Episodes

  • Contact management matters, maybe more than you already know. Today’s guest knows it, which is why he goes out of his way to learn and understand even more about the business he’s in on a regular basis. Today, you’ll hear about Jon Ferrara, founder and CEO of Nimble. Listen in to learn more about his history, what Nimble does and how it can help, and some of the many things that Jon knows about CRM and content management.

    Episode Highlights:

    History of CRM and contact management How long Jon has been running Nimble Nimble’s relationship with Microsoft Where sales professionals are today Tools and processes for building relationships Why you need a process for serving others Nimble’s discount code: JON40 How a Twitter comment shifted into LinkedIn, email, and Jon’s calendar Working on staying top of mind to prospects, customers, and influencers

    Resources:

    Jon Ferrara

    Nimble

  • Word of mouth recommendation has always been an important part of sales. Testimonials are vital. So of course, if you can find a way to leverage customer testimonials in your sales process, you can sell more effectively and close faster. Sam Shepler’s company helps you do just that. Sam is the founder and CEO of Testimonial Hero, and in today’s episode, you’ll learn more about that company and what they do. Listen in to learn why Sam decided to start Testimonial Hero, why video testimonials are so important, and what the Testimonial Hero process is like.

    Episode Highlights:

    Why Sam decided to start a company dedicated to testimonials What Sam was doing before Testimonial Hero Why Sam specializes in video testimonials How COVID changed things for Sam’s company What the process is like after testimonials are sent in What kicks a service like Sam’s into high gear Who can benefit from Sam’s service The specific benefits of video The process and timeline for Sam’s team How listeners can learn more about Testimonial Hero

    Resources:

    Sam Shepler

    Testimonial Hero

  • Missing episodes?

    Click here to refresh the feed.

  • Compelling presentations are always difficult to create, but they’re an essential part of sales. And now there’s something that can help you organize and curate your various slides and get them ready to become a compelling presentation. Today you’re going to hear from James Ontra, the creator of the presentation management platform and communication strategy hub Shufflrr. Learn how Shufflr works, the different ways that it can help, and what inspired James to create Shufflrr in the first place.

    Episode Highlights:

    Whether presentation management is a part of pitch decks How things are changing with COVID and how Shufflrr helps Why people need a library of slides How the speaker notes work Getting metrics from slide usage How to get started with curating slides James’s favorite onboarding experience Whether marketing drives the collection of assets Getting copies of a presentation What inspired James to develop Shufflrr How to check out Shufflrr

    Resources:

    James Ontra

    Shufflrr

  • What do farming and sales have to do with each other, and why would you want to read a sales book written like an almanac? Today’s guest has thoughts about the connections between harvesting and sales, which is why he wrote the book Revenue Harvest: A Sales Leader’s Guide for Planning the Perfect Year. Listen in to hear more about Nigel’s work, where he gets started with his clients, and why he decided to write his book the way that he did.

    Episode Highlights:

    What Nigel does What equity-backed means to Nigel Nigel’s international clients Where Nigel gets started with advising companies How well the companies that Nigel works with know their audiences How long Nigel works with clients What prompted Nigel to put sales advice into a book that reads like an almanac The problem with taking a short-term view Where to find Nigel online Nigel’s six-step hiring process

    Resources:

    Nigel Green

    Revenue Harvest

  • In an environment where many, if not most, businesses are suffering, how does a company grow by 300% during a pandemic? Today’s guest made it happen, and he wrote a book about it. Listen in to today’s episode to hear Marylou interview Brandon Bornancin, the entrepreneur who founded Seamless.AI and the author of the soon-to-be-released book Whatever It Takes: Master the Habits to Transform Your Business, Relationships, and Life. Listen in to hear Brandon discuss what happened to prompt him to write his book, how his company grew during the pandemic, and why it’s important to go all out for success.

    Episode Highlights:

    Brandon’s book What happened to Brandon that resulted in him writing his book What Brandon’s company did to grow 300% in a pandemic The daily and weekly rhythms Brandon’s company used to enact their pandemic plan The okay-hour system Going all out for success

    Resources:

    Brandon Bornancin

    Whatever It Takes: Master the Habits to Transform Your Business, Relationships, and Life

  • What is the best way to align sales and marketing for revenue growth? Today’s guest has answers. Darrell Amy is the author of the book The Revenue Growth Engine: How to Align Sales and Marketing to Accelerate Growth. Listen in to hear what Darrell has to say about the importance of processes, the power of interest, and the messaging of sales and marketing alignment.

