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Wesleyne Whitaker-Greer: Could Everyone Become a Sales Manager?

by | Apr 13, 2023 | Podcast

About Wesleyne Whitaker-Greer: Wesleyne is the founder of Transform Sales, a company dedicated to combining her love for sales with her passion for coaching. She has developed a proprietary seven-step sales leadership blueprint that identifies the blind spots, gaps, and inefficiencies in process, teams, and sales management in the technical fields. In addition, her coach-like approach allows her to work alongside managers to develop their sales, leadership, and teaching skills. Wesleyne’s management training improves sales leaders’ capability of holding productive conversations with internal sales team members, creating a collaborative, dynamic environment where everyone feels supported. Check out the latest episode of our Conversational Selling podcast to learn more about Wesleyne.

In this episode, Nancy and Wesleyne discuss:

  • How does a former chemist get into or transition into international sales management?
  • Why are there no comprehensive training programs for sales managers in STEM?
  • Wesleyne’s seven-step process description.
  • The qualities of a good leader in Wesleyne’s opinion.
  • How long is the transformation to become a better leader?
  • Does Wesleyne do any pure sales coaching for salespeople?
  • Why do some teams resist sales trainings?
  • How to motivate an underperforming sales team?
  • How does culture play into having a great team?
  • Referrals to key performance indicators and their role.
  • Fun fact about Wesleyne.
  • Something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with Wesleyne on.
  • What is the one takeaway you want to leave the audience with?
  • How can my people find you?

Key Takeaways: 

  • Everybody thinks that if you’re a really good salesperson, you’re gonna be a really good sales manager. But it’s the opposite of what you think.
  • The seven-step process is a full 360 view of what you need as a leader.
  • Whatever the thing is that your salesperson, or the people on your team are working towards when you coach them when you try to push them, you focus on the thing that is important to them.
  • As a leader, you can’t just sit in an ivory tower as a leader and think that everybody fits into this little teeny tiny nice little neat box.
  • As a salesperson, if you don’t see your company investing in any kind of training, internal, external, or any kind of development, that means that they’re not really committed to you as a person getting better
  • I bring out the best in everyone.

“People were leaving. We weren’t hitting our numbers. And so, I really realized that the only solution was on me as the leader to figure out how I need to fix myself, and the skills I needed to build so, I could then translate that into my team. And so, that’s really what we do when we’re working with organizations, figuring out what’s the core nucleus of the problem and then translating those skills out to the team.” – WESLEYNE

“The one takeaway is your growth and development are important. If your company won’t invest in you, invest in yourself. Find resources to make yourself better. Find resources to develop your skillset, your empathy, whatever the thing is that you’re suffering. If you keep getting feedback from your leadership team, whether you’re an individual contributor, a frontline manager, or all the way up, whatever the thing is you continue to get feedback on, find a way to get better at it. Find a way to really invest in yourself because that is gonna pay dividends for years for decades.” – WESLEYNE

Connect with Wesleyne Whitaker-Greer:

Try Our Proven, 3-Step System, Guaranteeing Accountability and Transparency that Drives RESULTS by clicking on this link: https://oneofakindsales.com/call-center-in-a-box/

Connect with Nancy Calabrese: 

 

Voiceover: You’re listening to The Conversational Selling Podcast with Nancy Calabrese.

Nancy Calabrese: Hi everyone, it’s Nancy Calabrese and it’s time again for Conversational Selling, the podcast where sales leaders and business experts share what’s going on in sales and marketing today and it always starts with a human conversation. Today we’re speaking with Wesleyne Whitaker-Greer, founder of Transform Sales, a company dedicated to combining her love for sales with her passion for coaching. Wesleyne has developed a proprietary seven-step sales leadership blueprint that identifies the blind spots, gaps, and inefficiencies in process, teams, and sales management in the technical fields. In addition, her coach-like approach allows her to work alongside managers to develop their sales, leadership, and teaching skills. Welcome to the show, Wesleyne. This is a great topic we’re gonna have a lot of fun. So, let’s jump right in. [1:07]

Wesleyne: Awesome. I’m excited to be here with you.

Nancy Calabrese: Yeah, so, I find your background real interesting. So, you are an expert in STEM. And for those of you in the audience that may not know the acronym, it stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Manufacturing. [1:27] And my first question to you is, how does a former chemist, yes, Wesleyne was a former chemist, get into or transition into international sales management?

Wesleyne: So, when I graduated college, I went in, I worked in the lab, and I worked there for a good number of years. And I got to a point where I was like, I want to talk to some humans. So, I need a little bit more human interaction. And I tell people, once I got into sales, I finally figured out what I wanted to be when I grew up. And I was so, fortunate that the company that hired me, they were looking for somebody that had a technical background that was a chemist with no sales experience, which we know was like unheard of. [2:14]

Nancy Calabrese: Right.

