Welcome To Theinquisitor Podcast

I hope this interview upsets a lot of you. You need a kick up the arse if you are not coaching effectively. Telling is NOT coaching. Coaching is NOT OPTIONAL. NOT, NOT, NOT optional. And now you have no excuse under the corona lockdown because you can't hide behind being stuck in meetings or foreign travel Coaching is a board level issue. Ignore this fact at your peril. Visit https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/sales-coaching-board-level-discussion-richard-smith if you question this fact. Dynamic coaching can deliver a 27.6% improvement in win rates for forecasted deals. Even a formal approach to coaching can deliver a 13.5% improvement in win rates. (CSO Insights) Those sales people who aren’t coached are 27% MORE likely to miss quota than those who are coached. #RichardSmith is Sales Director at #Refract.ai. Refract record and analyse sales calls and coaching calls to help managers improve their coaching of their salespeople. Their AI analyses the call and helps managers pinpoint teachable moments drawing on the

#MartinLucas, tells the brutal truth about human behaviour. Irrational is normal. Emotional is normal. We buy emotionally and we justify using reason and logic. His excellent blog on the subject https://www.gapinthematrix.com/blog/irrational is worth reading.  Martin is CEO of #GapInTheMatrix. He is a #MathematicalPsychologist who advises global brands on what they are doing to prevent customers from buying, staying loyal, and wasting profits on unnecessary and fruitless advertising, marketing or damaging sales conversations. He has been a multi-award winning salesman, he's established and grown several businesses and today advises multi-$billion brands in consumer and B2B markets on how to stop self-sabotaging their efforts. He teaches sales teams how to stop projecting unconscious messages that hurt their efforts by projecting contradictory or harmful messages to customers that prevent them from buying. This interview takes a sophisticated message and dissects it into simple to understand elements you can u

#ToddLCamp is Founder of the Pareto Group and Co-Owner of Camp Negotiation Systems. His father, Jim Camp, wrote the BEST book about negotiation you will ever read, #StartWithNo. Jim was trained by David Sandler and evolved his negotiation system in line with core Sandler principles which is why I am so excited to bring you this interview. Todd shares real world examples of negotiation that delivers to #mission and #purpose. Mission & purpose are all about the what matter to the customer and how they need us to deliver it. They have nothing to do with you, your company or your needs. If you fall into the trap of delivering your proposal too quickly you do yourself harm. Great negotiators are willing to slow down to speed up. They usually get everything they want. Average negotiators give away their power, start from a position of fear or subservience and never get more than they are willing to ask for. Manage each negotiation ONE conversation at a time. Don't take yourself hostage by jumping to conclusions

#JayMcBain is Lead Analyst with #Forrester for #Channel, #Alliances, #Partnerships. He shares his research on how he sees 2020 panning out and the future of the channel during the #CovidCrisis and #postCovid19. The bad news if, of the 600,000 VARs and MSP partners out there in March/April 2020, up to 25% may not be here before the end of Q2. The channel is under extreme pressure because a quarter don't have the cashflow, savings or credit lines to survive, whilst those who may be in a position to survive don't feel they can furlough staff for fear of never getting them back. He also shares some really important insights for #scaleups, #techhypergrowth companies and #investors. Did you realise that the right #ChannelChief can mean the difference between and IPO at $100m or $1.5m? We explore Phases 1, 2 and 3 of this crisis, best, most likely and worst case scenarios, when channels can expect a boost to sales and recovery once the movement restrictions are lifted, why this is a perfect storm and what the new no

Covid-19 has thrown us all into a state of unwelcome change. The economy has been kicked in the crotch but it's not dead. Now is NOT the time for you or your salespeople to sit back and whimper about the unfairness of the situation. It is the time to seize the good in this crisis. Many of you will be going through a process identical to grief. Denial Anger Bargaining Depression Your job as a sales manager or sales leader is to help your salespeople reach Acceptance. Managers who coach each salesperson in their team for 3-3.5 hours will help their people be STRONGER through this crisis and help their business THRIVE not just survive. Business leaders, now is NOT the time to cut back on training. It is the time to double down on SALES training. Product training is NOT sales training. Develop a cadence of training and coaching because your salespeople are critical to the current and future survival of your business. Sales is the lifeblood of your business. EVERY role, your equity, shareholder value all depend o

