TITLE
Improve Your Sales Outreach
SUMMARY
Ralph talks about the importance of always learning, no matter what level you are at in your sales career. It is important to never stop learning new things and to always have a growth mindset. Even if you are already a sales champion, there is always something new for you to learn. Reading books, watching videos, and listening to podcasts are all ways that sales professionals can continue to learn and sharpen their skills.
Ralph believes that cold calling is not dead, despite popular belief. He believes that the phone is still the best way to close a sale, as opposed to other methods of communication like email or text. Google stats support his claim that the majority of business is still conducted over the phone.
TIMESTAMPS
0:00:00 The Importance of Learning and Mindset in Sales
0:03:20 Sales Rep Prospecting: Best Practices
0:04:36 The Benefits of Cold Calling
0:06:04 The Advantages of Picking Up the Phone in Sales
0:07:44 The Benefits of Engaging with Your Prospects Before Making a Cold Call
0:09:23 The Importance of Earning the Trust of Your Prospects
0:11:16 The Importance of Researching Your Prospects
0:13:31 The Importance of Knowing the Buying Committee in the Sales Process
0:15:50 The Importance of Asking Questions in the Sales Process
0:17:14 The Impact of a Fixed Mindset in Sales
0:21:09 The Power of a Growth Mindset in the Workplace
0:22:34 The Risks of Automated Sales Outreach
0:27:06 The Importance of a Transformational Mindset in Sales
HIGHLIGHTS
Sales is definitely one of the hardest jobs there is in the world. So prepare your mindset to know that it's going to be tough, it's going to be hard.
That way of thinking, the transformational is what's in now. Now they want to figure out and work with people that are going to transform their business. People are going to transform their lives, help them out, make their life easier at work and help their business run smoother and easier.
But the other thing that you mentioned in that whole conversation about where do sales reps get it wrong, you mentioned something along the lines of, you have to be able to demonstrate that something about the company, the industry, the person in all of your outreach that you're doing.
That's something that a lot of sales leaders will run into. And I think the point that stood out in your explanation is that you said, hey, look, I'm not in competition with you.
When you're talking about growth mindset and openness to learn and asking for help, there is a component. You reference it as you got to let go of your pride.
Music Credit: Maarten Schellekens - Riviera
Follow us at:
www.cascadingleadership.com
linkedin.com/in/drjimk
linkedin.com/in/1lawrenceobrown
TITLE
Improve Your Sales Outreach
SUMMARY
Ralph talks about the importance of always learning, no matter what level you are at in your sales career. It is important to never stop learning new things and to always have a growth mindset. Even if you are already a sales champion, there is always something new for you to learn. Reading books, watching videos, and listening to podcasts are all ways that sales professionals can continue to learn and sharpen their skills.
Ralph believes that cold calling is not dead, despite popular belief. He believes that the phone is still the best way to close a sale, as opposed to other methods of communication like email or text. Google stats support his claim that the majority of business is still conducted over the phone.
TIMESTAMPS
0:00:00 The Importance of Learning and Mindset in Sales
0:03:20 Sales Rep Prospecting: Best Practices
0:04:36 The Benefits of Cold Calling
0:06:04 The Advantages of Picking Up the Phone in Sales
0:07:44 The Benefits of Engaging with Your Prospects Before Making a Cold Call
0:09:23 The Importance of Earning the Trust of Your Prospects
0:11:16 The Importance of Researching Your Prospects
0:13:31 The Importance of Knowing the Buying Committee in the Sales Process
0:15:50 The Importance of Asking Questions in the Sales Process
0:17:14 The Impact of a Fixed Mindset in Sales
0:21:09 The Power of a Growth Mindset in the Workplace
0:22:34 The Risks of Automated Sales Outreach
0:27:06 The Importance of a Transformational Mindset in Sales
HIGHLIGHTS
Sales is definitely one of the hardest jobs there is in the world. So prepare your mindset to know that it's going to be tough, it's going to be hard.
That way of thinking, the transformational is what's in now. Now they want to figure out and work with people that are going to transform their business. People are going to transform their lives, help them out, make their life easier at work and help their business run smoother and easier.
But the other thing that you mentioned in that whole conversation about where do sales reps get it wrong, you mentioned something along the lines of, you have to be able to demonstrate that something about the company, the industry, the person in all of your outreach that you're doing.
