SalesGiants interviews Daniel M. Wood, author of Double Your Income

Daniel M. Wood, author of Double Your Income,
www.lookingtobusiness.com

Daniel M. Wood believes that becoming successful is a confusing journey. It is a dream most of us don’t dare believe will become reality. We don’t know what to do or how to reach the goals we dream of. Frankly we don’t even know the definition of success and sadly we often don’t even dare to try, out of fear that we might fail. 

But you can follow in the footsteps of others who have succeeded and emulate them. You can find a path that suits you. You can use techniques that have helped hundreds. Doing that will make you believe in the dream again. Start garnering the tools you will need on your trip to success in this interview with Daniel M. Wood.

About your e-book:

1) Daniel, let's begin by talking about your e-book, Double Your Income. What's the idea behind the book? Why did you write it?

I started righting my e-book at the same time as I started my blog, for the same reason, I have worked in sales close to 8 years now and I have learned a lot. The most significant thing I have learned is how much I like to coach and help others.

This has affected my whole life, not only in work, but I also coach a Norwegian baseball team.
I have found my passion.That is why I started this blog and I wrote the e-book Double Your Income - to give a baseline for what mindset is required to succeed.

2) In a short sentence, who should read your book? What kind of advice should they be looking for?

It is written for young salesmen who want to quickly move into the top 1%. It is about the mindset you need to succeed.

3) On the other hand, who shouldn’t? What will readers NOT find in your book?

I am at the moment writing a new e-book "How to make selling easy" which talks about the sales process and goes more in depth into the details of selling. If you are looking for hands on techniques and practices this book will be much more to your liking.

4) What's the first thing someone should do after reading your book?

Do an inventory of yourself: what are your strong points? Your weak points? What do you need to improve? Step 2 would be to take action and start improving.

About your website:

5) What has been the most popular article posted in your blog ? Why do you think that is?

My breakthrough article that brought my traffic from about 20 visitors a day up too about 150 visitors per day is http://lookingtobusiness.com/personal-growth/how-to-activate-your-subconscious-mind-and-unlock-its-potential it really changed my blogging situation.

In it I discuss how you can unlock the door to your subconscious and get more out of your life. How you can solve problems 24 hours/day and quickly improve on any task you wish to improve.

The reason it was so popular is (part luck) that it is something we all want to do, we all want to improve and get better. We want to improve 24 hours/day. That is why the TV-shop training bands you see where you just plug it in and it works out your abs whilst you watch TV are so popular.  They help you improve even when you aren't working on it actively. That is what I shared in the article.

6) Besides your website (http://www.lookingtobusiness.com/), what other sales websites would you recommend?

There are a lot of great sites out there and it is hard to just pick 1 or two. I have made many friends since I started blogging and most of them run great blogs. I would recommend you take a look at:

- www.thesaleslion.com 

- www.thesalesblog.com 

- www.partnersinexcellenceblog.com 

- www.fearlesssellingblog.com 

- www.thejfblogit.co.uk 

- www.salesandmanagementblog.com 

7) How about your preferred sales/business books?

If we only look at sales and business, meaning books by Napoleon Hill on personal development would not be counted, I would have to say Philip Kotler’s books are a must read and I am a big fan of Brian Tracy.

   

About you:

8) How did you get started in sales?

Actually it started with me looking for a job over the summer. I had applied for about 10 different jobs in lots of different industries, they all turned me down. Then one day I read this article in the newspaper "Contacts is what gets you a job". So I started asking all my friends if they knew someone or somewhere I could apply.

One of my friends had heard of a company well known for their promoting from within and great salaries, he advised me to apply. I sent in my application and 2 days later I was at the office, it turned out that it wasn't a summer job, but I was making more than both my parents together, so I figured I might as well stay in the industry. I worked there for 4 years before moving on.

9) Most memorable sale?

My first larger deal. I had been working for about 6 months for the company. I was doing alright and was seen as a promising future salesman. The month before I had spent 2 weeks getting this one prospect to try out our products (we sold job board ads). He bought a small package of 2 ads and used one at once. The second we saved to later.

After 2 weeks he called me up and said, "Daniel, you know ad packages?" "Yes?" "Well, uhm..." 10 minutes later he had bought a package of 30 ads. It was the largest sale that month and the easiest sale I have ever made.

10) Most disastrous sale (or funny situation)?

This is also a story from the beginning of my career. It wasn't a sale but it was a pretty surprising situation.