Wesleyne: No one wants that, right? And so, I loved it. I was so, tenacious. I read books. I did everything that I could. And so, I made a really fast ascent from individual contributor to international sales manager. And then I realized when I became an international sales manager that I really sucked at that. And so, for the first six months, it was bad. People were leaving. We weren’t hitting our numbers. And so, I really realized that the only solution was on me as the leader to figure out how I need to fix myself, the skills I needed to build so, I could then translate that into my team. And so, that’s really what we do when we’re working with organizations, figuring out what’s the core nucleus of the problem and then translating those skills out to the team. [2:57]}

Nancy Calabrese: Yeah, you mentioned that there are no comprehensive training programs for sales managers in STEM. Why is that?

Wesleyne: It’s because everybody has this and you know, I now know that it is not just a STEM thing. It is a problem throughout the industry. Everybody thinks that if you’re a really good salesperson, you’re gonna be a really good sales manager. And so, usually when I go into companies, I’m like, it’s the opposite of what you think. Your top salesperson was selfish. They were a driver. They’re a lone wolf. And now you take them and you want to make them a manager without developing them or doing anything to help them realize this new challenge is you have two problems. You take your top salesperson out of the field and you get a mediocre manager that gets disenfranchised and leaves. [3:46]

Nancy Calabrese: Wow. So, I don’t know if you don’t have to go into great detail, but what is your seven-step process?

Wesleyne: So, really the seven-step process, it goes through, and I kind of chatted through it. It’s first we have to identify that there is a challenge, right? The first step is realization, right? And so, once we identify that there is a challenge and we do a comprehensive evaluation, so, we figure out what are the issues that you are having as a leader? What are the issues your team is suffering in? And then we do this magical thing in the middle where we align your areas of opportunities. I don’t like to call them weaknesses, but these are opportunities with the different training modules that we have. And then we align your team’s areas of opportunities with the different training modules we have. And what we teach you to do is we teach you how to upskill your actual team. So, our goal is to empower the leaders so, they can then take those skills back to their teams. And then once we go through the process, we teach them how to manage up, we teach them how to manage across. So, it’s this full 360 view of what you need as a leader. [4:53]

Nancy Calabrese: Yeah. So, what would you say are the qualities of a good leader?

Wesleyne: Hmm, one of the big ones that people don’t actually think about often is that the qualities of a good leader are typically the qualities of that quiet sleeper, good salesperson. So, empathy, the ability to listen, the ability to not always make it about yourself. Like realizing that as a leader, my team is a reflection of me. Always be in learning and growth mode. Having that I am always learning, I can always do better. I don’t ever know everything that I would say those are probably the top few qualities of a leader, a good leader. [5:41]

Nancy Calabrese: Yeah. So, but here’s the sad statistic. Really, there is only what? Top 30% actually hit quota? That’s pretty disappointing, isn’t it?

Wesleyne: It absolutely is, it’s horrible.

Nancy Calabrese: Yeah. So, if somebody identifies or recognizes that, okay, they need training, I need to become a better leader, how long is the transformation? [6:09]

Wesleyne: It really, it depends on the person because I have, when I work with clients, the thing that I say is I work with the leader and the teams together because the leaders are actually pretty weak and they’re deficient in some of their skills, so, they can’t uplift their team. Right? And so, when I started doing this work, I used to say, oh yeah, three months, yep, we’re good. Now I’m at a point where sometimes we’re at nine months and I’m like, okay, now you’re good. It’s really dependent on what that leader’s actual capabilities are. And sometimes I have to have hard conversations with organizations and I’m like, this person, this leader is gonna take them 18 months to get them to baseline. Do you have that time to invest in them to get them upleveled? And sometimes they say they don’t and sometimes they say they do. So, really, it’s dependent on where that baseline skill set is. [7:03]

Nancy Calabrese: Do you do any pure sales coaching for salespeople?

Wesleyne: I do, I do what I call team coaching or group coaching. So, it’s those core skills that a salesperson needs in this complex technical sale. So, it’s a lot of the things that we hear, you know the hunting, the how do I do strong discovery calls, how do I do demos. But in this field, these STEM industries, I like to say that they’re really smart people and sometimes they have a challenge in translating their knowledge to clients. So, I help them break it down so, you’re speaking your prospects language, you’re not speaking the language of your company. [7:45]

 

Nancy Calabrese: Yeah! You know, I’m a big believer in ongoing training. So, everybody in my company, everyone, include the admins take sales training, right? Because it’s a form of communication. And why is it, though, that some teams resist that? Why? It doesn’t make any sense.

