Sales Gravy: Jeb Blount

If You Don't Take Action, You Won't Get Results In this episode of the Sales Gravy Podcast, Jeb Blount and David Newman, author of Do It! Marketing and Do It! Selling, discuss exactly how to connect and engage with decision makers and avoid the "middle management trap". One of the most effective approaches that salespeople can leverage to close bigger deals is using interviews as a sales strategy to gather intelligence, build relationships, and connect with high-level decision makers. Through asking penetrating questions and providing valuable resources, consultants and salespeople can establish themselves as experts and earn the right to have pivotal conversations with their top prospects. Strategic planning and research are paramount for sales and marketing professionals, including targeting a specific market, establishing credibility, using interviews as a prospecting channel, and planning for the future. Target a specific market instead of trying to target everyone. Determine where to publish, speak

Mastermind Group Incredible Asks Jeb Blount Their Toughest Sales Questions In this episode of the Sales Gravy Podcast, Mastermind Group Incredible asks Jeb Blount their real-life questions as he provides solutions to overcome their toughest sales challenges. Some of their questions include: standing out in a final round interview process, targeting and selling into larger accounts, losing to a competitor, and ways to contact hard-to-reach stakeholders on LinkedIn. Whether you're a solopreneur, small business owner, sales professional, you'll take away powerful strategies to advance your career, grow your business, or land your dream account. Small companies lose customers because they take them for granted and don't address their concerns. To win big deals, put a wedge between the incumbent vendor and the customer and look for issues that can be addressed. Personalized service and attention are selling points for small companies managing accounts with larger competitors. The hardest thing to do when

Curiosity Is Your Key To Effective Cold Calling On this episode of the Sales Gravy podcast, Ulysses Price, filling in for Jeb Blount, interviews Chris Beall, CEO of ConnectAndSell. ConnectAndSell is a software service that helps salespeople initiate conversations with prospects. Beall explains how market dominance and the humble cold call are connected. His prospecting philosophy requires the salesperson to build trust and demonstrate curiosity, master the first few seconds of the conversation to create emotional buy-in, and avoid triggering psychological reactance. By breaking down the conversation and practicing each part in training, sales reps can improve their skills and conduct more successful sales conversations. Chris Beall connected the dots between market dominance and the potential impact of a humble cold call. Calibrated callers are comfortable using a psychological framework, playful curiosity, and confidence to create a clean read from potential customers and insist on a meeting. The seve

Building and Leading a Successful Sales Team On this episode of the podcast, Allison Walsh, Vice President of Business Development and Branding for Advanced Recovery Systems, a national behavioral healthcare company, discusses her experience in building and leading a successful sales team. Starting as the second employee of the company, she has been instrumental in its growth to a team of a thousand and counting. The organization offers inpatient substance abuse treatment, mental health treatment, and a mental wellness application called Nobu. Walsh shares insights on the importance of trust, relationships, and professional development in nurturing and retaining sales talent, as well as the challenges and opportunities of pivoting to virtual selling during the pandemic. Allison shares her experience of nurturing and developing sales talent, and her journey as a young leader managing more experienced team members. Trust, relationships, and professional development are instrumental in nurturing and retain

Sales Training Is An Investment In YOU In this episode of the Sales Gravy Podcast, Jeb Blount is joined by Sarah Browner, the Global Sales Enablement Manager at Adobe. If you are a sales leader, sales enablement professional, or training facilitator, you will want to tune in for their conversation about keeping learners engaged and using feedback to improve enablement initiatives. As for salespeople, you’ll find out why it’s critical to continue advancing your skills and investing in yourself throughout your sales career. Sales enablement is a critical investment for companies looking to increase sales. Sales skills, particularly soft skills, are perishable and need to be continuously developed. Taking advantage of free training opportunities is crucial for personal and professional development. Learning is never wasted, and even reviewing familiar concepts can provide new perspectives. Leaders and trainers should give learners options and ask for feedback to keep them engaged. Meeting learners

