Conversational Selling Nancy Calabrese

About Usman Sheikh: Usman Sheikh is the visionary founder and CEO of xiQ, an award-winning B2B sales and marketing platform. With the fusion of generative AI (x GPT), behavioral science, and a curated up-to-the-minute business corpus, xiQ is revolutionizing the industry with its groundbreaking personality-driven sales approach. As a futurist and design thinker, Usman aims to humanize B2B sales and marketing by harnessing the power of generative AI and psychology. Through xiQ, sellers gain the ability to understand the mindset of prospective buyers, facilitating hyper-personalized engagement throughout the sales cycle. Usman strongly believes in achieving excellence through disciplined and relentless execution. Check out the latest episode of our Conversational Selling podcast to learn more about Usman.

In this episode, Nancy and Usman discuss the following:
• The transformative power of AI in B2B sales and marketing
• xiQ's use of generative AI, behavioral science, and chat GPT to personalize sales approaches
• The evolution from pre-internet to the internet era and now to the AI era
• How AI simplifies tasks, saves time, and enhances productivity
• The importance of understanding personality-driven sales

Key Takeaways:
o AI made it so much simpler, gives one that information in seconds, and saves hours of time that would have been spent.
o What used to take me six hours out of my day has now been reduced to 30 minutes.
o We need to master AI. We need to make it work for us.
"And we use AI to help you formulate these kinds of capabilities, bringing them into sales to personalize the sales engagement. Nobody wants to talk to somebody who doesn't know who you are, doesn't understand your problems, and cannot empathize with or relate to your actions. They're just in there to sell, and nobody's interested in that, especially in high-ticket sales. So, it becomes increasingly important to be able to find the sweet spots of the person within their personality and cater to them so you can have a better chance of winning." – USMAN
"We're not a plug-in to LinkedIn, although I think we get a lot of data from LinkedIn. Think of our platform as an independent search engine; we throw a very wide net out there to collect information. So, you type in the name of a person in their company and start looking for them. You find the person by clicking on them if there is more than one. And it goes, fetches information, analyzes it, and makes a prediction call. All of it, less than three seconds." – USMAN
"So, we were living in the pre-internet era. Would that be correct? I was. I saw the internet come. You did, right? And everything was paper-based. If you needed to look up a person or do some research, you had to use Encyclopedia Britannica or one of those, right? There was no Google. It was a different world. And the big brands that were there were those serving Yellow Pages and all that stuff. Those were the brands. But then came the internet age, Google and Yahoo, and now ZoomInfo and Salesforce, and all of these became tools that people used, right? And the old Yellow Pages and so on didn't translate into becoming the ZoomInfo of the business world. It was like the Yellow Pages of the business world in the pre-internet days, right? And so, two things happened. The way we did business changed. Secondly, the players that provided the technology changed as well, and the solutions changed as well. Now, we're entering the AI era. It's a big leap. So, if the internet was a thousand to the paper-based era, then AI is a hundred million to the thousand. That's the big leap, okay? Because it can crunch out this big data and make sense of it in microseconds, right? And so, it can crunch a lot of data to do that, right? Pretty much the whole internet, right? And then some. So, but you know, we as humans need to be able to access that data, that much data in a consumable manner to be interesting." – USMAN
"I think not to be afraid

About Kelly Lichtenberger: Kelly Lichtenberger has a strong background in sales and marketing, with experience in various leadership roles. From 2021 onwards, she has worked as the Global Head of Sales Development at Avanan. Before this, she worked at The InsideOut Technologies Company as a Principal, focusing on building and optimizing Inside Sales teams. From 2017 to 2019, Kelly held multiple roles at Razberi Technologies, including Vice President of Marketing and Inside Sales. She was key in delivering network video recording, cyber security, and remote health management solutions during her time there. Before that, Kelly was the President of Consulting Services Group (CSG), where they provided superior customer experience and implemented top talent and technologies for business success. Kelly was also involved in building high-performance sales teams and instituting best-selling processes at Carousel Industries as the Vice President of Inside Sales. Overall, Kelly Lichtenberger has a wealth of experience in sales development, marketing, and team management and has consistently demonstrated success in driving revenue growth and achieving results. Check out the latest episode of our Conversational Selling podcast to learn more about Kelly.

