Barb Giamanco

If You Are a Learner, You Are An Earner

December 18, 2018 By Barb Giamanco Leave a Comment

With heightened buyer expectations and sellers struggling valiantly to keep up, it has never been more important to invest in your own learning and development.

Why? The answer is simple. Learners are earners.

Economists from the University of Padova, Italy, conducted a study a few years ago and determined that individuals who read for self-education earned 21% more, as adults, then those who did not. More specifically, the study focused on men in Europe, but I have no reason to think that the study findings don’t apply to women too.

You might be thinking to yourself that you shouldn’t have to put money on the table to invest in yourself. That your employer is responsible for investing in you. After all, your success impacts their bottom line as much as it impacts yours.

And…

You’d be right. You’d also be wrong.

Yes. Your employer should be investing in you on an ongoing basis.

Not just during sales kick-off meetings that are usually held at some beautiful but over-priced hotel, which involves sellers sitting through mind-numbing presentations more focused on product training than actual selling skills. Usually a rah-rah motivational speech from the speaker du jour is part of the equation, as is large quantities of food and drink intended to spark more camaraderie among the teams.

There is nothing wrong with any of these things.

Except…

In the overall scheme of things, sales kick-off meetings are mostly a waste of money!

Camaraderie among team members is hard to quantify but certainly important. You could also save yourself a lot of time and money by keeping the Kumbaya closer to home.

Educating salespeople on new product features, new marketing campaigns or new sales enablement technologies can all be done back at the office via online platforms like UberConference, Zoom, ON24 or any number of platforms designed to deliver learning experiences without the exorbitant costs of travel. Virtual learning programs also make learning more palatable for those people who learn best – and we all do – at different paces and times of day.

Rather than waste thousands of dollars on offsite sales kick-off meetings, why not invest that money in salespeople in multiple ways all throughout the year?

That’s the ideal. For 14 years, I’ve talked about how training is a process not a one-time event; yet, 14 years later not much has changed.

Yes. Your employer should invest in you.

And don’t wait for them. You are accountable for your own success. If you want to be the best, you must train and practice with purpose!

NEW Master Class for women. 5 Behaviors of Sales Sabotage. Even if you are NOT in a sales role, we all sell. This is class is for you too!

Invest in yourself for $179 to learn about the behaviors that may be sabotaging your success.

Paid member of the Hub? You can register for the member rate of $95 for the 5 Behaviors of Sales Sabotage Master Class.

Are You Guilty of Sharing Too Much Information?

December 17, 2018 By Barb Giamanco Leave a Comment

In many ways, the challenges that men and women in sales face are the same. Difficulty getting through to buyers. Not enough qualified opportunities in the pipeline. Too much admin work and not enough selling time. Competitive challenges. Keeping sales skills sharp. Staying on top of trends or changes happening in your industry. And more.

Though there are certainly generic challenges that both genders face, there are behaviors specific to women that can sabotage their success.

In a NEW Master Class for women launching on January 31^st, 2019, I’ll be talking about the top 5 behaviors that may be sabotaging your sales and career efforts. Though I created the class with women in sales in mind, the class and content apply to those in other roles too.

These are the 5 common behaviors that get women in trouble:

Being Seen Not Heard
Leveraging Relationships vs. Building Them
The TMI Trap
Minimizing
People Pleasing and the Perfection Trap

Today, I want to talk about the TMI trap.

This is one behavior that routinely gets in the way of women’s success. Known as too much information, women can cause confusion in conversations or easily talk themselves out of a sale because they have difficulty getting to the point.

Too much information can take the form of prefacing the solution, a suggestion, new idea or a question with a backstory intended to provide additional context up front for what comes next. To the ears of others involved in the conversation, it feels like unnecessary over explaining that often causes the listener(s) to check out.

Though there is plenty of solid research and evidence to back me up, I’ve witnessed this behavior in action time and time again.

Take for example the young woman who had a question for one of our speakers at a networking event I hosted earlier this year.

At close to 40 seconds in without a question being asked, I had to politely interrupt her to say… “and your question is?”

She fell into the trap of giving us a backstory, that, let’s be honest, no one cared about and wasn’t needed, but I assume was justification – in her mind – for her question. The moment I interrupted her, she realized what she was doing.

TMI is a counterproductive behavior that may happen because women are typically relationship builders.

