How Johnny-Lee Reinoso Sells: No Excuses – Learn and Sell Boldly

Here’s a partial list of things?Johnny-Lee Reinoso?isn’t interested in:

Excuses, limitations, second place, lackluster effort, giving up, stagnation.

Here’s a partial list of things the lifelong sales pro is very interested in:

Giving it your all, winning, learning, enthusiasm, respect, getting in early, staying late, caring about your customers.

That mindset – driven, competitive, with an underscore of legitimately wanting to help – has led Reinoso to the success he’s had in his career: consistently being a top seller at every organization he worked for, becoming a sales manager when he was only 25, landing a sales role in a management consulting firm and then becoming head of sales all without a college degree, and now running?his own successful global business development firm.

Recently, he sat down and shared how he sells. His passion for selling nearly burst through the screen – as did some hard-earned truths any sales pro could learn from.

In a style this author believes Reinoso would appreciate, let’s dive in – headfirst.

1. What do you love most about?selling?

Problem solving and helping people.

I don’t want to make this come across as kumbaya, but it really is problem solving. It’s solving people’s problems to improve their lives and businesses.?

Because you see salespeople who are uber successful, and they’re happy. And they are driven by gratitude and helping – that’s why they are happy.

And then there are salespeople who also might be successful, but they are frustrated. And that’s because they are only driven by revenue. They aren’t driven by a true desire to help.?

Of course, revenue is important. You have to hit quota. But I think there is a very healthy mix, where you are hitting quota by helping people. That’s the winning recipe in my opinion.

2. What's your sales philosophy?

It’s S.A.L.E. – speak authoritatively, listen empathetically.?

When it comes to speak authoritatively – look at a doctor or a lawyer. We trust these people because we respect the amount of education they put in to get where they are. And they speak with authority because they believe in their knowledge base.

Well, I’ve put in as much time into selling as they’ve put into their education; it’s my life’s work. So I also try to speak with that same authoritative manner. By doing this, people put their trust in me.

And then there’s listen empathetically. Meaning, not listening to talk, to get your words in. Rather, really listening to understand, really focusing. And empathize with what your prospect says; don’t combat it, react to it.?

Because if you listen to what they say, they’ll tell you what they need. From that, you can help them.?

3. Is there anything that makes your sales process unique?

We preach “discover and design.” Because you can’t design without first discovering.

What I mean by that and what I train my team on is, we can’t sell something unless we know what the prospect needs. So you need to dig into that discovery and really understand what that person is looking for, what they are trying to solve for.

Then, we can begin to design a solution for them. You need to do both – discover and design. Because if you do one without the other, you aren’t going to get anywhere.?

So many reps, especially early on, get to the design right away, without doing the discovery. Because they fall in love with their good or service. You need to really know your service – but, what you need to be in love with is?helping?your customer, and then designing a solution that’ll meet their needs.

The second thing is RRR – referrals, retain, repeat. Meaning, get referrals – often right after the close, in the honeymoon period. That’s when people are most likely to refer, because they are excited they just got a new service.?

And then, retain, meaning don’t just deliver on what you promise. Over-deliver. That’s going to help you retain your customer.

Finally, repeat. Do it again and again. Although, if you do the first two right – refer and retain – the third will happen automatically.?

4. What research do you do to prepare for a sales call??

I’ve got another acronym for you. I call this one PPP.

That stands for professional, personal, and phone. Meaning, what I’m looking for is something about my prospect’s professional life, their personal life, and then find their phone number so I can call.

You can get most of that on LinkedIn. See where they’ve worked, the trajectory of their career, what college they went to, if they volunteer. Also, if they are hiring, take a look at the positions they are hiring for – that can give you some insight into what their needs are.?

You don’t need to do a full deep dive – it should take 5 minutes, tops. But get a sense for who they are, how long they’ve been in their role, those kinds of things; and then make the call.?

5. What's your favorite discovery question?

There are two.

The first is, after introductions and everyone gets comfortable, I’ll ask them what motivated them to speak to me today. Because then I can really understand what they are looking for, and I can often get a timeline as well. This question really helps to get the discovery going.?

The second is, if the call is going well, I’ll ask them, “assuming you recognize throughout our discussion the services and capabilities we have can actually meet some of the challenges you’ve shared, is it common for you to bring procurement and/or finance into our next call, or is this something you could drive all the way home?”.

This is a non-threatening way to understand their buying process. If you ask someone if they have the authority and they don’t, they are going to be turned off by that. But if you ask them what’s common in their organization, they are much more likely to be open and share what their buying process is. And then you can understand how to move forward.

6.?Is there any habit you have that you believe helps you?sell?better? Examples – meditation, exercise, waking up at a certain time??

Every morning, I get into work at 7, and I read for 30 minutes. I can’t start my day without reading for 30 minutes. And then I’ll pray for 10 minutes and get in the right mindset to start the day.

I prioritize reading because success leaves clues. I don’t need to figure out everything myself – people who have had success can help me. And I access that through reading and looking for their clues.

You need to prioritize learning and getting better every day. Because I know that what I do in private will determine how well I do in public.

7. How?do you use LinkedIn when?selling?

It’s a one-stop shop, it has all of that intelligence in one spot. And we use Sales Navigator too and all of the alerts and the connections are powerful – we use it to turn every?cold call into a warm call.?

It’s too hard to say how great it is. It’s the best thing out there, it does so much for us.?

8. What has been your biggest failure in sales and how did that experience transform you?

In my early career, I began selling services to executives at large companies. And when I started, I took over another person’s territory, and with that came their notes in our CRM.

One of the notes on one executive said that he wasn’t interested at all, and don’t call back for at least a year. This note was maybe three months old at the time, so I followed it and I didn’t call.

Well, after a few months my territory changed, and another rep took over that account. Keep in mind, it was still a long way away from waiting a year. Well, that guy didn’t care, he called that executive and wound up closing the biggest account in the history of our company with him.

Here’s what I learned from that – someone else’s result doesn’t determine my potential. Sure, they might have failed, but that doesn’t mean I have to fail. My potential might be greater than someone else’s, so I never want to put a limit on it.

That inspired me and I went out and wound up closing an even bigger deal in my new territory a few months later. I set that record, and never again would I let someone else’s result determine my potential.?

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