by Nancy Calabrese | Feb 1, 2021 | Podcast
Our special guest on this week’s episode of Conversational Selling is Tibor Shanto. He’s the Chief Value Officer of Renbor Sales Solutions, helping B2B companies translate sales strategy to reality, as well as a brilliant sales tactician who’s obsessed with execution. Tibor is also the author of two books: Shift!: Harness the Trigger Events that Turn Prospects into Customers and Sales & Consequences and is a well-known expert of sales prospecting.
We chat with Tibor about his keys to sales success, as well as:
- Choosing to either fall for excuses or execute a strategy
- Evaluating metrics, and what type of measurement is best
- Utilizing voicemail effectively
- The best attitude to make your prospects feel at ease
- The dynamic of challenging a customer
- 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. The podcast where sales leaders and business experts share what’s going on in sales and marketing today. And as always, it is always starting with the human conversation. Today we speak with Tibor Shanto. He’s the Chief Value Officer of Renbor Sales Solutions. He helps B2B companies translate sales strategy to reality. Tibor’s been called a brilliant sales tactician, obsessed with execution. He developed sales people who understand that success in sales is about execution, and everything else is just talk. He’s the author of two books, you can find him on Amazon, and is also a well known expert of sales prospecting. And Tibor, you know that prospecting is music to my ears. You know, no appointments, no sales, right? And it’s all about prospecting. So welcome to the show, and I can’t wait to get started.
Tibor Shanto: Oh, pleasure to be here, Nancy, thank you for having me.
Nancy: No, it’s, it’s our pleasure. And everyone listening, you’re really going to be in for an interesting conversation. And, you know, why don’t we start with why execution is so important in sales success?
Tibor: Well, I think for a couple of reasons, the obvious one is, you know, things have to get done. And we’ve, you know, we’ve all lived in environments where there’s been maybe a little bit too much emphasis on the academic and the theoretical, all correct, all well, and good. But at one point, you know, things have to be put into motion, if they’re going to have the effect that we’re looking for. So I think a lot of times people tend to overthink things, people tend to, you know, I used to make as a joke that people come with the X chromosome, you know, it’s either execute or make excuses, but either way, you’re going to have one of those.
Nancy: I love that! I’m gonna steal that! Go ahead.
Tibor: Go for it. So you know, you’re still on the domain. Nobody ever died, because, you know, used to ask people to do things, and they look at you, as though you’re asking him to do something dangerous. So you know, it’s pointed out, no one ever died picking up the phone. I like that. So I think that, you know, there’s a lot of talk in sales, and we’ve seen it, we’ve heard it, I’ve probably contribute to some of it. But at one point, you really do have to just do it, like Nike said, to borrow a point.
Now, the advantage is, if you execute, you can, you know, you can examine, you can see what you did well, you can see what you need to change, and you can measure the results. And you can then compare it to the next time and to the time after that, and through the time after that. But if it’s on the whiteboard, it’s going to stay theoretical. And I’ve worked with a lot of companies of all different sorts. And the ones that seem to do better are the ones that limit the opportunity for the for the excuse side, and make everything available to those people who want to execute.
Nancy: Share some good models of execution.
Tibor: So I think most of the good models that I’ve seen are specifically tied to expected outcomes. Now those could be one of two things, the obvious ones are, you know, quota. Right, so did you attain quota. And I think that’s important than I understand why it’s the main measure. But we all have to admit that that’s lagging indicators. So once you know what the number is, you really can’t change it. You can take lessons into the next cycle as it were.
So I think people need to look at leading indicators, you know, so I like to look at what’s your quota, how many deals do you need to hit quota? How many, you know, how many proposals do you need to get the number of people saying yes, in order to achieve that quota, and then continue to work all the way back to the number of leads that you’re going to have to have in hand in order to be able to dial the number of numbers that you need to talk to the number of people to get you the appointments that lead to the sale? And as you said at the beginning, you know, no appointment, no story.
Nancy: You got it. And so for those listeners that are thinking of really tightening their process up, and maybe they don’t have the metrics in place or the systems in place. How long do you think they should evaluate the metrics before they really create that plan. How much time do you think it takes to, you know, properly say, well, we need X amount of appointments because we’re in close a certain amount or, you know, and so on. Do you have any advice on that?
Tibor: So I think, to establish, it probably takes a couple of cycles. But I think if I could take a step back, one of the one of the challenges with that question is that if I say six months, people get discouraged. Because, you know, they’re very impatient, right? That’s two whole quarters, right? I think, more importantly, is how do I put a system in place that consistently allows me to examine the metrics that I need to examine to continue to succeed, because, you know, the numbers today are going to be different than the numbers tomorrow, and those are driven by my own ability, the market, you know, let’s face it, our numbers were different in February than they are now because of the obvious events that we’ve all together experienced over the summer.
