by Nancy Calabrese | Jan 25, 2021 | Podcast
Our special guest on this week’s episode of Conversational Selling is Jim Padilla, the Founder of ‘Gain the Edge’. He is a Master Sales Trainer, an Expert Team Builder, and a Launch Expert with more than 20 years’ experience in building teams and leading them to success. Jim has a solid track record of achieving results; he and his team have led dozens of entrepreneurs to huge success in their launches, driving sales, and surpassing expectations.
Jim says, “I have permission to not have to follow that process, and show up the way that I know that God made me to serve other people. We all have a specific blueprint inside of us that is designed to serve people. And when you land on that, which we help you do, then you’re attracting all the right people.”
We chat about Jim’s tenacity to overcome hardship, as well as:
- Influencing the world around you
- The Three C’s
- Solution-oriented growth
- Conscious reflection when hurdles seem insurmountable
- Selling without scripts
- And more
Mentioned in this episode:
Transcript
Voiceover: You’re listening to The Conversational Selling Podcast with Nancy Calabrese.
Nancy Calabrese: Hi, it’s Nancy Calabrese and this is Conversational Selling. It’s the podcast where business experts share what’s going on in sales and marketing today. And as always, it starts with the human conversation. Joining us today is Jim Padilla, Founder of Gain the Edge. Jim is a master sales trainer and expert team builder and a launch expert. With more than 20 years’ experience in building teams and leading them to success, Jim has a solid track record of achieving results. And as a launch expert, he and his team have led dozens of entrepreneurs to huge success in their launches, driving sales, surpassing goals and expectations. Jim’s God given talent and nature allow him to inspire his team and partners to achieve their full potential. So okay, everyone, we’re in for some sales, inspiration and motivation. Get ready. Welcome to the show, Jim. We’re so happy to have you on.
Jim Padilla: Thanks, Nancy. Total pleasure to be here. I’ve been following and I listened to all of your episodes, by the way. Just them I like your style. I like the energy you bring to the conversation.
Nancy: Oh, well, thank you very much. And we’re gonna guarantee this is going to be energetic, right? Yes. So, you know, I want to open up elephant in the room. We’re in crazy times today, right? Everybody knows that. But why is motivation and inspiration so important in sales, especially now?
Jim: You know, it’s, it’s interesting, because the thing that people, we got a billion in one ways to try to sell I mean, there’s many ways to try to sell as there are people out there it seems. But at the end of the day, sales comes down to a transfer of energy. That doesn’t mean who’s the wildest and loudest like I’m a Bronx, Puerto Rican, I tend to get going in my own sauce sometimes. But it’s not about being loud and boisterous or high and crazy.
It’s who’s got the highest level of commitment to what you’re trying to achieve. And your energy has to be so present, and on point, so that you can elevate people above the mess that they’re in. Because even if they’re doing great in business, they might be doing fantastic in their life, whatever it is you’re trying to sell, or lead them to, in the area where you help them they’re broken, which means they’re asking for high end confidence, and they’re not going to make a great decision from brokenness. You have to lift them up so they can make a decision from clarity.
Nancy: You know, it’s interesting, just to add on to that people that are really passionate about what they do, what I find, are inspirational, right, you hear it in their voice, as you said, their energy. So I think it also ties into the passion of your role and commitment to excellence.
Jim: Very much. So, you know, again, there’s a lot of common thread in many of the interviews that you’ve done. And the people who are you know, who win, the people who are experts consistently, it’s about moving people to a place of clarity and competence and certainty. That’s the three C’s that we tend to throw in there. And, you know, most people aren’t going to buy because of the power of the product, they’re going to buy because you can convey confidence in them being able to solve their problem with your product.
Nancy: Yep. I totally agree. So, you know, we don’t have a story about how we got to where we are today, and I can’t wait to hear yours. Let the audience know, who you were and who you are now.
Jim: Well, yeah, you know, as the story goes, you know, we’ve been, we’ve been very, very blessed, generated over a quarter billion dollars in sales for our clients. And the outsourced model, been very blessed to work with a lot of the who’s who in the personal development in experts space. And it always hasn’t always been that way. Basically, I, I grew up in a very abusive environment. I was born to teenage parents who met in an orphanage so they had very little guidance of their own.
And my my dad took off immediately and my mother was left to deal with a negative situation that she didn’t respond to very well. And so I you know, there’s a lot of frustration and rage and anger in my home. I was in foster care, foster care at 13. I was on the streets at 16 and in jail by 19. And you can imagine spending every day completely working on your surrounding environment, so that you can influence the people around you to not see you as a threat, and not want to hurt you. That was my defense mechanism.
That was how I just keep myself out of danger. And no, you don’t do that by mastering something to tell people, you learn how to communicate to people in a way that is effective to them. And because life or death was on the line, the way I saw it. Little did I know that, you know, 25 years later, I’d be making millions of dollars teaching other people how to influence the world around them, to help people let down their guards, and trust you enough to want to hear what you have to say. And then ultimately want to buy from them.
Nancy: Wow. So what was the turning point for you? I mean, you were pulling yourself out of the horrible situation. You remember that moment when you said, Wow, it’s who I am. And it was positive going after that.
Jim: You know, I wish I had that. Paul, on the you know, the road to Damascus experience, but it wasn’t like that. The main thing is, I spent the next 20 years mastering this skill set, but from the wrong place, because I was doing it because I knew I could win. And it was gonna be you or me, I was gonna make sure it’s gonna be me, I was gonna come out on top. So I burned a lot of people to get success.
In my, you know, first first several years of business. It wasn’t until I really took advantage of somebody in a mortgage situation, where I had put someone in a loan that I knew they had no business being in, and I came across them. A year later, I came across her daughter, who chastised me publicly, who called me a lot of bad things that were absolutely true. Yeah, I recognized in that moment that I have to change what I was doing. Because this was horrible. I was never able to really enjoy what I was doing, because I knew I was doing wrong. Yeah.
And that that moment that I was like, Okay, I have to do this different. I got to take all the skill set that I’ve learned, and then strip away all the things that aren’t of use and benefit to somebody else, and serve them and make sure I felt good. And then things started turning completely around, because now I was showing up in service for other people.
Nancy: Well, and you did it, so bravo to you, you know, good segue, talk about Gain the Edge. And what sets Gain the Edge and Jim apart.
Jim: Basically, once I took this new approach, and I was like, Okay, I’m the thing with the thing that was really important about this new approach was that there was nothing on the planet that could guide me, to me being the best version of me, I guess, besides God and myself. So I couldn’t find a script or a blueprint or a 10 step process that was going to allow me to just completely show up as the uniqueness of me because any other blueprint, by definition, was going to lead me to that place instead of where I need to be.
So I started tapping into what are all the things that I do naturally, as a person, and enrolled people in every other area of my life every day, telling the truth, right, showing up to understanding what’s at stake for other people, being willing to fight for them, helping people understand that they have to make choices, that they can’t go into circle, the wagons mode, and all of that. And it’s stuff that’s really pressing in the year 2020, and all the stuff that’s going on, you have to show up as that light to attract people, to move them forward, as opposed to try to tell them where they have to go and try to push them forward.
So that’s the process that we use, and it’s much more about taking care of people and then pulling them along. And the clients who who use us for training or the people who hire us to sell for them. They appreciate that because we’re 100% in the big picture. In the long game. We’re not trying to close sales today, we’re trying to win people to do something powerful, which sometimes means you’re gonna close them tomorrow instead of today. Yeah, there’s a whole lot more of them, because they’re gonna stick around a lot longer.
Nancy: Yeah, so I know that we’ve spoken about how you feel you can learn to make more sales without getting better at selling. That’s really interesting to me.
Jim: Yeah, it is. It’s very interesting concept. And here, I want you all to embrace this and be encouraged, right? The thing we’ve all been following all kinds of blueprints and scripts our whole life, some of most of us to a varying degree of success. But nothing converts as much as well as the truth. Nobody buys anything more effectively than they buy you being you. That’s the most enrolling tool you’ll ever have.
So we focus on surrounding you with an environment and mindset and strategies to keep you at the highest possible version of yourself being able to see clearly forward and in that clarity, it have to mix in truth like what is true live to play a steak with somebody, if you were to be at lunch with your favorite sibling or you have a sister or a family member who maybe is in a bad relationship. And she’s in a dangerous spot and you know she needs to leave, but she’s terrified to leave. So she says Well, I’ll just give them another chance, you would jump in your car drive her to replace, pick, pack her stuff and move her out.Because you know, she can’t be there. And she’s not in a position to really make that great decision for herself.
Yet, we will do that for potential clients, we let them go, Well, you know, I know my business is headed towards that cliff. But I’ll wait till next year to figure it out. When’s the last time you’ve grabbed somebody virtually? By the shoulders? Is it? No, you don’t have to No, no, no, you’re blowing this here. There are people who need you. Right, you need to get your message out, you need to sell your product. And you cannot wait till next year because you will be over that clip and your business will be in ruins. How often do we actually say that stuff? Usually we sell ourselves short because we don’t want to push through that we want to be liked more than we want to be of service.
Nancy: Right. Right.
Jim: And that doesn’t require being a sales guru that requires being a human being. Who legitimately cares about the person you’re talking to?
Nancy: Yep. And it goes back to what I said earlier, passionate. Passionate in all the right ways. I read your quote, don’t focus on the problem focus on what’s on the other side of the problem. Tell us more.
Jim: Yeah, there’s a there’s a quote, an axiom, I guess it’s attributed it’s called Chesterton’s Defense. And he talks about this being focused on objects and that when a wall presents itself, most people run away from the wall. Some people not paying attention run into the wall. But successful people immediately devise a plan to navigate the wall. And so when you see why, Okay, I’m gonna go in it over it, around it through it, but I have to have a plan here. Or aim, that plan might be I assess all of this, and I go another path, but it doesn’t mean I quit stop or.
So when you see something there, you have to immediately see the opportunity. Because that wall represents something that is on the other side of the wall, if you’re running into somebody, like you’re running down the street, and you turn right into my house, you’re going to hit the door, you’re probably going to hurt yourself. But that door represents my my family, there’s, there’s warmth in nature, and there’s reward on the other side of that door. Or there’s danger that you need to be careful in how you navigate. But there’s always something on the other side of that wall, it represents something of value, something of awareness that is going to help grow your process.
So it might be that you have to jump that wall to deal with a dragon. But dealing with that dragon is going to grow the necessary skill set you need for what’s going to continue on your journey.
Nancy: Right. And I’m gonna play devil’s advocate here, but I can’t imagine all walls are worth going through that process. What would be a signal where it would say, forget it, I’m not going to put my energy into this and walk away from that
Jim: Yeah, great question. That place you have to really decide where are you on your journey, if your journey feels like this stage of the journey is reaching its maturation. And that could be anything, it could be okay, this product is no longer viable. Or I don’t want to be in this business. Or maybe this industry doesn’t work. Or maybe this marketplace, I’m not good at serving this segment of market any longer. Or maybe I’m just working too hard and too many hours this time to make for me to focus on my family.
So you have to make sure that there’s a decision that has to be made. Yeah. So usually what I find is, when you are not willing to navigate the solution, that means you’re going to go into Okay, if I don’t want to navigate dilution, because that wall is just too hard to climb, then there’s something else I got to reflect on. Yeah. Is it that I’m going to start spending more time with my family and stop conquering this? Or is it something I have to research inside myself to think okay, I’m gonna have to get more help to get over this wall.
Nancy: Yeah. So share with the audience, something that’s really important to you, you want to spotlight.
