1. How to Remain Connected Despite Highly Unusual Disruptions with Ang McManamon
As every industry contends with how to operate through the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic, sales organizations are coming up with creative solutions for maintaining connectivity, productivity, and culture despite social distancing.
Jess Klek, who is Salesloft’s VP of Enterprise Sales and Co-Chair of the Women’s Integrated Network, serves as guest host for this timely episode. Ang McManamon, Global Head of Sales at Knotel, talks with Jess about how managers need to come from a place of trust and not fear with remote employees, touches on the benefits of virtual happy hours, and dips into the big question: What if it turns out we’re more productive with more people working from home?
I think the challenge is, the number one challenge is the socialization. Typically salespeople love to socialize, they love to talk, and for me personally, I love the human to human interaction. I love just having that face to face quick five-minute meeting instead of a Slack, and so how do we replicate that? How are we able to do that?
2. Selling Through a Financial Crisis with Ashley Grech
For Ashley Grech, becoming Global Head of Sales at Square was no cakewalk. After graduating with an MBA in the heart of a financial crisis, she learned early on that sales means listening to people’s pain and solving problems as a result of it. From her 12 years at a prestigious bank, she uses her experience to teach salespeople how they can up their game through listening and storytelling.
Listen to this episode of Hey Salespeople to learn how Ashley weathered the 2008 financial storm and for actionable takeaways you can apply to the economic uncertainty the world is facing now.
If you take it back down to like the absolute human level, like forget the product that you’re selling, you can actually reduce real success in selling during difficult times… to listening. I know when we do sales training, we talk a lot about how you should be listening more than speaking in terms of total talk time and whatnot. But those things are real. I know that that those are best practices today, but those will save you in times of real difficulty. And that will save you immensely when your customer is putting all their fear and anxiety about their jobs and their businesses and their livelihood into a discussion about price. We say it all the time, like it’s really not about price. But in the moment, you’re going to have to find a better way to get to what’s really scaring them.
3. Creating a Safe Environment for Sales Teams with Richard Harris
Sales is an up and down game of wins and losses, with reps constantly experiencing peaks and valleys. So why is there a stigma around talking about mental health in the industry?
Richard Harris, the founder of the Harris Consulting Group, understands that no relationship works well when you’re not supposed to talk about your experience and when you don’t feel like you are in a safe environment. This is especially true now and during any time of uncertainty.
Richard takes a deep dive into what managers can do to show their employees that they care while creating an environment where they feel listened to. In addition, he and Jeremey discuss topics from how individuals can clear their heads during the day to which Dr. Seuss story is the greatest sales book of all time.
There’s a stigma in sales that you can’t talk about certain stuff, right? You can’t talk about “I’m down,” or, “Hey, I need some help. I don’t know what to do” … or it when you’re at top don’t brag. Then when you’re at the bottom, don’t talk about it. So basically no matter what you did, you weren’t supposed to talk about it. And I don’t know any relationship that works really well that way.
4. Overcoming Fears in the World of Sales with Doug Landis
This episode of the Hey Salespeople Podcast brings you a very special guest host: Sydney Sloan, CMO at Salesloft. Sydney speaks with Doug Landis, a growth partner at Emergence Capital who lives and breathes all things sales and go-to-market.
In this episode, we learn why it’s important to be empathetic to whoever’s on the other side of the table, how to focus on what you can control during out-of-control situations, and how to overcome fears in the world of sales… especially during times of uncertainty.
I think the reality is is fear is real because it’s an emotional response. Right? It’s an emotional response to a real threat. It’s part of our survival mechanism as a human being. It is a real emotional response because there is a connection there to a lack of control, right? But the problem is, the sensation that most people experience when it comes to fear isn’t actually real. It’s not a true fear. If you actually look at fear, and there’s an acronym for it. I don’t know if you’ve heard this, but it’s a False Evidence Appearing Real…meaning there’s no true threat.
If you have a passion for the art and the science of sales, are looking to further your career, or just want to hear some great, practical tips, ‘Hey Salespeople’ is the podcast for you. Subscribe so you can follow along as Jeremey interviews the brightest minds in modern sales to bring you immediately actionable advice. Listen and subscribe here.