So I think rather than figuring out how long it takes, I think the initial one might take you longer to establish than people anticipate, because I do think it takes a cycle or two, because you need to have just some raw inputs to measure. But I think people should look at the dividends that it will continue to pay once it’s up and running, you know, then it continues to pay dividends, and it continues to evolve with you. So I think the question is, you know, how long does it take to get going? And then forget about it, in terms of trying to rebuild it.
Nancy: Yeah, yeah, now, I also, I also read somewhere, which is really interesting, I love the way you put it, that people in sales have to become professional interrupters. And I love that statement. It’s an interesting interpretation of what we have to do when we prospect. Tell us more about that.
Tibor: Well, I think if you look at the marketplace, and I think you know better than most that, you know, most of the people that we’re going to call what, you know, whether we feel they’re fit for our product or not, at that particular moment, probably have their, you know, attention elsewhere. So generally things that they think are important to them based on their business based on their priorities. So chances are pretty good that 70 to 90% of the time, we’re interrupting something that they at the time were immersed in.
And so I think that if we don’t take that into account for this, I want to be clear, there’s nothing wrong with that we’ve all, you know, we all like the term disruption. We all like the fact that we use Uber and iPhones and things that we consider to be disruptive, because those things once a disruption, you know, occurred improved our lives improved our ability to do things. So, you know, that’s why I say people shouldn’t shy away from the fact that we interrupt people, because I think, you know, take a different phrase in English, we are disrupting them. But the end result is going to be that they’re going to be better off as a result. So since we’re not Uber, and we’re not Apple, then we have to go to them.
And that’s why I say that people have to accept the fact that we do interrupt these people, I think pretending otherwise is going to undermine the craft. But once you accept that you interrupt them, there’s a whole bunch of things you can do to offset that and be a professional in a way that the experience for the prospect even if they don’t engage with you, is not going to be negative.
Nancy: Yeah, yeah. And and so, you know, keeping in line with that, and I love that I find that very, a unique way of looking at what we do, you know, people won’t pick up the phone, just simply because they think they’re interrupting. And maybe they use that as an excuse to not do it. How do you get past that?
Tibor: Voicemail. So you know, it’s, it’s the missing link in prospecting. Because the interesting thing is that if you look, even people who hate cold calling, right, will admit that when you add the telephone to the mix, the conversion rates go up. So you have this paradox, right? People aren’t answering the phone, and I’m one of these people that uses voicemail for triage, right? So it’s not like I don’t think it’s uncommon. I don’t think they’re being evil or communists.
They’re just protecting their time, right. But I use it too. But as a result, the other habit I develop is I check my voicemail probably every 90 minutes or so. Right? So telephone is still an important element because yes, think of it as being now part of the asynchronous element, part of communication used, telephone used to be very synchronous, I used to talk to you and we went back and forth. Now with voicemail, we can actually move the sale forward without speaking for a couple of weeks, right?
Through voicemail, email and other things. So I think you need to have an effective voicemail, and we’re talking in the context of prospecting, not once you’re a known commodity to your buyer, but in getting them to call back, you need to have a voicemail approach. And I have a voicemail approach that I learned a long time ago, that works really well. And you know, but people, you know, it leaves people in a very, there’s two camps, they love it, or they hate it. So you know, because it’s very cryptic, and people feel uncomfortable being cryptic these days.
Nancy: I think lesson is more. And when you go into a dump on voice message, unless you’re sitting there in a panic mode, because you need exactly what they have. It’s not likely they’re going to get back to you.
Tibor: No. The purpose of voicemail is to get a call back. But most people, most sales people because they’re nervous, and they’re wound up that when they’re making cold calls are very compliant. So whether the person is live or not, but in this case, Memorex on voicemail, it says, Please leave a detailed message. And most salespeople go, I could do that, and boom, they fill out the voicemail. Right? Right. So but it should be, as you say, you know, less is more, right.
You know, there’s this whole thing this, I have watched this, and I hope people take this in the humorous sense, but those who remember, Louis Rukeyser’s Wall Street Week. There was a guy there who’s who’s a financial analyst, and he said, you know, the thing about financial statements is they’re like, bikinis. What they show you is great, but what they hide is even more mysterious. So, for voicemail should be like that, right? Is that what it shows you should entice you, but what it’s keeping from you, is what should get you to pick up the phone.
Nancy: So my guess is you have a plethora of those one liners, huh?. In your arsenal.
