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Business Insights & Strategies From Experts: Unveiling Simple Truths Behind Success. I’m always grateful for Reviews and remember to Subscribe
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Friday Feb 21, 2020
Friday Feb 21, 2020
The plan never survives contact with the enemy.
#DrJeffreyMagee explains why most of us only hit our peak revenue building years in our 50s, unless you're smart. Either you're a cost centre or you're a profit centre. Either you are part of your own plan or you become part of someone else's plan.
He builds and develops peak performance in individuals and businesses. We explore why leaders focus on the wrong end of the problem because they are so stuck in the weeds. The questions CEOs should be asking about what works today not what used to work; what assets your competition don't have today that you can leverage; what is the 360 capability of your #humancapital; can you objectively remove the noise out of your head and look at your people as assets; what is the #trajectory you need to pursue
Jeff shares his formula for growing your people to maximise their potential:
- Aptitude
- Application
- Attitude
We delve into why sales recruitment is done so poorly. Jeff questions whether hiring managers know what they are looking for, or how to onboard them effectively, raise the bar through hiring and ongoing training and skills development.
Listen to find out how to maximise successful hires. Jeff has a formula to help you manage optimal performance.
We explore why modern sellers need to adapt to modern buyers' changing patterns of behaviour. We dig into the potency of a strong money concept and self concept for moving sales from transactional to value based. Jeff and I get tough around the lowering of the bar and the trend towards compromising on work standards in sales.
We cut through the crap, and identify exactly why weak, ineffective, lazy sales management are passing the buck, instead of taking responsibility for the team's number. They are creating the rod of underperformance for their own back by failing to understand what will make a sales hire succeed in role and they are afraid to hold people to account.
We map out the runway for sales management success. The gaping chasm between sales management excellence and what passes for average is massive. 94% (NINETY FOUR PERCENT) of sales managers are NOT QUALIFIED for the role.
Player managers are like multitasking - doing twice as much as you should half as well as you could - because they are distracted from their real job by carrying a personal target. their job is to hire the best people and get the best out of them. Give them a personal target and that is where you focus their attention. Bloody idiotic and a false economy.
Jeff explains why the emphasis on tactical (compliance, standard operating procedures, compliance, product knowledge etc) instead of operational (management, leadership, supervisory) and strategic (where senior leaders live) training is at the heart of why many organisations get into trouble. He explains the true value of Chief Learning Officers spending their time delivering strategic elegation (elevating & delegating) to the senior bench of the company.
We draw an important parallel between how a few, wealthy, committed influencers have been able to hijack the global political narrative by playing the long game, and shift the narrative to the right and towards populism causing the average voter to fail to question what they are seeing and hearing in the media. Successful leaders need to satisfy the day to day but they also need to be courageous enough to play the long game, driving towards their long term vision. The best spread their risk, encourage diversity.
The annual business report tells you how to compete with or sell to every public enterprise; they tell you about their past, present, future. Can you tap into their trends? Are you playing the future game or stuck in a rut in the past? Get our of the short term trap. Fail to learn and train yourself and your leaders, your people to think at your peril.
Salesmanship is about selling only one thing, change. Unless you get your salespeople to do the basics well, consistently over time and meaning it, you are toast. Stop getting distracted by the next shiny object that is sales enablement until you have got the basics right. Once you have the basics right, then use technology to make yourself more efficient and more effective.
Jeff advises you to read and listen to people who have the scar tissue from failure in the real world and their lessons learned, but find content produced by people who are BETTER than you, not at the same level or lesser.
Jeff can be contacted on LinkedIn.
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ProfessionalPerformanceMagazine.com (Company Website)
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JeffreyMagee.com (Company Website)
Subscribe to #ProfessionalPerformanceMagazine. It just deals with success and is packed with fantastic content every issue.
