Sales Integrity

The Sales Integrity Podcast just completed it’s 3rd month in existence and has received some excellent feedback from our audience of loyal listeners. This quick episode will provide a special announcement for some changes we are making to the podcast moving forward effective May 2017 based on audience suggestions.

“59% of senior executives prefer video over text." [Source: Brainshark] We continue with our theme of “Creating Content” as a sales professional. Today we focus on how to create videos to send to senior executives within the sales process. Video equals higher viewer attention. We all know senior executives don’t like longwinded emails or conversations. They tend to be brief in their communications because of how much demand is on them and their daily schedule. Given that, Brainshark also found that the information contained in one minute of online video is equal to about 1.8 million written words. You can take advantage of this research as a sales professional by creating compelling videos that make you more memorable and drive home points your made during your meetings with senior executives. We provide three tips on how to create and share videos with senior executives, both in follow up emails as well as to summarize longer presentations you made during previous meetings. If you want to set yourself apart

"90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual, and visuals are processed 60,000X faster in the brain than text." [Sources: 3M Corporation and Zabisco] We continue with our theme of “Creating Content” as a sales professional. Today we focus on how to create an InfoGraphic. Visual content drives engagement. In fact, according to research conducted by Simply Measured, just one month after the introduction of Facebook timeline for brands, visual content — photos and videos — saw a 65% increase in engagement. You can take advantage of this same approach as a sales professional by creating your very own InfoGraphic to illustrate your knowledge and expertise while helping simplify complex topics for your target audience. We provide three tips on how to create and share an InfoGraphic to elevate your status as a thought leader and go-to-specialist in your field. If you want to take advantage of the power of visual content to improve your sales prospecting game, then you will want to listen to this episode.

"The top salespeople use LinkedIn at least 6 hours per week." [Source: The Sales Management Association] We continue with our new theme of “Creating Content” as a sales professional. Today we focus on how to create and share content on LinkedIn. We have discussed previously how buyers feel more positive about a brand after consuming content from it. Well the same thing is true for sales professionals - the more timely, relevant content you share that adds value to the buyer’s evaluation journey then the more likely they will reach out to you at the right time in the buying cycle to engage with you. We provide three tips on how to share and create content on LinkedIn that will help you build a steady following of target market prospects with consistent action on your part. If you want to leverage LinkedIn as a social selling tool that helps you steadily build a sales pipeline of qualified opportunities, then you will want to listen to this episode.

“70% of people make purchasing decisions to solve problems. 30% make decisions to gain something.” [Source: Impact Communications]  We continue with our new theme of “Creating Content” as a sales professional. Today we focus on the Pain & Pleasure Principle and how you can put it to work for you to improve the way you influence and persuade. We discuss how to leverage the Pain & Pleasure Principle as you create content knowing you will want to map that content directly to the more pressing concept of the two (pain and pleasure). We provide three steps and tips on how to create compelling content that makes use of this principle. If you want to improve the effectiveness of your sales messaging and create more impactful content, then you will want to listen to this episode.

“95% of buyers chose a solution provider that provided them with ample content to help navigate through each stage of the buying process.” [Source: DemandGen Report]  We shift our attention to a new theme we will focus on moving forward on the Sales Integrity Podcast, which is “Creating Content”. Given that all of the research points to buyers needing to consume multiple pieces of content from a vendor before buying from them, we will focus on creating one piece per episode moving forward. This renewed focus will build upon our previous “Prospecting by the Numbers” discussion and provide our listeners with plenty of ideas on how to create valuable content they can use within their prospecting and selling efforts. Today we focus on the process associated towards creating a Case Study. We provide three steps and tips on how to quickly create a simple one-page Case Study that will be compelling to your target audience. If you have always known you should be telling success stories and sharing case studies with y

“73% of executives prefer to work with sales professionals referred by someone they know.” [Source: Sales Benchmark Index] On today’s “Sales Prospecting by the Numbers” discussion we focus on “Referral Selling Uncovered” as our primary topic. We unpack this statistic a bit and provide 3 specific tips on how to improve your overall approach as it relates to success with referral selling. In a previous episode we discussed how only 11% of salespeople are actually asking for referrals. Today we focus on some positive statistics that highlight the benefits of using referral selling as a primary prospecting strategy. We also provide specific tactics to help you elevate your referral selling game. If you are struggling with how to generate more referral-based leads, then you will want to listen to this episode.

