There’s promise for economic improvement in the coming year. Your sales team had better be ready because customers have learned a few things in this new economy. Values and priorities are shifting, so if you’re not also honing your game, learning more about how to address your customers’ problems, you’re likely to fall from favor. Meaningful relationships are difficult to impossible to forge when you seem irrelevant. Therefore, more than ever, a salesperson must add value to the equation or there’s simply no value in the model. What’s worse is, that value is a moving target. Do everyone a favor and either step aside or rise to the occasion.
On one hand, customers are more aware of their choices, which could make you look more dispensable. But they also have to deal with increasing complexities and customer demands of their own. Look for them to feel more pressure from above for increased corporate revenue and market share growth initiatives. These factors and others will change expectations. They may actually need you more. Are you ready?
The road to blissful achievement
A good portion of your life is spent traveling and, as you know, there’s little return on that huge investment. But what if you could take along one of the most revered sales and achievement coaches with you? Someone who could help you improve your perspective; ask better questions of your customers; maybe change your thinking a bit. And what if it just happened to be entertaining and free — all at the same time? I suggest you subscribe to “The Advanced Selling Podcast.” It’ll sound like a personal radio show that plays in your car or through your earbuds, but it could make all this possible. Remember podcasts?
To put it into current perspective, Apple, for example, has delivered a billion podcast subscriptions to date. Podcasts began as an outgrowth of the Apple iPod. The “recordings” were designed to bring original programming to the once hugely popular MP3 device. But now with the help of smart phones, you can access, download and play whenever and wherever you want. Repeating it as many times as you want. Aside from iTunes, there are dozens of new apps that make listening and managing your podcast subscriptions very easy.
Podcasts are on the rise in 2014, too. They’re used like virtual radio shows. The content tends to be highly segmented and the experience is delivered in a personal, intimate, flexible manner. Best of all, most podcasters, including this one, do it for fun and perhaps the exposure, but they have yet to figure out how to monetize the effort.
“The Advanced Selling Podcast”
Did I tell you that not all podcasts are created equal? For sales leadership, this one is best of breed. I’ve listened to dozens and I subscribe to a bunch but Bill Caskey’s stands out. Since 1989, Bill and his company, Caskey Achievement Strategies, have focused solely on developing B2B sales and leadership teams. “The Advanced Selling Podcast” is now in its sixth year of broadcast. You can listen to the entire library. Episodes range in length anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes each. Though sometimes irreverent and politically incorrect, Caskey and co-host Bryan Neal are always entertaining, endlessly informative and a joy to follow.
There are many ways to get started:
- Download the “Advanced Selling Podcast” app here, or,
- Go to iTunes, select Podcasts, search for “The Advanced Selling Podcast” and/or,
- Download one of many available podcast apps and start listening.
INSIGHT:
They say if you really want change, work on the behaviors. Do something different or in a different way. This point was reinforced in a recent Caskey/Neale podcast (referring to customers): “change [your customers’] field of vision,” and change the questions. “There’s always a bigger thing going on once you [bring them to a different perspective] … with customers it’s your job to facilitate the conversation.” And for that, you have to be ready.
I welcome your comments, questions or more discussion. — David Stahl