Julien Leblanc joins us on today’s episode of the Storytelling for Sales Podcast to share his incredible journey from a tennis player to a world-class leader in many areas. He shares a lot of gems in this episode including how he uses storytelling with his unique strategy of “hook ‘em, engage ‘em and call ‘em to action.”

Julien is a very successful serial entrepreneur who has founded several companies and now largely devotes his time to learning and teaching and injecting confidence across the globe.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE:

• Julien’s journey to entrepreneurship
• The practical application of confidence techniques
• Virtual selling and best practices
• The rise of the attention economy

SHOW NOTES

[00:22] Introduction to this episode

[00:45] Ed’s first encounter with Julien

[02:40] Two business success stories that inspired him

[05:52] How he got into the sales world

[08:37] Early days challenges with sales

[10:02] Current mistakes that salespeople make

[11:41] How can you tell a world-class salesperson

[12:20] How he picks his industries/ business partners

[13:22] The values that drive his company

[15:00] Stories that excite his clients

[16:30] Virtual selling and the best practices

[21:22] The top 3 questions to ask prospects

[24:34] The attention economy

[25:45] The art of storytelling

[28:15] Contact info

Connect with Julien and find out more about him on Linkedin and his website

Find out more about his company, blueprint  North America here

James Muir is the founder and CEO of Best Practice International and the bestselling author of the #1 book on closing sales – The Perfect Close. James is a 30-year veteran of sales having served in every role – from individual contributor to executive VP. His mission – to make the complex simple.

James has extensive background in healthcare where he has sold-to and spoken for the largest names in technology and healthcare including HCA, Tenet, Catholic Healthcare, Banner, Dell, IBM and others.

James is passionate, enthusiastic and fun. He likes to have fun while he works. Not only is James a lifelong student of sales, but he’s also an accomplished guitarist, organic chemistry fan and fitness buff. 

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE:

• Mistakes salespeople make in the virtual selling 
• How to correct misconceptions about sales
• What the “ Ideal Advance” is and why you need it
• What is the “Perfect Close”  for the virtual world
• The noble art  of storytelling and selling

SHOW NOTES

[00:28] Introduction 

[03:24] Business success stories that inspire him

[03:32] “The story of Edwin C. Barnes”

[06:30] How James juggles through his roles

[07:33] How he got drafted into sales

[10:14] Mistakes salespeople make in the virtual selling

[13:20] The Sales Call objective

[13:53] How do you close business in a virtual world?

[14:38] The best closing approach according to scientific research

[15:16] The “ Ideal” advance

[24:12] How does storytelling come to play is his sales technique

[25:01] Misconceptions about sales

[28:35] “Selling is an act of service”

[30:30] Challenges facing today’s sales leaders

[31:30] Contact info and book details

You can connect with James and get his book via his website

It’s another unique episode of the Storytelling for Sales Podcast. In this episode, we have combined some of the best answers and advice to questions on ‘becoming obsessed with your dream customers,’ ‘why storytelling is becoming the #1 sales skill to master,’ and ‘how to go from nowhere to a $20 billion powerhouse. This episode features Bruce Linton, Maddie Pimentel and Russell Brunson.

Bruce Linton is an entrepreneur who has been at the head of 16 different companies and presently occupies the position of Executive Chairman at Vireo Health International, Inc, Co-Chairman of Martello Technologies Group, Inc., and co-founder of online rental marketplace Ruckify.

Maddie Pimentel has been in the Learning & Development field for the past 19 years. She is the Training and Development Manager for North America in SnapAV. Maddie’s role is to enable the sales teams to quickly ramp, begin generating revenue and stay up to date on products, solutions and process updates as well as industry trends. With the purchase of Control4, a publicly-traded company, a few months ago, Maddie is now responsible for sales enablement for the global sales teams.

And finally Russell Brunson! Over the past 15 years, Russell has built a following of over a million entrepreneurs, sold hundreds of thousands of copies of his books, popularized the concept of sales funnels, and co-founded a software company called ClickFunnels that helps tens of thousands of entrepreneurs quickly get their message out to the marketplace.Together with his partner Todd Dickerson, Russell launched their sales funnel software in October 2014, and the company grew to $100,000,000 in the first three years. 

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE:

• Why salespeople should never mention their competition
• The role of Storytelling in human to human connection
• The 3 Core Markets /Desires which will stay evergreen 
• The Value of the Public Policy Changes
• Latest trends in the sales training industry

SHOW NOTES

[00:22] Introduction to this episode

[00:45] Guests’ introduction

[03:23] Business success stories that inspire our guests

[03:33] “Elon Musk story”

[04:14] “Maddie Fathers story”

[06:16] How they all got into sales 

[07:48] How ClickFunnels was launched

[09:53] Skills salespeople must have

[12:46] Online Traffic Secrets

[13:36] Why Relationship Selling is oversold

[17:00] Is it difficult to train salespeople?

