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

From small entrepreneurial startups to major corporations, customer loyalty and customer service are vital for business. After all, without customers, would you be able to stay in business? In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by Brad Cleveland, author, speaker, and something, to learn Brad’s five steps leaders should take to build customer loyalty. Establish a vision. Think REI: we inspire, educate, and outfit for a lifetime of outdoor adventure and stewardship. It’s clear, concise, and anyone hearing it will know exactly what the company is about. Visions aren’t exclusive to companies; they should be for individuals too. So why do you do what you do?  Tap into innovation. As you interact with your contacts, prospects, and customers, think about what you can learn from the exchange. The more you pay attention to the root causes driving interactions with your customers, the better you’ll be able to serve them. Cast a wide net of listening. Brainstorm every possible way a customer

With every other major field in the business world, professionals undergo years of training and education to learn the standard practices, techniques, and skills to make them successful. But with sales, it’s the exact opposite. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by Paul Fifield, CEO, and co-founder of Sales Impact Academy, to learn why the education system has overlooked sales (and what we can do to fix it.) It’s okay to feel like you don’t know what you’re doing. Imposter syndrome is common in sales professionals because nobody is told what they should be doing. There is no structured learning or education in sales, which Paul deems “the greatest educational tragedy.” What if we applied a similar educational journey to finance? To reinforce the point, think about another important B2B profession: finance. What if the way you got into finance was to go get a degree in math and then just walk up and start working? It’s absurd, yet that’s exactly what happens in sales. 

Because of the hustle and bustle salespeople experience each day, it can be challenging to be our most focused and productive selves. So what steps can we take to be more productive throughout the day? Today, Donald is joined by Janice B. Gordon to learn her tips for staying focused and energized throughout the day. Always listen to your body: Janice does yoga and meditation, which she’s been doing for nearly forty years. .If you enjoy what you do, that makes all the difference. She chooses to focus on energy management because many people, especially after the pandemic, feel low energy and motivation. People think pulling a 10, 12 or 15 hour day is productive. But you are far less effective pulling these days than focusing your time and energy for shorter lengths of time. Symptoms arise if you don’t address your personal energy needs. You just feel negative. And instead of having a bad moment, you turn that moment into a bad day.  When you feel you’re having a bad day, you are less productive and less lik

Where is the future of selling? The future of selling is here. For anyone thinking of joining the professional sales world, or who knows someone who wants to join sales, or knows someone who knows someone (I’m sure you get the idea), this is the series for you. In today’s episode, Donald gives three things every seller needs to know about the future of selling. Your plays are outdated. When you think of sports like football, you think of the playbook that dictates the different actions the team might take. Unfortunately, sales has become way too similar to that. Many organizations try to streamline the sales process and provide plays for salespeople to follow. While great in theory, it doesn’t work when every salesperson runs the same plays. To make it worse? Not only are salespeople doing it, but the prospects are as well! Bring something unique to the table by using a revenue-centric approach. How does the company you want to work with making money? Go rogue. Business development representatives need

Sometimes all it takes to differentiate from the competition successfully is to think past the first solution. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by the co-founder of Leaddelta, Ved Rasic, to learn how he launched a successful company after thinking past the first solution.  Understand the main assumptions of a crowded market: If you’re in a crowded market, that means there’s a demand. The leading mistake salespeople make: they scan what others do and try to repeat it. Your goal should be to move past that first option (option A) and create option B. Understand how people arrive at the stage where they need your product. To do this successfully, know the pain points and goals of your customers. Once you understand the why, how do you differentiate based on those pain points? For the small businesses that utilize full-cycle sale reps, you have several interactions with your customers. It’s cliche, but listen to those interactions. Don’t just listen for phrases you want to hear, but

You can differentiate in more ways than one. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by Thomas Capraro to learn what he did to differentiate himself after decades in the industry, especially selling when competition is incredibly similar.  Be prepared and be confident enough to ask tough questions. You want the prospect to be able to tell you that you’ve done your homework. Software like ZoomInfo, LinkedIn, and Salesforce help you understand a prospect’s background and learn more about them. Treat your small clients just like your large clients. You never know who your clients are connected to. For example, one of Thomas’s clients once referred him to a huge IT company headquartered in Boca, leading to a substantial business transaction. Thomas wants his clients to be treated equally, so his company requires every customer to receive a visit every 90 days to ensure their needs are met. A human connection makes all the difference in the sales process. In an increasingly automated field,

A fundamental aspect of sales is communication (that much is obvious.) But no matter how good at communicating you are, if you’re speaking a different language than the prospect, your chance of landing the sale is slim. As we continue our series stressing the importance of differentiation, Donald is joined by the co-founder of FiveRings Marketing, Shaheem Alam, to learn how to speak like the prospect to make a lasting (and positive) impression.  What does that mean to speak your customer language? It’s basic psychology: people buy from people they like, and people like people similar to themselves. There are tons of resources on mirroring body language, tonality, and matching behavior. But one of those key points is just speaking their language. Think of it like a teacher; everyone has different learning styles. By speaking your customer’s language, you’re helping them understand and educate themselves in the best way possible. Shaheem learned this strategy by going straight to the source: his customers. W

