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Bill Caskey and Bryan Neale: B2B Sales Trainers, Business Strategists and L
Bill Caskey and Bryan Neale: B2B sales trainers for the past twenty years share their strategies, frameworks, tips and tricks to help you leverage your talent, grow your skills and create your own sales success. You'll discover how you can shift your mindset, win with prospects and build long-term relationships with your clients so you can thrive and advance in your career. Bill and Bryan's approach to sales is funny, often quirky and always real. Their work has allowed them to help sales professionals, managers and leaders at hundreds of companies all over the world implement successful strategies and build profitable sales teams. Prospecting, sales communication, buyer resistance, proposals and RFPs, pricing, cold calling, sales forecasting, pain points, psychology, positioning, deal coaching, goal setting, leading and managing, achieving your goals and all the other things that work (and don't work) in the world of sales to help you be the best possible version of yourself.
Rules Tools and Attitudes of Funnel Filling
It’s not the sales funnel that’s important…it’s all the stuff “above” the funnel. So what action can you take to the suspects that are orbiting the funnel? In this episode, Bill and Bryan walk through the Top 5 Techniques (you can email us for the other 5 at [email protected] –subject line: FUNNEL).So if you don’t have enough in your sales funnel, you may not be practicing the right Rules, Tools and Attitudes to fill it up.
17:0430/04/2009
Is Your Value Really That Special? (Part II)
In this economic time, how you communicate your value—and WHAT it is—will be very important. Here, Bill and Bryan pick up on a topic they began a few months ago—what is your personal value to your customers and how does it show itself in the sales process? All sorts of goodies here.
14:0923/04/2009
That Same Old Decision Making Problem
Today, Bill and Bryan discuss the age-old-but-still-modern problem of how to get to the decision maker. In today’s economic climate, companies are more discerning about their spending patterns and that means the decision process is changing. You, as a sales professional or manager, need to know how to navigate through the maize of roadblocks inside companies. And this podcasts gives you ideas on just how to do that. By the way, go to www.askbillandbryan.com to submit a question for future podcasts.
12:1516/04/2009
Is Your Value Really That Special?
Do ever feel like when you talk about your value it leaves people cold? Or maybe you wonder if your value really is special. We have a client who is wondering that very thing. So in this podcast, Bryan reviews the client issue, and we give you four ideas of how you can improve the value you bring. Then, we want you to weigh in on the fifth. The way you do that is listen to the podcast, then send an email to [email protected] with VALUE in subject line.
14:4502/04/2009
Attitude of Leadership
You are a leader—whether you’re in a position of leadership or not. In many companies, the leadership is not provided by the “one in charge” but by everyone else. So as a sales professional, you need to be in an “attitude of leadership.” Thus, we asked Kevin Eikenberry to be on this week. He wrote a book called “Remarkable Leadership,” which is a must read for anyone in business. Kevin gives us some tips on how best to have the attitude of leadership.
19:1926/03/2009
So Your Prospect is Suddenly Price Sensitive
On this week’s episode, Bill, Bryan and Brooke talk about the framework for an effective Personal Business Plan and how to handle prospect resistance on price. We deal with this issue because we’ve heard from listeners that their prospects are suddenly quite price sensitive. While that’s understandable, we want to make sure we’re asking the right questions.
12:5319/03/2009
Catalytic Value
Catalytic Value. Ever heard of it? Listen to this entry of ASP and you'll dramatically change the way you think about what you bring to your market. The ideas in this episode are for ELITE salespeople only. BUT WAIT-THERE'S MORE! You also get our inaugural "ASP Premium Content" offer. It's an idea that made one listener a lot of money. You'll have the chance to get the same advice.
15:2512/03/2009
Handling Price Objections in the Sales Process
Do price objections bother you? In this episode, Bill and Bryan talk at length about a popular formula for handling price objections. They debunk this formula and give you a new way to handle those pesky price objections from prospects. We realize that in this economy price becomes more of an issue and a resistance point, and we want to help you navigate through it.