[18:57] Favorite Sales failures

[21:55] How online advertising has evolved

[24:39] How do you pick your industries?

[26:46] How to understand your customers

[29:52] The role of public policy changes

[30:29] Stories that excite your customers

[32:34] How do you find your dream customers?

[35:04] Mistakes sales leaders make

[36:46] Search-based traffic

[37:17] The art of storytelling

You can listen to the individual episodes here:

Bruce Linton, “From Nowhere to a $20 Billion Powerhouse.”

Maddie Pimentel, “Why Storytelling is Becoming the #1 Sales Skill to Master”

Russell Brunson, “Becoming Obsessed With Your Dream Customers”

In this special episode, we pulled nuggets and discussions from three of our previous episodes with Christy Soukhamneut, Gregg Jorritsma and Eli Fathi 

Christy Soukhamneut is a 20+ year veteran of the mortgage industry who is dedicated to turning possibility into reality.  A gifted strategic thinker, she knows that you must cut through the clutter, clearly articulate the vision, and then rally support at the street level.  

Everything she does is evaluated against these three bars: Will it make your life easier?  Will it help you & your team be more productive? Will it help you grow your business?

Gregg Jorritsma has been in leadership roles with some of the most well-known companies in the industry including Citrix, BlackBerry, Bell Mobility, Siebel and Delrina. A passionate advocate for “informed selling” and sales professionalism, Gregg credits his success to having been mentored and coached by some great people that took the time to help him on his journey. 

Eli Fathi is CEO at MindBridge Ai, developer of the world’s first auditing tool based upon artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies – Ai Auditor – to uncover errors in financial data. Eli has been a technology entrepreneur for over 30 years, having founded or co-founded many successful technology companies.

Eli was recognized as the 2018 AI Leader of the Year by the Digital Finance Institute and is a prolific speaker, including talks at the AICPA, Startup Canada Day on the Hill, and TEDx.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE:

• Top mistakes salespeople make all the time 
• The rise and meaning of AI salesperson
• Why there is no such thing as ‘natural’ salesperson
• How to help salespeople see something within themselves that is just below the surface
• What to do to get people to take you seriously

SHOW NOTES

[00:24] Introduction to this episode

[02:22] Welcome 

[01:55] Business success stories that inspire our guests

[02:08] “The story of Febreze”

[03:39] “Resilience in the face of adversity” 

[04:48] “Jim Estill story”

[07:58] How they all got into sales

[11:04] Their favourite sales failure

[13:34] Mistakes salespeople make and how to avoid them

[15:06] The mortgage industry...

[16:09] Why there is no such thing as ‘natural’ salesperson

[16:38] Be wary of multinational companies...

[17:38] Sales and rejections

[18:03] The rise of Artificial intelligence

[19:05] Stories that excite their customers

[21:09] AI as a threat to salespeople? 

[22:36] Challenges facing today’s sales leaders 

[26:30] The art of storytelling

You can listen to the individual episodes here:

Christy Soukhamneut, “Logic and data can only take you so far, Story is where we really connect,” 

Gregg Jorritsma, “Don’t Outsell Your Competitors, Out Question Them,” 

Eli Fathi, “Why AI won’t Replace (Top) Salespeople.”

Who is Milan Topolovec? Why does he consider himself as a quarterback? How does he build a relationship with his clients and offer more services than he promises? What does your business network mean to you and how do you build one? 

In this episode, Milan shares his story on launching into the financial industry and how the services he offers are centred on his relationship with his clients. We have discussed why sales reps need people skills, the intrinsic power of networking, prospecting and much more.

Milan is the President and CEO of TK Financial Group and Inner Orbis. He graduated from the University of Ottawa after which he was drafted to play for Winnipeg Blue Bombers. He eventually chose a career path in the financial services industry where he is focused on building expertise to exclusively serve business owners and professionals focused on estate planning, business planning and insurance planning.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE:

• How to create the right environment for your clients
• Knowing when to stop and how to set  your priorities
• How to maintain the right attitude while prospecting 
• Why you need the people skills
• How to become more than just another sales rep

SHOW NOTES

[00:24] Introduction to this episode

[02:22] Welcome Milan

[03:10] Business success stories that inspire him

[04:50] How he got started in the financial industry

[05:32] Type of clients he loves to serve

[06:10] Switching from his football career

[07:00] Challenges he faced starting out in sales

[08:09] Favorite sales failure

[10:05] Knowing when to stop

[12:36] Positioning himself as a quarterback

[14:10] Why you need people skills

[15:10] How to become more than just a sales guy

[15:38] His book “ Beyond the Tipping Point”

[15:58] The power of networking

[17:17] Covid-19 and relationships

[19:01] Introducing prospective clients

[19:30] Stories that excite his customers

[22:03] Offer more than your service demands

[22:10] Challenges facing today’s business leaders

[23:10] Create the right atmosphere for your clients

[23:40] Contact info and book details

You can connect with Milan on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram.

