The sales profession is challenging. You need to work hard at it to succeed. You need to learn from the best. You need to improve your skills continuously. If you think you can sell since you are a hit at parties and have a lot of friends, you may soon find that you are a failure as a salesperson. Blunt truth:
because the sales profession is so hard, you have to focus on doing everything in sales very well, or you will be considered a failure.
I call this blog, Skinned Knees because I try to relate all of the learning that I have done over the past 4+ decades (while skinning my knees in the learning process).
I hope that you learn from my mistakes so that your business will grow!
The global pandemic has caused crisis after crisis to hit US companies. These crises include:
global supply chain problems affecting worldwide shipping
increased prices due to the shortage of components or subassemblies
labor shortages
To assist our clients, Sean O’Shaughnessey and Kevin Lawson teamed up to create the following webinar. The webinar originally aired on January 13, 2022.
The following is a transcript of the webinar video above. It has been sparsely edited to increase its readability, but many of the idioms and poor spoken grammar have been left in place. The transcription was automatically generated by Sonix.ai and, as capable as that product is, there are times when words are missed or sentence structure was incorrectly interpreted. We have tried to catch all of these software misses, but we are confident that some still remain. The below text is provided for those that would rather read than watch a video.
I was recently interviewed by Bob Clark on his podcast 808 Podcast. It is named 808 because 808 looks like Bob and the internet loves short video content so it is less than 8 minutes and 8 seconds. We had a great conversation in under 8 minutes and 8 seconds while Bob walked me through four high-level questions (and a few clarifying questions).
I went through the process of having the conversation transcribed so that you can read the content if you prefer to read more than listen. This transcription tries to put the text into a more readable format.
You can find the podcast here. At the bottom of this article, there is a YouTube version of the podcast.
Are you experiencing any of the following common sales issues? Inability to take sales “to the next level” Difficulty finding the “right” salesperson for your company Not sure where to start – “I don’t know what I don’t know” Lack of a formal sales process Stalled out proposals Not being able to effectively articulate the value proposition, solution or service Great companies deserve a great plan You have developed incredible offerings. You have solid leadership… Do You Have A Great Sales Plan?
The following is a transcript of the podcast video above. It has been sparsely edited to increase its readability, but many of the idioms and poor spoken grammar have been left in place. The transcription was automatically generated by Sonix.ai and, as capable as that product is, there are times when words are missed, or sentence structure was incorrectly interpreted. We have tried to catch all of these software misses, but we are confident that some still remain. The below text is provided for those that would rather read than watch a video.
Earl Ameen: [00:00:00] This is Earl Ameen, with a 20/20 Foresight podcast, where CEOs of small-to-global companies share their insights. It is six questions in nine minutes because top CEOs know how to listen and be concise. So let’s get to it. First of all, welcome. Tell us who you are and what you do in just a few sentences.
Sean O’Shaughnessey: [00:00:22] My name is Sean O’Shaughnessey. Thank you very much for having me on your program. I am a Fractional Vice President of Sales. My company goes into other companies, and we run the sales department for those other companies. We help them grow, we help them accelerate their revenue, and we help them create a process that makes predictable revenue possible.
Earl Ameen: [00:00:45] Outstanding. Well, tell me, Sean, what’s the best thing about being the CEO of your company?
Sean O’Shaughnessey: [00:00:51] So for me, the best thing about being the CEO is actually not just being a CEO, but actually giving back and allowing myself to help other companies. So, I am in the service industry. As I said, I’m a Fractional VP of sales. I like having the ability to take a company that is struggling to make its revenue targets and help them achieve those revenue targets. I can help them become a prosperous, sales-oriented culture. So, I love doing that for other companies and doing it for multiple companies at the same time.
According to ZipRecruiter and the Wall Street Journal, people are hesitant to go into sales for a career. ZipRecruiter shows the number of sales roles advertised has risen steadily this year, up 65% to more than 700,000 open positions around the U.S., after big layoffs decimated the field at the outset of the pandemic a year ago. Many young workers erroneously assume that sales work means convincing customers to buy with high-pressure tactics and are… The Pay Is High and Jobs Are Plentiful, but Few Want to Go Into Sales
The average cost of a face-to-face sales call is reportedly $250 – $500. With virtual sales calls, you can talk to your prospects for a much lower price. Virtual sales calls are an easy and inexpensive way to start building relationships and generating leads.
Virtual sales calls have become more and more popular in the past few years, especially during and now after the global pandemic. The most apparent advantage of virtual sales calls is that they can be conducted from anywhere and anytime. This means that companies can save office space while still conducting meaningful business conversations with customers and prospects. Salespeople can save time by using virtual sales calls to get on the radar of potential buyers or secure new leads.
Another advantage is the cost savings of not having a physical presence at an event or trade show. Virtual sales calls also offer a level of confidentiality.
I recently spoke to Robert Gillette, the host of the podcast Reclaiming Sales. It was a great conversation! We discussed many things that will benefit beginning sales professionals. Specifically, we discussed:
Get to know your prospects better, understand how they make and lose money.
Get curious, and stay that way… even when you’ve heard your 100th prospect tell you the same thing.
Build your belief, it will keep you company when times get tough.
You can listen to our conversation by subscribing to Robert’s podcast here. You can also subscribe by going to Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and many more that are listed here.
The following is a transcription of our conversation for those that prefer to read rather than listen. The transcription is as close as possible to the spoken word but effort was made to try to make it a little more readable with fairly grammar correct phrasing, sentence structure, and paragraph structure. Where the commentary overrode grammar or the use of synonyms, the spoken word was chosen.
Announcer 0:30
You’re listening to Reclaiming Sales because you don’t need to sell your soul to be successful with your host and fellow salesman, Robert Gillette.
Robert Gillette 0:41
Robert Gillette Reclaiming Sales Podcast Host
Hey everybody, welcome back to the show. My name obviously is Robert Gillette, and I have a new friend of mine. I know everybody I meet on the show, I say my new friend, but it’s true so far—a gentleman named Sean O’Shaughnessey. Honestly, the reason why you’re on the show, to be totally honest, is he, you engage with me, you commented on the things that I post, and you send me messages. And you know, when you’re doing a podcast, it’s like screaming into the void. And so when the void reaches back out and gives you feedback, it’s incredibly helpful. I’m used to performing on stage, in general, so I just wanted to have you on the show, first of all, to get your perspective on what we’ve been talking about so far. But, still, you also have some pretty deep claws into this whole sales game as well, and you have some perspectives that I just want to explore and see what we can uncover over the next 20 minutes or so. But before we get onto that, Sean, why don’t you, I guess before you take off your sales guy hat, what do you sell and who do you sell it to.
Sean O’Shaughnessey 1:42
I am the CEO of a company called New Sales Expert. I sell sales management to companies with bad sales management or don’t know how to have sales management.
Robert Gillette 1:56
Okay, and we don’t have a lot of, you know, people on the show who aren’t salespeople. But I guess my first question to you before we move too far into this is. Do you think it’s harder to sell to salespeople or to sell to non-salespeople? Is it hard to sell to people who sell for a living?
Sean O’Shaughnessey 2:16
Sean O’Shaughnessey CEO and President New Sales Expert, LLC
So it’s I think it’s easier to sell to salespeople because we like to hear a good pitch. I actually sell, though, to the CEO that is frustrated because he doesn’t know how to manage a sales force. So that’s actually whom I sell to. And that’s the problem I solve.
Robert Gillette 2:32
Okay, so you’re actually selling to a CEO or someone at that C suite level.
Sean O’Shaughnessey 2:37
Correct. I’m usually selling to the founder of the company. And he is in a situation where he can’t figure out how to manage salespeople, how to recruit salespeople, and how to make salespeople better. So that’s what I do for him or her.
Robert Gillette 2:51
Unfortunately, mostly him, but we’re working on that diversity by brute force. We’re doing it as a country anyways.
So let’s, let’s roll this back to the beginning of your career, how did you get into sales. And why did you stick with it all those years?
Dean Wiener is one of the best sales professionals that I have ever met. He has made a career out of listening to the customer’s needs, understanding the customer’s business, and helping his customer. Few professionals are as capable as Dean Wiener. Brian Burns recently interviewed Dean. Brian has done a series of interviews with salespeople and sales management; even I have been interviewed by Brian. This is a great series for salespeople with less… How To Win More 7-Figure Deals
I recently met with one of my clients to discuss the company’s sales team. They had ten salespeople on their team.
Five of the salespeople had brought in about 40-45% of the company’s revenue, and two others also brought in about 40-45% of his revenue. A bigger problem, though, was the remaining three that only brought in 10-15%. Those three were dragging down the team.
The biggest problem that the President was starting to realize was that the top two performers were becoming disgruntled and would probably leave the company. As I did my initial interviews with these two, they confided in me they had become frustrated that every time the company needed more revenue, the challenge was given to them to bring it in the door.
To keep their spirits up, I told them that these challenges were an honor. Like in basketball, you have your best players on the floor when the score is tied, with a minute left in the 4th quarter. One of them replied, “But if the 7th man would have made his four free throws, two layups, and grabbed those two defensive rebounds in the 3rd quarter, the score wouldn’t be tied at the end.”
Great people want to be surrounded by great people. Top athletes want to play on the same team as other top athletes. Top salespeople want to work in the same company as other top salespeople.
INDIANAPOLIS, IN – October 20, 2020 – Sales Xceleration Consultants continue to see demand for their fractional sales leadership skills to drive revenue growth for small to mid-sized businesses. We have continued to experience growth throughout North America and beyond as the value is recognized in communities where Sales Xceleration Consultants are located. The combination of our proven tools and platform, along with our Advisors’ extensive sales leadership skills, appeals to business owners from a… Fifteen New Outsourced Sales VPs Join Sales Xceleration as the Need for Fractional Sales Leaders Sees A Big Increase
