We are approaching a year spent selling in pandemic conditions. The virus has taken much from us and forced us to change the ways in which we live and work. In the beginning we thought we could muddle through for a few weeks. Those weeks stretched to months and months. But our initial fears have given way to resilience. We’ve found we can continue operations and sell to customers using technology platforms. But at what cost? Are the benefits of technology robbing us of closer contact in our busi...
Feb 16, 2021•23 min•Ep. 99
This is the third in a series of discussions between John Asher and John Edwards on digital capabilities and trends in sales and marketing. The first was “ Digital Presence: The Five Ways Elite B2B Competitors are Beating You Online. ” The second was “ Digital Strategy: How Elite B2B Competitors Get It Right and How You Can, Too .” ----more---- This Asher Sales Sense Podcast – “Digital Selling: Four Ways Elite B2B Competitors Master the Market” - once again features host John Asher with guest Jo...
Feb 01, 2021•25 min•Ep. 98
You might be in the majority if you think B2B digital strategies don’t work. And you’d be wrong. The reason is that it’s hard to get them right. Let’s say you already (1) have access to people who know what they’re doing in the digital realm and (2) your systems are driving leads to operationally functional sites. That’s good. You’re avoiding two common problems in this arena. But what about the biggest problem: failure to have a solid B2B digital strategy? ----more---- This Asher Sales Sense Po...
Jan 18, 2021•24 min•Ep. 97
Is your company’s digital presence competitive? You invest a lot for it, but are you getting the results you need or are you getting pushed around by the A players? Maybe it’s not the quantity of money you spend on digital presence that’s as important as the quality of the strategies and tactics you use. What if you could make a few key adjustments and quickly be more effective in attracting business? This Asher Sales Sense Podcast – “The Five Ways Elite B2B Competitors Are Beating You Online” -...
Jan 04, 2021•25 min•Ep. 96
Is your lack of sales skills holding you back from getting that next promotion? You like your company and you want to be successful in it, but the idea of becoming an aggressive always-be-selling salesperson makes you cringe. Here’s some good news. It doesn’t have to be that way. You don’t need to fear selling anymore. With a new perspective and some helpful tips on conversations, you can become the kind of salesperson who customers trust and sales managers reward. This Asher Sales Sense Podcast...
Dec 13, 2020•25 min•Ep. 95
The job of the sales manager was never easy, but with economic headwinds and gusts of pandemic thrown in its now harder than ever. Sales managers are closing out the year and hoping 2021 will be better, but wishing and hoping generally don’t bring in new orders. You need help. And not just any help. Help from people who for the last twenty years have been providing sales leaders with the tools they need to get the job done. Wouldn’t it be great if you were given access to all of those tools in o...
Nov 30, 2020•18 min•Ep. 94
This Asher Sales Sense Podcast – “Lifting Performance Beyond Recognition” - features host Kyla O’Connell with guest Paresh Shah, a world-recognized thought-leader on leadership, employee motivation, customer loyalty, innovation, and mindfulness. He is the Co-Founder and Chief Value Architect of Lifter Leadership, a global organizational development, and training company. Paresh has provided thought-leadership to clients across industries for over 30 years. His thinking has been featured at leadi...
Nov 19, 2020•26 min•Ep. 93
You didn’t look at the time on your phone because it was stuck to your ear listening to a customer drone on in excruciating detail how he wants the installation to go and suddenly in a panic, you realize you’re late to an online staff call your boss set up to present a new company partner and you break off from your customer as best you can and head to your backroom still wearing your Bruce Springsteen tee shirt and you crash through boxes of supplies and hit the Zoom link and just as you go liv...
Nov 05, 2020•20 min•Ep. 88
We know online sales training works. It requires, however, a particular skill set to make it work, and John Asher explains why. This program is for sales managers, salespeople and of course, sales trainers. In this session, John Asher explains the seven elements essential to being a good sales trainer, how these key elements stack up in both in-person and through online sales courses. This also includes a creative approach combing live webinars, demonstrations, online skills, progress reviews, a...
Oct 29, 2020•18 min•Ep. 78
It’s given that personalities matter in business and that personalities differ. We all know these truths. And yet, in the moment of seller to buyer engagement we tend to forget and focus on the what we are selling rather than to whom we are selling. And not only that, we forget to adjust our communication styles to their personality styles. How good are you at knowing your personality traits and identifying your blind spots, your extremes? What if you could modify your extremes by stretching and...