That's something that a lot of sales leaders will run into. And I think the point that stood out in your explanation is that you said, hey, look, I'm not in competition with you.
When you're talking about growth mindset and openness to learn and asking for help, there is a component. You reference it as you got to let go of your pride.
Music Credit: Maarten Schellekens - Riviera
Follow us at:
www.cascadingleadership.com
linkedin.com/in/drjimk
linkedin.com/in/1lawrenceobrown
Ralph Beltran - Conclusion
[00:00:00] Ethan: Previously on Cascading Leadership...
[00:00:02] Dr. Jim: So where does that, investment in in self-learning and continuous improvement, and where does mindset all fit into that recipe for sales?
[00:00:12] Ralph Beltran: Anytime that I coach and mentor somebody, I always talk about, always be learning. No matter where you're at in life as far as your sales career, your manager, sales manager, if you're account executive, bdr, sdr, any type of role that you're to always be learning.
[00:00:27] Ralph Beltran: As we know, times change, things change, people change. So that's the same way you gotta think about your skill set. You always need to change it up. You always gotta be, have something new that you're learning and always have something new to offer. So that's only that. That can only happen by you continuing to learn, continuing to sharpening your sales skills, but continuing to learn and develop your mindset, always knowing that no matter what and what level you're at, that you should always have a growth mindset.
[00:00:56] Ralph Beltran: And that would be that you could continue to learn. Even if [00:01:00] you are already a sales champion, even if you're at the top of your leaderboard, there's always something new for you to learn. And there's always new levels that you could get at. There's always director positions, sales, training, and coaching that you could look forward toward the future.
[00:01:11] Ralph Beltran: So to never stop to just learning and say, okay, I'm comfortable here with where I'm at, because that's when you start thinking, okay, I can't learn anything new. Everything out there's, nothing for me to learn. I'm good. I'm already at the top. I don't need any, no, you gotta always continue to learn.
[00:01:27] Ralph Beltran: So even though I'm 30 plus years, I'm still reading books, I'm still watching videos, I'm still listening to podcasts because I believe that you could always still learn something new and then whatever I learn. I'm able to, provide that or give that out to somebody else. And if I'm not learning, I can't give out anything new.
[00:01:46] Ralph Beltran: So if there was some, and then if not only that, if there's something out there that's new that's happening in the sales world and I'm stuck back with only learning 30 years, but not continue to learn, I may not know that new system. I may not even know that new strategy. [00:02:00] So I have to be on top of my game.
[00:02:02] Ralph Beltran: And I think everybody else should be the same way. To know that your competitor is doing the same thing. They may be learning you the, company's growing, the company's doing new things. So the more that you can learn, the more knowledge experience, and the more that you could hone in on your skill set and level, the more comfortable you're gonna be at sales, the more confident you're
[00:02:19] Ralph Beltran: gonna
[00:02:19] Ralph Beltran: be
[00:02:20] Ethan: And now the conclusion of our conversation...
[00:02:22] Dr. Jim: So oftentimes when people hear the, idea mentioned about learning and I think you and I might be oddballs in the space where we're talking about, Hey I'm, constantly looking at podcasts and reading books and doing all this sort of stuff, people have this impression that sales professionals are just kind like mindless drones or grunts or whatever.
[00:02:44] Dr. Jim: And that's simply not the case because your, best reps just devour information. They're, constantly looking at what, is the, next thing that I can learn, or the next thing that I can uncover that's gonna give me an edge. When you talk about [00:03:00] learning and you drill it down to what a desk level person might want to think about it doesn't necessarily mean classes because that might not be.
[00:03:09] Dr. Jim: How you actually learn. So what are some things that a rep that is in an industry selling some product, what are some, things that they should be paying attention to Those are learning opportunities?
[00:03:20] Ralph Beltran: So number one, I would say let's let's talk prospecting. Cold calling. That's, huge in most businesses. So what I always tell you know, is always talk about and preach, is to practice and repetition your calls. This is, I do this on your own. I tell 'em, this sounds funny. Grab the phone, look at yourself in the mirror and practice your calls over and over.
[00:03:40] Ralph Beltran: The more that you see yourself and hear yourself, you're able to adapt. You're able to change it, and you're able to change your tonality. That's key when you're making calls. So I tell 'em, Smile once in a while when you're talking through your calls and you're looking in the mirror. Smile, here and there.
