Episode 149: Best of Masterclass

Intro  00:00

Welcome to the Making Sales Social podcast, featuring the top voices in sales, marketing, and business. Join Brynne Tillman and me, Bob Woods, as we each bring you the best tips and strategies our guests are teaching their clients, so you can leverage them for your own virtual and social selling. Enjoy the show.

Bob Woods  00:00

Thanks for joining us for this special episode of The Making Sales Social Podcast throughout the year, we at SSL hold monthly or twice-a-month masterclasses for our membership. During the sessions, we host the top voices in sales, marketing, and business as they share their expertise with our members. 

There’s a big difference between our masterclasses and our Making Sales Social interview episodes, though, during our master classes, attendees get to ask questions of our special guest speakers, and we really get to dive in deep into the subjects that they’re presenting. 

In this Special Making Sales Social episode, we’ll bring you the highlights from some of those masterclass sessions we held throughout 2022. And at the end of this episode, I’ll share how you can access both live and on-demand master classes for free. 

First off today, Liz Heiman of Regarding Sales joined us back in March, her main subject was on using the funnel to manage your sales work. In this clip, Liz discusses how the sales solutions at many companies are nothing more than a black box and why a company should turn that thinking around and be fanatical about it instead.

Liz Heiman  01:46

So today, we’re talking about being fanatical about your funnel. So fanatical focus on your funnel. And I’m really serious. I think that just kind of keeping a list or checking your CRM or throwing things in just doesn’t work, we really need to be fanatical. And so, one more thing about me, my mission is to take the mystery out of sales and to make sales manageable and predictable. And this tool, the funnel, is the number one secret thing to make that happen. 

For most people in most organizations, sales is a black box, like stuff comes in, and I forget to call, I forget to follow up, I don’t update it, I lose it. It’s everywhere. I’m trying hard to manage all this stuff, and it’s just chaos. It’s just this black box. And a lot of times with an organization, with a company with many salespeople, it’s really a black box because the CEO and the sales leader have no idea what’s going on. And what I believe is that your funnel should give you visibility into your sales situation. So at any time, I know what’s going on. 

If that’s what your funnel is, why do you need to be fanatical about it? Why would I use that crazy word? Why fanatic? Well, if you want to hit your goals, if you want to avoid surprises, if you want to keep your leads moving, and if you want to stay proactive, you must be fanatical about your funnel. You have to focus on the information and keep it updated. Look at it, know what’s going on because that gives you the ability to hit your goals,to avoid surprises, to keep things moving and to stay productive. 

So what does this mean? What does it mean to be fanatical? Okay, so here you’re not going to believe I’m going to say this, but I’m actually gonna say this, the very first thing you do when you turn on your computer before if you have another piece of paper, that’s also fine. Before you check your email as you open up your funnel, and you see what’s going on. What do I have to do today that’s important? What can I absolutely not forget to do in order to close business because we’re not closing business, we have no money, and when we have no money, we have all kinds of problems. 

So even if you’re crazy busy delivering work, you still have to make sure you keep the funnel process going. Being fanatical means every time you have a conversation, that funnel or CRM gets updated with the notes or the email that got sent or what your next actions are. You put information in that helps you. If you had a conversation, you put that information in there. So I’ve had people literally say to me when I send them an email, and I say last time we talked, this was going on, did you get that result? How’s that going? And it may not even be related to what we were trying to sell them. It may be, you know, kind of related. And they’ll say to me, “You must have one heck of a CRM if you can remember what we talked about last time.” And you know what? I do! I have one heck of a CRM that tells me exactly what our last conversation was. 

Every time I have a meeting. I take notes, and those notes go in the CRM, whether I cut and paste them in or whether I type them into the CRM or into the Excel spreadsheet or Smartsheet, or whatever tool you use. And here’s one of the most important things, it is seriously critical. As soon as I finish talking to a client or emailing a client, I add my next action because if I do it now, I remember what I need to say, who I need to say it to, what I need to have happen, if I don’t put my next action in, as soon as I finish talking, guess what happens the next time I go to call that person? I have no idea what I was going to talk to them about. So what do I say? Classic? What do you say, “I’m just calling to follow up.” Because I can’t remember what we talked about last night. You never want to say “I’m just calling follow up,” you always want to be able to speak to them about what’s important to them and what they’re worried about and the only way we can do this simply is if we put the information in the CRM, and seriously put your next action, call Joe Smith, at such and such company, ask him about this.