Emotional Intelligence Is A Sales Superpower On this episode of the Sales Gravy Podcast, Jeb Blount sits down with Robin Hills, a business psychologist and expert in emotional intelligence from the UK. Emotional intelligence is the ability to combine thinking and feelings to make good decisions and build high-quality relationships. Emotional resilience is essential in sales, and it involves understanding and managing your own emotions to influence the emotions of others. Mental resilience is also important in sales, and it involves having a clear vision of what you want to achieve, being flexible and adaptable, and having a support network. Emotional resilience involves having a clear understanding of realistic optimism, which means having a clear vision of what you want to achieve, what outcomes you are looking for, and understanding that there is meaning in what you're doing. It's important to have a support network of people you can turn to for help, and to establish a relationship of trust wit

Great Sales Messaging Isn't Rocket Science On this episode of the Sales Gravy Podcast, Jim Karrh, Ph.D. and Jeb Blount discuss the essentials of sales messaging, how poor communication skills damage your brand, the stories we tell ourselves and our prospective customers, and what the advent of automation tools like Chat GPT means for salespeople. You’ll learn how to translate marketing messages into effective sales conversations, whether in person, virtually, or over the phone.  Prioritize positioning and lead the conversation to close more deals CMOs and marketing teams must take ownership of the writing that their salespeople produce. This can be accomplished by incorporating writing development into sales training and coaching efforts Use empathy and insight to connect with prospects and ensure that you establish trust at the beginning of the sales conversation. Focus on the buyer's problem and the urgency behind it, rather than just promoting the product's features and benefits. Then, simplify m

On this episode of the Sales Gravy podcast, Sales Mastermind Group "Awesome" asks Jeb Blount sales questions. If you've ever had a question you wanted to ask Jeb then you'll love this episode. It's free flowing, insightful, and informative. There is so much to learn from this episode including: - How to get more prospecting done in less time. - Building targeted prospecting lists and leveraging social proof to get engagement. - Keys to building better prospecting lists. - How to be more confident with your messaging. - How to be more consistent with Fanatical Prospecting Sequences. The sales lessons you'll learn in this episode are so powerful that you'll want to listen to it multiple times and share it with your entire team. Mastermind Groups: A Powerful Way to Start Selling and Leading Better A Mastermind Group is a peer-to-peer mentoring group where individuals come together to help each other solve their problems and improve their lives or businesses. Mastermind Groups are powerful tools for persona

When They Say No: Overcoming Rejection And Shifting Your Mindset Introduces Andrea and Richard's new book, When They Say No, and provides valuable insights on overcoming rejection in sales. The fear of rejection has evolutionary roots, but it can be reframed to reach positive sales outcomes. Breaking the negative thought spiral that follows rejection is crucial and should be given due importance. The opening phase in sales, though often overlooked, holds significant value in establishing rapport and understanding customer needs. Learn practical strategies to effectively handle rejection and rewire the mindset for success. Salespeople should endeavor to embrace rejection as an opportunity for growth and relationship-building. When salespeople overcome the fear of rejection, they achieve lasting sales success. Your Fear of "No" Is Holding You Back Are you tired of feeling defeated by rejection in sales and find yourself avoiding potential opportunities because the fear of hearing "no" holds yo

Moving From A Culture of Efficiency to A Culture of Effectiveness Acting and improv skills are similar to soft skills in sales— leading with empathy and understanding your audience and your customer is paramount. Sales leaders need to build a strong sales culture and eliminate mediocrity, which starts with the willingness to invite, embrace, and accept feedback. Synchronous conversations are making a comeback. Whether you get coffee with a prospect in your own town or fly to your prospect's city to close a deal, face-to-face interactions are invaluable. Sales isn't an easy profession, and leaders should be honest and transparent with their teams about the work required to close deals. Efficiency does not equal effectiveness. Sales technology should focus on making people better, not just faster. Sales organizations need to adapt to changes in the market and rethink what's working and what's not. In this podcast, Mike Cabot and Jeb Blount discuss the challenges of sales in the current climate,