Wesleyne: A lot of times, whenever I walk into a room and you know they’re like, oh my gosh, you’ve taken me out of the field, I’ve already done this before, womp, womp, womp. I really feel that one of the biggest reasons is because these days, honestly, a lot of people can just hang a shingle and say, I’m a sales trainer. And if they’re a good salesperson, they can sell their programs, but they’re not actually adding a lot of long-term value because as you said you believe in that long-term constant reinforcement. And when you stick people in a room for eight hours and then you expect them to come out fixed or different, it doesn’t work if there’s nothing to back it up. So, a lot of times people have this training and it’s not effective. And so, they think like, oh, this is just another non-effective training. This is just another thing that I’m doing and it’s not gonna work. And so, breaking down that preconception that, hey, this is just another, you know, trying to oil this wheel in a different way. [9:09]}

Nancy Calabrese: Yeah, you know, so, you have a sales team, they’re underperforming. How do you motivate them?

Wesleyne: Motivation is baked into three different categories. So, there is extrinsic motivation, intrinsic motivation, and altruistic motivation. [9:25] So, the very first step is you must know how each person on your team is motivated because the misnomer is everyone on a sales team is motivated by money, which is extrinsic. And that is they are motivated by making money, buying cars, going on vacations, whatever they want to do, but some people are motivated intrinsically. They are running a race against themselves. So, they work hard because they want to see their name at the top of the leaderboard. They work hard because they made a goal to do accomplish this by this point in their life. And so, motivating them that way. And then other people are motivated by helping others. So, when they make their commission or their bonus, they want to go pay off their mom’s house, they want to send their child to college tuition free. So, whatever the thing is that your salesperson, the people on your team are working towards when you coach them, when you try to push them, you focus on the thing that is important to them. [10:25]

Nancy Calabrese: So, I’m guessing you could be all three of those. Would you agree with that?

Wesleyne: You absolutely can. And it really just like, where am I? What stage of life am I in right now? Am I in a stage of life where I have three teenagers that needs to go to college very soon? And so, I’m thinking that, yes, I want to reduce their debt. So, I want to reduce my debt, but at the same time, this is about to be the first time in my life I don’t have children. So, what is my legacy? What am I gonna do now? Right? Like I want to show up as my best self. And so, it really, you have to have a conversation, right? With the people on your team. You can’t just sit in an ivory tower as a leader and think that everybody fits into this little teeny tiny nice little neat box. [11:06]

Nancy Calabrese: Sure, sure. So, how does culture play into having a great team?

Wesleyne: One of the most important things as a leader is your leader, your manager, the organization that you have surrounding you. Because if your CEO or VPS sales are depending on how many layers are above you, if they’re only focused on driving numbers, if they’re only focused on profitability, and they don’t actually care about the people, they don’t actually care about people developing and growing, then that plays deep down into you as a leader and your team, because they’re just pushing you to hit your numbers. And you’re saying, we need training, we need development, we need tools, and they’re like, we don’t have money for that. Just figure it out, you’re never going to survive. You’re never gonna thrive, and that is not the organization that you as a leader need. And as a salesperson, if you don’t see your company investing in any kind of training, internal, external, any kind of development, that means that they’re not really committed to you as a person getting better. [12:13]

Nancy Calabrese: Yep, yep. Really hiring people based on their character, right? That’s a match for the company. You’re halfway there, right? Because they will be a good fit for the organization, the personality of the company, if you would. I want to, you know, here’s the acronym, the KPIs, key performance indicators. How many should we be? watching as a baseline check? And how often do you recommend just holding your people accountable to those? [12:51]

Wesleyne: So, I always say that the, when I think of KPIs, I always think about KPIs are in the conversions, right? So, instead of holding people to make 30 phone calls a day, focus on how many of those phone calls are turning into meetings. How many of those meetings are turning into proposals and demos, right? And so, you figure out what the KPIs need to be based on where the leaky wheels are. If you see that we’re not converting our calls into meetings then we need to have a KPI right there for converging of calls into meetings. And so, we have a KPI for calls and for meetings. And we really, and I like to double down, I like to go really deep. So, let’s go deep on the one thing for a month, for a quarter, for whatever. And if you go deep on something that you know is a problem, your close rate, the ratio of from that point on, everything picks up. So, really that is something that has to be assessed, as a leader, you should be looking at it on a weekly basis. Don’t change it every week, but look at it on a weekly basis. And you use that again to figure out how do I coach my team? How do I focus on what we need to do in our next team meeting? Cause the team meeting shouldn’t just be, let’s look at the CRM and figure out, you know, the close rate and all of this. It’s like, let me develop my team. Let me focus on how I can uplevel them. [14:16]

Nancy Calabrese: Yeah. Tell me a fun fact about Wesleyne.

Wesleyne: A fun fact about Wesleyne. So, I would say fun fact about me is I am a first-generation American my parents were both born in Jamaica, and I was born here.

Nancy Calabrese: Wow, wow.

Nancy Calabrese: Well, I’m a second generation, so, I can really appreciate that. And there’s such a soft spot in my heart for people that are brave enough, right? Your parents were brave enough to make the change. So, kudos to them. So, tell me something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on. [15:01]

Wesleyne: Mm, the first thing that came into my brain was, I’m a purple unicorn.

Nancy Calabrese: What?