14:5105/03/2009
Mailbag - How To Sell In A Recession
In today’s episode, Bill and Bryan answer some of your mail. One question is “How do I handle an office where everyone is snooping on me?” And the other is “How do I continue to sell during a recession?” That last one has been a huge issue for many salespeople. We’ll answer this one and also bring it up over and over this year. We also encourage you to go to http://www.2009salescompetencies.com and download the 12 competencies that every salesperson needs to have this year.
16:2126/02/2009
2009 Sales Competencies - Part 2 of 2
Well, this is part two of our series on 2009 sales competencies. We’ve had a lot of people request the e-book that we created. You can go to http://www.2009salescompetencies.comand pick up a copy. In this episode, Bill and Bryan address the second group of competencies which includes a) being a problem-finder; b) being a problem-solver; and c) being skilled at new business initiation.
16:2919/02/2009
2009 Sales Competencies - Part 1 of 2
This is part 1 of our 2-part series on sales competencies—what do you need to be good at to succeed in professional selling today? Bill Caskey and Bryan Neale address the background on these competencies and how you can make them your strong points. Good for B2B sales teams and salespeople. If you’re a sales manager, play this at your next sales meeting and create discussion on whether or not you believe in these.
13:2912/02/2009
Detachment in the Sales Process
There is a Caskey concept that keeps coming up and that is the application of Detachment in the sales process. Very few other sales strategies/systems deal with this because it’s a difficult notion to get your arms around. In this week’s episode, Bill Caskey and Bryan Neale address this issue head on. What does detachment mean? How can it be used to strengthen your results? And what you should stay away from. (15:08)Check out the competencies you'll need for2009. Download your free E-Book at www.2009SalesCompetencies.com
15:0805/02/2009
Selling in Today's Economic Climate
In last week’s episode Bill and Bryan talked about how to communicate your value. But this week, they talk about that issue when it relates to the current economic climate. As sales strategies, your hosts deal with these questions in all of their current client work with sales forces around the world. The economy is on everyone’s mind—especially salespeople who call on prospects that are fearful. (11:42)
12:0929/01/2009
How to Communicate Value
This is an extraordinarily difficult time to express your value to prospects. It seems like everyone is focused ONLY on money (“What does it cost?”). Yet there are ways to alleviate that. If you’re in professional sales today, you must know how to communicate what you do in a way people are compelled to hear more about. Bill and Bryan address tactics to use to sell your prospects more effectively. (13:12)
13:3922/01/2009
Handling Absurd Customer Demands
Today’s question came from a listener through www.askbillandbryan.com, who wanted to know how to respond to customer demands that could not be met. That in turn got Bill and Bryan talking about the various demands that customers/prospects put on salespeople. You’ll learn how to handle these when they come up, and maybe even avoid them altogether. (11:10)
11:3715/01/2009
How To Get In The Prospecting Mode
Now that we’re well underway in 2009, we thought it helpful to take more questions from our listening audience.Question #1: How to change your mindset to get into prospecting mode. New business development is critical this year. So Bill and Bryan talk about this. Also, if you had trouble downloading the “2009 Sales Competencies” e-book, then go to http://www.2009salescompetencies.com and you can download it there. (13:56)
14:2308/01/2009
2009 Sales Competencies
So what do you need to be good at? I know that sounds like a crazy question but it might be relevant. In our sales training business, we believe this: If you’re struggling with ANY part of the sales process, then it’s probably a result of insufficient skill in that area. So, in this episode, Bill and Bryan talk about a few of the new competencies that the salesperson of the future needs to have. Then you can sign up for the rest of them online at www.2009salescompetencies.com. (12:36)
13:0318/12/2008
Why Salespeople Should Blog
Sometimes we come across a person—a client in this case—who embodies our principles (and does what we say!!). In this case, the Direct Mail Diva (Stephanie Summers), sits down with us and tells us how she’s created a blog that is helping her sales efforts. She’s truly a sales 2.0 type—and you’ll learn from her. Also, you’ll get access to a PDF report on blogging—just for our listeners. Email us at [email protected]. Put BLOGGING in subject line.Check out Stephanie's blog at www.directmaildiva.blogspot.com.Duration: (13:56)