[00:03:55] Ralph Beltran: It comes through over the phone. Even though you may not think it, it comes through over the phone [00:04:00] or even over Zoom or a call. So always be able to do that. What happens is, they think, okay, call after call, rejection after rejection. They don't understand that it takes time to learn the script, and the only way to really get it down and to hone in on that script and make it your own is through practice and repetition.
[00:04:17] Ralph Beltran: So that's key. Get comfortable being on the phone. The best way to do it is to make some calls. I always tell 'em, you know what, if you're not comfortable making com customer calls, make calls to your friends or family and just talk to 'em about something and do the same process because you're watching yourself making the call and record yourself and hear yourself on how you're communicating, because overall, that's where you want to be.
[00:04:38] Ralph Beltran: That save comfort level where you're talking to your friend or family member over the phone or Zoom call is. Authentic, the tonality. So if you could mirror that to making cold calls, that same style, that same communication pattern, that same tonality, it'll make the calls a lot easier for you.
[00:04:55] Dr. Jim: I know that there are people gonna be listening to this that are gonna chime in and they're gonna be [00:05:00] like, ah, that Ralph Guy, he doesn't know what what he is talking about because cold calling is dead. The phone is dead. Why would you, even bother with that?
[00:05:07] Dr. Jim: How would you respond to that?
[00:05:08] Ralph Beltran: Cold calling is definitely not dead. Let's, talk about the invention of the phone. So when the invention of the phone happened here, you have two people, the person creating the phone, and his main goal was to reach out and contact and reach another person. He built the phone to reach somebody, communicate with them, ask 'em a question, and then bring them.
[00:05:27] Ralph Beltran: That's what the phone was made for. You could try many different methods of, prospecting and communicating, which is email, text. There's so much technology nowadays, and these are excellent forms of communication to be able to reach out, build rapport, build relationships. But when it comes down to making a sale, you still need to pick up that phone and make that call.
[00:05:47] Ralph Beltran: Majority of the percentages of, business is still conducted over the phone. This is Google Stats out there that could be looked. So anybody listening, take a look at Google Stats. Look at the percentage of the closings. What's the pref, the preferred method and [00:06:00] it's telephone. It's being talked to on a one-on-one basis.
[00:06:04] Ralph Beltran: All of the other forms of communications are great for building rapport, building relationships and all of that. But when it comes down to the phone, it's gonna be, if you think about it very, little sales. You're going to send an email out to a customer and you're gonna tell them, are you ready to move forward?
[00:06:18] Ralph Beltran: And they're gonna give you, assign it on a dotted line, on an email. It's not gonna happen. You can't send a text out and they're gonna say, okay, here's my signature on my text, let's move forward. It's either gonna involve a, personal call, one on one to get that. Yes. And it's gonna be the, easiest way to do it.
[00:06:34] Ralph Beltran: You could send out a hundred emails and you could pick up a phone and make the call. And if you make the call at the right time, you could an, you could get them on that call within the day, two days. It's an easier, faster way. There is no faster way to reach somebody. You could go through hundreds of emails, you could go through hundreds of text messages.
[00:06:51] Ralph Beltran: Picking up the phone and, contacting somebody has been the easiest and fastest way to reach somebody. And it always will be.
[00:06:57] Dr. Jim: When, this comes out and people are gonna watch this on [00:07:00] YouTube, they're gonna see me sit here with a dumb grin on my face as you were saying that because it's it's, so true.
[00:07:07] Dr. Jim: I, just don't understand. And for me, I look at it as I'm gonna use any way possible to get in front of a customer. So everything that you have at your arsenal is a tool. So if you're trying to build a house, are you gonna only try to build a house using a screwdriver?
[00:07:26] Dr. Jim: No. You'd be stupid. So you have like entire construction companies with all sorts of tools, so why wouldn't you use 'em all to try to build a house? And it's the same thing with sales. You have all sorts of ways to get in front of people. There is no excuse for you not to use every tool available to try to make a connection.
[00:07:44] Dr. Jim: And that's, the point. Now the other thing that I want to dig in a little bit on is hey, just because we say cold call, it doesn't necessarily mean that it is like completely out of the blue. There's a certain amount of it that could be, but you can actually.
[00:07:59] Dr. Jim: Shift[00:08:00] the scale into your favor. So what are some of the things that you could do ahead of that cold call that gives you a higher likelihood or a better chance of connecting and advancing the relationship forward?
[00:08:11] Ralph Beltran: I would say what we just talked about is, using the tools and that's what the, I think all the tools are great for the outreach direct messages via LinkedIn building a relationship before you even make the call.
[00:08:23] Ralph Beltran: So that's interacting and engaging with the people that you wanna do business with. This would be going to their profile, seeing what they're doing, and start engaging with them. Starting to get to know who they are, what they're doing, what they're about on a human, level. Getting to know them when they start seeing you.
[00:08:38] video1352093860: Communicate back and forth, engaging and talking to them and they see you and say, Now I see who this person is. Oh, this person, Ralphs, he's been around lately. So when you make this call, the name's just not gonna be out of the blue.
[00:08:52] video1352093860: They're already seeing you. They already, and once you start engaging, they're gonna start looking at what you're doing. Now let me go see who this guy [00:09:00] Ralph is. What is he doing on his end? Oh, wait a minute here. He's helping people just like our company. He's already doing something positive in this world.
[00:09:08] video1352093860: So once again, building that little bit of visual, that little bit of note, like in trust factor before you even call 'em, breaks the ice. And it makes it so much easier. So when you pick up that phone or try to reach out via text, email, and all that, they already know who you are and what you're about.
[00:09:23] Dr. Jim: you just said something that is a big thing on my radar is before you can advance any relationship in sales, you have to get people to know and trust you. So if you're a complete ghost on in the areas that this person hangs out, wherever that might be and they don't know who you are, they're not gonna give you a time of day, which doesn't mean it's in insurmountable.
[00:09:46] Dr. Jim: You can still advance it. Then you have to, you can advance it by asking questions instead of talking about who you are or what you do or any of that sort of stuff. When, you look at. outreach and prospecting and critical skills that are [00:10:00] necessary for a complex sale.
[00:10:02] Dr. Jim: And I want to roadmap, what a complex sale looks like, how many people are involved in that process, and typically what a deal size looked like. And then wind that back into what should your outreach and prospecting look like.
[00:10:15] Dr. Jim: If you wanna land or be successful in a complex selling environment.
[00:10:19] Ralph Beltran: When you're dealing with more complex sales, this could be more of a, corporate enterprise, multi-site company where they have, it could be global, international, where you're dealing with a lot more business other than just the standard franchise, couple businesses around the area.
[00:10:34] Ralph Beltran: When you're dealing with this here, you wanna do first start off by doing research on the company, finding out exactly how many locations they have, what, where, what they're doing as far as the industry. A lot of this you could find on LinkedIn. You look at their profile, look at their, data their, statistics.
[00:10:49] Ralph Beltran: On there, it tells you how many employees are in there, has graphs on sales human resources. So you could find out a lot by doing this research here, and then go to their, their. website. Take a look at their [00:11:00] website, look at their locations, what they're doing, their achievements, their accomplishments.
[00:11:04] Ralph Beltran: So that way you have some talking points on what their accomplishments are, what they're doing how many awards they won, they've been awarded this award. Anything like that could help you in your conversations to help you build that relationship and that rapport and them saying, okay, not only is this person new to me or new to our coming out and reaching out to me, he knows a lot about us.
[00:11:25] Ralph Beltran: He knows a lot about what we do, what we are. That right there alone is just a lot easier than you just trying to start something new and just going in there and making a call and saying, hi, this is who I am and this is what we do. So learn about your prospect. Learn about your customers. Learn. Dig deep in it do research on it.
[00:11:41] Ralph Beltran: Some of these larger, complex Of sales, there's gonna be multiple people involved. It could be, how the head of sales, it could be the cfo, ceo, and then also there could be board of directors, which I dealt with plenty of times. Sometimes you will have to sit in front of a board of director, that could be 12 to 20 [00:12:00] people.
[00:12:00] Ralph Beltran: This could be a little bit harder now because you have a lot more eyes on you, a lot more decision makers there, and you're having to speak to a group of people instead of 1, 2, 5 people. So you must be prepared. Talk in front of people, more of a public speaking thing. So if you're not comfortable talking in front of a group, know that in these complex sales, these larger sales, when it has to do with 500,000 million dollar sales, you're gonna be dealing with a lot more decision makers.
[00:12:25] Ralph Beltran: Smaller sales, you may have one or two decision maker. When you're dealing with complex, larger sales, international, global, something of that aspect, you're gonna be dealing with the board of directors, you're gonna be dealing with the whole entire head of sales, all the people involved. So you gotta prepare yourself to be able to present and have all of your be prepared.
[00:12:44] Ralph Beltran: First off, be prepared to be able to present to as many people as you can. Be comfortable with your talking points. Be comfortable with your conversation. Have a roadmap and a guidance on exactly how you're gonna get through that conversation and know what you're going in there for.
[00:12:57] Dr. Jim: It's interesting that you reference the, board of [00:13:00] the director's presentation component. That's pretty down funnel. So I wanna wind it back a little bit before it gets to that stage. What should a rep be doing with that entire board of directors before it gets down funnel? And I call it the buying committee.
[00:13:14] Dr. Jim: So whether you're talking about a small deal or a big deal, there's always some sort of committee that's involved in some respect with the deal. Because the reality of it is nowadays if you misappropriate or misspend, even 5K of company money, that can get you fired. So people are gonna be very hesitant.
[00:13:33] Dr. Jim: To go rogue and do things on their own. There's always other people that are involved. So before it gets to that down funnel stage where you're presenting to the group, what are the things that you should be doing across that board of directors or the buying committee? So they know you?
[00:13:48] Ralph Beltran: It be the same the same process that I use over here is going into their profiles, going into their LinkedIn, finding out who they are.
[00:13:55] Ralph Beltran: So you wanna find out as much as you can about everybody involved in the decision making process. So everybody that's [00:14:00] going to have their hands in there, everyone that's gonna be involved, that's gonna have a say in a relationship inside of that, whole building the relationship, but in the sale overall.
[00:14:08] Ralph Beltran: So getting to know who they are, look at their profile, understand who they are, understand what they're about, and understand their role. What do they, what part do they play into in this pro? What time do, what part do they play in the sales? How are they gonna be involved? And then how much do you have to be able to provide feedback?
[00:14:25] Ralph Beltran: And their expertise, let's say if they're a ceo, okay, what are they in charge of, the company? Okay, so this is some of the talking points that I have to have them engage and involved because I'm talking on their level. So understand the role, understand what part they play into decision making process there.
[00:14:40] Ralph Beltran: And then that way you have talking points to them. You always wanna have everybody involved. Don't exclude one or two people. You wanna talk to them all. You wanna get them all involved. And that's by asking 'em all questions and getting everybody involved. And that's only by understanding what they do, what part of the, what part of the decision making are they, what, how are they gonna be involved?
[00:14:59] Ralph Beltran: Are they gonna be [00:15:00] involved at all times? So it's doing research, always doing research, preparing yourself to be able to answer questions if it comes from that particular person and why they're asking. So you gotta know what their title is, their role, and what they do for the company.
[00:15:13] Dr. Jim: This, kind of ties back into sort of a mindset question or component of, the selling process.
[00:15:19] Dr. Jim: So when you're dealing with the buying committee, It's even more important that you're oriented, at least in my opinion, to what's the problem that you solve. That is the question that we there, there's sort of two questions that we should always be asking ourselves as sales professionals, what's the problem that we solve and who is the CEO that owns this problem?
[00:15:41] Dr. Jim: And here's why I'm, going down this road. So when you're dealing with the buying committee my question to you is shouldn't you be thinking in terms of those two questions? What's the right way of thinking in engaging all of those different personas? Because there's one buyer. But all these other people have interest too.
[00:15:58] Dr. Jim: So what's the mindset that [00:16:00] a rep needs to be in to effectively navigate all those conversations?
[00:16:03] Ralph Beltran: If you have an ability to be able to communicate with everybody there, that's there, right? And you're able to ask questions on a lot of times I wanna know from you, but you could also, don't ever be afraid to ask questions if you don't understand what.
[00:16:15] Ralph Beltran: Part in that sale is gonna be, or part the decision making. Talk to them, find out what, part they have in it. What's, what do you do for the company? What part of the what are you looking for? So if you could ask the same open-ended questions to draw out what they're looking for, what would impact their department, what would impact, how it would impact them, your solution would impact them.
[00:16:37] Ralph Beltran: You wanna do research, but you could always ask, I always say, don't ever be afraid to ask on how something would affect a different department or how it could impact somebody else within the company. And it's all about asking the questions. They're, the one thing that I always tell people is don't be afraid to ask because everybody loves to talk -
[00:16:55] Ralph Beltran: especially about themself. So if you have a CEO and you need to, you [00:17:00] wanna find out some information, ask a question, try to find out how it would impact that department, and if it, there's, let's say another person involved, ask them if, we had similar question, if this was to happen, how would this impact your department?
[00:17:14] Ralph Beltran: And that way you could get this input. If you are able to get your, their input on how it would impact them, you could use their words when you're rephrasing back how the solution's gonna help 'em. Now this will help out your department based off what you told me.
[00:17:27] Ralph Beltran: That way you're help, you're covering. Everybody and everybody's challenges, not just one. The more that you could get as far as input, the more you could get more notes that you could get to be able to rephrase back when it's ready to sell, the stronger your sale presentation's gonna be.
[00:17:44] Dr. Jim: That's a great rundown, Ralph. Thanks for for sharing that. So throughout this conversation, I think we've covered a lot of ground. We've obviously talked about different things like mindset and continuous learning and, how you even get tactical in terms of how you execute some of the [00:18:00] core, components of sales.
[00:18:01] Dr. Jim: With all that being said we have a roadmap of What good looks like in theory. Where do most reps go wrong when it comes to navigating a complex sales process or just sales in general? What are the things that you most often see?
[00:18:16] Ralph Beltran: I would say a few of the things are a, fixed mindset, and that would be that whatever I learned, the skills that I learned at my past job, the skills that I've already have within me are good enough for this job.
[00:18:27] Ralph Beltran: All jobs are different. If you're gonna think that you're gonna come in and use the same skills, the same skill set, and everything you learned plenty of years ago 10 years ago from trainings, that's gonna work today, that's not the case. So it'd be a fixed mindset thinking everything that I was already taught, everything that I'm learned is gonna work here.
[00:18:44] Ralph Beltran: Most of the times that's not the case. You're gonna have to learn something new. You're gonna have to learn new strategies. You're gonna have to learn new skill to be able to do your new job. So I, the one thing that I see from, reps and where they go wrong, it's holding the pride that if something's going [00:19:00] wrong and if they're not attaining or achieving their goal, not being, not asking for help, that's a huge thing.
[00:19:06] Ralph Beltran: As a sales coach, I would have people knowing that they're struggling. Cause I'm seeing the leaderboard, I'm seeing all the numbers, I have all the data in my eyes, and I'm looking at everything and I'm like, this person's struggling here. Why are they not showing up? Why are they continuously missing these trainings when they could learn so much?
[00:19:22] Ralph Beltran: It was what I came down to and, based off another conversation I had with my VP of sales, was that it came down to the pride of not wanting to ask for help. Not wanting to reach out, not be being like, I don't I'm here as a sales rep. I should know this already. I should already have all this down.
[00:19:39] Ralph Beltran: No, you'd not. Don't be afraid to ask. If you need help, ask for help. It's the pride that holds them back. Then it, I would say that, so fixed mindset and the pride of asking for help, those two things will hinder a salesperson. Once you're able to lower down your pride and, understand that you could learn from somebody else.
[00:19:56] Ralph Beltran: Doesn't matter if they're younger, doesn't matter if they're less experienced, if they're in a role [00:20:00] that they're, to help out others, go to them. Ask for help, and then have an open mind. Have an open mind to take on coaching, to take on mentoring and to learn. Have a growth mindset to understand that you can learn something new.
[00:20:13] Ralph Beltran: Doesn't matter how long you've been doing this. I had a, rep that was 65 years old, so I, coached from ages of 25 to 65 and he would miss, and I told him come let I held the one-on-one. What's going on? He's Ralph, I've been doing this for so long, I don't think I could learn something new.
[00:20:29] Ralph Beltran: I said, no, you can learn something new. These are things that are working with our customers here today. And the reason some of my successes are this let me do a one-on-one with you. We talked to him and that was his main thing is he believed, his pride held him back. To say, I can't, in his fixed mindset, I can't learn nothing new.
[00:20:45] Ralph Beltran: I'm already 65, I'm close to retirement. His. Once he started, he went from mid tier to top producer and then he retired. And his one testimonial that he did for me was that no matter what he thought that he could never learn [00:21:00] something new. And that I proved him wrong by first understanding where he was struggling at.
[00:21:05] Ralph Beltran: And second, just being a human with him, telling him I'm there to help him. I'm not gonna, I'm not here to, be your manager. I'm not here to do anything, but to help you with what your challenges and struggles are. And once he was able to let go of that pride, let go of that defense and have a growth mindset that he could learn something new, even though he is been doing this for probably 40, 50 years, way longer than I have, and I was younger, he was still able to learn.
[00:21:27] Dr. Jim: When you're talking about growth mindset and openness to learn and, asking for help, there there's, a component. You, reference it as as you gotta let go of your pride.
[00:21:38] Dr. Jim: And, that's important. I think there's another component of it too, is that I always talk about you gotta be the CEO of your own desk and what that actually means. It can mean any number of things, but what it means to me is that you gotta look at your desk as if it's your business.
[00:21:54] Dr. Jim: And if this was your name above the door and you're [00:22:00] doing a bunch of stuff, would you continue to do the same stuff and get the same results and just keep doing that harder? No you wouldn't. So you, have to look at it from a business mindset and say what's working, what's not, and be constantly looking at, what are you doing and how is it, moving the needle?
[00:22:17] Dr. Jim: And, I was smiling when you when you reference the the example of the rep that had been doing this forever, and he basically said look, I've I've been around for a while and there isn't much that you can teach me. That's, something that a lot of sales leaders will run into and.
[00:22:34] Dr. Jim: I think the, point that stood out in your explanation is that you said, Hey, look, I'm not in competition with you. My job here is to help you get to where you need to be. So if there's something that I notice that you could be doing differently, I have a responsibility to of bring that to your attention so that you can tweak it or change it or do something different so that it, moves a needle for it.
[00:22:57] Dr. Jim: That's an important component of of [00:23:00] of this whole process. But the other thing that you mentioned in your, in the, in that whole conversation about where do sales reps get it wrong? You mentioned something along the lines of you have to be able to demonstrate that something about the company, the industry, the person in all of your outreach that you're doing.
[00:23:18] Dr. Jim: And I don't wanna let that go because I think a lot of reps just figure, hey, we have the ability to just push massive amounts of content or massive amounts of messaging out there. Why not go for the volume play? So my question to you is how would you answer that?
[00:23:35] Dr. Jim: That question, why not go for this volume? I have all of this automation in front of me. I can just blast out a bunch of emails and, see what happens. What's the implication or risk of doing that when it comes to selling? Why not go that route?
[00:23:49] Ralph Beltran: If you wanna be the same as everybody else, that's what everybody else is doing.
[00:23:54] Ralph Beltran: The automation, the emails that come in. One of the things being as a founder that [00:24:00] kind of just irks me is that when I get an email and my name's Ralph and it says, hi John so the way that you need to stand apart from everybody else is to do something different. To do something that everybody else is not doing.
[00:24:14] Ralph Beltran: So if you follow what everybody else is doing, you're gonna get the same outcome as everybody else and not, if you could go online and you look at this, it's not always success. There's a lot of nos, there's a lot of rejection, people getting put on, blast on. Like exactly like that. I got an email wasn't even directed to me.
[00:24:30] Ralph Beltran: This email was so scripted. This email, nowadays, this is happening so often that consumers, buyers are getting used to this and they're understanding what's going on. So you're not gonna fool anybody. The more personalization, the more customized that you could reach out to people, the more authentic that you could be is what's gonna set you apart from everybody else.
[00:24:51] Dr. Jim: So you and I run in similar circles, obviously, cuz we're, in the same function and we're in, various levels of leadership roles. And I, got this big [00:25:00] smile on my face when you said personalization because I'm, a big hyper-personalization guy and you'll, know this reference when, I say it.
[00:25:09] Dr. Jim: One of the things that Sam McKenna always talks about, Samantha McKenna always talks about is show me that you know me or show me you know me. And that is absolutely critical in in a world where everybody is just blasting emails out, you gotta do something that no one else is doing.
[00:25:26] Dr. Jim: So when the world goes big, you go micro. When, everybody is sending emails, you use the phone or you use video messages or, newsflash. You know where this person works. You could probably send them something in the mail that is personalized with a handwritten note. That's, where you take a piece of paper and you write stuff on it and say, Hey, I'd like to meet with you. Yes. Gee, I wonder how many people are doing that. And, news flash for those that are listening on the show. I'm not some 800 year old person that's saying, [00:26:00] Hey, handwritten note I'm, like a generation Xer, I'm not over the hill or anything like that.
[00:26:05] Dr. Jim: I'm making a joke about it. I was dead ass serious when I said, I'm gonna use whatever means necessary that's ethical. To get in front of a customer and build a relationship. And start a conversation. So I think this is a, good exchange in terms of in terms of all the things that you could be doing other than hitting a button.
[00:26:24] Dr. Jim: I, wanna bring this together. What's the risk that you expose yourself to if you're just gonna hit a button and send a bunch of automation out? What, does it mean for your career if you think that's the way to go?
[00:26:36] Ralph Beltran: Number one you could ruin your reputation as being salesy and just not being authentic, not being truly who you are.
[00:26:44] Ralph Beltran: And we talked about how everybody wants to work with somebody they know and trust. And that's definitely not gonna build a no. And trust the personalization, the customization of reaching out to 'em, picking up the phone and talking to 'em, leaving a voice message, sending a letter to them, which I have done.
[00:26:59] Ralph Beltran: So definitely [00:27:00] works is that shows that you really care. That you're really trying to build a relationship and a rapport with them. Not just trying to it's not just a transaction thing. I'm not just trying to get a sale outta you, but I'm trying to build a relationship with you where everything else that we talked about is just gonna show that you're just trying to get a sale out of it.
[00:27:17] Ralph Beltran: You're just trying to put another number on your board, another sale, and then it's just gonna be one and done. That's old. That's that way of thinking. The transformational is what's in now we know now they wanna figure out and work with people that are gonna transform their business. People that are gonna transform their lives, help 'em out, make their life easier at work, and help their business run smoother and easier.
[00:27:37] Dr. Jim: Excellently put. Great conversation, Ralph. I'm glad that we are able to dive deep in a lot of different areas and I'm pretty sure you and I can talk about this stuff for hours on end in terms of in terms of that and who knows, that might be another thing that's that's coming down the pipe.
[00:27:52] Dr. Jim: So with all of that, all of the stuff that we covered, what are the two or three most important things that people need to walk away from[00:28:00] coming out of this conversation?
[00:28:01] Ralph Beltran: So if you're in sales, you're a sales professional. Number one thing is prepare your mind. Sales is not an easy job. Sales is definitely one of the hardest jobs there is in the world.
[00:28:10] Ralph Beltran: So prepare your mindset to know that it's gonna be tough. It's gonna be hard. You're gonna be, you're gonna be rejected. You're gonna hear the no's. So this is where you need to. Spend the time, the energy, and if this is what you want to put in the time and the energy to be able to develop your skills, develop your, knowledge within sales, get better at what you do.
[00:28:29] Ralph Beltran: Start practicing, rehearsing, pick up books, watch videos, listen to audio. Become the best version of you. Always be prepared when you're gonna talk to customers. Research them, look at what they do. Start to understand who you're gonna be talking to, who you're gonna be outreaching, who you're, and how you're gonna build this relationship with them.
[00:28:48] Ralph Beltran: Find some key points that you could use if you do reach them. Stuff that they've accomplished, stuff that they've done. And when you do contact them. The one thing to remember, ask open-ended questions to learn more about who [00:29:00] they are. And when you ask these questions, stay silent. The dead silence is it's terrifying.
[00:29:05] Ralph Beltran: I know we wanna ask more sales professionals, but give them time to think of an answer. Give them time to respond and give you their true, authentic answer.
[00:29:14] Dr. Jim: Awesome stuff, Ralph. Thanks for sharing that. How do people find you?
[00:29:17] Ralph Beltran: So you could find me on LinkedIn at Ralph Beltran, also under at Sales Mentor most of the platform social platforms.
[00:29:25] Ralph Beltran: You could also find me at B Y B Sales Mentor on LinkedIn itself. If you hashtag sales mentor Ralph, you could find all of my posts content that I put out there, written audio, video also podcasts. I'm under Sales Closer Society. If you wanna take a look at that. You could find me there. But once again, I'm here always there to answer any questions.
[00:29:47] Ralph Beltran: And once again, I hope this impacted all of you all, and I hope you picked up a few things that you could implement and change your life.
[00:29:54]
[00:29:54] Dr. Jim: So Ralph, thanks for joining us and sharing with us all of your insight. I think there's a [00:30:00] tremendous amount of value and takeaways that people are gonna be able to put into play right away.
[00:30:05] Dr. Jim: Great discussion. For those of you listening, , you can find us on all your major podcast platforms. We are most active on LinkedIn. You can also find us on TikTok, Facebook and YouTube.
[00:30:17] Dr. Jim: Let us know what you thought of the episode. Thanks for joining us on Cascading Leadership.