Jim: You know, here’s the deal. We are living in a time right now. I guess all times, it seems like, but 2020 has brought its own interesting blend of craziness. And mixed with media and everything else. There’s a lot of people who are getting a lot of misconceptions, and thinking that the environment is going to control their opportunities. And when you do that, we tend to circle the wagons. When you circle the wagons, all you have is defense you can’t do and you can’t win a game playing only defense you have to be able to move on offense and score.
And we it’s imperative that you understand that the people who need you, they need you more than ever right now. And they can’t find you if you’re circling the wagons, you have to be able to master the game of visibility and sales, because those who can are going to rally people behind them. And those people will give you the fuel you need to get over those other walls. But you first and foremost have to be able to master your control of most master control of being able to sell in any environment.
When you can impact the environment for sales you win and you become recession proof. Crisis proof. And you get to control the environments that are being controlled by the environment. And we have an event to invite you to, that will help make that happen that our make more sales live event is coming up. I’m not sure exactly where timing is in terms of being this being released. But it’s, it’s coming up with the dates will be below here. It’s coming up right away in October. And we’re gonna,
Nancy: Actually the 22nd to the 24th.
Jim: Okay. Yeah, so, great, thank you. And so three days of being fully immersed. And we’re going to show you how to build a make more sales playbook, to put our dozens of strategies to make more sales without you having to be a sales expert into processes systems and strategy so that you can start implementing it and start focusing on serving the people that are in front of you and winning customers. Instead of trying to sell your stuff all the time. We want you chasing your dreams and your goals instead of trying to chase clients.
Nancy: Awesome. I always ask this question, because I think it’s really interesting. Tell me something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on?
Jim: Well, the simple part of that is, you don’t need scripts to sell, you don’t need to know needs simple sales tactics and strategies. They’re great. They work, they’re not required.
Nancy: How so?
Jim: Because the script is designed by somebody, for a certain something typically the Google scripts right now it’s Google sales scripts of the day got 162 million returns. Script is created by a person, for a specific person, for a certain marketplace for a specific offer at a price point, etc. You have to apply it to your own taste. And there’s nothing wrong. Again, it’s a great tool.
Most people spend all of their life trying to figure out how to master somebody else’s process. The problem is, it’s somebody else’s process, it was not designed to get you to be the best version of you, which is what’s required for your people to be able to follow you. Right? So we don’t want people to be so locked in trying to follow the blueprint, we just had this challenge on our one of our team meetings yesterday, one of my team members, just really, I’m just the system keeps changing, the system keeps changing, like Shawn, just be you think you do, don’t worry about right.
And that’s, for some people, it’s tried and true. I’m only gonna follow the process. But there’s a lot of others out there. They’re like, thank God, I know, I have permission to not have to follow that process, and show up the way that I know that God made me to serve other people. We all have a specific blueprint inside of us, designed to serve those people. And when you land on that, which we hope you do, then you’re attracting all the right people, because then it’s a pipeline. It’s a Pied Piper that comes to you. I mean, that’s my, that’s my calendar is full of people who’ve been put there by other people who show up predisposed to wanting to buy.
Nancy: Yeah, so now I do want to add, though, you use the word blueprint, right? And I am a big believer that having a blueprint about how to go about it, and then making it your own your own words, right? But conveying it in a way you you’re talking all about communication, right? It’s become a part of your DNA when it becomes a part of your DNA, it’s extremely natural, and the natural you comes through. Would you agree with that?
Jim: Yeah, I’ll give you an example of that, you know, we got this live event coming up in a couple of weeks. And I’m literally writing out every content chunk, just so I make sure I know how long I’m going to talk. I’m fitting it in the timeline, all that stuff, right, then then I’m turning it into bullet points and throwing it away. Because I’m not gonna I’m not gonna talk from a script, I’m going to be engaging people as I am. But I know where I want to be. And I know what I want to talk about, but I’m going to talk about it the way I feel inspired to talk about it in the moment.
Nancy: I totally agree. So, scripting, you know, there are two schools of thought, just as you said, you don’t need a script. And there are other models. Yes, you need to go buy a script, but if you own it, and you study, it becomes internalized. You know, it’s all in you and you don’t even think about it as you deliver it yet. You know, I I often talk about the Leo DiCaprio starts with the script, but you would never think you had a script in this movie, because he brought him into it.
Jim: Yeah, totally 100% most of the best scenes that you’ve ever seen in movie history. They started with somebody’s idea of what that should look like. And then someone made it thier own.
Nancy: Cool, all right, so last question. What’s the one takeaway you’d like to leave the audience with actually second to last question.
Jim: Just fully embrace the fact that you do not have to be a sales guru or a sales expert to be able to wim clients. People are going to buy you, in your energy, your conviction, your certainty or confidence in what they can do, far more than they’re going to buy your product, they do not care about your product. They only care about what it’s going to do for them. And their most of the time, they’re gonna show up with fear and doubt, and uncertainty. So they’re gonna have to rely on yours.
Nancy: Yeah. Awesome. I totally agree with you. So Jim Padilla, how can my audience reach you?
Jim: We have we’re giving you a gift in here with our Leads Made Easy program. And so the link will be in the show notes. And so you can go in there and click on it. And it’s it’s a fantastic program that will help you really dial in who you’re talking to, and why and share with them nuances that you haven’t thought about before in terms of clarifying your avatar. And so we’ll start with that that’ll get you into our world if you want to jump on. The best place that we engage most frequently is in our Facebook group. And it’s More Sales with GTE, Gain the edge. So find us on Facebook there, love to be able to support you and share some insights. And you know, our goal is to break your brain so you think differently about sales.
Nancy: Okay, great. All right, everybody, go break your brain. You know, thanks for all your amazing comments and inspiration and to everyone out there I am confident that you walked away with great nuggets, not some but many. Thanks again so much for being on this show Jim and happy selling to one and all!
Jim: Awesome. Thank you.
Voiceover: The Conversational Selling Podcast is sponsored by One of a Kind Sales. If you’re frustrated that you don’t have enough leads or your sales team complains that they just don’t have enough time to prospect, we can help. To work with Nancy and her team one on one to help you manage your sales team, install her proven outbound sales process and create more bottom line results, email her now at Nancy@oneofakindsales.com. To learn more about Nancy and her outbound sales secrets, grab Your free copy of her book, The Inside Sales Solution at oneofakindsales.com/book.
by Nancy Calabrese | Jan 18, 2021 | Podcast
Our special guest on this week’s episode of Conversational Selling is Erik Luhrs, who is known as the “Bruce Lee of Revenue Generation” and the creator of Revenue Kung-Fu. He partners with entrepreneurs, experts, consultants, and coaches to scale their business and create more profit and fulfillment by accessing and leveraging their higher minds to redevelop their brand positioning and go-to-market activity.
Erik says, “It’s really a journey that I’ve gone on and, ultimately, that everybody that I want to work with goes on, which is that journey from where you are to your highest self so that you can really create the business, the lifestyle, and the meaning that you desire.”
We chat about the default programming of our brains, as well as:
- Using neuro-linguistic programming and Silva mind control tools
- Accessing the subconscious mind
- Brand evolution to reflect a change of mindset
- Harnessing the power of your higher self
- Avoiding the elevator pitch and examining alternatives
- And more
Mentioned in this episode:
Transcript
Voiceover: You’re listening to the Conversational Selling Podcast with Nancy Calabrese.
Nancy Calabrese: Hi, it’s Nancy Calabrese, and this is Conversational Selling. It’s the podcast where sales leaders and business experts share what’s going on in sales and marketing today. And as I always start off with, it does begin with that human conversation. Joining us today is Erik Luhrs, who is known as the Bruce Lee of revenue generation, and is the creator of Revenue Kung Fu. He partners with entrepreneurs, experts, consultants and coaches to scale their business and create more profit and fulfillment by accessing their higher mind. And then leveraging that to redevelop their brand positioning and go to market activity. Well, folks, you are definitely in for a treat. Put your seatbelt on because Erik is such an interesting guy. Welcome to the show.
Erik Luhrs: Thanks for having me.
Nancy: Totally excited. Erik and I were introduced recently, and then our first call, I would take it if you would, and I don’t know if you remember this, but when we first spoke, you would ask me a question about what some of what what are some of the issues at OOOAKS, and you immediately picked up these like psychic vibes, and made some great suggestions. So tell us all how did that happen?
Erik: Well, um, so as we discussed, when, when you and I first spoke, I was I guess, psychic, or kind of psychic as a kid. You know, I saw stuff that, you know, other people didn’t see. Some, some. And when you’re a little kid like that, things, you know, when you when you see things that other people don’t see and whatever. And I brought, my brother had a penchant for watching horror movies.
So I started to associate a lot of the stuff that terrified me. And, you know, so, you know, but I, I picked up that there was more to this world than, than meets the eye and some around about the age of six or something. I had a real big scare, I guess you could say. And as a, like a master psychic, because I went talk years later, I talked to a psychic. And they, they told me they were looking at my aura, or whatever they were doing. And they said, Yeah, I can see you, you pretty much closed the door. You know, whatever that door was, there’s that you can actually I guess, scare yourself enough, or, you know, your, your brain can go into enough overdrive, it says, Okay, enough of this and slam the door closes. But to that point, it never closes completely.
So even over the years, I’ve picked up things here and there. You know, just like an energy or a, you know, I’ve been able to pick up energy from people I’ve been able to pick up, you know, people would ask a question and somebody else and all of a sudden the answer would pop into my head, you know, or just all sorts of, you know, little things, but not nearly as much as it used to. But you know, so so now, what that’s done is because I had that as a child, you know, even growing up in conditions where people were always like, you know, everything’s about working hard. Everything’s about effort, and everything’s about blah, blah, blah, you got to deal with the real world to face reality.
And there was always this little voice in my head saying, when people are saying face reality, they don’t really know what they’re talking about, you know, because what they’re doing is they’re saying, Look at what’s physically manifested, and ignore everything that came before it or everything that’s around it. So, you know, it’s always just been sort of a it’s been there in my life the whole time.
Nancy: Wow. Scared you, amazingly, in the early days, for sure. Until you really understood it. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. So, you know, my next question is what sets you apart, but you already said something that sets you apart. I’m curious how this has helped you in your business today, and helped your clients.
Erik: So, great question. Um, so early on, you know, coming out of college, I I had a bunch of dreams. I wanted to be an actor. I wanted to be a screenwriter. I wanted to open my own dojo. I ended up doing 10 years in corporate America coming out and being a management consultants and then that flowed into me being a business coach starting around 2005. And when I would work with people way back then and then, you know, when I first developed like the guru selling system I was, I didn’t realize it, but I was always trying to empower people. So I had been, I had always had this inkling towards self improvement, I guess, starting, you know, my early 20s.
And when you get into self development, self improvement, you start getting introduced to the subconscious mind, which is why I ended up studying neuro linguistic programming, getting the master practitioner on that. Studying Silva mind control and other other processes and such. So he was trying to get to the subconscious mind, right, because that was always my thing. Actually, even back in high school, I was interested. And eventually, so I came into business. And when I was doing business coaching, I was like, okay, subconscious mind, you improve yourself, the subconscious mind. And then at some point, I realize, like, I was trying to access my subconscious mind to help people.
And now looking back 15 years ago, I realize I was really getting back connected to that more, you know, psychic self, or because an interesting is when you say, psychic, it automatically pigeonholes it into like, you know, somebody who can, you know, tell the future or can, you know, speak to spirits or something, but really, it’s about if you take spiritual if you take subconscious, or sexy superconscious, with a deep, subconscious, spiritual, psychic, you know, faith, any of that stuff that’s outside of the physical body. It’s really all the same thing. It’s just which, which aspect of it Am I am I going to access right now. And so when I was working at a subconscious level with people, I was really getting back into that energy, I just didn’t realize because I was like, well, this is clinical stuff.
