WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.720 --> 00:00:06.000 Are you holding yourself accountable to having those business conversations? If you look at 2 00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:11.720 where you're struggling now, is it because you're in the morass of sales conversations 3 00:00:11.800 --> 00:00:20.280 versus business conversations. You're listening to the audible Ready podcast, The show that 4 00:00:20.320 --> 00:00:25.199 helps you and your teams sell more Faster. Will feature sales leaders sharing their 5 00:00:25.239 --> 00:00:29.440 best insights on how to create a sales engine that helps you fuel repeatable revenue 6 00:00:29.440 --> 00:00:33.159 growth. Presented by the team at Force Management, a leader in B to 7 00:00:33.240 --> 00:00:39.079 B sales effectiveness. Let's get started. Hello and welcome to the Audible Ready 8 00:00:39.119 --> 00:00:43.119 Sales Podcast. I'm Rachel Klett Miller. Joining me today is John Kaplan. 9 00:00:43.200 --> 00:00:46.799 Hi, John, Hi, Rachel. Good to hear your voice. Yes, 10 00:00:47.000 --> 00:00:51.479 yours too. And for those of you out there listening, we know 11 00:00:51.880 --> 00:00:57.240 that you are still facing a lot of buyer scrutinies, skepticism, people tied 12 00:00:57.240 --> 00:01:03.320 with budgets, hesitancy to move forward with large initiatives. Maybe your contacts don't 13 00:01:03.359 --> 00:01:06.719 have this sign off power they used to have. You're having to make the 14 00:01:06.760 --> 00:01:11.920 case to more finance professionals, maybe the CFO, maybe other finance office people, 15 00:01:11.439 --> 00:01:15.280 and perhaps all of that has put you off a little bit and you're 16 00:01:15.400 --> 00:01:21.560 struggling with adjusting. So today we're going to level set on what you need 17 00:01:21.599 --> 00:01:26.519 to do to effectively maneuver through a landscape of increased buyer scrutiny, and we're 18 00:01:26.560 --> 00:01:33.719 going to frame it around having business conversations versus sales conversations. Yeah, I 19 00:01:33.799 --> 00:01:38.560 like it. Rachel, my dear friend and co host of the Revenue Builders 20 00:01:38.560 --> 00:01:44.159 podcast, talks about needing to get above the noise, and twenty twenty three 21 00:01:45.239 --> 00:01:49.159 was definitely in a lot of noise, especially in the tech sector. But 22 00:01:49.359 --> 00:01:53.799 if you're still feeling it, if you're still experiencing buyer hesitation in the marketplace, 23 00:01:53.439 --> 00:01:57.480 you're not alone. Because what I'm still hearing Rachel is there's increased competition. 24 00:01:57.760 --> 00:02:02.000 That's a good thing, but there's increased competition, and there's more competition 25 00:02:02.200 --> 00:02:07.480 on deals. They got to look at more people. There's remote managing and 26 00:02:07.519 --> 00:02:10.439 selling, which we've been dealing with since the pandemic, but that sometimes exacerbates 27 00:02:10.439 --> 00:02:15.400 itself from in difficulty or challenge, and you need coaching and development. That's 28 00:02:15.439 --> 00:02:21.919 a skill as a leader and as an employee that you really utilize that remote 29 00:02:22.560 --> 00:02:28.240 situation to your fullest advantage. We're hearing about longer and more complex sales cycles 30 00:02:28.280 --> 00:02:32.680 that have still continued even into the new year. We're hearing a lot about 31 00:02:32.840 --> 00:02:38.280 pressure on efficiency. Like there's a lot more talk about AI, there's a 32 00:02:38.319 --> 00:02:42.599 lot more talk about the tech stack, there's a lot more talk about tools 33 00:02:42.639 --> 00:02:46.159 that are improving efficiency. And again those aren't necessarily a bad thing. It's 34 00:02:46.199 --> 00:02:53.680 just stuff that you're dealing with internal handoffs across customer facing functions. When there's 35 00:02:53.719 --> 00:03:00.879 more and more people involved in a decision, there's more and more conversations taking 36 00:03:00.919 --> 00:03:05.800 place, there's more