My guest is #KurtShaver, Chief Sales Officer at #Vengresso. He is a tech sales veteran of 36 years who moved into digital B2B social selling.  Kurt explains the difference between social marketing and social selling. As a seller, your objective is to get engagement to generate a sales conversation. We explain how to use social selling to drive opportunities forward or out of the funnel, how to identify the players in the buying committee and deliver value to open them up to your offering. Kurt raises the question about how do you track success in you digital selling? How else can social and digital platforms help your company? Where else can we take this social lark? Digital technologies like LinkedIn can support your sales, your recruitment and your marketing. Kurt cites an example where a potential heavy hitting new hire that an MSP was hoping to hire, was concerned because their strategy on LinkedIn was weak and it was affecting his decision. We identify a serious gap which presents an important opportunit

#AlexMoscow, CEO of 9mmPR has been working with CEOs for the past 20 years helping them to tell their story through the voice of their customers. Alex explains why you mustn't sell overtly using PR. You have to speak with the voice of your customer. Do you really know why they bought from you? Why they disqualified your competition? How far you have help them come? If you don't really know what problem you solve, it makes your sales a matter of luck rather than judgement. Understanding "Why?", "So what?", " Who cares?" This is incredibly powerful and  missed by so many of your competitors. Good stories don't make you the hero. Your customer is the hero. You are Sherpa Tensing or Obi Wan. You are not Sir Edmund Hillary or Luke Skywalker, your customer is. Alex recommends you act out the story which lets them see themselves in your stories. He reminds us that we love to earwig a good conversation. We discuss why it's vital to enter the conversations that your prospects are already having using micro-narratives.

#JohnBedwany is a seasoned sales veteran who is the the world's leading expert in #AuthenticRelationshipManagement. What is #ARM? The best salespeople are able to develop peer to peer benchmarks, developing and sharing intelligence about what other comparable decision makers are thinking and worrying about. Positioning yourself as a thought leader and source of valuable executive education and insight allows you to displace incumbents. A-players stand apart from everyone else because of the authentic relationships they develop through transparent intent. Only very few salespeople do any genuine segmentation. The best identify those accounts they have a high probability of closing because you can improve their business position. We discuss how to establish control over your sales without being authoritarian, how to stay relevant over the long term & maintain deal velocity by defining personalised roadmaps to yes. We also explore how the salesperson can marshal all the resources, people and milestones to en

#KevinBeales is CEO of #Refract.ai. Refract is a canny technology that uses #AI to help managers and salespeople slice and dice sales conversations with prospects and customers.  Imagine being able to break down every second of a call to understand talk time between seller and buyer, the kind of language used to persuade or dissuade a prospect, the verbs and adjectives, the use of silence or the propensity to fill silence with the sound of the seller's voice. These technologies are potentially incredibly useful for managers who can use the data to coach and deliver predictable performance improvement of individual salespeople. Kevin shares some of the frequently UNasked questions that CXOs should be asking but aren't. We dissect the gaps in management coaching capability that have led to the shocking statistic that in 2019 on 13% of sales teams worldwide hit quota and only 44% of individual, full time, "professional" salespeople hit their quota. As we face another downturn, it is more important than ever that

#IanMoyse is a veteran sales director of 25+ years experience with 13 years in #cloud #technologysales. What's impeding your sales team from achieving target? What are the obstacles the manager needs to help the salesperson overcome? How can the manager help the salesperson perform at their optimal level? Why aren't CEOs and CSOs getting out in the field with their salespeople to speak to customers and experience the challenges salespeople are facing day to day? How can you use executive bridging to help salespeople win business and make customers feel special and valued? What can CEOs do to uncover the reality of the sales role instead of perceptions and conjecture? Senior leaders can learn significant lessons by getting their hands dirty by getting out in the field and in front of customers. That does NOT mean the senior manager takes over. The salesperson is the CAPTAIN, the senior executive is CREW. Both sides need to feel empowered to tell the truth, have the right to make mistakes and take risks withou

