The Death of a Salesman

Alexander Low
The Death of a Salesman

Accelerating digital sales and digital transformation. Join me and my guests as we try and unravel what the digital world means for sales and marketing in the 21st Century. Thank you for taking the time to listen.

  1. 12/20/2023

    Be Yourself.

    Welcome to the final episode of 2023, and what better way than to help us all be "our true selves at work". I am joined by Liz Villani, founder of #BeYourselfAtWork, a global movement dedicated to creating a new narrative around the way we work. Liz and the team do this by helping you understand who you are, through your iAM. "When you have your iAM you understand what makes you happy. You know you belong, you feel you are valued for who you are. You know how to be your best, and to be your most productive as a leader, manager and a person. All lifting your enjoyment and success at work."   I have been through the process with Liz to find out my iAM. It was a thought-provoking exercise and revealing, too.  Liz has been working on this for almost 20 years, helping individuals and teams to understand themselves better. We discuss my iAM and what it means. This isn't about being labelled as everyone has a unique iAM, because we are all unique. We also discuss how organisations in Financial Services, Professional Services and Private Equity are using this approach in pitching and helping them win by truly standing out from a crowd of grey suits. As you listen to our discussion, I encourage you to pause and reflect on what makes you, well, you. You can learn more about #BeYourselfAtWork here https://www.beyourselfatwork.com/iam Follow Liz on LinkedIn here : Liz Villani - beyourselfatwork | LinkedIn Read my iAM here : https://www.linkedin.com/posts/alexanderlow_alexander-low-i-am-activity-7137362034442018816-E0mv?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop    Thank you for taking the time to listen.   Be kind to yourself.

    40 min
  2. 11/01/2023

    The Rainmaker Genome

    If you are a fee earner in professional services, balancing the fee-paying work and your business development activities can be challenging. Some may even say a little daunting. You trained to be an expert in law, accounting or consulting, not necessarily a salesperson.  Yet, why do some seem able to go out and win businesses and have long-standing client relationships? What is it they do that you are not? Is what they do even right for today's market? This is the same question the team at DCM Insights wanted to answer. In partnership with Intapp, they surveyed 1800 partners across Law, Accounting and Consulting to understand what they do regarding business development and client relationship management.  They also conducted 100 C Suite interviews to understand how and why they buy professional services. This is also underpinned by the principles unearthed through decades of psychology experiments and anthropology findings applied by sales and marketing experts.  This gives us "The Rainmaker Genome".  There are five profiles of Partner and how they go to market : Expert Confidant Activator Debater Realist These are not personality-based but behaviour-based. Of the five profiles, one is predominantly more successful in business development and revenue growth.  Not only this, these behaviours in how they go to market are teachable. Listen to one of the founding Partners of DCM Insights and internationally acclaimed Sales Author, Matt Dixon share more on how the research was conducted, what the 5 profiles are and what this means for the future of the modern Rainmaker, as featured in Havard Business Review. Learn more about DCM Insights and their Activator Development Programme : https://activatordevelopmentsystem.com/ Read the Harvard Business Review article : https://hbr.org/2023/11/what-todays-rainmakers-do-differently  Follow Matt on LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewxdixon/

    47 min
  3. 10/25/2023

    The JOLT Effect

    Between 40% and 60% of deals are lost due to clients or prospects making no decision. So, how do you get them to make a decision? One way or the other? You need to JOLT them into one. In this episode, I am joined by Ted McKenna, co-author of The JOLT Effect and co-founding Partner of DCMinsights. Ted McKenna is an accomplished sales and customer experience researcher whose work has appeared in the pages of Harvard Business Review. He is a founding partner of DCM Insights, a customer understanding lab focused on using data and research-backed frameworks to help companies attract, engage, retain, and grow customer relationships. Prior to co-founding DCMi, Ted held numerous executive leadership positions in product, strategy, research, advisory, and enablement for Tethr, Russell Reynolds, and CEB (now, a part of Gartner). We break down what The JOLT Effect is. The book is based on a large-scale study of millions of sales conversations that revealed the key difference between high-performing and average-performing sales reps: the ability to address the customer’s fear of failure. The book explains why customers often hesitate to buy even when they have a clear intent and how sales reps can use a technique called JOLT - Judging the indecision, Offer your recommendation, Limiting the exploration, Take risk off the table - to create a sense of urgency and confidence in the customer’s decision. Tune in to learn how you can unlock buyer indecision.  You can learn more here >>> https://www.jolteffect.com/  Follow Ted on LinkedIn >>> https://www.linkedin.com/in/ted-mckenna/

    44 min
  4. 09/13/2023

    Are you in the moment?

    In this episode, we have a returning guest, the brilliant Neil Mullarkey. Neil Mullarkey is an English actor, writer and comedian. He was born in Watford, Hertfordshire, England1. He is known for his work in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997), Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002) and Spice World (1997)2. He is also a founding member of The Comedy Store Players and still appears with them regularly at London’s Comedy Store.   Neil also works with individuals and organisations, coaching on all things Teambuilding, Corporate Leadership and Communication Skills, all of which is underpinned by the art that is "Improv".  Neil has also authored his 4th book, "In the moment" where you will "Discover the insights and strategies that will help you improve your confidence, communication and creativity in every moment of your professional career." In this episode, we dive into, what does it mean to be in the moment. Neil shares a framework you can start using today. Neil talks about the difference between having a structured approach and being able to react in the moment. We work through a pitch example. We talk about how moments matter. How innovation can be achieved in the corridors - be it physical or digital. We end on serendipity and the example Neil talks to is from the former Chairman of a Global Consulting business : "He wants his share of the lucky market." Learn more about Neil and get his book here >>> In the Moment book by Neil Mullarkey — Neil Mullarkey Follow Neil on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/neilmullarkey/ Go see him in action in London - https://comedystoreplayers.com/

    45 min

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Accelerating digital sales and digital transformation. Join me and my guests as we try and unravel what the digital world means for sales and marketing in the 21st Century. Thank you for taking the time to listen.

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