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Breaking Barriers with Elinor Stutz

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elinorstutzElinor Stutz broke through barriers long before doing so was popular. Against all odds she defied the theme, “women can’t sell” to become the top producer at every company she ever worked all the while ignoring attempts to get her to quit.

While on a stretcher with a broken neck predicted to be irreparable, Elinor saw two visions come to her. The first presented a report card showing it was her duty to begin empowering communities, and the second showed she was to become a worldwide speaker. She vowed with all her heart that she would rise to the occasion. Being the sales pro, she negotiated the outcome of healing 100%. The entire medical staff came to her recovery room to meet her and exclaim, “You are a walking miracle”. Stutz’ motto became, “Believe, Become, Empower.”

Moving full steam ahead six months later, she created Smooth Sale. Next steps to include ignoring all negativity:
• Her first book, Nice Girls DO Get the Sale: Relationship Building that Gets Results, is an International Best-Seller featured in TIME Magazine and on CBS-TV news.
• The Smooth Sale blog is distributed among corporations, entrepreneurs and media.
• Kred declared Elinor to be A Top 1% Influencer

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Traits of Top Sales Producers with Corey Rieck

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I talked with Corey about what it takes to be a top sales producer in today’s ultra-competitive business environment. We talked about:

What led to Corey’s own personal success in sales.
Top traits he thinks high performers have in common.
Ideas for being creative when trying to get to hard to reach buyers.
Metrics to measure and track.
Making it easy for your sales manager to support you.

About Corey:

Corey is the President and Founder of The Long Term Care Planning Group, a firm that specializes in delivering Long Term Care education and coverage to companies, high net worth individuals, and large organizations. Since 2001, Corey has devoted his career to Long Term Care as a result of multiple personal experiences. A neutral provider of Long Term Care Solutions since 2001, Corey brings a unique and comprehensive consultative perspective to this issue.

Learn about The Long Term Care Planning Group www.thelongtermcareplanninggroup.com

Connect with Corey:
LinkedIn – www.linkedin.com/in/coreyrieck

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Authority Selling with Mike Saunders

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In this episode of the Razor’s Edge, I talk to Mike Saunders at the Marketing Huddle about Authority Selling, which is also the title of his best-selling book. Today, more than ever, you need to be viewed as an expert authority in your field in order to move sales opportunities forward. Mike and I discussed:

  • The definition of Authority Positioning and how that is related to Authority Selling.
  • Why Mike believes that SEO as we traditionally know is almost “antiquated” and not as relevant as it used to be.
  • How to create and leverage to your advantage the Authority Positioning Porfolio.
  • The ZMOT (zero moment of truth) and how that relates to building authority.
  • How Mike helps entrepreneurs become Best Selling Authors without writing one word with his 3-Hour Authority System.

 

It was a great conversation that I hope you enjoy!

  

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About Mike:

He is the author of Amazon Bestselling book Authority Selling™, contributor to The Huffington Post and Adjunct Marketing Professor at several Universities. As an Authority Marketing Strategist, I help business owners build their Authority and Expertise to enhance their Competitive Advantage and crush their competition by helping them become an Amazon bestselling author without writing a word using my proprietary 3 Hour Authority™ System. The result is a spectacular Authority Positioning Portfolio™ which is the solution for opening more doors to closing more business.

Connect with Mike on LinkedIn and Twitter

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The Only Sales Guide You’ll Ever Need with Anthony Iannarino

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In this episode of The Razor’s Edge I talked with Anthony about his new book – The Only Sales Guide You’ll Ever Need. We had a great conversation about what you need to succeed in sales today and in the future. This book is for you if you are in sales but your performance isn’t quite where you want it to be and you don’t know why.

In the interview, you’ll hear how Anthony got into sales and by his own admission, it was kicking and screaming. Also, learn about core concepts from Anthony’s book like the difference between mindset and skill set and why you need both in selling. We also talked about the two mindset and skill set element that salespeople need to work on now.
Enjoy the interview!