#GeoffBurch is like Marmite. He's wasp honey! We explore example after example of shit selling, fuelled by awful management and non-existent leadership. We dig into how broken compensation and measurement systems drive the wrong behaviours and self-delusion by senior management. We uncover some depressing patterns of behaviour by salespeople driven to avoid punishment. In a world where customers are better informed than ever salespeople have to adjust to what works TODAY, not rely on what used to work yesterday. We dig into how great salespeople build credibility by how they sell not what they sell. Geoff explains why you should always tell your customer when you're doing something good for your customer. He leaned how to up sell from his very canny mother. I share a fabulous tip to grow your profitable revenues and reduce my prospecting burden by 95%. Geoff is a consummate storyteller.  We had such a laugh on this episode. Listen for the shooting story to learn why so many managers are so ineffective after h

The plan never survives contact with the enemy. #DrJeffreyMagee explains why most of us only hit our peak revenue building years in our 50s, unless you're smart. Either you're a cost centre or you're a profit centre. Either you are part of your own plan or you become part of someone else's plan. He builds and develops peak performance in individuals and businesses. We explore why leaders focus on the wrong end of the problem because they are so stuck in the weeds. The questions CEOs should be asking about what works today not what used to work; what assets your competition don't have today that you can leverage; what is the 360 capability of your #humancapital; can you objectively remove the noise out of your head and look at your people as assets; what is the #trajectory you need to pursue Jeff shares his formula for growing your people to maximise their potential: Aptitude Application Attitude We delve into why sales recruitment is done so poorly. Jeff questions whether hiring managers know what they are l

#ZachSelch has helped build sales channels across 130+ countries. As a good Jewish boy he's built successful and sustained channels in Saudi Arabia, throughout Africa, Asia, the Americas and Europe. He's a true internationalist. Zach has recruited over 1000 partners for his employers and clients but he doesn't build a land army; he builds a special forces unit. In each market he generally only works with one partner, whether they are distributors, resellers or agents. He builds clear trust based contracts and clear expectations up front that he is in it for the long term, that the partner will get paid, operate with total transparency, and uncompromising integrity. He focuses his time on helping the partners to sell because no matter how good they are at installing a product, no one makes any money and the partnership will fail. Never assume that your partners can sell. Most can't. Most partners are plumbers - they know how to weld and cut pipes - it's your job to help them build a plumbing business. That mea

#MikeWeinberg is one of the most authentic, sincere and dedicated sales thought leaders on the planet today. He gloriously pulls no punches. His brilliant books and training come from 3 decades of scar tissue. No arsty fartsy theory that hasn't been tested in the field with real salespeople and real sales managers. Mike is author of #SalesTruth, #NewSalesSimplified and #SalesManagementSimplified. They are must reads. Buy them all now. If they don't already grace your bookshelves, Audible library or Kindle reader, you are missing out. You can see him speak at #Outbound in May 2020. Get a taste of what to expect in our fireside chat where we tear apart the myths and truths around: #Accountability #Compensation #Culture #SalesMeetings #Coaching #FieldVisits If you're in a leadership role and don't like or understand sales, pay particularly close attention. If you have a team who is meant to be bringing in net new business ask yourself if you're trying to kill elephants with a plough? Are your farmers really zook

"When a man asks to meet you halfway, he probably thinks he's already standing on the halfway line" - JD Rockerfeller #AllanTsang is a globally recognised commercial negotiator. He is the man you want on your side when negotiating big deals, critical deals or when you're having tough, career stopping conversations. He demonstrates, with live examples from the real world, what real negotiation looks like. Deescalate emotion Slow down The power you gain through good research Understanding your counterpart's agenda Stay unattached emotionally to the outcome Increase your potency with rehearse and role-play Staying calm Turn around bad situations Not split the difference Prevent bad decisions Offering up the "No" Secure great deals Allan's first mentor was the legend #JimCamp, author of the stunningly good book, #StartWithNo. His current mentor is another one of my guests, former head of the FBI National Crisis Unit, #GaryNoesner If you've followed me for a while, you know I'm usually pretty rude about negotiati

