Have you spent endless hours putting together the perfect proposal only to not be chosen by the client? You are stuck wondering how you did not land the deal because your proposal was detailed, well put together and shared all of the information about your company. Well, you may have fallen into the common trap most proposals do. In this episode, I share with you the most important questions to ask and how to trap to avoid the common proposal traps. Using this method will show you how to focus o...
Nov 30, 2022•7 min•Season 20Ep. 318
On this Thanksgiving special, I take a look back at this year and share my gratitude for clients and lessons learned. Join me on this episode as I share some key sales tips of this year and how thankful I am for all of you in the Same Side Selling community. Looking for more guidance and support on handling all your B2B sales struggles? You can connect with Ian Altman and learn more about the Same Side Selling Academy through the links below: Linkedin Twitter Website Email : ian@ianaltman.com...
Nov 23, 2022•6 min•Season 20Ep. 317
Have you been working on a deal for weeks but it feels like its dragging on and there doesn't seem to be any urgency? You may be making the common mistake of not asking the one question for success. In this week's episode, I share with you the one question to ask to determine whether the potentials clients problems are worth solving. Using this method, you can prevent wasting time on client's who do not have urgency and do not see your expertise in solving their problems. Quotes: "Effective sale...
Nov 16, 2022•6 min•Season 20Ep. 316
Are you doing cold outreach but getting zero responses? Cold outreach can be a great tool in generating new leads. However, it can also be detrimental to your business if you aren't executing it properly. In this week's episode, I share with you the many mistakes salespeople fall into when doing cold outreach and how you can fine tune your practice to increase your response rate. By using these two simple strategies I share with you in this episode, you will be able to capture a potential client...
Nov 09, 2022•8 min•Season 20Ep. 315
When you are recruiting talent, are you searching for candidates who fit objective criteria? This is one common mistake across sales organizations when growing their sales teams. Although you do want to make sure you have a qualified candidate, you also want to make sure you are recruiting sales people who are looking for the same culture and environment that you are investing in as a company. In this week’s episode, I share with you the best practices when recruiting talent to find candidates w...
Nov 02, 2022•8 min•Season 20Ep. 314
A voicemail is an opportunity for you to pique a potential client’s interest. However, many fall into common traps that inevitably set them up for failure. In this week’s episode, I am going to share with you 3 common traps I see sales people fall into with voicemails. Join me in this conversation as I give you tips on the best strategy when calling potential clients and voicemails to help increase your business growth and get on the same side as your clients. Quotes: “The second trap they fall ...
Oct 26, 2022•9 min•Season 20Ep. 313
Are you making useful time with your sales kickoff meeting or are you just presenting your team with information you could deliver in a video or email? One of the biggest mistakes I see organizations make is not productively using their sales kickoff meeting to uncover what struggles or challenges they are facing. You want to utilize a sales kickoff meeting to energize, boost sales and hit the ground running but you can only do that when you give your team the tools to grow their business. In th...
Oct 19, 2022•7 min•Season 20Ep. 312
It is key that you are effectively communicating with your team, clients and potential customers. You want to make sure your message is being heard and your passion or emotion behind the words is being properly construed. In this episode, Darcy Webb, The Speech Diva, shares some key takeaways on how to effectively communicate better. During this episode, Darcy will share different exercises you can do to make sure you are properly communicating when speaking by correctly using your mouth and fac...
Oct 12, 2022•22 min•Season 20Ep. 311
How do you structure a successful sales organization? Do you focus vertically? Geographically? These are questions I am asked frequently and the answer may surprise you. There are many variables that affect your sales organization I am asked about from lead generation and qualifying leads to the sales process and scaling. In today’s episode, I am going to break down each of these factors along with a key formula for you to follow. This formula will allow you to implement a successful sales organ...
Oct 05, 2022•10 min•Season 20Ep. 310
Customer experience is important for retaining clients. When something goes wrong, it actually opens an opportunity to deliver a great experience for the customer. The recovery you have can better the experience the customer has when working with you. We can all learn something when things don’t go right, we have a choice to recover and make a positive impact or neglect the problem and lose trust with our clients. In addition, we can also do small things with little cost to make the customer exp...
Sep 28, 2022•13 min•Season 20Ep. 309
Are you losing deals to no decision? In recent research, it is found that 40% to 60% of deals for the average salesperson are lost to no decision due to the client sticking with the status quo. In 2020 after going 100% virtual overnight, sales calls went from in person to Zoom. Matt Dixon, while working at a machine learning company, was able to study sales meetings from several companies to determine some of the biggest pressing problems salespeople are facing. In this episode, Matt Dixon share...
Sep 23, 2022•34 min•Season 20Ep. 308
Are you looking for a referral to help your business or to help potential clients? The recipient of a referral should never feel like the client has done you a favor. Instead, your potential client should feel that they are getting the favor. But how do you do this? In this week’s episode, I share with you the exact approach when seeking out a referral from a client as well as see dramatic growth in your business. Quotes: “We don't look for referrals until we've confirmed that we've delivered re...
Sep 14, 2022•10 min•Season 20Ep. 307
Proposals are an old school way of thinking. Now hear me out, if you could bypass the proposal stage and go right to an agreement, would you do it? In this week’s episode, I share with you how you can let go of the need to always send a proposal and start working towards a negotiation and agreement with a potential client. Instead of sharing your ideas on how you can solve their problems, this method helps you to uncover their true needs, urgency and the exact approach you’d take to solve their ...
Sep 07, 2022•7 min•Season 20Ep. 306
You receive an RFP, how can you tell whether it is an actual potential lead or a waste of resources? Most procurement people know exactly who their preferred vendor is before sending an RFP. So how can you set yourself apart and not end up just being a column fodder for comparison? In this week’s episode, I share with you the exact approach to increase your chances of being chosen from the RFP and the questions you can ask to set yourself apart. Quotes: “When they're asking you to participate in...
Aug 31, 2022•10 min•Season 20Ep. 305
Have you explained your products or services after a client asks without first asking about their situation? If so, you have probably fallen into a common sales trap. Without finding out the potential client's problem, their urgency or how you can solve it, you are setting yourself up for the dreaded silent follow up. In this week’s episode, I share with you the exact questions and approach you need to take when talking to potential clients to set yourself apart and as the solution they need. Qu...
Aug 24, 2022•8 min•Season 20Ep. 304
Are you doing your research before reaching out to potential connections on LinkedIn or are you making the common mistake of sending mass messages? When reaching out to potential clients, you want to make sure you are not only making a genuine connection but have also properly done the research just as you would before hopping on a sales call. You want to make sure you are reaching out to share your expertise to help them and not connecting with a client just to sell. LinkedIn is a marathon, not...
Aug 17, 2022•10 min•Season 20Ep. 303
Have you ever had a potential client come to you and say, “we spoke before about what your company does, we are ready to buy, just send us a quote and we will get right back to you because we are excited to start”? Afterward, you hang up the phone pumped thinking you just scored an easy win and after you send the quote, they go silent. All the sudden, you are confused about what happened since they said themselves they were ready to buy and now you are left with the dreaded followup. So what wen...
Aug 10, 2022•9 min•Season 20Ep. 302
If you invest in a program and don’t see results, you are hurting your sales organization because they begin to think that the trainings are a waste of time. When you invest in a program, there are key factors you want to consider beforehand. In this week’s episode, I dive into how you can understand your organization’s biggest problem areas as well as make sure the training has a reinforceable process for your team to follow. The only way to true success and to see the needle being moved for yo...
Aug 04, 2022•10 min•Season 20Ep. 301
Welcome to the 300th episode! I am thrilled on this episode to share with you some of the many success stories from the Same Side Selling Academy. I am not sharing with you the wins we have on our end but the wins our client’s have had throughout their time learning and implementing the Same Side Selling techniques. These success stories are from Academy members who show up consistently to learn, practice and follow a proven process to put the client’s results first and show they are here to sol...
Jul 27, 2022•8 min•Season 21Ep. 300
Have you ever forecasted a deal to happen and the clients seem excited to work with you and all the sudden they stop returning your calls or emails? Or maybe they do respond but they let you know they have to push the deal out 1,2 or 3 months? You were certain this deal was going to happen but now you are confused and wondering what caused this sudden delay. In this week’s episode, I share with you the approaches you can use to qualify your leads to uncover their level of urgency and commitment ...