Email, cold calls, and LinkedIn messages are all great avenues to connect with your prospect.  But perhaps the most underutilized component of the sales process is (spoiler alert) the proposal itself. Whether you’re a newly established business or one of international renown, an enticing proposal dramatically helps your business efforts. And today, Donald is joined by co-founder and CEO of Proposify, Kyle Racki, to learn how sales leaders and teams can understand the power of the proposal. Your proposal is a unique space to differentiate yourself from the competition. When a prospect asks for more information, typically a salesperson sends a google doc with raw numbers, small print, and terms and conditions. In other words, you’re missing a critical marketing touchpoint where you can tell your story. The result? Your proposal will be dumped in the (virtual or physical) trash. Create a proposal that isn’t just a series of words. You’re pitching to a person, not a machine. There’s a thought process behind it

When it comes to sales, standing out from the competition often comes down to how successfully you differentiate yourself from competitors. But how can we do that? Today on The Sales Evangelist,  Donald is joined by Mark Harari, author, podcaster, and VP of Remodelers Advantage, to discuss how you can position yourself to stand out in a crowded market.  The one thing you should do to differentiate yourself: The one thing Mark recommends (and he discusses further in his book) is to identify what makes you unique. You’re facing other people, products, and platforms just as good as you who do the same thing. So what sets you apart? What sets you apart and differentiates you can be what leads to a prospect selecting you over someone else. Differentiation is critical. If you don’t have that differentiating factor, the selection comes down to price, which isn’t good for anybody. Instead, make yourself the obvious choice. A common barrier to differentiation is targeting an entire area of people rather than focusi

As we kick off our latest series on the importance of differentiation from competition in the sales process, Donald is joined by Tim Pollard to learn more about message building. As the CEO of Oratium, he’s learned the importance of messaging that delivers results and makes an impact on its audience. The most common messaging problems: There is no differentiation. Differentiation has to be embedded somewhere. Otherwise, you will not be memorable. Three toxic mistakes characterize the way we structure messaging: We pack too much into messaging. Forty-slide decks are overwhelming, and nobody pays attention to them. Most modern sales messaging is too confusing or has an unclear value proposition. Almost all messaging is self-oriented. It’s about the salesperson or their company instead of relating it to the client. This leads to two problems: The initial sales meeting isn’t compelling.  Most messaging fails the retellability test. The goal shouldn’t be first meeting success; it should be second meeting

Today’s episode kicks off the latest Sales Evangelist series: differentiating from your competitors! As we move into this series, it’s time you learn three easy ways you can stand out from the competition. (Best of all, the majority of sales reps aren’t doing these things.)  But why is differentiating critical? You have so many other salespeople to compete against.  When one person stands out from the other, they’re more likely to land the sale (even if your products do the exact same thing.) Be curious. Most salespeople go into a conversation and ask boilerplate questions. The problem? Everyone asks those questions, so you aren’t getting any more information than your competition.  Sales reps should come to the table with information that leads to better questions, which means finding the right intel. Not only what the prospect and their company are doing, but why they’re doing it.  Stay one step ahead. Determine how you can be one step ahead of the competition.  Have an agenda when you go into the

Today’s plan is simple: Donald is sharing his number one productivity strategy for sales. What is it? Find out on today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist.    Focus on one thing at a time. (Earth-shattering, I know.) This idea might not be crazy, but the results that come of it sure can be. Only 2.5% of people are able to multitask successfully. (That’s a very slim number of people.) That means you probably can’t respond to clients, check your email, and prospect on LinkedIn while maintaining the standards you would for just one thing. But even if you can, no matter how productive you are, it isn’t as efficient as focusing on one singular task at hand.   How does this affect our productivity? You get an email. You leave your current task to check your email. That email leads you to check your availability for a get-together. You check Facebook for information about the get-together. You start to watch videos while on Facebook. Before you know it, an hour has gone by, and you still haven’t finished the task

If there was a way for you, as a salesperson, to make more money, would you? (We hope you’d answer yes to that question.) Don’t worry, we got you! Today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist features Roy Redd, who shares his three strategies for you to make more money, have a bigger impact, and take more time off (which sure sounds like a deal to us.) USP: Determine your unique selling proposition. Make your business unique. Dominoes Pizza changed the pizza game with their “hot and ready in thirty minutes or it’s free.” Know what your company offers, what your message is, and what you can deliver. What can you do that’s unique? Can you guarantee something? Is it speed? Is it language? There are many ways to be different. Roy’s podcast, The Entrepreneur Underdog, is different. Why? Because it tailors to specific emotional perception of some entrepreneurs.  The best method to identify your USP is to ask your audience. Ask them why they worked with you? Go through those responses to see what stands out to your cust