#JeffBajorek believes #salesmanagers need to treat their salespeople as customers. They have to ask their people to do things they might not ordinarily do.  We slaughter several fatted calves around management. It's an ugly car crash of a conversation if you're a typical sales manager. We explore the idiocy of scale at the expense of effectiveness with salesforce automation and sales enablement. We dig into why sales recruitment is done so poorly resulting in a generous estimate that only 46% of sales reps hit target in 2019 (even after their targets have been reduced). Whilst he doesn't entirely blame managers for managing the numbers instead of managing people because that is what they are being asked to do by senior management, but he is pointing the finger for their refusal to do what they know is right coach, train, hold their people accountable. He explains how to avoid being perceived as a micromanager and how to contract mutually with salespeople to be able to help them. He shows you how to eliminate

#GaryNoesner is the former head of the FBI's National Crisis Unit. He was responsible for 350 FBI negotiators worldwide resolving kidnappings, robberies, prison riots, dealing with terrorists, disgruntled employees or military veterans with guns. I interviewed Gary to learn what makes a great negotiator and how to take the skills he learned and taught at the FBI in the context of high-stakes business negotiations. We explore cause and effect, motivation and thinking, teamwork, planning, research, preparation, the importance of understanding the differences between what you can and can't control, why it's crucial to keep your head when the pressure is on and why role play is so essential.  I asked Gary what makes a good crisis negotiator. The qualities that make a good FBI negotiator are the same as the qualities that make a strong commercial negotiator. Good self control, being a good listener, being someone who sincerely wants to help someone get out of a bad situation but what he said all great negotiators

#AmyFranko, LinkedIn 2019 Top Sales Voice, Author of #TheModernSeller and Board Chair for the Girl Scouts casts the spotlight on what makes the difference in top performers in the modern sales profession. Amy has a take on how modern sellers stand out: The value delivered by the solution is less valuable without you as the seller being part of the equation YOU are personally seen as a differentiator in the buyers experience of buying from your company YOU are seen by your clients and your prospects as delivering a competitive advantage to their business by being the person who sell to them Amy introduces the 5 dimensions of #modernselling: Agile Entrepreneurial Holistic Social Ambassador She defines and explains each in detail. We investigate why lacking any of these qualities results in a weak pipeline full of maybes and call me backs. We delve into why 83% of first meetings worldwide never result in a second meeting. Read that again. Most of the 4 in 5 of first meetings are so badly run by the salesperson

#GlennRobertson is MD of #PureChannels, the #ChannelMarketingAgency. We discuss why most #MDF (#MarketingDevelopmentFunds) is better spent on buying lottery tickets. Partners are in business for their own reasons not the vendor's reasons. Vendors' attempts to get partners to market their products is so often a disappointing affair. Never forget, partners don't care about you, your company, your products or your targets. They want to sell their services and your products are simply a means to sell those services. Think about that before you blow a load of cash and effort trying to get your partners to market your widget. Glenn believes, as do I, that you will make your money work much harder for you if you use your MDF to help them get in front of more qualified prospects, market their own business and services, train them to sell more effectively. Reframe what you do with those funds and start by calling them something else. Business development funds or sales development funds speaks to what partners actuall

"With integrity you have nothing to fear because you have nothing to hide" - Krish Dhanam #KrishDhanam worked with the legendary #ZigZiglar for 25 years. He in high demand across 6 continents and 70+ countries as a keynote speaker. Krish brings a refreshingly authentic approach to sales. We discuss the differences between a salesperson and a sales professional around: Habits Values Mindset Vision Discipline Systemisation Limiting Beliefs vs Empowering Beliefs Ethics Prospecting & Pipeline Money Concept (hint: Just add a zero) Personal Standards Accountability Personal Study and Self-Development We explore what works and what doesn't in sales management and hiring salespeople, why playbooks, coaching and role play are so important and Krish's 3T's model for driving team performance improvement Listen to the end to hear Bob Townsend's 3 disarmingly simple but exceptional interview questions when hiring new salespeople There is so much content it is worth listening to twice with a note pad Contact Krish on