Tuesday Feb 18, 2020
Tuesday Feb 18, 2020
#ZachSelch has helped build sales channels across 130+ countries. As a good Jewish boy he's built successful and sustained channels in Saudi Arabia, throughout Africa, Asia, the Americas and Europe. He's a true internationalist. Zach has recruited over 1000 partners for his employers and clients but he doesn't build a land army; he builds a special forces unit.
In each market he generally only works with one partner, whether they are distributors, resellers or agents. He builds clear trust based contracts and clear expectations up front that he is in it for the long term, that the partner will get paid, operate with total transparency, and uncompromising integrity.
He focuses his time on helping the partners to sell because no matter how good they are at installing a product, no one makes any money and the partnership will fail. Never assume that your partners can sell. Most can't. Most partners are plumbers - they know how to weld and cut pipes - it's your job to help them build a plumbing business. That means selling, building systems and processes, hiring the right people.
Zach shares his partner onboarding process which is tried and tested. Familiarisation with the local culture is critical. Providing partners with short training videos is important because distributors rarely put much time into training partners on how to sell. This meant that Zach earned the right to mentor the individual salespeople, helping them make more money because his job is to get the result no matter what it takes and not being distracted to maximise #TimeAvailableForSelling and #TimeAvailableForManagement.
Stop hurting sales with the pointless, and add value each time you touch your partners' salespeople. Ignore this and you will reduce the time available for selling and they're highly productive you risk reducing the highly productive selling time to as low as 3%-7.35% of their time.
Zach makes it his policy to help the careers of his distributor salespeople. Treat them like they are your own, your protégés. Stop behaving like an overpaid clerk. You need to manage your distributors. Calling once a month and adding no value is why you are failing to optimise your channel sales performance. Help them prospect. Get out in the field with them.
Meeting once a year at a trade show and making a call once a month is a major dereliction of duty. Don't think that you've done your hard work and a channel role is a prize where you can sit in your ivory tower and the money will come rolling in to smash your quota. Channel sales is the toughest sales role there is bar none. It is not a place to send failed direct salespeople. It is where you send your best salespeople who have management capability.
You grow companies fast by leveraging the power of your partnerships. You grow them sustainably, by planning, recruiting great partners who can sell, getting into the trenches, training & coaching them to be great sellers, holding each other accountable and making them successful.
"There is only one way out of my network. And that's in a box!" - Zach Selch
Zach has built a lifetime network which means he can set up a distribution network in 25% of the time than other people.
We explore the up front contract he establishes to protect both sides. It will surprise you if you are only used to selling via partners in your own local market. It cuts out 3-4 months of dead time, prevents getting tied up in pointless stuff that lawyers think is important and will hurt you commercially. He establishes clear expectations in return for exclusivity. He also shares how he gets partners to open up all their customer and prospect information when you meet resistance or pushback.
Subscribe to his videos. Here's one example you'll enjoy
Connect with him on LinkedIn here
Zach suggests these 3 biographies of General Sherman
Sherman: Soldier, realist, American by BH Liddell Hart
A Soldier's Passion For Order by John Marszalek
If you enjoyed this podcast please subscribe, comment and share. You can also listen on Apple Podcasts here. Again, please subscribe, comment and share.
If you believe you or someone you know would make an interesting guest for The Inquisitor Podcast, please let me know by emailing me on mcauchi@sandler.com
Happy international selling!
Monday Feb 10, 2020
Monday Feb 10, 2020
#MikeWeinberg is one of the most authentic, sincere and dedicated sales thought leaders on the planet today. He gloriously pulls no punches.
His brilliant books and training come from 3 decades of scar tissue. No arsty fartsy theory that hasn't been tested in the field with real salespeople and real sales managers. Mike is author of #SalesTruth, #NewSalesSimplified and #SalesManagementSimplified. They are must reads. Buy them all now. If they don't already grace your bookshelves, Audible library or Kindle reader, you are missing out.