"The first viable vendor to reach a decision maker & set the buying vision has an average close ratio of 74%” [Source: Forrester] On today’s “Sales Prospecting by the Numbers” discussion we focus on “The Unfair Advantage of Being First” as our primary topic. We unpack this statistic a bit and provide 3 specific tips on how to put yourself in the best position to be the first sales professional to reach your target market prospects before they reach out to other sales professionals. If you are struggling to come up with creative ideas on how to connect with prospects to reach them just before (or right as) they are entering their buying journey, then you will want to listen to this episode.  

“The average user spends 88% more time on a website with video.” [Source: Mist Media] On today’s “Sales Prospecting by the Numbers” discussion we focus on “The Power of Visuals and Using Video” as our primary topic. We unpack this statistic a bit and provide 3 specific tips on how to use video extensively in your prospecting and selling activities. Additionally, we recommend 3 specific technology tools you can use to quickly create video content and make it available for prospects to connect with you through it. Finally, we even recommend a tool that allows you to use video within emails, for both introductory emails and follow up emails. If you have known for some time that you need to weave the use of video into your prospecting and selling efforts but just haven’t figure out how to do so yet, then you will want to listen to this episode.  

“82% of buyers viewed at least 5 pieces of content from the winning vendor.” [Source: Forrester] On today’s “Sales Prospecting by the Numbers” discussion we focus on “Nurturing Your Prospects” as our primary topic. We unpack this statistic a bit and provide 3 specific tips on how to become systematic in the way your prospect. Additionally, we discuss the various methods of how people learn and how you should structure the unique content that you create to include in your nurture marketing process. If you are seeking a better way to become more systematic in the way you prospect, especially as it relates to creating and including unique value-based content into your approach, then you will want to listen to this episode.

Rob Rash is the President & CEO of Olympia Consulting, a sales management consulting services provider. Rob has previously built a very successful consulting business which employed over 100 consultants. He ran that business as President/CEO and eventually sold the enterprise to a publicly traded competitor. His background includes deep expertise in executive leadership, sales and marketing leadership and technology consulting. Rob also spent eight years in sales leadership at KPMG Consulting, as well as sales leadership roles with entrepreneurial growth firms. Rob joins the show to discuss his newly published book that is hot off the presses, Launch Your Sales, which focuses on 8 steps to build a winning sales organization. If you are the type of sales leader who wishes to achieve more and inspire others to achieve more in the field of sales, then you will want to listen to this episode.

“73% of salespeople using social selling as part of their sales process outperform their sales peers and exceeded quota 23% more often.” [Source: Aberdeen] On today’s “Sales Prospecting by the Numbers” discussion we focus on Social Selling as our primary topic. We unpack this statistic a bit and provide 3 specific tips on how to best approach the topic of social selling and weave it into your lead generation strategy. Additionally, we discuss the Four Cornerstones of Prospecting and how Social Selling fits into that structure. If you are not factoring in social selling to your lead generation strategy, or if you want to improve your social selling approach, then you will want to listen to this episode.

"91% of customers say they’d give referrals. Only 11% of salespeople ask for referrals.” [Source: Dale Carnegie] On today’s “Sales Prospecting by the Numbers” discussion we focus on referral selling as our primary topic. We unpack this statistic a bit and provide 3 specific tips on how to ask for and consistently generate a steady flow of customer referrals. Additionally, we walk through a process to make it easy for your customers to give you referrals. If you are part of the 89% of salespeople who don’t ask for referrals then you will definitely want to listen to today’s episode to take advantage of a tried and true approach for referral-based selling to consistently generate more leads faster.