and more handoffs of conversation taking place, and so the 37 00:03:05.800 --> 00:03:10.240 need to really make sure that you have some continuity with these business conversations is 38 00:03:10.360 --> 00:03:16.400 very, very important. And sales organizations are under intense scrutiny. There was 39 00:03:16.479 --> 00:03:21.800 layoffs last year. It's not like to the days just coming out of that 40 00:03:21.879 --> 00:03:25.159 pandemic where people were just adding sales reps everywhere and you really didn't have to 41 00:03:25.159 --> 00:03:29.719 be accountable for productivity. And you know, those days, I don't think 42 00:03:29.719 --> 00:03:34.199 they're ever coming back. So again, let's focus the conversations today, Rachel, 43 00:03:34.199 --> 00:03:37.840 on how to utilize some of these challenges to our advantage by focusing on 44 00:03:38.639 --> 00:03:43.840 business conversations versus sales conversations. Yeah, and when we think about that difference 45 00:03:43.840 --> 00:03:50.520 between the sales conversations and the business conversations, there are some fundamental mindset shifts 46 00:03:50.719 --> 00:03:54.840 that we need to make if we are going to have the type of conversations 47 00:03:54.879 --> 00:04:00.360 that get around some of these challenges that we mentioned by our husbands increase scrutiny. 48 00:04:00.960 --> 00:04:04.199 So talk a little bit about the mindset we need to have to be 49 00:04:04.240 --> 00:04:10.560 successfully having business level conversation. Yeah, excellent. So for me, a 50 00:04:10.599 --> 00:04:15.639 sales conversation is focused on product features and functions, you know, showing a 51 00:04:15.680 --> 00:04:19.959 demo winning the deal, and as a result, that leads to frequent discounting, 52 00:04:20.279 --> 00:04:27.839 no decisions. You're stuck in longer and lower rings in an organization where 53 00:04:28.000 --> 00:04:31.439 sometimes these organizations at the low levels are crippled by what their bosses are telling 54 00:04:31.480 --> 00:04:35.319 them to do. There's just so many things that need to be prioritizing. 55 00:04:35.360 --> 00:04:39.879 Again, how do you raise above the noise? So, in contrast, 56 00:04:40.360 --> 00:04:45.839 a business conversation is focused on solving customer problems, creating customer value, and 57 00:04:45.879 --> 00:04:50.040 achieving the customer's desired outcomes. And then as a result, you're going to 58 00:04:50.079 --> 00:04:53.879 be able to charge a premium for your goods and services, and you're going 59 00:04:53.879 --> 00:04:57.800 to create urgency and you're going to get access to the economic buyer because you're 60 00:04:57.839 --> 00:05:01.600 talking about things that they care about. So the question that remains is for 61 00:05:01.839 --> 00:05:04.439 you just sitting there right now, in your car, on a walk, 62 00:05:04.480 --> 00:05:09.560 on a treadmill, wherever you are, are you holding yourself accountable to having 63 00:05:09.600 --> 00:05:14.600 those business conversations? If you look at where you're struggling now, is it 64 00:05:14.639 --> 00:05:20.600 because you're in the morass of sales conversations versus business conversations. Yeah. Sometimes 65 00:05:20.639 --> 00:05:25.240 we think we're doing a great job at having business conversations, like we feel 66 00:05:25.279 --> 00:05:27.240 like, yeah, I got it, I got it, But if we 67 00:05:27.360 --> 00:05:31.040 step back and really analyze it, we aren't or we're trying to have the 68 00:05:31.160 --> 00:05:35.639 right conversations with the wrong people. So help us get our minds right, 69 00:05:35.839 --> 00:05:41.439 John around key ways we can make sure we are holding ourselves accountable to having 70 00:05:41.439 --> 00:05:45.800 these type of business conversations. Well, I think one of the first things 71 00:05:45.800 --> 00:05:46.639 you have to do, Rachel, is you have to wake up in the 72 00:05:46.639 --> 00:05:53.160 morning and believe your job is to do two things. Is to attach yourself 73 00:05:53.199 --> 