14:2311/12/2008
The Attributes of a Good Sales Manager
Salespeople, what’s the number one attribute of the best manager you’ve had? Bryan recently conducted an informal poll, and the answers are surprisingly simple. In this episode Bill and Bryan discuss the attributes of a good sales manager and continue a previous discussion on motivation. (15:00)
15:2704/12/2008
Sounding Like Every Other Salesperson
Ever wonder if you look like the same old salesperson the prospect sees everyday? I know we all can’t imagine that, but what if you really look do like that? That wouldn’t be so good, would it? Well, in this episode, Bill and Bryan answer a question from the www.askbillandbryan.com website. It comes from a listener who’s concerned that he might be sounding like everyone else. And that frustrates him. (12:31)
12:5825/11/2008
Handling Customer Demands in the Sales Process
A valuable episode on a problem coming up more frequently these days—how to handle it when the prospect makes crazy demands in the sales process. One in particular is when they want you to come in and spend an inordinate amount of time doing unpaid consulting. Bryan and Bill take an actual coaching example to talk about how to handle this. (14:52)
15:1913/11/2008
Managing Expectations in the Sales Process
Ever wonder if you raise expectations too high for your prospects? So that when you do business with them, there’s no way they can be satisfied? Well, you might do it unknowingly. And this is what Bryan and Bill discuss in this week’s episode. (12:27)
12:5406/11/2008
Networking: Key to Sales Success
On this episode of The Advanced Selling Podcast: Networking—The 10-Letter, 4-Letter Word. Love it or hate it, it's CRITICAL to a salesperson's success. Networking "diva" Julie Bauke provides a fresh approach to an old topic. (18:16)
Contact Julie Bauke at: www.congruitycareer.com
18:4330/10/2008
Presentation Tips
Do your presentations leave people cold? How would you know? Salespeople need to be good at presentations. Period.
And the rules are changing as well. You’ll need to stop selling and begin educating and connecting with people.
Here, Bill Caskey and Bryan Neale talk about some tips to use when doing a presentation. They cover a few. Then you can email them at [email protected] to get the PDF of the rest. (13:10)
Other blogs/podcasts mentioned in the podcast:
www.sethgodin.comwww.ultimatesaleschick.comwww.salesleadershipofindianapolis.com
13:3723/10/2008
Questions from the Listener Mailbag
Bill and Bryan go to the mailbag this week to answer two questions from their listeners: How do I ease my way in to new accounts when the account’s been transferred from another salesperson? and How do I have my boss see that this is a better way to sell? Bill Caskey and Bryan Neale address both of these issues. (12:06)
12:3316/10/2008
How to Show Up
You’ve heard the saying, “How you do anything is how you do everything.” Well, if you haven’t heard that, you just did, so consider this your lucky day. Well, we have a cousin saying: “How you show up, determines what shows up.” Sales trainers Bryan Neale and Bill Caskey discuss the notion of how you show up on sales calls. And they help you get your mind right to do so properly. (12:28)
12:5509/10/2008
The Motivation of Your People
Sales managers, have you ever wondered if in your process of motivating people—you actually demotivate them? Hard to fathom, isn’t it? In this episode, Bryan and Bill review an actual email memo sent out from a sales manager to his team at the end of the quarter. And through their discussion of that, you’ll learn a new, more effective approach to how to movitate your team to get results. (15:56)
16:2302/10/2008
Special Edition: What Trends Are Going to Affect Salespeople?
Over the last few weeks, Bill and Bryan have been working on this idea of “What trends are going to affect salespeople in the future?” As they started to outline the things they were seeing in the market, they thought it would be useful to have a podcast focused on that. Now, we must tell you that this podcast is about 30 minutes (longer than our normal episodes). But they felt the information here is vital for a sales team and salespeople to know as they pursue new business in the future. The key element of all this is that if you’re not watching trends, then they can slip up on you and pass you by. So, if your sales and revenues are not where they need to be or could be, then you might be a victim of old thinking. (29:54)
30:2102/10/2008
The Sales Meeting
Sales managers—ever wonder why your sales meetings put people to sleep? Well, Bill and Bryan help you by giving you some ideas on what to do at your next sales meeting.
Sales / account people? Listen closely to this podcast and then suggest to your manager that these things be covered.