    Episode Highlights:

    What got Darrell interested in writing a book The alignment between marking and sales and revenue growth The revenue growth engine processes The core numbers a business needs to know The power of interest The messaging of marketing and sales alignment How to get a focused message in a large company The step by step process outlined in Darrell’s book The tools available on Darrell’s website

    Resources:

    Revenue Growth Engine

    Text “revenue” to 21000

  • What’s the best way to sell services? How does selling services differ from selling products? How can you convince a prospect that a particular professional service is right for them? Today’s guest is Liston Witherill, and his message is: serve, don’t sell. Listen in to hear what Liston has to say about what “serve, don’t sell” means, what the success path for selling services is, and the four steps that he recommends.

    Episode Highlights:

    Why Liston got into professional services The success path for selling services What “serve, don’t sell” means Understanding that you’re adding value Drawing the map Understanding clients’ motivation Helping people make decisions Showing what’s possible Which slides should be in your slide deck Asking questions that demonstrate that you understand the prospect’s problem Case studies and testimonials What’s in Liston’s training

    Resources:

    Serve Don’t Sell

    Modern Sales Podcast

  • What is authentic persuasion? How do you build a rapport with a prospect? What does empathy have to do with making a sale? These are some of the questions that today’s guest will answer. Jason Cutter is the founder and CEO of Cutter Consulting Group and the author of the book Selling With Authentic Persuasion: Transform from Order Taker to Quota Breaker. Listen in to today’s episode to hear Jason talk about his book, the persuasion framework, and how to blend urgency, empathy, and rapport when talking to a prospect.

    Episode Highlights:

    How Jason came up with the title of his book Where to start becoming more authentic and persuasive How you add value in sales Where Jason was before he got into sales The sales success fundamentals that every sales conversation has to have The persuasion framework Methods for building rapport Active listening Blending urgency with rapport and empathy Finding out why the person wants to buy How intangibles factor into the sale What authenticity and persuasion have to do with the referral process Where listeners can learn more about Jason

    Resources:

    Jason Cutter

    Cutter Consulting Group

    Selling With Authentic Persuasion: Transform from Order Taker to Quota Breaker

  • What do you know about team selling? What are the advantages to approaching sales from a team position? In today’s episode, you’ll hear from Trish Bertuzzi, founder and CEO of The Bridge Group and author of The Sales Development Playbook. Listen in to hear what Trish has to say about what team selling models look like, what the benefits of the team selling approaches are, and how you can start thinking about team selling as an option in your business.

    Episode Highlights:

    What team selling means What a team selling model looks like Hybrid roles How to start looking at team selling as an option Different versions of team selling Developing a team sales strategy that makes sense for you What account hierarchy looks like The continuity of team selling What you can learn from being part of a team Why you need to think differently about your selling model Where sales goes from here

    Resources:

    Trish Bertuzzi

    The Bridge Group

  • Following up is a vital part of the sales process that is often overlooked. Are you following up when you should be? What are the best strategies for following up? What method of follow up is most popular – and is the most popular method really the best method? To learn more, listen to today’s episode in which you’ll hear from Jeff Shore, who’s recently released a book geared toward giving you the information that you need to know about the importance of and best practices for follow up.

    Episode Highlights:

    Why Jeff wrote his new book, Follow Up and Close the Sale How the book is organized What follow up isn’t What follow up is for How follow up shows customers how much we care The strategy of follow up Why email shouldn’t be the number one method of follow up Jeff’s definition of the lead conversion hour How to get immersed in the follow up process The story of Bill Porter The knee of the curve

    Resources:

    Follow Up and Close the Sale: Make Easy (and Effective) Follow-Up Your Winning Habit

  • Over the years, it’s become more and more obvious that the subscription model is a viable business model for any number of products and services. How can you develop a membership mindset? What can successful subscription models teach you about sales? Today’s guest is the expert on the subject. Listen in to hear from Robbie Kellman Baxter, author of The Membership Economy and the new book The Forever Transaction. In today’s episode, Robbie discusses her background and qualification, what she knows about cultivating good customers, and what listeners can do to get started on a membership mindset.

