The Sales Evangelist: Sales Training|Speaking|Business Marketing|Donald Kelly

In pretty much any team dynamic, some will perform at their best and some less than up-to-par. So how can we utilize our tech stack to help low-performers blossom into the great sellers we know they can be? In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by the CEO of Logik.io, Chris Shutts, to understand how to best manage and create strong sales teams. It’s commonplace for new sellers to struggle in complex industries. There’s often a massive difference between an experienced rep and a new hire, beyond what experience alone can account for in productivity and time-to-value ratio. Logik.io helps standardize sellers’ effectiveness to help everyone reach quotas and KPIs.  Buyers are becoming very particular in the way they interact with tools. In B2B transactions, people put up with complications. However, that impatience found in B2C transactions are moving into B2B. If your company can respond faster, your margin will grow. Technology helps guide the user. With Logik.io, they want feedback fr

Believe it or not, anyone can go from small-scale deals to multi-million dollar closes. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by sales and mindset coach Cheryl Parks to discuss how she gets the right people in the conversation to close large-scale deals. Believe in your own story: You don’t need to be the best salesperson; you need to be the best thing your customers dictate. If you don’t know the answer to something, toss the answer to someone else. Be honest and approach situations as needed. Starting the conversation with larger accounts:  In today’s environment, there are so many more opportunities. Sales is a treasure hunt, not a linear scenario. The insights you provide to a CEO or CFO mean more than just sending a case study or book; be the extra set of eyes and ears that provide concise thoughts. Large deals don’t happen overnight - you need to have conversations, talk to new people, and determine where they spend their time. Go to the companies you are loyal to, because you’

Unsurprisingly, most people work to get paid (a wild concept, I know.) Despite that, navigating and creating a proper pay scale for sales teams is a seemingly complex and difficult process. How can we create a pay scale that works for the organization and the workers themselves? In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by the CRO of LinkSquares, Steve Travaglini, to discuss what he does to strike a balance between these two sides.  Salary open for negotiation in sales roles doesn’t make sense. If you have two people doing the exact same job, they should be paid the same. Pay isn’t the way to motivate people. If you pay people differently, that will eventually get out and will result in a lack of trust in the organization. Base salaries should be standard across a job title, but allow the variable income (i.e. commission) to determine how much a seller’s skills allow them to make.  There should be no questions or ambiguous items when an employee signs a compensation agreement. Set the rule

Sellers often look for the newest tool, software, or strategy to find success and increase performance. However, improving the core elements of sales is often overlooked. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by Dan Zavorotny, the co-founder and COO of Nurtisense, to learn what elements every great sales team should integrate into their culture. Flexibility Culturally, you have to portray the values that work for your company. However, they might not fit other people. People operate differently. If you are a self-motivated individual and you know what will make you perform your best, you should have the flexibility to do that. People who like flexibility can find a balance in life that drives people’s ability to perform at their best time rather than the company’s best time. Transparency Many employers sell potential employees on the dream of working with the company rather than the reality. Being straightforward with the reality of working with the company saves time interviewing, o

This is a conversation we need to have. Cold outreach is one of the core tenants of successful sellers, right? In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by the founder of Blueprint, Jordan Crawford, to discuss why there might be a better strategy. Every job Jordan has, he’s either been fired from, or the company went under. He ultimately found his place helping startups scale and grow for long-term success, and it was through this endeavor he found a better methodology than personalized cold outreach. The ‘spray-and-pray’ method was the initial online sales foray. However, that soon led the way to personalized outreach. So, is a new method taking the lead? Personalization has its uses, and there are times it is still functional. However, there are some where it isn’t. Personalization helps grab a prospect’s attention. But as a B2B seller, you should only want their attention if their company has a problem your solution can help solve. If you aren’t making a commercial transaction, person

Not all companies are created equal. Five key differentiators separate the cream of the crop for sales and sale-focused companies. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald discusses the five key components that successful sales-focused companies have in common. Everyone in the organization is selling. This doesn’t mean every position in the company is a salesperson; we still need our accountants and other critical roles.  Instead, this means that the employees believe in the organization's mission, and they sell the organization because of its powerful mission. Adjust your focus and mission to ensure it is clear and something everyone can get behind. Salespeople are treated as the best in the company. Salespeople are the front line of the people giving money to your company. Salespeople are crucial to bringing money into the organization. If you treat your sellers poorly, you’ll have high turnover (and thus lower sales.) The key? Treat sellers like they’re needed and appreciated. (And you should

Closing your next sales deal can be as easy as eight steps! In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by the founder and owner of Closers.io, Cole Gordon, to discuss his eight-step process to close every deal you have (or at least come close.)  Cole’s beginning sales experience was not what he expected: Cole’s original sales team was exceptional. However, their end-of-sale closing conversations were not what he expected. He realized that every sale depends on meeting the beliefs of the buyer before you pitch them on the deal, and they'll create an objection-less close themselves. Cole's eight-step plan is based on the relief ladder concept but applied specifically to sales.  Step 1: Pain There are two problems: actual pains and unfulfilled desires. The prospect might not have pain, but there’s a gap between where they are now and where they want to be. Establish the pain; because all sales are conducted based on solving a problem. The following six steps are all predicated on the initial