I was still selling job board ads. I called up a company and started to introduce us. Quickly the customer started asking questions, trying to catch me saying something untrue. He asked me "How many visitors per month do you have?" I thought he said "visits" so I answered 200 000 visits per month. Little did I know that he had already visited our page, found out about page and seen where it says 60 000 unique visitors/month.

He went mad, he just started screaming and screaming saying I was a liar. I tried to reply, trying to explain that I hadn't meant unique visitors. But he kept cutting me off. At last I got stood up and started screaming back and then just hung up.

The whole office was looking at me (I generally am a pretty quiet salesman) and then burst out laughing. I didn't know what to say, but I started laughing as well.

About your work as a sales expert:

11) What is the biggest mistake you see as a sales expert?

Every time I have been at a seminar with my colleagues or held a seminar myself you see everyone nodding in agreement. Thinking the advice given is great and should be used. But once the seminar is over, nothing happens. People go home and keep on doing what they were doing before, not everyone mind you, but much to many.

12) What is the best sales advice you have ever received?

When your customers are evaluating your offers they won't do it rationally, they do it based on emotion, they aren't looking at the features of your product, they are looking at you. You have to be someone they want to do business with.

***

To know more about Daniel M. Wood, author of Double Your Income, visit http://www.lookingtobusiness.com

SalesGiants interviews Ken Thoreson, Your Sales Management Guru

Ken Thoreson,
Your Sales Management Guru

Ken Thoreson is a sales leadership and sales management guidance speaker, consultant, author and executionist. He's also Your Sales Management Guru!

1) Ken, what kind of customers do you usually work with and how do you help them exactly?

During our 13 years of consulting, Acumen Management Group has worked with hundreds of  B2B clients; they have been in early stage to high growth to turnaround situations.

Specifically we assist our clients in building a business and sales strategy with a focus on execution. We like to say we operationalize the business strategies. Our belief is to build a prescriptive approach to the strategic sales management aspects of an organization rather than allowing opportunistic or ad hoc systems and operations to exist. 

We focus on the tough job of sales management; hiring/recruiting top talent, building sales compensations plans that drive results, creating management systems to help build predictable revenue, teaching leadership/management skills and building a culture of high performance. We use our experience, our process, and tool set to make a difference in our clients business and personal lives.

2) In a short sentence, what companies should be interested in your consulting services? 

Our ideal client companies are frustrated in not achieving predictable revenues, are not winning market share or are growing so rapidly they cannot build the infrastructure  necessary to support their sales channel.

The other level of companies we serve are major vendors that use independent dealers, VARS, resellers to go to market. We create Partner Facing programs to assist the vendor companies in building a stronger channel organizations, increasing loyalty and partner profitability. Our clients in this segment are Microsoft, Cisco Systems, Ingram, TechData, etc.

3) On the other hand, who shouldn’t? What will companies NOT find in Acumen?

Acumen is not a marketing or lead generation firm and we are not a sales training organization, we have a close eco-system partnership with firms that can perform those services.  We focus typically on the weak link in most firms, the sales management function.

4) Besides your website (http://yoursalesmanagementguru.com/), what other sales websites would you recommend? 

Acumen’s main web site: www.AcumenManagement.com offers :

• a White Paper on the Job of Sales Management: the 40 actions sales management must do to build predictable revenue,
• free assessments on sales management, sales compensation and your overall business operations,
• free video’s on hiring salespeople,
• free video on building sales  training programs and on-boarding new hires as well, 
• radio interviews on several topics related to sales management and leadership.

We also have a complete list of free articles on general sales management topics and 5 hours of Sales Management training on DVD’s and our Interactive Sales Managers’ Tool Kit.

5) How about your preferred sales/business books?

For salespeople: I have been recommending Jill Konrath’s latest book: SNAP Selling.  Obviously our recently published books from our “Your Sales Management Guru” brand have been well received, they are The Sales Management Guru’s Guide to Hiring a High Performance Sales Team, The Sales Management Guru’s Guide to Sales Management and the Sales Management Guru’s Guide to Build Sale Compensation Plans. They are packed with great practical insights and tools for sales leaders. 

About you:

6) How did you get started in sales?

Right out of college, I was hired by Burroughs Corporation, in the computer business and in those day’s they had a great sales training program. Extremely thorough and it set the basis for everything I have done. I then worked for a small independent entreprenurial organization as a sales manager and VP of Sales.  From there I became a VP of Sales for a North American based vertical software organization that sold our solutions through a network of channel partners. Those two experiences gave me a basis for understanding small business as well as more complex aspects of sales leadership.