You can see him speak at #Outbound in May 2020. Get a taste of what to expect in our fireside chat where we tear apart the myths and truths around:
If you're in a leadership role and don't like or understand sales, pay particularly close attention. If you have a team who is meant to be bringing in net new business ask yourself if you're trying to kill elephants with a plough? Are your farmers really zookeepers? And do your hunters use a sniper rifle or indiscriminately shoot anything that moves with an Uzi on drive by shootings.
We have a laugh, occasionally at your expense. Not because we're bad people but because we are passionate about helping salespeople reach their potential and if we didn't laugh we'd have to cry. What passes for average in sales is APPALLING. Sales management is a mess and sales leaders, God help us, you really need a rocket up your arse! This interview may light the touch paper. Pucker up ladies and geniltalmen. This going to be an uncomfortable ride ...
Friday Feb 07, 2020
Friday Feb 07, 2020
"When a man asks to meet you halfway, he probably thinks he's already standing on the halfway line" - JD Rockerfeller
#AllanTsang is a globally recognised commercial negotiator. He is the man you want on your side when negotiating big deals, critical deals or when you're having tough, career stopping conversations. He demonstrates, with live examples from the real world, what real negotiation looks like.
- Deescalate emotion
- Slow down
- The power you gain through good research
- Understanding your counterpart's agenda
- Stay unattached emotionally to the outcome
- Increase your potency with rehearse and role-play
- Staying calm
- Turn around bad situations
- Not split the difference
- Prevent bad decisions
- Offering up the "No"
- Secure great deals
Allan's first mentor was the legend #JimCamp, author of the stunningly good book, #StartWithNo. His current mentor is another one of my guests, former head of the FBI National Crisis Unit, #GaryNoesner
If you've followed me for a while, you know I'm usually pretty rude about negotiation because in sales it usually means how can we compromise, give unilateral concessions and live with regret leading to resentment. Allan is nothing like that! He is authentic, curious and a delightfully effective listener. You will learn a lot from this interview.
LinkedIn:linkedin.com/in/allantsang
Website: 88owls.com Email:allan@88owls.com
Wednesday Feb 05, 2020
Wednesday Feb 05, 2020
#JeffBajorek believes #salesmanagers need to treat their salespeople as customers. They have to ask their people to do things they might not ordinarily do.
We slaughter several fatted calves around management. It's an ugly car crash of a conversation if you're a typical sales manager. We explore the idiocy of scale at the expense of effectiveness with salesforce automation and sales enablement. We dig into why sales recruitment is done so poorly resulting in a generous estimate that only 46% of sales reps hit target in 2019 (even after their targets have been reduced).
Whilst he doesn't entirely blame managers for managing the numbers instead of managing people because that is what they are being asked to do by senior management, but he is pointing the finger for their refusal to do what they know is right coach, train, hold their people accountable. He explains how to avoid being perceived as a micromanager and how to contract mutually with salespeople to be able to help them. He shows you how to eliminate excuses from your sales team.
We discuss the importance of focusing on managing behaviour not the numbers, how to turn sales meetings into events that salespeople look forward to, learn from and improve because they participated.
We lay bare the excuses sales management and leadership and show them for the bullshit they are.
Jeff explains why it's so important to take the risk of behaving differently and encourage diversity. He reminds us not to get stuck in a rut by fearing change, staying wedded to orthodoxy. He warns against playing it safe or letting your fear of losing control get between you and helping your reps succeed. Never tell your reps that you've made all the mistakes and what you tell them or else you will surround yourself with people who are willing to work that way! Don't be tied to the implementation at the expense of the fundamentals.
Engage in challenge and constructive conflict. Encourage diverse thinking. Be willing to break the rules. Jeff's superpower is that he has the ability to tell someone that they're full of shit without them getting mad at him. He explains why understanding why you do things in a particular way enables you to work out how you can do things differently.
Jeff identifies the qualities of top performers. The most surprising quality isn't hard work, it's what they aren't doing. These people are very intentional, disciplined about how they use their time and measured. He shares the secret of being hyper-productive.
Jeff possesses an exceptionally strong self-concept. It was a privilege to spend time with him.