When you have sales meetings with your prospects, the last you need is a boring presentation turning people away from your awesome content. You want them to get excited! And on today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by Alex Dripchak, relationship manager at Mercer, to give us his inside tips to learn how to lead, run, and organize effective meetings.   Why is Alex so passionate about demystifying sales? Alex founded and runs Commence, a college to career development skill program. He’s also recently published a book on destigmatizing sales for younger people, which breaks down the positive traits and skills salespeople have. With 57 U.S. colleges having an official sales major, the word “sales” is slowly become less of a dirty word. However, there is an entrenched viewpoint people need to overcome.   How can you lead effective meetings in your sales life? There are components of meetings, whether virtual or in-person, that just suck. Namely, when people push their own agendas down your

Developing a sales pitch can be time-consuming and challenging, especially when creating an entirely new presentation or document each time. But there’s undoubtedly an easier process, right? That’s exactly what today’s guest did. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by Jason Lapp, the president and COO of Beautiful.ai, to explain how you can cut your pitch development time in half. But first, what is a pitch? Pitches can look wildly different for each person and company. Some might be an in-person meeting, some just a document, and others somewhere in between. In today’s world of remote selling, you have to be highly engaging, have great content, and be precise.   The biggest change? You can no longer expect a decision at that moment. You have to focus on the follow-up, sending the right information, in addition to the pitch itself. A big challenge with creating a deck is finding a balance between premade content and content for your specific pitch.  Branding should always be consiste

Time management is often considered one of the essential skills to master in the professional world. As one of the resources we never seem to have enough of, time certainly is a resource to use to the best of our abilities. But today’s guest, Antonio Thornton, argues that time management doesn’t exist. How does it not? Check out today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist to find out! Why does time management not exist?  How many hours in the day do you have? 24. Just like everyone else. You can’t manage time, but you can manage yourself according to time. Managing yourself within time comes down to three main criteria: monitoring, monetizing, and maximizing your time. Monitoring your time: Most people have no idea what they’re doing. Most people confuse busy with productive - they do not equate. Productive does not equate to profitable.  The productivity paradox: People tend to focus on tasks that make them feel productive, even if they aren’t profitable. Cleaning out your inbox or desk and shuffling papers m

We often overlook one area when working in sales, and it’s not prospecting, closing, or even relationship-building. It’s productivity. 79% of sales executives say improving productivity is the leading driver to reach or exceed a sales target. So, in today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald gives three reasons why salespeople have a hard time planning, and hopefully, you’ll be able to find the productivity that leads to sales success.     There’s no formal education to teach productivity for salespeople.   This is from a company standpoint. There are programs (like ours), but internally, organizations don’t spend time teaching productivity.  49% of organizations have zero or limited means of measuring productivity. Donald’s team uses an internal planner he designed to help prioritize productive and measurable tasks. Sales reps frequently believe they don’t have the time to do everything they need. But after analyzing their day or week, they always find areas where they can focus on more meaningful ac

In many organizations, to get to the decision-maker, you have to get past a gatekeeper. So how do you get to them? Getting past that gatekeeper is a common challenge among salespeople. But we wanted to change that. So we brought in EksAyn “Eks” Anderson, the man who’s got the key to the metaphorical gate. And on today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, he shares his strategies to get to your decision-makers. Eks is more than just a salesperson.  In addition to speaking, training, and coaching for different organizations, Eks is also the author of The Key to the Gate. His book is an excellent resource for anyone who encounters difficulty reaching their desired decision-maker. Why people have a hard time getting to the decision-makers: Decision-makers don’t have time to talk to every single salesperson or person who wants a meeting. They employ gatekeepers (like a secretary, receptionist, or employee) to weed out people who might be wasting their time.  Strategies to get past the gatekeeper: Know that no

Working in sales would be infinitely more manageable if you could get the gatekeeper to work for you instead of against you. But how do you start that process? In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by Taskdrive’s general manager Daniel Viduya to discuss making the gatekeeper an advocate through lead research.     Sales isn’t Lord of the Rings. While there can be a Gandalf “You shall not pass” situation when talking to a gatekeeper, there are ways to make them your advocate. Daniel’s advice: Don’t bro me until you know me; meaning you have no business talking about people in the company until you understand the company itself When convincing a gatekeeper to let you pass, personal information or questions about the decision-maker will not help you. Instead of talking about personal information, talk about the account itself and the problems they experience as a whole. See what difference you can make.   Demonstrate that you want to help and can provide solutions for that company’s speci

Scoring a meeting with the decision-maker can be challenging, but creating allies within the target company can be your strategy for making progress. Sometimes all it takes to get past the gatekeeper is to build a solid relationship with them. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, we’re going to do just that with the help of today’s guest Kevin Cummings.   Kevin has worked in many different sales spaces, from industrial to medical to tech. .Throughout all his sales interactions, Kevin feels most confident when revisiting offices.  But even if it’s the second, third, or fourth visit, he’ll sometimes end up talking to people who act like it’s his first (even if he’s spoken to them several times.) To avoid that, Kevin makes an active effort to loop those people into the conversation. Make them feel as important as possible because while they aren’t the “decision-maker,” they can make your job tremendously more difficult.   Make connections with the gatekeeper: Ask them what the best method is is to talk