What a year of sales strategies, some with a lot of humor as well as tips. We hope you enjoy this playlist of the top 10 episodes from Asher Sales Sense hosted by John Asher and Kyla O’Connell. Guests included Darryl Praill, Susan Finch, Jeffrey Wolinsky, Kim Fredrich, John Edwards, Joe Benajmin, Brain Levenson, Steve Benson, Chris Schofield, Hube Hopkins and Kyla O’Connell. If you haven’t listened yet, this is a list of evergreen tips for you to improve your sales results and that of your team. Bookmark it if you can’t finish them all in one sitting, share it out. Ask your team their favorite episode. Think of it as an audio book club for sales pros. 10 chapters – GO!
Is the Phone Still Relevant in Today’s Sales Process?
Guest: Darryl Praill, CRO VanillaSoft
The telephone has reemerged as a vital sales communication channel. Now more than ever, people now want to talk with each other. And we are “Zoomed Out.” Salespeople no longer need to feel they might be intruding. Prospects are answering their phones knowing that you might be a stranger and you might want to sell them something. When they answer, they allow you to interrupt their lives. The key is not whether you should make the call- it’s what are you going to say after they say hello?
How Not to Look and Sound Like an Idiot During Online Meetings
Guest: Susan Finch, CEO Funnel Media Group, LLC
You didn’t look at the time on your phone because it was stuck to your ear listening to a customer drone on in excruciating detail how he wants the installation to go and suddenly in a panic, you realize you’re late to an online staff call your boss set up to present a new company partner and you break off from your customer as best you can and head to your backroom still wearing your Bruce Springsteen tee shirt and you crash through boxes of supplies and hit the Zoom link and just as you go live on video you topple over your desk chair into the fish tank. You look and sound like an idiot. You need help (and maybe a refreshed resume).
The Purpose of a Salesperson
Guest: Jeffrey Wolinski, Director of National and Federal Sales for WTOP
In 2019 the Business Roundtable, with the support of nearly 200 CEOs, redefined the purpose of a corporation from serving shareholders to promoting an economy that serves all Americans. The goal was to encourage businesses to reflect the way corporations can and should operate. Because without sales there is no business, this should be affecting how we view salespeople and how they view themselves. Yet if someone was asked how a salesperson should operate to achieve their purpose, the answer most likely would simply be: “Sell.”
If You Can Have a Conversation, You Can Sell
Guest: Kim Fredrich
Is your lack of sales skills holding you back from getting that next promotion? You like your company and you want to be successful in it, but the idea of becoming an aggressive always-be-selling salesperson makes you cringe. Here’s some good news. It doesn’t have to be that way. You don’t need to fear selling anymore. With a new perspective and some helpful tips on conversations, you can become the kind of salesperson who customers trust and sales managers reward.
The Five Ways Elite B2B Competitors Are Beating You Online
Guest: John Edwards
Is your company’s digital presence competitive? You invest a lot for it, but are you getting the results you need or are you getting pushed around by the A players? Maybe it’s not the quantity of money you spend on digital presence that’s as important as the quality of the strategies and tactics you use. What if you could make a few key adjustments and quickly be more effective in attracting business?
How to Spend Less Time Researching and More Time Selling
Guest: Joe Benjamin, CEO & Co-Founder, CheetahIQ
Years ago, John Asher identified a major problem in the shift from prospecting to selling: insufficient research. Many salespeople try to make the first contact with potential buyers without doing the homework necessary to even get a meeting, let alone build rapport. It’s frustrating to Google someone or some company and get sent to sites that don’t quickly give you what you need. It’s especially troublesome when you want to get a contract with a publicly-traded enterprise. So much data, so little help. What if there was a search engine specifically designed for salespeople?
Shift Your Mind
Guest: Brian Levenson, Founder Strong Skills
You are a super-prepared salesperson. You’ve acquired deep knowledge of your products, your markets, your customers – even your competition. In doing so, you’ve placed yourself well ahead of many salespeople who don’t put in the time to be a knowledge giant. Now comes the moment when you launch toward new sales. Will you be able to shift into performance mode like the sales athlete you could be? Or will you settle for so-so results and waste all that preparation?
How to Lead a Sales Team in an Economic Downturn
Guest: Steve Benson, Founder & CEO Badger Maps
Orders are down. Margins are down. Morale is down. It’s difficult being a field salesperson right now, but it might be even more difficult being a sales leader. Temporary measures are running out and the front office is calling for help. As a sales leader, it’s time to take action to meet your mid-term challenges and position your sales pipeline for the post-Covid environment. What tactics and behaviors should you be considering? And whose advice should you listen to? How about a successful CEO with a proven record of outside sale excellence?
Developing a Strategy is Easier than Ever
Guests: Chris Schofield, Company Director IMUK Ltd., Hube Hopkins, President, WSI B2B Marketing
eCommerce revenues have grown remarkably over the last decade and in the current environment, online purchases are accelerating exponentially. According to eCommerce experts, shoppers are spending at least a third of their budgets online. There are expected to be over two billion digital buyers by the end of next year. What is your company doing about this? Do you think eCommerce is too difficult? Too expensive? Not a good fit for your products and services?
Personality Stretch Strategies to Reach Optimal Performance Levels
Guest: Kyla O’Connell
It’s given that personalities matter in business and that personalities differ. We all know these truths. And yet, in the moment of seller to buyer engagement we tend to forget and focus on the what we are selling rather than to whom we are selling. And not only that, we forget to adjust our communication styles to their personality styles. How good are you at knowing your personality traits and identifying your blind spots, your extremes? What if you could modify your extremes by stretching and turning your communication limitations into communication advantages?
