#472 - Why You’re Losing Deals by Not Picking Up the Phone | Michelle Cecil

FOUR ACTIONABLE LEADERSHIP TAKEAWAYS Increase the surface area of your luck. Sometimes, getting promoted takes luck. So help out as much as possible in all the places you can. Don’t let a slow burn hurt others. If a rep isn’t ready to be promoted, provide feedback early. Don’t create an environment where a toxic attitude spreads. Test drive managers before promoting. Insert the best candidate in actual situations. Communicate your decision with the team so everyone is on the same page. Make prospecting initiatives universal. If you’re driving your team to outbound — update your hiring profile, team meetings, and dashboards. Make it crystal clear PATH TO PRESIDENT’S CLUB VP of Sales @ Guesty VP of Sales & Customer Success @ Capchase VP of Sales & Partnerships @ Alibaba Group Dir. of Sales @ Alibaba Group RESOURCES DISCUSSED Join our weekly newsletter Things you can steal

21 Mar 202431min

FOUR ACTIONABLE TAKEAWAYS When you’re doing a POC, you should be surveying the users and participants in that POC about their experience. If you’re working in a fairly technical sale, don’t shy away from answering technical questions with your depth of understanding, but let the customer know that is your depth of understanding. Use a pre-POC questionnaire to ensure that the champion is the right person to lead the POC. Do a POC kickoff call to set yourself up for success. PATH TO PRESIDENT’S CLUB Enterprise Account Executive, Financial Services @ Databricks Account Executive, Commercial @ Databricks Sr. Account Executive, Mid-Market @ Databricks Sr. Account Executive @ Datafox RESOURCES DISCUSSED Join our weekly newsletter Things you can steal

19 Mar 202428min

FOUR ACTIONABLE TAKEAWAYS Don’t just set an agenda. Use PPO (purpose, plan, outcome) to set clear expectations for you and your prospect. Avoid deep-diving into features until you've established “why change?” and “why now?”. Show up to your discovery with a theory about their pains and your solutions. Don’t just start peppering questions. Soften the CTA with “would you be open to” instead of heavier asks before the customer is ready to dive deep. PATH TO PRESIDENT'S CLUB Growth Partner @ Emergence Capital Chief Storyteller @ Box VP of Sales & Productivity @ Box Sr Director, Corporate Sales Productivity @ Salesforce RESOURCES DISCUSSED Join our weekly newsletter Things you can steal

18 Mar 202432min

Chase Macaione's Discovery Call Prep Sheet & Guide FOUR ACTIONABLE LEADERSHIP TAKEAWAYS How engaged someone is on LinkedIn is a proxy of how good of a champion they'll be for you as a buyer. What you do in a call differs from what you want to get out of a call. The agenda is what you want to do, but make sure to explicitly say what you want to have coming out of the call. Have reps come in with a hypothesis or a POV based on what they see about the company. If the company is shrinking, the way you do discovery will be different from if it is growing. List out discovery questions to get people from high-level pain to deeper pain. PATH TO PRESIDENT’S CLUB Director of Commercial Sales @ Zip Sales Director @ Celonis Strategic Account Executive @ Celonis Regional Sales Manager @ Oracle RESOURCES DISCUSSED Join our weekly newsletter Things you can steal

14 Mar 202433min

Every 10th episode, we tear down one topic. This time, we’re talking about objections. ACTIONABLE TAKEAWAYS Most objections are actually reactions. So if you know how to handle the reaction, you’ll swat away any objection. The intro to the Mr. Miyagi method - agree with the objection to remove the pressure, incentivize conversation to get them to share more about the objection, and sell the test drive. For dismissive objections be disarmingly blunt; for “not interested” objections, handle the reaction, not the objection; for situational objections, like “no budget”, or “too expensive”, remove the pressure of the sale entirely. Existing solution objections like “we already use X (your competitor)” are essentially “not interested” objections in disguise. Tackle them as such. RESOURCES DISCUSSED 18 Cold Call Objections & How to Handle Them The Book on Cold Calling Join our weekly newsletter Things you can steal

12 Mar 202432min

Four Actionable Takeaways: * Don’t talk about root causes/technicalities until you get to the business impact first. * Condense the problem you solve into a single sentence - stop overcomplicating things. * Lean on their desired future state instead of talking about the past. * Get to the question/reason behind those unexpected/general questions. ====================== Keenan’s Path to President’s Club: * CEO @ Noted Analytics * CEO @ A Sales Guy Consulting * Author of Gap Selling * Author of Not Taught RESOURCES DISCUSSED Join our weekly newsletter Things you can steal

11 Mar 202432min

FOUR ACTIONABLE LEADERSHIP TAKEAWAYS When you are trying to clone that first rep, make sure that you don’t confuse personality with skill set. Your customers have the answers. Talk to your customers. Do not do the things that you're horrible at. Hire for the things that are not your strengths. Invest your time in enablement. You and your reps should track how you win each deal for ongoing development. PATH TO PRESIDENT’S CLUB VP, Sales @ Tenderly Founding Member, First Hires Program @ First Round Capital Director, Enterprise Sales @ Drift VP, Sales @ AltoCloud RESOURCES DISCUSSED Join our weekly newsletter Things you can steal

7 Mar 202433min

FOUR ACTIONABLE TAKEAWAYS If you say yes to doing something for a prospect and then realize you shouldn’t have offered that, call them to apologize. If you are giving reasons to a prospect for why something they asked for is not the best idea, make those reasons about them and in their best interest. Don't chase tennis balls. Create equal footing by getting something before we just jump to giving. Be a guide, not a servant. Buyers are not looking for us to say yes to everything. Evaluate every ask through “is this actually the best way for the buyer to get what they're looking for?” PATH TO PRESIDENT’S CLUB Founder @ DiscoveryCoach.io Sales Enablement Manager @ AlphaSense Lead Revenue Enablement Manager @ CB Insights Senior Sales Training Manager @ CB Insights RESOURCES DISCUSSED Join our weekly newsletter Things you can steal

5 Mar 202429min