Category Archives: The Art of Selling

Announcing the Solid Six Blueprint: Go From 5 to 6 Figures in Sales!

To celebrate National Tax Day (yesterday), I have a very special gift for you!

But, first, a fun fact…

Q:  Do you know what the average salesperson in the United States earns?

A:  It depends on your sources, but most say that it is just about $62,500.

Now, that’s not a bad living, but I’m here to tell you that there is so much more available in the wonderful world of sales than $62,500.

So, I wrote this eBook just for you (because YOU are anything but average!).

Want to Go from 5 to 6 Figures in Sales? Get your FREE eBook!

It’s called The Solid Six Blueprint. And, it contains the illustrations of the SIX elements you need to master to move to a Solid Six in Sales.

The Magic of Six

I’ll never forget the day I crossed the threshold into a Six-figure income.
Continue reading Announcing the Solid Six Blueprint: Go From 5 to 6 Figures in Sales!

Can You Predict How Much You’ll Make This Year?

If you want to go from 5 – 6 Figures in sales, FOR REALS, you need to be able to predict how much business you are going to close in the year.

Most of us feel like sales are random. There are the deals

How much will I make this year? 

you’re SURE are going close – but they just never seem to get done.  And then, there are those deals that come flying in from out-of-the-blue and close – that you just never expected.

No wonder it’s so uncomfortable when you’re meeting with your Sales Manager – trying to tell them the truth about how your sales are going and what they can expect for you to close.

I’ve got good news for you. There are ACTUAL ways to predict how your year is going to go!

WATCH: VP of Sales, Michael Maynes, break it down on The SellOut Show here. 

The First Step is to “Know Your Stages”

Yes. this means you are going to develop a brand new relationship with your CRM, or your pipeline, or your funnel. (Sorry – it’s the thing every average seller hates the most – but the top 1%-ers live and die by it!)

Flip Your Perception About the Stages

Continue reading Can You Predict How Much You’ll Make This Year?

Sales Onboarding – Start Your New Sales Gig STRONG

If you’re a sales leader – you need new hires to start earning revenue quickly. And, if you’re new to a job, you want nothing more than to get those first deals fast and get to On Target Earnings.

But, the typical onboarding documents seem to do the exact opposite – as Shawn Karol Sandy says – “They’re Bass-Ackwards”!

Get all the truly gold nuggets about ramping fast here:The SellOut Show #Raw & #Uncut “Sales Onboarding” Episode

To get it right, find below the: DON’T DO THIS and DO THIS INSTEAD to fast-track your way to INK ON PAPER!

Want to Go from 5 to 6 Figures in Sales? Get your FREE eBook!

Here we go – the DON’T DO THIS and DO THIS INSTEAD of new sales onboarding!

Continue reading Sales Onboarding – Start Your New Sales Gig STRONG

3 Keys to Great Pre-Call Planning

Showing up for a sales call unprepared is about the same as showing up to a party without your pants on – it gets embarrassing quick and you don’t have any idea what the outcome will be! (At least that what’s we suggested on our latest episode of The SellOut Show!)

Click to Watch “Pre-Call Planning” Episode of The SellOut Show!

The great thing about pre-call planning is that it can almost always be improved and it’s an excellent way to take control over a pipeline that is not going in the right direction. It gets you back to the basics and gives you a sense of power in the call.

Keys to Good Pre-Call Planning

Continue reading 3 Keys to Great Pre-Call Planning

VIDEO: The magic of tracking! How to nail your sales goals!

In this latest version of The Raw & Uncut SellOut Show, Shawn and Dianna drop some nuggets on how to nail your sales goals.

 

Tracking Creates Magic in Your Pipeline

Find out if:
* you’re tracking the right activities to meet your goals
* what you can start doing TODAY to achieve reliable success
* how well Shawn knows the all-time best basketball stars

Join the fun and learn the cool tools that will rock your 2018 sales plans.

