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Learning to listen with the intent to understand is one of the most important skills that a sales professional can acquire in his or her career. True Hunters and Closers understand the strength behind listening to a prospect's request, concern, and ultimately their needs. Following up with open ended questions will help everyone determine what is truly a "want" and what is a "necessity" in the agreement.

Sales Hunting requires planning, effort, strategy, and skill. If you are going to warm up your "cold" prospects (outbound), you need to do your research and leverage icebreakers in your outreaches. In this episode, I discuss different icebreakers available to you on LinkedIn, and various Google searches. Don't ever find yourself sending SPAM again. Do what is required of you to connect with decision makers, and begin your sales process. Need some help with icebreakers? Check out my LinkedIn Hunting Mind Map.

Recently I sent out a survey to sales professionals. In it, I asked what was the number one skill they needed to improve upon. Hands down, the number one answer was hunting...prospecting...finding new business. So, in this episode, I share the importance of hunting, where to hunt, and give some tips, tricks, and secrets to hunting. By far, LinkedIn is the number one place to look for new business. It has over 560 Million business professionals in its database. Each of these professionals personally manages their profile, keywords, likes, interests, and connections. It's a fabulous place to find, and connect with, new business prospects.

You are competing against thousands of "professionals" trying to grasp a decision maker's attention. What are you doing to stand out? How do you resonate with the recipient in such a fashion that they will respond and agree to your call to action?

In this episode, I share with you some of the strategies that I implement with my clients. This includes the "5 More a Day" regimen. Too often we have the great results that we want to accomplish, but we don't work towards them correctly. We try to do too much, too quickly, and we actually get burned out because we don't see the results we envision quick enough. However, if we increase steadily each day at a rate that is manageable, we will, over time, achieve the results that we desire.

Everyone has challenges. Everyone will be faced with trials. These will occur in our personal lives, careers, family, and community. However, the one thing that sets us apart, is not everyone will become discouraged by these struggles. In this podcast, I share with you some of my darkest days, and my relentless struggle to win. You too can achieve success!!

I had to. I couldn't walk into another office and see the salespeople sitting on their rears trying t make a deal happen. It's one of the easiest fixes on a sales floor, and it makes a huge difference. Prospects can tell the difference in your energy, on the phone, when you are sitting and standing. I know Tony Robbins talks a lot about this too in his training, but more so on a personal level. If you are depressed, stressed, worried, or worn out, change your physical attributes first. Then your mental game will follow.

Trish Bertuzzi is the President and Chief Strategist at the Bridge Group, Inc. She is also the author of The Sales Development Playbook: Build Repeatable Pipeline and Accelerate Growth with Inside Sales.  Over the last two decades, Trish has promoted inside sales as a community, profession, and engine for revenue growth.  Trish and her team’s research and ideas have been featured on Inc.com, in Forbes, by associations like SLMA and AA-ISP, and across more than 68 sites in the sales and marketing world. Trish has received many awards and recognitions including:  Top 25 Sales Influencer by OpenView Labs (3X) Top 25 Most Influential in Inside Sales by AA-ISP (3X) Top 50 Most Influential People in Sales Lead Management by SLMA (3X) Special Recognition Lifetime Contribution to Inside Sales from AA-ISP Topics Discussed: Hunters and Closers…what are they? What are some of the biggest hurdles that sales development is facing today? What are some of the best ways for sales development to get their prospects interested in them? How can sales development build a relationship of trust with their prospective audience? How AE’s and SDR’s should be working together. What is the difference between sales process and sales ownership/creativity? PTO and Sales Many tech companies are offering unlimited PTO, but sales people are not unplugging. What has the Bridge Group found in their research about the correlation between these policies and sales burnout? Software solutions discussed: Outreach SalesLoft Share This:

Don has more than 25 consecutive years of quota over-achievement. Currently, he is the Vice President of Global Inside Sales for BMC Software. Don is responsible for over 200+ sales people at 6 world-wide locations including Raleigh-Durham, Tampa, Dublin, Buenos Aries, Singapore and Salt Lake City. BMC Software is an IT game-changer! Global Businesses rely on BMC Software to transform their Cloud, Mainframe, Virtual and Mobile IT services. BMC Software innovates and secures extraordinary business performance at significantly reduced risk. Topics Discussed: Sales Quotas – Accepting quotas that are attainable, while still being a stretch, and creating a plan to achieve them Filling your sales pipeline with the right sized opportunities Engaging your Executive Team on big deals The 3 Whys of Forecasting (why buy anything, why buy from me, why buy this quarter?) Applying your time on the opportunities that have the best chance of closing Standardizing the sales candidate interview worldwide (6 different offices) based on the book, “The Sales Acceleration Formula” – by Mark Roberge Qualities important to being a successful salesperson “Don’t let fear keep you from pushing forward.” Laugh about your mistakes. Create an environment where it’s OK to make mistakes Leadership Hire the right people, and get out of their way Work ethic is most important, followed by being coachable Work hard AND work smart Millennial employees Leveraging ExecVision to review inside sales phone calls (good and bad) Don’s evolution as a sales leader What can I do to help my team today? Their success is my success! Personal Achievements Climbing the 7 highest peaks…one on each continent (7 Summits) Dream big…your dreams should scare you a little Sharpening your skills Read books, listen to podcasts Take care of your mental, physical, career, family relationships Prospecting Cut through the noise in your prospecting (uses Consensus for video messages) Video messages, handwritten messages, make your message personal, get your recipient to laugh SendBloom Find your own groove Artificial Intelligence in sales #AI   Don’s Bio: 2015 – Present – Vice President Global Inside Sales, BMC Software 2009 – 2015 – Vice President Inside Sales and Account Development, Adobe 2004 – 2009 – Vice President Sales and Account Development, Omniture 2000 – 2003 – Senior Director of Mid-Market Sales, Siebel Systems and Oracle Company   Music Provided by: https://www.bensound.com Share This:

