Idea to consider

How can you evangelise the problem and make the old way seem clunky?

A book I love is “Play Bigger,” in which the authors share the strategies of category kings who create and then dominate a new market. One of the critical steps we can learn from this approach is to evangelise the problem, not your product or service. When you evangelise the problem, the prospect cannot unsee the issue, and the old way seems clunky.

Whether creating a new category or not, how can you make the old way of doing things seem clunky?

REV UP your Sales – WIN TWO FREE MEMBERSHIPS

We’re giving away two free memberships to REV UP, here’s how it is as easy as 1-2-3:

1. Follow the Sales Redefined’s LinkedIn page.
2. Comment on this post with “Pick me”.
3. Message us here on Linkedin with your 2-5 lines telling us why you should win the two memberships.

The competition ends tomorrow, Friday, July 19th, and we will pick the winners!

REV UP is the professional development pathway for Sales and Go-To-Market teams. We analysed all the skills you and your team need and then curated global leading experts into one epic lineup!

REV UP is evidence-based and results-orientated continuous learning. You can check out the full program and our experts here.

Membership starts at $175 +GST per person, per month. Doors are closing 26th July 2024.You can get started here.

Question of the week

How can I reduce the perceived risk for my prospects?

In a slower market, indecision is rife. Sales teams have to learn to guide prospects through indecision.

Indecision can be minimised by reducing the buyer’s perceived risk, removing overwhelm, and making the prospect feel confident in your offering.

Consider how you can leverage, guarantee, provide proof of concept/proof of value, share strong case studies and social proof, and make recommendations to guide the buyer.

What I’m testing

We’re playing more with AI, and particularly for statistics, my team is finding Perplexity AI really useful. The team’s feedback is that it’s easier for searches and research. Perplexity is an AI chatbot-powered search engine that answers questions using natural language predictive text, citing sources within the response. It’s like Google but with citations!

We’re testing LinkedIn Premium for our business page and doing a 30-day trial. This has given us the ability to add a testimonial to the page header and display news features or other highlights. These are just the basics; there are many exclusive features that help the page achieve your goals faster.

What’s happening at Sales Redefined?

We’re noticing more organisational restructures to prioritise aligning revenue-generating teams. You can check out our LinkedIn blog “The Revenue Restructure: Embracing CRO, RevOps, and Revenue Enablement for Growth on LinkedIn here.

It’s Sales Kick-Off season, and we have six kickoffs over the next two weeks! A common theme is creating an interactive kick-off via technology like slides or interactive activities where time permits—anything that involves the attendees in the experience is a win in our book!

What I’m reading

Become an Insider!

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The post Evangelise the problem appeared first on Sales Redefined.

Idea to consider

If you were to do a pre-mortem of FY25,
what are the risks to your strategy being executed?

As we kick off the new financial year, it’s a great time for planning and reflection. Global Leadership expert Holly Ransom recommends a pre-mortem. What are the risks to our strategy being executed and delivering a result? If we can identify the biggest risks in advance, we can implement mitigation plans.

What would your pre-mortem highlight?

REV UP your Sales – EARLY BIRD ENDS FRIDAY

All good things come to an end; the REV UP Early Bird offer (10% off the entire program) ends tomorrow, Friday!

If you missed the memo, REV UP is the professional development pathway for Sales and Go-To-Market teams. We analysed all the skills you and your team need and then curated global leading experts into one epic lineup!

REV UP is evidence-based and results-orientated continuous learning that’s practical – and FUN!

You can check out the full program and our experts here.

Membership starts at $175 +GST per person, per month. Use promo code EARLYBIRDFY25

Question of the week

What’s the real root cause of my sales productivity barriers?

I’ve taken inspiration from Jay Pottenger, GM of EQ Minds, and I now do an end-of-day reflection on how I spent my time, where I was productive and where time was wasted.