In this episode, Nancy and Kelly discuss the following:
• Value of the human element in sales despite advancements in AI
• Overcoming fear of rejection in cold calling
• Differing views on the use of scripts in sales calls
• Building and maintaining successful inside sales teams
• Role of emotional intelligence (EQ) in prospecting and sales
• Benefits of emotional intelligence for women in sales
Key Takeaways:
o You can have a script, but knowing how to play within that keeps the human element there.
o Women do phenomenally at sales.
o The worst answer in sales is "maybe."
o We all have a mutual benefit for everybody, being happy and wanting to stay.
"I still very much believe in the human element. We hear a lot about AI and tools, what these tools can do, and what this system can do. We miss a big part of the sales cycle when we leave out the human element. I talk to my team often about this, and I think what happens is it comes down to skill set. There are a lot of people who don't have the skill set to use the phone as a selling device appropriately. So, it's easier to say it doesn't work and it's dead. The more people say that, the more it helps me and my teams because it opens the doors. Fewer people are calling, so I'll get through." – KELLY
"So, when you think about emotional intelligence, it's the same as EQ. People have heard of IQ, which is knowing how. EQ is knowing you. Emotional intelligence encompasses self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills. It's really about adding the human element into sales. When working with a team, I tell them, "We're not going in to sell on step one of the first conversation. We're looking at how to build a relationship, even in your personal life. It's about being you." One of the things that people forget to do often is to focus so much on the product know-how and forget that there's an actual person on the other end. Do we understand their role? Their pain points? What would be helpful to them in their position? If you're facing rejections, know how to handle it, pivot, and not get upset if you have a day where there are many hang-ups or didn't get through and set up the demo. Knowing that motivation, if you're not doing those things again, how do you turn something like cold calling into a skill set and not just give up because it's not working for you? Many people do. Then again, they want to say, "This didn't work." Well, maybe it's that you didn't work on that one." - KELLY
"So, active listening is a big part of emotional intelligence, which comes in a few places. It's going to come into social skills. It will come into self-awareness, but really, the social skills of understanding. Kn

About Isabelle Fortin: Isabelle Fortin is a standout mindset facilitator, entrepreneur, and public speaker. Her journey is marked by determination and creativity. Through Izzy Fortin Coaching, she uses her experiences and insights to help others grow professionally and personally. Isabelle faced a significant challenge when she was just five years old: she lost her mother. Being the youngest of three siblings, she had to learn how to be strong and resilient early on, and these qualities have guided her throughout her life. Isabelle's career path is wide-ranging and impressive. She served in the Canadian Air Force, an experience that taught her discipline and structure. Afterward, she spent 23 years as a devoted massage therapist, improving her ability to heal and care for others. Check out the latest episode of our Conversational Selling podcast to learn more about Isabelle.

In this episode, Nancy and Isabelle discuss the following:
• Isabelle's transition from military to sales
• Definition of a rebel and the importance of rebels in sales
• Strategy: "Make friends before you make clients."
• Value of honesty and authenticity in sales
• Aligning company culture with sales team needs
• Impact of military experience on sales approach
• Turning rebellious salespeople into rock stars
Key Takeaways:
o You can't go against who you are
o Make friends before you make clients
o If you give the rebels the tools that they need, they will become rock stars
o Always quit a toxic relationship
" I think that most sales rebels are extremely people-oriented. They're extremely community- and relationship-minded. And it is truly for them about cultivating relationships more than anything else. They make friends before they make clients. Of course, you know, the business that you are in has to give you that opportunity. I mean, if you're a salesperson in a store, maybe, you know, that's a little bit less, especially if it's a chain store, it's a little bit less of that. But even then, how many great people do we find or quite the opposite? You go to a store, and the person, you know, won't look at you, engage with you, or ask anything. Well, we are less likely to go back, right? So, I think that that's in their nature—to build relationships—and it is about selling who they are first." – ISABELLE
" I believe that, of anybody, but especially when it comes to salespeople, thrive when the culture of the company that they work for understands that they cannot be treated like every other employee because they are different. And I find that you know, sales managers—only 6% of them get training in management. And yeah, only 6%. The stats are scary. Very often, I believe that either the company took their top salesman and decided to make them the manager, or worse yet, they took somebody from another department and decided, "Hey, you're a good manager. So, you can now lead the sales team." Sales is a different kind of species. And if you treat them the same as everybody else, they're going to underperform, and they're going to look for a job very quickly. And I think that that is the biggest mistake that most companies do—is deal with their salespeople the "wrong" way." - ISABELLE
" The connection that I brought to my personal life from the military was you can work well with somebody you don't like and don't need to. I hear coaches say that very often—find the commonality, find, you know, if that person likes ballet or bowling or whatever, and you like that too, then you know, that's something to base the relationship on. And I'm not saying it's a bad thing. Sometimes, the commonality is that you're both humans living on this planet. So, you don't have to share a passion with somebody to get along with them. And that's where I got that from the military because in service, you literally, like a firefighter the same way. Police officers are the same way. You don't have to like someone. You need to recognize that that person