And I understand that if I asked them this language pattern, I’m going to elicit that kind of response and blah, blah, blah. But my brain was going into higher levels, you know, to those higher levels of thinking and accessing the thought and whatever. But you don’t think about it. You don’t look at it that way. Because somebody taught me from a course or a textbook, so it must be okay. Yeah. As opposed to, that you just naturally did when you were a child. So it came in, in that fashion, it originally came in me saying it’s okay for me to do this, because it’s NLP or something. But in actuality, it was literally just me doing a big metaphysical U turn, you know, years later without realizing it.
Nancy: Wow. You know, okay, you have a couple of cool names. You’re Bruce Lee. Revenue Kung Fu, I think you’re also known as The Dragon. Let everybody know what that is all about.
Erik: Okay. Well, so Bruce Lee. So three different questions that are so real quick, Bruce Lee, came from a client who about 10 years ago, I was doing a session with him. And I kept quoting Bruce Lee to him to keep him from throwing him putting himself in a box. And at the end of the or near the end of the call, he said, You’re like a Bruce Lee of sales. And I remember hearing that, okay, and that come out of his mouth. And I said, Wow, that’s a great moniker. And I sat on it for a year because I was terrified.
Because I said, That’s you got to be able to really live up to that. Ultimately, I started using that that became that morphed into when I created subconscious lead generation that became the Bruce Lee of subcon. Sales and lead generation and then when I created the peerless positioning system, I was the Bruce Lee of sales and lead generation and positioning and at that point, this is getting ridiculous. There’s more ampersands and letters in this thing. So I decided to make it I said, Okay, well, what is it overall that I do and it was revenue generation. So that’s how I became the Bruce Lee of revenue generation. So part evolution part but all born from a statement out of my client’s mouth.
Revenue Kung Fu, is what I do now. So just like Bruce Lee was always evolving, even get multiple systems that he taught people because ultimately he was evolving his his system over over the span of his life. So I started with guru selling I evolved subconsciously generation I evolved to peerless positioning. Eventually, I moved into brand. And then that led me to, you know, saying what comes before the brand Well, that’s the founder. What goes before the founder, their mindset, what comes before that? This, so kind of going up level. So now when I look at what I do, see I can help people all the way from their, their beingness their mindset? And then how do you turn that into a brand? And how do you turn that into your target market? And how you turn that into your positioning? And how do you make that into into your go to market strategy? And how do you create sales from that.
So I go up and down, you know, from that from the one one millimeter level to the 1 millionth mile level. And it’s, it’s really a journey, you know, that I’ve gone on and ultimately that everybody, you know, that I want to work with goes on, which is that journey from where you are to your highest self so that you can really create the business and the life, the lifestyle, the meaning the giving back that you desire. And kung fu and the reason I chose the word kung fu aside from it, you know, the rhyming with revenue is that in, in Mandarin, kung fu doesn’t mean kicking, kicking people’s butts, it actually means skill acquired through perseverance. So a great piano player, that’s their Kung Fu, a great parent, that’s their Kung Fu, somebody who devotes themselves to something in the physical world, so that they can elevate themselves to a higher standard in the spiritual world.
Because that’s why the monks created Kung Fu, they actually studied martial arts, so that they could be more physically fit, so they could meditate longer without falling asleep. So they can reach higher levels of of enlightenment. So that physical act in the world that you devote yourself to whatever it is, is actually meant to be balanced by the growth of your of your spiritual self. So the people I work with revenue generation, is their, Kung Fu, and that’s what I’m helping them with, ultimately, on this journey. And the last part of your question,
The Dragon, The Dragon, that that’s not a nickname, but that is the name I that’s a word I throw out there and understanding. So dragon is what I call that higher, that highest part of yourself, that you aspire to those moments when you forget who you are, what you’re responsible for which your next meet, when your next meeting is who you’re supposed to be where you’re supposed to be, we’re supposed to do. And you have those moments when you when you allow yourself to, almost like you’re almost like something outside of you, takes you in you, you you say you know, I could have this kind of life, I could be doing these kinds of things I could, if I didn’t have, you know, like when I let go for a moment, I let myself that moment, forget everything that I’m responsible for, all of a sudden the enormity of my potential comes to me.
And those are the moments that you touch your dragon, and your dragon’s, like, Yes, I am here. Pay attention to me, because this is we’re here to manifest me through you. So that’s that starting level, that that ultimate level that I want to help my clients get to, because when you can come from that space, the business, the businesses that you can create the lives that you can impact the world that you can make, the experience that you can have the lifestyle, you can experience, the passion, the joy, the meaning, the depth, you’re already like, connected to it. And so it flows naturally. It’s what everybody really says that it’s what everybody says they want, that doesn’t believe they can get. And that’s what I what I’m aspiring to help my clients become.
Nancy: Wow. So how long does a process like this take?
Erik: Well, I mean, it can go. It all depends on the person, right? So if somebody is really, you know, at the bottom rung, but they’re wholeheartedly committed, you know, then it might take a lot, you know, it might take a long time. But if they’re committed, they don’t give up. And so it’ll seem to accelerate their life faster for them. Somebody can be very close to that dragon level, even kind of already working at a lower level of it.
And so it just seems like a natural progression. It’s really how quickly we can let go of what the brain the regurgitated subconscious brain trying to get us back into our programming, the faster we can let go of that. And the faster we can accept that we already have greatness inside of us. And I know everybody’s heard that a million times and they’re like, Oh, that’s BS. It’s not it’s truth. And the faster or the more willing you are to surrender to that, the faster you’re going to get there. And so it’s really learning that skill of, of letting go of your limitation. Your limited brain and embracing your dragon mind and your higher self. However long that takes.
Nancy: Yeah. Wow. So when you refer to getting untrapped in your business, is that what you’re referring to?
Erik: When I was referring to what? I missed that.
Nancy: I, I’ve read somewhere that you help people get untrapped in your business?
Erik: Right.
Nancy: So is that what you just described?
Erik: Right.
Nancy: You let go and focus on the dragon.
Erik: Right, because when you’re in your business on a day to day basis, you’re so are live. So our lives run 99%, subconsciously. And the subconscious is like a basically a tape player, or a recording system. And it just play. And so when you say, it seems like I have the same day over and over again, because you get out of bed the same way at the same time. And you have the same breakfast, and you take the same route to work and you wear the same clothes and talk to the same people about the same subjects and deal with the same clients. And the same issues. And the same, same, same same.
We are we put ourselves into this environment that forces, the brain’s easiest way to deal with this is to run the program. And so we go into our business, we say, you know, I feel like I’m stuck, right? Because last year we made, I don’t know $860,000, the year before that we’ve made $860,000, we’re on track to make $860,000. Why is that happening? And it’s because we’re running the program, we’re stuck in the we’re stuck in the subconscious mind running our program.
And we’re not accessing the sub to the superconscious. You know that that higher self, those aspirations of what if I change something, because as soon as you as soon as the thought of what if I change something can be even a small thing comes along? The first thing the subconscious mind does is scream. No, no, no, that are the devil we know that the devil we don’t. And so we go right back to this thing.
Here’s this business, I’m not really happy with it. But it’s better than, you know, this, you know, this horrible outcome that I imagined that might tell my subconscious imagined for me, would happen if I did this other thing. Your subconscious isn’t gonna paint rosy pictures. It’s gonna be like your mother. If you don’t listen to me, this is what’s gonna happen.
Nancy: Oh, my God, this is cool stuff. So share something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on.
Erik: Oh, do you have five years? I’ll be I’ll be your show for the next three years. But one of the things early on, and actually the Bruce Lee of sales started this whole thing is the is the idea that elevator pitches don’t work. And this is how I kind of made a, a contrarian name for myself early on. So you got to imagine getting into an elevator. And you know, you’re a person in the US somebody, you make the mistake of asking somebody else what they do. And they’re like, Oh, I have you trapped for 30 seconds. And they do verbal diarrhea on you.
And there’s this belief that if I can say, enough stuff in that 30 seconds, you’ll go from you don’t know me, too, we have to, we have to talk, you know, I want to bargain with which you sell it that that never happens. Because unless the person right before they got in the elevator was talking to their assistant on the phone and said, we have to find a new lighting company to you know, to help us develop a lighting system for the new factory.
And you happen to get on the elevator with a guy who says, Oh, yes, I work for ABC lighting company. And we specialize with a world leader in lighting factories across the world with these kind of high caliber bulbs and blah, blah, blah, blah. Unless that happens, the elevator pitch doesn’t create a good outcome, it actually creates an outcome with the subconscious. Again, the subconscious is you know, it’s your defense mechanism. The subconscious asks the question, what do you do for a living?
And it’s, it’s hoping you will say something like, I’m a doctor, I’m a lawyer, I’m a shoe salesman, something where I can say, Oh, I know what that is, and he can lock you into a box instantly. If you start doing verbal diarrhea on the person, the subconscious mind instantly puts up a wall. And so you think you’re giving information and then this person is receiving it. What’s actually happening is you’re making noise and they’re being patient. And that’s, you know, so you’re not really making your because the mind is in that is in that pattern of, you know, too much too fast, you overloaded my system I, I’m just gonna defend against you until until the elevator doors open.
So instead, what I tell people is, if you simply have a moniker that creates curiosity and sets context, then, for example, the Bruce Lee of revenue generation, so if I didn’t do an elevator service is everybody do for a living. And I say, the Bruce Lee of revenue generation, I leave it at that. And that person understands what revenue generation is. See, if they’re a mother of three, they don’t care about revenue generation, they’ll be like, Oh, that sounds cool. And that’s fine. You know, because they’re not a target market.
But if they’re, you know, a speaker or, you know, a specialist, an entrepreneur, a founder, somebody in my target market, they’re going to hear that they’re going to say, their brain, since it can’t quantify it quantify and qualified, instantly, the subconscious is going to go, Okay, that’s gnawing at me. Now, I need to know more. So because I’m gonna have to stick this guy in a box somewhere and up in here, ask him this. What does that mean? Or how does that work? Or that’s cool, tell me, you know, explain what you know.
And instantly, the subconscious, the condom, the brain actually starts kicking on the conscious mind. Because it says, Now we need to intake information. So now, instead of being a defense, I’ve actually opened the floodgates for you, because I’m going to keep them open as long as I need to, in order for you to give me what I require, in order for me to then quantify and qualify you.
So I can finally stick you in a box. And if you if you do it right, and you have a story behind it, then instead of getting 30 seconds, you get 10 minutes, that then flows into the year, we’d really have to work together somehow kind of thing, as opposed to the verbal diarrhea. Here’s my card. Great. And get off the elevator and thing, I hope to God, I never see this person again in my life.
Nancy: Right. So curiosity, right, keeps me interested. Yeah. I love it. And, you know, finally, because we’re running out of time. I don’t want it to end, but what’s your top tip? What do you want to share with the audience?
Erik: I mean, at this point in time, ultimately, what I want everybody to know, and if I work with them, great, if I don’t work with them, great. I would like everybody in the world to understand that regardless of where you are, where you’ve come from, what limitations or handicaps or boundaries, or whatever you think you have around you physically, or or, or in your body, physically, etc. within you, and all around you, is the dragon or your higher self or this greatness, this true potential, that if you could tap into that, if you tapped into that on a daily basis, and you lived your life from that space.
Or if everybody did this, the world would be such a different place. The problems we have today would disappear. And humanity, we’d actually be the people we want to be having the experiences we want to have, and everything would actually be so much better. So let your give yourself permission to be that person, regardless of what anybody else does. Even if you say I’m the only person trying to reach this highest, highest level of myself surrounded by millions of people who don’t, who cares. Just do it anyway. That’s the whole thing.
