The Sales Evangelist Donald Kelly

Every salesperson is familiar with the frustration that comes with being blocked by a gatekeeper, which could be a physical person or even just a system or automation that prevents you from interacting with the decision-maker of your target organization. Imagine if you had five strategies (and maybe even a bonus strategy) to get past those gatekeepers and land sales. In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is going to do just that.

The tactics, strategies, and practices of sales are constantly changing, and understanding how and where to adopt those changes into your sales strategy is critical to see success. So, on today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by LinkedIn Senior Content Manager Sean Callahan to go over the seven sales trends identified in the 2021 LinkedIn Sales Report.

At the end of the day, sales leaders should be able to do what they have their team to do. Because sometimes you’re telling them to do one thing when you do something entirely different. Today on The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by Ruben Alvarez to discuss why team leaders should lead by example, not just through talking.

Can sales make the world a better place? The principles we learn in sales can be used almost anywhere. And yes, that includes making the world around us a better place. Today’s guest, Scott Roy, joins us in the studio to share how he uses his sales skills to do good and help those around him.

Salespeople have heard the mantra thousands of times: talk less, listen more. But why? And more importantly, how? In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by leadership advisor Victoria Song to learn how salespeople (and anyone else) can balance listening and talking.

Sales is all about solving problems. But are you going about solving problems the right way? In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by guest Bryan Kelly to discuss how we can ask more beautiful questions, using the book A More Beautiful Question by Warren Berger as a framework.
 
Phase One: Why?
When we ask ‘why,’ it requires you to adjust the way you look at the world. There are three different ways to get into this mentality. First, step back and disengage. Taking a break will break up your routine and help inspiration strike. Next, challenge your assumptions. Whether they’re your assumptions or the assumptions of others, asking questions about your current process will help you find new avenues to explore. Finally, question the questions. Reframe a question to challenge the expected answer.  Remember the five why’s. (Literally ask the question “why” five times in a row to get to the root understanding of the situation.)  
Phase Two: Wondering “What If?”
Get everybody (including yourself) to avoid thinking about specifics. Similar to phase one, there are a few practices you can implement: Combinatorial thinking is one method where you look at combining existing practices and how that combination can lead to new possibilities. Next, you can live with the question. We often try to answer questions in the moment, but that’s not usually necessary. Instead, take time to relax and distance yourself from a problem to view the situation with a fresh perspective.  Finally, think of wrong ideas. It might seem counterproductive, but this process can help lead to the concept you need.  
Phase Three: Determining How
We want to jump to the “how” of a solution, but there’s a reason it’s the last stage. If you start there, you’re missing the critical time to go deeper into the question itself. Converge the ideas you’ve explored into one idea worth pursuing and share it for feedback. Give form to the ideas you’ve worked through. Before you go and ask others for feedback, bring the idea to life.  In other industries, it might look like a prototype. In the sales space, write a summary, proposal, chart, or whatever would help people give the best feedback. Rapidly test and learn. If you have several potential solutions, run a quick test to see how the change affects your problem.   
Bryan’s final takeaway:
Instead of jumping to the “how,” first think about the “why.” To get in touch with Bryan, visit his website getstrokeofgenius.com or connect with him on LinkedIn.  
This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio.
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