Josh Silverstone is the CEO & Pokerpreneur® at Aces Raise, where he trains businesses and salespeople on Poker game theory to help them understand the commonalities between Poker strategy and Sales strategy. As Josh states "“Pokerpreneurship is a way of thinking to evaluate opportunities, assess risks, and make calculated decisions. Sometimes we make the right choice and lose; stay focused on the process, continue to play your A-game, and you’ll be a winner.” Josh joins the show to talk about how the process of mirroring and looking for “tells” maps directly to building relationships and understanding your audience in sales, how your sales strategy should factor in “adaptability” along the way, and how knowing your expected value and probabilities in poker correlates with knowing your numbers and forecasting in sales. If you want to learn a new creative way to look at your sales game to improve your strategy and win more business then you will want to listen to this interview.

78% of decision makers polled have taken an appointment or attended an event that came from an email or cold call [Source: DiscoverOrg]. If that is the case then why is there all of this chatter about "Is Cold Calling Dead?" or "Cold Calling vs. Social Selling". Based on this statistic, it should be "Cold Calling AND Social Selling", along with a few other strategies to incorporate a well-balanced approach with a mix of prospecting strategies that all work together in unison to generate more leads. Today we focus on a proactive approach for outbound calling. We will share some best practices on getting properly prepared to execute an outbound calling strategy that works. If you are the type of sales professional that would like to improve your use of the phone to generate more leads then you will want to listen to today's episode. 

Previously we introduced our Prospecting On Purpose podcast series discussion and reviewed some key research from Hubspot. We discuss why 50% of sales prospecting time is unproductive and review some more mind blowing sales statistics of what average reps are struggling with as it relates to prospecting. We will then look at what to do about the statistics in terms of putting a plan in place to prospect on purpose so you can achieve your sales and income goals. If you are the type of person who wants to consistently and systematically prospect on purpose to always have a full sales pipeline of qualified opportunities then you will definitely want to listen to this episode.

As we continue to focus on our Prospecting On Purpose podcast series topic, today we introduce the "Credibility Ladder". We discuss how you can leverage it as a sales professional to ultimately generate more leads. We will discuss the four steps on the Credibility Ladder in detail to help you begin thinking about where you are currently positioned on that ladder. This episode will help kickstart your process to putting together a plan to ascend up the Credibility Ladder. If you are serious about Prospecting On Purpose to help you ultimately master the game of complex technical selling then you will want to listen to this episode.

Prospecting on Purpose includes three parts - 1) Establishing Credibility; 2) Systemizing Sales Campaigns; and 3) Generating More Leads. Today we discuss what it means to Establish Credibility specifically as it relates to conducting research as part of the prospecting process. We discuss the concept of CIGs to put you in a position to understand your target audience's unique Challenges, Issues and Goals. We discuss how you can map your products, services and solutions to your prospective customer's unique CIGs. Finally, we illustrate all of this by listening in on a short clip of one of Sean's coaching sessions with one of his clients.

Stu Schlackman is a relationship selling expert, a popular speaker, President of the Dallas Chapter of the National Speakers Association (NSA), and author of the book “Four People You Should Know: How to Connect for Exceptional Sales, Customer Service and Unified Teams”. Stu joined the show to discuss the ins and outs of the four people you should know, which are really four personality types of your buyers. Stu dissects how each of the personality types make decisions and commit, which is very helpful for sales professionals trying to navigate the political waters when dealing with teams of buyers made up of multiple personalities from multiple departments. Stu reminds everyone that “people still buy from people” and provides real insights and strategies into how to effectively communicate leveraging the power of influence, persuasion and convincing. If you want to improve the way you manage complex technical sales cycles within complicated multiple buyer team environments, then you will definitely want to l

50% of sales time is wasted on unproductive prospecting according to The B2B Lead. Recently, Hubspot conducted research into sales prospecting and discovered these two shocking facts: 1) 44% of salespeople give up after one follow-up; and 2) 80% of sales require five follow-ups. This means that 44% of salespeople have an 80% probability they won't close the sale. It's quite obvious that sales prospecting is the #1 challenge for B2B tech sales professionals and organizations. Given that, we will focus on the concept of "Prospecting on Purpose" as a new podcast series topic moving forward on the Sales Integrity Podcast. This episode will introduce the concept of "Prospecting on Purpose".