Because if you do it somewhere, somehow, you will touch the life of another person who will then do it, and so on and so on and so on. And that’s what I really like everybody to know, you have that potential to have the great business right now. The great lifestyle right now the great meaning the great impact you haven’t right now, just give yourself permission to access that part of you and to come from that part. And watch everything change.
Nancy: Oh my god. So hey, everyone out there. Take advantage of Erik’s unique approach to getting everyone to where they want to be. I think it’s awesome. Erik, how can my audience find you?
Erik: Well, they can go to my website, which is www.erikluhrs. So that’s e r i k l u h r s.com They can also find me on LinkedIn Erik last name, Luhrs. I’m the only Bruce Lee of Revenue Generation on there. So it’s pretty easy to find me if you have to type that into the search box. Go ahead. I’m on Facebook, you can look me up there. I’m on Instagram, you can look me up there. So multiple places to find me.
Nancy: Awesome. Well, we’re gonna stay in front of you. I really enjoyed this. And as I said earlier, I mean, I have so many other questions. So I hope you come back and join us and to everyone out there. Take your notes. Think about what Erik has to share, pick up the phone and/or text him. Get in front of this guy. I think it will really make a huge difference in your businesses, and/or your role. Happy hunting everyone.
Voiceover: The Conversational Selling Podcast is sponsored by One of a Kind Sales. If you’re frustrated that you don’t have enough leads, or your sales team complains that they just don’t have enough time to prospect, we can help. To work with Nancy and her team one on one to help you manage your sales team, install her proven outbound sales process and create more bottom line results, email her now at Nancy@oneofakindsales.com. To learn more about Nancy and her outbound sales secrets, grab your free copy of her book, The Inside Sales Solution at oneofakindsales.com/book.
by Nancy Calabrese | Jan 11, 2021 | Podcast
On this week’s episode of Conversational Selling, we speak with Sam Richter, founder and CEO of SBR Worldwide. He is an award-winning Hall of Fame Business Keynote Speaker and bestselling author of Take the Cold Out of Cold Calling. He’s also the founder and creator of the IntelNgine | Business and Sales Intel Engine program and an expert on all things related to online information, sales success, and digital management.
We discuss the quality of calls, as well as:
- How to apply sales intelligence
- How he incorporated a Boolean algorithm into an innovative search engine
- Using sales triggers to increase productivity and save time
- How to efficiently research your sales prospects
- Cultivating genuine interest in your leads
- And more
Mentioned in this episode:
Transcript
Voiceover: You’re listening to the Conversational Selling Podcast with Nancy Calabrese.
Nancy Calabrese: Hi, it’s Nancy Calabrese and this is Conversational Selling. It’s the podcast where business leaders share what’s going on in sales and marketing today. And as always, it starts with that human conversation. So today we’re speaking with Sam Richter, the founder and CEO of SBR Worldwide/Know More, he’s considered one of the world’s foremost sales, intelligence and digital reputation experts, and award winning Hall of Fame speaker and best selling author of Take the Cold Out of Cold Calling.
And I know we won’t go into a deep dive, but you know, cold calling is what I live and breathe. Sam will help take something you already know. And that’s knowledge is power, and turns it into reality. And and you know what’s best of all, he’s an expert on all things related to online information, sales success, and digital management. So folks, we are in for an awesome show. Lots of good intel coming our way. Welcome to the show. Sam so happy you can join us.
Sam Richter: Well, I’m so excited to be here. You know, I’ve been a big fan of yours for many, many years. And you know, so many people that I know in incredibly well respect in the sales industry. Just say wonderful things about you and One of a Kind Solutions. So it’s really an honor to be with you today.
Nancy: Well, thank you. Thank you, thank you and ditto back to you. So you know, sales intelligence is such a hot topic nowadays. And I’m quoting you find the right person at the right time with the right message. Why don’t we just jump into intel engine. Tell everybody what that’s about, because I think people are going to be highly interested and get some good takeaways.
Sam: Sure, I’ll kind of start at a theoretical level, and then kind of, you know, drill down to the Intel engine at the tactical level. So the theoretical level, I still think the best sales book ever written. He probably didn’t even call it a sales book. But it’s How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. If I can, if I can summarize the book. And in basically, almost every great sales book I’ve ever read has been some form of a summarization of the book. It’s basically that people like to do people with people who they like, who they trust. And it’s all about understanding the other person and what they care about.
You know, I know that in your work, you talk a lot about asking great questions and embracing active listening and all those sorts of things. And, and that’s really, you know, emanates from Carnegie. Okay, so we all know that. Now, here’s the crazy thing. Back in the, if you were in sales in the in the 70s, let’s say, even in the early 80s. You know, you spend time getting to know your customers, you take them out for two hour lunches, or you take them out for golfing. you’d sit down with the assistant and and you really understood people. Fast forward, the internet comes along. And all of a sudden, buyers are not giving us the time, you know, their worlds compressed and and they kind of expect you to know some of those questions you used to maybe ask over a lunch or over a golf they expect you to know before you go in the room.
But I don’t know about you, Nancy, but but what I experience with salespeople is even though it’s estimated that I can take out my mobile device and theoretically in 10 seconds, ask a question and really access every written every word every written in the history of the world, I can access on my mobile device in 10 seconds, right. But yet, salespeople have less information today about their prospects than salespeople did in the 70s and 80s. How can that possibly be? And that’s really the whole essence of sales intelligence. So from a theoretical standpoint, its sales intelligence is a fancy way of saying how do you use the tools you use every day, like Google and social media and, and other resources, you’ve probably never heard of defined intent information about other people.
So when you’re selling to them, instead of your informed you really know what they care. So So instead of asking the right questions, and I’ll just use a simple one, you know, instead of saying, How big are you guys, you say, Hey, I was doing a little bit of homework. And I see that you’re, you know, last year you did about 110 million with 72 employees. Is that accurate?
Nancy: Right.
Sam: This is those little things like that. And the right deals Intel engine is a tool I’ve developed. And I’ve got various industry versions of it, but think of it is a is a search overlay, because to really do good searching, you’re going to do, you’re going to need to know what’s called complex Boolean algorithms, which is basically mathematical equations you put in Google to pull up great information. Now Google is really good, don’t get me wrong. But to really dive in, you’re going to want to know, complex algorithms. The sales intel engine automates that for you.
Nancy: Okay, so I, you know, I my own experience is research can be daunting, right? And and it also can be pretty expensive, some of the platforms out there that provide Intel are fortunate to have depending on the size of the organization, it can be daunting, you know, there’s so many different search engines and to find a solution that will simplify it. And another thing that you said, will save time, right? That’s a time stealer, if you will, exactly for professionals that you know when to have that information at their fingertips will just make them more productive. So can you like expand on that a little more?
Sam: Sure, let me give you a couple of examples. So, you know, everybody listening knows how to use LinkedIn. And I can teach you a complex Boolean algorithm to go into LinkedIn, and I’m talking about the free version of LinkedIn, and find me, you know, find me every director of marketing in Chicago, in the healthcare industry. And that’s about where LinkedIn free will stop. And so I built an engine that kind of sits on top of other search engines. So without scraping any data, it’s just, it’s doing everything you could do on your own for free, I’m just adding the the algorithm for you automatically.
So for example, not only could I tell you in, you could go in and type in marketing, let’s say you’re interested in manufacturing, marketing, manufacturing, Illinois. And let’s say you even wanted to find somebody who graduated from Penn State University, and has the skill of they know how to play the piano, the engine, you could type in four words, click a button, and in three seconds, it will pull up not even half a second, it will pull up the the the the results that meet that.
Nancy: Right.
Sam: The other thing that I think is even more powerful, that the search engine automates. And that’s the concept of sales triggers. And, and that’s really kind of the tagline, if you will, finding the right people right now with with what they want to hear. So sales trigger, if I can, you know, make that real simple. If I call you right now and say, Hi, Nancy, this is Sam from Sam’s roofing company, I’d love to come out and give you a free estimate. Well, you’re gonna hang up, right?
Nancy: Right.
Sam: What if a hailstorm just hits your house, and now water starts leaking through your walls and your roof. And Hi, this is Sam from Sam’s roofing company, I’d love to come out and give you a free estimate. Well, I’m your new best friend.
Nancy: Right.
Sam: And, you know, a lot of salespeople, in my opinion, in sales managers still operate on quantity is better. So you know, hey, hey, you’re not hitting your numbers, you’re not making enough calls. I’m a big believer in quality. Because, you know, listen, I can hand you the phone book and say start at A and end at Z. And mathematically, you’re going to get lucky if you make enough calls, you’re going to hit somebody at the right time.
But a sales trigger is what’s the disruption going on in the other person’s world where they might actually need you today. So for example, let’s say that you’re selling your it could be anything from h back equipment, to software, right. And if I can, you know, like networking, networking computer systems, if I can find companies in your niche, let’s say you like manufacturing, in your niche in your city, that are in is just going to start a construction project, they’re much more likely to want to talk to you, because they’re going to need new networking.
So instead of making 10,000 phone calls, you know it to try to hopefully get lucky and come across somebody that says, gosh, thank you for calling. We just talked about expanding our facility today. How about if you make 100 calls, but every single one is to the Chief Operations Officer at a company who’s just announced that they’re going through a you know, remodeling or new construction, that sales intelligence that’s the sales intel engine, is focusing in on finding the right leads at the right time?
Meaning what’s going on in their world where they’re interested in what you have to sell with the right message? How do you make sure you’re relevant? So instead of calling Hi, my name is Sam, you’ve never heard of me before. It’s Hey, I saw that you just announced you’re doing a big remodeling project and and I love to talk to you about our HVAC equipment, it can save you a ton of money or you know, whatever it might be.
Nancy: Right. Well, but that was going to be my next question. So you hit right on what I think is important. So for all the people listening, how much time do you suggest that they spend in actually doing the research versus getting on the phone and doing the outreach?
Sam: Well, that’s a great question. And and I would say, you really need to break it down into into two parts. The first part is finding who you’re going to call. And in that one you might spend, you might block off a day. And I’m a big fan of calendar, rising things. So you can laser focus. And also, because as we all know, sometimes when you’re doing searching, you can go down paths, you can go down rabbit holes, just because it’s kind of fun.
So you might say, okay, you know, first Monday of every month, we’re going to develop our lead lists, or it might be first Monday of every week, we’re going to develop our lead lists. And then I recommend, you know, I would say, again, assuming you’re calling on people based on a sales trigger, I think 45 seconds before each call, one minute before each call, doing a little bit of homework. Now, I know some, you know, I know you work in the call center world sometimes with, with inside sales reps, that’s not going to work. But there are things you can do from an industry perspective, where you might say, okay, you know, maybe this is the inside sales teams assistants job, find me a piece of industry research that’s relevant to everybody we’re calling.
And so the first words out of our mouth are about the other person. So again, if you’re calling a manufacturing company, instead of just saying, Hi, my name is Sam, from Widget Corporation, we thought you might be interested in our new, you know, widget 3000 system know, you call and you say, hey, the reason I’m calling is I’m sure you’ve already seen the recent McKinsey report on, you know, the need for efficiency and manufacturing. And that, you know, manufacturing is going to be coming back, onshore versus offshore. And I saw the article and I immediately had to talk, you know, call you, because we know, most of the time you’re leaving voicemails, then you’re going to leave an email, you know, hey, I’m going to send you an email with the study, I’ll call you back next week, I’d love to discuss it.
So there are ways you can do industry research, especially if it’s an inside sales team, industry research that will be relevant. And that’s the key word here relevant to every single person you’re calling.