Listen to the end for some absolute gems to get more done with less effort.
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Contact Jeff at:
Website: jeffbajorek.com
Email: jb@jeffbajorek.com
Twitter: jeffbajorek
Instagam: RethinkTheWayYouSell
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If you are the owner or CEO of a technology company in the £10m-50m revenue range, and your goal is to grow your business and achieve real, sustainable hypergrowth with highly engaged and highly productive employees and clients who stick with you year after year, let’s schedule time for a brief conversation.
To book a 1 to 1 with me or check out my 250+ podcast interviews with some of the best salespeople, sales leaders, sales psychologists, founders and entrepreneurs, trainers, coaches and authors click here - https://linktr.ee/marcuscauchi
See Jeff deliver an Elite Workshop at the #Outbound conference in May 2020: PROMO CODE: WhyBuyJeff100 for $100 off
Tuesday Jan 28, 2020
Tuesday Jan 28, 2020
#GaryNoesner is the former head of the FBI's National Crisis Unit. He was responsible for 350 FBI negotiators worldwide resolving kidnappings, robberies, prison riots, dealing with terrorists, disgruntled employees or military veterans with guns. I interviewed Gary to learn what makes a great negotiator and how to take the skills he learned and taught at the FBI in the context of high-stakes business negotiations.
We explore cause and effect, motivation and thinking, teamwork, planning, research, preparation, the importance of understanding the differences between what you can and can't control, why it's crucial to keep your head when the pressure is on and why role play is so essential.
I asked Gary what makes a good crisis negotiator. The qualities that make a good FBI negotiator are the same as the qualities that make a strong commercial negotiator. Good self control, being a good listener, being someone who sincerely wants to help someone get out of a bad situation but what he said all great negotiators have in common will probably surprise you.
We explore the psychology of negotiation, the challenges of negotiating through 3rd parties (think #channelsales / #agencysales or working with internal champions to sell into an enterprise where you don't have access to the ultimate decision makers or a committee) when the stakes are high.
In the final section Gary and I discuss what he is wrestling with and this opens up a really fascinating discussion about the distorted power of labelling, partisanship and the danger of cult-like figures in our political and social arenas.
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Gary is semi-retired now but available for key note speeches and will bring some fresh perspective to any sales or leadership kick off.
You can contact him via his website garynoesner.com and via email at contact@garynoesner.com
#negotiation #negotiator #crisisnegotiation #commercialnegotiation #negotiationtraining #negotiationinstruction
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If you are the owner or CEO of a technology company in the £10m-50m revenue range, and your goal is to grow your business and achieve real, sustainable hypergrowth with highly engaged and highly productive employees and clients who stick with you year after year, let’s schedule time for a brief conversation.
To book a 1 to 1 with me or check out my 250+ podcast interviews with some of the best salespeople, sales leaders, sales psychologists, founders and entrepreneurs, trainers, coaches and authors click here - https://linktr.ee/marcuscauchi
Tuesday Jan 14, 2020
Tuesday Jan 14, 2020
#AmyFranko, LinkedIn 2019 Top Sales Voice, Author of #TheModernSeller and Board Chair for the Girl Scouts casts the spotlight on what makes the difference in top performers in the modern sales profession.
Amy has a take on how modern sellers stand out:
- The value delivered by the solution is less valuable without you as the seller being part of the equation
- YOU are personally seen as a differentiator in the buyers experience of buying from your company
- YOU are seen by your clients and your prospects as delivering a competitive advantage to their business by being the person who sell to them
Amy introduces the 5 dimensions of #modernselling:
- Agile
- Entrepreneurial
- Holistic
- Social
- Ambassador
She defines and explains each in detail. We investigate why lacking any of these qualities results in a weak pipeline full of maybes and call me backs.
We delve into why 83% of first meetings worldwide never result in a second meeting. Read that again. Most of the 4 in 5 of first meetings are so badly run by the salesperson they are not invited back. Consider the epic waste to your business. Sure, some may be qualified out by the salesperson but consider how much marketing, prospecting, lead generation time, money and resource is squandered thanks to unprepared, badly trained, inept salespeople.