If I trace it back further, the root cause for me is going to sleep too late as I’m reading (guilty!). I’m now focusing on the root cause and working on a sleep routine that positively impacts my productivity the following day.
When working with sales teams, we start with a team survey, and often, the real root cause of sales productivity or challenges is a skills gap or lack of confidence or even a conflicting commission plan.

What’s the real root cause of your sales productivity?

What I’m testing

This is a bit of a personal share: I’m testing a lot around my own routines at the moment. I’m guilty of working at 100 miles an hour and not enjoying the journey. I’ve started writing a daily list of great things that happened to stop and recognise the little wins and little daily moments.

On a business front, we’re testing with Google Ads and YouTube video work. It’s too soon to tell you the result, but we will share!

What’s happening at Sales Redefined?

We opened our REV UP doors and welcomed new REV UP members. Seeing incredible businesses and highly motivated professionals join us has been so ridiculously exciting!

I have back-to-back sales kickoffs and conference keynotes coming up, so I have been deep in discovery session mode. As an observation, I’m having more conversations than ever about how we support teams to embrace change. Food for thought!

What I’m reading

Last time, I shared that I am reading “10X is easier than 2X”. I’ve nearly finished, and here are a few more nuggets to build on the last Inside Scoop takeaways from the book:

• Massive ambitions are easier than average goals—they bring focus. There are only one or maybe two ways you could 10X.
• To go 10X, you approach time qualitatively and non-linearly
• What’s your unique ability? Focus here!
• What’s the 80% of your life keeping you busy but unproductive because it’s keeping you outside your unique ability?

The final wrap-up from the book is coming next week!

Become an Insider!

Every week, we bring you more than just information – we bring transformation. Expose yourself to Innovative Ideas, Thought-Provoking Questions, and first-hand updates on new experiments and influential books.

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The post What needs to change in FY25? appeared first on Sales Redefined.

Idea to consider

10X is easier than 2X

My friend Dan recommended the book “10X is easier than 2X” by Dan Sullivan; I am loving it.

The concept is that 2X growth in business or personal life is often exhausting. 2X growth would require similar actions to what you are doing today, and there are many ways to achieve it.

10X is so big that it seems almost impossible, forcing brutal focus. You can’t work 10X more, so you must remove anything that isn’t 10X.

10X is a process that simplifies your strategy and focus as there might only be one or two ways to achieve 10X.

As we head into FY25, how can you go 10X?

(More about this book below!)

REV UP YOUR SALES in FY25

As an insider, I’m giving you a sneaky heads-up that our REV UP program waitlist is brimming at the seams, so we’re opening the doors for our FY25 REV UP intake on Monday. We will share an early bird promo code so you can lock in your spot and save 10% off your membership.

If you missed the memo, the REV UP program develops all the sales and go-to-market skills your team needs. We’ve curated an epic lineup of global experts to be your professional development pathway.

We’ve evolved our FY25 program to focus on selling in the current slower market and leveraging new AI tools. You can check out the program out here.

Question of the week

If “success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm” – how do you maintain your enthusiasm after “failure”? (Winston Churchill)

In sales, you constantly have rejection and “failure”. In business, it’s the same. So, how do you go from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm?

I’ve been trying a slightly new approach and giving myself a time-bound “window” to allow myself to feel disappointed and annoyed, but I won’t let myself stay there. I’ve found it valuable to set boundaries to allow a short ‘pity party’, then get up and get ‘back in the ring’.

Even with all the positive psychology I’ve studied I can’t always pull off immediately reframing the situation. Depending on the set back I might need an hour, or two or maybe it’s the day. Just don’t stay there!

What’s your go-to strategy for bouncing back from “failure”?

What I’m testing

We are always testing, but here’s a little test we did that makes a big impact. We tested this Inside Scoop letter for three weeks, with and without a branded email banner.

Which won?

No banner!

This test might seem insignificant, but the higher our email engagement rate, the more it positively impacts our growth.

What’s happening at Sales Redefined?

