To download the event program click here.

The Head Of Sales Symposium, Australia’s exclusive gathering for B2B sales leaders and teams, is set to launch 20 August 2024 in Sydney. Sponsored by SugarCRM and organised by headofsales.com.au, the country’s foremost sales publication boasting over 25,000 annual visitors, the Symposium promises a powerhouse line-up of experienced business leaders, industry experts, bestselling authors, and international speakers.

In an era where economic volatility and fierce competition redefine success metrics, the Symposium emerges as a vital platform. Recent statistics reveal that more than half of sales professionals struggle to meet targets consistently, while a staggering 80% of sales leaders express doubts about having the right team to achieve success. These challenges not only strain bottom lines but also impact mental health and overall wellbeing.

Designed as a half-day intensive, the Symposium features four educational presentations and a panel discussion.The event, hosted at the prestigious five-star venue L’Aqua, promises a premium experience with gourmet meals, afternoon tea, canapés, and networking drinks against the backdrop of Darling Harbour’s stunning waterfront views.

The Head Of Sales Symposium is proud to feature a distinguished lineup of speakers, each bringing a wealth of expertise and insights to empower B2B sales leaders and professionals. Tony Hughes, renowned for his 35 years of corporate and sales leadership across the Asia-Pacific region, is Co-founder and Sales Innovation Director at Sales IQ Global. His accolades include being ranked a top global sales blogger and thought leader by LinkedIn, with a substantial following and multiple bestselling books under his belt, including “COMBO Prospecting” and “Tech-Powered Sales”.

Cian McLoughlin, CEO of Trinity Perspectives, brings a global perspective to sales transformation, specialising in Win Loss Analysis. Originally from Dublin and now based in Sydney, Cian’s ethical approach to sales has resonated with ASX and Fortune 500 clients, supported by his Amazon #1 bestseller “Rebirth of the Salesman” and consistent recognition in the Top 50 Sales Blogs and Books.

Charmaine Keegan, Director of Smarter Selling, is a prominent figure in sales training with certifications in Neuro-Linguistic Programming and a deep interest in human psychology. With over 30 years of experience and numerous authored eBooks, Charmaine empowers sales leaders to excel with integrity and authority, making her a sought-after speaker internationally.

Sue Barrett, Founder and CEO of Barrett and salesessentials.com, is a pioneer in human-centered sales strategies, advocating for ethical practices and emotional intelligence. A transformative figure in business and community activism, Sue’s leadership in the Selling Better Movement and commitment to ethical business cultures highlight her impact beyond sales training, including founding the March4Justice movement and promoting women’s empowerment through initiatives like Sell Like A Woman.

Together, these speakers represent the forefront of B2B sales innovation, offering Symposium attendees actionable strategies, ethical frameworks, and transformative insights to navigate today’s competitive sales landscape with integrity and success. Their collective expertise promises to inspire and equip sales professionals at every level to achieve sustainable growth and leadership in their fields.

Key takeaways for attendees include strategies to implement new sales tactics, insights into emerging market trends, techniques to enhance customer acquisition and retention, pathways for career advancement, and unparalleled networking opportunities with like-minded B2B sales professionals.

“We are thrilled to host the Head Of Sales Symposium, providing a critical forum for industry leaders to navigate the complexities of today’s sales landscape,” said Joseph Sing Publisher of headofsales.com.au. “This event is not just about knowledge-sharing but fostering connections and equipping our attendees with actionable strategies to thrive amidst adversity.”

Adam Frank, Vice President and General Manager, APAC at SugarCRM, expressed excitement about the upcoming symposium, highlighting its significance for B2B sales professionals in Australia. He stated, “The B2B sales professional in Australia has historically been starved of opportunities for professional development on this scale. Till now. Never before have so many industry powerhouses been gathered under one roof and it promises to be a fantastic experience for learning and networking alike. I for one am very excited in seeing this symposium going live, and am honoured that SugarCRM is a founding sponsor.”

First release pricing ends 31st July. For more information and registration details, visit https://www.headofsales.com.au/symposium/

About The Head Of Sales Symposium: Starting 12.00pm Tuesday 20th August at L’Aqua in Darling Harbour. Delegates attend a ‘half day‘ of four educational presentations, one panel and two networking sessions. There event is curated for sales leaders and for sales professionals. The event is fully catered at a five-star venue with a sit down lunch, afternoon tea, canapes and networking drinks at sunset.

About headofsales.com.au: Headquartered in Sydney, headofsales.com.au is Australia’s leading online publication dedicated to B2B sales insights, attracting a diverse audience of industry professionals seeking cutting-edge strategies and thought leadership.

About L’Aqua: Located in the heart of Darling Harbour, L’Aqua is renowned for its sophisticated event spaces, panoramic views, and exceptional service, making it the ideal venue for premier corporate gatherings.

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Natasha David worked for me a number of years ago as Marketing Manager in a technology company where I was Managing Director. One morning I received a call… her husband had died and was in his late twenties. “I’m so, so sorry Tash… what happened?” an awkward silence followed. How do you talk about a loved one who commits suicide? How do you cope with the feelings of guilt about failing to save them or not being close enough to recognise what was about to happen? I felt paralysed but we did our best to give her all the space and time she needed to be able to manage.

Many questions and emotions swam around in my head in the months following this experience. Two years earlier in the same company where Natasha lost her husband, our Professional Services Manager lost his 20 year old son to Leukemia. There was a dramatic relapse just days from the twelve month anniversary of cancer treatment when he would be officially pronounced as being in remission. It was heart wrenching to witness let alone live through. We also supported him by removing all work pressure and providing complete flexibility on full pay for as long as he needed. Without any fuss, his team rallied and covered all work demands. He slowly re-joined work and we were able to tentatively talk about his son with him. There would be stilted conversations and tears but it was okay… all part of the process of creating a meaningful life without his beloved son as well as honoring his son’s memory.

For friends and colleagues, what is the boundary between showing care and prying into someone’s personal life when they suffer loss or are seeking to deal with their own demons of depression or other mental illness? Is the workplace somewhere the grieving person goes to escape or can it be a place of healing? Is the workplace where those with invisible disabilities come to hide and deny or can they be accepted and respected?

Suicide seems to be different… a social taboo with stigma attached to the death of a loved one. I never did manage to have a conversation with Natasha; just a few hugs and as much workplace support as I could provide. She withdrew and coped in her own way… I did the same when I lost my mother at 25 – it was at times a bleak lonely place. After losing her husband to suicide Natasha was pulled into a dark void and checked herself into hospital where she had a profound realisation that can save lives …

The Life Saving Truth: “Suicide only transfers the pain to everyone else.”

This is something we should all share with anyone we think is in a bad place with depression or other mental health issues. Natasha is one of the most courageous people I have met and she is about to publish her book, Marrying Bipolar. It provides amazing insight for anyone wanting to understand mental illness. Winston Churchill described depression as the black dog but it is far more complex than applying labels.

Natasha decided that if she was to push on, she would make it the best life she could live. She has done exactly that and her book will make a difference in many lives.

Natasha’s story shows the devastating impact for those around someone suffering from mental illness but what if you are directly managing or working with someone who has a mental illness? I’ve managed sales people for many years and I am sensitive to the tell-tale signs. I have a personal experience with mental illness as the son and then the business partner of a bi-polar father. Others in my family also suffer from mental illness but I thank God not my wife, children or me.