Nancy: I think that’s great, great. Intel, for sure. You and I talked earlier. And you know, you have so many different stories that you could relate relay to the audience. But I wonder if there’s one in particular that demonstrates the value of doing this type of research,
Sam: I’m going to share with you a fun one, so. So I have an outline, I actually include the first part of this presentation, or the first part of the story in my presentation. But it’s got a really cool conclusion it started yesterday. So you get to be the first one to hear this. So I have an opportunity to go call on Allianz. And I know you have experienced in the financial services and insurance world, Allianz a big big insurance company. And they’re looking to hire somebody to work with their sales team.
So I’m going to go meet with a guy named Tom Burns. And one of the things I recommend is, you know, in my presentation, I talked about the three by five, spend three minutes trying to find five pieces of information, five minutes, trying to find three pieces of information. Basically, when you’re doing an in person meeting, just show up three minutes early, take out your mobile device, and find something that you know is important to the other person. Now at the Intel engine, we get to three by five, you know, spend three seconds trying to find five pieces of information.
But so I go to Allianz, I show up a little bit earlier, I take out my mobile device, I got Google, Allianz, you know, you get 8 million results. And one of the things I teach is click on the news. So you click on the news button. Well, you get 8000 results. Better than 8 million, but you get 8000 results, many of them old, on Google, even on your mobile device, you click the tools button, and then a drop down menu appear. You can sort your news article, you can start your website results, but in this example, your news articles by date so I sorted by last hour actually. And you know, by happenstance, I find out that that literally 18 minutes ago, Allianz was just named Best Places to Work by Fortune magazine. So Tom comes down, he introduces himself Sam, Tom, Tom burns, very nice to meet you. first words out of my mouth, Tom, congratulations. And he looks at me like I’m a little bit weird. And you know, I said, didn’t you get the news?
He said, What news? And I said, well, Allianz was just named Best Places to Work by Fortune Magazine, with a huge smile comes to Tom’s face. You know, really, when did that happen? Oh, 18 minutes ago. But one of the things I talk about is when the first words out of your mouth are about the other person, you gain permission to ask those challenging questions. Yeah. So now I have permission. And it’s in it’s relevant to say something like, hey, Tom, what makes us such a great place to work? Right now that wouldn’t have been a bad question before. If I hadn’t done my homework. It just would have been out of the blue and really weird, but right. But in context, hey, what makes us such a great place to work? And you know what happens for the next 20 minutes who did Tom talk about?
Nancy: Himself.
Sam: And so Tom ended up hiring me we, you know, we became friends and, and it probably represents 30% of my business today because I did a lot of work for Allianz. And then Tom introduced me to everybody in the financial services world. So, okay, so so that’s a story where sales intelligence works.
Fast forward to the interesting thing. So, during this whole COVID deal, one of the things I’ve been doing is just reaching out to people and saying hello. And so I reached out to Tom, because I hadn’t talked to him in a couple of years. And he, you know, told me about a new, he’s working at what’s called a, an FMO, which is a marketing organization that serves financial advisors.
And he’s like, Hey, I would love to do some work with you again, fast forward. Anyhow, yesterday, I’m doing a very large project with Tom again. And we’re going to be introducing sales intelligence to the financial advisory world, but anyhow, you know, you can ask Tom, you can say, Hey, you know, why did why did you end up hiring Sam, and his words will be some variation of, you know, hey, I’m the number I was the number two guy at the world’s largest life insurance company. And, you know, I’d never heard of Sam before. And I get called on by people with a lot bigger brand names. But I knew immediately that I wanted to work with Sam. Why? And Sam will say the variation of these words, because in my entire career, he’s the only person who’s ever bothered to care.
Nancy: Yeah.
Sam: And that’s the key.
Nancy: All about them, all about them. Wow.
Sam: And you have to be genuine and you have to be authentic. You can’t you can’t do what I teach. You can’t use sales intelligence to manipulate people because because people like Tom will see right through that.
Nancy: Right.
Sam: Like when I saw that they were named Best Places to Work. I was I was genuinely thought that was cool. And it was genuinely excited to talk about it with Tom and he and I, you know, as you know, people pick up on that excitement they pick up on that confidence, do business with people who they like,
Nancy: Absolutely. And trust.
Sam: And you might not be able to tell it, but but I’m actually a huge introvert. And so, putting me in a situation where it’s like, okay, you’re gonna go meet with Tom that terrifies me. But, but if I have something about him, that excites me, it like, melts away my introvertedness Oh, I was so excited to share this with you.
Nancy: Yeah. You’re not an introvert. Certainly not over the phone.
Sam: I did my homework on you. Of course I did.
Nancy: Good. I did my homework on you. Okay, so tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on?
Sam: Well, I think it’s kind of what we were talking about a little bit. So I don’t want to say nobody. I would say that, that great salespeople and more important, great leaders and great sales managers get the concept of quality over quantity. But especially in challenging times, which many organizations are facing today, a lot of people will fall back on quantity versus quality. And so what what I mean by that is, you know, somebody’s not hitting their numbers, and what are they?
What is the sales manager immediately say? They’ll say, Well, how many calls? How many outbound calls did you make? Okay, we need you made 50, we need to ramp that up to 75. And the challenge is, is if that’s what we’re being judged on, where the sales managers logging into the CRM system and saying, Yeah, boss, boy, Sally, yep, Sally made her 75 calls, I guess. We just don’t have people that are interested in buying, you know, if we’re measuring quantity, salespeople are smart, they don’t want to lose their job. And they’re going to perform on quantity, I’d rather perform on quality, again, don’t call 1000 people in the phone book, call on the 50.
Who are, let’s say, one of your sales triggers is find me somebody who’s just received funding, because if I know if they just received funding, they’re required to spend it, you know, if a VC gives gives the company funding, the VC didn’t say, Hey, here’s $30 million, I’d like you to go put this in an index mutual fund. No, they’re saying go spend this go hire people go buy technology, grow your business. So if a sales trigger, for example, you know, hey, we like to work with tech companies who just received funding, well then find those tech companies who just received funding, find out who the decision makers are, find information that are relevant to them. And how does your solutions marry with what they care about, present those solutions in a relevant manner.
That’s what I’m talking about. I’d rather do 30 phone calls to the right people at the right time with the right message than 300 random phone calls hoping I get to somebody. And that’s a mind shift, especially for people who have been in sales management for a long time where, where we’ve always been taught, the only things you can impact are the number of calls you make the numbers of deals you close and the value the deal size of those of those of those deals. I’d like to say no, it’s not the number of calls you make. It’s the quality of those calls. Are we calling on the right people. And so a lot of people do disagree with that.
Nancy: I think, you know, there’s probably room and I agree, you know, the more targeted and qualified the leads, the better investment of time, it may also be a mix of those, you know, in terms of continuing to prospect throughout the day and throughout the week. You know, I don’t know what everybody’s sales plan looks like. But a good mix of that could also work. But I, I’m with you, I mean, the more qualified and if they’re triggered, and they’re interested, that would be the first step for a salesperson to go after and pursue them vigorously.
Sam: Absolutely. You’re 100%, right, there’s a balance in every organization is going to be different. Because I do want to stress, you know, if you’re a sales manager, you’ve hired salespeople, you haven’t hired Google researchers, right? So go, if if what I’m talking about is super important, like you sell a very expensive complex product, well, then maybe you ought to look at hiring one or two people to do the research.
Or if you’re like many of the organizations I work with, most of your sales, people are already doing some form of research, they’re going on to a LinkedIn profile. They’re doing a Google search. But I think we can make that research a lot more effective. And as I like to say, when you’re when your salespeople in, you’re googling a prospect prior to a call, while you’re looking at their online marketing brochure, they’re not telling you anything that they don’t want you to know. So how do we find how do we find some other information that’s more relevant to the to what you sell? So you are right, we, you there has to be a fine balance between quality and quantity.
Nancy: Yeah. So let’s, let’s wrap it up. What is one takeaway you want to leave the audience with?
Sam: Well, I think it’s that especially in today’s world, where we don’t have the opportunity to meet with people in person like we used to, and I’m not sure we’re, we’re ever going to go back to that because I think people are so used to these virtual meetings. Now, it’s might be tough to, to get on a plane, even when all this is done to say, Hey, I’m going to just go I’m flying down to Dallas to meet with a client, I’m flying home tonight, I think a lot of those might be virtual.
And so the importance of doing your homework, I think is going to be more important than ever. Because, and and the fact that buyers understand now that they can buy anywhere in the globe. You really have to differentiate through I call hyper relevancy, really understand, what do you sell? And that’s important, obviously. But what does the other person truly care about? Because if I were to leave, leave with anything, it would be the only time of sale ever occurs is when those two intersect.
Nancy: I absolutely agree.
Sam: And then using examples, you know, so what do they have? What do they care about? What do I solve? And then where do they intersect share a story on how I’ve solved that problem for someone just like them, and the only way you can do that is through through doing your homework.
Nancy: Wow. Sam, how can my people reach you?
Sam: The best way is just my website, www.SamRichter R I C H T E R.com. Or frankly, just go into Google and type in Sam Richter. Because if that wasn’t my business card, don’t listen to anything I have to say. And then for the sales Intel engine, you’ll see them on my website, I have various versions for different industries, but the the general one the the premium version, if you will, is just sellingintel.com. www.selling S E L L I N G Intel I N T E L.com. sellingintel.com
Nancy: Well, I am certain that everyone in this podcast has taken down copious notes, and will be checking your website out. I so appreciate spending time. You know, if anything, listen to your Everybody listen to your enthusiasm. And that’s contagious. So I can’t wait to get my team more and more involved in this platform. And by the way, it’s an excellent one. I really recommend that you all check it out. Get in front of Sam, and let’s do quality over quantity. Happy selling and thanks so much.
Sam: It’s been such an honor. Thank you.
Voiceover: The Conversational Selling Podcast is sponsored by One of a Kind Sales. If you’re frustrated that you don’t have enough leads or your sales team complains that they just don’t have enough time to prospect, we can help. To work with Nancy and her team one on one to help you manage your sales team, install her proven outbound sales process and create more bottom line results, email her now at Nancy@oneofakindsales.com. To learn more about Nancy and the outbound sales secrets, grab your free copy of the Inside Sales Solution at oneofakindsales.com/book.
by Nancy Calabrese | Jan 4, 2021 | Podcast
Our special guest on this week’s episode of Conversational Selling is Delia Passi, Founder of Women Certified and Women’s Choice Award. She has built the nation’s leading authority on loyalty among women, advocating for consumers by offering reliable fact-based ratings. Delia is a former publisher of Working Women and Working Mother magazine, and the author of Winning the Toughest Customer, the Essential Guide to Selling to Women.
“Women really value the opinion of other women. So that’s why the influencer community today is becoming more powerful than ever before: because we really create loyalty with people that provide us with trusted advice, ideas, and make our life simple,” says Delia.
We chat about targeting marketing for women, as well as:
- Who are the lead household purchasers
- Women’s Choice Award research standards
- Offering an objective, fact-based rating system
- Locating the highest recommended health care facilities
- Differentiating how to sell to women vs. men
- And more
Listen now…
Mentioned in this episode:
Transcript
Voiceover: You’re listening to the Conversational Selling Podcast with Nancy Calabrese.
Nancy Calabrese: Hi, Nancy Calabrese. And this is Conversational Selling. It’s the podcasts where business experts share what’s going on in sales and marketing today. And as always, it starts with the human conversation. So lucky us today we get to speak with Delia Passi, about her amazing career and passion. Delia is the founder of Women’s Certified, Inc and Women’s Choice Award. Women’s Choice Award is also the nation’s leading authority on building sale and loyalty among women, and is also the nation’s leading female consumer advocate. Delia is the former publisher of Working Women and Working Mother magazine, author of Winning the Toughest Customer and a renowned speaker. And in 2010, the Women’s Choice Award was launched to help women make smart choices. So Delia, I am all about smart choices. Your story is so worth sharing, and I can’t wait for the audience to hear it. Welcome to the show.
