Agile Selling: How to Quickly Win with Buyers Today

August 6, 2014 by

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This Old New Business Podcast with Jeff KorhanThis is Episode 3 of This Old New Business weekly business podcast with Jeff Korhan.

Join me and Jill Konrath as we tackle some of the challenges of selling that are just as relevant today as  they have been for probably most of the modern era of marketing.

If you want to know how to sell in today’s ever-changing environment, you will want to listen to this the conversation. Forget about becoming an overnight selling success and learn from Jill what really works.

Agile selling isn’t just the title of Jill’s book, it’s what we all need to be doing to be relevant to buyers whose expectations are higher than ever.

Our Featured Guest: Jill Konrath

Jill Konrath is the bestselling author of SNAP Selling, Selling to Big Companies – and recently released, Agile Selling.

Jill’s expertise has been featured by ABC News, Fortune, Forbes, The New York Times, Inc, and many others. She’s full of great advice and fresh strategies for winning NEW customers in today’s evolving sales environment.

Close the Marketing to Sales Gap

Jill believes there is an inherent gap between marketing and sales because their respective charters are usually quite different. Marketing is often tasked with creating awareness, with sales responsible for closing deals that bring in revenue.

Agile Selling with Jill KonrathCustomers these days often do not differentiate between marketing and sales, which means organizations need to get everyone working together. Episode 1 guest John Jantsch noted that sharing the responsibility for social media communications is an ideal place to begin.

Jill points out that more deals are lost because the customer fails to make a decision. Getting mixed signals from the sales and marketing teams is certainly one reason for buyers to choose the very common version of saying no – staying with the status quo.

Ask Customers How You Can Serve Them Better

Like many other sales and marketing pros, Jill strongly encourages learning as much as you can about your buyers. This means going beyond published information to ask important questions.

Is your business aware of how it can help your customer at every stage of the buying cycle? This is absolutely necessary if you expect to differentiate your business in selling situations. Asking the tough questions that others are not is a powerful way to earn their attention and trust.

Learn to be a Quick Learner

According to Jill Konrath, the most reliable way for succeeding at sales is to simply be useful and helpful. Her recommendation is to learn to be a quick learner. Agile Selling

Jill notes that even at the executive level, studies show the one core skill for success is the ability to be a quick learner. This requires focused attention and disciplined methods for learning. This could be as simple as making learning a game that challenges your perceived limits.

We all make mistakes in our work, but developing a practice of learning enough from them to then never repeat the same mistake is a habit of agile sellers. It’s actually the foundation for success in every endeavor, while also being a surefire practice for refining your selling process.

Lighting Round Tips and Advice

Jill’s Top Sales or Marketing Advice – Learn how to learn.

Her Favorite Productivity Tip – Protect yourself against distractions.

A Quote that has Inspired Jill’s Success – “Never say never.”

Key Take-Aways

  • Learn how to help your buyer at every stage of the buying cycle.
  • Differentiate your business in selling situations by simply being helpful
  • Learn more about Jill and her many selling resources at JillKonrath.com
  • Check out Jill’s Fresh Sales Strategies LinkedIn Group

How to subscribe to This Old New Business podcast

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How is your business adapting its selling practices to an environment where buyers have new expectations?

About the Author:  Jeff Korhan, MBA, is the author of Built-In Social: Essential Social Marketing Practices for Every Small Business and host of This Old New Business podcast.

He helps mainstream businesses adapt their traditional growth practices to a digital world. Connect with Jeff on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Google+

Podcast Launch: This Old New Business with Jeff Korhan

July 30, 2014 by

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This is the official launch of our new weekly podcast show: This Old New Business.

I know, it’s a curious title.

Until you get to know the show better, just think of it as the serious podcast with the funny name!

The title of the show may at first appear to be a contradiction, when in fact it’s a reflection of a prevailing shift in the marketplace. The line between old and new and what’s relevant in business is blurring, and you’ll discover our guest experts enjoy bringing some clarity to the equation.

We hope you join us every join.

About The Show

This Old NEW Business is a weekly podcast show featuring sales and marketing like John Jantsch, Chris Brogan, and Jill Konrath sharing how businesses are successfully taking old practices for building profits, and making them new again –  by adapting to a digital, social, and global environment.

Many of us have to some extent resisted this transition, but we now of course realize

Our guests will be sharing inspiring stories and case studies from their experience working with real companies that have successfully made the transition to what works in business today.

Our first episodes with John Jantsch and Chris Brogan are now published, with Jill Konrath set to go live this week.

To download and listen to them more quickly, head over to iTunes or Stitcher.  If you search for it instead, you’ll find This Old New Business with Jeff Korhan under the Business category. Come back to JeffKorhan.com/podcasts for the show notes. That’s where you’ll find links to everything mentioned in the show.

Once we settle into a rhythm, the show will publish every Friday morning (North America time). However, to get things off to a running start we are publishing two episodes this week, with the third  and fourth close behind next week.

We Are Having a Contest!

Let’s have some fun with this.

To show our appreciation for you helping us get the word out, I’ll give away 12 signed copies of my book Built-In Social: Essential Social Marketing Practices for Every Small Business. This is a hard copy book that will be shipped, so I’ll have to limit the winners to the United States and Canada.

For my international friends only, I’ve got a complimentary 30-minute consultation with me via Skype.

You choose the topic. You will have to speak English of course. If your bandwidth is low or you are challenged with the English language, we can confine it to a Skype text chat.

www.builtinsocial.com

Here’s all you have to do. 

  1. Head over to iTunes
  2. Download and listen to the show
  3. Leave a rating and review on iTunes
  4. Email me a screenshot of your review at [email protected]

I’ll leave the contest open through 6:00 PM August 15th, Chicago time.

Special Thanks

Regular readers know this podcast has been in the planning for some time now. I’d like to thank Mike Stelzner for first planting the idea when I was a guest on his Social Media Marketing Podcast.  Thanks also to John Lee Dumas for inspiring me to ignite at his daily Entrepreneur on Fire Podcast, but more importantly for the step-by-step guidance available his Podcast Paradise member community. Finally, thanks to Craig Price, host of the The Reality Check Podcast for invaluable last minute help to bring it all home.

Just as these friends have graciously shared their expertise and experience to help me move my business to the next level, This Old New Business with Jeff Korhan promises to do the same for you. Our upcoming special guests are leading experts on Facebook, Google+, content marketing, local small business, SEO, and more.

So, please stay tuned or head over to iTunes or Stitcher now to give it a listen.

One more thing: To get timely updates to your email inbox, please subscribe here.

How To Listen and Subscribe to Podcasts on iTunes and Stitcher

Since launching my podcast I’ve learned that podcasting is new to a lot of people. So, I’ve put together a video tutorial that will show you how to listen and subscribe to podcasts on iTunes and Stitcher using your computer or mobile device. And while there, how to leave a rating or review, as well as why those reviews are so helpful for those of us trying to spread the word.

 

About the Author:  Jeff Korhan, MBA, is the author of Built-In Social: Essential Social Marketing Practices for Every Small Business – (Wiley)  

He helps mainstream businesses adapt their traditional growth practices to a digital world. Connect with Jeff on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.