout the sales year. Mike also talks about why an important element of the sales plan is a personal investment plan; meaning that every sales rep should have a detailed strategy for how they will invest their own time and money in their own success in 2016. Mike reveals why he continues to invest his time and money in hiring coaches and outside experts to help him improve as a consultant, and consultant and consultants, speaker and author. He does this for the same reason that you need to invest in your improvement: so that he can continue to be a source of great value to his customers. Now is the time to plan for your success in 2016. Listen to this episode to make it happen for you.

In this episode, Tom Ziglar, CEO of Ziglar Inc., builds on the words of his father Zig Ziglar, to cut through the noise and help you focus on what’s really important in 2016. Tom describes the basics of sales that will never change. Those have to do with trust integrity and reputation. And, hope. He defines two incredibly effective strategies for sales managers to help motivate their sales teams and kick off 2016 in a more productive fashion. Do you know what dream alignment is? If you're a manager you need to understand this. And in our conversation, Tom reveals exactly how you can use that to help your salespeople achieve their goals, both in work and in life. And he explains why they have found from their decades of training hundreds of thousands sales reps that the most successful individual salespeople are those who invest in themselves (and why the top performers invest 3% to 5% of their income in their own personal and professional development). If you're a sales leader, you definitely want to listen to this episode now. There is no better way for you to kick off the new sales year than with these inspirational lessons from Tom Ziglar.

In this special first episode of 2016, Jeb Blount, CEO of Sales Gravy and best-selling author of multiple books including his latest best-selling book Fanatical Prospecting, describes the most essential changes that sales reps must commit to making to in order to achieve their goals in 2016. He describes why every seller needs to have a sales plan for 2016 and why that planning needs to be completed right now, at the start of the sales year. Jeb details the two courageous sales resolutions that every sales rep should commit to making this year to continuously improve their performance. And, he sets the expectation for every sales rep, right here at the beginning of this sales year, in terms of the level of investment they must make in their own success. If you want to be a top performer, Jeb will tell you exactly how much you should expect to invest in your own success this year. If you're a manager, or an individual sales professional, this is a must listen episode to kick off your new sales year. Don't miss it!

One of our most popular episodes in the past 90 days was my conversation with Deb Calvert, President of People First Productivity Solutions. Deb is on a mission to transform how sellers view their roles in a sales transaction. In this episode Deb describes the powerful research findings about the leadership mindset that all sellers should adopt to inspire and lead their prospects to making favorable decisions. She also provides great insights into how leaders in sales build trust and use collaboration and the co-creation of value to help buyers challenge, and change, their own status quo. We all know that sales is changing. Deb provides a great framework for sellers to unlock the leader within. All sales leaders and sales reps need to listen to this game-changing episode.

Kelly Riggs is the creator of The Business Locker Room and author of Quit Whining And Start Selling. In this episode, Kelly breaks down why, despite all the changes that are occurring in B2B selling, sales success will always depend on the ability of a sales rep to effectively communicate one-on-one with a potential buyer. He describes why most salespeople misunderstand the nature of the relationship that buyers want to have with them, and the negative impact this has on their ability to win business. And, he defines the steps that every sales rep must take to increase the value that can deliver in order to maintain their relevance to their prospects and their buying processes. It is tough work that requires a level of commitment that winners will make. And, whiners won’t. If you're involved in B2B sales at any level, then you need to listen to this show!

Jack Malcolm, is President of the Falcon Performance Group and the author of Bottom-Line Selling and Strategic Sales Presentations. In this episode, Jack identifies the single biggest barrier to effective, persuasive communication that exists in sales, and in business in general. He describes a streamlined communication process that he teaches, based on lean manufacturing principles, that enables sellers and presenters to deliver more value in less time to the recipients, or target audience. Jack also provides actionable recommendations about how to assess the effectiveness of your communications, as well as exercises that you can use to ensure that your pitches, stories and presentations are focused on meeting the needs of your customers. If it’s a part of your job to effectively and persuasively communicate with customers, then this episode is a must listen!

Babette Ten Haken is the author of Do You Mean Business? Technical, Non-Technical Business Collaboration, Business Development And You. In this episode, Babette discusses the challenges of melding sales and technical resources to effectively and efficiently win new business. She describes how the future of sales will belong to the hybridized seller who can effectively combine sales and technical strengths to help buyers meet their objectives. And, Babette talks about the steps that sales teams and sales reps must take to develop these strengths in order to maintain relevance to their buyers. If you are a CEO, business owner, sales leader or sales rep, you should listen to this show! 

Jeff Beals is the author of Selling Saturdays: Blue Chip Sales Tips From College Football. Imagine a sales situation in which there are only 100 prospects in the entire country that fit your ideal customer profile. And, imagine that you have at least 30 competitors fighting tooth and nail to win the order from those same 100 prospects. That's sales environment that big-time college football coaches face on a daily basis competing to win a commitment from 17 year old athletes to attend their school. In this episode, Jeff Beals shares with you the very real lessons you can learn about sales, including focus, planning, commitment, intensity and competition, from the coaches that walk the side lines on Saturdays. If you sell in a highly competitive market, then this show is a must listen!

Jim Keenan, otherwise known as Keenan, is A Sales Guy, a widely read blogger and the author of a new book, Not Taught: What It Takes to be Successful in the 21st Century that Nobody's Teaching You. In this episode, which is Part 2 of my extended conversation with Keenan, we talk about his new playbook for success in the 21st century. He describes how the conventional career rules that we all have been taught, have become obsolete. It doesn’t matter which generation you’re part of or what stage of your career you’re at, if you’re not listening to Keenan’s recommendations for taking charge of your own success, then you’re going to fall behind. This is a must listen episode.

My regular guest on front line Friday is Bridget Gleason. Bridget is the key of corporate sales at SumoLogic. On this episode, Bridget and I talk about five common sales objections and how to work with the buyer to get to yes. We also dive into the subject of trust; why it's essential to take the steps to quickly build trust with prospects and help critical buyers first perceptions of you are in that process.