Bob Woods  06:03

We talk a lot about using video and sales and how it’s really the next best thing. In September, the team from Dubb, the video sales system, joined us to discuss the many different aspects of using video for sales. First up, Ruben Dua from Dubb talked about the lack of trust in the sales process and how using video can help salespeople to make a true trustworthy connection with prospects and clients alike. 

Ruben Dua  06:33

There was a paradox that I realized, which is that people in sales, a lot of the time are not necessarily trusted, they’re not necessarily welcomed. They’re not necessarily embraced. In fact, a lot of the time there’s a wall, there’s a barrier, there’s a hand that’s blocked right into their face, talk to the hand, not to the face, you know, and the reason why this exists is because of trust. It exists because of that “stranger danger” issue. It exist because maybe people have been burned in the past, maybe people have been manipulated, taken advantage of and it’s not just by salespeople, it could be anyone and I think that, you know, as a sales professional as a sales leader, which I think we all are, you know, this is one of those paradoxes that we really have to be cognizant about, and figure out ways to overcome frankly, and it’s not an easy thing to do, right? 

And where I’ve sort of landed with this is that if we do not adopt this idea of making a human connection, really being empathetic, understanding the person’s needs, understanding their hopes, their fears, you know, figuring out ways that we can sort of adhere to their energy. If we cannot accomplish those things, we’re gonna have a really hard time. If we can accomplish those things. I think we’re going to do really, really well in sales, right. And I think the video is one of the most powerful ways to accomplish this.

Bob Woods  08:02

To really do video though, a lot of salespeople have to address their fear of getting in front of the camera and sending video messages. Dubbs, Rob Botts had some ideas behind that, and what the benefits are from using video in sales.

Rob Botts  08:19

The big thing that happens a lot of the time is “Oh my God, I’ve got to record something, oh, what am I going to do? What am I wearing? How’s my lighting, how’s everything?” so many thoughts go through your head, if you’re being too critical of yourself when you’re getting ready to have this, this moment on video and the thing that you’ve got to remember in sales is, you know, when you’re feeling afraid like this, it usually comes from a couple of reasons. 

One could be self-esteem. All right, you know, you have something maybe you’ve heard over the years about yourself, and it just sticks with you and it just sticks with you and it’s the first thing you think of when you see yourself on video and you have to change that. There’s ways to do that. What to say, right? What do I say? “Oh, man, Am I on camera? I’m on now? What am I going to say?” And that’s a big fear with people, because am I going to present my message? Well, I’m not a writer, how do I know what to say? So that’s a big one. 

And the last one is shyness, putting yourself out there. It’s not the easiest thing to do in the world where you’re like, “oh, wow, I want to let people see me.” Well, that’s a little scary. So there’s that shyness there that could be even with an extrovert. There’s a level of shyness, sometimes it comes down even though it doesn’t come right through the top. So those are like the top three things when you think about being afraid to be on video. 

Now, once the fear has subsided, all right, we were looking at a couple of things here. Now the problem with not using video. That’s the big one. All right. So the problem is you’re not making an impression. Like you see the little fella down there at the bottom of the bag over there. Well, that’s pretty much what it’s like. It’s like, “well, am I making any connection at all right now?” No, not at all. Nothing, zero. So there’s no impression made and that’s one of the biggest things you want to do in sales is make an impression because it doesn’t go further. If you don’t do that. There’s no trust a lot of the time if you’re not on video, you’re almost hiding behind the text letters of what you’re sending. 

There’s no personality in that there’s no connection with that at all. So that immediately tamps down the trust factor, which you cannot do when you’re trying to make an impression in sales. And the last part, which is big, and sales were all about, listen, we love people, we love humans, we love connecting, but we’ve got to convert. That’s a big part of the reality of sales. So it’s a very careful dance and the video does a great job of addressing these issues. But if you’re not going to use video, no impression, no trust, no conversion. That’s just the reality of it. 