Tibor: You have to keep yourself amused.
Nancy: Yeah, well, you know what, again, I think this is something you and I share in common, I read that it’s so important to have fun in in selling, I’ve got my thoughts. But why is it? Why do you think it’s so important, especially as it relates to sales and prospecting?
Tibor: I think, for a number of reasons, and I would put it all on, you know, if you’re, if you can have fun, then you’re relaxed. And I do believe very strongly that our emotions, our feelings, our whole intonation, and everything does carry across the phone. So if you think of most salespeople, I’m not being negative, but it’s reality that, you know, most of them I wound up in nervous.
So what’s going to carry across the phone, you know, what’s the intangible energy that goes across the phone? You know, it’s that tension, that nervousness and actually, you know, why is this guy wound up? I should be one that, you know, it is right. But I think that if you if you’re relaxed, and you’re comfortable, and you almost have fun with the fact that hey, you know, I know, I’m interrupting you, dude, but you’re going to be better off as a result, you know, that, that calmness is going to solicit the same there and, and you have a slightly and I emphasize slightly better shot of getting your message across. And if your message was good to begin with, that, you know, things are beginning to go your way.
Nancy: Right. I think it’s safe to say that I in any career, any position, it’s so important to have fun. And that usually I think stems if you have passion in what you do, it’s easier to have fun, wouldn’t you agree?
Tibor: 100%. And I think whether you look at it as an advantage or disadvantage, I always tell people that every conversation I have, I’m the demo. So you know. So you have to if you’re not, you know, if you’re not gonna like it, and it’s gonna be a bad demo every time which doesn’t make for good dinners.
Nancy: Well, I think my next question will be very interesting. You, you have a lot of backup behind you and your one liners. Is there a story that you think the audience would find interesting?
Tibor: In what sense, I think, you know, rather than a story, maybe a storyline that sort of carries through that I will point to sort of present in a lot of my successes. I think that you know, not in a brash way, but in a, you know, much like I was saying humorously that I do believe that when customers, you know, interact with me, there’ll be often some, there’ll be better off in some way. So I think this notion of, you know, not giving up and going an extra distance, or maybe even challenging a customer, and, you know, challenge doesn’t have to be negative, right? You know, like, if, if you and I were both smoking cigarettes, and we challenge each other to quit, you know, that wouldn’t be a negative, right?
So I think I sometimes look at challenges somehow being us and them, as opposed to can we together overcome something? So I think that if you can, the more experience you have in the more comfortable you are, and your skin, you know, based on our last exchange about being relaxed, the more that I think you can challenge customers, because, again, you’re subject matter experts, you’ve done this before you’ve overcome certain things before and so on. I think that every time I think back about some successes that I’ve had, have always done something that I wasn’t supposed to do if I read the rulebook, or I pushed it and challenged the customer in some ways that, you know, maybe in proper circles at the cotillion wouldn’t have been seen as proper approach.
But I think that as long as you’re ethical, polite, and legal, I think you should try everything. And I think that maybe is the one storyline that goes through is I could share a number of you know, and I think that that’s led to if I can maybe exemplify I did have the privilege of closing Xerox for a six figure deal on 9-11. So, you know, that came about, I think, because of just, you know, yeah, there’s things going on, but we’re here for a reason.
Nancy: Yeah. Tell me something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on.
Tibor: Well, I mean, in context, well, first of all, cold calling is not dead. I did an article for one of the local papers, you know, and I called it Cold Calling Zombies every time they say we’re dead, we come back. Now, I think the other is that, again, it prevents a lot of conversation. So I’m not trying to be provocative. I’m trying to remove barriers to conversations, I think the customer is not always right. I think they’re trying to do the right thing for their company.
But that doesn’t mean that the route or the method that they picked is necessarily right. And most salespeople have been through more similar transactions than the customers that have, so 9 times out of 10, the salesperson probably has greater knowledge. They’re not smarter, they don’t know better, but they have greater knowledge. And I think, you know, buyer should take greater advantage of that.
Nancy: Interesting. Give us a takeaway, a final comment that you want the audience to walk away with.
Tibor: I think and I learned this somewhere, so I could say I live by it, but I didn’t come up with it. But I would encourage it is that, again, unless it’s a question of a deeply personal nature, whenever you were the buyer, and the question comes to mind, you’re always better off asking it even if it seems trivial, even if you even if you worry about well, if I asked this question, you know, it might, you know, make me seem, you know, it’s an ego thing, like, what do you feel you’re not complete enough and so on.
