Conversational Selling Nancy Calabrese

About Merit Kahn: Merit Kahn, CEO of SELLect Sales Development, author of Myth Shift: Challenging the Truths That Sabotage Success, co-host of The Smarter Sales Show podcast. Merit is a certified emotional intelligence coach and certified speaking professional with over 25 years of experience. Throughout her career, Merit has worked with a variety of individuals, including salespeople, entrepreneurs, and professionals, as well as sales teams. She helps them shift their approach from selling to being chosen by their ideal clients. In her spare time, she is a stand-up comedian counting down the days until she trades in her title “single parent” for “empty nester." Check out the latest episode of our Conversational Selling podcast to learn more about Merit.

In this episode, Nancy and Merit discuss the following:
o Sandler Training in Merit’s life.
o You need to be selective about the clients that you bring in.
o Have you ever felt like you were pushing against the tide when what you really want is to be open to receiving more business success?
o Nobody believes they're close-minded, right?
o What prompted Merit to writing Myth Shift?
o Is the strategy of having an open mind to absorb new information and then pivot when necessary correct?
o Why do so many of us sabotage success?
o Interesting story about Emotional Intelligence.
o Fun fact about Merit.
o How can my people reach you?

Key Takeaways:

o Our core philosophy really is that selling is not about being pushy or aggressive, it's about being selected.
o The truth is we must dramatically open the client’s hand to illustrate the point that we have to open someone's mind so that they can receive our value.
o My first role is to open their mind to new possibilities because, and one of the best questions for that is, have you already decided it can't get any better or are you open to a new possibility?
o Really the total intention of my keynotes, my programs, my coaching, my consulting work, the whole essence is around open minds and closed deals.
o As I got more and more experience in the world, I realized that at face value, those lessons didn't really serve me the way that they were written.
o Instead of just changing my mind willy-nilly or flip-flopping, which also has a negative connotation in the marketplace, I would consider that new information and then I made a new decision.
o I think when people sabotage their own success, they're certainly not doing it consciously.
o And what I learned was that there was this foundation of emotions, how well we understand our emotions and the impact we have on other people that was very different with these two.
o You and I know that the most important thing you could do with a question that a prospect asks you is fine out why they asked you that.
o The most scientifically validated assessment tool on the market, I use a system through assessment through MHS, which is multi-health systems, and they're fantastic.
o I can open your mind to new possibilities in ways that I'm not even able to do with you know, expertise and credibility and training and coaching, but I can do it with laughter.

"Our core philosophy really is that selling is not about being pushy or aggressive, it's about being selected. So we really teach people to stop selling and start getting selected. And how you do that is really by Asking good questions, having good conversations, as you well know, it's not about what you say, it's about the questions that you ask. And those questions help your prospects understand that you are credible and confident, and you can solve their problems. And that's when they select you. And the second piece of it really is you want to be selected by them, but you also want to make sure that you're selecting every single one of your ideal clients because you're going to put a lot of effort and energy. " – Merit

" And the way that I distinguish marketing and sales is marketing is everything that happens before you're in

About Robyn Balsley: Robyn Balsley, founder of Graceful Impression. With over 15 years of experience in marketing and branding, Robyn has worked with a wide range of clients, from small startups to large corporations. She is known for her ability to create compelling brand stories and design impactful marketing campaigns that drive results. Partnering with HALO, a global leader in branded merchandise, uniform programs, and recognition and incentive solutions. She works with clients to break through the clutter of our media saturated world and connect their brands to customers, employees and other audiences critical to their success. Through years of experience helping companies build their brands through products, Robyn is also working with individuals to reignite their confidence, provide the strongest impression of themselves, when it matters most. Check out the latest episode of our Conversational Selling podcast to learn more about Robyn.

In this episode, Nancy and Robyn discuss the following:

How does someone go from marketing and branding to personal styling?
How do you assess what a person's personal style is?
How you feel inside shows how you feel on the outside. Can you expand on that?
The importance of showing up.
The value of everyone in an organization showing up.
How do you have that conversation with team members that aren't showing up?
The story the audience would find interesting
Why does Robyn focus on working with companies and teams versus individuals?
Something, in particular, Robyn wanted to spotlight.
Pajama style in different generations.
Robyn’s view on casual dressing.
Is all from the waist up in Zoom meetings?
Is Robyn’s family all styled appropriately each and every day?
Fun fact about Robyn.
Something that you believe is true that almost nobody agrees with you on.
Why don't you share what you offer? Robyn’s area of expertise.
What's your advice on cleaning out your closet?
One takeaway you'd like to leave the audience with.
How can my people find you?