14:5325/09/2008
How to Start a Relationship
How you begin a relationship (we’re talking business relationship here) with another person will determine what you both get out of that relationship.
Have you even considered the tone with which you begin a prospect relationship? And how do they filter your information? Whatever you say will define the balance of the sales call. In this episode Bill and Bryan help you think through that and give you plenty of tips on how to better begin it.
15:4604/09/2008
Lead Generation
Lead generation. It’s the very thing that can make your company millions. But, screw it up, and your revenue growth becomes an uphill climb. Bill and Bryan give you some rules for lead generation and the follow-up process behind it that can help you close those sales.
14:3928/08/2008
Making Sales Internally
During our sales strategy training sessions, we often hear from our clients, “Hey this sales method works when I’m selling inside my company, too!” The truth is anytime you’re communicating ideas to another person—and you want that other person to take some action--this content works. And we also know that some of our listeners are not even in front line sales—but they are required to make sales internally. For you folks, this is a must-hear episode.
12:3507/08/2008
What Are Your Rules For Engagement?
Every great company has rules it lives by. You might call these “codes of conduct.” But every sales professional should also have a code they live by. In this episode, Bill and Bryan give you five parts of that code—and give you the opportunity to get the other five they didn’t have time to talk about by emailing [email protected].
14:3228/07/2008
Maintaining Relationships with the Right Person
How do you maintain a relationship with a high level prospect over a long period of time? It happens often that we lose touch with the “right person” and end up being passed down to others lower in the org. And then when it’s time for them to buy something bigger you get no credit for all the good work you’ve done. Bill and Bryan dissect a deal that went south. And in so doing, they give you some ideas on how to stay high (in the organization that is).
13:3417/07/2008
Out of the Comfort Zone Box
Out of the box thinking continues this week with Bill and Bryan’s interview with Tom Heuer and Steve Coats, authors of "There is No Box." Sales managers and leaders should continue to listen to this session because is has to do with the very important topic of “comfort zones.” We all operate inside one and the authors give you some ideas on how to pull people out of them.
12:1510/07/2008
There Is No Box
If you’re like most people in sales management, you struggle with motivating and leading your team. In this episode, Bill and Bryan interview the authors of "There Is No Box," a book on leadership.
Authors, Steve Coats and Tom Heuer, redefine what it means to be a sales leader.
Sales professionals will learn from this approach as well, since they are the ones calling on customers trying to help them "get out of the box." This is a good episode to listen to in a group setting. Ask youself the question: are we doing these things?
14:1003/07/2008
The Ride Along
One of the most stressful times for both salespeople and managers is the dreaded “manager ride-along.” It’s that time when the salesperson inflates their daily activity to prove to their manager that they really are working hard. And it’s the time the manager gets to be really smart (and critical). In this episode, Bill and Bryan address this event from both perspectives and give some hints on how to make this a more resourceful, helpful event.
14:0826/06/2008
Pilot Error
Airline pilots and sales pros have a lot in common. (Although people’s lives hang in the balance of the pilot—and maybe not the salesperson). In this episode, Bill and Bryan discuss the analogy in a way that you can learn from – that will help you know where you are with customers.
14:0919/06/2008
One Shot Deal
Sometimes in the sales process you won’t have a chance to work your “exploration magic.”You know that part of the process when you explore what their problems are – so you can recommend the optimum solution.
In this episode, Bill Caskey and Bryan Neale address the “one shot deal.” That’s when you have only one chance in front of the prospect to get to a decision. We don’t recommend you allow yourself to get to this point often, but when you do, take this episode with you.
11:2912/06/2008
Building Your Sales Dream Team
Ever wonder why some sales teams get enormous results and others struggle? Do you think it has anything to do with the thinking/strategy of the team? Of course it does. But lost in the mystery of the high achieving sales team is practical advice of how to get there.
In this episode of the Advanced Selling Podcast, Bill Caskey and Bryan Neale address the very attributes that make great sales teams. Recently, Caskey held a seminar called Building Your Sales Dream Team. Listen to this podcast and if interested, you can get access to the content by emailing [email protected].