Oct 15, 2020•26 min•Ep. 92
The telephone has reemerged as a vital sales communication channel. Now more than ever, people now want to talk with each other. And we are “Zoomed Out.” Salespeople no longer need to feel they might be intruding. Prospects are answering their phones knowing that you might be a stranger and you might want to sell them something. When they answer, they allow you to interrupt their lives. The key is not whether you should make the call- it’s what are you going to say after they say hello? ----more...
Oct 01, 2020•24 min•Ep. 91
How’s your sales network? Good? Are you satisfied with it? Are you sure there’s nothing you could do to improve it? Then don’t listen to this podcast. This podcast is for salespeople and business leaders who want to get better at what they do and become more successful. Have you noticed there are similar features in sports and sales? Teamwork. Goal orientation. The pursuit of excellence. Training for success. And the importance of building networks of friends, colleagues, mentors, and people you...
Sep 17, 2020•27 min•Ep. 90
You are a super-prepared salesperson. You’ve acquired deep knowledge of your products, your markets, your customers – even your competition. In doing so, you’ve placed yourself well ahead of many salespeople who don’t put in the time to be a knowledge giant. Now comes the moment when you launch toward new sales. Will you be able to shift into performance mode like the sales athlete you could be? Or will you settle for so-so results and waste all that preparation? This Asher Sales Sense Podcast –...
Sep 03, 2020•26 min•Ep. 89
eCommerce revenues have grown remarkably over the last decade and in the current environment, online purchases are accelerating exponentially. According to eCommerce experts, shoppers are spending at least a third of their budgets online. There are expected to be over two billion digital buyers by the end of next year. What is your company doing about this? Do you think eCommerce is too difficult? Too expensive? Not a good fit for your products and services? ----more---- This Asher Sales Sense P...
Aug 06, 2020•24 min•Ep. 87
If your closing results are soft, maybe it’s something you’ve forgotten how to do. There are three types of sales posturing and only one leads to more closed sales: equal sales posturing. Stop being a weak apologist or arrogant, buy now or I’m done with you approach. If you don’t appear to be equal to the buyer, you will lose. ----more---- Guest host Debb Borchardt, Vice President of Asher Client services, interviews Kyla O’Connell Senior Partner and Sales Facilitator at Asher Strategies about w...
Jul 29, 2020•20 min•Ep. 86
Orders are down. Margins are down. Morale is down. It’s difficult being a field salesperson right now, but it might be even more difficult being a sales leader. Temporary measures are running out and the front office is calling for help. As a sales leader, it’s time to take action to meet your mid-term challenges and position your sales pipeline for the post-Covid environment. What tactics and behaviors should you be considering? And whose advice should you listen to? How about a successful CEO ...
Jul 13, 2020•25 min•Ep. 85
In 2019 the Business Roundtable, with the support of nearly 200 CEOs, redefined the purpose of a corporation from serving shareholders to promoting an economy that serves all Americans. The goal was to encourage businesses to reflect the way corporations can and should operate. Because without sales there is no business, this should be affecting how we view salespeople and how they view themselves. Yet if someone was asked how a salesperson should operate to achieve their purpose, the answer mos...
Jun 29, 2020•28 min•Ep. 76
Years ago, John Asher identified a major problem in the shift from prospecting to selling: insufficient research. Many salespeople try to make the first contact with potential buyers without doing the homework necessary to even get a meeting, let alone build rapport. It's frustrating to Google someone or some company and get sent to sites that don't quickly give you what you need. It's especially troublesome when you want to get a contract with a publicly-traded enterprise. So much data, so litt...
Jun 14, 2020•22 min•Ep. 84
As a small business owner or leader, you’ve got your hands full. You’ve built the company up to where it’s successful, but you’re having trouble breaking through to the next level. You’re spending so much time on budget and personnel issues that your long-range plan is just to try to the end of the week. You feel all alone because you can’t talk to anyone about it. And you’re not sleeping. Wouldn’t it be great to hear advice from business leaders who were in the same place you are and now have b...
May 31, 2020•24 min•Ep. 82
Are you considering selling through distribution partners? It’s important to know what you’re getting into and hear expert advice before you make a decision. This program is for Presidents and Sales Managers. What matters most to success in sales through distribution? What skill sets do you look for in distributor sales teams? How do you set the terms of the relationships? What motivates distributor sales reps? And how can you and your products and services stand out in this environment? Find ou...