Key Takeaways: 

It takes three to five seconds to make a first impression.
Everyone thinks they don't know their style, but they do. We know what we like, and what looks good on other people, and we can emulate that in ourselves.
And I see way too many cameras turned off on calls because people aren't ready for the day.
When dressed up people felt accountable, and they were more productive, and they admitted they were more productive.
I truly believe people will argue with me on this, but if you wear your sweats all day long, or if you get up and get dressed, even if you're wearing jeans and a nice shirt, you're going to perform better if you get dressed.
I saw it throughout the pandemic. I challenged clients to get up and get dressed at least five days a week. And those that did said they felt better, and they didn't feel so isolated.
I noticed that everybody in Japan got up and got dressed every day, like on the street, they're riding bicycles to work, but they're still dressed, or you just didn't see anybody in sweats or workout wear or pajamas for that matter. And to me, the biggest thing that came across for me was respect.
I think just challenge yourself at the beginning of a week, kind of have some people prep their food for the week, prep your clothes for the week.
It takes the stress out of getting dressed.


"A great example is one of my clients they’re in the financial world. And pre-pandemic, they were wearing suits to work and very, very buttoned up. And now they've relaxed the dress and they can wear jeans, a blazer, a nice blouse or a shirt. And it's kind of confusing to their employees. Some will come with jeans that have holes in them because they can wear jeans, but that's not really what they're saying. So, they're losing their culture, and in some companies, it's even part of their branding, going back to my previous life, it's how your team is showing up as a part of your brand." – ROBYN

"And it's tr

About Brandon Leibowitz: Brandon Leibowitz, the Founder of SEO Optimizers, a Digital Marketing Agency that focuses on helping small and medium-sized businesses get more online traffic, which in turn converts into clients, sales, leads, etc. Brandon got his start in digital marketing in 2007 after graduating from college with a degree in Business Marketing. In his first job, he handled the marketing aspects of an e-commerce website. In 2008, he realized that most businesses would need a website to stay competitive in the future. Having a website is only one piece of the puzzle. Ultimately, they need someone to help market their website to bring in traffic that will, in turn, convert to clients. And this was the beginning of starting his own company. Check out the latest episode of our Conversational Selling podcast to learn more about Brandon.

In this episode, Nancy and Brandon discuss the following:
o Why is SEO so important as it relates to sales?
o Is there any way SEO can drive prospects that are within your target audience?
o Brandon’s unique idea makes him different and sets him apart.
o How does Brandon optimize his website for conversions?
o How important is video marketing these days? Brandon’s experience in this.
o An interesting story for the audience.
o Something, in particular, you would want me to spotlight?
o How do you get Google to trust you?
o Fun fact about Brandon.
o What SEO strategies are recommended in 2023, and how are they different perhaps in the past years?
o How long in your experience does it take for SEO to really start working?
o “Keeping a positive attitude and mindset is what will drive success”, why is this important to Brandon?
o Is the SEO industry agnostic or does it work more in certain industries than others?
o Something that is true that almost nobody agrees with you on.
o What are backlinks? And how do you get those backlinks on the other sites?
o How can my people reach you?

Key Takeaways:

o SEO is all about just doing keyword research, figuring out what keywords people search for, and then incorporating those into your website.
o You want to make sure that all your printed information is at the top of your page, so ensure that whenever someone gets to your website, all the important information is at the very top, so they don't have to scroll down because the majority of people don't scroll down on a website.
o Video is good because people's attention spans are short.
o If you can have a presence on YouTube or any of these video platforms, that's going to really help build trust.
o Making sure that you're targeting the right keywords and then writing them for those keywords can change your business.
o You have to build trust with Google and with people when you're doing digital marketing.
o The more websites that talk about you, the more trust Google is going to give to you.
o Once you get to that first page of Google, you're pushing someone off that first page and they're not going to be happy about that.
o They're doing something right and if you can incorporate what's correct into your own website, that's going to make Google trust you in a similar way.
o SEO is pretty much industry agnostic, but the less competition, the quicker it's going to result in more rankings.
o You don't need to be everywhere. You just need to be in front of where your audience is looking for you.
o Backlinks are clickable links from other websites that point to yours.
o It's not immediate, so if you're looking for immediate results, paid ads are going to get you that immediate traction, but SEO is a more long-term play, where you build it up and build it up and build that trust up over time.
o You just got to keep showing Google that you're relevant and trustworthy, and once they start trusting you, they're going to start ranking you, but you must build that trust up because Google just doesn't rank anybody without your trust.