Now, as far as the benefits of using video, here we go. This is my favorite of the benefits. Alright, so now we know that stuff, let’s talk about what’s awesome. Okay. First of all, it’s personal. When I’m talking to you, right now, you don’t get much more personal than this. You get to hear my cadence, how I’m speaking my mood, you can see me, it’s just so much more of an effect on someone when you’re making that connection with video. Impactful. I mean, having an impact is one of the most important things you can do in sales because if you don’t have an impact, you’re immediately forgettable and it’s on to the next. 

The other thing about videos, too, it’s very efficient. You could spend all day trying to craft the most perfect email you’re going to send and no one even reads it. With video, you’re able to speak right from the heart stick to your point. And some of the features in technology. We have Dubb to help you do that as well but those are the main benefits of video.

Bob Woods  11:22

Next is Steven Farber of Take Flight Learning. Back in November, Steven discussed Selling Like a Chameleon and how salespeople can adjust their communications to fit the different types of behavior styles that they face when selling their products or services.

Steven Farber  11:39

I will say that initially, at first regard, this kind of seems at least to me, because of my personality style seems a little like “Are we trying to be sneaky? Are we trying to be somebody we’re not?” And that is the last thing that chameleon selling is. When we want to sell like a chameleon. I’m just kind of start over here. This is what a chameleon seller is not. We are not being fake. Not the goal of chameleon selling. Chameleon selling is not being deceitful. It is not being a Trixie Hobbit. Okay, my LOTR fans, and the last thing it is, is being misleading or dishonest. 

Let me tell you what chameleon sellers are. This is what we exude. When we pick up the qualities of a chameleon seller, we immediately create this credibility for new prospects, and that’s very hard to do when you’re meeting somebody for the first time is to immediately walk in with credibility. Unless you’re doing something like our good friends here at Social Sales Link teach coming in with a referral, always come in with a referral if you can but if you don’t have that, how do you immediately build credibility?

We’ll chameleon selling is how you do that.  Becoming a pillar of trust to new clients and buyers. So the people that you’ve just boarded, we don’t want to be that salesperson or just disappear, never show up again, “Good. We got the sale, we’re out” because that looks bad. And even though you may not realize that people do talk about that behind your back, the last thing a chameleon seller is is that person, rather than that we are those pillars of trust. 

Chameleon sellers and this is probably if you catch anything, catch this, we exude a natural confidence and it’s unique to each person that we approach and that’s the key to building credibility as a chameleon seller is knowing how to speak to each person in their unique way. This is where it starts getting fun. And then finally, we want to be the no-brainer choice when somebody else comes knocking. I think about my days when I was in facility sales, that was my background. Competition was horrifying for me. I would do all this work just to get something and then all of a sudden, somebody came in, it’s like, “Hey, you gotta call Hey, yeah, I know, we just signed this 60-month contract. We’re gonna go and cancel that we’re within that 90 Day cancellation window, right?”

That’s a terrible call to get no matter who you are. And being a chameleon seller prevents that from happening because you’re not just seen as the sales guy or the sales girl, or what have you. You’re seen as the person that they trust, even a friend. How do you identify the behavioral style when you first meet a stakeholder? When you meet a decision maker, you may not even know if this person is involved in the process. You just happen to get this meeting however it happened. What we want to do is we want to look at a couple of things. The ones that I picked, our tone, their handshake, if you’re able to shake their hand I know a lot of us are still virtual, what this specific style bonds with and what you’re going to lose them with. 

So let’s start with eagles. Eagles, they have a very direct tone, they’re to the point. They’re no-nonsense, they get right to it. So when you meet an eagle keep that in mind. Their handshake is going to be very strong and I just put that up there a little too early but you bond with an eagle by exuding confidence yourself because Eagles naturally exude confidence. They know they arrived, they know they got it. When we talk about goals that are like their thing. If it’s not, you know, yeah, sure big risks and things like that for an eagle it is worth it. Whereas if you give a risk to an owl, it’s not going to be a risk by the time they get done with it, they’re going to have analyzed it into oblivion, plan A plan B, and there’s 24 other letters in the alphabet, right? And finally, if you want to lose an eagle, when you meet them for the first time, you can do that by being indirect, not getting to the point, kind of beating around the bush, they don’t have time for that they’re very busy people, they keep themselves busy, again, very fast paced, very to the point.