We shared our first surprise above: We are back in launch mode for our next REV UP intake.

We re-released our 2024 sales trends updated for FY25 due to the unbelievably fast-paced changes, this is the first time we’ve ever done a half-yearly update. Download here.

We are in big prep mode for the Sales Kick-Off season in July and planning for the action-packed diary. If you’ve got a kick-off and need a guest expert, book a call with me here.

What I’m reading

As shared above, I am deep into “10X is easier than 2X”. Here are a few more nuggets from the book:

• 10X is a process; start with clarity on what is the BIG 10X goal
• “Impossible” goals help you identify the one or very few ways you could achieve it
• To go 10X you need to let go of anything that isn’t 10X in your life and anything needlessly hard
• Make 10X your standard and say NO
• Distinguish the 20% that matters and 80% that doesn’t. Only 20% of what you are doing today will scale to 10X.

Become an Insider!

Every week, we bring you more than just information – we bring transformation. Expose yourself to Innovative Ideas, Thought-Provoking Questions, and first-hand updates on new experiments and influential books.

Enter your email now. Your next big idea is just an email away!

P.S If you are double down on prospecting, check out our 1-day virtual course Prospecting Blueprint. Learn the most effective strategies for winning net new business in a slower market. Join the waitlist here.

The post 10X growth is easier than 2X appeared first on Sales Redefined.

Ideas to consider

Where is the “Blue Ocean” in FY25?

Many of us feel we are in a “red ocean” crowded with competition and price wars. The authors of Blue Ocean Strategy challenge us to ask where the uncontested marketplace is and how we can create a Blue Ocean.

Julie Masters, a Global Influence thought leader and one of our REV UP experts, talks about focusing on micro influence with the intersection of two specialties. For Sales Redefined, this was Sales + Marketing.

As we enter FY25, where can you create a Blue Ocean and micro niche?

B2B Prospecting Blueprint

In early August we will be running a 1-day live virtual workshop to go deep on prospecting and share our proven prospecting blueprint. Check out the details here to join us.

Question of the week

What worked well in terms of sales in FY24 & what could have been better? What will I change in FY25?

I’ve been in reflection mode, prompted by a half-yearly reflection worksheet by Business Strategist Michelle Broadbent. As someone who needs a nudge to stop and reflect, it was well-timed as I finished our FY25 strategy.

Here are some sales-related reflection questions for you:

• What worked well to generate new sales?
• What worked for lead generation?
• What could be better in terms of sales?
• What offering was the most profitable?
• What offering did I see the most demand for?
• What strategic partnerships worked well?
• How can I embrace digital sales in FY25?
• What sales skills do I need to develop?
• What do I need to change for FY25?

P.S. Michelle’s worksheet aimed at business owners is here.

What I’m testing

Last week I talked about testing ChatGPT 4.0 and loving it, here is my article on 5 ways I’m using ChatGPT here.

What’s happening at Sales Redefined?

We’ve re-released our 2024 sales trends updated for FY25 this week! This is the first time we’ve ever done a half-yearly update due to the unbelievably fast-paced changes in AI and digital sales. You can download your copy here.

As we gear up for the Sales Kick-Off season in July, we’re excited to be planning several kick-offs across Australia & New Zealand. If you’ve got a kick-off and would like to chat, don’t hesitate, book a chat with me here.

What I’m reading

I’m still working through Hook Point by Brendan Kane to help develop our YouTube strategy, so here’s a throwback Thursday of two other books I loved:

• Shoe Dog by Phil Knight: The story of Nike is beyond inspiring!
• Chapter One by Daniel Flynn: The story of ThankYou, the social enterprise and best book to challenge your thinking of disrupting the status quo and gorilla marketing style hussle tactics with high impact (think flying a helicopter over Woolworth’s office!).

Become an Insider!

Every week, we bring you more than just information – we bring transformation. Expose yourself to Innovative Ideas, Thought-Provoking Questions, and first-hand updates on new experiments and influential books.