Get a copy of Milan’s book, Beyond the Tipping Point, on Amazon.

You can keep up with happenings on TK Financial Group on their website, LinkedIn, Facebook.

You can find out more about Inner Orbis on their website, LinkedIn.

Have you been trying to figure out how to navigate selling during this pandemic or you’re struggling with keeping your teams motivated?

In this episode, I discussed with Steve how selling has evolved since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic and how to pivot, maintain a good relationship with your clients, and sell better. 

Steve is the founder and CEO of Badger Maps. After receiving his MBA from Stanford, Steve was Google Enterprise’s Top Sales Executive in 2009. In 2012, Steve founded Badger Maps, a software company that helps Field Sales People optimize their routes and schedules to save time and be on time so they can sell more. Steve is also the host of the Outside Sales Talk podcast where he interviews industry experts on their sales tips.

 WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE:

• How to shift strategy during crisis
• New ways to empower your team members
• The right ways to prospect
• How to maintain a good relationship with your clients
• The strategic importance of training and coaching in this moment of time

SHOW NOTES

[00:11] Welcome to this Episode

[00:58] Shopify success story

[02:38] Welcome Steve Benson

[03:13] Updates on Sales, technology, and leadership

[04:10] Adapting to the new sales culture

[05:09] Building Relationships

[05:28] Selling on Zoom vs Face-to-Face

[05:38] Communicating in the new normal

[06:13] Prospecting challenges

[07:18] Adjusting your sales message

[07:31] The importance of staying empathetic

[10:00]The rise of food delivery and health care organizations

[11:01] Challenges facing today's sales leaders

[12:18] Re-sizing the sales teams

[13:00] Hire now

[13:26] The importance of training and coaching aspect

[16:04] Leading remotely

[19:01] The art of storytelling for Steve

[19:57] Steve's Contact info

You can connect with Steve on LinkedIn, Twitter and  Instagram.

You can keep up with happenings on Badger Maps on their website, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter

Over the past 15 years, Russell has built a following of over a million entrepreneurs, sold hundreds of thousands of copies of his books, popularized the concept of sales funnels, and co-founded a software company called ClickFunnels that helps tens of thousands of entrepreneurs quickly get their message out to the marketplace. Together with his partner Todd Dickerson, Russell launched their sales funnel software in October 2014, and the company grew to $100,000,000 in the first three years.  ClickFunnels is now the fastest-growing non-venture backed software company in the world. Russell is here to talk about his new book- Traffic Secrets. What I love about this book is how Russell breaks down traffic so that ANYONE can understand how to build a list of raving fans and buyers using very simple and REPEATABLE strategies.  WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE:

• Who are your Dream Customers?
• Where are they congregating?
• The 3 Core Markets /Desires
• Away from Pain/Toward Pleasure
• The Searcher and the Scroller

SHOW NOTES [00:24] Introduction [01:30] New book: Traffic Secrets [03:10] Welcome Russell [07:54] Attracting customers [09:37] Co-founding a software company [10:02] Publishing his first book [11:34] Writing his second book [13:36] Avengers Infinity War story [14:43] Google Ads challenge  [17:15] Email marketing strategy [17:17] Paid ads strategy [20:29] Using funnels [20:41] Strategy behind getting traffic [25:07] Science behind the Direct response marketing [26:20] Identifying your dream customers [27:14] Driving traffic into your funnels [27:28] Growth hacks and techniques [30:06] Getting potential customers to identify with you [32:01] Who is your dream customer? [32:59] Ideal Customer avatar [33:50] Customer-centered company [34:17] Becoming obsessed with your dream customer [38:07] Health, wealth and relationship circles [45:52] How to Create a desire for your product or services [48:24] The pros and cons of interruption ads [49:26] Outro Russell is giving special access to our podcast listeners to order his book  "Traffic Secrets" .

The book is free. All you gotta do is take care of the shipping.  

Maddie Pimentel has been in the Learning & Development field for the past 19 years. She joined SnapAV last year as the Training and Development Manager for North America. Maddie’s role is to enable the sales teams to quickly ramp, begin generating revenue and stay up to date on products, solutions and process updates as well as industry trends. With the purchase of Control4, a publicly-traded company, a few months ago, Maddie is now responsible for sales enablement for the global sales teams.