Professional selling is brutal… it is not for the faint-hearted. High levels of emotional intelligence (EQ), business acumen, strong work ethic and resilience are all essential. I’ve seen sales people battle through massive highs and devastating lows, damaging the very relationships they need to succeed, going troppo on drugs and alcohol, going missing for days until they emerge from their dark fog.

All this raises two important questions for sales leadership:

1. Does selling attract those who are inadequately equipped to cope with the demands of the role?
2. What can sales leaders do to help and manage those in their teams that suffer from a mental illness?

1. Does selling attract people who are poorly equipped psychologically?

The research has evidenced that mental illness does not discriminate by ethnicity, age, gender or career choice (Meadows, Farhall, Fossey, Grigg, McDermott & Singh, 2012). Throughout my professional career, the most common mental condition I have encountered in sales people is bi-polar. This term used to be identified as manic-depression and both are apt descriptions for the huge mood swings that can damage relationships with clients, staff and partners. On top of this they require persistent, consistent management therefore consuming disproportionate amounts of a manager’s time and energy. Although anyone with a disability – physical or mental – can be a productive and valued member of a team, they need to find the right job position, have a supportive manager and work environment.

The biggest mistake a manager can make is to hire the wrong person and the second biggest mistake they make is holding onto staff that need to be moved on.

This sounds very harsh but it’s a truth all managers must face. The best way to do so is with empathy and compassion in seeking to help people work in roles that best suit them. A lack of compassion combined with relentless pressure and judgment exacerbates the risks and highlights a sales manger’s poor values or interpersonal skills.

Selling is one of the toughest jobs; for anyone to sustain success they need the following attributes:

• Resilience: The ability to cope with rejection and disappointment amidst relentless pressure to perform and deliver results
• Emotional Intelligence (EQ): The ability to truly understand your personal strengths and weaknesses while being able to read people and politics
• Good work ethic: The discipline and ethos of doing what it takes rather than your best by committing the required time and energy in paying attention to every detail
• Curiosity and intelligence: Beyond being smart, this is also being obsessed about the customer’s world, how results can be delivered and how risks can be managed
• Insight and domain knowledge: Specialisation in an area that matters to the customer with you being able to provide genuine insight to the people who make decisions.

Track record, qualifications and work history are easy to validate. Every hiring manager needs to go beyond these and be clear about what defines a ‘cultural fit’ for sales people by evaluating candidates against the above criteria.

2. What can we do to fulfil our duty of care for those who are struggling?

Make no mistake; leadership carries a burden both morally and legally. We have a duty of care to those we employ and to those with whom we share our lives. We need to create person-centered cultures rather than toxic performance-based furnaces. I’ve written previously about two contrasting corporate cultures (love vs greed) and we need to create environments where work has purpose, value and respect for those around us.

A healthy workplace is a community where employees are valued members of a team rather than mere units of production. Where relationships are real and the corporate values play out in the positive behavior of the leaders.

We need to ask people if they are okay and really mean it. The best way to create a high performance culture is to be authentic about delivering value for clients and building relationships of trust and respect. Executing this requires leaders who are the real deal and able to rally people to their cause; yet becoming a great leader in an inside job rather than projecting a persona.

Capitalism without compassion is commerce without a soul. We all want to make a positive different in the lives of others but not everyone can be a winner who stands on the podium in first place. Great leaders embrace diversity and leverage individual strengths within teams. As a leader, seek balance and value individuals as people who have their own fears and shortcomings as they pursue their aspirations. Have the courage to talk with an employee or colleague about how they are really going with genuine empathy.

Ask ‘how are you going… really?’ Then listen like you’ve never listened before. Everyone needs to be heard. Everyone needs someone who cares and believes in them.

For more on this important topic, please read The Darker Side of Selling by my good friend Bernadette McClelland. She provides three examples of the unhealthy pressure and destructive behaviours that plague many sales environments.

Reference: Meadows, G., Farrell, J., Fossey, E., Grigg, M., McDermott, F., & Singh, B. (2012). Mental Health in Australia: Collaborative community practice (3rd ed.). South Melbourne, Australia: Oxford University Press.

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Rapport is the deepest level of relationship between two individuals that involves sharing common ground, and is established when harmony and accord have been reached between both parties. This does not mean the individuals involved agree on every issue. Instead, it means they have attained a mutual respect for each other’s opinions. Developing rapport with others lowers stress within our relationships, thereby creating greater productivity.

We have established rapport with people know, like and trust

Establishing Rapport

Rapport is developed as we understand, recognize, appreciate, and adapt to the behavior and communication styles of others. Regardless of background, everyone wants to be valued, appreciated and unconditionally accepted for who they are. As a result, we tend to trust and have an affinity for the people we believe really understand us and accept us.

Unfortunately, we struggle with this as human beings. Some folks just ʻrub us the wrong wayʼ, or worse still, they ʻpush our buttonsʼ. And often, the ones that irritate us the most are the ones closest to us, such as family, friends, and coworkers.
To begin connecting with others, we must cultivate a genuine desire to understand the people around us.

Mastering Rapport

Mastering rapport is reached when an individual develops the skills and the genuine desire to develop relationships of mutual trust and emotional affinity.
Rapport Mastery works best when adopted as a lifestyle to better communicate with people and do business, not merely to manipulate others with surface techniques or to be saved until there is a glaring problem. Rapport Mastery involves personal transparency as well as enthusiasm for the success of others.

The Road to Rapport

There is no instant path to building rapport with those around us. This level of respect and trust will take time to develop. Attempting to rush this process will actually be counterproductive as it breaks that trust. Although each of us will have the ability to connect more quickly with certain individuals, there is no way to create this level of trust and regard for another person outside of the test of time. Creating rapport is a step by step process.

Do I Have Rapport?

Individuals with whom you have established rapport will come to you for advice or information on a wide variety of subjects. Rapport is developed as we understand, recognise, appreciate, and adapt to the behaviour and communication styles of others.

How do you begin to establish rapport?’

The Power of Perception

Rapport starts with understanding the behavioural and communication style of another, discovering how our personal actions are being perceived by others, and learning to control our own behaviours to better meet their needs.Connecting with others begins with recognising and understanding the perception of those with whom we interact.

Humans are uniquely different from one another. Our ideas about the world around us have been influenced by our parents, values, education, and culture. In addition to these factors, the way we perceive, interpret and share this information is based largely upon our behavioural and communication style.

Imagine that two individuals walk into a room. Both are wearing glasses, however one pair has red lenses and one has blue. Neither of them realise they have glasses of different colours. Both individuals are asked to look at a white wall and announce to the other what colour they believe the wall to be. The individual wearing the red glasses will be sure the wall is red, while the individual with the blue lenses will be sure it’s blue. They both would KNOW they were correct and sure the other person was wrong.

Now imagine these individuals try on each other’s glasses. Would they have a better idea of what the other person was seeing? This change of perception would help reduce conflict because each of them would now be able to understand the otherʼs perception.

In order to understand and connect, we need to understand how the other person is perceiving the world around them. By putting on someone else’s glasses, so to speak, we will have the ability to appreciate and understand them better.