Human Connection Is Irreplaceable Dress appropriately for the situation and audience— it's the little things that close the sale. Do research on who you're trying to sell to and a personalized follow-up email after a demo or meeting that adds value to the conversation. Video messages following a meeting are a unique way to stay in front of your prospect and show them you truly care about helping them solve their business challenges. Use handwritten notes to show appreciation and make your communication more human. Taking the time to write a note to your prospect demonstrates your commitment to professionalism and helps built trust. Taking a personalized and phone first sales approach still matters, especially in a world taken over by AI. Leverage checklists to remember and systematize important tasks. Even surgeons and pilots use checklists to make sure that details don't fall through the cracks. Sales is a contact sport. Leaders should train, drill, and reinforce the basics and fundamentals wit

Art Munin, Ph.D. from Liaison International is the guest on this episode of the Sales Gravy Podcast, hosted by Sales Gravy Master Trainer, Gina Trimarco. They discussed Munin's transition into a sales career. Munin debunked the myth that one must choose a lifelong career straight out of college, highlighting that more individuals are transitioning into different career paths, such as sales, later in life. Sales is presented as an exciting, dynamic career with opportunities for personal growth, financial success, and professional satisfaction. Various reasons for transitioning into sales later in life are discussed, including dissatisfaction with previous jobs, the desire for higher income, and the allure of competition inherent in sales. Professionals transitioning from non-sales careers bring valuable transferable skills. Examples include communication and people skills from educators, technical expertise from engineers, and analytical skills from financial professionals. The transition into sales

Leading In A Changing Sales Landscape On this episode of the Sales Gravy Podcast, Jeb Blount (Sales Gravy CEO and author of Sales EQ) and Graham Hooper (CEO of Ellison Technologies) discuss the keys to leading your sales team in uncertain times. You'll learn how to succeed in volatile economic times by effectively handling decision deferment objections and conducting thorough research during the discovery phase of the sales process. Key Takeaways: Salespeople can successfully navigate the transition from a red hot market to a stagnant down market, but it requires grit, discipline, and creativity. In uncertain economic times and a world increasingly influenced by the power of AI, sales-specific emotional intelligence and human-to-human communication are the most important skills a salesperson can have when establishing trust and building relationships with buyers. Conducting effective, deep discovery and handling buying decision deferment objections will give salespeople a competitive edge in any econom

On this special episode of the Sales Gravy Podcast, Sales Gravy Senior Master Sales Trainer Brad Adams and bestselling author of Coffee's for Closers, Tony Morris, dive into the art of great discovery, how to ask questions that build rapport and create engagement, and why better questions set the groundwork for better results. Podcast Takeaways The ability to listen actively and conduct effective discovery is the most important skill for salespeople. Authentic engagement is a direct result of great discovery, which is not possible without deep and active listening. Autopilot is the reason why many salespeople struggle to ask the right questions during the discovery call. Before every discovery call, salespeople should establish a clear desired outcome, create a list of criteria to frame questions, and prepare to lead prospects through the process. There are five questions that salespeople should ask in every discovery call, including tag on questions, statement questions, replay questions, clarifi

On this episode of the Sales Gravy Podcast, Jeb Blount sits down with celebrity chef and entrepreneur Vera Stewart, to learn how persistence and a "never take no for an answer" mindset help her build a business empire.  Southern Home Cook Turned Nationally Recognized Celebrity Chef Vera’s entrepreneurial journey started back in her undergrad days, baking cakes and pies for her chemistry professor just to get a passing grade. After graduating from the University of Georgia (Go Dawgs!) she taught school for four years before starting her family and becoming a stay at home mom.  But Vera missed the sense of self-reliance that having an income brought her, and started a catering business out of her home kitchen in Cartersville, Georgia. The rest of the story is legendary as she leveraged luck, chance meetings, relentless persistence, and an infectious competitive spirit to build a business empire and nationally known brand in hospitality and cooking.   Taking Risks Creates Opportunity for Success As her busines