Prior to this, she was with NCR Corporation, AT&T, Hearst Media Services and Carrera Commerce in various roles, including Global Sales Enablement, National Training Manager, Inside and Outside Sales Manager as well as Corporate Marketing Manager.

Maddie is fluent in Spanish and earned a BA in Communications from Georgia State University. She has also worked as a reporter and interpreter with several media outlets in the Atlanta market. Maddie was born in Havana, Cuba and moved to Atlanta with her family when she was two months old. Her interests include writing, reading, traveling, and photography.

If you want your sales team to deliver results, discover the secrets of sales coaching and learn about the hottest trends in the sales training industry, take 20 minutes to learn from this incredibly successful business leader. 

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE:

• The role of storytelling in human to human connection
• Top 3 critical skills for salespeople
• Is it difficult to train salespeople?
• The value of building companywide Storytelling Library
• Latest trends in the sales training industry

SHOW NOTES

[00:22] Introduction

[01:42] Welcome Maddie

[02:00] Business stories that inspire Maddie

[02:51] How her father got started

[03:13] Winning business of the year award

[05:52] Maddie’s portfolio

[06:02] How she got into sales

[06:53] Critical skills for salespeople

[07:08] Relationship building

[07:22] Listening

[07:33] Customer’s needs assessment

[09:34] Is it difficult to train salespeople?

[10:49] Net promoter score

[11:16] Maddie’s process of training salespeople

[11:40] Current trends in sales training

[11:56] Mobile and gamification

[14:56] The on-boarding program at Snap AV

 [17:05] Type of stories that excite customers

[19:00] The meaning of Story library

[20:20] Challenges facing today’s sales leaders

[20:34] Keeping up with the technology

[22:00] The Art of storytelling

[22:53] Contact info 

You can reach Maddie at 

[email protected] 

www.linkedin.com/in/maddiepimentel

Bruce Linton is an entrepreneur who has been at the head of 16 different companies and presently occupies the position of Executive Chairman at Vireo Health International, Inc, Co-Chairman of Martello Technologies Group, Inc., and co-founder of online rental marketplace Ruckify.

During this candid interview, Bruce talks about his successes and his sales failures, helping us appreciate the Growth Mindset, Storytelling and the true meaning of Entrepreneurship. He also talks about how and where he has managed to find extraordinary opportunities and what to look for. 

If you want your sales and business to grow, take 20 minutes to learn from this incredibly successful business leader. 

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE:

• Why Relationship Selling is oversold  
• How Bruce picks his ventures  
• Why salespeople should never mention their competition
• The Value of the public policy changes
• How to pitch investors using Storytelling techniques

SHOW NOTES

[00:21] Intro

[01:45] Welcome 

[02:11] Business stories that inspire Bruce

[03:10] Early years: Carlton University Student Association

[03:18] Canopy Growth Corporation

[03:34] How he became a serial entrepreneur

[04:46] Get fired for your own ideas  

[06:00] You are selling all the time

[06:52] Common Mistakes salespeople make

[07:00] Why Relationship selling is oversold

[08:36] Do's and Dont's of sales pitching

[09:10] Why you should never slam your competition

[10:09] How Bruce picks industries to invest

[11:14] The role of Public policy changes

[12:45] Stories that excite Bruce's investors

[13:09] Advice for using storytelling techniques

[14:38] Challenges facing today’s sales leaders

[15:50] The Art of Storytelling

[17:28] Contact info

Eli Fathi is CEO at MindBridge Ai, developer of the world’s first auditing tool based upon artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies – Ai Auditor – to uncover errors in financial data.

Eli has been a technology entrepreneur for over 30 years, having founded or co-founded many successful technology companies.

Eli was recognized as the 2018 AI Leader of the Year by the Digital Finance Institute and is a prolific speaker, including talks at the AICPA, Startup Canada Day on the Hill, and TEDx.

Eli also gives back to the community by mentoring future business leaders and sitting on the boards of various non-profit organizations.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE:

• The rise and the meaning of AI revolution 
• How Eli built his companies from scratch and what you should expect to sacrifice in order to succeed
• Top mistakes salespeople make all the time
• The role of Human to Human Connection

SHOW NOTES

[00:31] Introduction

[01:42] Welcome Eli

[02:06] Business stories that inspire Eli

[02:20] The story of Febreze

[04:10] Customer success and assessment

[05:00] Market research

[07:17] Becoming a Serial entrepreneur

[07:30] Building Fluid corporation

[08:18] How Eli got into sales

[09:30] Challenges he faced earlier on

[11:05] Mistakes most salespeople make

[12:38] Good relationship with customers?