Perception is based on an individual’s communication and behavioural style

Pace, Perception and Adaption

To understand human behaviour and communication we need to begin by looking at two basic elements pace and priority.

Pace is the speed at which individuals move and speak. Some individuals tends to be more faster or slower than others. There is not right or wrong pace as we all have elements of both.

Fast paced individuals tend to move, speak, respond and decide quickly, whereas sower paced individuals prefer to spend time in reflection and act carefully.

If you are fast paced person, a slower paced individual may see you as impatient, irresponsible, reckless, rude, manipulative, overbearing, angry and inconsiderate.

If you are a slow paced person, a fast paced individual may see you as unmotivated, lazy, sad, uncaring, disrespectful, disengaged, untruthful and distracted.

All relationships being by connecting with each other’s PACE. If there is missed connection at his level, you will be unable to move forward to build rapport.

This is where adaption comes into play. Connecting in a non-confrontational, non-irritating way requires adapting my own pace to match the pace of the other person. I may be fast paced, however, the only way to show the slow paced person that I am not impatient or reckless, I must control my actions and slow down. In the same way, if I am slow paced, I may need to speed up my interactions so I am not perceived as unmotivated and lazy.

Priority characteristics

As with pace, individuals have different priorities , which refer to what they prioritise as they view their world. Individuals tend to be either:

Task-Orientated – they are more focused on accomplishing tasks. Think in terms of plans, procedures, organisation, function, projects and programs. They like to create lists and check off items as they ate completed.

People-Orientated – they are more focused on establishing relationships. They are energized by being around people. They tend to focus on more on relationships, feelings, friendships, helping others and making people happy.

If you are a task-orientated person, a people-orientated person may perceive you as cold, workaholic, greedy, disconnected, inflexible, unmerciful, unfriendly and not family oriented.

If you are a people-oriented person, a task-oriented individual may perceive you as distracted, weak, overly emotional, unproductive, naive, gullible, foolish and not serious.

90% of conflict is caused by a clash of priorities or false perceptions

Now that we understand what rapport is and how we unknowingly can break it by failing to control our behaviour, we can now develop a process that will help us to better adapt and build relationships.

Know, Like, & Trust

Remember, rapport is established with all types of individuals when they know, like, and trust you. Matching pace provides the foundation for rapport by allowing other’s to get to know us.
However, the other two aspects, trust and like, are developed differently depending upon an individual’s priority style.

We get to know each other by matching pace. We develop rapport by respecting priorities.

Task-oriented individuals must trust you before they will like you. Here’s the progression of establishing rapport with the task-oriented individual: They will do business with you only if they have come to trust you. Once trust is established they will gradually begin to like you.

People-oriented individuals must like you before they will trust you. Here’s the progression of establishing rapport with the people-oriented individual: They must first like you. (One of the best ways to begin to establish affinity with this type is to smile.) Once they like you
they will begin to trust and develop rapport with you.

2 ROADS TO RAPPORT

Practical Application

To build rapport with a task-oriented individual, consider what is most important to this behaviour style. Because this behaviour style views the world from a task perspective, task completion is imperative for constructing trust.

To build rapport with a people-oriented individual, consider what is most important to this behaviour style. Because this behaviour style views the world from a people perspective, they will observe how you interact with others and desire friendship.

They are the basics of building more meaningful, peaceful, and productive relationships with those around you.

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When it comes to the world of sales, GenAI is making a pronounced impact. Research by SugarCRM reveals 80% of sales and marketing leaders will use AI, including GenAI, to maximise the value of their CRM in the next five years. Complementing this, McKinsey research shows companies that do invest in AI are seeing a revenue uplift of 3 to 15% and a sales ROI uplift of 10 to 20% so far. 

The bottom line is, GenAI is here to stay and sales teams are poised to benefit from increased adoption. Used effectively, GenAI enables sales teams to do more of what they are meant to do – sell. 

Using GenAI can reduce administrative load, increase personalised selling, create optimised pricing, address customer concerns and lengthen lifecycles. 

Those that don’t work to integrate AI into their business operations will see themselves at a competitive disadvantage with reduced efficiencies and missed opportunities.  

So, how can you start integrating GenAI into your sales function?

Steps can be as simple as using GenAI to help write emails, input data and create proposals. More sophisticated use involves using GenAI alongside other systems like CRMs to pull and analyse data for tailored recommendations. 

Here are 5 ways you can use GenAI to improve selling. 

5 ways you can use GenAI to improve selling 

1. Take over administrative tasks

Your best sales reps usually have specific skills they hone in on whether it be amazing presentations, perfectly written emails, or an excellent phone manner. 

GenAI can help your entire sales team lift their game by helping create emails, proposals and pitch decks to the same high standard, every time. 

When it comes to phone calls, GenAI can help write scripts and create guidelines to discuss specific customer objections. 

Not sure where to start? Start small, use a tool like ChatGPT to finesse an email, or write the perfect opening for a proposal. 

More than this, GenAI integrated into your CRM can automate busywork like inputting customer data, creating manual tasks for other reps and organising meetings. 

Reducing administrative tasks will give your sellers more time to actively sell, a dream scenario for every sales leader. 

2. Deliver more personalised experiences  

GenAI can help deliver the personalisation needed to elevate customer service, and nurture leads to build the depth of relationship required to close deals. 

Reps can use data to create personalised and original content that resonates with each lead or segment. For example, you may have a segment of customers who prefer to short emails with specific information about one product use case.

A targeted approach boosts engagement and conversion rates. Conversation transcripts can also be analysed to identify opportunities the sales team may not have thought of or had time to consider.

3. Addressing customer queries

GenAI can help address customer queries in a number of ways. First, GenAI powered chatbots can interact with prospects right at the early stage of their journey. 

Reps can use GenAI-powered search functions from their CRM to offer fast responses to customer concerns from finding the perfect case study to send to answering a technical question. 

Once a customer converts, GenAI-powered helpdesks can help customers troubleshoot issues, sometimes proactively, to help reduce churn. 

4. Optimise competitive pricing

Price optimisation can be difficult for sales teams to get right. Many reps operate solely on instinct without the time or resources to back decisions with data. 

GenAI can help ensure prices are designed to drive sales and revenue. It can perform data analysis to identify customer patterns that affect the price point for a product or service. 

Fast competitor research that assesses market share, pricing strategy, and product positioning can also be conducted.

GenAI can pull data from around your business to create predictive analytics that forecast the effect of different pricing strategies on sales and revenues. Analysis of data from various sources can be used to adjust prices in real time based on market conditions and customer behaviors. 

5. Lengthening customer lifecycles

Across the funnel, GenAI is poised to help sales teams optimise their processes to drive productivity. It can identify inefficiencies and bottlenecks and suggest ways to address them. 

Beyond the initial sale, GenAI can help with ongoing relationships with customers. Customer data can be assessed to determine when and how to communicate with existing customers and which customers to approach regarding upsell opportunities. This is important since it tends to be easier to sell to existing customers than to bring in new ones. 

When it comes to closing, GenAI can identify the best negotiation strategies and approaches to improve the likelihood of a conversion. 

AI-driven sales strategies  

Technology-backed sales processes can help sellers be more proactive and less reactive. Using AI correctly can help sales teams reduce administrative load and use data to send more effective recommendations about products and services leading to higher ROI. 

