What we know for sure is that the world is struggling. This is the most unprecedented crisis in my lifetime. Simply turn the TV on or go online – almost everything is about Coronavirus right now…

Every day and every hour about how difficult things are, people are protesting the quarantine, people are dying, the uncertainty about when things will be back to normal and what will the new normal will even look like?

This crisis is REAL but that isn’t the only crisis going on right now. The other real crisis are the “stories” running around in your head.

In other words, we get that this is happening but what “story” are you telling yourself about what is happening and what it means to you?

Perhaps:

• That you can’t sell right now?
• That you shouldn’t sell right now?
• It’s too difficult or inappropriate to prospect?
• People don’t want to buy?

ANYONE CAN SELL IN A GOOD ECONOMY. ANYONE.

In fact there is no selling, the fish practically jump into the boat when times are good. Right now however requires a different way of thinking because the mindset of your prospect/customer/client is what?

• Bear Market, Layoffs/Furloughs, Fear, Frustration, Death, let’s reassess in Q3/Q4 or even 2021. Mostly Negative.

So, if YOUR MINDSET matches the negative mindset of your client we’ve got problems. You’re doomed: Expect low numbers, high attrition, a bad situation all together.

For those of you reading this in a Sales Role (Representative, Manager, Director, VP etc.), your company needs you right now. It is likely taking on water and if choose to be a passenger for the next 90-120 days and only make courtesy calls into your existing client base, good luck to you.

Yes, the current conversations are different, but you can’t take the quarter off. You just can’t. Your company deserves better. You are likely to have to put in 300% – 400% of the effort right now to yield the same 100% result that you were achieving just a couple of months ago. That is certainly the case with me and my business, but this thing isn’t taking me down.

FIND THE REASON to send that email. FIND THE REASON to connect here on LinkedIn and when it comes to calling a prospect right now, you absolutely have to FIND THE REASON to be on the call….because if you don’t, I promise you, your prospect is not going to find the reason for you.

The work you put in now could absolutely lead to a short term opportunity but for those prospects that defer, your efforts today will payoff when your client/prospect deems it appropriate to reengage.

If you’ve made it this far in the article, here is my cell: (647) 962-7201. Feel free to reach out if I can be of support to you or if you’d like to bounce a idea of me or get my opinion on something.

Stay productive, respect the current climate and don’t overreact.

Paul

Spending the time to make sure that your profile is an accurate reflection of you as a business professional is critical.  Differentiating yourself when engaging with your network is just as critical – and that is where the use of visuals come in; SYMBOLS and ICONS.

Here are several available symbols available for you to use in both your profile and in your newsfeed posts:

SMILEY FACES:                                                                                                         

PEOPLE:                                                                                                                                                                                                        

CLOTHING:                                  

PALE COLOR:                                                                                                                      

CREAM COLOR:                                                                                                                      

BROWN COLOR:                                                                                                                      

DARK BROWN COLOR:                                                                                                                      

BLACK COLOR:                                                                                                                      

ANIMALS & NATURE:                                                                                                                                                                          

FOOD & DRINK:                                                                                                     

SPORTS & ACTIVITIES:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

TRAVEL:                                                                                                                    

OBJECTS:                                                                                                                                                                                                  

SYMBOLS:                                                                                                                                        0⃣ 1⃣ 2⃣ 3⃣ 4⃣ 5⃣ 6⃣ 7⃣ 8⃣ 9⃣   #⃣ *⃣                                           © ®                                                                       

FLAGS:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

MISCELLANEOUS:                                                                         ★✶✮✭✯☆✰⛥✫ ╰☆╮ * ✪☼❊⊙ ◍ ❅✺ ■  ➊ ➋ ➌ ➍ ➎ ➏ ➐ ➑ ➒ ➓●  ✦ ◆❖『』♫ ♲ ♺ ♼  ◑  √ 

☼  ✺ ✻ ✼  ❅ ❆  ❈ ❉ ❊ ⊕ ✇ ∆        ϟ ☾   ♡         ⇨⇦ ⇧⇩ ✘          ♘♞ 

          ⚐ ⚑ ➢ ►◄  ➤▷◁▹◃⇌⇛➧➛➙➜➥ ➸ »––> ⇝➺⇥

①②③④⑤⑥⑦⑧⑨⑩ 1⃣ 2⃣ 3⃣ 4⃣ 5⃣ 6⃣ 7⃣ 8⃣ 9⃣ 1⃣ 0⃣ ⓦ ⓔ ✆ ≤ ≥ ❝ ❞ « » ‟ ⟨⟩ # $ ¢ £ ¥ €  © ®  🆂🅴🆁🆅🅸🅲🅴🆂 ✎✐