[13:25] Eli's favorite sales failure

[15:35] The rise of Artificial intelligence

[16:00] AI as a threat to salespeople

[18:32] The role of Human to Human connection

[19:42] Competition in AI development

[22:04] Meaning of Leadership

[23:10] Failure rate of new companies

[24:20] His mantras

[25:47] Challenges facing today’s sales leaders

[27:25] Contact info

Jamie Shanks is a world-leading Social Selling expert and author of the book, "Social Selling Mastery - Scaling Up Your Sales And Marketing Machine For The Digital Buyer". A true pioneer in the space of digital sales transformation, Jamie Shanks has trained over 10,000's of sales professionals and leaders all around the world.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE:

• The meaning of Social Selling revolution 
• How Jamie built his firm from a laptop, a stack of business cards and a tank of gas 
• Top 10 Do's and Dont's for Social Selling 
• How to incorporate social media triggers, insights, referrals and competitive intelligence into the daily sales cycle 

SHOW NOTES

[00:15] Introduction

[01:26] Business stories that inspire Jamie 

[01:38] Building his firm from scratch

[03:06] How he got into sales

[05:31] Business development engine

[06:16] Favorite Sales failure

[06:30] Commercial real estate Lesson

[08:18] The Importance of Social selling

[08:40] Business to Business companies

[09:14] Triggers, referrals, insight and competitive intelligence

[10:48] Why some companies are yet to embrace social selling

[11:00] Fear of change

[13:15] The Role of LinkedIn

[15:49] Do’s and Don’ts

[17:32] The emerging power of video in SM space

[19:56] The Art of Storytelling

[20:08] Building a storyboard

[21:26] The STAR process

[22:52] About Jamie’s book, Spirit Selling

[23:40] Contact info

[24:35] Outro

SHOW TRANSCRIPT

Ed Bilat:   

Jamie Shanks. Welcome to the show.

Jamie Shanks:  

Thank you so much for having me.

Ed Bilat:

I'm delighted. Jamie, I’ve been watching your videos from all over the World, exotic places, airports,

helicopter, castles. I've been following you for quite some time so it's an honor to have you on the show

and congratulations on your new book, Spear Selling. So that's wonderful and would love to hear your story.

But before we do this, let me ask you our traditional question, which is, what business success story inspires

you and why?

Jamie Shanks:                          

The business success story that inspires me is any entrepreneur that has built something from scratch. For me, as somebody who built his company from an idea and a failed consulting practice at that in my first couple years, I am inspired by anyone who is a founder, owner, operator who took a business from zero to millions of dollars. In fact, you know, you can read books about those that have built billions of dollar businesses, I'm less inspired by those that take over businesses more about those that started from scratch.

Ed Bilat:

Wonderful. Yeah, I watched the video where you described the experience, I believe you were getting married at the same time. Right. And starting the company. So just a total start from nothing. Correct?

Jamie Shanks:

I mean all I had was a laptop, a stack of business cards and, you know, a tank of gas in my car and that was it. I really didn't understand and it took me years to really understand the financial and operational rigor and acumen necessary to run a professional services company. I had to learn it the hard way.

Ed Bilat:

Hmm. Wow. That's very interesting. You came to the consulting practice from the sales world, right? So like, you’ve been the director of business development, however, this is different. Right. So how did you even get into sales originally?

Jamie Shanks:

Well, it was by accident. I didn't want to be a sales professional. So when I was at university, I went to the University of Ottawa. I volunteered at the bank of Montreal, Nesbitt Burns in Canada, Ontario. And then I would spend my time as a volunteer, that gave me a summer job that turned into a full-time job and at the same time finishing my undergrad degree. So what I didn't realize, my dream as a kid was to be a stockbroker. I mean I did job shadow days at the stock brokerage firms. This is all I ever wanted it to be. And then in 2000 when the market collapsed and I was an investment representative, I didn't know that a stockbroker is actually a self-professional that advises on, you know stocks that are out in the market but also advises on stocks that the bank has underwritten and their job is to sell the inventory that the bank owns. Nobody told me this. So what I didn't realize is I was already a sales professional, just, I was like a wolf in sheep's clothing or whatever that saying is. Anyways, I left the bank and went on to do my master's degree and when I came back, the only company that would hire me or the only role that people would hire me for was a sales role because they said, well that's your previous experience. What are you talking about? I'm not a seller. And anyway, so I felt …

Ed Bilat:

Interesting. So obviously not expecting to be a full-time sales professional. So what was your major challenge earlier on moving into this?

Jamie Shanks:

I can tell you what my major strength was and then I'll work backward to everything else being the challenge.

Ed Bilat: Sounds good.