If you’re interested in learning more about sales transformation download our whitepaper, CRO Update: AI and Digital Sales Transformation. 

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Online meetings are rapidly becoming the new de facto standard.

Savvy sellers have discovered that the ability to quickly move a phone conversation online yields a richer, deeper interaction with prospects. It enables them to discuss, demo or present using a variety of resources. As a result, prospect engagement goes up, new opportunities emerge, and deals close faster.

That’s a competitive edge worth paying attention to—especially since only 58% of salespeople met or exceeded their quota last year. But right now, most sellers are barely tapping into online meetings because they don’t know how or when to best use them.

Salespeople need to be nimble and ready to pivot. In conversations, they must be able to quickly spot and capitalise on emerging opportunities. It’s even better if they can create these moments on their own.

That’s exactly what savvy sellers do with online meetings. During a phone call, when they spot a need or when inspiration strikes, they immediately suggest:

“Do you have a few minutes? How about we jump onto a quick online meeting?”

That’s sales agility at its best. The key to success with these impromptu online meetings is strategic spontaneity. Savvy sellers are prepared. They know the best times to suggest this option and they know how to do it, seamlessly. They know what they’ll ask, point out, suggest or clarify.

In short, they nail it! These savvy sellers create an “aha” moment that crystallises value and drives differentiation. When the conversation is over, they’ve established credibility, deepened the relationship and moved closer to a signed contract.

1. FOCUS ON PURPOSE

What outcome do you want to achieve from jumping online with your prospect? Always start with this question, then craft a meeting plan that supports it. The best “purposes” are typically aligned with the various stages of a prospect’s buying cycle. These are the three main ones.

Pique Curiosity. If you’re prospecting, know that more than 90% of the people you contact are reasonably satisfied with their status quo— whatever that might be. When you connect, your objective is to get the prospect so interested that they want to learn more—either now or in very short order.

Drive a Commitment to Change. Once you’ve piqued your prospect’s curiosity, their next step is to determine if it makes sense to change. This is your opportunity to help them determine their business case. It’s also a chance to explore the factors they need to consider if they do go ahead.

Close the Deal. When your prospect has decided that changing is worth it, your purpose shifts to that of showcasing why working with your company makes the most sense, provides the best value and is the least risky.

For lead follow-up, try to gauge where the prospect might be in their buying process by reviewing what they’ve downloaded from your website and the pages they’ve visited.

When you know your purpose, it’s time to identify when a “quick” online meeting can help you achieve it.

2. PINPOINT THE OPPORTUNITIES

When does it make sense to have an impromptu online meeting? Start by mentally identifying when it could be beneficial to jump online. Often visual elements are involved and referencing them while you’re talking enriches the conversation.

You might want to consider an impromptu online meeting to:

Spark a new idea. If your offering enables prospects to do something they hadn’t conceived of, pull up a graphic to trigger their thinking. You could also highlight relevant research or data that supports a change from the status quo.

Expand on concepts. Once prospects are ready to change, they want to discuss factors such as configuring the right solution and implementation issues.

Do a demo. Give your prospect a quick tour of your solution. Whether it’s an actual demo, screen shots, or animated, you can gauge their reactions.

Review in real-time. Any time there are questions or concerns re: proposals, pricing, layouts, design and more, the quickest way to resolve them is to jump online. When people post a need or comment regarding an issue you can solve, invite them to a virtual meeting. Again, they’re already online. They just need to be online talking to you!

Research shows that people remember 80% of what they see and do. Online meetings, much more than phone conversations, make you and your message more memorable and engaging.

3. ZERO IN ON VALUE

How can you get prospects to invest the time and energy needed to change from the status quo? It’s your toughest sales challenge. According to SBI, over 60% of forecast deals do nothing. That means you lose to “no decision” more than all other competitors combined.

If this happens to you, it’s likely you’ve been doing too much pitching, trying to differentiate your product/service from competitors. Forrester Research reports that only 13% of executive buyers believe that a salesperson can clearly show they understand customer business issues and articulate a way to solve them.

During your online meetings, focus in on what matters most to your prospects. Be very specific. Increasing sales and decreasing costs is far too generic. Pepper your conversations with value propositions like these:

• Increased sales productivity, enabling 30% more calls/day.
• Reduced customer churn by 2.9% in just six months.
• Stabilised workflow, eliminating 47% of overtime pay.

This is what prospects care about. This is why they’d change from the status quo. Use your online meeting to tailor the value to your buyer’s position.

Don’t get sucked into a “tell me about your [product/service]” conversation. Knowing about your leading-edge capabilities, unique methodologies and unbeatable service will not make people change from the status quo.

Instead, cut to the chase; make it abundantly clear about the value you can deliver to their organisation. That’s what gets people to buy.

4. LEAD CONVERSATIONS

How can you create a meaningful dialogue in a quick online meeting? Huthwaite’s research on 10,000+ reps in 30,000 sales calls revealed that the kind and quality of questions asked during a meeting had more impact on sales success than any other behaviour.

Asking questions allows you to showcase expertise, demonstrate concern, establish trust and build stronger relationships. Additionally, questions enable you to gauge a prospect’s level of interest, expand the possibilities, determine your strategy and find the right solution.

To take advantage of your limited time together during an online sales meeting, consider these suggestions:

Plan questions ahead of time. Brain research shows that it’s impossible to do two things at once. That’s why it’s imperative to figure out the best questions to ask and the right sequence before you initiate contact. Keep them in front of you, but feel free to go with the flow too—if it makes sense.

After asking a question, be quiet – especially if your intention is to make people think. The average salesperson feels compelled to jump in after 2-3 seconds, totally high-jacking the opportunity to learn critical information.

Wrap your questions in your expertise. Lead into them with phrases such as, “In working with other VPs of Sales, we find that …. Is this something you’re struggling with too? Or “In talking to other manufacturers, their three biggest priorities are … How do those priorities compare to yours?”

It’s your responsibility to lead the conversation—and the best way to do it is with thoughtful, provocative questions.

5. CREATE ENGAGEMENT

How can you be more collaborative? Online meetings give you a chance to interact in real time. They can be just as effective as actually sitting in your client’s office, getting a deeper understanding of their needs, and discussing their business challenges.

Here are some ideas to make impromptu online meeting more engaging:

Rather than you doing a demo, try highlighting how easy it is and pass control to your prospects. Let them do it themselves. Sampling simplicity makes them more likely to change.

Use different content. Don’t just show a presentation; change the info you share. Jump from a presentation, to a report, to a website. This on-thefly access to a variety of resources increases interest and involvement.

Bring your recommendations up on the screen and get your prospects’ input. Find out what they like/don’t like. Ask if the solution meets their needs or not— then make appropriate changes. This increases buy-in and the commitment to move forward.

Revise critical documents together. Invariably prospects want to make changes to your proposals, SOWs or contracts. It’s much simpler to actually work on the “same page” as your prospects instead of trying to talk about it. With today’s online contracts, it’s pretty easy to move from conversation to proposal to contracting.

This real-time collaboration capability is also highly useful for internal usage—especially when multiple people from your company are involved in the sales process. It’ll help you get things right before you suggest your prospect jump online for that quick meeting.