About Anthony

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Anthony Iannarino is an international speaker, best-selling author, sales leader, and entrepreneur. He’s personally built businesses with annual revenue of $50M. He blogs daily at www.thesalesblog.com, a site that generates 130,000 page views monthly, and he hosts a weekly podcast called In The Arena.
Connect with Anthony on LinkedIn

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Unify Your Customer Communication Strategy with Marietta Davis

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In this episode, I talk with Marietta Davis a seasoned sales professional with an extensive career in the technology industry. Our conversation focused on creating a unified customer communication strategy supported by a Customer Communications Management (CCM) approach and platform. If the goal of your organization is to have deep, meaningful relationships with their customers, relationships are built on communication. If organizations cannot communicate with their customers, then it’s difficult to have a long-term relationship. CCM provides the ability to effectively communicate with customers thereby building and deepening the relationships that organizations desire to have.



We talk about:


Where CRM leaves off and CCM begins.
Benefits of CCM to the organization.
The capabilities an organization needs to have to support a unified communications strategy.
How your strategy must map to the customer journey to deliver a stellar experienced
Trends that are causing digital disruption forcing companies to re-evaluate the customer communications strategies.


Learn more about a Customer Communications Management platform from Data Oceans.


Enjoy the interview!

About Marietta


marietta_davis.jpgMarietta Davis is a seasoned sales professional with an extensive career in the technology industry. She has held critical positions at IBM, Lotus Development, Ameritech, Tata Consulting and most recently the role of vice president of U.S. Dynamics at Microsoft Corporation. A seasoned professional, she was responsible for leading more than 400 sales, marketing, and technical experts as they serve Microsoft’s business customers with Dynamics ERP and CRM Solutions. While at Microsoft, Davis successfully managed and grew multiple businesses at Microsoft to the $1B and triple digit growth milestone. Her diverse portfolio extends to mentoring strong leaders into key roles, acting in an advisory capacity to incubation and small startups. She currently sits on the National Board of Youth Villages; a private nonprofit organization dedicated to helping emotionally and behaviorally troubled children and their families. The organization assists more than 23,000 children and families each year from more than 20 states and Washington, D.C. 



A graduate of Bradley University, she also graduated with an MBA from Loyola University, as well as executive advanced leadership classes at Harvard University.  She was inducted into the Spelman College “Game Changer” Hall of Fame for her work in 2015 additionally, she has been a sought after speaker at Morehouse College, Georgia Tech as well as Women In Technology.


Connect with Marietta
Email: colstondavisgroup@outlook.com 


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High-Profit Prospecting with Mark Hunter

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Prospecting is a critical element in keep that sales pipeline full and revenue flowing, but as Mark Hunter points out far too many salespeople avoid prospecting like the plague. In this episode, I talk to Mark about his new book: High-Profit Prospecting. Excellent book – highly recommend you check it out! 

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Mark defines prospecting as “an activity performed by sales and/or marketing departments to identify and qualify potential buyers. 

Mark points out that prospecting is not a complex process. He believes that when you are prospecting you are looking for people who can and will buy from you. It is the quality of your prospecting efforts that lead to the development of sales opportunities. Prospecting is NOT talking to friends or people nice enough to take your call. Your goal is to find qualified buyers and that means it is just as important to get a fast no, as it is to get a win with a yes.



Mark and I discussed:


  • How High-Profit Prospecting is different from his earlier book: High-Profit Selling (also a great read!)
  • Why salespeople look for any excuse to avoid prospecting, because “experts” keep banging the drum that there is an easier way. 
  • That not everyone with a pulse is the right prospect for what you have to sell.
  • The role social media plays in the prospecting process and why a nice profile, sharing content or some online conversations isn’t all you need to have opportunities roll in.
  • Tips for breaking through the noise with a 14-second voicemail (or super brief email) to get your point across.
  • Attitude and motivation versus skilled and knowledgeable.
  • A few strategies Mark’s shares in his book that you can start using right now.
Enjoy the interview!


About Mark…


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Mark Hunter, CSP, “The Sales Hunter,” is recognized as one of the top 50 most influential sales and marketing leaders in the world. He is the author of “High-Profit Prospecting” and “High-Profit Selling: Win the Sale Without Compromising on Price.” Mark helps companies identify better prospects, close more sales and profitably build more long-term customer relationships. He is known for his energetic presentation style and ability to engage sales leaders. Not only does Mark have expertise in sales, but also knows how to communicate it to others. This is seen by the 50+ speaking events he does each year throughout the U.S. and Canada and around the world.  To find out more, visit Mark’s site at www.TheSalesHunter.com.