Jamie Shanks:

So what I discovered about myself, I've always been a talker. When I was in high school, I owned a landscaping company. I make other people cut the grass and I just went door to door to win customers. So I had a neat skill of making feel people feel comfortable, creating a business opportunity for myself. So my strength, when I started in commercial real estate, it was a hundred percent commission I was really good at booking meetings, creating opportunity. I wasn't as great at the follow-through and actually doing the real estate transaction. I started partnering internally and I would become the business, development engine in a group of corporate real estate brokers. one person would maybe manage the customer, one person would do the real estate transaction and my job was business development. At that time business development was primarily done via telephone and face to face meeting. And so I could cold call the daylights out. I get to burn the phone up with cold calls. I was just strong at this.

Ed Bilat:

Yeah, the analog way, right.

Jamie Shanks:

The analog way. So every other skill became my challenge.

Ed Bilat:  

Hmm. Okay. So do you have a favorite sales failure? Like can you give us an example of a failure which was actually a good lesson for you?

Jamie Shanks:

I have a story that I'll try to shrink down to podcast level, but essentially when I was in commercial real estate, I won a mandate, which means the opportunity to work on a piece of business for a large industrial company that wanted to build a building and the commission from this deal would have been enough to pay off my master's degree and buy me a house. Like it was massive. The long and the short of it is, the day that the landlord and my customer and their investors met to do this deal it turned into an all-out fistfight. And what happened was my customer…

Ed Bilat:

[laughs] so this is a closing appointment?

Jamie Shanks

Exactly. And my customer and investors fired me because they said I didn't do the due diligence on who this land low land[sic].

Ed Bilat:

Oh no.

Jamie Shanks

So what I did is I actually googled the investor's name, look them up on Canada 411. I bought the most expensive bottle of Scotch I could afford, drove to this person's house. It's a gated community north of the city and a place called King City. I jumped the fence to their property, ran across the yard, the investor was sitting in his bathrobe smoking a cigar right on his porch and he and I proceeded to have a scotch together talking about rekindling our business partnership. That's when I realized I was willing to do just about anything.

Ed Bilat:

Unbelievable. Unbelievable. So he was okay to see you show up with a bottle of Scotch?

Jamie Shanks:

I guess so [laughs]

Ed Bilat:

Well, that's a very good, interesting story specifically for Storytelling for Sales Podcast. So thank you for sharing this. I know you’re a top expert in social selling and for our listeners, could you describe it? What is social selling? What is everybody talking about?

Jamie Shanks:

What it really means is whether we as sellers like it or not, our customers are going to learn with or without us. So a customer is going to go on a journey. And when I'd say my customers are primarily business to business companies

Ed Bilat:

 B to B

Jamie Shanks:

Yeah. So let's say I'm vice president of information technology or a VP of HR is going to look at an initiative and a portion of their learning is going to happen without the sales professional. That means that they'll do online research. They’ll reach out to their social network and ask some questions. And so what a seller needs to do is to map and meet the customer where they are doing their due diligence, which is online and what they're doing is using four principals. They, reusing triggers, referrals, insights and competitive intelligence that can be found using social platforms or also using digital technology to aid in that buyer's process. So on a tactical level or as a real tactical example, one of the things that I as a seller could be doing to acquire customers is I take every existing customer of ours from our database and I map job changes every time somebody in our customer database from a company that we've worked with leaves that company and moves on to an organization we've never done business with that should, you know, create a trigger for my team to start a compelling sales conversation with them. And that is the purpose of what social selling is. You're just using data and new communication mediums to engage the customer in a bold and different way.

Ed Bilat.

Mmhmm Okay. So what I hear from now, you say that the sales cycle has already started before they talk to salespeople, right, for modern customers. So it could be 50% in, 60% before they dial the number or even start any kind of conversation. And it's the job of the sales professional to get into that sales cycle early and start influencing the process before they even talk for the first time. Is that correct?

Jamie Shanks:

100%. That's exactly it.

Ed Bilat:

Hmm. Okay. And then why some of the companies have not embraced this yet? Like what's stopping everybody going from analog to digital?

Jamie Shanks:

There would be a few things. One would be, analysis by paralysis or fear of change. So there'd be a group of companies that have been doing it the same way for so long, the idea of altering back current sales motion is just impossible for them to fathom. Option number two is the companies are then, so that's kind of like the status quo. Then the next level would be they want to change, but they're so focused on working in their business, not on their business.

Ed Bilat:

Hmmm Lovely. I love that.

Jamie Shanks:

That they, unfortunately, can't pull their head up out of the sand and realize maybe I can work on things today that will dramatically affect me six to 12 months in the future and I am willing to go through learning and development and the hard things about, you know, a transformation. I'm going to do those things now even though I might be doing very well from a business development standpoint, I might be hitting my sales quota yet all indicators today show that we're doing well. That doesn't mean success in the future and great companies recognize that they need to be evolving today for their 2020 here. And that's just the difference. So many companies are so focused on their next 90 days in the quarter that they can't fathom planning beyond that. And it's also because remember the average vice president of sales stays in a company, something like 17 months. That's the average tenure of sales. So that VP of sales isn't really concerned about what it's going to look like a year or two down the road. They're focused a quarter at a time.