6. PICK THE RIGHT TECHNOLOGY

What’s the right tool for you to use? Today, 30.3% of sales professionals believe that the online meeting tools they’re using get in the way of sales, rather than helping. That’s not good because it reflects on your competence. The solution you choose can be critical to moving the conversation forward or closing the sale.

To select the right technology, ask yourself these questions:

How easy is it to initiate an online meeting? This is crucial. You need it to be seamless. There’s nothing worse than having to stop the conversation, figure out how to launch a meeting, send an invite, wait while your prospect downloads some software—and then runs into problems. You lose momentum, and your prospect loses interest. Plus, you get frazzled and all your best thinking evaporates into thin air.

Does it have the capabilities you need? When you start out, screen sharing might be all you need. But as you get more proficient you’ll want video capabilities. This makes you more real” to prospects, increases engagement, deepens relationships and drives more sales.

Be sure to check how easy it is to switch between the key documents, demos, or presentations that you want prospects to remember. Also, advanced users may want to highlight certain areas, swap presenters, record meetings and create presentations “on the fly” via new online whiteboarding.

What’s most important is that you select the right online meeting tool for your needs—and that it’s a no-brainer for both you and your prospect.

7. GET REALLY GOOD AT IT

Whether scheduled or impromptu, running a flawless meeting is a skill that needs to be learned. While it may be simple to do, when you’re talking to an interested prospect on the phone it’s easy to flub things up. That’s the last thing you want to happen.

Instead, you want to come across as the true professional you are.

Here’s how you can prep for the maximum impact:

Set the stage. Sloppy desktops make you look disorganized, so get yours cleaned up. Shut down any pop-up messaging too. Or, if your tool allows, select the window-sharing option in addition to full screen sharing.

Know what’s in your virtual briefcase. Being able to quickly locate the exact document, image, PowerPoint slide or resource reflects on your professionalism.

For video meetings, it’s crucial to have appropriate surroundings, de-cluttered workspaces and good lighting. Make sure your webcam mic is clear enough; otherwise, get a headset. Put your computer at eye level so you’re looking directly at the camera. Maintaining eye contact is essential for relationship building.

Do mock meetings with your colleagues. Practice logging on, sending an invite, doing a demo, passing the presenter role and re-taking control. Once you’re proficient, have a colleague role-play someone who’s new to online meetings—like a potential customer. That way you’ll be prepared for that scenario too.

Remember, your prospects judge your competence in every interaction. This is one more opportunity to prove you’re an invaluable resource.

8. FINALISE NEXT STEPS

So now you have zeroed in on business value. You’ve asked great questions. Your prospect is highly engaged. In fact, they’re oohing and aahing about what you’ve covered. It feels like you’ve nailed it.

But have you? It’s easy to get seduced at this point—especially if prospects start asking you all sorts of detailed questions. Sometimes it’s good to put the brakes on to find out what’s really happening.

Try asking, “It sounds like you’re really interested in changing. Help me understand the business case from your perspective.”

If they can clearly articulate it, find out what the next steps are to move the decision forward. Who else needs to be involved? What criteria needs to be considered? How will it be implemented? Or, suggest what you see typically happening: “Based on my experience

working with other companies, the next step is …”

If your prospect can’t articulate the business value, you’ll need to spend more time here. Again, suggest a logical next step: “Usually, at this point, we need to (engage other individuals, do more research, etc.) to determine if it makes sense to move ahead. Let’s get that on the calendar.”

Don’t leave an online meeting without a clear action step. Know what you’re doing next and get commitment from your prospect regarding their responsibilities.

9. TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL

How can you get even better leveraging impromptu online meetings? It’s great to be able to quickly jump online with a prospect, but it’s even better when you move from proficiency into mastery. Many service providers today offer the ability to record your meetings—and it’s definitely something you’ll want to take advantage of.

Initially, when you replay your meeting, you’ll find all sorts of personal flaws that will drive you nuts. You’ll hate your voice. You’ll notice every mistake. You’ll realize you weren’t looking at the camera. Note all these and work on getting better.

But then, go deeper. Ask yourself questions like:

• If you were a prospect, how would you feel?
• How was the overall flow? Did it make sense?
• Did you focus on value or get lost in the details?
• Were you able to advance the sales process? If not, what happened?
• Did you miss any important points?
• How else could you have created a better experience?

It’s a good idea to review the recording by yourself first. But that’s not sufficient if you want to really master this tool. If possible, get feedback from your colleagues or boss. Peer coaching is one of the best ways to make giant leaps in performance. Mastery is possible, especially when you get input from others.

THE KNACK OF NAILING IT

There’s great triumph in nailing an online meeting. Striking while the iron is hot enables you to quickly capitalise on an opportunity and moves you one step closer to closing the deal. It sets you apart from competitors, deepens credibility, crystallises value and builds relationships. It can even create new opportunities that didn’t exist before you said:

“Do you have a few minutes? How about we jump onto a quick online meeting?”

As we’ve shown, the key to successful impromptu online meetings is being planful and prepared— strategic spontaneity. That’s what sales agility is all about.

Start by picking just one scenario where an online meeting could add value to your sales process. Then, review the suggestions in this article, and get going. You’ll get better as you experiment with this tool. You’ll have richer interactions, greater connections and even more opportunities. Before long, you’ll be nailing it all the time too.

The post 9 Strategies To Improve Online Sales Meetings And Close More Deals appeared first on Head Of Sales.

So how can you ensure it’s a success? By studying and replicating what top sellers are doing. To start, top sellers spend lots of time preparing for this critical first meeting. They research their prospects in depth. Then, they scrutinise the research looking for ways that they can add value with their products or services.

Here are three critical reasons why most sellers don’t ever make it past the first meeting:
1. They don’t invest enough time preparing for the meeting.
2. They don’t understand the components of an effective initial sales meeting.
3. They focus on their own offering—not the prospective customer’s business needs.

For these reasons, prospective buyers will respond in the following ways:

“Thanks for your time; if we ever need one we’ll give you a call.”
“We’ll think about it and get back to you.”
“It’s not exactly what we were looking for.”

What steps are necessary to pass the first test with an important account and get invited back for a second meeting?

STEP 1 – CONDUCT PRE-MEETING RESEARCH

Prior to meeting with a prospect, it’s critical to invest time understanding their business. Start your information gathering and planning early enough to give you time to create an effective meeting plan.

Start by checking out their website. Look at the “about” section; that’s where companies list important announcements and post financial results. Read the company’s annual report to identify where they’re headed and what their future priorities are. Do an online search for recent articles about them in the press.

Then, go to LinkedIn to find out about the people you’re meeting with. What are they responsible for? Do you have any connections, interests or groups in common? Look for other people you can meet with too; you never want one person to be your sole lifeline for a sales opportunity.

If the person you’re meeting with contacted your company, check out what they’ve done on your website. Did they download any special reports, watch any videos, etc.? Use this context to plan your approach.

Here are seven things to look for while you’re doing research. They’ll help you understand your prospect’s business better.

Primary business: What industry are they in and how do they help their customers?

Business unit/division: How is the company divided? What is the role of each division? Where’s the best fit?

Market segment: Who is their target audience? What characteristics make up their ideal customer profile?