The Visual Economy of Sales – Don’t Get Left Behind

“A picture paints a thousand words” We all know it to be true. But, as we move into the Visual Economy of Sales, understanding this truth is vital for the salesperson to compete and earn business in the future.

Marketers have known this for years. Look at TV, billboards, posters, magazine ads, website banners. All visual. All ways to capture your attention to help you buy.

Wondering how to go from 5 to 6 figures in sales? Check out this Free eBook: http://ebook.solidsixblueprint.com/solid-six-ebook/

Cavemen knew it. The best way to tell a story is to put pictures on the wall.

Now, more than ever before, salespeople need to be learning, exploring, experimenting, and educating themselves on how to incorporate visual cues into their sales messages. Or, they will get left behind.

What is the Visual Economy of Sales?

The Visual Economy of Sales is a simple concept.

The sales pros who learn how to use visual economy will earn more of their prospects’ mindshare as well as their wallet share – which means more closed deals. Which means more money in their own bank account.

“Economy” has a delightful two-sided meaning that solidly backs up the idea.

First, “economy” can refer to using time and space well. If you tell your sales story in a picture, it means your buyer takes less time to consume the information, or –  economy of time. And, if 1 picture = 1,000 words (almost the length of this article), you have achieved economy of space, too.

Second, “economy” also refers to transactions in a marketplace. More transactions in your market leads to more dollars in your pocket.

Get the picture? (hee hee, See what I did there?)

How do I know this is true?

Look for yourself. Do your prospects respond to your emails more or less often?  “Less”, right?

(If your answer is “more”, don’t be lulled to sleep by your current success. The Visual Economy will soon apply to you, too.)

The brain science

OK. I did that to get your attention. I’m not a brain scientist, but everything I read says that:

  1. My prospect gets a rush of dopamine every time he deletes my email or voicemail
  2. My prospect gets a rush of good feelings when he fills in the blanks on a puzzle, sees an image that engages him, or is tickled pink by a positive image.

So, why are you spending your precious time writing brilliant email messages and leaving fabulous voice mails? Just to give your prospects the joy of deleting?

What a waste of your genius!

Why not find ways to communicate your message that is visually engaging, distracting, and irresistible?

The proof is all around us

Marketers tell us that people engage more frequently with infographics and checklists today than they do with white papers and eBooks.

Snapchat’s got the 25 – 35-year-olds rapt.

Instagram and Pinterest are still fast growing social channels.

YouTube is the most popular search engine.

People who use emojis when they text are more likely to have happy relationships.

It goes on and on.

What to do about it?

I don’t know!

But, we’re about to find out. It’s time to start researching and experimenting. Here are some thoughts:

  • What happens if you include a GIF of your product doing its thing in your next email message?
  • How about using a video service that turns your email into a personal 10 second video?
  • Can you express all the data you want to share with your clients in an infographic? (It costs about $5 to get one made from Fiverr or UpWork).
  • Can you share a bunch of logos of your current customers instead of a laundry list?
  • Can you create a checklist of the pain points your typical customer encounters and send that instead?
  • Send it on Facebook, send it on LinkedIn, send it on text, send it on Snapchat! (Soon, the people who control big budgets will be the same ones who are accustomed to engaging on these platforms).

Join the experiment!

Let’s discover how to get our prospects’ attention visually! Let’s make it personal, engaging, irresistible. Let’s get NOTICED!

I would love to hear the sales wins you are experiencing as you use visuals to outpace your competition. And, I’ll share mine, too.

And, don’t EVER forget to…

Love ‘em ALL UP!

The Irreverent Sales Girl

(By the way, the irony is not lost on me. This blog post is in writing and not pictures. Give me a break! We’re just getting started!)

Negotiate the Sale – Hostage Style!

Join Shawn Karol Sandy and me in our conversation about how to negotiate the sale.

One of the fun moments is the book reveal – how to negotiate like your life depended on it.

