What Do You Call Scale Your Sales Podcast Experts Influencers? Insightful!

I am lucky that I get to meet and interview many insightful experts and influencers that share their knowledge and experience so generously on Scale Your sales podcast.

?Scale Your Sales Weekly Podcast that aims to challenge your thinking on the themes of sales strategy and diversity, buyer enablement and revenue growth. Each guest completes a survey, and, in this article, we compare and contrast some of the expert answers.

John Ferrara says what our buyers, clients, and customers get when they engage with the team is our intention is for their success. It is not to make as much money as we can. We believe that the more people we help grow, the more they will grow, and we will achieve our aims by helping others achieve theirs.

The Scale Your Sales Framework platforms how customer-centricity is essential to sustainably scale sales and revenue growth, and John words sum up this belief.

Has B2B Sales Shifted to be Buyer and Customer-centric?

John Ferrara goes on to answer that he believes we still have a long way to go before the majority of companies shift their B2B sales processes from “Bag and Tag customers'” to be focused on customers’ needs and growth. Stating that customers want to hear how they can become better, smarter, faster. People do not buy great products; they buy better visions of themselves.

David Meerman Scott says he believes that most B2B sales are still conducted as if it is 1985 when sellers must convince buyers to pay attention.

Joanne Black agrees saying as long as we have pushy salespeople, who cannot wait to talk about their products, nothing will change. (Cold calling is not buyer or customer-centric.)

Gert Scholts agrees that most sales are still steeped in transactional methods where personal gain is number one, and this negatively affects recruitment, training, and motivation.

Marcus Cauchi has set up Sales: A Force for Good to ensure every seller delivers buyer safety.

David Fisher says given that we are having this conversation, this lets us know that B2B is still not buyer-centric enough. Successful sales professionals are service-oriented. They are selling for their customers, not to them.

Bill McCormick explains that companies have spent substantial money devising the sales process with tons of training. So, when sales professionals get in front of a client, they are focused on the sales process and forget that the client has a buying process.

Gopalakrishna says aligning and embedding your solution right at the "beginning" of the buyer's journey allows you to "influence" buyers with your narrative. It requires a seller to understand their journey and use "content-centricity" at each stage of the journey to acquire customers.

Connie Kadansky states there are two sales mindsets: first, they are self-centric, and the others are value-genic, meaning salespeople are motivated to create value from their customers and prospects.?

Julie Hansen explains that the pandemic has shifted us from a buyer-centric focus to a more technology-centred one. Companies have concentrated their efforts on providing a host of tools and technology to put sellers in front of buyers and automate the process for greater efficiency.?The growing number of buyers refusing to be on camera and complaining of Zoom fatigue and message overload is evidence of how well this is (or is not) working.?To embrace a more customer-centric future, you need to move from the current focus of "Can the buyer see ME, or hear ME?" to "Does the buyer feel heard, seen or understood by us?" The same skills we used face-to-face to build these relationships are not adequate on video. Sellers need to learn this new skill set and not continue to throw more tools and technology at overwhelmed buyers.

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What Practical Strategy Would Your Offer to Enable Buyers to Buy?

I love the phrase from John Ferrara, teach people how to fish, then they figure out that we sell great fishing poles.

Similarly, David Meerman Scott offers that you must, educate and inform instead of interrupt and sell.

Heidi Solomon-Orlick says it is simple, solve their problem. People buy from people they trust, and trust is based on authenticity. Solve a customer's challenge, make them a hero; they will be customers for life.

Andrea Waltz says persistence and ongoing follow up, will create trust.

Bill McCormick said you must become the 'go-to' person with what, Resonate with your ideal client, Create curiosity, Teach them something new, Get them thinking differently about their problem and lead them to ask for more.?

Connie Kadansky offers that to hold the customer's interest equal to your own, you must discover before any presentation: What is the prospect's desired result? What is their measurement of success? What has kept them from solving this problem in the past? What will happen if they do not address the problem now? What is their sense of urgency? What is their next step?