Alex has more than 25 years of experience in all areas of revenue and profit generation for technology organizations, with significant experience leading SaaS-based organizations. Currently, Alex is the CEO of Workfront, a SaaS based modern work management platform. Prior to joining Workfront as the CEO, he was the president of Apptio, which was ranked #253 on the Deloitte 500 in 2015 based on the company’s strong growth. Prior to Apptio, Alex was the president of Eloqua, where he was a member of the team that helped bring Eloqua to a successful public offering, subsequently being acquired by Oracle. Alex has also held executive-level positions with Vignette, TeleTech, BMC Software and IBM.   Topics Discussed: The Lucky Charms Experience – Personalizing your meetings and messages Sales How to be a great sales person Prospecting When does a Hunter become annoying? How quickly does a C-Suite Executive decide to respond or ignore an outreach? Leadership “Leaders don’t just set goals, they ask their team to live a story worth telling.” – Alex Shootman “The cheapest way to lead is by building a wall around your team saying, “It is us against them” We are good, they are bad.  We work hard, they do not.  We know the answer, they are stupid.” – Alex Shootman “There are only two types of leaders in this world.  There is the leader that somewhere down deep in their core walks in every day thinking, “What will my team do for me today?” and then there is the leader wired right, “What will I do for my team today?” – Alex Shootman   Alex’s Bio: 2016 – Present – CEO of Workfront 2014 – 2016 – Board Member Kapost 2013 – 2016 – President of Apptio 2009 – 2013 – President of Eloqua 2006 – 2008 – SVP Sales and Services at Vignette Corporation 2005 – 2006 – EVP Sales & Marketing at TeleTech 1999 – July 2005 – VP Sales & Services at BMC Software 1987 – 1999 – Director Industry Solutions at IBM   Share This:

Joe is a senior B2B executive, currently serving as the Chief Marketing Officer for Motivosity, an employee recognition software currently used by Ivanti, Instructure, Clearlink, and Workfront. He specializes in SaaS, MarTech, employee engagement, and the customer experience sectors. His expertise is in building a powerful, differentiated brand and fueling the growth of the revenue engine, and he prides himself in providing a great blend of strategy and execution. Joe has built demand generation teams from scratch, implemented strong digital marketing campaigns, and has led a marketing team that delivered 90% of all sales opportunities for the company. Can I just say….that is unprecedented.    Topics Discussed: Sales and Marketing Discussion Successful SDR/BDR/ADM and AE partnership qualities Qualities and Characteristics necessary for success as an SDR The relationship between Marketing and Sales Brand recognition Online profiles for sales representatives Closing What role does marketing play in helping sales close deals? Sales enablement Leveraging your C-Suite to close big deals Leadership: How to be a leader Highlights on Motivosity   Joe’s Bio: 2018 – Chief Marketing Officer of Motivosity 2014 – 2017 – Chief Marketing Officer of Workfront 2005 – 2014 – Chief Marketing Officer of Genesys 1996 – 2002 – EVP, Corporate Marketing at Captaris (now OpenText) 1994 – 1996 – VP, Marketing at Callware Technologies 1989 – 1994 – Sr. Product Manager at Novell (now Microfocus)   This episode was brought to you by Audible. Audible provides the largest library of audio books, hands down. For a free trial, go here.                                                                              Share This:

Frank Maylett is the CEO of RizePoint. In this podcast Frank shares his extensive learnings and experiences in both sales and leadership.     Topics discussed: General Sales Discussion How did Frank build the 20th best sales division in North America at Workfront? What makes a great sales leader? What makes a great sales professional? What do you do when you miss your quarter’s quota? Hunting / Prospecting What sets apart the best prospectors? Structure of RizePoint’s Sales Organization How much time should an Account Executive spend prospecting? When does  Frank as a CEO respond to outbound sales efforts? Thoughts on prospecting through text messages Closing What sets apart the best closers from the rest of the crowd? Continuing education and training Leadership Feared or Respected?   Frank’s Bio: 2017 recipient of CEO of the Year from Utah Business Magazine. 2016 recipient of CEO of the Year from the Utah Technology Council. 2014 recipient of Selling Power Magazine 50 Best Companies in America to Sell For award, ranking at number 20. 2013 recipient of Utah Business Magazine Sales and Marketing Executive of the Year (SAMY Award) for excellence in sales leadership. 2011 Winner of the silver Stevie Award for Senior Sales Executive of the Year. This award is sponsored by the American Business Awards and has been called by the New York Post “the business world’s own Oscar Awards”. Competed against the top sales executives from some of the best organizations in the country. Finalists i ncluded Twitter, Google, Boeing, Live Nation Entertainment, Force 3 and CRS Reprocessing. High impact professional with a proven track record of delivering high-value revenue in both the cloud-based and traditional distribution models. Tremendous success in helping technology companies increase revenue, strengthen market presence and progress to the next level in their strategic plan. Well respected for maintaining the highest levels of Intensity, Intelligence and Integrity in a highly competitive market. Effective network of industry professionals and previous employees.   This episode was brought to you by LegalZoom. I’ve used this service for many of my business needs including NDA’s, LLC’s, Bills of Sale, etc..   LegalZoom is a reliable resource that more than a million people have already trusted for everything from setting up wills, proper trademark searches, forming LLCs, setting up non-profits, or finding simple cease-and-desist letter templates.   LegalZoom is not a law firm, but it does have a network of independent attorneys available in most states who can give you advice on the best way to get started, provide contract reviews, and otherwise help you run your business with complete transparency and up-front pricing.     Share This: