Market Dominance Guys
Season 2
Episodes
Tuesday Oct 13, 2020
EP52: When Operational Excellence Meets a 9-Foot Wall
Tuesday Oct 13, 2020
Tuesday Oct 13, 2020
Operational excellence is achieved when every member of an organization can see the flow of value to the customer and fix that flow before it breaks down. But as a manager of people, you know that this isn’t an easy goal to achieve — especially if your team members are now working from home instead of working together in one building. As Chris explains in a story about his experience mountain climbing and running up against a 9-foot tall stretch of wall, “We make a great plan — and then we run into that blank wall. The COVID pandemic is an example of that wall.”
In this podcast, Chris and Corey have a conversation with Valerie Schlitt, founder and CEO of VSA, about what to do with the problems this wall has created for her team members and those of her clients. Valerie holds a Wharton MBA and has 19 years of experience directing a great team of her own who use their skills to help VSA’s customers develop their businesses. “Collaborating with people is one of the biggest sources of ways to solve problems,” Valerie explains. But with the work-from-home movement, how can you maintain that same group problem-solving?
Tuesday Oct 06, 2020
EP51: Coaching vs. Evaluating - How Fear Impacts Performance
Tuesday Oct 06, 2020
Tuesday Oct 06, 2020
When we’re performing in the presence of someone we know to be more expert than we are, our performance usually suffers. In the world of sales, managers often put this pressure on salespeople, although often unwittingly. They may approach their sales rep with every intention of being a helpful coach, but too often they slip into the role of a critical evaluator instead. And as soon as a salesperson thinks they’re being evaluated, fear sets in — their stomach sinks, their voice tightens up, their intended flow of words gets backed up — and there goes their normal, relaxed performance.
In this podcast, Chris talks with Susan Finch, president of Funnel Radio, on this topic and then segues into the benefits of how a mutually beneficial relationship between members of the company’s team (sales, research, engineering/manufacturing, customer support) creates the best possible means of serving customers. Chris and Susan then discuss how showing appreciation and respect for the behind-the-scenes team members keeps those people from feeling invisible, motivates them to perform better, and to willingly offer support to the people on the front line.
Join Chris and Susan for another relaxed, entertaining, and informative Market Dominance Guys podcast as they explore what works and what doesn’t when managing salespeople and dominating your market.
Wednesday Sep 30, 2020
EP50: Scarcity, Abundance, and the Biggest Sin in Sales
Wednesday Sep 30, 2020
Wednesday Sep 30, 2020
The pandemic has certainly shown the general public that scarcity or abundance of products can have an effect on people’s emotions. Scarcity increases desire — whether you desperately need the product or not. Abundance decreases desire, because there’s plenty of what you might need in the future. This is true for the sales process too. When you know that you’re going to have another conversation with a prospect, then you can relax during the initial conversation. The tension will disappear from your voice, because you’re not pushing for the sale: you know you have another chance at a future date, and you can relax while you gather information and begin establishing trust with your prospect. There’s no need to hang on and desperately keep the call going; you set up an appointment for the next conversation, and then you end the call. In other words, you “make yourself scarce.” And right there, you’ve introduced the element of scarcity to your prospect’s emotions and, in doing so, increased their desire for more information about what your company offers.
Wednesday Sep 23, 2020
EP49: Enslaved by Preconceptions? Shoshin Can Set You Free.
Wednesday Sep 23, 2020
Wednesday Sep 23, 2020
Can your prospects smell your “commission breath”? Is your eagerness to set the appointment or reach for the deal keeping you from gleaning the information you need from your conversations with prospects?
There is a danger that comes with expertise. When you are a true beginner, your mind is empty and open. You are willing to learn and consider all pieces of information. As you develop expertise, however, your mind naturally becomes more closed. As a salesperson, you might have a preconceived notion that you know where a cold call is heading. Rejectionville again! And this makes you less open to discovering new information, less likely to hear your prospect’s confession about his business or job or a problem you might solve. Your expectations are not immediately met, and you get that sense of doom that this call is a waste of your time. What can save you from that out-on-a-ledge, sales-related fear of impending doom? Shoshin, a Zen Buddhism concept that means “beginner’s mind.” Chris, Corey, and Jake Housdon discuss how employing the curiosity mindset of Shoshin (“I know nothing. Tell me about your experience.”) allows you to take ahold of your emotions, lead your prospect back into having a conversation, and put you back on the road to discovery.
