7 Minutes to Better Selling Podcast - S2 - Ep.2

For those of you who don't know, I'm your host, Colin Lake. I'm also the president and founder of Developing the Next Leaders

So Developing the Next Leaders is a firm on a mission to help salespeople, sales executives, sales teams, sales organizations love what they do

And you say, well, how do you do that, Colin? We help people be better at connecting with and communicating their value with their clients

Because we've learned that when you're really good at something and you're really able to help people solve for their issues, you tend to be in love with your career

You never feel like you're working. And so from a logistics perspective, although we say we're the seven minutes of Better Selling Podcast, we are about, say, eight to 12 minutes on a live conversation

And then we go back to the editing floor, pull out the pearls of wisdom, and we put that out for all the world to see

So today we have a recap show and I have my good friend Simon, the podcast producer, showrunner and altogether excellence in things digital and creative

So Simon, thanks for joining us. I thank you so much, Colin. That was a very good introduction

Thank you. And, you know, I always love these ones. It gives you and I a chance to talk, you know, like on this level versus, you know, like the other like logistic stuff that we tend to talk about more often

And so again, thanks for spending time here. Yeah, thanks for the invitation, Colin. And congratulations for your season two

I mean, I know it's very challenging to be consistent. This is probably your episode number 31 or 32

So you have been doing absolutely great. And everyone loves this podcast

I'm not going to take a lot of your time because I see you have some of the absolutely amazing people

from the sales ecosystem in past three to four episodes. And to start with, you recently had Jason Mangler

who talked about how you can go to the next step And how you can take your team to the next step, right

Would you like to add and do a quick recap from that episode? Yes

So Jason Mangler is the head of sales for Sartorius. Sartorius, you know, they have an extraordinarily interesting business model

And Jason leads the sales team. So Jason and I are longtime friends

I've known him for 25 plus years. And he has done some amazing things in the sales world and a number of different places

in the sales world, but specifically with technology. And so he does a really, really

good job at like getting sales teams to believe in something that they wouldn't have or couldn't have

otherwise. So I think a lot of Jason Mangler. So one of the things that he talked about

we had a few different points to the discussion, but one of the things he talked about is how do

I get a client to take the next step in the sales process? And so that of course plagues the sales

industry today. Like, how do I get people to, instead of telling me it looks good

they'll take a look at it. How do I get them to the next step? And so he said two things

The first thing he said is you have to understand their current financial situation. Like

do they have the capability to move forward in the process And so that has lots of meanings depending on what you sell And the first meaning it has like you truly do have to understand their financial situation But bigger than that his bigger point was you have to

understand what ultimately motivates someone to take the next step. And many times we think our

product is what's going to help them make that next step. We think because our product is better

than the current one they're using, or they don't have a product and they need our product. But that's not really the issue. The issue is do what you do or what you have solve for the things they actually care the most about

And so that leads to point to what Jason said is once you understand a financial situation, then you have to help them understand how it does, in fact, benefit them

and he said something really noteworthy. And the point was, Simon, he said

you can't tell them what you think is most important, meaning you need this because you have to say to them

why do you think you need this and how would it impact you? And if you did use it, how would that make you feel

And when people are starting to answer those things and talk about those things

that's when you ultimately have the platform to help them take the next steps

and help them, you know, maybe use your product to use a salesman's terminology

So I thought Jason did a wonderful job. I don't know if you remember that call or that podcast specifically

but I thought those points on how to help people take the next steps are really good. So first one is understand like where they are in the process

and understand what they need to see, what they need to believe in order to take the next steps

not you telling them what to do. Wow, absolutely great summarized, Scott

And one thing that I'll take away and a lighter note from this summary is that you said you have been friends with Jason for 25 years

That's probably before you and I was born. All right. Now let's move to the next podcast that you did with Tim, which was a really long one

And he talked about how you can take away from any of the discussions that you get it

Right. What are your thoughts from Tim getting on the podcast? Well, Tim's another guy I've known for a very long time

Don't tell me this time. Yes. Tim has been a mentor of mine for years. Interestingly, he was my boss for a long time

And then through like professional changes and things happening in people's lives and careers

he then worked under me. I was at a different firm and he worked under me. And I would tell you

one of the great things about Tim Seifert, and I didn't say this in that conversation, is

He was as influential and as inspirational as my boss or my leader as he was when he was reporting to me

What a wonderful thing to say about someone and something I admire so greatly about Tim

But two things from Tim's. First thing he said is, I stand on the shoulders of giants

Tim leads a Fortune 500 company. He leads the entire sales and distribution effort for this company He is he may even have a thousand people reporting up to him If not it like 500 800 people reporting up through him He has a monster job

And he says, I got here as I stand on the shoulders of giants. He says, I'm constantly paying attention to the people who came before me and who did it before me and asking them, if they were back in my shoes today, what would they be doing to better their people