Ed Bilat:

That's right. And then if you want to drive magnificent, fantastic results, you have to change, right? Because what's the true definition of insanity in the medical term? It is continuing to do the same thing and expect different results and this is exactly why is it's such a challenge. So is there any other tools, any particular ways you recommend to doing this for somebody who is just evolving into a successful social selling as a strategy?

Jamie Shanks:

Well, absolutely. The most prevalent tool to start with is the tool of Linkedin. [sic] business to business. And then from there, think of Linkedin as two things. One, the world's largest database, sort of resource or research tool. And the second, a different type of communication platform. And when you think about it in those two contexts, then first start to evaluate how you can acquire more data that is beneficial to you. Strategic data such as, I could go into your social network, Ed, right now and see all the companies that you're connected to. So at the end of the day, think of what we use in the analog world and how you can apply it in the digital world. You think yourself referrals. Referrals are obviously a fantastic business development motion. Great. Where do I acquire referrals? Well, what if I dropped into Ed’s social network and I looked at the 3 to 5 companies that Ed knew the best. Now all of a sudden you're taking a sales to play and you're executing it through a digital medium like LinkedIn. So that's where I would get started. Think of how I would use it as that research tool. And then from an engagement tool, I would think to myself, okay, I want to target a company in Ottawa, Shopify. Well, if I wanted to get a hold of the C level executives at Shopify, instead of me calling my way in, what about if I use a medium like I make a video and I send it to those C level executives through Linkedin, that bypasses the gatekeeper. Again, you're just using the same process you would use in the analog world. You're just digitizing it.

Ed Bilat:

Yeah, that's very important because you mentioned three things; the trigger selling, referral selling and then insight selling. So in the find extend [sic] correctly, you’re asking, okay, these three things they did exist for centuries in the sales world. Now all you do is you taking them from analog to digital. So is that correct?

Jamie Shanks:

That's 100% what you're trying to do. In social selling, you're not inventing a whole new sales methodology. What you're doing is refining your existing sales motion. That's ultimately what you're trying to do.

Ed Bilat:

Yeah. Very cool. So because if we put it like that, that sounds less scary for our listener’s right.

Jamie Shanks:

Yeah, right. That’s when people get caught up because they think, oh, I’m doing less now becoming a social seller. No, no, you're not abandoning the way you sell. You're just evolving.

Ed Bilat:

Excellent! That’s excellent advice. So is there any particular do's and don'ts for people who are just evolving into this, for companies, for sales professionals, anything which you've seen through the years when you were leading this transformation?

Jamie Shanks:

I'll, maybe on some of the don'ts at the individual seller perspective. Don't try this once or for a week and then say to yourself, oh, this doesn't work. It doesn't work. You know, I live in Canada. And that would be like me trying hockey for the very first time for a week and saying, no, you know what? Nobody could ever learn to skate. This is, what do you mean blades on ice? Right? And so the reality is my company alone has trained hundreds of thousands of sellers who have made billions of dollars of sales pipeline around the world. So when somebody says this doesn't work for them, they're just making an excuse for themselves at the corporate level. 51% of success are of the digital sales transformation. Sit with frontline sales managers actually sit with sales leadership. If the sales leaders don't inherently believe this, know how it works, turn these into coachable moments and actually coach towards these in one on ones, then it doesn't really matter what you teach the sellers. You can teach the sellers these skills all they want, but if they're not being held accountable to them, it'll never happen.

Ed Bilat:

Yeah, that's right. They just wasted the training dollars for nothing.

Jamie Shanks:

Correct.

Ed Bilat:

Hmm. Okay. So these were do's  and dont's Any particular do’s, like do this? Is there any particular favorite social selling story, the success of social sales story you can share with us?

Jamie Shanks:

What I would start experimenting with today, not tomorrow is the power of video and 95% of sellers that, I mean are scared out of their mind to start making videos to teach, tailor and take control of their customer conversation. And we'll take it from the book, the Challenger Customer or challenge them. The reality is how do you consume and learn? You Watch Youtube and the difference is that the sellers are, for whatever reason, don't see themselves in the same context. Take a moment, make a video around best practices, what-if scenarios, market trends, get it in the hands of your customers. You're going to humanize yourself in a completely different way. You're going to be able to synthesize all these best practices. Your customers are just going to view you differently. That's where I'd start.

