Sales Gravy: Jeb Blount

By: Jeb Blount
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  • Summary

  • From the author of Fanatical Prospecting and the company that re-invented sales training, the Sales Gravy Podcast helps you win bigger, sell better, elevate your game, and make more money fast.
    2024 Jeb Blount, All Rights Reserved
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Career Success Economics Leadership Marketing
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Episodes
  • Reflection vs Regret | Money Monday

    Reflection vs Regret | Money Monday
    Dec 23 2024
    For me, the last full week of the year has always been the chance to pause, take a break from the grind of selling, and really think about what happened over the past year—the good, the bad, and the ugly. If you are anything like me and do the same, there are two ways to look back on your last twelve months. You can do so with regret or reflection. These two opposing lenses are vastly different in the way they affect your view of where you’ve been and where you are going. Regret Let’s start by unpacking regret. Some of you are already feeling regret about goals you missed, deals you lost, opportunities that slipped through your fingers, or the people in your life you may have let down. Regret is that feeling you get when you look back on something you did (or didn’t do) and wish you could change it. In many ways, regret is similar to worry, except it’s focused on the past instead of the future. Worry is about what might happen; regret is about what already happened. That’s a big distinction. Although you can turn worry into action and change the future, you cannot rewrite the past. No amount of regret changes history. All it does is create a feedback loop in your mind where you keep reliving your mistakes, misses, and failures over and over again. Stuck in the Endless Loop of Regret I’ve observed so many people get stuck in this endless loop of regret. They keep lamenting, "If only I had . . ." "made that call,” “handled that prospect differently,” “taken that chance,” “been there or done that.” Those “if onlys” can paralyze you. They sap your energy, crush your confidence, and keep you from moving forward. On one hand, regret can push you to change—you don’t want to feel that kind of pain again, so you work hard to avoid repeating the same mistakes. On the other hand, regret can become a debilitating emotion that drags you into an exhausting and useless mental loop of “would’ve, could’ve, should’ve.” But no matter how many times you complete that loop, it doesn’t change the outcome. It becomes an emotional anchor that weighs you down as you start the new year. Reflection Reflection, on the other hand, is entirely different—and far more productive. When you reflect, you detach from your emotions with objectivity to look at your entire body of work from the past year. You’re asking the questions, “What went well? What didn’t go so well? What did I learn?” You consider the wins that made you proud and the moments you’d rather forget. You figure out why you won so you can repeat those winning behaviors. You extract value from the lessons of failure. Reflection isn’t about punishing yourself for what went wrong. It’s about gaining clarity on why it went wrong—and what you can do about it next time. Reflection Creates Awareness Reflection also helps you find gratitude in unexpected places. Maybe there’s a hidden lesson in overcoming an obstacle or perhaps you gained a new perspective because a challenging person came into your life. It’s important to realize that each decision you made over the past year shaped your present circumstances. But you are not defined by these circumstances, only by how you respond to them. Reflection creates awareness. Where there is awareness there is the potential for change. Awareness is like the sun, anything it touches has a tendency to transform. The bottom line is that reflection is about learning, growing and transforming. Regret is stagnation. Why Reflection Matters at Year End The reason I’m talking about the impact of reflection as we close out this year is because for most of us, the slate really does feel clean come January 1st. In the sales world, we get a brand-new quota and brand-new targets. There’s an air of possibility as we think, “This year is going to be different. “This year, I’m going to crush my numbers.” “Hit my income targets.” “Make it to President’s club.”
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    12 mins
  • The Art of Outreach: Strategies for Modern Sales Prospecting feat. Alex Niswander