Wesleyne: But I won’t use that one. I’m a purple unicorn.

Nancy Calabrese: Wait a minute, there’s a story here.

Wesleyne: So, I call myself a purple unicorn because every stage or step or season in my life, they’re like, you did what? Like literally my friends, my family, they’re like, you did what? What happened to you? And it’s beyond their imagination. Like I just got off a call with a client not too long ago and she just literally opened up and she said her. Her dad is going through a very difficult season and I was like, yeah Well lean into you know, whatever kind of faith walk you have and she was like, yeah, I went here I did this and then we just started talking about God. So, literally it just went from a conversation of she called to do a project update and she shared something with me and that and so, that’s why I call myself a purple unicorn because I can talk about anything to anyone and I have so, many different areas of expertise that I pull from my brain. [16:07]

Nancy Calabrese: Wow, so, what you’re saying is you bring out the best in people. Is that what you’re saying?

Wesleyne: Yes, I would say that. I bring out the best in everyone.

Nancy Calabrese: That is not a bad quality to have. More of us should have that in this world. We’re kind of wrapping up in time, but we could go on forever. What is the one takeaway you want to leave the audience with? [16:31]

Wesleyne: The one takeaway is your growth and development is important. If your company won’t invest in you, invest in yourself. Find resources to make yourself better. Find resources to develop your skillset, your empathy, whatever the thing is that you’re suffering. If you keep getting feedback from your leadership team, whether you’re an individual contributor, a frontline manager, or all the way up, whatever the thing is you continue to get feedback on, find a way to get better at it. Find a way to really invest in yourself because that is gonna pay dividends for years for decades. [17:08]

Nancy Calabrese: That is awesome advice, awesome. And like you said, I think it would be a shame if the company doesn’t support that. That’s not a good thing. But if you believe in your company, then really take the leap and invest in yourself. I’m all about that. How can my people find you?

Wesleyne: The best way is on LinkedIn. Just Wesleyne on LinkedIn.

Nancy Calabrese: Um, Wesleyne is spelled W-E-S-L-E-Y-N-E. Beautiful name by the way. Does it mean anything?

Wesleyne: I am named after my dad and my mom says I am the feminine version of him, so.

Nancy Calabrese: I love it.

Wesleyne: It is a perfect name.

Nancy Calabrese: Whoa, I love it. That’s great. So, listen everyone. Thanks so much for listening and Wesleyne, I hope we can do this again. You’re a lot of fun to speak with. [18:05]

Wesleyne: Thank you so, much. It’s been a pleasure.

Nancy Calabrese: Have a great sales day, everyone. See you next time.

Bertha Robinson: Role of Conversations in Achieving the Goals

by | Apr 5, 2023 | Podcast

About Bertha Robinson: Bertha Robinson is the founder of Star One Professional Services, a business coaching and consulting firm that helps clients get beyond goal setting and get to goal achievement. Goal achievement is where life fulfillment soars. Bertha is certified in TriMetrix HD, DISC (observable behavior), 12 Driving Forces (motivation), and Acumen (measuring cognitive style; how we think & make decisions through TTI Success Insights. She is also qualified to assess EQ (emotional quotient) with a tool that can help individuals sense, understand and effectively apply the power of emotions to facilitate higher levels of collaboration and productivity. Check out the latest episode of our Conversational Selling podcast to learn more about Bertha.

In this episode, Nancy and Bertha discuss the following:

  • How did you get started in business?
  • What is the difference between goal setting and goal achievement?
  • Why do most people have difficulty managing their time?
  • What’s been your biggest life lesson?
  • How do leaders adapt their leadership styles?
  • DISC method in the sales arena.
  • What impact do you want to impart in the business world?
  • Why knowing the right strategy to get you where you want to go is more important now than ever?
  • Something true that almost nobody agrees with Bertha on.

Key Takeaways: 

  • We all can be mentors and coaches. And when we find out what they really want, what’s the best environment where they thrive and grow, and if you can provide that, that’s adapting.
  • People are more generous than we tend to give them credit for.
  • It’s essential to have a good strategy to refresh it, review it, and have the courage to have conversations all the way around that inform your next steps.
  • We have to be people-centered. At the end of the day, AI was created by a human being.

“So much being thrown at business leaders if we’re looking just at the banking industry. There’s a lot of fear, and there’s a lot of too much movement going on, and not a lot of reflection. And when you stop and think about the strategy, you do just that, you stop. You think. You ask questions of your team if you have the courage of your competitors. And when you get all that information back, then you can really form a really great strategy as to how you move forward. Because when we all started our business, we started with that initial business plan, the mission, the vision, and the values. But your vision should get bigger, and you should get clearer. And if you want to be able to capture that, you need a really good strategy. And you need to revise that and review it often because things are moving.” – BERTHA ROBINSON

“In essence, you will find that what’s already in you is what you cultivate. Thoughts are things. Create the relationships that you want. If you intend to create good relationships, you will; if you don’t, you won’t. So I truly believe that there’s goodness in people. I hope that I impart that in my children and share that with my team and my clients.” – BERTHA ROBINSON

Connect with Bertha Robinson:

Try Our Proven, 3-Step System, Guaranteeing Accountability and Transparency that Drives RESULTS by clicking on this link: https://oneofakindsales.com/call-center-in-a-box/

Connect with Nancy Calabrese: 

Transcript

Voiceover: You’re listening to The Conversational Selling Podcast with Nancy Calabrese.