When you have the intention to change your sales approach, the behavior follows suit. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by Scott Savage, Managing Director at Franklin Covey, to learn how sellers can increase their close rate by winning more deals.  Salespeople tend to think we close more than we do. In actuality, the close right is only around 17%. But imagine what it could be if that close rate were higher. Why are win rates so low? Many would say the pandemic, but it’s not one sole factor.  42% of the time, decision-makers could not tell the difference between vendors. Sellers almost always think they're different. But it doesn’t matter how different you are if the buyer cannot differentiate between sellers. Talk less, question more: Executives and other buyers judge sellers based on their questions, not necessarily their answers. Clients don’t want sellers to just talk at them; they want a discussion to know their problems are being addressed. It’s not that a seller is dislike

Most modern sales methodologies focus on building rapport and trust with the prospect; challenging the prospect’s beliefs to make better deals is a hallmark of that perspective. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by the Chief Evangelist of Challenger, Jennifer Allen, to discuss her company’s methodology that drives relationships with their prospects and customers. Jennifer started as an entry-level seller in account management: A relationship-builder through and through, she worked hard to gain client trust. (Which worked well for a long time.) During the 2008 recession, her peers and customers laid off teams and cut back budgets; that’s when her corporate exec board launched a report detailing what maintains relationships with customers. Jennifer was shocked to see none of her current sales components in that report. What worked once now no longer works. Why focus on the relationship side? Jennifer never wanted to be one of those salespeople, but it was also how she was coached -

Marketing and sales alignment is pivotal in the modern era of sales, and building credibility and rapport in your communication for all departments is essential. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by the CMO of Growth Stage Marketing, Mark Donnigan, to discuss his take on building rapport while unifying departmental collaboration. Good CMOs think about marketing campaigns. Great CMOs bring value to the enterprise. Between the evolution of technology and the pandemic, sales has completely transformed. Buyers no longer attend trade shows to talk with peers; they organize entirely through online forums. Buyers are 50% or more through the buying process before reaching out to their first vendor. A seller’s job is no longer to get the first meeting; it’s to state the problem that the solution solves while differentiating from competitors. CMO turnover is almost exclusively because they repeatedly try the old playbook rather than embrace these new changes. Credibility plays into rapport

An alignment between sales and marketing inspires the competitive collaboration needed to develop consistent business growth that is scalable across the departments of the organization. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist Donald is joined by Gregg Ames, CCO of Act-On Marketing Automation, to discuss his take on building a proper sales and marketing alignment. Great solutions occur when sales and marketing stop acting as separate processes.  Companies start fragmented. Sales and marketing do their things, but unifying the entire sales funnel leads to a guide for better messaging.  People process information with technology, and that behavior has not shifted. That processing starts with an integrated flow between departments.  Every company has good salespeople. But, when equipped with marketing to canvas a broader market, brings more high-quality leads to allow a focus on later-stage selling. Sellers are (historically) not great at generating demand. Getting marketing to take this role will bring more

Selling is constantly evolving. There are techniques and strategies you should implement today to set a precedent for long-term success for those looking to thrive in enterprise selling. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by Vice President and lead trainer at Empire Selling Jesse Rothstein to discuss his tips to modernize enterprise selling. Modern challenges in the enterprise selling environment: A considerable challenge is the continued expansion and growth of organizations making decisions with a committee or group model. More people involved in the decision make it harder to track, maintain, and influence necessary stakeholders.  Because committees complete research before reaching out to salespeople, it’s more difficult for the seller to show a differentiation point. 75% of people are groups and committees are prepared to make a decision before they contact a seller. Three core pillars to modernize sales selling strategy: Build your digital brand. Sellers understand that thei

How can you modernize your sales approach to stay up to date on your and your team’s sales approach? In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald kicks off our latest content series centered on modernizing your sales tactics and techniques. In today’s episode, Donald discusses three ways to change your mindset and specific tactics to update your sales strategy.  Unite sales and marketing:  Traditionally, a  seller would fill their pipeline through cold calling, but the process has changed.  Account-based selling is the future of sales, prioritizing a unification of data-driven decisions combining sales and marketing. With marketing, they can target accounts with ads, emails, and other collateral to guide people to the sales funnel. Automate selling techniques: Modern selling requires a mixture of automated and personalized messaging. Personalization has two sides: a generic pain focus or a LinkedIn or specified message. The latter is great to supplement and redirect them to generalized personalizatio