13:2205/06/2008
Sales Managers: Assessing Your Sales Team Part 3
If you’re a sales manager/leader, you should be constantly asking yourself, “How can I build a better team?” In this episode, Bill and Bryan help you with two big issues: how to continue to grow current clients; and how to keep from discounting to get business. This is part three of several podcasts for sales managers on how to assess your sales team’s competencies. If you’re a salesperson, no worries, this will be easy for you to take into your world.
11:0228/05/2008
Sales Managers: Assessing Your Sales Team Part 2
Do you or your people lose deals in the 11th hour of the sales process? Or do you have problems differentiating your value from your competition? Most sales teams do. And in this episode, Bill Caskey and Bryan Neale address this from a sales training standpoint. So, if you’re a sales manager or leader, and you are responsible for the professional growth of your team, listen up. You’ll hear exercises and wisdom from two guys who are in front of sales teams working on these issues every day of the year.
12:1919/05/2008
Sales Managers: Assessing Your Sales Team
If you’re a sales manager you’re going to love this epsiode because Bill and Bryan talk about how to train/coach your sales team on two very important topics. Even though most sales managers don’t invest tons of time in training (they probably should) there are many coaching moments that happen between manager and seller. They address the thinking behind some of these strategic changes. On the other hand, if you’re a sales person, you will still get plenty of content from this episode, because they address two issues that hold people back – whom you call on at your prospect company and how you think about prospecting.
14:3906/05/2008
Can Sales and Marketing Co-exist?
Can sales and marketing co-exist and work TOGETHER in a company? Many find angst and tension between these two functions. Our guests today shed light on how Yin and Yang, cats and dogs, and even sales and marketing people can work together...productively.
12:5417/04/2008
Ego In The Way?
Well, no one ever admits that their ego gets in the way of success. Especially sales people--for it comes with the territory that you need a big ego to be successful in sales.
Or does it?
We think there are several questions you should ask in the sales process. But you won't be able to if you have your ego out of balance. In this episode, Bill Caskey and Bryan Neale give you several questions you should ask and give you a way to get the rest of the questions via email.
08:1415/04/2008
Selling to the Large Account
Everyone wants to sell to large accounts. Is there any magic to it? Do you need a whale net to catch them? Well, there is some magic, and while we don’t review ALL the steps in this podcast, this is a start of how to begin thinking about your pursuit of the large account. Bill Caskey and Bryan Neale talk about pursuing the large account. You can also go to google video and search on Advanced Selling Podcast to see the video version of this.
10:0420/03/2008
What Customers Expect From Salespeople
Do you really know what your customers want from a sales professional? You might be surprised! In this podcast, Bill Caskey speaks with George Grubb, President of G&S Research, about what customers value from vendors. George works in the pharmaceutical industry, however much of what he has learned is directly applicable to sales of any kind. He also talks about the sales person of the future—and what attributes he/she will have.
23:1717/03/2008
How to Influence Another Person
In this podcast, Bill Caskey and Bryan Neale go back into our last teleseminar and select three questions that they get all the time: 1-How do you handle a follow up call after a networking event; 2-How to "get" someone to call you back; 3-How do you handle it when you are selling an off brand? They spend a few minutes on each question--and of course, a few minutes trying to bring humor to the episode. You can also see this episode on YouTube. Go there and search on "Advanced Selling Podcast."
13:2705/03/2008
The Gender Question: Should You Change How You Sell?
Do you sell to women differently than you sell to men? Hmmm. Interesting question that we deal with in today’s podcast. Bill and Bryan speak with Brooke Green, one of our consultants, about the gender approach to selling. Being a woman in sales, she gets this question all the time from both her male and female clients. She also introduces the podcast audience to a new endeavor that will interest half the people who listen!
17:5226/02/2008
Selling Your Way to the White House
Can we learn something from the presidential candidates? Or, can they learn something from great salespeople? Well, we think the latter. In this podcast, Bill and Bryan take a look at the communication
styles of those running for president and bring us some lessons in substance and style that we can use in our effort to generate sales. While this is not an episode with a specific political slant, it takes issue with MOST politicians and how they communicate their message.
12:3811/02/2008