Nancy Calabrese: Hi, everyone, it’s Nancy Calabrese and it’s time again for Conversational Selling. The podcast where sales leaders and business experts share what’s going on in sales and marketing today and it always starts with the human conversation. Today we’re speaking with Bertha Robinson, the founder of Star One Professional Services, a business coaching and consulting firm that helps clients get beyond goal setting. and get to goal achievement. Now she challenges individuals and organizations to become better leaders of themselves and others while maintaining purpose and balance in their lives. Bertha believes that knowing the right strategy to get you to where you want to go is more important now than ever. She works with business owners who are ready to adapt new strategies and processes from goal setting to goal achievement for real results now. And finally, Bertha and I are both members of the New Jersey Association of Women Business Owners, so we have a lot in common. Welcome to the show, Bertha, let’s get started. [1:25]

Bertha Robinson: Thank you for having me Nancy, it’s a pleasure to be here.

Nancy Calabrese: Oh my goodness, we tried doing this a while ago, right? And it didn’t happen. Your memory was better than mine. I totally forgot about the hurricane.

Bertha Robinson: Yeah, well life happens, and weather happens.

Nancy Calabrese: Life does. So how did you get started in business?

Bertha Robinson: I started my business in 2016 and before that, I had a very nice 19-year career in Telcom. And there was a reorganization in my company that affected my role in my teams [2:00] I was offered the possibility to move up in leadership but I would have had to move either to Texas or to Virginia and I had a growing family, so that wasn’t an option for me. So, through the outplacement agency, we had a parade, I will say, of different options that come through franchising and opportunities to go back and interview. And I hadn’t done a resume in 20 years, Nancy. So I said, I don’t know if I want to go back into a corporate role. I’d like to do something for myself. Wasn’t sure just yet what that would be. And in comes a woman who talks about starting a consultancy. And I asked for information and I met with her and others in their headquarters and that organization is called Trusted Advisors Network.

Long story short, I’m a member of the Trusted Advisors Network. I’m an affiliate since 2016 and it’s I’m in business for myself and not by myself. [03:02] They’re my network, they’re my back office, they’re my support, they’re my coaches and they help me to build my coaching consulting firm.

Nancy Calabrese: That’s great. It’s always good to have a buffer, right? People that you can turn to, especially when you’re out on your own. You know, you need to run ideas, you know, concerns by them. I’m sure they’re very supportive of you.

Bertha Robinson: Oh, absolutely. I have my own personal support analyst and my own coach and multiple coaches because we’re a network of coaches and consultants. But it is, it’s my own personal advisory board.

Nancy Calabrese: That is awesome. So what is the difference between goal setting and goal achievement?

Bertha Robinson: I get that question a lot, especially since I say it in my pitch every time. We all set goals or objectives. I want to lose 10 pounds. I want to go to Hawaii. I I want to, you know, start a business. [04:00] All of these wonderful objectives and goals, but we don’t have the structure and the criterion around it that actually in the process that gets us to achieving the goals. So everyone knows about SMART goals, specific, measurable, attainable, realistically high, and time-bound. That criteria helps us to filter out, to really work through a process to help us to achieve it, make it manageable. So achieving the goal is not the same thing as setting it. So I help my clients go beyond setting it, saying it, dreaming it, but to really achieving it.

Nancy Calabrese: Wow. You know, I’ve read somewhere on your website that most people have difficulty in managing their time. Why is that?

Bertha Robinson: There are so many things coming at us. There’s this shiny object syndrome where we think, okay, especially in the small business world and even micro business is even more so. So Nancy’s doing this in her business on her social media. Well, and Bertha thinks that she needs to do the same thing. [05:02] And there’s nothing wrong with having role models and people who are leaving success clues and following that. But you have to now focus on what works best for you. So being very clear is it that is your mission, your vision, your values, why are you in your business? What are you doing in your business? How do you do it differently? What is it that your clients and customers are asking for that you’re delivering on? Being very focused on that. And if we’re not saying no, and this is a phrase that I have from a mentor, say no to great ideas that are not in alignment with my long-term aspirational vision. In other words, we have to say no, we have to set priorities, and we can do it all. And once we realize It’s time blocking for some people make sure you have a paper planner for others sinking that with your electronic calendar having a process helps you manage your time

Nancy Calabrese: Wow, yeah, time is of the essence always, right? [06:00] We’re on the go as soon as we get up in the morning. I love this question. What’s been your biggest lesson in life?

