Do You Believe What I Believe?

/in , , , , /by

I find that it’s enormously helpful to understand the beliefs of the people who you take advice from. That goes for podcasters, coaches, trainers, seminar leaders and anyone that you turn to for advice.

In this episode of The 2X Podcast, Bill shares 5 of his most important beliefs about you and your potential.

There’s also a freebie checklist that is available by going to https://billcaskey.com/60download. Let us know what you think.

Also mentioned in this podcast:


 
DOWNLOAD THE "WORLD CLASS PERFORMANCE" FREEBIE

Episode #408: Helpful Hints for Email Excellence

/in , , /by

advancedsellinpodcastgraphicbootHave you gotten stuck in a back-and-forth email chain with a prospect that didn’t end well?

In this episode, veteran sales trainers Bill Caskey and Bryan Neale dissect an actual listener email and break down what worked (and didn’t work) in his exchange with a potential customer.

Are you reading your emails out loud before sending to check your tone?

Are you out of balance with your communication style and language?

In today’s episode of The Advanced Selling Podcast, Bill and Bryan give tactical and specific guidance to help you polish your emails and avoid saying something that gets misunderstood by your prospect.

Also mentioned in this podcast:

Episode #407: Sales Managers – After the Ride Along

/in , , /by

advancedsellinpodcastgraphicbootCalling all Sales Managers: there’s an art to coaching your team after the ride along. In this episode, veteran sales trainers Bill Caskey and Bryan Neale talk to Sales Managers with tips (and things not to do) when coaching after a ride along experience. This episode isn’t about the ride along itself— it’s about what happens when you get back in the car.

What makes a really good feedback session?

How do you help your team grow from the experience?

In today’s episode of The Advanced Selling Podcast, Bill and Bryan give you actionable tips to you can use on your next ride along.

Hint: If you’re not a Sales Manager, you probably should forward this episode to them after you listen. You’ll be glad you did.

Also mentioned in this podcast:

How Do I Train My Sales Force?

/2 Comments/in /by

I was oehinking the other day how little time I spend in my posts on the very thing that I have done the last 24 years – training a business-to-business sales force. This post gives you suggestions to get started, whether you hire someone from the outside (like me), or not.

The Myths of Sales Training

There are several that need to be debunked first. In no order, here they are:

1. Full Day Programs Are Useful. They are not. Wow. There, I said it. And I actually do one-day programs, mainly to launch a more comprehensive program. But I find that sitting in a room for 8 hours consuming a trainers content is not how adults learn. Read more

Are You an Amateur or a Pro? Here is a Simple Checklist

/in , , /by

I’ve been reading a lot of Steven Pressfield lately. He’s written a couple of books that are really good – namely “Turning Pro” and “The War of Art.”

The-Pro-Understands-THE-MIND-is-where-results-begin

If you’re a client of mine, I’ve probably sent you one of those books to help you grow your business. If you’re not a client, then I urge you to go to Amazon and purchase them both immediately, especially if you are interested in creating a new future for your business.

Most of the readers of my blog are sales or business development people and I thought I would create a very simple five-point checklist to help you assess whether you’re an amateur or a pro (or whether you have amateurs or pros working for you): Read more

How Do You Build a High Performance Sales Culture?

/in , /by

As part of my coaching and training work, I see sales culture problems everywhere. Yes, we train sales people. Yes, we coach leaders. And little of that has any impact on culture.

'If-you-want-to-learn-about-the-culture,

So what does? The quote says it all: Stories. Read more

What Skills I Would Insist On If I Were Your Sales Manager

/2 Comments/in /by

I was asked recently what skills I would look for in a sales person. That got me thinking of “who” I would hire if I had to hire bunches of sales people. Here is my list of skills:

1. Understanding of Email Marketing

“Why” you say? Easy. Email is the most underused tool you have. How you write subject lines matters. How you craft a sales email matters. How you invite people into your tribe matters. How you share your expertise matters. All can be done via email. Learn aweber.com – an autorespond service that helps you drip on your prospects.

2. WordPress Chops

Yes, I would want you to learn WordPress. Ever heard of it? Didn’t think so. Learn it. Go to Youtube.com and watch some videos on how to use it. It is a blogging platform that helps you establish your expertise by writing pertinent, valuable articles for your tribe (prospects.) It gives you a publishing tool right at your fingertips. $200 and you’re a publisher. You can then send your prospects to your blog where you will share great stuff.

3. Video Production Skills

You can always hire this out, but in my org, every sales person needs to know how to produce solid video (put on your blog). Interview clients…happy ones, presumably. Put it online. Have your own vignettes that you produce on trends in the industry. Take a class on video editing. It’ll take you no more than a couple of hours to figure it out. You can even do all of this with your iPhone. No need for thousand dollar cameras. So….no excuses.

4. Social Media Talent

LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter…yes all the usual suspects. But do you know how to REALLY use them? You will as part of my team. Plenty of great sources online to learn how to maximize your use of this avenue. This is especially good for inside sales, but works for all. If you haven’t read a book on how to use LinkedIn, stop what you’re doing right now and read one. Oh, that’s right, you’re not on my team yet. Read it anyway.

5. Diagnosing Beats Selling – Everyday

Get good at diagnosing problems. The more problems you find (at your prospect) the more you’ll sell. Stop selling and start solving. Take a class on analysis. Make a list of the problems you solve and go find those problems. Most sales people stop before they make that list.