But I would bet, I would bet 9 times out of 10. When we look at deals that we lose, we can always point back to something we should have known better or differently. So, again, unless it’s, you know, why would you wear that color tie? Any other question, even if it seems trivial, but it relates to the business, you should ask.
Nancy: Okay, so how can my people find you? And what would they be experiencing right now, that would make them pick up the phone and engage with you.
Tibor: I think it would be an experience if I look at what my clients are telling me is a sustainable systematic approach to prospecting, you know, heavily leaning on the phone, but recognizing that there’s still success to be had with email, LinkedIn and other forms, but I think most people struggle as much with the messaging and how they engage as opposed to sort of the medium whether it’s telephone this that but I do, I do lean on the telephone because I still think it’s the most direct route. So they can expect a more consistent approach to filling their pipeline in a measurably better pipeline.
Nancy: Okay, and how to get to you. Where do they call? How did they find you online?
Tibor: Well, the easiest is tiborshanto.com. That’s T I B O R S H A N T O.com. LinkedIn is always good. This year in North America, you can call toll free at 855 25 SALES.
Nancy: Okay 855 25 SALES. Well, a very relaxed conversation with Tibor Shanto. And, you know, I want to leave everyone with this something that Tibor shared. When you sound relaxed in a conversation, it definitely relaxes the person on the other end and my other takeaway Tibor is, becoming different, right? That’s, I think, the essence of what you were sharing with us, don’t be afraid to be relaxed, and go in with the mindset that you can genuinely help them.
Tibor: Yeah, and I think if you go in with that mindset, people will share with you because they want to be helped. And again, that’s not to say that they’re crippled or whatever. But people generally want to work with somebody that’s open to working with them.
Nancy: Yeah, yeah. So thank you so much for being on the show. I’m hoping you’re going to come back in the near future.
Tibor: It was fun. I definitely would come back.
Nancy: Thank you so much, everybody. Happy hunting. Pick up the phone.
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 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 Marta Malyk | Jan 19, 2021 | Advice, Cold Calling, Cold Calling Success, Cold Calling Tips, Lead Generation, Sales, Sales Prospecting, Sales Training
Are you prepared for success?
Sales is a hard job – you hear a lot of ‘No’s’ before you get to a ‘Yes’ and actually make a sale. You need, as they say, to kiss a lot of frogs before you find that prince or princess.
But what if I told you that you are probably WASTING half your time?
Marc Wayshak, a well-known Sales Strategist shared this important stat last year: “At least 50% of your prospects are not a good fit for what you sell”
Yikes!
Many of you are probably spending way too much time on the phone with prospects who just aren’t going to convert to customers.
At One of a Kind Sales, we train our people to QUICKLY identify whether a prospect is a good fit or not and, if they are not, to efficiently end the call and move on. Let me show YOU how to do this yourself and how to be prepared for success.
It starts with your Call List
Make sure you are calling from a clean list with RELEVANT contacts. Click here to read more about this process.
Your script is your road map
Make sure your script includes questions that will elicit the information you need to QUICKLY determine if the prospect is a good fit or not. Ask pointed questions and then LISTEN carefully for the answers.
Have an escape plan
Your script must also include verbiage to EXIT the call QUICKLY once you have determined that they are not worth pursuing.
For example, “gee, based on what we discussed, I feel we would not be a good fit and I certainly don’t want to waste your time”. This allows you to acknowledge that you have been listening and that you respect their time.
Practice, practice, practice!
Being comfortable and CONVERSATIONAL is key to making an effective connection with the prospect. If you feel awkward about re-directing and leaving the conversation once you determine they are not a good fit, you WILL end up wasting your time – and theirs!
Be professional
We are NOT advocating that you rudely ask questions and then abruptly leave once you have your answers. That certainly won’t help you close more sales.
Be professional, prepared and succinct – they will appreciate it and you will save time.
Ask for leads
Once you have determined that a prospect is not a good fit, you should always ask them if they know of anyone who might need your product or services. This is a great way to make the most of your time and to turn a current ‘no’ into a possible, future ‘yes’.
How can you be prepared for success?
So, how much time do you calculate YOU have been wasting on calls with prospects that just aren’t a good fit?
Implementing these sales tips will help YOU stop wasting your time when making Cold Calls and help you to be prepared for success!
Contact us for help with your scripting and click here to learn more about how we can train YOUR staff to use our proprietary, One of a Kind Sales skills. And give us a call at 908-879-2911 to see how WE can make Cold Calls for YOU!
Are YOU prepared for success? Here are some more tips:
How to Leave Voicemail When Cold Calling
Addressing Cold Calling Objections
Successful Cold Calling Starts with Asking Permission
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.