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ▬ ▢ ▣ ▤ ▥ ▦ ▧ ▨ ▩   ☻ ت ヅ ツ ッ シ Ü ϡ ﭢ ✆   ☏  ۵ 웃 유 ღ ♪ ♫ ♩ ♬ ♭ ♮ ♯ ° ø ✁  ✃ ✄ ✐ ✎  ✑     Ⓐ ☭ ✯  ☫    † ☨ ✞  ☥  ☓☩  ☧ ☬  ♁ ✙ ♆ ☛☚☜☞☟⇨ ► ◄ ► » ► ◄▲▼⇒⇓⇔⇕⇖⇗⇘⇙⇚⇛ –► ⋘ ⋙➟  ➢ ➣ ➤ ➥ ➦ ➧ ➨ ➚ ➘➙ ➛ ➜ ➝ ➞ ➸  ➲ ➳ ➳ ➴ ➵ ➶ ➷ ➸ ➹ ➺ ➻ ➼ ➽ ← ↑ → ↓       ↰ ↱ ↲ ↳ ↴ ↵ ↶ ↷ ↸ ↹ ↺ ↻ ↼↽ ↾ ↿ ⇀ ⇁ ⇂ ⇃ ⇄ ⇅ ⇆ ⇇ ⇈ ⇉ ⇊ ⇋ ⇌ ⇍ ⇎ ⇏ ⇐ ⇑ ⇒ ⇓ ⇔ ⇕ ⇖ ⇗ ⇘ ⇙ ⇚ ⇛ ⇜ ⇝ ⇞ ⇟ ⇠ ⇡ ⇢ ⇣ ⇤ ⇥ ⇦ ⇧⇨ ⇩ ⇪ ♫  ツ ❢ ✽     ☊ ☗ ♘ ♝      ♫ ♕ ♔ ♛ ♔ ♕ ♖ ♗ ♘ ♙ ♚ ♛ ♜ ♝♞  € ₤ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬ ♭ ♮♯ ت ツ ッ シ Ü (◕‿◕✿) ●‿● ಠ_ಠ 【ツ】

Paul is the Managing Partner of Everest Performance Group Ltd. He works with a wide range of clients helping them increase their profitable revenue, gain new market share and develop their current and future sales leaders.He lives in Toronto with his wife and their two children.

CONNECT WITH PAUL HERE ON LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulmadott/

Once you have made contact with a Decision Maker, whether it be by telephone, email, social such as LinkedIn, door-to-door or with a physical letter, capturing their attention with them early on is key. This is where your VALUE STATEMENT comes into play.

There are four components to a well delivered value statement:

1. Your Introduction
2. Your Intention
3. Your Value Proposition 
4. Close For Next Steps

Within your value proposition is the research that you have conducted and provide the Decision Maker with the information that you have found.

Where do I find information?

At it’s core. that is what this article will focus on – the platforms available to you when it comes to conducting your research – by company, industry and/or specific role.

Let’s start with the more obvious options:

Google Alerts, Your internal CRM, The company’s website, Their LinkedIn company page, Your prospect’s Annual Report or Your contact’s personal LinkedIn page

In addition to the usual suspects, there are however a few other resources available to you.  In no particular order:

SOCIAL SEARCHER: www.social-searcher.com

Social Media Search Engine. It allows you to search for content in social networks in real-time and provides deep analytics data. Users can search for publicly posted information on Twitter, Google+, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Tumblr, Reddit, Flickr, Dailymotion and Vimeo.

SEEKING ALPHA:   www.seeking-alpha.com 

The world’s largest investing community.  A crowd-sourced content service for financial markets. Articles and research covers a broad range of stocks, asset classes, ETFs and investment strategies. In contrast to other equity research platforms, insight is provided by contributor base of investors and industry experts rather than sell side.

FEEDLY: www.feedly.com

A news aggregator application for various web browsers and mobile devices running iOS and Android. It is also available as a cloud-based service. It compiles news feeds from a variety of online sources for the user to customize and share with others.