" SEO is a way to bring in traffic. So, when people search on

About Bryan Charleau: Bryan Charleau is the founder of Pitching Sales. He is a seasoned sales professional with over ten years of experience in the sales industry, ranging from software to construction. Through his experiences, he has learned countless lessons and gained first-hand knowledge of the challenges that sales professionals face when establishing themselves in this competitive field. Bryan’s first book, Pitching Sales, is filled with important and often overlooked information that can help to prepare you for the beginning stages of your career and to guide you through some of the unexpected situations you may find yourself in. Check out the latest episode of our Conversational Selling podcast to learn more about Bryan.

In this episode, Nancy and Bryan discuss the following:
o Bryan’s unique approach to sales.
o Why the word selling has such a bad rep?
o How did Bryan get into sales?
o Why Bryan felt compelled to write Pitching Sales and where it fits in the market.
o Why do people hate picking up the phone?
o Is there another story you want to share with the audience?
o Bryan’s view on the fact that experienced salespeople don't pay attention to the activities.
o Does Bryan believe in scripts?
o What is the one takeaway you'd like to leave the audience with?
o How can my people find you?

Key Takeaways:

o Everybody's had an experience that's turned them off of sales, but they overlook the experiences where they bought something, where that salesperson was very helpful.
o I guess that stigma can sometimes come along with this profession.
o And one of the interesting things that go along the lines of hearing No is just having that mindset switch where you realize: “It’s okay to hear no”, “It's okay to be rejected in this profession”.
o Whether you've made a sale or not doesn't matter.
o That's where most people start in this cold calling environment, and you have to get the proper mentality to move forward and make something to yourself, or else, you're going to get frustrated, fizzle out, and you might get out of the profession.
o As long as you're coming in with the proper mindset of saying, “Hey, if this person says no, it doesn't matter whether you made a sale at the end of that day”, then you start hearing those yeses.
o Perfect scenarios very rarely exist. They should be looked at as a bonus, not as the norm.
o I do think it is important to have a guideline for those initial 3-6 months allowing that person to grow and integrate their own personality and own thoughts on the product or service or whatever it may be.
o Don't fear that rejection. Don't make that excuse to pick up the phone. You are getting further than the person beside you who picked it up once and made one sale and doesn't know any better why they got it or how they got it.
o I know how hard this is to be, and I know that I just hate to see good sales professionals get turned off of the profession, and that's kind of what I try to help people with.
" When you start to take that time and say: “This is a career that I want to look into. I'm going to do things outside of the office to prepare. I'm going to read books. I'm going to go to seminars, training courses, whatever it may be.” I think that's a real shift in mindset. And when I look back about 10 years into my profession, I realize there wasn't really anything that helped people in that first 3-6 months in getting off the ground because you see all these sale books on the perfect clothes and how to prospect and how to expedite your sales cycle, etc. Well, that's great information if you know how to sell and you're already in this profession, and you're looking to go to the next level. But that doesn’t help you if you’re scared to pick up the phone." – BRYAN
" We've grown up. And we've been conditioned to avoid hearing No when we're asking for something. And that can wear on you. If you hear it continuously, it doesn't matter what aspect of life, but if it's

About Donnie Boivin: Donnie Boivin is the CEO of Success Champions. This online community gives you back your time while connecting you with other business owners looking to scale and grow their businesses. Donnie created the Badass Business Summit helping businesses unleash, be seen, and sell. And has appeared on hundreds of podcasts, spoken on hundreds of stages, and is going bigger with his message daily. Also, he is the Host of Growth Mode Podcasts, which gives you all the insights you need to know while building your business. Donnie is one of the leading global minds on sales, business development, and business growth. He is the first person to make sales and business development relatable and human. Donnie is a community builder at heart — he builds champions. Check out the latest episode of our Conversational Selling podcast to learn more about Donnie.

In this episode, Nancy and Donnie discuss the following:
o How did Donnie get into podcasting?
o Story of three profitable companies that all started because of a podcast.
o Donnie's purpose in life is to get as many people to freedom as possible. What does he mean by that? And why is that?
o Why do so many people struggle with building a business?
o What is the Badass Business Summit all about?
o Is any particular facet of the business that seems to be more common than others?
o Success Champion Networking: How did Donnie come up with that idea? And what happens when you belong to it?
o Criteria for picking and choosing the players in the community.
o How many people are included per group?
o A fun fact about Donnie.
o Something that you know is true that almost nobody agrees with you on.
o What is the one takeaway you'd like to leave the audience with?
o How can my people find you?