Let’s go to a parrot. Parrots are going to be a little different. That tone is going to be very enthusiastic. Parrots get this specific word that our CEO America likes to say they are pizzazz machines, PI-Z-Z-A-Z-Z really fun word. Even as an alum myself, I think that’s hilarious. Parrots handshakes are going to be very energetic. All right, they’re very happy to see you and parrots are the only ones that don’t really have to shake their hand, shake your hand, they can be halfway across the room, like, “Hey, how’s it going?” Parrots don’t need that, they will greet you from wherever you are, if you’re within a distance. Bonding with parrots is a little different than an eagle, an Eagle, you get right to the point a parrot, they’re actually very open to sharing stories and experience. We’ve all heard that old sales phrase, you know, features, tell stories sell with a parrot, 100% true, if you can somehow bring up a story that bridges an experience to the one that you’re trying to paint for them, they will love you for it, and they will champion you. And one thing I didn’t have time to put in here is parrots are your buy in masters. 

So if you’re trying to champion someone in an organization, you know, the average for decision makers is 6.5, which I was originally told by Jeb Blount is a really stupid statistic. But for the most part, you have a lot of people that are making decisions in an organization. If you can find a parrot, and identify a parrot and champion them, they’re the ones who are going to get the buy-in from everybody else a lot easier than you would anyone else. So the inspirational birds. And finally, if you want to lose a parrot, just be negative, talk smack about the competition, which is super easy to do. By the way, even if you’re doing a terrible job, bringing negativity into the parrot meeting is not going to be a good thing. It’s not going to go well for you. 

Now, talking about a dove, we’re going to kind of come back to this reserved pace, the tone of a dove is going to be soft, it’s going to be more welcoming, more warmth, but not with that intensity or that enthusiasm that comes from the eagle or the parrot. The handshake of a dove is going to be very connective. And I will say, you know it is a falsity to think that people with this style have a limp handshake. So it’s very firm in its own way. I will say that not all doves do double-handed handshakes but only doves do double-handed handshakes. you bond with doves by using emotional language a lot more than you would the other styles. 

If you walk into an Eagles office and you start using emotional pain is kind of your lead in, they may not really care because that’s kind of not getting to the point, with a dove, you got to explain why this hurts people why this hurts their team and doves are going to be the singular style that cares more about the happiness and livelihood of others than they do themselves which that can really create problems if they don’t keep that in check because they they tend to be the ones that say no on the inside, rather than on the outside and that can really hurt them but again, when you’re speaking with a dove who was either that stakeholder or decision maker, you got to speak with emotional language. And if you want to lose a dove, be pushy, they will shut down faster than you can even imagine. And the worst part is, you won’t even see it. 

Doves are masters of these inner experiences that they have. We like to call them “implosions” if they’re stressed or if they don’t agree with you, you’ll never know it unless you are just a master of reading people and even then you may not because you will have shut them down from the inside. And finally moving over to the owl style. When you go to. It’s funny because we do this exercise when we train people, we have everybody stand up and we have them introduce themselves. 

You know, okay, everybody act like you’re all eagles and start introducing yourself. So you get these very firm, like, “Oh, hi, nice to meet you. Hi, I’m Steven, nice to meet you. I’m Brynne, nice to meet you.” We move over to parrots and the room explodes. You have chest bumping and high fives going on. You go to Doves. It’s a little quieter, it’s a little more connected. You go to Owls and the owls don’t even know how to do it. They’re like how am I supposed to do this? That’s because owls are so analytical that they overanalyze themselves but typically when you get to an owl that tone is going to be very controlled, very almost professional, which is mimicking their handshake. You know, “Hi, how are you doing? I’m Steven Farber, nice to meet you.” You bond with an owl by using accuracy and details, facts, logic. You do not want to use emotional language with an owl they don’t care. They actually have a harder time when we talk about emotional intelligence. They’re the ones that will most easily detach from a situation which isn’t necessarily healthy, but it’s very easy for them to do.