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Adapting to and Interacting with the Modern Day Buyer – Gerald Vanderpuye, BuyerDeck

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gerald1.jpgIn this episode, I talk to Gerald Vanderpuye – CEO of BuyerDeck. It is clear that salespeople need to adapt their selling approach. Buyers are blocking cold outreach, and in fact, Gerald shares a recent story about the number of cold emails he’s deleted and why he didn’t give them a second look. :)  

Gerald and I talked about the biggest challenges facing today’s sales organizations, how deals are won and lost, how to use content to your advantage, but more importantly, how to know when buyers are interacting with your content – or not.
In this episode you’ll hear about:
  • The changes that have disrupted sales and marketing because buyers don’t behave the way salespeople want them too.
  • The biggest challenge facing today’s sales organizations.
  • Why it is some important to analyze deals – both won and lost.
  • What salespeople can learn from the data and insights that BuyerDeck uncovered about how salespeople sell.
  • Whether or not salespeople should be creating their own content.
  • The best ways to use content to capture interest and attention and the type of content that does that best.
  • How to track the content journey and buyer interaction with content you share with them.
About Gerald Vanderpuye:

As a proud co-founder at BuyerDeck, Gerald has three passions: He loves sales, technology and creating happy customers. He has been in sales, marketing and delivering remarkable customer experiences the last 10 years. His last position was at Rackspace where he was responsible for developing sales strategy and driving business growth through existing customers and new Logo acquisitions in key markets. He led and managed a diverse team to deliver on new growth targets for both Enterprise and SMB’s. He now leads the team at BuyerDeck to bootstrap the distribution of their B2B SAAS product beyond the initial traction of 12K buyers and sellers.

Visit BuyerDeck and sign up for a FREE trial IF you tell them that you heard Gerald’s interview with me on The Razor’s Edge.

Connect with Gerald:

LinkedIn:                         https://uk.linkedin.com/in/geraldvdp 

Twitter:                            @Geraldvdp

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Rebirth of a Salesman with Cian McLoughlin

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In my latest podcast episode, I talked with Cian McLoughlin, Founder and CEO of Trinity Perspectives. Cian is also the author of a new book called: Rebirth of the Salesman: The World of Sales is Evolving. Are You?

We discussed the changes that have eclipsed sales during the past 10 years and why salespeople need to be thinking about how to adapt their approach. We talked about the following:

  • The driving force requiring salespeople to rebirth themselves.
  • Why storytelling has become the #1 skill to master in sales and business today.
  • How buyers really make their buying decisions. It might not be what you think.
  • The role of emotional intelligence in the selling process and the ability to be situationally aware of what is going on around you.
  • The greatest sales challenges facing businesses and how they can be overcome.
  • Why you need to “know they prospect”.
  • Who will be the ultimate winner in the battle between salesperson and sales automation (and other tech tools in the stack).
  • The ways in which Win/Loss Analysis can redefine your sales and business success
  • The “so what card” and why you should use it in preparing every sales presentation you give.
About Cian:


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He hails from Dublin, Ireland, originally, but spent much of the past 18 years in Sydney, Australia. With a sales career spanning almost 20 years, including senior management roles in a number of the world’s largest software companies, Cian is the found and CEO of Trinity Perspectives. A boutique sales training and consultancy firm, Trinity is committed to helping businesses unlock the latent potential of their customer insights.


Cian has worked with and advised sales professionals from Brisbane to Bangkok, Christcurch to Cape Town and everywhere in between.


Author of the Amazon #1 bestseller Rebirth of a Salesman, and co-author of Secrets for Business Success, Cian is a regular sales and marketing commentator in the mainstream media. His blog was voted one of the Top 50 Sales Blogs in the world for the second year running by Top Sales World, and he is also a regular columnist with Smallville.com.au and the soon to be released MOB Magazine.


With ASX and Fortune 500 clients across Australia and the Asia-Pacific region, Cian is a passionate proponent of an ethical, honest and authentic approach to sales.

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