And Tim's always thinking that way. how do I better my people? If I better my people, then like my job gets so much easier

So I thought that was really, really good. And then the second thing Tim said is we have to

change our relationship with hard. And Simon, what he meant specifically is like a lot of times we

think things are hard, like calling a client who might hang up on us. We think that's hard to do

And what he was suggesting is in the grand scheme of things, that's not really that hard to do

You know what I mean? Like getting told no over the phone isn't that big a deal

And so if we change our relationship with that, we'll tend to approach the situation with a lot better of an attitude

Like I come in this with a big smile, expecting the best. And the best happens more often when you go into that versus I'm nervous

I'm afraid I'm going into this and fearful that they're going to hang up on me. And then that actually comes to fruition. Like the worst happens because I expect the worst

And so Tim said, if you change your relationship with heart, like things that you perceive to be hard to say, you know what? I don't have to do that. I get to do that. And if I get to do it

I go into it with this positive attitude, this like sense of enthusiasm, Simon. And then I bring

that to the equation and people tend to do the things that you're asking them to do, which is

maybe meet with you or take the next steps to pull back into Jason's conversation

So I just, I think the world of Tim and I was really grateful for him spending all that time

Yeah, that's absolutely great. And just in case you want to go ahead and watch all that podcast, you can go to this

developingnextleaders.com slash podcast, and you will find all the episodes over there

Now that brings me, Colin, to our final recap of the episode. That is by Kevin

Kevin did the new season for you, and he inaugurated the new season, and he was talking

about how you can go and sell yourself, right? And how to be motivated to win each day. That was

a really good episode. And how would you like to summarize that? Simon, I think we'll have to talk

about this offline, but I think that is the highest watched episode we've ever done

Really? Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's what, and that's already, you know, that's the most recent

one. And I believe it's the one that's been most watched or most downloaded and reviewed

And what's so interesting about that is, as you progress, as you do 30 plus episodes

you tend to build a follower base. So you'd expect that to some extent, but I really love

what we're doing in season two. And so, and thanks to you for all of the direction on this one

but season two on on selling yourself the hardest person to sell is is me Like I have to convince myself to do these things every day in order to be a really successful salesperson And so Kevin came on

Kevin is my nephew. And Kevin is a he's in recovery. He had a bout or difficulty with drugs and alcohol in his life

And he was in a very, very difficult spot. And he has come from literally the bottom of the barrel all the way up to a wonderful place in his life where he's married

He's expecting a child. He's got a wonderful position for a large insurance company, a global insurance company

And he's doing great things for them. His clients love him. His friends love him

He's really in a wonderful place. And the thing that he said, Simon, you just referred to it, is he says, I have to win each day

Every day I woke, I wake up. I say, what do I need to do to win today

How cool is that? Like, I just have one thing on mind, win today. And he says, you know, I wake up

First thing, I'm grateful. I'm thankful for a list of things. I list those things

That puts me off on a really good step. And I'm really setting myself up for a position of things that I need to do in order to win today

He says, don't be afraid of failure. Don't be afraid of failure

be afraid, be afraid of winning in things that don't matter. Wow

How freaking good is that, Simon? Don't you love that? Don't be afraid of failure

Be afraid of winning in things that don't matter. And so that's this idea of like, how do I win today

Then make sure, okay, what's that list look like? Is it in fact the stuff that's most important

And what things am I doing to execute really well in that? Don't worry about failing at them

but worry about just succeeding at the things that really, really matter

So I thought Kevin was a wonderful guest, so well prepared, so articulate in sharing his story

and I was grateful for him getting us kicked off in season two. And Simon, by the way, that reminds me

We were supposed to have Jimmy Pomerantz today, Jimmy P, for those who were dialed in and expecting him

As many of you know, on the east coast of Florida, they're getting a big storm. That big storm has put Jimmy in a position where he can't get on the call

He let me know last night. So we wish Jimmy well and his family well and make sure his house is safe

So he'll be on in a couple of weeks and I look forward to that. So Simon, what else do we have in terms of wrap up thoughts

And then we'll let the listeners go back to their day and get them to sell them the way they need

I think the very first thing to note is definitely is this season two that we have been talking about

And also that we have started streaming this episode also on LinkedIn. So we get another at least 5,000 to 6,000 people joining us today

That's a new thing. If you're joining us LinkedIn for the very first time, you can find all the past podcasts that have dropped in the banner

Having said that, I think, Colin, that's all we have to wrap. And we'll see in about a couple of more weeks

Yes. Simon, thank you for spending some time with us. Everyone, thanks for spending all of your valuable time with Simon and I

And Simon, you want to do it in unison? Good selling, everybody. Good selling, everybody