About Alice Myerhoff: Alice Myerhoff is the Founder of Myerhoff Consulting, which helps mission-oriented startups and SMBs with growth strategy, partnerships, and sales processes to increase revenue and maximize their positive social impact. Alice is a Sales and Business Development leader, author, and strategic deal-maker who has built customer portfolios from the ground up and client bases from ZERO. She brings a wealth of multicultural experience across several corporate, education, and nonprofit sectors. 20+ years background in online media/news/advertising/events, educational technology/software, social impact/businesses, real estate, computer gaming, and financial services. Previously held executive-level positions at workforce development, gender equity, and education-focused organizations. Check out the latest episode of our Conversational Selling podcast to learn more about Alice.

In this episode, Nancy and Alice discuss the following:
• Definition of mission-driven organizations
• Significance of effective sales strategy
• Consistency of sales principles across industries
• Maximizing conference ROI
• Conference attendee privacy
• Evaluating conference investments
• The Sales Glow Up initiative with Lisa Scotto
Key Takeaways:
o I'm interested in supporting organizations that will leave the world in a better place.
o You can be very methodical about approaching a conference, even as just an attendee, so you get your money's worth out of it.
o I think if people at the beginning of their sales careers can embrace that and not have it be such an emotional roller coaster, which sales sometimes is, they could save a lot of stress.
"I think having a definition around who you're targeting is kind of the baseline number one issue. You can't really reach out to your targets if you don't have a target in mind. A phrase that I like to use is, 'You can't boil the ocean,' right? So, let's think about who the client is, how we can reach them, where they are, what they care about, and their pain points. That's the first step. And then having some methodology, like, do you have a CRM? Do you have it set up in a way that allows you to make strategic decisions based on the data you're collecting? Those types of things are pretty key. I like to get my hands dirty, you know?" – ALICE
"Attendees don't like to be spammed. Imagine attending a conference; you'd have a hundred exhibitors, and everybody knew you would be there. How many emails are you going to get? And they'll annoy you. And maybe you won't attend the conference again because you don't want to be on that list. So, conferences don't do that. But that doesn't mean you can't figure out who's likely to be there, right? So, you can – this sounds super basic, but sometimes people don't think of it – look at the agenda for the conference. Who are the speakers? You know they'll be there, right? They must show up. Or, you know, sponsors, exhibitors –they will have people on site. And you can even build outreach campaigns just around that information, right? You can make a pretty good guess. This type of company will probably send out a salesperson or a marketing person, depending on what the conference is about. And even if that is your specific target, they can maybe help you connect with that person." - ALICE
"People kind of like that idea of showing up at a conference and winging it. I think a lot of people are selling the same way. They're sort of winging it, and you can pick up little tidbits here and there. There's lots of thought leadership stuff happening. I mean, our little videos are part of that, too, even. But building a methodology that allows you to be consistent and have some rigor can make a huge difference. So yeah, I support that. And you know, Nancy, the bigger vision with Sales Glow Up is to create something like that." – ALICE
Connect with Alice Myerhoff:
o LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alicemyerhoff/
o Myerhoff Consulting:

About Nigel Green: Nigel Green is an Advisor to Founders and Sales Leaders and the Author of "Revenue Harvest: A Sales Leader's Almanac For Planning The Perfect Year." Executives and sales leaders hire Nigel to improve sales team performance. By the age of 31, he was a Fortune 300 executive sales leader who had led sales for two healthcare companies that both experienced successful financial exits. Since publishing Revenue Harvest, he has advised dozens of sales teams on building a best-in-class sales team. Two of his clients have scaled and sold for more than 3X EBITDA, while others have attracted investments from top venture funds. Most importantly, they hit their sales targets. Check out the latest episode of our Conversational Selling podcast to learn more about Nigel.