    Episode Highlights:

    How Robbie came to be an expert in her subject Parallels to the SAAS world in Robbie’s process B to C companies vs B to B companies How Robbie decided to write her book Where to get started with a membership mindset Indicators of good customers Putting customers on a path to success Whether surveys important at looking at where clients are Top three things listeners can do to get started The difference between customer support and customer success

    Resources:

    Robbie Kellman Baxter

    The Forever Transaction

  • Sales is more than numbers, quotas, and commissions, but it can be easy to lose sight of the value that you can bring to others through sales. Today’s guest is here to talk about going beyond the numbers and embracing service through sales.

    Clancy Clark is the author of a book called Selling by Serving: Find Fulfillment in Your Career and Sell More Than You Ever Thought Possible. He’s also the author behind a method that he uses for selling and speaking and coaching that teaches about how to have a more fulfilling sales career. Listen in to hear what Clancy has to say about the steps of his method, the role of empathy in sales, and how listeners can learn how to apply Clancy’s methods.

    Episode Highlights:

    How intuition and being human are the precursors for Clancy’s book How Clancy was able to create a series of steps for selling by serving Whether the steps should be followed in a particular order How empathy on the part of salespeople will factor into sales post-Covid-19 Looking at sales as a way of helping people Sincerity in sales The ways that listeners can learn about how to apply Clancy’s steps in their practice Method vs. Mastery

    Resources:

    Clancy Clark

  • Succeeding at the top of the funnel requires some out-of-the-box thinking, and that’s what today’s guest has skill and experience with. Max Traylor offers his clients productized consulting services and is the author of a new book called Agency Survival Guide. In today’s episode, Max discusses the impetus for the book, how he got into productized consulting, and why he uses the agency framing to talk about his clients.

    Episode Highlights:

    The impetus for Max’s book How Max first started to get residual passive income Blending consistency and customizability What Max discovered interviewing people on his podcast Separating strategy from implementation Three stages to residual income Why Max uses the agency framing The importance of a healthy balance in clients How Max plans to socialize the book Where listeners can find Max’s book

    Resources:

    Max Traylor

  • As you start to think about what marketing and sales might look like in a post-COVID-19 world, it’s worth considering how you can be more prepared for another similar type of event. We’ve seen that the world can change overnight, and that often means changing your message, strategy, and even the channels that you use to communicate with your contacts.

    Kendra Lee is the founder and President of KLA Group out of Denver. Today, she joins the podcast to talk about the habits, workflows, tools, and other things that you can do on a daily basis that would prepare you for some event like this.

    Episode Highlights:

    What type of work Kendra does with clients Why the work that Kendra does is important Leveraging the different technologies and channels available to you when you need to shift your message How the personas change when the message or channel changes What to do when you lose a channel or it becomes less effective Thinking strategically about the conversations that you need to have Involvement in the nurture sequence side of things Supporting sales reps Kendra’s favorite spots in the bottom of the funnel Kendra’s upcoming goals

    Resources:

    KLA Group

  • Whether you’re new to sales or you’ve been in the game for a while and you’re looking for a way to achieve sales mastery, today’s guest has some ideas for you Simon Portwain is the author of a new book, Sales Icon: Selling in the Shadows.

    Simon joins the podcast today to talk about some of the ideas that he covers in his book. Listen in to hear what he has to say about sales momentum, developing a sales journey plan, and transitioners for salespeople.

    Episode Highlights:

    Why Simon was motivated to write this book What sales momentum is The framework around sales momentum How sales journey plans develop Where sales journey plans start What influences sales activity How momentum and journey are linked to transitioners Finding your success formula

    Resources:

    Simon Portwain

    Sales Icon: Selling in the Shadows – Amazon

    Sales Icon: Selling in the Shadows – Barnes and Noble

    Email Simon: [email protected]

  • Is selling just a job, or is it a lifestyle? Is it possible that people normally seen as innovators are really just masters of sales? These are some of the topics addressed by today’s guest. Michael Hageloh is the author of the book Live from Cupertino. Michael spent 22 years working with Apple, then turned his attention to working with entrepreneurial startups. Listen to today’s episode to hear what Michael has to say about applying strategy to process, the importance of practice, and how practice applies to the concepts that Michael explains in his book.