Amy shares a gut wrenching indictment by explaining that research tells us that only 6 minutes in every hour salespeople are in front of prospects delivers any value. 6 ****ing minutes folks!
We have a dig into management and leadership patterns of behaviour that eat into your profits and fritter away opportunities through ignorance, misplaced emphasis and habituated stupidity. Their lack of rigour filters down into the salespeople on the front line.
Have a listen. Please like, comment and share this podcast. Click follow to get notified when I produce a new podcast
You can contact Amy via her websites, LinkedIn or Twitter
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amyfranko.com (Keynotes & Sales Programs)
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amyfranko.com/blog (Global Top 50 Sales Blog)
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impactinstruction.com (Customised Training)
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If you are the owner or CEO of a technology company in the £10m-50m revenue range, and your goal is to grow your business and achieve real, sustainable hypergrowth with highly engaged and highly productive employees and clients who stick with you year after year, let’s schedule time for a brief conversation.
To book a 1 to 1 with me or check out my 250+ podcast interviews with some of the best salespeople, sales leaders, sales psychologists, founders and entrepreneurs, trainers, coaches and authors click here - https://linktr.ee/marcuscauchi
Saturday Jan 11, 2020
Saturday Jan 11, 2020
#GlennRobertson is MD of #PureChannels, the #ChannelMarketingAgency.
We discuss why most #MDF (#MarketingDevelopmentFunds) is better spent on buying lottery tickets. Partners are in business for their own reasons not the vendor's reasons. Vendors' attempts to get partners to market their products is so often a disappointing affair.
Never forget, partners don't care about you, your company, your products or your targets. They want to sell their services and your products are simply a means to sell those services. Think about that before you blow a load of cash and effort trying to get your partners to market your widget.
Glenn believes, as do I, that you will make your money work much harder for you if you use your MDF to help them get in front of more qualified prospects, market their own business and services, train them to sell more effectively.
Reframe what you do with those funds and start by calling them something else. Business development funds or sales development funds speaks to what partners actually want from vendors. They are looking to vendors to help them sell more products and services to help them grow their own businesses, to train them how sell those products and accompanying services.
Your channel is your biggest source of potential revenue and the greatest opportunity for sustained, manageable, predictable growth IF you do it right. If you don't, it's a money pit fraught with trouble. This means you MUST optimise their performance and introduce a level of mutual accountability where the partner determines how they will hold you accountable based on the criteria that matter the most to them and vice versa.
We explore the importance of #diversethinking, #constructiveconflict, #channelevolution and the trap of conservative, familiar thinking. Channel is not easy not is it a #GetOutOfSaleFreeCard. There are so many moving parts in the channel. It's a minefield. If your partners aren't working that is YOUR FAULT. When was the last time you asked your partners what they wanted, surveyed them, and put those recommendations into action? Invite the uncomfortable truth of negative feedback to help you to improve your partner experience which translates into improved customer experience. Stop playing the game of delayed catch up with your competition by following what others are doing 5 years after them.
You can contact Glenn via email glenn@purechannels.co.uk
Pure Channels can be found at https://purechannels.co.uk/
Download Glenn's whitepaper on The Future of MDF
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If you are the owner or CEO of a technology company in the £10m-50m revenue range, and your goal is to grow your business and achieve real, sustainable hypergrowth with highly engaged and highly productive employees and clients who stick with you year after year, let’s schedule time for a brief conversation.