Wednesday Sep 16, 2020
EP48: The Theory of Constraints - Abandon or Persuade
Wednesday Sep 16, 2020
Wednesday Sep 16, 2020
The theory of constraints dominates the world of business, and yet it tends to be ignored by almost everybody in business for a pretty simple reason: it's politically unpalatable. The theory of constraints says your business is a system, and every system has one and only one constraint.
And that's the only thing you should be working on right now: understanding that constraint, characterizing it, coming up with an investment thesis, making the investment, or observing the results of the investment. The investment is something like better cycle time, increased throughput, more units that are doing the work, or better quality. Those who employ this practice will dominate markets.
Wednesday Sep 09, 2020
EP47: Change the Message or Change the List
Wednesday Sep 09, 2020
Wednesday Sep 09, 2020
How long will it take to get the meeting? You have three steps first:
1. Make the list. And review that list and eliminate the dumb titles. Chris is a fan of Zoominfo.
2. Write the messaging. Remember, one turn of phrase can kill the meeting. Marketing language kills a sales call. Subtle nuances make or break the call.
3. Talk to people in that market, those that are intrigued enough to hear what we have to say. Who does the talking? Find and hire the ASKERS.
Tune in for this short episode of Market Dominance Guys: Change the Message or Change the List
Wednesday Sep 02, 2020
EP46: Modern Sales is a Collaborative Exercise in Search.
Wednesday Sep 02, 2020
Wednesday Sep 02, 2020
The sales lead discernment process is similar to search results. The ones that come up on the first page are the ones you interact with. It's like a discovery call. A discovery call's purpose isn't to say, "I'm going to buy." One of the biggest mistakes sales trainers make is relying on role-playing as the method to gain confidence. Role-playing is not designed to get you calm and confident. It's a "gotcha" setup. Rehearsal and practice are a better training method to allow the salespeople to get comfortable enough they don't have to think about how they might fail. You need to have it be a reflex to get to the underlying emotion. The underlying emotion that needs to come through is curiosity.
Wednesday Aug 26, 2020
EP45: It‘s the CEO‘s Job to Feel the Ice Rather than Harpoon the Whale
Wednesday Aug 26, 2020
Wednesday Aug 26, 2020
CEOs are allowed to have weird thoughts and consider odd possibilities. You need input from the market you don't have yet. This is why a CEO needs to be selling to understand what is actually happening. Their job is to feel the ice rather than just sending your reps to drive the road.
Put yourself in there as CEO, don't absorb the friction, find the root cause. The marketplace is always changing. CEOs love to harpoon a whale, but they need to experience every aspect of a sale. They need to be in the mix and feel what is behind the numbers. Listen to this episode of Market Dominance Guys, It's the CEO's Job to Feel the Ice Rather than Harpoon the Whale.
Tuesday Aug 18, 2020
EP44: The We‘re Set Objection and Why Introverts Make the Best Salespeople.
Tuesday Aug 18, 2020
Tuesday Aug 18, 2020
Marketing can step in and help sales overcome it.
1. Beginning: listen to discovery conversations.
2. Middle: look at support tickets to see the unvarnished truth.
3. End: work on getting the pipeline to be seen as an asset, it belongs on the balance sheet. Ask to be measured on the value we are contributing to help steer my efforts based on results that are being produced.
1. I want to know upfront what's going on - attribution
2. in the middle - discovery
3. at the end - support tickets and we should want to know this first hand.
BONUS SEGMENT: Introverts tend to make the best salespeople.
Why? They have time to THINK before they act and put deep thought into their approach to securing the meeting. Listen to the second half of this episode to confirm why you want more of them on your sales team.
Monday Aug 10, 2020
EP43: 91% of All Marketing Dollars are a Waste.
Monday Aug 10, 2020
Monday Aug 10, 2020
Only 9% of all MQ's (marketing qualified leads) every result in a conversation. Worse than that, you have now stimulated your target audience to explore and investigate your competition. 91% of all marketing dollars are a waste. This is because Sales only contacts a prospect two times, rather than the 6 times requested or required. That leaves 91% for your competitors to speak to. But the good news is, everyone else is doing the same thing. It may all work out.