May 29, 2020•13 min•Ep. 83
If you’re new to sales you’ve quickly discovered it’s a lot harder than it looks. You also could be struggling in your current sales position and don’t know why. Since you’re both professionals either coming to the plate for the first time or in a slump with a low batting average, why not listen to some tips from a professional sales coach? That’s what professional baseball players do. They listen to the advice of coaches and focus on fixing the most common errors. Salespeople would do well to f...
May 17, 2020•23 min•Ep. 80
As a sales leader, the pressure is always on you to get the most out of your team. Even more so in this worrisome environment. But you’ve embraced the optimistic words that adversity can be opportunity. You’ve come up with ideas to help your sales team pivot from dead in the water to full speed ahead, yet you aren’t so sure how to roll them out to your dispirited and concerned sales team members. Consider this. Learning more about neuroscience factors influencing the acceptance or rejection of c...
May 03, 2020•22 min•Ep. 79
You’re working remotely during this interruption of normal business transactions. Instead of dashing to strategy sessions and prospect meetings and spending hours in transit, you are either staring at your computer screen or cleaning out closets. A better use of this bonus time would be to relook at how you are connecting with your customers. Perhaps you should consider Account-Based Marketing (ABM) to adjust to market realities. ABM turns the traditional funnel upside down and is delivering hig...
Apr 12, 2020•20 min•Ep. 77
What’s a key difference between elite salespeople, the ones getting the lion’s share of contracts, and average salespeople? Natural aptitude? Certainly. Training? Of course. But then why do so many gifted and experienced salespeople miss their sales goals? The same way gifted and experienced professional athletes fail to win. Their heads get in the way. What if you could get “unstuck” from good and achieve greatness? What if you can improve your mindset? Highlights: It isn’t what happens in life...
Apr 06, 2020•11 min•Ep. 76
Online training has been around since we’ve all been online. Many of us are familiar with stodgy online corporate compliance training – all the things we shouldn’t do in business – and crushingly boring online technical training – all the things we need to get right. Online sales training courses – the essentials to growing business – have been in the mix since the beginning and there are a few good ones out there. Now more than ever businesses who want to stay positioned for success could use f...
Mar 28, 2020•18 min•Ep. 75
Elite salespeople, regardless of company, invariably have sales and marketing departments with a defined process to support salespeople and drive revenue. In this five-minute program, John talks about sales and marketing processes that can support salespeople. If you listen to this and you are a salesperson, you will instinctively know if your company has a sales or marketing process to support your efforts. This program is an extract from the March 5th Asher Sales Sense Podcast is “ Five Factor...
Mar 27, 2020•6 min•Ep. 74
The fourth factor for success is motivation. While this is a very complex subject, John Asher says he has found the four things that affect the mindset of salespeople. The elite salesperson has learned to work with and control some of the factors that lead them to be constantly motivated to perform. Hints: one of the factors is built-in, the other three, he or she has learned to cope with. ----more---- This program is an extract from the March 5th Asher Sales Sense Podcast is “Five Factors for S...
Mar 26, 2020•7 min•Ep. 65
Are product knowledge, personality, and persistence enough to make an elite salesperson? Not really. Without sales skills, well-meaning but skill-less salespeople will flounder. In the episode, John Asher talks about the need to have superior skills, ten of them in fact, to be an elite salesperson. This program is an extract from the March 5th Asher Sales Sense Podcast is “Five Factors for Success in Sales: The Secrets to Becoming an Elite Salesperson” with John Asher. ----more---- You May Also ...
Mar 25, 2020•6 min•Ep. 73
Some salespeople are great at their profession and some are not. What does it take to become an elite salesperson? Are you just born to it or does it come with a lot of sweat equity? Maybe both. What factors determine your success? Why do some salespeople make a sale seem almost effortless? Are natural born hunters born? ----more--------more---- This program is an extract from the March 5th Asher Sales Sense Podcast is “Five Factors for Success in Sales: The Secrets to Becoming an Elite Salesper...
Mar 24, 2020•7 min•Ep. 72
For this podcast, John Asher covers the first of five factors for success in sales, Product Knowledge, that gives salespeople power and confidence. The faster they attain deep product knowledge the more confident they become and they are accepted by their prospects as knowledgeable salespeople that can answer their questions. Salespeople that try to BS their way past product questions are immediately detected and dismissed by the prospect. ----more---- It’s estimated there are about 25 million p...
Mar 21, 2020•6 min•Ep. 71