In this episode, Nancy and Nigel discuss the following:
• Problems sales leaders face daily
• Focus areas for sales leaders: revenue, profitability, new customers
• Frequency of team meetings for sales leaders
• Importance of asking better questions
• Sales aptitude tests: context and application
• Hiring based on competency alone vs. considering chemistry and character
• Distinction between a good salesperson and a good sales leader
Key Takeaways:
o You must build a team to create customers at scale that aligns with the business's overarching strategy.
o Good sales leaders are productively paranoid about what is right around the corner that could derail my team.
o At least once a week, the leader has to meet with the team and remind them of this responsibility to meet and exceed future business expectations.
"I think the problems that sales leaders face could be bucketed under majoring in the minor things. And what that means, if we were to unpack it, is that if you found yourself in this position, it would sound all too familiar to you. You look back on your day; you were busy and did a lot of stuff. Most of what you did was probably internal and not enough external, meaning that you were on, especially today; we're recording this on a Monday. So, a lot of sales leaders today will spend their entire Monday in meetings that will probably not create one single customer, and they will probably not be involved in any training or development of the sales team. And it's certainly not going to be involved in the overarching strategy of the business. It's probably going to be meetings that involve updates around product or operations, updates that have already happened and that you cannot control and ultimately won't matter in creating a customer, training a rep, or the overarching strategy of the business. And that's the biggest problem: many sales leaders don't have enough autonomy in their schedule. And if they do have autonomy, they're still not spending it on the three areas of the business that matter most: customers, reps, strategy." – NIGEL
" I ask a lot of really good questions. So, it gets to where I'd never really have to ask anyone for an investment or to hire me because they see through the power of my questions that their life might be better if they had me as an extension of their team. So, that translates, I think, naturally to the types of things that I work on in my coaching business, which is primarily what I do as coach sales leaders. I help them improve the quality of their questions. And as they start asking better questions, they start having better problems. Better problems lead to better results. So, we get to this place where we don't have an activity problem, or we don't have a "we're not hitting our sales" problem. We start having deeper problems around strategy, positioning, technology, compensation plans, team structure, data, and augmenting sales reps with better support systems—not just hiring more people but hiring various sellers for different types of roles in the sales organization. And we start having better problems." - NIGEL
"If you want to transform your sales team, you've got to understand that your s

About Roy Osing: Roy Osing is a former president, CMO, and entrepreneur with over 40 years of successful and unmatched experience in executive leadership in every aspect of business. As President of a major data and internet company, his leadership and audacious 'unheard-of ways' took the company from its early stage to $1 Billion in annual sales. He is devoted to inspiring leaders, entrepreneurs, and organizations to stand apart from the average boring crowd and achieve their true potential. He is a resolute blogger, keen content marketer, dedicated teacher, and mentor to young professionals. As an accomplished business advisor, he is the author of the no-nonsense book series 'BE DiFFERENT or be dead.' Check out the latest episode of our Conversational Selling podcast to learn more about Roy.

In this episode, Nancy and Roy discuss the following:
• Importance of differentiation in business
• Roy's concept of the "only statement"
• Use of passionate language to capture attention
• Cultivating a client-centric culture
• An unconventional approach to recruitment: "Hiring for Goosebumps"
• Embracing audaciousness to stand out
Key Takeaways:
o Differentiation is the key issue facing businesses today. Without it, organizations eventually die.
o Step outside your comfort zone and do things differently.
o Treat discomfort as your strategic ally. Be audacious, be brave, and choose to be different every day.
o Stand out by doing things others aren't doing.
"And so, I came up with this hiring for Goosebumps approach, which went as follows. First, I, as President of the company, was involved in panel interviews with most of the people we were hiring. And I did that for a specific reason. First, I wanted to show the people in my organization who sat around me what to do, and hopefully, hopefully, that they would copy what I did. Secondly, it shows the person applying for a job that they are important. So, I asked them two fundamental questions. I go, "Nancy, what I'd like to know is, do you love human beings?" Now, you would typically go, "Wow, okay, I've never had that question before. I think I know the right answer, but I have no idea where this dude is going with it." And you would say, "Well, yes, I do, Roy. I love human beings." I'd say, "Okay." So, the second question would be, "Tell me a story. Tell me a story that proves to me that you love humans." Now, this is the killer question, okay, because it separated the wheat from the chaff. The people that treated this as an academic exercise would give me a story that left me cold. Okay. There wasn't any truth to it. It was all mumbo jumbo, superficial, narcissistic chatter from this individual, right? But the person that had the gene told me a story that was so rich and passionate in terms of how they related to people and their feelings for people. Guess what it did, Nancy. It left me with goosebumps, and I got him right now. I would hire that person and teach him the business. People thought I was crazy. To this day, I can have; a while ago, I had a podcast with a PhD in HR in New York, and I told her this story, and she just went apoplectic. In fact, we had to stop the interview. She couldn't take it." – ROY
" I want you to be different. I want you to go out, be brave, be audacious, and choose to be different today, right now, in the moment, in some small way. I want you to be uncomfortable. I want you to treat discomfort as your strategic ally. I want you to do it. And tomorrow, I want you to do two things and be different. And the next day, I want you to do three things. I want you to sort of get this persona strand going for you because we need you to be different. Okay, we don't need you to conform. We don't need you to comply with the rules. Now, I'm not talking about being illegal. I'm saying step out, be creative, be innovative, and do things other people aren't doing. That's the source of joy. That's the source of economic opportunity. And we need yo