    The Art of Outreach: Strategies for Modern Sales Prospecting feat. Alex Niswander
    Dec 19 2024
    In this episode of The Sales Gravy Podcast, discover how Alex Niswander used the Fanatical Prospecting framework to maximize outreach and build meaningful client relationships. Learn about creative touchpoints, High-Intensity Prospecting call blocking (HIPs), and actionable tips to fill, move, and close your sales pipeline effectively. Key Takeaways: – Multiple Touchpoints for Better Engagement: Combining weekly calls, text messages, and video messages in a month-long sequence creates many cell phone interactions, helping to maintain visibility with prospects. – Text Messaging as a Follow-Up Tool: Texting becomes effective later in the process, especially after leaving voicemails or sending emails, as it creates a softer approach to earning a prospect’s time rather than jumping in and selling immediately. – Personalized Video Messages: Video messages create an opportunity to add a human touch to prospecting by showing prospects there’s a real person behind the outreach. – Call Blocking to Maximize Productivity: High-Intensity Prospecting (HIP) sessions involve short, focused sprints of 15-30 minutes dedicated to making as many calls as possible, ensuring consistent and impactful outreach. – The 90-Day Prospecting Payoff: Prospecting efforts often show results after 90 days, emphasizing the importance of daily consistency to maintain a steady pipeline of opportunities. – Building Respect Through Personalization: Small gestures, like sending photos or handwritten notes, help prospects feel valued, making them more likely to engage and build trust with the salesperson. – Balancing Sales Activities: Effective prospecting balances three essential activities—filling, moving, and closing the pipeline—to ensure steady progress and avoid periods of downtime or overwork by planning your time effectively. – Fundamentals Still Deliver Results: Basic strategies, like leaving business cards or sending physical mail, remain effective over time. – Creativity in Prospecting: Unique and memorable approaches, such as sending coffee with a note, can differentiate outreach efforts and leave lasting impressions. The Power of Multiple Touchpoints When it comes to prospecting, repetition and persistence are the name of the game. A well-structured outreach plan includes multiple touchpoints, particularly through cell phone communication. Over a month, combining calls, text messages, and video messages can result in many meaningful interactions. Each touchpoint serves to maintain visibility with prospects and gently guide them toward engagement. Using Text Messaging Effectively Texting has become a more accepted form of communication, especially post-COVID. While it may not be appropriate for the first interaction, texting later in the process can be effective. The goal of these messages is to earn a prospect's time rather than immediately sell a product or service. For example, following up on a voicemail with a polite and informative text can soften the approach and make the interaction feel less intrusive. Video Messaging for a Human Touch Video messaging is another way to connect with prospects. Including a short, personalized video message in a text or email can make outreach more human and relatable. It doesn't require additional content, recording and sending a video version of a voicemail can have a significant impact. Video messages show prospects that there is a real person behind the communication, which can increase the likelihood of securing a meeting. Expanding Communication Channels Relying on emails or LinkedIn messages limits opportunities to engage with prospects. A diverse approach, including calls, texts, and even creative methods like mailing physical items, increases touch points and keeps the process dynamic. For instance, sending a photo of yourself outside your prospect’s local franchise location or mailing a small, personalized gift demonstrates effort and creativity.
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    49 mins
  • Sell More With a Personal Business Plan

    Sell More With a Personal Business Plan
    Dec 16 2024
    Over the past two months the team at Sales Gravy has been working hard on our business plan for next year. Like so many other companies, we build an annual business plan because we need to know where we’re going and how to get there. We’re not leaving our fate to chance. Our business plan is compass that helps us navigate and stay on track to reach our goals. Randomness is the Enemy of Effectiveness But what about you? Have you ever stopped to think that you need the exact same thing for your upcoming sales year? Without a plan, it’s easy to drift and fall into randomness—just waking up every day and hoping something good happens. But here’s the deal: Randomness is the enemy of effectiveness. If you don’t set a clear direction, you’ll never hit the target you’re aiming for. You’ll be like a boat without a rudder—drifting and, eventually, ending up someplace you never intended to go. Yogi Berra said it best: “If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll end up someplace else.” Trust me, “someplace else” isn’t where you want to be at the end of next year. Adopt a CEO Mindset The difference between average salespeople and top performers often comes down to one key mindset: top performers don’t act like employees; they think like entrepreneurs. The moment you start treating your territory as if it’s your own business, your mindset changes. You stop feeling like a cog in the wheel and start seeing yourself as the driver, not the passenger. Your company shoulders the big financial risks—providing you with the product, the brand, the support. But you own your market, solve the problems, and build relationships that turn into revenue. You own your time and results. That’s the entrepreneurial mindset. Creating Your Personal Buisness Plan Starts With A Vision To create your personal business plan, you start your vision. Where do you want to be a year from now? What do you want to accomplish in your territory or area of responsibility? What income do you want you earn? What awards do you want to win? What does winning look like? Define it. Get crystal clear. Then think about your values. What do you stand for? What kind of impact do you want to make? What kind of relationships do you want to build? How will you show up for your clients, team members, and company every single day? Once you’ve nailed this down, put your strategy in place. Break your territory into logical quadrants so that you know where you’ll be investing time each day. Identify the industry verticals that have the highest potential. Pinpoint your ideal customers. Segment your prospects and customers into High Potential, Medium Potential, and Low Potential. Create a list of your top ten dream accounts, 25-50 conquest accounts, and 100-500 high potential and medium potential targeted accounts. This will help you attack your territory with a targeted vs random approach. Identify your key competitors and do an analysis of each of their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Then do the same for yourself. Define your daily battle rhythm, disciplines, and activities that drive pipeline growth. Get intentional about your priorities and how you manage your calendar. After all, time is your greatest asset and as the CEO of you, your time is money. Once you have clarity on your vision and strategy, get granular. A vision without action is just a fantasy. Break Your Personal Business Plan Into Small Steps to Success Break your plan down into achievable goals. I’m a fan of activity-based metrics because you can control them. This is about setting standards that become non-negotiable habits. The key is to choose metrics that move the needle on revenue and are fully within your contro You can’t always control who picks up the phone or who says yes, but you can control how many doors you knock on, how many calls you make,
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    12 mins

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