Enter your email now. Your next big idea is just an email away!

P.S If you’re developing your sales skills in FY25, check out our REV UP program, we’ve curated leading global experts all under one roof into one program at just $199+GST per person, per month! Join the wait list here, next intake coming up soon!

The post Finding your micro niche appeared first on Sales Redefined.

Ideas to consider

What would sales look like if it was fun?

I love content from productivity guru Ali Abdaal. One of his key productivity tips is to add an element of fun to the task.

I like to gamify sales, set myself a challenge and compete with myself.

It’s incredible to see sales teams’ engagement and results when we add fun and gamification.

Could you have a Slack/Teams channel to celebrate wins, draw weekly prizes, and give shoutouts during team meetings?

One of my favourites was from my days at IBM, where we had a team scorecard with each of us as our celebrity lookalike, so Mr Incredible was racing Sienna Miller, etc.

How could you make sales more fun?

FY25 Sales Kick Off

If your Sales Kick-off or annual conference is coming up, I’d love to upskill your team to play a high-performance game in FY25. If you’d like to chat over a virtual coffee, you can book it here.

Question of the week

How can we leverage the progress principle in sales?

As humans, we’re motivated by progress, but in sales, it can be a long game. Celebrating the “lead measures” and progress along the way can help keep us motivated on the journey.

I’ve been writing down my own little wins each day be it a confirmed meeting, a referral, a new LinkedIn connection, no matter how small, celebrating the 1%ers that add up.

I’m guilty of chasing the end result and not celebrating the wins on the way, so I’ve taken steps to keep myself in check!

What I’m testing

This week, I’ve been testing ChatGPT 4.0 and LOVING IT!

I’m getting the best results by building out very detailed prompts for what I need. I treat it as if it were a new employee and give context, examples, backgrounds, and expectations.

I am finding it useful to upload PDF, PPT, and background information.

What’s happening at Sales Redefined?

We’re in prep and research mode for our YouTube strategy to kick off in FY25 (yes, I’ve now publicly put myself on the hook!).

Why YouTube? As the buyer profile changes, so does the research process; 25-35-year-olds use YouTube more than Google. We’ve noticed prospects telling us they watched our videos before reaching out.

We’ve opened a waitlist for The B2B Prospecting Blueprint 1-day live virtual masterclass. If you want to know more, check it out here.

As a sneak peek, we’ve also decided to kick off another REV UP cohort in late July. You can join the waitlist here to get first dibs on an early bird!

What I’m reading

I’ve been dipping into Hook Point by Brendan Kane as a revisit. Brendan focuses on how you hook and grab attention to stand out. He’s unpacked the method behind Mr Beast and many great content creators. With our upcoming YouTube focus, I’ve been revisiting key takeaways!

Become an Insider!

Every week, we bring you more than just information – we bring transformation. Expose yourself to Innovative Ideas, Thought-Provoking Questions, and first-hand updates on new experiments and influential books.

Enter your email now. Your next big idea is just an email away!

The post Making sales fun  appeared first on Sales Redefined.

Ideas to consider:

What is my minimum standard for proactive prospecting?

I came across the concept of making a minimum standard commitment to myself for each area of my life, from work to health to relationships, etc. Why not apply this to prospecting?

The theory is to raise the bar on your own expectations and commitments. My commitment is to make a minimum of three proactive prospecting outreaches a day, no matter how busy I am.

Could you apply this?

FY25 Sales Kick Off

If your Sales Kick Off or annual conference is coming up, I’d love to upskill your sales team to play a high-performance game in FY25. If you’d like to chat over a virtual coffee you can book here.

Question of the week

Did I continue momentum on the success curve this week?

I recently read The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson, and it continues to have a huge impact on me. A concept I am thinking about daily in my journalling is whether I gained small momentum on the success curve each day.