Ed Bilat:

Okay, so definitely the video and don't be afraid to do the first tryout and then the second, then the third and nobody's watching, right? So you can make as many attempts as you like unless you are satisfied with the end results. I just got back from Cuba and I was filming a few videos and sometimes it takes 10-15 times to rerecord it, but in the end, it does look good. Right?

Jamie Shanks:

Yeah. I mean I've had a different view on this, so I try to record it only once.

Ed Bilat:

Only once?

Jamie Shanks:

Even with mistakes. because if you were on a cold call right now, or if you were in a boardroom or if you were on a discovery call on a conference call, you don't get to do it over again.

Ed Bilat:

That's right.

Jamie Shanks:

Just like this podcast, we're just talking, right. And there's no stop and start here. And so if you make videos with that mindset, you realize that the customer actually prefers that authentic nature.

Ed Bilat:

Okay. So they're all foolish.

Jamie Shanks:

Exactly.

Ed Bilat:

Just like from your videos from the airport. I have been watching the one you did in Australia I think. You had people around you, you're moving and you just delivered your message.

Jamie Shanks:

Yeah. Just deliver the message.

Ed Bilat:

I thought you probably practiced it is like 20 times.

Jamie Shanks:

No.

Ed Bilat:

You can do it from the first tryout. Wow. That’s great. So thank you so much for sharing this. So in terms of the storytelling, the digital storytelling, like what does the art of storytelling mean to you? What do you see in this world?

Jamie Shanks:

When I think of storytelling, one of the very first things that I try to do is take a step back and build a storyboard. If you've ever seen how a movie script is created or when I wrote two books, actually, for me, what I do is I draw out the scenes or the core parts of the story. I draw them up. I'm a visual learner. And that way I tell the story through those main visuals. And I think what's important as a seller is, storytelling is critical in your engagement communication. But that story needs to have been, you need to back up and ask yourself, number one, what part of the story are they going to trust? What part of the story is valuable to them? What is their call to action? So I like to back up, design and craft what that storyboard is going to look like and a variety of storyboards. So this is the other important thing, is that sellers will design one story, we'll deploy a customer, it won't resonate with the customer, the customer will get back to them. Well, it's like they're out of bullets now. So, why aren't you drawing out three, four, or five storyboarded plays? That way after the first message doesn't resonate, you move on to the next and the next and the next.

Ed Bilat:

Hmm. Okay. So the classical one is the one where you use the star acronym, right? So S-T-A-R, Situation, Trouble, Action, and Results, right? So you basically describe life as it is, then something happens, right? Oh, that's the trouble. And then what are the actions you took and the end results. So this is sort of the classical ways. So what you are saying is that scenario may not resonate with everybody so you need to have several, correct?

Jamie Shanks:

Correct. The process that you just described, the star process might work, but the content within that star process, the situation may not have resonated or the result may not be of value to that person. So you might need, if you like the star process, then you just need to devise multiple stories using that process.

Ed Bilat:

And the more details you put the more believable story is, right? Because on the other side, you know, the customer, they’re trying to evaluate did you just make this up, right? or is this is a real story?

Jamie Shanks:

Correct. Another point, social proof is really valuable when you have a link that can attach to a video or a blog that's written about it or a podcast. Now all a sudden there's some social proof to that story.

Ed Bilat:

That's right cause they are looking to validate it. Wow, this’s been wonderful, wonderful discussion. So Jimmy, thank you so much for connecting with us today. So tell us about your book and tell us about the best way to connect with you for our listeners.

Jamie Shanks:

The book that we published in January is called Spear Selling.

Ed Bilat:

Spear Selling.

Jamie Shanks:

So Spear Selling is the ultimate account-based sales guide for modern digital selling. What that really means is when I wrote Social Selling Mastery in 2016 it was about the overarching movement of social selling. But what happened is over the years customers are becoming more and more account-based focused. And so this book is very tactical and provides real sales plays that you can run and your leadership team can coach towards as a modern digital seller. And you can pick it up on Amazon in every format from audibles to Kindle to hardcover to softcover and you can also connect with me on Linkedin @Jamie shanks.

Ed Bilat:

Wonderful. Wonderful. So in terms of the account-based selling, everything you described the digital selling or the social selling, is that component included in this or is that separate?

Jamie Shanks:

Nope, it's completely covered inside this. Everything that we teach has a social and digital twist to it.

Ed Bilat:

That would be really cool to check this out, right? Because if you can see this as one strategy, as one approach, not as separate pieces, I think it would be very, very valuable for our listeners to try this out. So thank you so much for coming to the podcast it's been an absolute pleasure. So I will make sure we include your information. Again, ladies and gentlemen, Jamie shanks. Thank you so much.

Jamie Shanks:

Thank you so much.