Many top sellers using account-based selling are within large tech and SaaS companies. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by sales coach and consultant Ian Koniak to discuss how those large enterprise companies create and coordinate successful sales strategies. Transitioning from transactional to strategic selling: He tried to approach his sales techniques in a more activity-scientific manner instead of qualitative. When Ian transitioned to Salesforce, quantity and hustling didn’t work. It wasn’t practical to get in the door or drive change. Three qualities for top-performing sellers in tech: They’re authentic. People have a bad image of salespeople, but top performers are genuine and there to help their prospects and clients solve a problem. They care for the clients before, during, and after the commission check. They have Integrity for the work. The best sellers help potential clients solve their problems to ensure the client’s long-term success. Differentiating a top seller:

The days of “spray and pray” selling are over. So how can sellers maintain a consistently full pipeline of prospects and leads? Through targeted and account-based selling. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by the VP of Sales Management at Crunchbase, Ang McManamon, to discuss how she uses account-based selling in her own work. Why go into account-based selling? A year ago, Ang’s team talked to their best clients and saw an appetite for account-based selling. Prospects would use Crunchbase for funding and capital management news, and people liked the database options for prospecting. There are so many sales tools today, yet finding high-quality accounts and decision-makers is still tricky. Before, there were no strategic ways of looking at accounts and contacts. Now, you can be intentional with your actions. Setting up Crunchbases’s account-based selling: First, figure out the target audience. Companies say they do it, but they frequently don’t get precise enough to best impact th

Sometimes the best way to close more deals isn’t by adding new people to your pipeline (though that’s always a good thing.) Instead, the best thing is to address the issues that make a deal fail before they fail. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by the CEO of Challenger, Andee Harris, to get her take on failed deals and how to address those issues directly with our prospects.  Challenger is a sales training company: The Challenger Sale by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson explains many of the principles Challenger uses in their training. Early sellers might be timid, which usually leads to a failure to recognize when a deal isn’t moving in the right direction. In Andee’s experience, continuous feedback is a great way to course-correct throughout the sales process to tailor the experience and selling strategy to the specific prospect.  Passive selling isn’t the best form of selling for either party - taking control of the purchase and helping the buyer buy the product is your job.

Whether you’re the person in charge of leads, a small business owner, or anyone looking to do more business through prospecting (which should be everyone), this episode is for you. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by Mike Moll to learn how to attract high-quality leads without ads by using modern techniques and platforms. Sales professionals can’t rely on marketing to supply enough leads. Video outreach is an effective strategy to supply your ideal client. Once you’re connected with someone, you’re guaranteed a 100% delivery rate platform through LinkedIn messaging. Make videos right on the LinkedIn platform. Other options include BombBomb and Loom, but asking a prospect to click a video link might dissuade some from watching. Sending a video far outclasses automated messages. With the pandemic ending in-person conferences, many B2B sellers turned to LinkedIn to conduct business, resulting in a surplus of auto-generated LinkedIn outreach messages.  Sending 50 impactful videos wi

Creating a mindset for sales involves building credibility and rapport with the prospect, that’s always been clear. But should we apply logic or emotion to our negotiations and social selling strategy? In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by Andres Lares to discuss. The principles of negotiation are the same, regardless of the negotiation subject. As negotiators, we tend to focus on logic. However, we should instead focus on emotion. Statements and facts mitigate feelings of risk, but they aren’t a driver for decision-making. At the end of a call, there needs to be trust and rapport beyond what facts can deliver. Why do we tend to go to logic for negotiating? Because it’s easier. You can have the same approach for every client and situation instead of emotionally tailoring conversations to the prospect’s problem.  You have to ask questions and determine which features give them the benefits they want. So what should we do? Why focus on emotions? Especially with hybrid work, there

Staying ahead of the curve and the competition is the key to getting ahead as a seller. In today’s episode of the Sales Evangelist, Donald discusses some of his top social selling strategies and current selling trends as we enter the second half of 2022. By definition, “modern” selling is always changing. Modern selling is the ability to use new tools, modern techniques, and social selling strategies to find and engage with prospects.  In 2022, post-pandemic sales strategies largely revolve around social selling strategies geared toward a remote audience. Modern sellers use tools like Zoom and have mastered how to work with people, even if you can’t see them on the screen. Modern tools for a modern seller: Tools like Gong and Fathom help you conduct meetings that prompt sellers to better engage with the prospect. Modern sellers are used to remote work, which means a microphone like the ATR2100 or Yeti helps you take advantage of your environment.  Gone are the days you could send a blank phone call or em

Sales enablement isn’t just for major corporations; it’s for businesses of all sizes. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by bestselling author and VP of Enablement of PRO Unlimited, Roderick Jefferson, to discuss how we can apply sales enablement to any organization.  Three distinct factions of sales enablement: The original enablement began when sellers sold knives and vacuums door-to-door. The second faction arrived during the .com boom of the early 2000s. Finally, the current age of sales enablement is the present day, featuring an innovative approach focused on increasing sales productivity with a systematic, personalized, and collaborative process. Whether a small organization or a large corporation, sales enablement joins the various departments and roles to unify the end goal. Get people to have conversations instead of presentations: The proper discussion isn’t just the right topic - it’s talking to the right people at the right time in their language. There’s a difference