OWLER: www.owler.com

Explore companies that interest you. Crowdsources competitive insights by providing news alerts, company profiles, and polls and allows members to follow, track, and research companies in real time.

CFO: www.cfo.com

CFO is the leading media brand catering to influential finance executives.  Through CFO Magazine and CFO.com, it provides insights into the most pressing issues in business as well as practical advice and innovative thinking on the technological forces that are disrupting industries and transforming the chief financial officer’s role.

CMO by Adobe: www.cmo.com

CMO.com’s mission is to help executives – CMOs, CIOs, Chief Digital Officers and anyone else focused on customer experience – lead their brands in a digital word.

To help digital leaders stay informed and inspired, CMO.com offers interviews and advice from industry leaders, help and how-to guidance, curated marketing news and data-driven research and insights across multiple industries from around the world.

I invite you to give each of them a look as you continue to differentiate yourself and gain traction with those in the corner office!

A day that I remember vividly as it was the day that I was fired from my job.  The politically correct term is “let go”, but the truth is that I was fired.

I began working for a security company on September 10, 2001 as the Manager of their Accounts Receivable division and 7 months later to the day is when I was handed a check for $10,000.00 to not come to work the next day.

I recall cleaning out my desk as quickly as possible and without anyone seeing me, I exited through the back stairwell.  On my way to my car, very much in a stupor and in a state of panic, I remember thinking “how much money do I have saved up?” (it wasn’t much) and “what am I going to do now?”

I clearly did not think at the time that that was the best day of my professional career.

Once the realization of what had happened settled in, I got to work:

• I updated my resume
• Applied for EI (employment insurance)
• Started to contact those in my network
• Searched for postings on sites like Workpolis and Monster
• Applied for more than few of the postings that I found
• Interviewed for many of them as well

During the next painstaking 4 months, I had turned down a job that I was offered and had been turned down for a job that I really wanted as well.  Then one day I received a call from a really good friend of mine letting me know that a colleague of his had just opened up a Xerox Agency here in Toronto and was looking for Sales People and that I should apply.

Now for some context, I came from a finance background having taken Economics in University and had only ever worked in credit and collections up to this point so the idea of me taking a job in sales was not only not at the top of my list, it didn’t even make the list of potential next jobs for me.

That said, I didn’t really have anything else to do, so I applied and went in to interview.  Over a period of the next 3 weeks, I had interviewed with them 3 separate times and was offered the job.  Upon accepting the position, I went into the job with an “I’ll give it til the end of the year…” mindset.

It ended up closer to 10 of the best years of my life.

I worked with some of the most amazing people you’ll ever meet, honed my craft, delivered multiple President Club years, found my passion for training and converted that into what I am doing today.

And none of it would have happened had I not been fired on April 10, 2001 – without a doubt, the best day of my professional career.

Everything happens for a reason.  I am convinced of that – even the things that you consider to be negative at the time.

What is the best day of your professional career and why? (Consider sharing with us!)

Paul

An employee mindset is focused on the individual responsibilities of your job. What are the job requirements, priorities and how to complete them in excellence; but isolated to the individual silo without much focus on the wider scope. An employer’s mindset is so vast that it was able to create the company for the employee to work. They are focused on the bottom line, profitability, customer service, market trends and overall branding and reputation.

There is nothing wrong with maintaining an employee’s mindset by the way. That said, 20/60/20 is the new 80/20. Here are some examples of what I mean:

• MORTGAGE BROKER: When purchasing our last home, my wife and I went to market for the best rate and had a meeting scheduled with a mortgage broker at one of the local bank branches to us. This meeting was scheduled by the local branch representative, not by the Mortgage Broker directly. It was a 60-minute meeting scheduled for 11:30am. That morning I received a call from the Broker directly asking me if we could reschedule. I was open to it but asked her why. Her reason? She eats her lunch at 12pm. BOTTOM 20%

People have to eat, I get it. Take care of your body because without your health you don’t have much but come on. I respectfully declined her request to reschedule. Now, if she was the CEO of the bank, the Branch Manager or a ShareHolder, I wonder – would she have prioritized her lunch over the potential of a new client?

• RETAIL CASHIER: I was at a pharmacy picking up some baby diapers one evening and there were 2 registers open so I got into one of the lines. For some context, there were 2 people being served and I was next up – so not much of a line but I digress. When one of the people in front of me were done, I was expecting to be served next, however the cashier had other plans. It was time for her to take her break. So she closed the register, but the “Next Cashier Please” sign up and let her colleague know that she was going on her break – leaving me to wait.

