“You’re not wrong…”

I got excited when I heard her say this. Even though it came with a skeptical eyebrow and half a smile, I knew I had my prospect exactly where I wanted her…

Thinking.

You know those people who tell great stories? They’re magnetic and captivating. They hold the attention of an entire room and make time stand still. Those are special people, and you don’t have to be one to tell great stories.

I used to think that I wasn’t a good storyteller, and then a couple of people told me exactly the opposite, and I started thinking differently about the concept.

If your sales team isn’t crystal clear on three things, then I promise there is dysfunction and revenue is being left on the table. These concepts are often taken for granted, and leaders are afraid to broach these conversations.

That’s not leadership, and your performance is suffering as a result.

Ravi Rajani helps B2B sales teams captivate their customers, build trust, and sell more by unlocking the power of story. Ravi is here to help you craft stories that sell and deliver sales presentations that convert.

The number one key to opportunity creation is making your prospect believe that you’re someone worth talking to and that you have something worth talking about. That’s it. That’s the bar you’re trying to clear.

In order to make someone else believe it, then you’d best believe it too. 

Most salespeople have terrible definitions of what it means to succeed and what it means to fail. The lack of perspective sets the bar way too high for most people to see exactly how well they’re actually doing.

Harriet Mellor is a sales coach for small to medium sized businesses and individuals. She’s also the host of the Sell Like You Podcast.

We’re hearing a lot about ChatGPT these days. The technology is either thrilling or terrifying, depending on your point of view. The idea that there are infinitely efficient brains out there doing the same work we’re doing is quite a proposition.

I was asked recently about how I think it can/will affect the work that salespeople do. I haven’t played with the tool enough on my own, and it’s still way too early in the game to make definitive statements, but it’s clear that AI is a force to be reckoned with. It’s not going away, and it’s only going to get better.

Selling is necessarily not a tangible “thing.” There are so many right ways to do it, that what is wrong for someone might be perfect for someone else.

The sales process is rigid, as I’ve mentioned before. That’s the science of selling. Your sales methods are fluid, and they represent the artistry behind what we do. Art is subjective, therefore so is selling.

I want you to stop trying to follow the rules, and realize that you can make them up.

The classic hunter/farmer dichotomy among sellers is a bit overplayed to me. Why do they need to be so distinct? I’ve been selling for almost two decades now, and I can definitively say that the best salespeople hunt for great places to farm.

While some people are going to be better suited for one role than the other, is this a problem of fit or just a lack of accountability in the sales culture? Insisting on winning net-new business at the expense of nurturing some of your best customers is a mistake. The lack of perspective is hurting a lot of companies, so allow me to provide you with a new one.

David Priemer is the Founder and Chief Sales Scientist at Cerebral Selling, and he’s also a “psychologist to the stars.” If you don’t already have his book, Sell The Way You Buy, then why not? It’s a perennial bestseller and has been translated into 5 additional languages.

As I prepare for my 2023 sales kickoff events with clients, I’m noticing a lot of common themes in my recommendations. These are things that should be revisited regularly but are often taken for granted.

If you invest the time (and the thought) in these elements, and if you’re disciplined in your execution, 2023 will likely be the best year you’ve ever had.

What does it mean to sell with Integrity? Most peo­ple think of in­tegrity along the lines of moral­i­ty but to me, and with its re­la­tion to #Sel­l­Like­Y­ou, it means a lot more than that.

We’re a week into the new year, and I’m already disappointed that I haven’t accomplished all of my goals.

I know this is ridiculous, but it’s the feeling I get every year at this time, and I’m sure some of you do too. It’s important to remember that any goal you set for the year is going to take habit and discipline to reach. You’re probably not going to create that kind of discipline in just a few days (or you haven’t really challenged yourself).

Ian Ko­ni­ak is a coach for high per­form­ing sales reps, and one of the con­cepts he works with peo­ple on is what he calls The In­tegrity Gap.

Af­ter con­nect­ing at the Sales Suc­cess Sum­mit, Ian and I sat down to dis­cuss the con­cept of in­tegrity, since we’re among the only peo­ple re­al­ly talk­ing about it in a sales con­text.

The books are closed on 2022. How would you classify your year?

For the past few weeks, I’ve naturally been having this conversation with a lot of people (as I’m sure you have too). This is always an introspective time of year for me, and I like to retreat a little bit from my normal day-to-day to think about how things are going and in which direction I’d like them to head.

After quite a bit of thought, the best way I can describe 2022 is “the best worst year I could have possibly had.”

On today’s show, I’m taking you back in time to share my sales origin story, and the moment I decided that I was going to do it the way I felt it needed to be done, or maybe I just wasn’t cut out for sales.

That was 15 years or so ago, so I’ll leave the verdict up to you. 😉

It was 2006. My almost 10-year-old stepson Michael had been skeptical of the jolly old elf for the past couple of years.

You could tell in subtle ways. The letter to Santa didn't go in the mailbox until just a few days before Christmas. Then the next year, he asked for the impossible-to-find toy. Somehow, improbably, he was always surprised and delighted on Christmas morning.

But that year was the ultimate test.

Today I want to define three key terms that are going to come into play this season: confidence, belief, and Resistance.

Confidence and belief are often used interchangeably. The word belief is even used in some definitions of confidence. While I don’t want to argue semantics, I believe (pun fully intended) that there is a major difference.

Great salespeople create an environment to buy.

Great sales leaders create an environment to sell.

If you lead a team, have you thought about this? Do you have an idea of what a great selling environment looks like?

As we wind down over the next couple of weeks (or accelerate at a breakneck pace to try and make a number for the year), in the quiet moments you have, I'd like you to think about this concept, and I'm willing to bet you haven't before.