7) Most memorable sale? 

There are quite a few, but one that sticks out was  a nearly a million dollar order from a major corporation, I was told I had the order on Friday morning, I offered to pick it up, but the client told me he would mail it to me, he was located about 45 minutes to an hour away from my office..  The man died over the weekend from an heart attack and in the transition a merger took place and I never received the PO!... A lesson learned! PICK UP THE ORDER and stay  with it. I was fairly young and what a difference that would have made... but it taught me an important lesson.

8) Most disastrous sale (or funny situation)?

I recall as a sales manager helping a young rep at the end of December, the rep had been told the PO was done, and on her prospects desk. In calling the prospect we learned from his voice mail, the “buyer” had left for the holidays.   We took a lesson from an old movie” All The Presidents’ Men”, we started dialing all the phone numbers that had similar phone numbers to our buyer.  Finally someone picked up the phone; we sold him on walking over to this person’s desk and finding the PO and faxing it to us!  That order put the young sales rep over her quota for the year!  Everyone felt good and I felt great because we didn’t quit, we were creative and it worked!

                       

 About your work as a sales expert:

  

9) What is the biggest mistake you see as a sales expert? 

Our work as a sales management consultant puts us in a position to see many mistakes made by owners or sales managers. The number one mistakes however  is simply a lack of focus on hiring. We do not see a systematic approach to “Hiring the best-not the best available”. A sales manager should  spend 20% of their time in hiring, interviewing and on boarding properly.  With great people, great things happen. We like to say that for each hire, you need to interview a minimum of 5 individuals and you should be advertising for talent at all times-consider it your marketing campaign for building your company.

A Sales Management Guru hint: the great salespeople may not be looking when you are, so you must always be interviewing. Our book provides many tips and tools to improve your odds in hiring. Remember if you lose a salesperson, it could take you 90 days to find their replacement and another 90 days for them to build their sales pipeline-that is 180 days or 6 months without their revenues adding to your quota goals-that is why the life span of most sales managers is less than 18 months.

10) What is the best sales advice you have ever received?

Two that I recall:

“You must know the difference between presenting and selling”. 
“The 3 laws of selling: emotion, emotion, emotion. You must have it, you must transfer it and you must have the prospect ready to take action based upon it.”

  

11) What are you working on right now that makes you feel energized? What's your next big project?

Well, with 4 books being published and my consulting practice in good shape and our Sales Leadership Workouts organized  (workshops) , the next big action item is our motivational  Keynote programs where I share my experiences, but also the concepts of creating both personal and professional success.  I call it “No Regret’s, a Do-over Recipe for Personal and Professional success. It ties in with my Sales Management consulting, my life experiences, my love of cooking along with solid idea’s to help others find success. In one of my new books, that I co-authored with Stephen Covey; Success Simplified I highlight how to Create a Menu for Life.

  

12) What is the best testimonial/comment you have ever received? 

Great question: thinking back on our many comments and the quotes from our website, it might be: "If I were to condense my opinion of the value received from you over the years into one thought it would be that you provide detail upon detail in our conversations – not abstract theory but practical, useable information

13) Any last comments?

The role of sales management is tough. You report to the President, you must work with your peer group of other managers and you must lead your  team! Everyone in the company knows who you are and how well you are performing. It takes work, a positive attitude and insight.  Our newsletter might be of value to your readers: “Why Sales Managers Succeed”, each month I focus on the Personal, Professional and Organizational aspects of sales leaderships. They can  subscribe (free) at our website, www.AcumenManagement.com

***

To know more about Ken Thoreson and Acumen Management, please visite www.AcumenManagement.com or his blog http://www.yoursalesmanagementguru.com

SalesGiants interviews Gavin Ingham, sales motivational speaker

Gavin Ingham, Sales Motivational Speaker

For the last 10 years, sales motivational speaker Gavin Ingham has been helping sales people to explode their sales performance by turning self-doubt, fear and lack of motivation into self-belief, confidence and action. With his inspirational approach to sales psychology and sales motivation Gavin combines commercial experience, personal excellence and sales technologies in delivering personal and business sales success.

1) Gavin, what kind of customers do you usually work with and how do you help them exactly?

I have two specific customer types and in both cases I help them to improve sales motivation and performance. Firstly, I work with companies and organizations speaking at sales conferences, AGMs and away days helping to motivate and inspire. My aim is to ensure that they not only have a great event but that I leave a lasting sales buzz and energy which means more sales. This could typically be anything from a 45 minute opening or closing keynote address to a 3-hour sales boosting session. 

My second type of client is anyone and everyone who sells whether they are a salesperson, a business owner, an entrepreneur or a professional. Through my books, audio programmes, video training, open seminars and blogs I help people to make quantum leaps in their sales results and in their lives.

2) In a short sentence, what companies should be interested in your training services?

In short, any company looking to increase sales. Not quite as short, corporate organizations looking to set their next sales conference alight and individuals and smaller companies wanting to increase sales results.

3) On the other hand, who shouldn’t? What will companies NOT find in your training?

I don’t work with anyone who is not committed to getting results. I hate whiners, whingers and losers and I have no time for people who want to blame the economy, the market or someone else other than themselves for their lack of sales results. Don’t work with me if you don’t want straight talking advice!

4) Besides your website (http://www.gaviningham.com/), what other sales websites would you recommend?

That’s a difficult one. I am a voracious reader so my favourite websites are any sites with books on… I particularly like Amazon for books, Nightingale.com for programmes and Youtube for video shorts. More and more speakers and trainers are getting the message that they need to add value first so there is a lot of good stuff out there.

5) How about your preferred sales/business books?

I have read upwards of a thousand sales, personal development and business books and I liked many of them for different reasons at different times in my life. I usually only recommend books to individuals and like to ask a few questions before recommending. Put on the spot and asked to recommend books that are a good read for everyone I would recommend:

Unlimited Power by Anthony Robbins because it was pretty much the first book I ever read in the field, NLP The New Technology of Achievement by Steve Andreas and Charles Faulkner and The Success Principles by Jack Canfield. Reading is not just about great books but also about keeping positive ideas and strategies moving in your head. It’s about growth and development and surrounding yourself with good karma (!) so even bad books can be good!

    

6)  How did you get started in sales?

Like many people I got into sales by mistake… I kind of fell into it. I found myself without a job and someone suggested that I had “the gift of the gab” and should “try my luck in sales”. It took me a while to realize that it was the gift of shutting the mouth I needed rather more than the gift of opening it. And soon after I realized that luck has little to do with it. I was fortunate that I was quite good straight away but I then had to work hard to work out what I was doing that was working so that I could improve my performance and getter even better results.

7) Most memorable sale? 

One sale that sticks out is one where I met with an HR Manager who was using their nephew as their sole supplier. I didn’t know this at the time so I gave it all that I had. When I didn’t win the sale I kept persisting and eventually won an opportunity which I capitalized on and won the business. I later found out that it had caused something of a family rift. If I had known of the relationship at the time, I am not sure that I would have persisted as stubbornly! Maybe I would have given up and said to myself that it was an impossible situation. What this experience demonstrated to me was the importance of believing that you can succeed and employing the right tactics and strategies with 100% conviction.

8) Most disastrous sale (or funny situation)?

Early on in my career I did several deals and was something of an overnight sales superstar but it all went seriously wrong when I then failed to land 18 deals in a row. My boss at the time was pulling his already sparse hair out and was going bald much faster than he should have been. I knew that tenacity, persistence and commitment to my personal development would win the day but I was sure glad when the awaited deal arrived.

9) What is the biggest mistake you see as a sales expert? 

There are actually several core mistakes that salespeople seem to make over and over again. Here are three…

A)     Too much “Me! Me! Me!” Most salespeople go into sales meetings thinking about how they are going to make the sale, how they are going to convince their client to buy, how they are going to close the deal. This is wrong. When you visit a client the meeting should be about them, about their business and about what is important to them.

B)      Putting clients under too much pressure. After making their pre-packaged, pre-prepared sales pitch most salespeople turn to a tried and tested close. Sales trainers still teach this BS. If you feel like you are putting your clients under too much pressure than you probably are. No-one likes to be pressurized into making a purchase. 

C)      Not adding enough value. Salespeople all talk about selling on value and not price but many have no idea what this means! If you want to sell more then you need to work out how you can add value for each and every one of your clients and prospects.

10) What is the best sales advice you have ever received?

That would be courtesy of Mrs. Ingham (my Mum) and is more of a way of living. It’s as good advice now as it was when I was five, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try and try again.”