Financial position: Are they growing or shrinking? Borrowing money or cash rich?

Their customers: Who are some of their customers and what are their success stories?

Key strategic initiatives: What specific objectives are they trying to achieve?

Industry trends: What is the growth pattern in the industry? How are the buying patterns changing?

STEP 2 – DETERMINE YOUR POSITIONING

After completing your research, identify where you might have a positive impact on your targeted company. While it’s tempting to say that there’s no way to know until you have a conversation, that’s not the way it works anymore.

Today’s busy, savvy and well-educated buyers expect you to have some idea of the difference you can make prior to meeting with them. And, while you can’t know the specifics of how you can help them, by doing the research you’ll have some good ideas.

The key is to leverage what you know from working with similar companies to set the stage for your conversation and your questions. You need to bring fresh ideas, insights and information to the meeting. When you do, your prospects will be more than willing to do a needs assessment with you. But they need to know you’ve invested time learning about them before they open up to you.

Based on your research of your prospect’s organisation as well as similar companies, think about these questions:

• How are they handling things today without your product or service? What is their status quo?
• What kinds of problems or challenges might they be facing because of how they’re currently doing things?
• Because of their current status quo, what gaps might exist between where they are today versus where they want to be?
• Looking at the problems, challenges or gaps that may be present, what are the potential business implications? (This is important!)
• If this company used your products or services, what business value would they realize? (At this point, it’s a guess. But, if you’ve done your homework you should have some ideas.)
• What difference could your product or service make? (Net it out to the best of your ability, making sure you’re focused on key business drivers that your prospect is measured on.)

STEP 3 – PLAN YOUR QUESTIONS

Good questions are one of the best ways to demonstrate that you’re committed to helping your prospect achieve their goals. They show you care about them, which is important because most people think sellers only care about their commissions.

You’ll want to ask questions that:

• Uncover info about your prospect’s objectives as well as the status quo relevant to your product/services.
• Identify (or confirm) issues, problems, difficulties and obstacles they’re facing that would prevent them from achieving their goals.
• Determine the business ramifications of these challenges.
• Explore the business case for making a change

STEP 4 – DEFINE THE MEETING OUTCOME

As a result of this meeting, what is the logical next step? Research into sales success shows that if you’ve defined an appropriate desired outcome prior to the sales meeting, you’re much more likely to achieve it.

While you might want to walk away with a signed contract, the likelihood of this happening from just one meeting is slim to none. So don’t set yourself up for failure; plan on having multiple conversations from the beginning.

Think process. Today’s buyers don’t make snap purchase decisions. First they need to determine if it’s even worth the effort to change from what they’re currently doing. They’ll likely involve multiple people in this discussion. And, unless it makes good business sense, they’ll stay with the status quo.

Once people decide to change, they need to look at multiple options to ensure they make the right decision.

Use your typical buyer’s journey as a guideline for determining the appropriate and best outcome for your meeting. Here are some “next steps” that you could suggest:

• Meeting with another person involved in the buying process.
• Analysis of a specific situation or problem.
• Demonstration of your product or service.
• Proposal with your recommendations.

STEP 5 – PLAN THE MEETING AGENDA

Good meetings focus on your buyers and what’s most important to them—not your product, service or solution.

The following meeting agenda works well for both in-person or phone conversations. Thinking about what you’ll do ahead of time matters. It gets you clear on where you’re headed. It ensures that you stay on plan and on message, which is exactly what it takes to advance to the next step.

Strangely enough, it also enables you to be more flexible during the meeting. You can be curious about new information you learn, without losing track of where you’re ultimately headed.

Use this sample agenda as a guideline, not an absolute. The timeframes below assume a one-hour meeting.

(1) OPEN THE CONVERSATION (5-10 MINUTES)

Buyers don’t have a lot of time for meaningless chitchat and relationship building these days. Be cordial and friendly, but business-focused at all times.

Make the introductions

Take a few minutes to learn about the responsibilities of the people in the meeting. If others are present, make sure to introduce yourself and learn their names. Find out why they’re attending and what interests they have relative to the business issue.

Confirm times and agenda

Before you get started, double check to see if times have changed since you set up the meeting. If your prospect has to run into an urgent meeting in 30 minutes, you need to adjust your game plan or reschedule for a future time. Reconfirm the purpose of the meeting also to ensure there are no misunderstandings. You might say, “As I explained earlier, we work with high tech firms to increase brand awareness and drive sales. In our time together today, I’d like to give you a little background on how we address these issues, find out what your company is doing in these areas and see if we have grounds for further discussions. How does that sound?” Notice the professionalism and leadership in this overview. It shows that you have a clear plan for the meeting. Buyers feel better immediately; they know their precious time won’t be wasted.

(2) LEAD THE DISCUSSION (40-45 MINUTES)

You want to create a dialogue—not make a pitch. Lay the groundwork by sharing information of high interest to your prospects. Then invite them into a discussion by asking questions that make them think.

Set the stage (5 minutes)

Your prospects will need more grounding about what your company does than the brief one-sentence description given above. When you arranged the meeting, something you said was enticing to this person.

Now is the opportune time to give a brief overview of the business results a specific client achieved with your product, service or solution. Explain the challenge your customer faced, how you helped them, and the results they achieved. Also share your position statement—your insightful ideas on how you can make a positive impact on their business.

Transition to questions (less than 1 minute)

As quickly as you can, shift the focus to your prospect—where it belongs. To do this, simply say, “That should give you a good overview about how we help our customers solve their problems (or achieve their objectives). The most important thing is to find out if this makes sense for your company. In preparing for today’s meeting, I noticed that (insert data re: company’s direction, trigger event, other info uncovered in research). I was wondering how …” Unless you plan your transition, it’s sometimes hard to stop talking—especially if your prospect is goading you on with questions about your product or service. Please realize that this most likely means they’re trying to rule you out. That’s why you need to lead the conversation and why effective transitions are so crucial.

Focus on business issues (35-40 minutes)

Prior to the meeting develop a minimum of ten insightful, powerful questions you can use to lead a business-focused discussion. Decision makers are always interested in talking about their business.

They wouldn’t be taking time to meet with you unless they truly wanted help solving their problems or achieving their goals.

Have the questions handy so you can refer to them. Your prospect will be impressed by how well you’ve prepared for the meeting. But don’t give them the list of questions or they’ll just rattle off the answers.

Ask your questions in a conversational manner—not like a schoolteacher giving an oral test. Questions build relationships, establish rapport, demonstrate your competence and show that you care.

Remember, this is a discussion—not a sales pitch. Listen to their answers. Be interested. Learn as much as you can. Take copious notes of everything that’s said —not just the parts you find interesting.

Always LEAN BACK. The moment you move forward, you’re pitching. The discussion is over and the push is on. Your prospect immediately puts up defensive barriers and raises objections. Getting the sale is going to be infinitely harder unless you immediately recover and get back into the discovery mode.

(3) ADVANCE THE PROCESS (5 – 10 MINUTES)

When you focus on questions, your one-hour meeting flies by. Even if your prospect seems oblivious to the time, it’s important not to overstay your welcome. Draw attention to the clock. See if you’re invited to stay longer. If not, it’s time to wrap up and advance to the logical next step.