We are wired to want to know and understand others, and we want others to know and understand us. Aside from potentially putting others to sleep, in some situations going overboard with a backstory may not be such a big deal. As it relates to sales conversations, suggesting new business ideas or asking for that promotion in the interest of advancing your career, TMI can be a killer.

Why?

Because when a strength is overdone it becomes a liability. A liability that keeps you from getting what you want.

If you find yourself wondering why sales opportunities are not progressing, deals aren’t being closed, your ideas are overlooked, or you often find yourself feeling misunderstood, TMI is the likely culprit.

Though there is an urban myth floating around the internet that says on average women speak 20,000 words in a day while men speak 7,000, a 2007 study debunked that myth. The study showed that women and men use roughly the same number of words in a day. As it turns out, the real insight in that research is NOT in the number of words women or men use when talking to others but in HOW those words are used.

Though I’ve observed countless times how men, as well as women, can talk too much in sales conversations, men seem to be more focused on winning the business versus forging a friendly bond for life. Men aren’t usually telling you their life story before getting to the heart of what it is that they want.

There is nothing wrong with spending a few minutes being friendly and getting to know people ahead of jumping into your sales chat. I certainly do. Just keep in mind that buyers are giving you the gift of their time, and in business today time is a precious resource that no one wants to waste.

When your prospect agrees to meet with you, you owe it to them to get to the point. Avoid the TMI trap by learning to speak in bullets not paragraphs! And leave all that background information where it belongs. In the background because most of the time it isn’t needed at all.

Here’s Why Sales Hacks Are Not Working!!

September 28, 2018 By Barb Giamanco Leave a Comment

Sometimes I feel as if I’m living in an alternative universe where things seem so glaringly obvious to me but not to others.

I think about the sales and marketing professions a lot. Sales, in particular.

I listen, although that is sometimes hard to do when we have certain factions in the sales training and coaching world arguing with each other about WHO owns the better approach to selling these days. News flash… no one does. Still, the egos rage.

Here’s a tip from me to you…test and refine. Test different sales approaches related to prospecting, social engagement, meeting presentations, writing proposals and more. Figure out what works for you AND DO THAT! Don’t worry about this or that expert trying to convince you that their way is the only way. Just. Not. True.

I make it my business and have for 25+ years to always be learning and adapting. Learners are earners, and frankly, I don’t know of any other way to succeed in sales, business and in life than to keep growing and developing your skills.

As the world continues to change in fast moving ways, you’ve got to keep up and adapt to today’s world. Not the world that existed 5, 10 or more years ago. That world is gone! Some selling strategies never go out of style, of course. But not everything that worked 10 years ago works now.

I think back to when I started selling and how things have evolved since then.

The changes, the improvements, the technology, the opportunities are mind blowing. IF sellers and their leaders are willing to change their mindset.

The tendency is still to go for the hacks, a fancy term for short-cuts, promoted by companies with a clear agenda – sell their service. With all the advances in technology, training methodologies, sales enablement approaches, research about what buyers want from salespeople and more, roughly 50% of salespeople will not achieve quota, which has been true for the past 5 years, according to CSO Insights. Anyone but me think that’s a problem? Isn’t it time to shift your selling approach?

On marketing’s side, their world has shifted dramatically too. There used to be a clear path to leading an interested buyer down the sales/marketing funnel to closed business. Not anymore. Buyers can come into the funnel in multiple ways and from multiple channels. Yet, often, marketers struggle to adapt their marketing approaches to today’s modern buyer. Doing what they’ve always done (just like sales) is easier, though missing the mark on effectiveness. Not only do they need to adapt their marketing campaign approaches, they now must become technology and data experts at the same time. Tough gig!

So, what are sales and marketing teams to do to shift how they approach today’s modern buyer? First, they must work together. If they don’t have an aligned strategy, things do not improve. One group is no more important than the other. Working in silos, approaching buyers in different ways isn’t working. Buyers are looking for great experiences when interacting with sales, marketing or anyone in your company.

Recently, I was one of 9 speakers from The Sales Experts Channel to participate in a sales summit hosted by BrightTALK. My topic? Achieve Account-Based Selling Goals Solving the Alignment Dilemma. In the webinar, I discuss updated research on the challenges and opportunities that sales and marketing must be thinking about.

Listen/watch the on-demand recording HERE. You can also find the presentation deck here on SlideShare.