Delia Passi: Thank you, Nancy, I appreciate being here.
Nancy: I have been looking forward to this conversation. You know, when you and I were first introduced, you mentioned something about buying power. And it really raised my attention to the influence that women have in, you know, buying and selling. So could you share that with the audience.
Delia: Women are the chief purchasing officer here in the country. I mean, when you think even globally, women are responsible for the majority of the day to day purchases, she’s responsible for healthcare decisions for the household, she’s responsible for the decisions we make when it comes to back to school shopping for holidays. She is responsible for the sandwich generation, you know, person meaning that she’s responsible for her children herself, her husband or her significant other, and her parents. So women really are the most important our VIPs out there.
Nancy: Okay, and you know, I read somewhere and you quoted Tom Peters, who’s the author of the best seller, In Search of Excellence, he cites women in America as the largest single spending block on the planet, as he sees it, quote, it’s just plain stupid not to cater to them. So how do you go about catering to them? And why is it important to market to them in a way that the day are most receptive?
Delia: Well, it’s a, we call it the next new customer now. So where you’re talking to me in the middle of COVID, when everything that we knew a year ago on marketing, when it came to how purchasing behavior is out the window, so the consumer today, you have to be really astute, and you have to be a constant student on how women are buying now versus where, what they were doing a year ago, what’s influencing them now. So women in general, are tend to be more risk averse than men.
Men will shoot from the hip and then worry about it later, women are a lot more conservative in their purchasing behavior. They tend to think through decisions a lot more actually, in a survey we did with men across the country, we asked them what’s their one biggest pet peeve when it comes to shopping with women? And, you know, basically, they said, you know, she just takes so damn long to shop. It’s not about where we go to the supermarket. It’s not that guess what’s on the list. But you know, we’re making pitstops here and there along the way to read labels to check this out to sample things. And, you know, for men, it’s like, why can’t we just go to the store, get what’s on the list get out as quickly as possible. It’s the same situation at the mall, right? So for the men who are on the phone, they get it women ask them, you know, intuitively understand that that’s just the way we shop. So we are more gatherers than hunters.
And understanding that premise, first of all, is very important. The other piece of it is that women really value the opinion of other women. So that’s why the influencer community today is becoming more powerful than ever before. Because we really create loyalty with people that provide us with trusted advice, ideas, and make our life simple. So we tend to follow them. And those people that we follow and we trust, we tend to adhere to their recommendation.
So that’s endorsement marketing, and endorsement marketing today is the way to stand out because you could spend a fortune for those marketers and sales people out there, you could spend a fortune telling somebody how great you are. But it means nothing until somebody who has had experience with the brand says, Oh, yeah, no, excellent, I would definitely buy it. So today, it’s not what you say about your brand. It’s what others are saying about your brand that matters.
Nancy: Sure. So tell the audience a little bit more about Women’s Choice Award and why it’s so important to achieve that in promoting your business.
Delia: Well take a look at Amazon, and thank you, yeah, and permanently. So the Women’s Choice Award is is a symbol a beacon of empowerment, for women and for men to win looking for products based on the experience that other women have had with that product. So in order for a brand to earn the women’s Choice Award in any brand could try to qualify for it. We’re always open to seeing which brands are highly recommended by women. But the women’s Choice Award is a research based company and we do the research with women across America.
Every single week, we’re doing another national survey, asking women about the brands that they most recommend when we get a statistical sample. And when women weight that brand, nine out of 10, meaning over an 85% recommendation rating. That brand automatically qualifies their brand paid to earn the award. That brand qualifies and gets listed on the Women’s Choice Award. So it’s a way for us to help women identify the best, whether in retail or online.
Now, the Women’s Choice Award was created to empower the consumer. So if it really is a mission driven organization, our profits go to causes at the end of the year, I and we have over 700 brands now that have licensed the Women’s Choice Award to drive home that competitive advantage. Why is it important today? So when you go, let’s say Amazon, which is hard to find somebody who’s not loyal to Amazon these days, but right when when you go to Amazon, my husband laughs and teases me that I have a callus on my finger from swiping all day long. Okay. He says that if I don’t get a box delivered every day, I’ll probably have withdrawl…partially correct. So he’s not far from the truth. So when when you look at Amazon, I’ll give you an example.
I went to buy a diaper bag for a for a baby registry. Get for a baby gift, I wanted to buy a diaper bag. And I went on Amazon and put baby diaper bag. And every bag that I saw I had had over a four star rating. So what does that mean? Here I am a consumer trying to identify which is the best one I have 50 choices, and all of them are over four stars. So now I have now really stuck because now it’s leveled the playing field is useless, the stars become useless. Now one of them. I noticed zvera Wang had the women’s choice award. So I went to her product, I saw the image in her carousel of images. And of course, I chose the one that moms recommended most over all other bags. That became the easy choice. And it also made it easy for me to buy knowing that that new mom will love that product. So the Women’s Choice Award to come to differentiator out there in what I call the sea of sameness.
Nancy: You also talk I know that one of your concentrations is in health care. How are you helping when women find it because it’s always a difficult decision. I recently moved to Florida and I know in speaking with you, you gave me some guidance as to where to go to find the best medical care where I am locally.
Delia: The woman’s towards where thank you because this is my passion. The women’s choice awards was created after I was diagnosed with breast cancer and I made the horrific mistake of going to an imaging center instead of an accredited Breast Center over 10 years ago, for my for my diagnostics and what happened as a result was three additional surgeries that I did not need. If I had only gone to an accredited breast center with a high IQ with the highest level of diagnostic imagery that is available, there was a problem back then there was no way to find who they were, there was nothing zero zilch on the internet, to identify who those were those breast amateurs who they were.
So I needed a patch, and I left publishing and I started this company so that no woman would ever go through what I went through. So it comes from a place of passion. But it’s really because there was nothing out there. So now before you choose the hospital, you should go always to the Women’s Choice Award, our rating system is par nine, there is nothing not even US News can compare to was the integrity of our award is far beyond anything that’s out there, we do a deep dive on the hospitals, you can go in and read about those hospitals See for yourself. They’re reporting, we create transparency and health care. And breast centers, imaging centers were to have a baby were to have orthopedic surgery, you name it, we’re out there, we have a team of the most talented people doing research day and night on your behalf, so that you won’t make a poor healthcare choice.
Nancy: Wow. And how does that compare to other rating systems that awards use? Do you have any knowledge of that?
Delia: Yes, yes, we’re the we are fact based uniform and objective. We’re the only one who can say that. Everybody else, if you read our methodology, you could read our methodology for each one of the service lines in approximately a paragraph, you go to the healthgrades and UFC, you have to have a PhD to read through their methodology, because it’s so convoluted that it allows them a lot of wiggle room. And you know, who are clients of theirs? Who’s paying them?
All I’m saying is there is no one that’s my opinion. But But if you look and you and you look at our rating system versus others, you’ll see that we are 100% objective, in fact that we don’t take doctor, we don’t like you know, US News and others, for example, they take doctor recommendations into account. That’s subobjective, that’s not objective. That’s subjective. So we are, you know, doctors affiliated hospitals, of course, they’re going to choose their own people they want to, that’s why we came along, because we felt that there wasn’t anything out there. That was back base. And guess what, we all deserve the facts.
Nancy: Oh, absolutely believe in it. And, again, this was very eye opening to me when you and I were first introduced. Now one of the other projects or partners you have is with Walmart. And like Amazon, probably everybody has put a foot in the Walmart world in your shopping experience. So what are you doing with them now?
Delia: Yeah, so the one who starts where we do retail events at Walmart, of course, at some pause right now, but hopefully hoping to start up. So you go into Walmart, you’ll see women’s choice of what ambassadors in the store. We have Walmart mom hacks. on radio, you’ll hear my voice several times a day, in about 80% of the stores.
You’ll hear me throughout the day, delivering consumer tips. We also have a dedicated page on Walmart. So on walmart.com, there’s a dedicated women’s Choice Award page. And, and if you’re interested in learning more about any of those Walmart programs, please You know, contact me and I’ll you know give you my email now but you could always do info@womenschoiceaward or info@womencertified.com, women certified as a parent company. Women’s Choice Award is the brand. And my personal email is dpassi DPASSI@womenschoiceaward.com. So you could always do that. And I’ll also give you my phone number which is 954-922-0846. Extension two with my assistant, she’ll finally track me down and transfer you. But again, it’s 954-922-0846.
Nancy: And one thing about Delia, everyone that you call she gets back to you pretty rapidly, which is always refreshing.
Delia: Thank you. well, you know, it’s like to treat others like you’d like to be treated. And that’s the simple philosophy. I was raised with I learned in my church, you know, if we only do it to others as we’d like others to do unto us, we’d live in a much better world.
Nancy: Uh, well, I think that says a lot, especially in today’s climate. So, you know, I’m always interested asking people, something they believe that’s true that almost nobody would agree with them on. How about you? What, what do you think that’s true, that you you are challenged on.
Delia: So I wrote a book called Winning the Toughest Customer, the Essential Guide to Selling to Women. And I remember when it was published that, you know, I had to convince people, that selling to women or marketing to women differently was critical. You can, you know, not speaking and speaking in a unisex version doesn’t work. If I’m speaking to a man, I’m going to use a different communication pattern or skill set versus speaking to a woman, women, men tend to be more direct women tend to be more collaborative. Women definitely value more emotion words in the conversation.
Women are more indirect than men are men tend tend to tell you the way it is. It’s like, Hey, man, give a perfect example. Just watch the dynamics in your office, a man will go to the executive assistant, say Mary I’ll need this by Thursday morning. And typically, she says, I understand I’ll do my best. But a woman typically does not go to Mary and says the same thing. Or she will in a roundabout way. Say, Hey, Mary, I have a meeting. And I’d like to present this Thursday morning. Do you mind having it all packaged and ready for me by 9am? She gives usually she’s more collaborative in the approach, she tends to add more words, she tends to be a little bit more indirect like a nerd Do you mind? I know it’s going to mean you spending a couple extra hours on Wednesday. But do you mind doing this for me, blah, blah, blah, she tends to be more collaborative.
That is just the way of the world. We accept male talk differently than we accept women talk. So it’s just a, it’s just the way we are, we shouldn’t have to fight it. We should embrace it, learn how to sell it, get her toward it. And with it, instead of challenging that, you know, men and women needs to be treated equally all the time, even when it comes to selling.
Nancy: Yeah, no, I totally agree with you. So you know, in sales, as you know, there are different communication styles. And that also factors into female male ways of communicating. So that that’s really awesome to know. Last question, I mean, what is the one takeaway you want to leave the audience with?
Delia: Well, there’s a big opportunity to stand out today. But it’s not easy, right? So we live in a world where all of a sudden, if you’re in sales, which I think most of your followers are probably in marketing and sales, that they’re challenged right now. Like, you know how to why I have to do everything through phone and video. I have my people are not seeing my products and stores I anymore. I am restricted. So I believe that there’s a big opportunity to stand out and be creative in how you will capture people’s attention, leaving video messages instead of audio messages, using the Women’s Choice Award in your presentations or sending out announcements that our product is is loved by women, and we’re so proud and honored to earn this award. There are ways to stand out today. Again, there’s a sea of sameness out there. And we’re all we’re all swimming in it. So stand out.