Jul 20, 2022•8 min•Ep. 299
There is a difference between the top sales performers and the people in the middle, effective training. There are three main components to a high performing sales training program and in this episode I share with you exactly how you can replicate that for your own business. We are honored that the Same Side Selling Academy is ranked in the top five sales programs globally but with that did not come mistakes early on. In this episode, I will not only share the formula to an effective and high pe...
Jul 13, 2022•10 min•Ep. 298
You gather all this information from meetings for your pipeline reports, but do you keep falling into the trap of the client choosing another vendor, pricing difficulties or they ghost you? If so, you may be falling into these common pipeline traps that don’t actually ask or measure the necessary information to move the needle. In this week’s episode, I share with you the exact questions you should be asking and the evaluations you should be making to increase the chance of a potential client ch...
Jul 06, 2022•9 min•Ep. 297
Have you encountered the VP of Business Prevention, the person who always finds a way to kill a deal? Instead of complaining about this person, you need to alter your approach to selling your product or service. You want to focus on discovering what key factors are important to this key decision maker and how you can best present your product or service to solve their problem. In this week’s episode, I share exactly how you can gain transparency and trust with the VP of Business Prevention to in...
Jun 29, 2022•9 min•Ep. 296
The customer experience has changed over the past few years. The expectations for access, immediacy, flexibility and convenience as customers have shifted and we must learn how to differentiate ourselves from competitors. In this week’s episode, Ian is joined by David Avrin. David is one of the most in-demand Customer Experience speakers and consultants in the world today. David Avrin, CSP, Global Speaking Fellow, has shared his content-rich, entertaining and actionable presentations with enthus...
Jun 23, 2022•28 min•Ep. 295
Scheduling a demo shouldn’t be your goal, piquing the interest of executives with the problems you solve should be your biggest priority. To successfully generate sales after demos, you want to focus on piquing interest, determine if you are a good fit and deliver evidence that you can provide results. In this week’s episode, I share how you can shorten sales cycles and have clients less concerned about price by using the Same Side Selling approach. Quotes: “Instead of focusing on what it is tha...
Jun 15, 2022•7 min•Ep. 294
A common mistake executives make after coming up with a new product or service offering is trying to hire a sales team before knowing exactly how or why your customer would buy the offering. How can you hire any sales team before understanding what moves the needle for your potential client? In this week’s episode, I share with you a formula to follow that allows you to understand your potential client’s problems and messaging as well as how to hire a team and develop processes for success. Quot...
Jun 08, 2022•8 min•Ep. 293
When asking your clients questions, are you framing your questions to elicit the response you want to hear or to get the truth? One common trap that people fall into is trying to get people to agree with us. However, if you ask your clients questions with more skepticism, you can begin to uncover the truth. In this episode, I share how pivoting the way you ask your client’s questions can help gain transparency, build trust and increase your success. Quotes: “Effective sales is not about persuasi...
Jun 01, 2022•6 min•Ep. 292
Are you aware of what the potential is for SEO for your business? Are you currently using SEO but making one of these common mistakes? In today’s episode, Eli Schwartz, previous leader of SEO at Survey Monkey and author of Product Lead SEO, shares how you can properly use SEO for your B2B company. Eli discusses what exactly product lead SEO is, what types of businesses shouldn’t use SEO, how to properly implement SEO to increase sales revenue. Quotes: “When I think about SEO, and the potential f...
May 25, 2022•26 min•Ep. 291
LinkedIn is a useful platform for reaching potential clients but are you making this common mistake? When reaching out to potential clients, you want to make sure you are not only making a genuine connection but have also properly done the research just as you would before hopping on a sales call. In this week’s episode, I share how you can use LinkedIn to build your connections and reputation rather than destroy it with terrible automated messaging. Quotes: “use LinkedIn as a platform to build ...
May 18, 2022•9 min•Ep. 290
Are your old sales approaches for reaching out to prospects not working anymore post pandemic? Since we can no longer rely on showing up at someone's office, facility or factory and use our charisma or personality to quickly connect with our potential clients, we must change our approach. In today's episode, I share how you can pivot your approach by showing up to solve your client’s problems, not just sell. By using the Same Side Selling principles, you can disarm the notion that you are only t...
May 11, 2022•9 min•Ep. 290