00:06:00.000 to the biggest business issues facing your customers, and it's to identify that different 74 00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:06.079 diferentiation that's most meaningful to your customer where you can influence it into the decision 75 00:06:06.120 --> 00:06:13.319 criteria. So attaching to big business issues and influencing your differentiation into your decision 76 00:06:13.319 --> 00:06:15.639 criteria, this is how you should be waking up. Let's take it a 77 00:06:15.639 --> 00:06:23.360 step further. If I really really want to understand what my customer is experiencing, 78 00:06:23.639 --> 00:06:27.800 I have to think about my job in terms of what problems am I 79 00:06:27.879 --> 00:06:31.319 solving for them? Not what features and functions am I providing for them? 80 00:06:31.720 --> 00:06:35.160 What problems am I solving for them? And it's kind of an outside and 81 00:06:35.199 --> 00:06:39.680 approach versus an inside out approach. Hang with me for just a second. 82 00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:45.199 So the outside and approach is what problems do I solve with my goods and 83 00:06:45.279 --> 00:06:47.439 services? Got to wake up in the morning and ask yourself that, and 84 00:06:47.439 --> 00:06:54.079 you've got to believe. Okay, Now, how specifically does my technology does 85 00:06:54.120 --> 00:06:59.480 my services? How does it solve those business problems? Okay? The next 86 00:06:59.480 --> 00:07:03.519 thing I got to say about is how do I solve those problems differently or 87 00:07:03.639 --> 00:07:09.240 better than my competition? Rachel, We've joked about it back in the PTC 88 00:07:09.439 --> 00:07:13.160 days when I told you I almost got beat on a deal because the competitor 89 00:07:13.240 --> 00:07:16.360 was so desperate at the end. They got the economic buyer to believe that 90 00:07:16.480 --> 00:07:20.959 a blue screen that I was providing in my graphical user interface was not as 91 00:07:20.959 --> 00:07:26.120 good as a green screen that they have been used to working on for thirty 92 00:07:26.240 --> 00:07:30.160 years with a competitive product. And I got to tell you, it almost 93 00:07:30.199 --> 00:07:33.639 stumped me. I thought it was a joke. Thank god, I caught 94 00:07:33.680 --> 00:07:36.480 myself and I asked, when in doubt, ask a question. And I 95 00:07:36.480 --> 00:07:41.959 asked the question, what problem does that create for you, mister missus economic 96 00:07:42.040 --> 00:07:45.439 buyer? And they were kind of very open and honest, and they just 97 00:07:45.480 --> 00:07:48.160 looked at me and said, I don't know specifically what the problem is. 98 00:07:48.199 --> 00:07:51.680 I think they're probably a little resistant to change. But John, at the 99 00:07:51.759 --> 00:07:57.600 end of the day, I'm not going to make them use your software that's 100 00:07:57.639 --> 00:08:00.800 not going to work. I'm not going to be the scapegoat does the CEO 101 00:08:00.879 --> 00:08:03.519 and say, you know, give them the opportunity to say you made us 102 00:08:03.560 --> 00:08:07.560 get this software and it doesn't work it you know, it sucks or what 103 00:08:07.639 --> 00:08:11.639 have you. So luckily Rachel went in doubt, I'm thinking about so what 104 00:08:13.040 --> 00:08:16.240 I'm just sitting there. So what I'm thinking in my mind, I didn't 105 00:08:16.240 --> 00:08:18.000 say it to the person, but in my mind, I'm like, so 106 00:08:18.240 --> 00:08:22.680 what what I mean by that is? So, what what does that do? 107 00:08:22.759 --> 00:08:28.160 What negative consequences? And I couldn't think of any for a blue screen, 108 00:08:28.839 --> 00:08:31.399 So I asked him this just happened to be a hymn in this example. 