On this fun episode of the Sales Gravy Podcast, Jeb Blount is joined by the incredible social media influencer and successful real estate agent, Alexander Zakharin. Jeb and Alexander discuss that when the going gets tough in the real estate market, the toughest real estate agents get fanatical about prospecting. Alexander's story is inspirational. He emigrated to the United States in 2017 with a dream to live and work in the greatest city in the world. He then leveraged Fanatical Prospecting, grit, hard work and social media to climb the brutal real estate ladder in New York City. Alexander Zakharin has since sold over 31 million dollars in real estate proving that anything is possible when you set your mind to it. His astronomical success illustrates how the power of relentless prospecting combined with savvy social media strategies have become keys to success in real estate market, no matter the economic conditions. Fanatical Prospecting Fanatical Prospecting is a sales strategy that involves consistentl

On this episode of the Sales Gravy podcast, Jeb Blount (People Follow You) sits down with Leigh Cantrell and Rob Matura who are Regional Vice Presidents at Cigna to discuss the keys to leading multi-generational sales teams. It's a fascinating conversation in which you'll learn about the challenges and rewards of building sales teams from diverse age groups. Challenges With Leading Multi-Generational Sales Team Leading a multi-generational sales team can be challenging. The differences in values, work styles, communication preferences, and technological competencies will stretch you as a leader. These challenges include: Different work values: Different generations may have varying work ethics and priorities, making it difficult to align everyone towards common goals. Communication differences: Younger generations may prefer digital communication, while older generations may prefer face-to-face or phone conversations. Technological competency: Younger generations may be more familiar with technology an

On this episode of the Sales Gravy Podcast, we are switching things up to take on a very important topic— Chronic Lyme Disease. Jeb Blount (Sales Gravy) and Fred Diamond, co-founder of the Institute for Excellence in Sales (IES) discuss Fred's latest book, Love, Hope, Lyme and his personal journey supporting a loved one with Chronic Lyme Disease. You'll learn what Lyme Disease is, the devastating effects that Chronic Lyme Disease has on hundreds of thousands of people each year, why prevention is key, and how you can support anyone in your life who is battling a chronic illness. Living With Someone Who Has Chronic Lyme Disease Living with a loved one who has Chronic Lyme Disease can be emotionally and mentally challenging, as the condition can cause a wide range of symptoms that can affect the person's physical, emotional, and mental well-being. Your loved one may experience depression, anxiety, and irritability as a result of their condition. Fred discusses how important it is to be supportive, patience,

On this episode of the Sales Gravy Podcast, Jeb Blount and Colleen Stanley discuss the importance of Reality Testing sales pipeline opportunities. **Please note that this episode was recorded in a restaurant in Milan Italy. The content quality is excellent. The sound quality not so much. Reality testing sales pipeline opportunities is an important step in ensuring the success of your sales efforts and the effective use of your time. It's important to regularly check the accuracy of your assumptions about the viability of the deals in your pipeline against hard evidence that those deals are advancing in line with your sales process. Reality testing is described as the ability to see things as they are, rather than what you would like them to be. You cannot afford to waste time with pipeline opportunities that you won't win. Nor can you spend time with stakeholders who can't or won't buy. For sellers, the greatest waste of time is spending it with the wrong prospect. As we move into a period of market vol

In today's world there are few barriers to career change. Top sales talent can walk out of your door to another career opportunity at any time. This puts more pressure on sales leaders than ever before to foster a sales culture and team environment that compels people to stay. On this episode of the Sales Gravy Podcast, Jeb Blount (People Follow You) sits down with Helen Fanucci author of the brand new book, Love Your Team, to discuss what sales leaders must do to retain talent build and stronger teams through human connection. In this wide ranging discussion on modern sales leadership you'll learn: The language of sales coaching Why sales leadership is personal What you really get paid for as a sales leader Tactics for 1-2-1 meetings How to approach turn-around situations How to prepare for a future sales leadership role What to do when you meet your team for the first time And much more . . . In her new book, Helen writes that the hybrid work revolution has made sales management the most