To book a 1 to 1 with me or check out my 250+ podcast interviews with some of the best salespeople, sales leaders, sales psychologists, founders and entrepreneurs, trainers, coaches and authors click here - https://linktr.ee/marcuscauchi
Wednesday Jan 08, 2020
Wednesday Jan 08, 2020
"With integrity you have nothing to fear because you have nothing to hide" - Krish Dhanam
#KrishDhanam worked with the legendary #ZigZiglar for 25 years. He in high demand across 6 continents and 70+ countries as a keynote speaker. Krish brings a refreshingly authentic approach to sales. We discuss the differences between a salesperson and a sales professional around:
- Habits
- Values
- Mindset
- Vision
- Discipline
- Systemisation
- Limiting Beliefs vs Empowering Beliefs
- Ethics
- Prospecting & Pipeline
- Money Concept (hint: Just add a zero)
- Personal Standards
- Accountability
- Personal Study and Self-Development
We explore what works and what doesn't in sales management and hiring salespeople, why playbooks, coaching and role play are so important and Krish's 3T's model for driving team performance improvement
Listen to the end to hear Bob Townsend's 3 disarmingly simple but exceptional interview questions when hiring new salespeople
There is so much content it is worth listening to twice with a note pad
Contact Krish on LinkedIn or via either of his websites:
or
I saw Krish speak in 2019. He was so good delegates asked for him to come back in 2020. If you have a company event and you want a breath taking, powerful speaker to sharpen the thinking of your audience, I cannot recommend Krish highly enough.
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If you enjoyed this podcast please tell your friends - like, comment and share on LinkedIn and your other networks
If you know someone who would be a great podcast guest, drop me a line with their details and I'll see if I can invite them
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If you are the owner or CEO of a technology company in the £10m-50m revenue range, and your goal is to grow your business and achieve real, sustainable hypergrowth with highly engaged and highly productive employees and clients who stick with you year after year, let’s schedule time for a brief conversation.
To book a 1 to 1 with me or check out my 250+ podcast interviews with some of the best salespeople, sales leaders, sales psychologists, founders and entrepreneurs, trainers, coaches and authors click here - https://linktr.ee/marcuscauchi
Tuesday Dec 17, 2019
Tuesday Dec 17, 2019
5 times #bestsellingauthor #HilmonSorey and co-founder of #ClozeLoop is back on #TheInquisitorPodcast. Hilmon spends his life helping tech scale ups in #SiliconValley achieve rapid, sustainable sales growth.
We explore the power of #SalesPlaybooks to drive #ontarget performance especially in the middle of bell curve, the mistakes to avoid and the best practices to maximise ROI from hires & your #CRM system, by creating a meaningful, dynamic feedback system.
We discuss scale ups and how to prevent poorly or unplanned #hypergrowth turning into turnaround. We explore why the current private equity land-grab model is broken and the bubble on unprofitable, unsustainable #TechScaleUps is likely to burst.
Hilmon shares his insights into the do's and don'ts of raising funding. There is plenty of money available in the market today. He offers clarity on how to raise it and make it work for you so you and your investors don't lose your shirts and you focus on execution, sales and the right personas.
We dive into ClozeLoop's T.E.A.M. methodology of #predictivehiring, #onboarding and #ramping salespeople, the subject of HIlmon's latest book.
Another engaging, entertaining and detail packed interview with Hilmon. Worth several listens and having a pen and paper to hand if you are serious about building and scaling up your business without the wheels coming off when you hit the curve of the hockey stick.
If you want to get hold of Hilmon his contact details are:
Phone510-693-0000 (Work)LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/hilmonsorey/Twitterhilmonsorey--Please like, comment and share this interview. Subscribe if you haven't already done so. Why not give a subscription as a gift to someone you admire or believe could do with the very best in sales, sales management and channel sales advice. Share the link: https://marcuscauchi.podbean.com/
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If you are the owner or CEO of a technology company in the £10m-50m revenue range, and your goal is to grow your business and achieve real, sustainable hypergrowth with highly engaged and highly productive employees and clients who stick with you year after year, let’s schedule time for a brief conversation.
To book a 1 to 1 with me or check out my 250+ podcast interviews with some of the best salespeople, sales leaders, sales psychologists, founders and entrepreneurs, trainers, coaches and authors click here - https://linktr.ee/marcuscauchi