David Fisher advises cultivating relationships before you "need" them by owning your digital personal brand and spending time outside the sales cycle to develop 1:1 relationships with prospects, customers, and key stakeholders.?

Gopalakrishna agrees that showing the "end state first" to set the vision through your solution followed by an execution plan to realize that vision!

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Has Diversity in the B2B Selling Industry Progressed??

?When she first started leading sales workshops for technology companies, Julie Hansen recalls that she was often the only woman in the room – and the managers were primarily white men. Gratefully things are beginning to change in terms of diversity in gender and race, especially among recruits, though there is still a long way to go to reach parity, Julie says.

Bill McCormick said when he started in sales in the late eighty's early 90's, the sales leadership and trainers were predominantly white men. Bill is happy that today two of the best leaders’ salespeople he knows (and work for) are women.

Jon Ferrara said when he started in sales, primarily white men were the sellers - this did not reflect the buyers or the possible pool of great sellers. Happily, the world has become more enlightened to the benefits of utilizing the diverse talent that exists to serve diverse customers.

Sales are still behind the curve and need a good kick up the behind. Marcus Cauchi knows women friends in sales who are exceptional but get overlooked or their ideas stolen by white, middle-aged men. Marcus Cauchi says the best revenge is crushing them on the leader board.

For example, Kate Bradley Chernis recalls that diversity in fundraising, how female founders only receive a small percent of all venture capital. This means they have to work 98% harder than their male counterparts.

Heidi Solomon-Orlick started GirlzWhoSell to solve the sales industry's problem of attracting and nurturing diverse talent.

Andrea Waltz says social media has helped create more diversity in the industry, as a woman in sales, she sees more diversity in events for salespeople.

Similarly, Brynne Tillman agrees and talks about how LinkedIn has levelled the playing field for diverse representation.

Gopalakrishna recalls working with more women and homogeneous races in marketing than in sales, although this is changing the representation of multi-cultural sales reps in the IT and Software industry.

Connie Kadansky says Women can be exceptional salespeople, as they have empathy that many male counterparts do not naturally possess.

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What One Tried and Tested Strategy Would You Offer Readers to Help Scale Their Sales?

Kate Bradley Chernis offers that this is how she views sales now: it is all about creating a community, and you must walk the talk internally and externally. The Golden Rule, she says, is to treat others how we want to be treated and build evangelism.?

Jon Ferrara recommends that sellers work daily to become the trusted advisor of their prospects, customers, and ideally their influencers in and around the areas of the promise of their products and services; by giving their knowledge away daily to help others grow. When customers need the products and services you sell, not only will these prospects pick up the phone and call them, but they will drag their friends with them.

Heidi Solomon-Orlick advises not to focus on sales at all. If you do the right thing for your client, your company, and your community, the sales will follow.

Conversely, Connie Kadansky says to talk to at least five new people every day. Make it a priority to promote your business personally, pick up the phone and help other people succeed. The law of reciprocity works.

Bill McCormick says everyone wants an Easy Button, and they want a plug and play solution that will yield massive growth. The easy button is to slow down your outreach to speed up your outcome.

Mark Schenkius said you must understand the blue/red chair and table to improve your negotiation approach with procurement and buyers.

David Fisher recommends that anything that you do more than once, create a system, template, or script to help save time when you do it again.

Julie Hansen?says sellers need to expand their skills to include using video in a way that makes them appear credible and caring, and the customer feels seen and heard. when a customer is speaking, it is essential to look at them directly through the camera.

Joanne Black explains that when a salesperson gets a referral introduction to their buyer, the trust the buyer has for the referral source transfers to the salesperson. The conversation is different, and so is the relationship. Securing referral introductions and building a referral company culture acknowledges that referrals are their best business.

These are some of the insights given by the expert guests of the Scale Your Sales podcast. There is so much more in the full interview versions, listen on your favourite platform, rate, and review the episode. You can also watch the captioned Show on YouTube and subscribe.

Do not forget to connect with the guest and let them know you enjoyed their episode.

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