Bertha Robinson: Oh, my biggest lesson in life, and it keeps teaching me this, life keeps showing me this, is that people are more generous than we tend to give them credit for.

Again, kind of like the shiny object syndrome, we kind of hear the sound bites, whether it’s on the radio, driving here and there, or on the news. And we tend to see and talk about and unfortunately, maybe even gravitate to adore the negativity and the stuff that’s going on in the world, which is all real, for real.

But people are more generous and more good than we really get to Give them credit for and especially in my business. I want to tell you Business owners have been very generous with their time and have become mentors have been guides for me have shown me how they failed and said Bertha don’t do this maybe try that because I tried that and this is how I failed [07:00]

And they’re giving so that’s one lesson that I keep seeing it’s a nugget that keeps coming back to me being revealed.

Nancy Calabrese: That’s wonderful and I’m sure you are able to pass that on to your children as well.

Bertha Robinson: Oh yes, I try, I try. They are good teachers, children are great teachers for parents and the more patient we are, knowing that we only have them for a little while, they don’t belong to us, they really are our best teachers and that if we can really be good guides for them, teach them early on and they’ll do great and they’ll be great adults. That’s the hope.

Nancy Calabrese: Yeah, you’re making me smile. I totally agree with you.

Bertha Robinson: Thank you.

Nancy Calabrese: How do leaders adapt their leadership style? I guess in order to create the right kind of environment for their team members?

Bertha Robinson: Absolutely. And more than now, more than ever, being adaptive to your team to create that real culture that people want to be a part of, that community that they want to be a part of. [08:01] I just let a session on conflict resolution for a financial institution. And the bottom line to this answer is communication. Ask questions. We all can be mentors and coaches. And be open to being coached by your team and receiving feedback. And when we find out what they really want, what’s the best environment where they thrive and where they can grow, and if you can then provide that, that’s adapting. Also, I’m also certified in DISC behavioral assessment. So knowing someone’s preferred style, is great to be able to open up the lines of communication and of course, diffuse conflict. So, it can not be my style to make those quick fast decisions, but it may be someone on my team. So I may lean on them in certain situations where I can say, you know, what do you think about this? How should we move on that? [09:01] Because it may take me a little longer to process. I may be a little bit more reflective. So if we can adapt that way, we also will see how we can win more, how can add more bottom line, how we can have more innovation, and it goes on and on and on, but leaders have to be willing to adapt to be able to do that.

Nancy Calabrese: You know, you’ve mentioned DISC. We are huge fans of DISCs here at the company. And, you know, it’s really a wonderful tool, especially in the sales arena, right? Sales is all about communication. So we are very aware of it. And it’s like understanding the psychology of communication that is really helpful. So, you know, what impact do you want to impart in the business world.

Bertha Robinson: I would say with all the wonderful technology that we have today, and more so now in the news in the last few weeks, there’s a lot of talk about AI, even though AI is not new. Just always remembering that we have to be people-centered. [10:06]

At the end of the day, AI was created by a human being. If it goes haywire, a human being is going to have to unplug it. That were people. At the end of the day, we cannot move away from having people-centered. approach.

Communication like we just talked about, listening, empathy, emotional intelligence, all of that wins in the business world. There’s something that I say in some of my presentations, specifically in emotional intelligence, and I don’t know where I picked this up, but someone said and I can’t take credit for it. The business world, has always been afraid of the F word, and the F word here stands for feelings. Feelings are good.

And communication and saying, and even as leaders, especially as leaders, I don’t know, will you teach me? What do you know? Reverse mentoring is successful. Having the next [11:00] generation teach, you know, the generation that’s been there for a while, it’s a great plan for secession, secession planning. So I think that if we always remember at the heart of it all, we’re people, and to have empathy, to have courage to be your authentic self, that will win in business.

Nancy Calabrese:  Yeah. Early in introducing you, I stated that you believe knowing the right strategy to get you where you want to go is more important now than ever. Why is that?

Bertha Robinson: Oh yes, because there’s so much going on today. So much is being thrown at business leaders if we’re looking just at the banking industry. There’s a lot of fear, there’s a lot of too much movement going on, and not a lot of reflection. And when you stop and think about what is the strategy, you do just that, you stop. You think, you ask questions, and you ask questions of your team. [12:00] If you have the courage, of your competitors. If you are, you know, humble enough, you ask questions of those whom you may not see eye to eye with so that you can get a diverse perspective. And when you get all that information back, then you can really form a really great strategy as to how you move forward. Because when we all started our business, we started with that initial business plan, the mission, the vision, and the values. And sometimes your, not sometimes, that business. But your vision should get bigger and you should get clearer. And if you want to be able to capture that, you need a really good strategy. And you need to revise that and review it often because things are moving. Life happens as we started our conversation today. So it’s important to have a really good strategy to refresh it, to review it, and to have the courage to have conversations all the way around that inform your next steps.