After checking out the session, I’d love to hear your thoughts? Learn something new? Already undertaking a sales/marketing alignment strategy that is working in your company? Let’s hear it!

BTW – check out one of the best books I’ve read on sales and marketing alignment – Aligned to Achieve

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The Leader’s Role in Complex Selling

September 26, 2018 By Barb Giamanco Leave a Comment

In this episode (#35), we talk about The Sales Leader’s Role in the Complex Sale. I think this is an important conversation because it seems to me that you want a balance. Reps have a job to do, which includes closing the business, and at certain points in big deals they may need to bring in bigger guns to help move the opportunity along.

My guest today is Alice Heiman CEO and Founder of Alice Heiman, LLC. Alice and her team helps SMB companies drive sales growth by incorporating the newest research and the best practices to enable CEOs, business owners and sales leaders to bring about sustainable change that leads to growth.

As with so many of my guests, I asked Alice what led her to pursue a career in sales?

Then we discussed the following questions:

Alice you have a different role in the sales world than most of the people we talk to. Alice told me more about what she does.
What are the struggles that company leaders are having with sales?
What is the role of a company leader in sales?
How can a company leader determine if they have a sales culture that will produce the result they need?
How can a company leader build a great sales culture?
What’s the number one thing that a company leader can do to ensure their company gets the sales growth they need?

Another insight packed interview, which I encourage you to listen to and enjoy!

Apple Podcasts – Please subscribe so that you never miss an episode! Write a review for the podcast if you like the interviews.

Spotify Stitcher Google Play Don’t use any of these platforms to listen? Listen HERE

About Alice:

Alice demonstrates how sales performance is directly related to a leader’s mindset. When sales leaders change the way they work with sales teams, results are immediate and dramatic.

The Alice Heiman, LLC team helps small and midsize companies drive sales growth by incorporating the newest research and best practices to enable CEOs, business owners and sales leaders to bring about sustainable change that leads to growth.

Thanks to our Sponsors!

This podcast is presented by our Elite Sponsor, Microsoft. Corporate Vice President and Channel Chief Gavriella Schuster, along with other female leaders in the company, are driving for change, trying to bring more women into the technology industry. Gavriella and Microsoft are committed to giving “young women better role models and a stronger voice to all women.” You can hear more from Gavriella and other Microsoft leaders, on the Microsoft Partner Network podcast. Or visit partner.microsoft.com

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Making a Difference in Your Sales Career

September 19, 2018 By Barb Giamanco Leave a Comment

Today’s topic is focused on how to make a difference in your sales career. This is a great topic because proactively taking charge and managing your career path should be your top priority. Don’t sit on the sidelines waiting for your good work to be noticed!! There is some great career advice offered up in this interview. Soak it in and put the ideas into practice!!

My guest is Lori Richardson who heads up Women Sales Pros and Score More Sales. Lori is one of the original voices for more women in sales and sales leadership in B2B industries where there are male-majority sales teams. She speaks, writes and consults with companies on ways to find, hire, develop and retain women within sales and she also speaks directly to women about ways to rise within their organization. Find her @WomenSalesPros online, on Twitter, Instagram, FB, and LinkedIn.

Okay, buckle up. These are the questions Lori and I tackled.

Lori, you like me, have been in sales for a long time. What’s so great about a sales career?

How do you find what you call, “Salesvana”?

How do you decide what direction to go in your sales career?

How do you present an idea to management for a new role, division, or sales segment?

What if you feel that your manager does not respect you or your ideas?

What if your company leadership or immediate manager does not talk about a formal career path?

If you want to write job posts that really compel people to take a look at your organization, Lori mentioned this great resource! https://textio.com/

Another insight packed interview, which I encourage you to listen to and enjoy!

Apple Podcasts – Please subscribe so that you never miss an episode! Write a review for the podcast if you like the interviews.

Spotify Stitcher Google Play Don’t use any of these platforms to listen? Listen HERE

Thanks to our Sponsors!

Succeeding as a Woman of Color in Sales Leadership

September 5, 2018 By Barb Giamanco Leave a Comment

In this interview, I talked with Mandy Bynum McLaughlin, Director of Sales Development – Enterprise and Commercial at New Relic. Mandy also serves as Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at her company.

For those women just starting out in sales or for those women who’ve not considered a career in selling, I started off by asking Mandy how she got started in a career in sales.

Barb Giamanco

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