Now I don’t have an issue with employees taking a break at all, however I did question if she would have done the same thing had she been the owner of the pharmacy. Would she have left me standing there with a box of Huggies in my arms? I doubt it. She may very well be a solid employee and good at her job, but in my world, you take your break once the customer has been served. MIDDLE 60%

• AIRLINE EMPLOYEES: in this example, I encountered a representative from each of the 20/60/20 categories. I am at the gate waiting for my flight from Toronto to Orange County, CA when there is a request for someone to take a later flight. They were offering an $800 credit voucher. I was traveling solo and with it being a travel day for me my schedule was flexible so I went to desk and the representative took my information and got me set up on another flight, asking me to visit the Customer Service desk for a new boarding pass. When at the Customer Service desk, they got me onto a different set of flights and handed me my boarding pass with my $200 voucher. I let her know that the voucher was for $800, not $200. She then let me know that because she was able to get me into OC within 60 minutes of my original flight, a $200 voucher applies. We went back and forth for a minute with her letting me know that there wasn’t anything else she could do for me and that she had other customers behind me. (NOTE: that reads like she was rude, but she wasn’t really). That said, to me BOTTOM 20%. I let her know that I would be in the lounge and requested that a Manager come see me. To his credit, the Manager did come see me and he clearly had done his homework as he offered me an additional $100 gift card, even before I explained the circumstances. After explaining my position, I thanked him for his time and for the additional $100 but that I want the $800 that I was promised and that if I didn’t get it, I will be calling the Office of the President to discuss further. (NOTE: this reads like I was being rude, but I wasn’t). He then said that he would speak to the Director for me. MIDDLE 60%. About 30 minutes later, he returned with my $800 voucher. Final part to this story: when I was boarding my new flight, the representative at the gate recognized my name and let me know that she was the Director and the one who had approved my $800 voucher as originally promised, thanking me in the process for my patience and business. TOP 20%

Which category would you consistently fall into?

A recent sale, job promotion, new product offering, a work anniversary, consultant promoting a speaking engagement, book launch or highlighting a cause/org that is important to them. Even this post falls into the self promotion category on some level.

The above posts are all fine but there are some out there, not a tonne but enough to be cautious of. They are the ones that provide advise, but with a negative spin – with most coming from consultants and trainers like myself unfortunately. Three examples from just last week include:

“Stop cold calling, it’s dead.“ The source – someone that sells a Social Selling training program or some other suggested way to prospect.

“Stop wasting time writing your own email and business proposals.” The source – someone selling an auto generating software.

“Sales Leaders, you have comp plans all wrong.” The source – a consultant that offers Leadership training.

To suggest that a Sales Person never pick up the telephone and have an unsolicited conversation with a Decision Maker is absurd. When it comes to prospecting for new business, outside of a referral in, a Sales Person has 6 different vehicles to choose from. In no particular order: Social, Email, Telephone, Mailed Letter, A Referral and Door 2 Door (for some). You should use all that are available to you and adopt a cadence that allows you to use each option effectively.

And if you like writing your own emails and creating your own proposals without the help of a BOT, keep at it!

As for the comp plans, perhaps some could be simplified, I’m not sure that the majority of companies have this as an issue to resolve.

Therefore be conscious of the source before adopting their comments into law.

Faced with the franchise’s limited budget for players, the Oakland Athletics build a team of undervalued talent by taking a unique and sophisticated approach towards scouting and analyzing players.

“There is an epidemic failure within the game of baseball to understand what is really happening.  And this leads people who run Major League Baseball teams to misjudge their players and mismanage their teams.  

People who run ball clubs think in terms of buying players.  Your goal shouldn’t be to buy players.  Your goal should be to buy wins.   And in order to buy wins, you need to buy runs.”                                                                                                         – Peter Brand, Oakland Athletics

Taking it one step further, in order to buy runs, they have to buy hits and walks to get on base.

Comparatively, there is an epidemic failure today within the corporate game of sales as well.  This often leads those who manage organizations to misjudge their salespeople and mismanage their sales teams.

For example; executives who run companies often think in terms of buying salespeople. Perhaps the goal shouldn’t be to buy salespeople; the goal should be to buy sales, and in order to buy sales, they need to buy meetings, and in order to buy meetings they need to buy initial conversations.