As an owl myself, emotions aren’t very moving to me, I do better at understanding those, but you can’t expect someone you’ve just met to care about why this might be a morale booster, or why this will really raise cultural opinion. The owl wants to know a lot like the eagle, what’s the bottom line process? But they want to know what efficiency is going to drive it? What’s the return on investment? Can you show me? Can you walk me step by step through how this is going to work? You have to take your time with that. And finally, you know, everyone here has probably guessed it. When it comes to an owl, how do you lose them? You have to be vague, don’t get to the point, be indirect, don’t share details. And again, you won’t know just like with a dove, and owls will probably won’t show that they don’t care. It’s all very, very internalized.

Bob Woods  20:49

Becoming a success in business today isn’t simply about being great at what you do. It’s about rethinking a whole new way of doing business. Business leaders can’t be successful without a shift in thinking. In October, noted author, podcaster, and speaker Jayne Warrilow. Detailed our future in the landscape of business, and how things are already looking quite a bit different.

Jayne Warrilow  21:16

Our future will be shaped and defined by our clients, they are the ones in control now. Our industry, whatever industry you’re in, your profession will be shaped by what it is your customers and your clients want from you. So I see this, like this metaphor. If your business were a car, it’s racing off down the track at 100 miles an hour, and you’re not even at the wheel your clients are. So what does this mean? Well, it means that there’s no doubt there’s going to be winners and losers. As a consequence of these changes, we’re already seeing a polarization in the marketplace. So if clients are awakening our economy, we must respond or we’re going to fail to align our products and services with what is being demanded by them. 

The market is polarizing with commoditized office, which is those competing on price kind of racing to the bottom. And alternatively, those with a better quality of product or service, they’re the ones that are able to charge more and position themselves at the top of the market, where demand is still growing in many industries. It’s those in the middle who are struggling, because the middle of any market is always the most challenging place to be. 

So consumers today, they’re expecting business leaders to have a deeper sense of awareness. To be embodied leaders have some kind of conscious presence, right, create purpose-driven value, and facilitate real and meaningful transformation with their business. Meaning a systemic perspective and social impact. They want to vote with their hard-earned dollars for business that doesn’t just say their message, right. So it’s not enough to just have a purpose and talk about it in your marketing, you have to live it in everything that you do. 

Now, our clients also have this expectation for immediacy, and instant gratification, short-term wins. So if clients have a problem, they want to find an immediate solution. And all it takes these days is a few taps on the keyboard to find any information that you need. So but this creates an opportunity for us to narrow our focus and get more targeted about the work that we do to make it as easy as possible for potential clients to see us or our program or our product as a solution to their problem because that’s really where the positioning mechanism is working best right now. 

So gone are the days when you could relate to your professional role as merely a career choice. Today, it needs to be aligned with your why,  your purpose, your calling, and what this business is all about for you. Some would say your spiritual path, your deeper purpose and this doesn’t matter if you are a coach selling a service, or a manufacturer selling a widget. This is mission critical because in this new world, our awakening customers are demanding something that you know might feel very weird, it might feel very radical but in truth, it’s actually core for every one of us. Because they’re asking us to bring the humanity back into business. Because we all know we’ve lost it somewhere along the way. 

Our clients want transparency and deeper meaning, they want to know why you do what you do. What lies kind of beneath the transactions for you. What’s it all about? What’s your work in service of? They’re interested In a deeper narrative, from your purpose, and your soul’s calling, maybe if that’s the way you interpret it to a deeper purpose embodied in your life, not just your business, They want your business to also be a force for good in the world. In short, they’re asking business to awaken too, their asking you and your business to have a soul.

Bob Woods  25:25

These are highlights from just four of our masterclass sessions. Over the course of 2022 we at Social Sales Link produced a total of 23 master classes that had the same kinds of takeaways and “aha” moments. If you’d like to be in the know with not only live access to future master classes but on demand access to previous sessions, sign up for membership at socialsaleslink.com/library that address again is socialsaleslink.com/library. And remember, this is absolutely free. 

Here’s hoping your 2022 was a success for you, and that 2023 either meets or exceeds your expectations. I’m Bob Woods from Social Sales Link and when you’re out and about, make sure that you’re making your sales social.

Don’t miss an episode, visit socialsaleslink.com/podcast leave a review down below. Tell us what you think, what you learned and what you want to hear from us next, register for free resources at linkedInlibrary.com You can also listen to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Play. Visit our website socialsaleslink.com for more information.