Wondering how to go from 5 to 6 figures in sales? Check out this Free eBook: http://ebook.solidsixblueprint.com/solid-six-ebook/

This one is all about how to get the deal closed with the best possible outcomes – for you AND your customer! (What????) Yep. For you AND your customer.

It’s the raw and uncut version, so enjoy it like your favorite podcast or glass of wine.

Love the negotiations UP!

The Irreverent Sales Girl

Want to get the juicy stuff – that only my subscribers see? Sign up here!  http://bit.ly/IrreverentTuesday

Some Red Carpet Fun for You – Best Sales Inspiration Films of All Time

I am SOOO excited to share the Red Carpet episode of my new (and hilarious) VideoCast with the amazing Shawn Karol Sandy.

Want 15 minutes of fun? Here are our picks for the Best Pictures for Sales Inspiration!

TWEET IT OUT!

Watch #RedCarpet episode w/ @SellOutShow – Hilarious & Fun #BestPicture #Sales #Inspiration youtu.be/CLBR1ERzUes?a

Wondering how to go from 5 to 6 figures in sales? Check out this Free eBook: http://ebook.solidsixblueprint.com/solid-six-ebook/

I’d love to hear from you? What is your favorite movie clip for inspiration?

Love it UP!

The Irreverent Sales Girl

P.S. – Be one of the very first to subscribe to our show! That would be GREEEAAAATTT! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxEzaDhO9LBCooaNUihUeIA

#TBT – WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE!

As we conclude the week of “Gatekeeper Relations/Ethics/Methods”, Thanks to Tom Tenseth @smgamesafari https://twitter.com/smgamesafari/status/780440816602845184 – I want to re-publish one of my very favorite articles – this is probably the third time I have re-published! I like it that much!

This one is from June of 2013. Enjoy!

Wondering how to go from 5 to 6 figures in sales? Check out this Free eBook: http://ebook.solidsixblueprint.com/solid-six-ebook/

I was giving a cold-calling training yesterday and my participant told me that her boss wants her to come up with two scripts….one for talking to a GATEKEEPER and the other for talking to the DECISION MAKER.

Oh, those words he is using! Gatekeeper? Decision Maker? Seriously?

Let’s talk about Star Wars for a second.

Remember those Storm Troopers – dressed from head to toe in armor and tinted face masks? (If you don’t – be sure to Google the image, you’ll see what I mean).

Know why they dressed them this way? What I’ve HEARD is so that the audience doesn’t HUMANIZE them. So, it was OK to kill them. No one would feel a shred of conscience about rooting for the Rebellion to take them all out! Dead!

 Now look.

What does this have to do with my revulsion to the words GATEKEEPER and DECISION MAKER? 

Yup! It takes the HUMAN out of the mix. So, NOW, when you are talking with one of these people, you sound like a GREAT BIG DORK, because the foul language you are using automatically puts you at cross purposes with the HUMAN on the other end of the phone.

Continue reading #TBT – WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE!

3 Things You MUST Know About the “Gatekeepers”

As many of you know, I despise using the word Gatekeeper when it comes to calling on the assistants of the people I am hoping to reach. Why use language that puts you at war from the start?

But, many of you have asked for more insights about how to deal with this role in your sales efforts, so I will share with you what I have learned and the approaches that have been successful for me.

Here are the top three things I think about when calling on executives who have assistants.

Wondering how to go from 5 to 6 figures in sales? Check out this Free eBook: http://ebook.solidsixblueprint.com/solid-six-ebook/

#1 Thing to Know about The Executive Assistant – They have an enormous amount of power!

They are in tune with the entire company and they wield an incredible amount of power. When it comes to knowing what their boss does and doesn’t care about, they are the expert. When it comes to navigating the company, there is no one better. Often, a request from the executive assistant is taken as if the executive made the request themselves!

Continue reading 3 Things You MUST Know About the “Gatekeepers”