Summarise your understanding

Since it usually takes multiple sales meetings to close a deal, don’t try to share everything you know, ask every question you want answered or hand out every piece of collateral in your briefcase at the initial meeting.

Instead, show your professional expertise by summarizing what you learned about their critical business issues and the value of resolving them.

Do not, under any circumstances, get into a discussion about your product or service. This will be the hardest thing in the whole world for you to do, but it’s essential. Remember, buyers don’t really care about your offering—only what it can do for them. They also realize that in a short one-hour meeting, you can’t possibly offer them a well thought out solution. They don’t expect one.

Suggest the logical next step

Then, without making a big deal of it, simply recommend a good option to move the process forward. This is the logical next step you were working toward from the onset.

You might say, “Usually when I work with companies on product introductions, the next step is to have a conversation with the product manager to get a better understanding of the launch plans already in place and where gaps might exist. Can we get a meeting set up with this person in the next couple weeks?”

If you’ve had a good discussion, it’s highly likely that your prospect will have already suggested a next step. If so, great! Get it on the calendar.

If your prospect missed an important step, offer it up as another idea: “Ms. Biggie, I’ll get going on your recommendation right away. Also, based on my experience, we need to talk with the IT department as well. Can we get that set up, too?”

Ending meetings like this advances the sales process to its next logical step. It’s honest and full of integrity. It’s just simply suggesting the next logical thing that you both need to do to determine if your offering is a good fit for their business.

The post 5 Steps To Master Sales Meetings appeared first on Head Of Sales.

Sales Directors, are you often at loggerheads with your marketing counterparts, being questioned about leads, MQLs, SQLs? Do you wish the conversation would shift to marketing helping you generate pipeline and revenue? If so, Account Based Marketing (ABM) could change your life – but a word of warning – it is not suitable for every organisation.

We are seeing ABM playing a strategic role in delivering growth and innovation here in Australia, but it requires close cooperation of business, sales and marketing leadership. Why? The overall business strategy forms the North Star for any future ABM programs.

This article aims to help you gain a basic understanding of “if” and “how” you and your Sales teams can benefit from ABM.

Sales Directors – how to help your marketers help YOU?

Account Based Marketing is a slightly outdated name for what we now see more accurately described as ABE “Account Based Engagement”.  What’s the difference between ABM/ABE and the traditional B2B marketing approach?

• Traditional B2B is about reaching your total addressable market and generating individual “leads”.
  
• ABM focuses time and resources on a handful accounts with high revenue potential – consistently developing and nurturing relationships with multiple stakeholders across the account – over time. ABM/ABE is about achieving the “Collective yes”.
  

Another major difference lies in the approach: ABM is NOT something marketing “does to sales”. ABM is all about close Sales and Marketing collaboration throughout the process. This is often the biggest hurdle to remove when starting with ABM, as the two organisations sometimes tend to operate in siloes.

ABM enables modern B2B marketers to play a strategic role in delivering revenue growth and innovation but demands a lot more of them – to be successful, marketers need to understand not just the value proposition, but also your sales cycles, processes, points of entry, barriers, and more. This is a great opportunity for Sales to open channels of communications, mentor your marketers and bring them into the fold – believe me, they will enjoy being part of the Pipeline and Revenue generating gang! What can you do to help?  Firstly, start including your marketers in your Account planning, QBRs, some forecast calls, and wherever possible – have them present during conversations with customers and prospects.

Understanding each other’s challenges will make it much easier to align your KPIs and to collaborate. 

ABM – what it is, what it is not

While there are a few interpretations of ABM, the main objective is very clear: Generate revenue & increase footprint in Target Enterprise Accounts, by growing relationships, reputation & trust. After practicing ABM for 7 years here in Australia and New Zealand, my short definition of ABM is as follows:

“Account Based Marketing helps companies that sell complex solutions into Large Enterprise space focus their time & resources on developing relationships & trust in accounts that matter most.”

ABM harnesses deep account and contact insights to design tailored value proposition, treating each account (or an Account cluster) as market of one.

It is a LONG term, coordinated account centric approach to marketing and sales.

As ABM-ers, we are:
1. Focusing on few significant accounts that best resemble our “Ideal Customer Profile”.

2. Enabling Sales to engage, develop relationships and influence the entire decision-making committee.
“Lead” is a dirty word.  In ABM – we are focusing on ALL decisionmakers and influencers in the decision-making committee. Why? The inability to build consensus within the buying committee is likely to be a major obstacle to closing complex deals.

3. Tailoring marketing initiatives around client insights and their strategic objectives.This requires a deep research at an Account and Contact level – what are the strategic goals our solution can help solve at an account and individual level? What are the contacts’ KPIs, drivers and personal preferences? How can we incorporate those in our sales reach out, so that they resonate with the recipient well enough for them to let us build a strong relationship?

4. Marketing & Sales collaborate closely throughout the sales cycle to increase deal velocity and size and the Life-time value of the account. ABM is a team sport, and success is largely dependent on the quality of intel exchange and collaboration and ability to orchestrate initiatives based on the Target Account current needs.

Is ABM a good fit for your organisation?

It is proven that ABM can deliver substantial ROI by building trust, relationships, and reputation in high value accounts. But is it the silver bullet that will work for everyone?

The answer is no – ABM is certainly not a good fit for every organisation. Why? For ABM to deliver ROI, certain criteria must be met:

1.  You are selling complex solutions to Enterprise accounts (high value accounts)
2. Your sales cycles tend to be long and you are engaging and influencing multiple stakeholders (decision making committee).
3. Your deal size (or potential revenue) is large (in ANZ, typically 500k+) to justify the investment.

If your sales approach is largely transactional and you do not see a need to develop strong, long-term relationships in the organisations you are selling into, ABM is most likely not the right fit for you. In fact, using ABM in a transactional sales environment is a waste of time, effort, and resources.

Measuring success – how do we know it is working?

Since Marketing and Sales KPIs are aligned at the start of the ABM process, it is incredibly easy to measure success. As the picture below illustrates, we track the number of total opportunities, pipeline and revenue generated from ABM target accounts.

As you know, working with large Enterprise accounts with long term sales cycles (for example: a software platform solution for FSI vertical, with deal value between $3 and 15 million, with average sales cycle of 20 months), results will not appear overnight. We recommend setting up also interim KPIs related to improving relationships with key decision makers. You can measure increase in engagement, quality of relationships, penetration into new BUs etc.  

3 key takeaways:

1. Your overall business strategy is the North star of your ABM – if ABM is the right fit for your organisation, it provides a substantial opportunity to deliver revenue from high value accounts.
2. Marketing and Sales collaboration is crucial to the success of ABM.
3. Forget “leads”, revenue is the result of strong relationships and trust. ABM enables Sales to effectively engage and develop relationships with key stakeholders across the entire decision-making committee.

Hopefully this article has brought some clarity and basic understanding of ABM and whether you and your teams can benefit from it. ABM is a long term, coordinated account centric approach to marketing and sales, not a tactic, campaign or a sales method.

The post ABM – The Zero Waste Strategy For Revenue Growth appeared first on Head Of Sales.

Here are 7 of the best formulas that boost email reply rates. Each example highlights the language that shows each formula.