109 00:08:33.279 --> 00:08:37.320 So I asked the person. I said, mister missus economic buyer, 110 00:08:37.840 --> 00:08:43.960 can you tell me specifically we talked about you don't know what problems it creates, 111 00:08:45.840 --> 00:08:48.559 So I'm going to try to stack ring this criteria because I don't know 112 00:08:48.559 --> 00:08:52.399 what problems that creates either. So I think it's just maybe just a little 113 00:08:52.399 --> 00:08:54.919 hesitancy to move on to something new, and you know, and engineers in 114 00:08:56.039 --> 00:09:01.000 this example, they're more hesitant to adopt new things. So we both agreed 115 00:09:01.039 --> 00:09:03.759 on that, and I said, where would you put it on the prioritization? 116 00:09:03.320 --> 00:09:07.759 And I reminded him our number one differentiator. I didn't say it was 117 00:09:07.799 --> 00:09:11.440 our number differentiator, but I said their number one problem was they couldn't make 118 00:09:11.559 --> 00:09:16.600 changes and have it reflected everywhere in their process. Rachel, so, can 119 00:09:16.639 --> 00:09:20.519 you imagine having a group of engineers one working in you know, group working 120 00:09:20.600 --> 00:09:26.759 in design and one working in manufacturing. Design makes changes and manufacturing can't manufacture. 121 00:09:26.120 --> 00:09:30.240 Manufacturing doesn't go back to design and say, hey, we made these 122 00:09:30.360 --> 00:09:33.159 changes, so we have to update the drawings and make sure that you get 123 00:09:33.200 --> 00:09:37.360 it approved by the customer because we can't manufacture the way you drew up the 124 00:09:37.440 --> 00:09:41.399 designs. So we made those changes. Well, ninety nine percent of the 125 00:09:41.399 --> 00:09:46.960 time those changes were being happening in both design and manufacturing with neither one knowing 126 00:09:46.080 --> 00:09:50.159 so what was happening. It didn't fit the specifications for the prototypes when it 127 00:09:50.200 --> 00:09:54.799 would go back to customers, and customers, we'll reject them. So I 128 00:09:54.840 --> 00:09:58.240 started to get confidence just in my mind, you know, I reminded the 129 00:09:58.240 --> 00:10:01.200 customer about that problem that they have of not being able to make it a 130 00:10:01.759 --> 00:10:05.919 change and have it reflected everywhere. So I just asked Rachel, I said, 131 00:10:05.480 --> 00:10:09.080 can you tell me is that more important than green screen and the blue 132 00:10:09.080 --> 00:10:11.240 screen? And he just looked at me, like with a big smile on 133 00:10:11.320 --> 00:10:15.120 his face, and he said absolutely, kind of like, keep going, 134 00:10:15.679 --> 00:10:18.960 keep going, we're building our case here. And at the end he just 135 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:24.960 paid me a really really cool compliment and he said mister Kappa, and I 136 00:10:24.039 --> 00:10:31.200 wish we had more sellers like you guys. I wish we could differentiate ourselves 137 00:10:31.240 --> 00:10:33.159 in the marketplace like you do. So what's the moral of the story. 138 00:10:33.840 --> 00:10:37.519 You wake up in the morning, you attach the biggest business issues facing the 139 00:10:37.519 --> 00:10:43.360 customer. You understand how your differentiation can be influenced in the decision criteria and 140 00:10:43.399 --> 00:10:48.840 how that has a business impact on your customers. And when you're ready to 141 00:10:48.840 --> 00:10:52.759 do that, by then talking about how you do it, how you do 142 00:10:52.799 --> 00:10:56.480 it differently, what problems you solve, how specifically you solve them, how 143 00:10:56.480 --> 00:10:58.399 you solve them differently or better, and where you've done it before. And 144 00:10:58.440 --> 00:11:03.679 when you speak about where you've done it before, you speak about business results 145 00:11:03.039 --> 00:11:05.480 that a company has been able to get. So, for example, in 146 00:11:05.480 --> 00:11:09.679 this case, that company was able to reduce their time to market Rachel by 147 00:11:09.799 --> 00:11:16.200 fifty percent. For a manufacturer, that's gold. It's gold. So you 148 00:11:16.279 --> 00:11:18.919 got to wake up in the morning and believe that what you do for living 149 00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:22.799 matters, that it has business impact. I know, I just talked a 150 00:11:22.799 --> 00:11:26.279 lot there, Sorry about that. I'm kind of you know, I'm intense 151 00:11:26.279 --> 00:11:28.159 about it. Like, if you don't believe, why should anybody else. 152 00:11:28.200 --> 00:11:31.440 I think that's where you start. Yeah, and to your point, John, 153 00:11:31.519 --> 00:11:33.879 this is the playbook. You just got to run the playbook, and 154 00:11:33.919 --> 00:11:39.240 this is how you ensure and hold yourselves accountable to having business level conversations. 