Nancy: Yeah. And on that note, I really encourage you all to take advantage of getting in touch with Delia. She’s got such great insight as to how to help your business, your brand, attract more and more of the buying community. And in one word, the buying community is mostly women. So thank you so much, Delia, for joining us today. And just as a repeat, how can they find you? What is your website?
Delia: Yeah, so the website, the corporate side is womencertified.com w o m e n women certified. Through there, you can get to Women’s Choice Award. You can see what we’re doing you could reach out contact us. And my number is 954-922-0846 hit extension two that’ll go to Kathy my assistant and she’ll connect up or you’ll leave a message and I’ll get back to you.
Nancy: You got it. So, for everyone out there, make it a good rest of the day. Happy hunting. Focus on staying positive. Pay attention to these amazing people that I’m bringing on the show. They all have wonderful ideas. Delia, you know, I really just love the work that you and your company is doing for women in general.
Delia: Thank you, Nancy and thank you to the audience for listening today was nice to virtually connect.
Voiceover: The Conversational Selling Podcast is sponsored by One of a Kind Sales. If you’re frustrated that you don’t have enough leads or your sales team complains that they just don’t have enough time to prospect we can help. To work with Nancy and her team one on one to help you manage your sales team, install her proven outbound sales process and create more bottom line results, email her now at Nancy@oneofakindsales.com. To learn more about Nancy and her outbound sales secrets, grab your free copy of her book, the Inside Sales Solution at oneofakindsales.com/book.
by Nancy Calabrese | Dec 28, 2020 | Podcast
On this week’s episode of Conversational Selling, we speak with special guest, international bestselling author and speaker, Darrell Amy. Darrell is a growth strategist who has consulted with Fortune 500 tech companies, specializing in providing clients with strategies to recover and grow revenue. He is also the author of The Revenue Growth Engine: How to Align Sales and Marketing to Accelerate Growth and the co-host of the Selling From The Heart Podcast.
Darrell’s mission is to help businesses “Rebound strong and build an engine that will accelerate growth through recovery and beyond.”
Darrell shares his best practices from 27 years in sales, as well as:
- The importance of growth rate acceleration
- How the Revenue Growth Engine began
- The keys to unlocking revenue growth
- And more…
Listen now…
Mentioned in this episode:
Transcript
Voiceover: You’re listening to the Conversational Selling podcast with Nancy Calabrese.
Nancy Calabrese: Hi, everybody, it’s Nancy Calabrese. And this is Conversational Selling. It’s the podcast where sales leaders and business experts share what’s going on in sales and marketing today. And it all starts with the human conversation. I’m so excited to have Darrell Amy with us today, a growth strategist, author and speaker, his international bestseller revenue growth engine, how to align sales and marketing to accelerate growth provides companies with strategies to recover and grow revenue, especially during these wild crazy times. He’s also the co-host of selling from the heart podcast, which is a wonderful program. He’s trained 1000s of salespeople in solution selling created digital marketing strategy for hundreds of companies, and consulted with fortune 500 technology companies, but simply put, he knows what works and what doesn’t work. So Darrell, I’m going to speak for everyone in the audience today by saying we love solutions and can’t wait to hear about what works and what not. So, welcome to the show.
Darrell Amy: Thank you, Nancy. It’s fantastic. fantastic to be here. And we definitely need solutions right now, because there is no shortage of problems, right?
Nancy: Oh, my gosh, you are so right. And, you know, I want to start off with a bold statement that I have found on your website. And I think this resonates with all of us. Key right now is to rebound strong, build an engine that will accelerate your growth through the recovery and beyond. And I know we’re all looking to do that. So what is your unique idea around this?
Darrell: Well, the way to look at this right now a lot of companies are really struggling with how do we set goals? I know, you know, you look at your revenue right now. And for, you know, if you’re one of the companies that’s taken a hit in this current season, and most have, you know, the obvious question is, how are we going to rebound quickly. And the reality is the growth rate that most companies had before the crisis is not going to get them out of the crisis fast enough. So if you were having, you know, if you’re growing 10%, year over year, let’s say, just a nice, you know, steady march forward. The reality is that 10%, year over year is going to take you a long time if he dropped revenue, say 30 or 40%. So, the reality right now Nancy, we’ve got to figure out how to accelerate growth. And the way that the way that we coach people through accelerating growth is actually really simple.
And it’s by asking the question, what is the way? What are the two things that drive revenue growth, and if you think about it, there are really only two ways to drive growth, we get more net new business, land, new deals, get new logos, or we cross sell more to our existing client base. And in reality is, when I go into most organizations, this is a great question for everyone listening in to ask themselves is of those two, which are we good at, and which are we maybe not quite so good at? The reality is most organizations are usually good at either net new, or they’re good at cross selling. The exciting thing is if you can get both net new and cross sell going at the same time, it’s like putting your foot to the floor and that BMW, it really helps accelerate the growth in revenue in the numbers are really exciting when you see modest growth in both of those areas simultaneously.
Nancy: Well, you’re jumping the gun, this we’re going to speak about that BMW story.
Darrell: BMW.
Nancy: So I hear you’re a great storyteller, and everybody loves stories. What’s the good story for the audience today?
Darrell: Ah, you know that there have been so many stories that I think about you in the district that are remembering today, is where the idea from the revenue growth engine came from. I spent my whole career in sales and marketing, 27 years in sales and about 17 years of that I also was a partner in a marketing agency, just working with all this fun, new stuff going on in digital marketing. And so I get invited to speak at a lot of conferences and I was speaking at this conference was a group of marketing professionals, sales leaders and company owners and they had me there to talk. They were all there to talk about growing revenue. Problem was, you know, you walk in the room, you can just see the marketing people are all sitting at the front of the room. They’re very excited about the latest and greatest marketing automation technology. And by the way, there is some amazing technology out there right now.
But they were looking back. The next kind of phase back in the room was the sales leaders and sales managers VPS of sales. And you can see the sales managers you knew you knew who they were because they were sitting there with their arms folded. And you can almost see the thought bubbles popping up over their head going, Oh, my goodness, what are we doing here? We should be out selling something, you know, these leads are garbage. This is a waste of time. Well, you know, that type of stuff, right. And then, of course, the thought bubbles over the marketing people’s heads are these salespeople are a bunch of Neanderthals, they don’t get it, you know, they’re living in the past. And then at the back of the room, the favorite part was that there were some business owners in the back of the room, the executives are standing there, and that they’re drinking their coffee looking out over this room.
And they’re just I know, there’s that you can see them thinking and actually, I’ve validated it afterwards, as I was talking with them over drinks that evening is like, why can’t we all get along and figure out a way to make this work. And the reality is, you know, marketing people think about marketing sales, people think about selling, but the real thing that we’re aiming towards is revenue growth. And the way we grow revenue is by adding more clients, especially ideal clients. So that’s where the revenue growth engine concept came from is saying, Let’s focus our efforts, whether we’re in marketing, whether it’s sales, let’s focus on these ideal client prospects. And, you know, then let’s ask ourselves, what can we do to drive more net new? And what can we do to cooperate to cross sell? And that was the beginning of the revenue growth engine and this journey of helping companies align marketing and sales to actually get results.
Nancy: Yeah, you know, I mean, you often hear that there’s a disconnect between both divisions, if you would, why is that? It doesn’t make any sense. It makes way more sense for everybody to work and collaborate together.
Darrell: It does. But I think that having spent you know what, my whole career in sales straight out of college and B2B sales in a really tough, challenging industry. So I’ve got sales, my blood, and by the way, I am a recovering sales professional and down to therapy twice a week. Now it’s going pretty well. But I love sales, I absolutely love it. And then also, I just got dragged into this marketing thing. I had a marketing degree in my hip pocket. And when I started my sales training company, my first client said, Hey, Darryl, all this stuff we taught our sales team is fantastic. Our websites, how to date, do you build websites? And being the first client I was foolish enough to say, Yes, sir, we build websites. And I built, I already built one for nonprofit and for my church as well, but that, you know, so I’ve had a foot in both worlds. And in reality is, we talk different languages. And I was on a call, earlier this week doing a growth strategy workshop with a technology company up in your neck of the woods in the northeast.
And you know, they want to drive revenue growth, they’ve got to recover lost revenue. And so we’re putting a plan together, and they’ve got marketing and sales and operations in the room. And so this, the sales, people talk about sales process, marketing people, they talk about saying, you know, they talk about a customer journey, and the, you know, they talk about the buyer’s journey, and all the marketing speak around that the operations people, they actually talk about business processes. So everyone’s describing the same thing. They’re just describing it in their own language with a focus on what they do. So what I think comes of what I see working is when companies go Okay, yes, sales, yes, marketing, yes, operations. The real real issue is what? Let’s all focus on our ideal client. And let’s talk about the ideal client experience. So rather than talk about a sales process, what’s the experience that a client has with our company throughout the buying experience and their experience, once they become a client? Then when we look at that ideal client experience, and start to understand that, what are they thinking, what are they feeling? What’s holding them back? What, you know, what do we want to happen, then, and everyone comes to the table and marketing goes on?
Well, we could do this to support the client experience, sales. Yeah, we could do this to support the client experience and get them moving through faster and even operations. And so what we’re finding is just like when you take your car to the shop, if it’s out of alignment, you know, one wheels pulling to the left, the other is pulling to the right, and that describes a lot of a lot of companies with sales and marketing. When you put it up on the rack to get aligned at that at the shop, they’re actually going to focus on the back wall of the shop. Well, that dot that companies need to focus on in is their eyes. Ideal ideal client, their ideal prospect. And when you look at things through the lens of the experience that that client has, then sales and marketing can start to speak a common language towards a common objective. And we’re seeing companies finally begin to align around it. And it’s so funny, Nancy, you see, it depends, you know who you’re talking to. Because when they’re talking about alignment, they’ll either say, sales and marketing alignment, or they’ll say, marketing and sales alignment, and you can get the sales people and I guess I betrayed myself a little bit, because on the front of revenue growth engine, it says how to align sales and marketing. But, but the reality is, if this, if we look from the perspective of the ideal clients, we want to bring on board, the, the sales and marketing and operations stuff starts to come into focus. And we actually are able to get alignment in some organizations for the very first time.
Nancy: Well, how long does a process like that take?
Darrell: Well, it doesn’t have to take very long at all. And, you know, the reality is, is it’s, I mean, the process of having that enlightening moment where we get, we all get in the same room and get around same objectives, were able to accomplish that in a day at an organization now the building out of that of the processes to support it, and then the communication between these different functions to make sure that it all, it all works to create an amazing client experience. You know, that’s a journey that plays out and becomes part of an organization’s DNA. So but you know, it could happen right here right now, the podcast, it’s all about the client experience.
Nancy: It is and my experience so far with you is I think you’re a car buff, because you use car analogies. And I love the analogy that you used in your book about not running on all cylinders. So share, share what that’s about?
Darrell: Well, so and I am a car buff, and I, you know, so I guess the growth engine and the alignment and all of that stuff just seems to work for me that we’ve all got, you know, there’s all kinds of different engines. Let me let me just talk about it this way. I mean, if you have a lawn mower, that lawnmower has an engine, it probably has two cylinders, maybe four in it. If you’ve got a you know, if you’ve got a BMW that has an engine, finely tuned engine, probably a six or eight cylinders. If you have a Ferrari, it might even have 12 cylinders. The reality is the ability of an engine to accelerate the vehicle is based on the cylinders, how much horsepower Do you have. And it’s interesting, because when you look at an organization, when it comes to driving that new business, there’s things marketing can do to help that there’s processes sales can do to help that when it comes to cross selling, same thing, sales plays a role. Marketing plays a role. The cylinders in your organization, I think they’re like processes. process is something that happens over and over again, just like cylinder and an engine, it just fires, right.