Missing one day of prospecting doesn’t have a big impact today, but each missed day adds up over time, and I will end up on the wrong side of the success curve!

A key principle from the book is doing what you’ve committed to – even when nobody else is watching.

What I’m testing

I’ve been testing “cold” LinkedIn connections and found a far better success rate (approximately 90%) with the standard LI connection message than connecting with a personalised message. I’ve followed up with a personalised message as the second step once connected.

We are also testing Google ads again and will report back!

What’s happening at Sales Redefined?

We’ve opened a waitlist for our upcoming B2B Prospecting Blueprint 1-day live virtual masterclass. (Can you tell there is a prospecting theme going on!). If you want to know more and join the waitlist to receive the early bird code, check it out here.

We’re also excited to see my podcast interview with Bec Chappell on Marketing Espresso go live, where I talked about marriage counselling for sales and marketing & how to bring the love for growth. You can check it out here.

Next week, I am interviewing Lucy Lee from Purple Patch on….. Prospecting! Reply with your questions, and I will get them answered!

What I’m listening

As you can tell, I’ve dipped back into The Slight Edge! Lately I’m focusing more on implementing my biggest takeaways before running to the next book.

I’ve also been checking out “Discovery Daily” a short daily AI generated podcast largely around AI and tech. Well worth checking out!

Become an Insider!

Every week, we bring you more than just information – we bring transformation. Expose yourself to Innovative Ideas, Thought-Provoking Questions, and first-hand updates on new experiments and influential books.

Enter your email now. Your next big idea is just an email away!

The post Minimum standard for prospecting appeared first on Sales Redefined.

Ideas to consider:

What are my sales sprints and marathons?

When I build sales strategies, I identify the top 2-3 sprints & marathons. (No running shoes required!)

Sprints are tactical, low-hanging fruit opportunities to address in under 90 days.

Marathons are strategic, more long-term, usually a 12-month+ strategy.

Balancing sprints and marathons brings focus while playing both a tactical and strategic game.

Question of the week

How can I improve my sales 1% each day?

Almost all of the books and success stories I delve into have a common theme: They don’t just look for the big bang strategy; they focus on the 1% better everyday compound interest effect.

• How can you build your sales pipeline 1% a day?
• How can you learn and improve your sales skills by 1% daily?

Small, consistent action beats ad-hoc large spurts of effort.

If you missed it, check out this week’s Sales Rev Up on our 7-step SR Transformation Method.

FY25 Sales Kick Off

If your Sales Kick Off is coming up, I’d love to upskill your sales team to play a high-performance game in FY25. If you’d like to chat over a virtual coffee, schedule a call here.

What I’m testing

We are testing sales messaging and adapting it to align with prospects’ insights into shifting market conditions, challenges, and opportunities.

As another example, we noticed that 90%+ of conferences have AI on the agenda, so we adapted our keynote copy and keywords; within a week, we signed a net new opportunity!

What’s happening at Sales Redefined?

One of our team suggested whilst we record new podcasts, we switch the podcast section of the Inside Scoop to What’s happening at SR, so here goes my first attempt…

We’re working on a mix of IT client sales campaigns, I’m delivering a keynote at Dietitian Connection, and we’re developing a new one-day live virtual program to help B2B sellers with net new prospecting in the current slower market.

A takeaway is that we’re leaning into the consistent feedback we hear and are adapting to meet the current market needs.

P.S. If you’d like to hear more about the prospecting program, reply and let me know.

What I’m reading

Last week, I drove a lot and listened to podcasts rather than read. My go-tos were “How I Built This” to hear Founder stories and “Billion Dollar Creator” to keep my finger on the pulse of content strategies!

Become an Insider!

Every week, we bring you more than just information – we bring transformation. Expose yourself to Innovative Ideas, Thought-Provoking Questions, and first-hand updates on new experiments and influential books.

Enter your email now. Your next big idea is just an email away!

The post Elevate Sales 1% each day appeared first on Sales Redefined.