Many organizations operate with a very small “training budget” similar to the story in Moneyball. In many cases, the strategy is to hire experienced salespeople or those who have supposedly been trained by their previous employer.  The reality is that many salespeople have not been trained effectively by their previous employer and the belief that “experienced” means competency is often inaccurate.  Furthermore, inexperienced salespeople are simply trained on product knowledge with little focus on “how to get initial conversations”.

When companies hire salespeople and then choose not to invest in key skillsets, much like in Moneyball, this leads to an imperfect understanding of where their sales come from.

For example; the way that many salespeople prospect for new business today is by implementing BTN+L: “By-The-Numbers + Luck.”  Unfortunately, it’s really all they know.

As Soar Selling puts it: “This is a desperation formula.”  Salespeople are required to make numerous calls and send out a series of emails, which ultimately results in minimal contact or replies.  “It’s a brutal methodology and a failing system causing salespeople to quit or resort to unethical strategies, because they simply don’t get results.”  Essentially, they’re working really hard…at doing it wrong.

So, with so many “sales training” options to choose from today, here are 7 different criteria to consider when seeking a training company with the objective to “get more initial conversations”.

1.  THE CONTENT

Very few “sales training” companies are subject matter experts when it comes to “how to increase initial conversations”.  Tip: Select an organization that is focused on “Reaching decision makers” rather than just “sales training”.

2.  PROOF OF CONCEPT

The training must be applied during the actual training; theory alone won’t translate into post-training success. Tip:Be sure the training organization demonstrates proof of concept during the session – not simply run with their check.

3.  LEADERSHIP SUPPORT 

Involving managers and team Leaders is essential. Leaders cannot support and reinforce what they don’t know.  Tip: Their attendance in any contact training should be mandatory.

4.  SUSTAINABILITY

T organization you retain should offer a scope of work that includes reinforcement and support beyond a simple 1 or 2-day workshop.  Tip: Partnering with a mutual strategy takes precedence over an ‘event’ based program.

5.  RETURN ON INVESTMENT

This should be a major priority for all companies.  Tip: Simply ask: “What ROI % can I expect from your training?”  Their answer will speak volumes.

6.  TRAIN-THE-TRAINER

Having this option will allow you to implement internally on-demand.  It also will provide you with insight regarding how transferable the training is, therefore not leaving you completely dependent on one person to deliver the work. Tip: Ask to see a proven Train-The-Trainer strategy.

7.  MINDSET

Mindset is a critical component for any training platform that is focused on “increasing initial conversations”. Instructing Mechanics, (the “how”), alone is not enough.  The “why” as well as the “how” will have a greater impact on those participating in the training, thus allowing for a better likelihood of translating into post-training application and a faster return on your investment. Tip: Ask what portion of the training is focused on Mindset and what the trainer’s background is with this area of instruction.

For more information regarding SOAR Selling and it’s potential fit for you and your team, give me a call.

Thanks for taking the time to read this post.

Paul (647) 962-7201

During the session I was asked by one of the students:

“Paul – if you could go back and give some advice to the 17-year-old Paul, what would it be?”

The question made me pause for a couple of reasons. 1.) because I thought it was a great question and 2.) because I needed time to think about it. As I wrapped up my session I closed with the question and gave my answer to the group, which was:

I would tell the 17-year-old version of myself to not be in such a rush to grow up.

I couldn’t wait to start working. School was simply a means to an end of me. That is one of the reasons I took a year off after high-school and why I eventually dropped out after my second year of college. I wanted to make money and I wanted to make money today! What I didn’t want to do was sit in a history class and learn about the War of 1812 because that wasn’t going to help me get a job unless I became a teacher; which I did not want to do. (Funny how things can come full circle sometimes…)

I would go back to 1991 and let 17-year-old Paul know that you have your whole life to work and make money. Take your time. Enjoy these years. Go away to college and go all-in with the experience. Look into a Frat, join some clubs, take different courses, broaden your scope, take chances and meet new people. It is such a short time in your life and one that you can’t do over again – at least not again at that point in your life.

Educate yourself – it’s sexy.

This particular training session with the TechUnder20 team of future leaders was such a cool experience for me – and one that I happily provided “pro-bono” too. The 17-year-old Paul might not recognize the 45-year-old Paul and that is just fine

What advice would you give the 17-year-old version of yourself?

Paul