Key Takeaways:

o I was interviewing from the perspective of and trying to learn how other people found success.
o Badass Business Summit is designed to bring in expert speakers on very specific operational mindsets, marketing, and sales perspectives to teach workshop style, so you're working on it at the summit. So, by the time you leave, it's already functioning in your business.
o Networking needs to be a portion of your business development strategy, not the entirety of it.
o If you can sell and then network, and you can bring your clients back to the network, and you get a group full of people doing that - amazing things happen.
o I had no choice but to learn things and screw up things along the way.
o I realized that many people like me were struggling to build a business.
o I will share everything I screwed up and how we fixed it, and I will help people in those dark places scrambling to figure out how to build their businesses.
o In this moment of time that we're in, the only thing you need to focus on is your personal brand.
"Quit focusing on the referrals and focus on whom you need to be introduced to, not from an in-client user, but from a place where their client base is your ideal client base and you guys can build this synergistic mutually beneficial relationship." – DONNIE
" I think most people were like me, and we worked for somebody else for 20-plus years, and then we jumped out, and we wanted to start a business. And we don't realize that somebody was telling us what to do during those times working for other people. And now you're out on your own; nobody's telling you what to do. And the second portion of that is when you work for other people; excuses are easy. If the business is down, you can blame marketing, sales, leads, the economy, and everything else. But as a business owner, you don't get that choice to blame anybody. If the sales are down, go sell. Marketing sucks. Go fix marketing. You know, it's whatever it is. And people have never actually looked at themselves in a mirror to see what they're made of. And when business gets hard, they don't want to face their own reality because they're scared of whom they meet if they start looking inside. And so

About Joseph Rockey: Joseph Rockey is the founder of Elite Business Conversations, a company that provides cutting-edge training and coaching to entrepreneurs and business leaders. Their coaching methods are relationship-based, meaning they focus on building strong, trusting relationships with their clients. This approach has proven to be highly effective in helping clients improve their sales, develop positive company cultures, and achieve success in ways that are meaningful to them. Joe has extensive experience and expertise in the business coaching industry and has a proven track record of success. Since 2011, Joe has launched over 15 different entities in multiple industries - to name a few: podcasting, business consulting, personal growth coaching, keynote speaking, and real estate investment. Check out the latest episode of our Conversational Selling podcast to learn more about Joseph.

In this episode, Nancy and Joseph discuss the following:
o How is it humanly possible to launch 15 different entities in 12 years?
o What makes a person a master of anything?
o How do you go about fixing a stalled business?
o The difference between educated cold calling and uneducated cold calling.
o Joseph's point of view on building a winning culture phenomenon.
o How can my people find you?

Key Takeaways:

o Many people in this country live essentially under a sales system taught to them in the 60s, if not older.
o Salespeople are the ones who are going to heal the world.
o I do make a solid line between educated cold calling and uneducated cold calling.
o Let's have an educated conversation background, where I can leave an intelligent voicemail that gets someone to call me back, and we can move forward.
o Once you have a system, the simple fact of life is to pick up the phone and make it happen. Because staring at the phone and thinking it's going to work does not work.
o It doesn't mean we don't like the person doing that job. It just means we need to recalibrate the job in a way where it'll be productive.
o And now, everything about this job is an opportunity for me to improve my life rather than a place just to be and show up.
o The best people make the best companies. And that's the fact of life.
o Every position has elements of their job that are tied to it and that are untied to it. And we need to get them tied to it, but in a way where it's beneficial for everyone involved.
"In allowing your employees to have freedom by the fall, you are also allowing them to have innovational opportunities so that they can come out and say, you know what, for me, it works best if I do this, that, and the other." – JOSEPH
"There are three elements of any company's revenue cycle. The first one is we have to have people know we exist, and they have to want to come to see us. The second one is when they're actually with us, do they feel comfortable enough to exchange resources in exchange for the promise of a future product? And then part three is the future product. So, we're a lot of salespeople think it's only about that middle part. I'm with the individual. Can I convince them to give me resources in exchange for this future project? And the reality is, if you fail your business at any of those three components, you will be hung back by your weakest of those three links. It's just the way it is. So how do we fix a sales process? We start with which of your three links is wrong, which one is the worst, and whether we are not getting people to know that we exist. And have people want to find us? Well, what's our model for doing that? Is our model a passive or proactive?" – JOSEPH
Connect with Joseph Rockey:
o LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joerockey/
o Elite Business Conversations: https://elitebusinessconversations.com/
Try Our Proven, 3-Step System, Guaranteeing Accountability and Transparency that Drives RESULTS by clicking on this link: https://oneofakindsales.com/call-center-in-a-box/

Connect with Nancy Calabrese: