Selling and Scaling with Integrity and Strategy w/ Sean Piket | #061

In this episode, the Modern Marketing Podcast welcomes the
‘Modern Sales Guy,’ Sean Piket. Sean is founder and CEO of two
successful businesses, Sales Integrity and MyCoachSite, and has
over 24 years of experience in “selling the invisible” in the B2B
world. He’s participated in the scaling of several companies as a
doer and leader and has watched businesses scale from
single-digit millions to multimillions.


 


How do you achieve growth like that? According to Sean, certainly
not by ‘winging it.’ Join Adam and Sean as they explain why
effectively scaling your business comes down to strategy and
preparation plus tips you can apply to boost sales authentically
and ethically in your business.


 
Episode Discussions:

 


Why you should think twice about hiring a large company sales
rep

Common hiring mistakes and avoiding high turnover rates

Create structure for new hires with the perfect 90-day
onboarding plan

The 3 meaningful components of a sales operation

The 4 cornerstones of lead generation success when generating
your own leads

How to use LinkedIn's Sales Navigator to get referrals

Having the servant leadership attitude

The #1 sales killer and the simple solution

Common factors of successfully scaled businesses

Cultivating a strategic network

Why you should get over your fear of asking for referrals

How to create free training videos to educate new hires

To cold call or not to cold call?

The importance of context in sales

Human to human connection and the power of the phone

Why you should market to customer challenges over goals

A prescription for selling success

Social selling and how to approach social media strategically

Why preparation will make your sales “pop”

How to tailor your messaging that targets only your ideal
audience



4:32
Sean’s story

Started career in IT consulting

Sold custom software

Has had to sell the invisible in the B2B world

Moved to Dallas, TX in 99’

Launched Sales Integrity in 2004 and built his business model
around preparation and strategy



 


6:56


Sean created MyCoachSite (software platform for coaches) after
seeing a gap in the market.


 


7:49
Common factors of successfully scaled businesses:

3 meaningful components of a sales operation:
Sales talent Sales performance Sales management

A profile of the right sales pro for your company to make good
hiring decisions


A sound sales recruiting and hiring process in place and a
program that allows them to ramp up sales talent at a faster rate
than on their own.


 


10:29


"If you don't provide the structure [for new hires], they're
going to go create it themselves."


 


10:56
How to create free training videos to educate new hires:

Use a free tool like Zoom to create video tutorials that get new
hires up to speed on your company branding, messaging, products,
services, how you go to market, etc.


Use as repeatable, reusable orientation material that trains them
at the right pace.


 "Take them to existing customer meetings as well as
prospect meetings. That way they begin with the end in mind."


13:11
Activity to pipeline to results:

Have a 90-day onboarding plan


Set the expectations and have a good ramp up plan between 30, 60,
90 days


Create a checklist to make sure they're tracking towards
producing results


 


15:14
The 4 cornerstones of lead generation success for people
responsible for generating their own leads:
Referrals

Sign up for LinkedIn Sales Navigator and run a search against
your own network.


 


18:23


 "91% of customers would gladly give referrals to sales
professionals yet 11% of sales professionals actually ask for
referrals."


 


Common reasons people don’t ask for referrals:


Lack of understanding how valuable it is

Lack of confidence in their product or contribution

Don't want to appear sleazy or think it's inappropriate



 


19:06


Lack of confidence is the #1 sales killer and it comes from lack
of preparation.


 


21:00


“Preparation applies to everything. Anything in life, not just
selling.”


21:15
Strategic networking or relationships (4 cornerstones
cont.)

If you have a servant/leadership attitude (help others first
before asking for help), it makes it easy to ask for help — like
referrals.



 


21:54
Social selling (4 cornerstones cont.)

Social platforms shorten your time, allow you to develop
relationships, and demonstrate credibility where people will be
compelled to want to help you.

Develop strategic relationships that lead to referrals.



 


22:30
Systematic sales messaging (4 cornerstones
cont.)

Combined use of different modes of communication (phone,
email, social)

Prepare the messaging for different selling scenarios. "If
you prepare your messaging for every possible selling scenario,
you're going to be supremely confident in those settings. That's
what sells."



 


23:20
Human connection and the power of the phone

"A lot of the new internet marketers come on and want to make all
this money through affiliate marketing and never talk to
people…they don't realize the big money involves a conversation."


 


26:52
Approaching social media strategically

Social technologies make sales and marketing integration
important.

Integrate sales and marketing by forming a cohesive strategy

Have a lead gen plan with stages and steps and assign roles



 
Social platforms

It always comes down to your customer first

Find your ideal client profile and identify their unique
challenges, issues, and goals (CIG's)


Challenge - negative in nature,
problem-oriented, pain related


Goal - future looking, positive,
growth-oriented


Issue - Neutral in nature. Occupies space,
time, and attention. If not addressed, it becomes a
challenge. If addressed, it's an opportunity to become a
goal.



Pick the top one from each. Focus on the challenge first.

Use ideal client profile to target your audience with
Facebook Ads, Twitter Ads, and LinkedIn Navigator

Address their pain and position your products and services as
the solution



 


31:06


Each social platform has their “power talkers” who express every
thought. Use their feedback to tailor your messaging.


 


33:27
Mindset is key

Take time in a quiet moment to think through your business

Be strategic - Step back, look at things objectively and form
a plan

Follow through



 


37:37
"A prescription for selling success."

Create a simple template that allows you and/or sales reps to
come up with 3 lead generating campaigns.


 
Connect with Virtual Sean:

SalesIntegrity.com


MasterComplexSelling.com - Free 7-day video email course


 
Mentioned in this episode:

Episode #2 - The Customer Avatar


Episode #3 - Free Customer Market Research


LinkedIn Sales Navigator


Zoom


 


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