The reality is, most companies don’t have a lot of process in their sales and marketing. Especially when it comes to the thing they’re not good at. So if you’re good at net new, you’ve probably got great prospecting processes, etc. But if you’re not good at cross sell, do you have a good client manage? Do you have a good set of client management processes? And if not, what would happen if you created processes? For client management? We saw this one organization in South Florida great company, fantastic sales team went in to do a growth strategy workshop. And so what’s your goal for net new and they said we want you know, steady that new growth a 10% year over year. And at the beginning of the workshop, he said, Why are we here? And they said we need more net new business. And that’s the What’s your goal? 10%. So what did you do last year? 9.8%.So I kind of laughed. Like y’all are now going well, we’ll get why am I here? But when it came to cross sell this particular organization at a whole new business unit, they had a new offering for their clients. They’d spent hundreds of 1000s of dollars in people and training. And I asked how their cross sell effort was going into this new area and they just rolled their eyes. Everyone’s like, oh, my goodness, this has been a train wreck, right?
We haven’t sold anything. Well, if you peel it back, when you look at that area of their business with net new business, they had prospecting processes, they had target account programs, they had all kinds of sales tools. They were crushing it with their ability to bring on a new logo. But when it came to actually managing those clients and going deeper and wider in the organization to cross sell, there wasn’t any process. You know, the only thing that was there was, hey, go talk to these people about buying this new thing. So what’s incredible is one simple process organizations can put in place in that area of the business cross selling, they put a sales process in. That said, our clients that are that meet the profile of being an ideal client, meaning they can buy all of this amazing new stuff that we sell wasn’t a fit for every client, but the Wednesday was where we’re going to start a quarterly business review process. And so they didn’t just say, we’re going to do a quarterly business review, they created a model for it, they created a process to set the meetings up, train the reps on how to do the meetings, make them the value add, and then how to follow up on those meetings. And, you know, that process is already yielding results. So their cross sell revenue is beginning to accelerate. So going back to the beginning, if you keep that net new going, and you can accelerate cross sell, you’ll see exponential revenue growth. And, in fact, it’s kind of fun, there’s, we, I’m not too much of a marketing and sales guy.
So I’m not too much of a spreadsheet guy. But we actually put a spreadsheet together on this where you can very simply enter your number of customers and your total revenue and set a goal for growth in both net new and cross sell, and it forecasts it out. And that you can get it by the way, if you text revenue to 21,000. revenue to 21,000. But it’s really amazing how, you know, in a lot of ways, Nancy, it’s not like dramatic things that need to be done. You just add these processes in. And over time, it’s like you’re adding cylinders to your engine. And next thing, you know, you go to get on the freeway, and you hit the gas. And you go, Whoa, this is good. Right?
Nancy: Yeah. And I think it’s a free download, isn’t it? On your way?
Darrell: Yeah, it is. It is there’s all kinds of tools, it’s actually growing list of tools, there. But that, that spreadsheet, right, there is a great eye opener in terms of the potential to accelerate revenue growth, by just entering a couple simple numbers, so you can start to see the potential. So yeah, definitely check it out revenue, tax revenue to 21,000. But it’s these processes. One of the things we could go down this rabbit trail a long way, I think if you go into most sales and marketing departments, and you know, HR has processes, accounting has processes shipping and receiving has processes, sales and marketing, usually the Wild West, right? You got some gunslingers making some calls, and you got some marketing people running some campaigns here and there. But where’s the consistent processes? What happens though, when you start putting them in place, you start to accelerate growth. And that’s exciting.
Nancy: Yeah, I downloaded it. So I recommend that everybody find your way to it and download it, I think it’s really going to be a helpful tool for one of a kind sales and sticking with one of a kind sales. And I would be remiss if I didn’t bring this up. You know, we’re all about prospecting. And I saw on your website about the three overlooked keys of sales prospecting, and yes, love you to explain what they are.
Darrell: Well, as you might guess, one of them is process. And so that’s right. This is true, even if you’re great at net new business, you know, it always is good to look at your prospecting process, it’s one of the core cylinders in your growth engine. And, you know, if you look at the data, whether you’re looking@salesforce.com that says it takes six to eight touches to get an appointment, Forrester says it’s over 14 the point of the whole thing is it takes more than one touch to get a net new appointment and it’s got to be over you know, multiple different channels because not everybody checks email listens to their messages on their phone, etc. So in order to make that happen, you know, nowadays it just can’t be a one and done there’s got to be a process gets make a phone call and go well, they didn’t return my call as I’ve done. So. So what’s the process? Well, that’s where you know, you take a look and you go okay, how are we going to do this? Let’s get a message that’s going to resonate inside that process and then let’s look for some enabling technologies to help make sure that process gets executed and is measurable it it cetera in so processes the first one, the second is priorities. And in the article I put priorities first cuz well that just kind of makes sense. Right?
But you have to prioritize. You have to prioritize prospecting and my friend Jeb blunt, you know is is adamant about something. I agree with whole heartedly with, which is you got to block this stuff out in your calendar. If you’re a sales professional or you lead a sales team, and there are not scheduled blocks of time in the calendar for prospecting, guess what, it’s not going to happen, you’re going to get pushed to the last last part of the day. So I’m, I’m, I am fanatical about that tip of the hat to Jeb, once again, in terms of making sure they’re blocks on my calendar for prospecting. And, you know, it’s just an appointment that has to be, you know, it’s a frog, like you got to you got to eat that you got to eat that one first. Because at the beginning of the day, you got to get that one done. And the last is practice. And, you know, it’s interesting, this is something that that, you know, when I was a sales rep back in the dark ages, we, we had the, we had over, we had the like the transparency, so this is really going to date me, but we have the objections, and the sales manager would put the the objection up, and you have little piece of paper hiding the answer on that projector, and that we would practice right we would roleplay. And I don’t know where that went in a lot of organizations, it seems like that just kind of, I don’t know, just went away.
Well, guess what? No high performance. athlete gets anywhere without practice, no high performance professional speaker gets anywhere without practice. And I think that inside our sales team practice is the third P. And it doesn’t even have to be inside a sales team. If you’re a rep listening in on this call, you know, prioritize, build yourself a process and find someone to practice you know, just get repeat over and over again and get to where this stuff that that you need to know is, is second nature and you know, people go Terrell, you know, that’s isn’t that scripted, yes. But once you internalize that kind of stuff, and you can, then you can dance between the lines, but until you do, you’re going to spend all your time trying to go What am I saying now? So, you know, I’m a huge fan of practice.
Nancy: Oh, so am I and, you know, to your point with the scripts, the beauty of having a script is you don’t have to think about what you have to say I think sales really kicks in when you get the objections. So to internalize, especially the opening conversation, get that down in your head, allows you to spend more time in really a role playing and practicing and getting those objections out, you know, when you need to happen, because you never know where you’re going to hear. Right. When you’re on a prospecting call. Yeah. Okay. So tell me something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on.
Darrell: Okay, this one’s gonna be fun. Because there’s a lot of things that I think it’s tricky. But that may spark some debate this, here’s one, and this is a sales and marketing. One is salespeople don’t need leads. We just don’t need leads. And here’s what I mean. You go What are you kidding me? salespeople are beating up marketing, give me more leads, salespeople are going to their companies give me more leads. But in most, and I, I’m gonna put a bit of a footnote on this, I work in the B2B sales space. And in the B2B sales space, we help our clients identify who their ideal clients and prospects are. So you know, the reality is if you’ve got a marketplace and just think of, we’re talking earlier about the South Florida marketplace, 90,000 businesses in the South Florida marketplace. And this particular company had eight salespeople doesn’t work, they could prospect 24 hours a day, and it wouldn’t cover that market, because it takes years to cover the market.
So but the reality is, there’s 90,000 businesses, if they’re really honest, they look at their ideal client profile, there’s about 2000 of them that are really, really, really good fit. So guess what? I don’t need leads anymore, I need to know, I already know who the people are, if I have an ideal client profile. And if I have, if I’ve got an ideal client profile, I know who my prospects are in my marketplace. So I don’t need leads. I need engagement. And so, you know, this is where and this this is we talked about this in the revenue growth engine book. You know, I don’t you know, everyone, sales teams want to have service level agreements with marketing for leads. I don’t want that because what I really want is, I want in this whatever that 2000 companies that are ideal prospects, I want as a team I want 100% coverage, meaning that all of the key decision makers and influencers in those 2000 accounts, hear from my sales people regularly with valuable message and hear from my marketing team regularly with a valuable message that I mean, and it’s really on one level that simple. The execution needs processes. But the reality of this is we don’t need lead sales people stop complaining, you don’t have leads, you already know who your ideal prospects are not go figure that out. And then you’ll never need a lead again, what you need to do is be engaging with those ideal prospects. Yep.
Nancy: Oh, I so again, I agree with you, people are under the impression they need 1000s of leads. And as you said earlier, if you don’t have the manpower to cover it, you’re wasting your time, you’re never going to have an effective program out there.
Darrell: Well, I mean, sales people go to the lead fancy they go, all these leads are garbage? Well, if they’re not with an ideal prospect, they probably are. not that useful. All right, and really what we need to know, you know, and we could talk about this maybe another episode, you know, nothing’s qualified lead. until it is, it is attached to an ideal prospect in a lot of ways. But but the lead thing is where a sales and marketing get out of alignment, I just say Stop it. Stop. Yeah. Let’s just focus on engagment.
Nancy: Hey everybody did you hear that? Stop it. Oh, what is the one takeaway you’d like to leave the audience with? I’m guessing there’s more than one, but what is the one that will come to your mind?
Darrell: Yeah, I am going to pick one. And, you know, and this, this is, there’s what I’m about to say is backed up by so many people as that in Mark hunter comes to mind right now. And we were just talking about this with his new book of mind for sales is this ideal client profile, knowing who your ideal client is, is a key to unlocking revenue growth and accelerating revenue growth, we find that ideal clients and and in the book will show you how to do the math, but on average, ideal clients or we call it 20x or 30x clients, because they’re usually worth 20 to 30 times the revenue. And I’m not talking when I say ideal clients about fortune 500 companies necessarily, I’m just talking about good fit clients and know who your ideal clients are, then you’ll know then then that defines the processes you put together to prospect and to manage your clients that defines the message that you put together that’s going to resonate. And then that also will explain in the book how that can define your ability to set goals realistically based on the value so I would say at all you know, this ideal client profile is really where it all begins and we walk you through how to have a think about that in the early part of the revenue growth engine book.
Nancy: Okay, everyone go out and buy it Darrell, tell us how my people or tell everyone how they can reach you.
Darrell: Well I would love to engage with you the fastest way is just text the word revenue to 21000 we’ll give you some access to resources course revenue growth engine is available where all fine books are sold. And you can also look me up on LinkedIn there’s not that many people with the last name Amy, first name Darrell and I’d love to connect with you on LinkedIn.
Nancy: Oh, take advantage of that offer everyone and you are not only informative, you’re highly entertaining. Thank you for everyone for joining me and for all my audience out there. Keep in mind the overlooked piece of sales prospecting and really start taking a good hard look at sales and marketing. Thank you so much, Darrell, and happy hunting for everyone.
Darrell: Thank you Nancy.
Voiceover: The conversational selling podcast is sponsored by One of a Kind Sales. If you’re frustrated that you don’t have enough leads or your sales team complains that they just don’t have enough time to prospect, we can help. To work with Nancy and her team one on one to help you manage your sales team, install her proven outbound sales process and create more bottom line results, email her now at Nancy@oneofakindsales.com. To learn more about Nancy and her outbound sales secrets, grab your free copy of our book, The Inside Sales Solution at oneofakindsales.com/book.