(1) Before-After-Bridge (BAB)

Before! Here’s your world now
After! Imagine what the world would be like if you solved this problem
Bridge! Here’s how to get there

Copy template below to email

(2) Problem-Agitate-Solve (PAS)

Problem! Identify a pain point
Agitate! Agitate that pain point
Solve! Offer a solution

Copy template below to email

(3) Star-Chain-Hook

Star! The big idea
Chain! A series of facts, sources, reasons, and benefits
Hook! The call to action

Copy template below to email

(4) Attention–Interest–Desire– Action (AIDA)

Attention! Grab the reader’s attention
Interest! Make it personal to engage their interest
Desire! Build desire for what you’re offering
Action! Ask for a response

Copy template below to email

(5) The 3-B Plan

Brevity! Keep it short
Blunt! Get to the point
Basic! Keep it simple
Give the reader a clear sense of who you are and what you want from them.

And get to the point quickly

Copy template below to email

(6) Praise-Picture-Push (3P’s)

Praise! Open with a sincere, respectful compliment
Picture! Use cause-and-effect reasoning to paint a picture describing how your product/service/idea will deliver
Push! Ask them to commit

Copy template below to email

(7) Awareness-Comprehension- Conviction-Action (ACCA)

Awareness! Present the situation or problem
Comprehension! Describe how it will impact them
Conviction! Create desire by explaining how your solution fixes the problem
Action! Ask for a response

Copy template below to email

Sourced from the e-book “10 Cold Email Formulas That Just Plain Work” produced by Yesware.

The post Email Templates To Engage New Customers appeared first on Head Of Sales.

You will want to hear this episode if you are interested in…

• How Seth distinguishes between career and work.
• Why Seth believes there is no such thing as writer’s block.
• What makes you an artist and how to find your voice.
• What people can do to start trusting themselves in their work.
• Why generosity cannot be transactional.
• What Seth sees as the job of the future.

Career vs. Work

I had a discussion with a friend recently regarding the difference between having a career and having what I consider my work. We didn’t necessarily agree about the distinction.

I asked Seth to clarify for me.

Seth replied that the subtitle of his book is “Ship Creative Work,” so he HAS to know how to define “work”. He defines it as something we don’t do as a hobby and something we don’t do for ourselves. It has to have an “otherness” to it as well as a level of professionalism. If we make something and call it our work, it is a reflection of our choices about how we decided to contribute to whatever situation that we are in.

Doing the work is a fulfilling way to spend one’s day. Your work is NOT your career. The word “career” implies that the industrial system is in charge of the arc of your work. More than ever before, many people don’t have careers — they have a series of projects that reflect THEIR choices, instead of what their employer decided they should do. Listen to this episode to hear this and several more of Seth’s revolutionary ideas. They are sure to cause a paradigm shift in the way you see things!

There is no such thing as writer’s block.

Many people believe writer’s block is real. Seth counters by saying there is no such thing. He says The Practice contains thirty to forty ideas that counter what people believe — writer’s block is one of those ideas. Writer’s block is really just fear of bad writing. If you’re willing to do bad writing, then good writing will slip through — it can’t be helped. When people say “I don’t have any ideas,” what they mean is they don’t have any guaranteed-to-work ideas.

Seth believes that creativity is a professional practice just as much as any other professional practice. Professionals show up every day. They don’t wait for the muse or the right emotions or “flow”. They don’t know if it’s going to work. They just DO the work. They can’t be the critic or determine what will create value for someone. They just have to put it out there consistently and see what happens. Listen to hear more about the fascinating views Seth shares on creativity, consistency, and value!

What is Seth selling?

Seth says that with this latest book, he wants to sell people on finding their potential to contribute to our culture in a way they are proud of. To stop hiding and whining and scamming. To start trusting themselves. To start showing up and creating art with generosity. And to learn that trust is worth WAY more than attention on social media.

There are so many fantastic ideas we touched on that I can’t even begin to tell you about them all here. You’re going to want to hop on the podcast and listen to this episode to get all the wisdom Seth shares!

Resources & People Mentioned

• The Practice: Shipping Creative Work by Seth Godin
• The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
• Free: The Future of a Radical Price by Chris Anderson

Connect with Seth Godin

• Seth’s Website
• Seth’s Amazon Author Page 
• Follow Seth on Medium
• Follow Seth on Twitter
• Follow Seth on Instagram
• Follow Seth on Facebook
• Seth can be found on LinkedIn at Akimbo Workshops and altMBA

The post Selling with Seth Godin (Podcast) appeared first on Head Of Sales.

Here are 17 sales truths and why understanding each one helps you win more deals.

(1) Everyone is overwhelmed. 

Focus only on what’s relevant, actionable and valuable to your prospect. Minimize complexity. 

(2) Your prospects are pretty OK with what they’re doing now.

If they weren’t, they’d have already changed. Your  job is to help them see why it’s worth doing things differently. 

(3) Prospects don’t like change. 

Crazy-busy people don’t want MORE work. Help them envision how your solution will get them to their goals with greater ease. 

(4) It’s your responsibility to pique curiosity. 

Experiment with creative ways to get people to say, “Hmm. That’s interesting. I’d like to learn more.”

(5) Your ideal prospects have a lot in common. 

Leverage what you already know about your customers to ask better questions, deepen conversations and establish credibility. 

(6) Prospects want to deal with experts. 

Demonstrate familiarity with your prospects’ business, processes, industry, issues and challenges to set yourself apart from the competition. 

(7) Assume responsibility when you fail. 

If your prospects buy from another vendor or decide to do nothing, analyse what you could have done differently. If you don’t learn from your mistakes you’re guaranteed to repeat them. 

(8) 50% of your forecasted deals won’t close. 

(That’s about average.) To exceed your goals, ruthlessly inspect your pipeline to eliminate “hope” and fix lurking deal killers. Clear out “dud” opportunities to make room for real ones. 

(9) Prospects act in their own self interest. 

If they can’t see how they will win by making a change, they won’t take the risk. Ask them how they’re evaluated. Explore how your product/service helps them achieve their goals. 

(10) Prospects will struggle to get buy-in. 

Arm them with the tools they’ll need. Prep them about the common obstacles. Help them facilitate change conversations with internal stakeholders. 

(11) You’ll hit the world’s worst traffic snarl on your way to a big meeting. 

Give yourself ample (2x) time to arrive stress-free. Get there early. Review your strategy. It’s the only way to be at the top of your game.

(12) Technology will fail. 

Have Plan B ready to go. Have handouts to support presentations. Prepare to jump on a white board to facilitate a conversation … Hey! That might even be a better idea in the first place!

(13) People will use devices during meetings. 

Think about how you’ll get them so engaged that they won’t want to. 

(14) Buyers won’t remember anything. 

After a phone or in-person conversation, follow up with a summary of key points and next steps. Take the burden off of them. 

(15) Your top accounts are at-risk. 

Bring fresh ideas, insights and information to help your customers achieve their goals. It’s the single best way to keep your competitors at bay. 

(16) Buyers don’t know how to buy. 

Review typical hurdles your customers had to overcome at each phase of their buying process. Ask how “similar” decisions were made—from concept to signed contract. 

(17) Your contact will leave the company, get downsized or go on an unexpected medical leave. 

To protect yourself from a shake-up, make sure you have multiple relationships in an account. Never leave your future in the hands of one person.

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