    Episode Highlights:

    Where Michael’s work fits in along the pipeline Applying strategy to process How practice applies to the concepts in Michael’s book How to put together a conversation to practice the conversation Selling as a lifestyle Disruptive revolution Building connections that lead to relationships Understanding the outlier How goals are one part of a system

    Resources:

    Live from Cupertino

  • How are C-Suite buyers different from the typical inbound lead buyers? How is the conversation different with these different types of buyers? Today’s guest is Skip Miller, sales training expert, President of M3 Learning, and author. In today’s episode, Skip discusses ideas from his new book Selling Above and Below the Line: Convince the C-Suite. Win Over Management. Secure the Sale. Listen in to learn more about the difference between above the line and below the lines sales, tools you can use to create an above the line narrative, and what to focus in in above the line conversations.

    Episode Highlights:

    Whether an SDR is naturally inclined to prefer inbound The different languages above and below the line Different value propositions for buyers above and below the line Tools to create an above the line narrative Whether inbounds are typically above or below the line Use cases where getting people to go above shortens the lag of time What above the line conversations focus on When to discuss what the new normal will look like Understanding above the line energy The ratio of questions in above the line conversations Call planning Importance of understanding both above the line and below the line conversations

    Resources:

    Skip Miller

    M3 Learning

    Selling Above and Below the Line

  • Can daily meditations help you develop your brand or find your purpose? To talk about that, John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing joins the podcast today. Listen in to hear what John has to say about his new book, why he was interested in putting out a book on daily meditations, and what John learned while he worked on putting the book together.

    Episode Highlights:

    How long John has been running Duct Tape Marketing John’s new book What got John interested in putting out a book on daily meditations The self-reliant part of John’s meditation book Similarities between this and previous cycles in history How John’s book could help entrepreneurs develop their brand or purpose What John learned while putting his book together John’s thoughts on the human condition How recent college grads could benefit from John’s book The daily rhythm of John’s book What a passage from John’s book is like

    Resources:

    Duct Tape Marketing

    The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur: 366 Daily Meditations to Feed Your Soul and Grow Your Business

  • Podcasting is still a new and growing medium, but it has a lot of exciting potential as a sales tool, among other things. Today’s guest, Matt Johnson, is the founder of a podcasting production agency and he has explored some interesting ways to use the medium that may be valuable to sales professionals. Listen in to hear about Matt’s LinkedIn script, his strategy using podcasting, and the results rates that he’s seen from his methods.

    Episode Highlights:

    What Matt does and who he serves How Matt’s LinkedIn script works Matt’s response rates, and how they compare to the average The overall reaction to Matt’s lead generation Matt’s overall strategy Developing relationships with people in different parts of the sales process How podcasting relates to problem solving and expertise Where to start in podcasting Where to look for podcasts that are a potential fit Goals for beginning podcast hosts and guests

    Resources:

    Pursuing Results

    How to Get Featured

  • While the importance of diversity is stressed in many industries today, other fields are still known for being “old boys clubs” – and sales is one of those fields. Today’s guest is here to talk about diversity in the sales and marketing industry and what has and hasn’t changed for women in those fields.

    Natalie Severino is the Vice President of Marketing at Chorus.ai. Listen to the conversation to hear what Natalie has to say about the research studying differences between men and women in sales, how men and women respond differently to job descriptions and requirements, and what people in leadership can do to bring in more women.

    Episode Highlights:

    What’s changing for women in sales and marketing What the research says about the difference between the ways men and women sell Reasons why women might outperform men in sales Building rapport and establishing status How the language in job descriptions affects female candidates The difference between how men and women respond to job requirements How marketing and sales differ in terms of diversity What leadership can do to bring in more women Women’s groups that listeners can attend

    Resources:

    Natalie Severino

    Women Sales Pros

    Girls Club