Nancy Calabrese:  Yep. Uh, tell me something true that almost nobody agrees with you on. [13:04]

Bertha Robinson: Hmm, something true that that’s a great question. Let me think about that … something true. I want to say that people are in essence very good. And a lot of people, unfortunately, yes, we get burned. People surprise you. They do bad things. That’s unfortunate. But if I have the time, I want to share with you a really quick parable.

There’s a farmer and his helper, right, who’s learning. And in comes this they’re in their town and in comes this gentleman who’s brand new to the town and he stops and says excuse me how are the people in this town and the farmer says well how are the people in the town that you just left and he said they were not good despicable I’m so glad I left that’s why I’m in this new town and he says oh young man you’ll find the same here and away goes the newcomer [14:00] the next day another newcomer to the town asked the farmer a similar question and the farmer’s And he says, excuse me, sir, I’m new to town. Well, how are the people in this town? I’d like to get to know them. And he asked him, well, gentlemen, well, how were the people in the town that you just came from? He says they were wonderful. I miss them already. They were great. He says you’re going to find the same here. And he walks away. So the assistant says, wait a minute. Two questions, two different people. You gave them the same answer. How could that be? And he says, in essence, you will find that what’s already in you is what you cultivate. Thoughts are things. If you create the relationships that you want, if you have the intention to create good relationships, you will, and if you don’t, you won’t. So I truly believe that there’s goodness in people and I was struck by my parents and you brought up children and raising our children. I hope that I impart that in them and I share that with my team and my clients. I hope that you enjoyed this video. I hope that you enjoyed it. I hope that you enjoyed it. I hope that you enjoyed it. I hope that you enjoyed it. I hope that you enjoyed it. I hope that you enjoyed it. I hope that you enjoyed it.

Nancy Calabrese:  Awesome. I think that’s a great story. I help you tell it often. [15:00]

Bertha Robinson: Every once in a while.

Nancy Calabrese: Yeah. Last couple of questions. I want to go back to also what you teach entrepreneurial leadership. What do you mean by that?

Bertha Robinson: Yes, that’s entrepreneurial leadership and strategic thinking. So for some businesses and smaller businesses or micro businesses, like a business of one, instead of going into a full strategic planning session, we think about how to be entrepreneurial in your thinking and strategic in your thinking in order to move forward. So it’s that in between before they have a full team or they’ve expanded their business, that they want to think strategically “How do I move my business forward”. You know, I’m at the six bigger mark, how do I break through and get to seven? All of those different strategies and thinking is where it’s at. Mindset is all and I know that in sales, you understand that. So that’s what entrepreneurial leadership and strategic thinking. [16:02] It’s a process that I help small businesses, even micro businesses go through for their strategic plan. And so I think that’s a great question.

Nancy Calabrese: So what is the one takeaway you’d like to leave the audience with?

Bertha Robinson: One takeaway is to follow the smart goal criterion. And in my business, I call it Y smart, WHY, and then smart. The W stands for written. The H stands for harmonious. And the Y stands for yours. Write your harmonious goals that are in alignment down and make sure that they’re your goals, that they fill you up and energize you. And then you have that intrinsic motivation to make them happen and then give them time to make them time-bound and have a due-to-date deadline Write them out and dream big. We don’t dream big enough We you know just sometimes barely scratch the surface [17:01] because we’re afraid of the unknown Fear is false evidence appearing real. There isn’t anything you can’t do except what you’ve decided already that you won’t do. So go out there and achieve big and do good and you will find that you will do well.

Nancy Calabrese: Very inspirational Bertha. I love it.

Bertha Robinson: This has been a great conversation.

Nancy Calabrese: Yeah, so how can my people find you?

Bertha Robinson: They can find me on my website, www.staroneprofessional.com. They can find me at @Star1PROF on Twitter.

And on LinkedIn, they’ll find me as Bertha Garcia Robinson or Star One Professional Services.

Nancy Calabrese: Wow, I’ve been smiling this whole conversation and I’m certain everyone listening to this will be smiling as well or has been smiling. I really appreciate you spending time with me today and I look forward to having you back soon. We have to have a continued discussion. What do you say?

Bertha Robinson: Well, Nancy, on the contrary, I thank you for this opportunity to invite me here and I would welcome it. I look forward to part two.

Nancy Calabrese: Yeah, let’s do it. And everyone out there make it an amazing day. And we’ll see you soon. [18:20]

 

Ask for the Referral

by | Feb 13, 2023 | Uncategorized

Picture this: you’re having a conversation with a prospect and you realize that your solution is not something that they need at this time. You might be able to help them later but right now the conversation is not going to progress. You end the conversation graciously and move on.

If this is what happens, then I think you’ve made a very common mistake.  You may have let your need to move on to another prospect overtake your ability to recognize a new opportunity.  In fact, you should let that recognition that the prospect is not going to become your customer right now be a signal that it’s time to ask for a referral.  Assuming that you’ve done a good job establishing a relationship and listening to their needs, the prospect could be an excellent referral source for new business.

The reality is that as much as we may qualify prospects they won’t all be our customers.  In fact, we expect to close only a fraction of the number of people we speak to. The prospects we don’t close may not have a need for your solution right now, or perhaps the finances don’t work for them at this time. Frankly, it never feels good to be told “no,” But you can turn this around by asking for a referral.

One approach to transition to a referral request is to say: “I realize that we can’t offer you a solution right now, and I understand that. Is there anyone else in your sphere of influence that you think might be faced with this challenge?”

When you do this, your prospect will be impressed. They might have been expecting a different reaction – perhaps a quick exit and/or a show of disappointment. But asking for a referral shows your professionalism and communicates your confidence in the solution you offer.  Aside from getting a good referral, you may also be getting a prospect who decides to work with you when the time is right.

We all know that “no” doesn’t mean “no” forever. “No” means often “no” for right now. Leaving the discussion having demonstrated confidence in your solution and your strong interest in providing it to those who need it will differentiate you in a positive way.

At One of a Kind Sales, we love selling and we are experts at sales and cold calling, in particular. If you would like to discuss how we can help you and your team please contact us at 908-879-2911.

Thomas Ellis: Better, Unique, And Desirable: The Sales Process That Gets Results

by | Jan 10, 2023 | Podcast

About Thomas Ellis: Thomas is a Chief Sales Coach, Business Coach, and LinkedIn Trainer at EWC Consultants. He is also the author of B.U.D, The Sales Process That Gets Results. Thomas emphasizes the importance of being curious, helpful, and strategic in order to be a successful salesperson.

In this episode, Nancy and Mark discuss:

  • The Essential Sales Skills You Need to Know
  • Listening and Being Persistent in Sales
  • Following Up with Your Leads
  • Posting Consistently on LinkedIn
  • Benefits of a Simple Sales Process
  • Importance of a Unified Sales Process

Key Takeaways: 

  • Wherever you are, in the evolution of your sales, or process, or company, you reach out and get some help from somebody that can help you get to the next level.
  • We need to surround ourselves with some good people with knowledge that will help us get to the next level and your mission is to find those people and work together.

“So I tell people to take away the word SELL and put the word HELP. Then people get more customers, Oh, wow. Yes, you have a service or product that you got to HELP somebody solve their problem.” – THOMAS ELLIS

Connect with Thomas Ellis:

Try Our Proven, 3-Step System, Guaranteeing Accountability and Transparency that Drives RESULTS by clicking on this link:https://oneofakindsales.com/call-center-in-a-box/

Connect with Nancy Calabrese:

What Leads to a Successful Sale?

by | Nov 7, 2022 | Best Sales Practices, Cold Calling, Cold Calling Success, Cold Calling Tips, Sales, Sales process, Sales Prospecting

A quiz for you:

Communicating your expertise and product knowledge to your prospect leads to a successful sale:

1/ True

2/ False

I came across this question in a session with a world-class expert in the Sandler selling method.   This is one that can spark a lot of debate.

I’m aware that many salespeople are trained to be product experts.  In fact, product or service training may be the lion’s share of the formal training that they receive from their company.  Often, salespeople are coached to share their knowledge in order to establish their expertise with a prospect. This might be because the business perceives that the offering is so differentiated that once a prospect fully understands it they will jump at the opportunity. So, an encyclopedic knowledge of the offering and the ability to communicate it is often perceived as a major sales success factor for a salesperson.

However, consider the problems that could arise with this approach.  What if we miss something critical because we are so busy “communicating” about our offering?  When we first meet with a prospect, I believe it’s important to let the prospect communicate with us.  What are their current issues? Why are they even talking to us about our offering? What problems are they trying to solve?  If we move into “presentation mode” without knowing the answers to these questions, we risk losing the prospect’s attention by not addressing their core concerns.   In order to get at these concerns, we need to take the time to ask the right questions and then engage in active listening so that the prospect can communicate with us and so that we can internalize what they are saying.  We need a two-way conversation and, particularly early in the discussion, it’s ideal if the prospect does most of the talking.  This is where we learn what we need to know in order to confirm if they are a good fit for our solution and then close the sale.

So what’s my answer to this question?

False: I’ve concluded that product knowledge and expertise aren’t enough to close the sale.

My recommendations:

  1. Avoid getting into the “nuts and bolts” of a product presentation immediately with a prospect.
  2. Slow down and take the time to get to know prospects in order to learn what motivates them.

When you truly understand their situation, you can then start to use your understanding of your offering to highlight how your solution will make a real difference for them.  In my experience, taking this approach will improve the likelihood of a successful outcome.

At One of a Kind Sales, we love to sell and are lifelong learners when it comes to selling. Cold calling is our specialty. If your business needs help with getting appointments with qualified prospects, give us a call at 908-879-2911.