6. Writing Chops

I know, I’ve use the word “chops” too many times already. But, you get the idea. Most people are disgusted at composing and writing but not you. You’ll take an online class in it. And just write. Even if you can’t. Write and rewrite. It’s how you’ll get noticed (on Google ) and how you’ll populate your blog. A person who can craft their thoughts on paper is the same person who will be skilled at communicating their message verbally.

7. Storytelling

I paraphrase but Rolf Jensen, The Dream Society, said “Story telling is the #1 skill for the fu

ture.” He was much more eloquent than that but being able to tell your story – and your company’s story – is vital in differentiating yourself from all others. Nothing connects with your buyers quite like a good story. Tell them how you got where you are. What mountains and valleys you’ve traversed. Give them a peak inside yourself. That’s something they won’t forget – unlike your features and benefits.

8. Project Planning

Every thing you do on my sales team will be a “Project.” Your goals. Your territory plan. Your key account targeting. Most sales people are woeful at project planning. If you’re lousy at it, go hire someone at $50/hour to spend 4 hours with you and plan your major projects. Then, time activate it and watch great things happen. (I would prefer you spend time here rather than on goal setting. Anyone can set goals. Not anyone can create the plan to accomplish them.

9. Idea Capture

As you’re doing your job, you will have ideas. Make sure you have a place to capture them. It could be a folder (physical) or a Notes on your phone. We live in an ‘idea society.’ And sales is a place where ideas come fast. But most fail to capture them…and miss the rewards from them. Your brain is an idea machine. Don’t fail it by letting them slip.

10. Productive Habits

We have a problem now – too much information coming in. too many things you could work on. you can’t do it all-and shouldn’t. So you must have a “system” for producing results. A system for handling prospects. System for handling inbound communication. System for following up with people who owe you actions. David Allen (Getting Things Done) has some magical stuff here. Go watch some YT videos of him. But you need to be productive if you’re to be on my team.

Conclusion

So that’s it. Not bad, huh? I didn’t say anything about closing skills, probing skills, handling objections or any of that stuff. Yes, it’s important, but if you do the things above correctly, opportunities will flow to you – and you’ll be able to select who you want to work with. And if they don’t behave properly, cut them and move on.

Accidental-Sales-Free-Videos

 

How to Train Your Sales Team

/in /by

As sales development specialists, we get asked all the time “how” we go about training a sales team. We’d like to think there is some secret sauce we  have access to, but we begin most engagements the same way – by understanding the 9 points in this video.

If you’re exploring ways for Caskey to help you grow your business by developing the skills of your team, then this video shares our philosophy and how we go about the work. It’s divided into two section:

  1. GET READY, which is the upfront discussions you must have internally, and
  2. GET RESULTS, which is the implementation of the work itself.

The Ultimate Selling Strategy: Change Your Thinking.

/1 Comment/in , /by

I got a call from a client last week. She had just begun our program with her company and had heard us talk about “changing how you think” in order to get better results. We hadn’t yet gotten into the details of that, but since she called, I shared with her the five areas of change needed to radically change results.

I hope you can use this information to achiever better sales/business results for yourself. We’ll probably do a podcast (The Advanced Selling Podcast) on it soon.

=1 Change how you think about yourself. Most of us see ourselves as victims in a big economy–held hostage by market forces and company forces. We are quick to blame others for our malaise. That’s what’s so cool about sales–it’s up to you. It’s your accountability that is THE factor in whether you’re a success or not. See yourself as an abundant being on a mission to bring value to your customers. Whether they buy or not–or whether they buy on your time line–is irrelevant. All that matters is that you’re in the present moment with them while in conversation about their pains/issues/matters of the heart. The greatest sales strategies in the world won’t work if you aren’t thinking correctly about your self in the sales process.

=2 Change how you think about your market potential. Most markets are abundant. Yet, when I hear salespeople talk about their sales funnel, it appalls me at how scarcely they see things. Your market is in a lot of pain that they need you to fix for them. Never forget that. And because there is an abundance of pain–and an abundance of money available to fix that pain–then you are in an abundant market. Period. Never let the scarcity of another (even a prospect) effect you.

=3  Change how you think about your roles as a sales professional. This is cool and very simple. Your role in the sales process is to create an environment for the truth to occur. You have to create a safe atmosphere where your prospect is so comfortable telling you the truth, that it’s easier to do that than to lie to you. You’ve heard the expression “buyers are liars.” Well, it’s only because amateur sales people drop into “convince and persuade” mode and make them lie. If you’re creating the right environment, buyers won’t lie.

=4  Change how you think about your value. The value you bring to customers hovers around the intersection of THEIR PAIN and YOUR SOLUTION. Stop thinking your value is all about your benefits and features. Your benefits are only relevant if they have a pain and they believe you have a solution for it. NEVER LEAD WITH YOUR VALUE. Lead with them telling you their problems–and you determining if you can help them. Most corporate selling strategies lead with how great they are for the client. If your a prospect, do you want to hear that?

=5  Change how you think about the sales process. “OK class, who should control the sales process? The one with the money?” NO. THe one wtih the solution. Most sales people get this wrong. But you can only control the sales process to the extent you change your thinking on #1-4. If you merely try to exert control of the sales process without work on #1-4, then you’ll appear crass and amateurish.

So that was my answer to my client. Obviously, in training, I go into much more detail, but thought you’d maybe get a little something from that.

Any comments? I know someone will take me to task for something I said (or didnt’ say), so have at it. And recognize that a change in sales results starts in the mind–not in the market.