155 00:11:39.440 --> 00:11:43.960 These are also the type of conversations that make it easier to make the case 156 00:11:45.120 --> 00:11:48.279 to finance. I know that's something many of our sellers are finding themselves having 157 00:11:48.279 --> 00:11:52.480 to do, probably more and more. So let's just kind of talk about 158 00:11:52.480 --> 00:11:58.600 this topic with that, lens. What tips do you have for maybe a 159 00:11:58.799 --> 00:12:05.559 just seeing the business conversation with finance or elevating the right components when you're talking 160 00:12:05.559 --> 00:12:11.279 to finance. Well, the reality is today our opportunities are being scrutinized, 161 00:12:11.440 --> 00:12:16.080 way closer than they've ever been in the past. Twenty twenty three was it 162 00:12:16.120 --> 00:12:20.639 really started there and it's just continuing. There's just some good hygiene around. 163 00:12:20.279 --> 00:12:24.399 Let's make sure that we understand. Let's talk about what hasn't changed. Let's 164 00:12:24.399 --> 00:12:30.759 make sure that we understand the changes or the impacts to revenue, to cost, 165 00:12:31.440 --> 00:12:35.440 and to risk. That's as old as dirt. I don't care where 166 00:12:35.440 --> 00:12:39.159 you're selling, what you're selling, what time period you're selling in in history, 167 00:12:39.840 --> 00:12:46.639 revenue cost and risk from a financial perspective have always been criteria. So 168 00:12:46.679 --> 00:12:50.480 we have to understand how to speak about what we do for a living in 169 00:12:50.559 --> 00:12:56.919 ways that impacts customers revenue cost and risk. So if you're going to talk 170 00:12:56.919 --> 00:13:00.120 to a finance person, you better talk about that at their level. You 171 00:13:00.159 --> 00:13:03.840 get delegated to those that you sound like. So many people make the mistake 172 00:13:03.919 --> 00:13:09.080 Rachel going into a financial organization, going into a financial buyer of financial contact 173 00:13:09.519 --> 00:13:13.120 and talking to them about the features, about the use, about the differentiation 174 00:13:13.200 --> 00:13:16.440 of the technology. You get delegated to those that you sound like. They 175 00:13:16.480 --> 00:13:20.360 don't want to hear that. Financial people want to talk about revenue cost and 176 00:13:20.480 --> 00:13:24.159 risk. Right, So that hasn't changed, and it's just more intense. 177 00:13:24.200 --> 00:13:28.440 Now. What has changed a little bit is budgets are not the budget. 178 00:13:30.159 --> 00:13:35.600 Budgets are tight, budgets are scrutinized, But when people have business issues that 179 00:13:35.679 --> 00:13:41.360 are so intense that something bad can happen in the business itself, people will 180 00:13:41.399 --> 00:13:45.879 find budget money. So this is what I love about the times that we're 181 00:13:45.919 --> 00:13:52.159 in right now. There's huge scrutiny on spending and requests and company initiatives and 182 00:13:52.240 --> 00:13:56.320 there's huge spending on that, but there's so much more scrutiny, and I 183 00:13:56.360 --> 00:14:01.960 think the way that you raise your ability in these areas is be confident and 184 00:14:03.000 --> 00:14:07.279 convicted about the business impact of your solutions, which means you got to understand 185 00:14:07.279 --> 00:14:13.039 the business problems and here you have a platform and finance to really talk about 186 00:14:13.080 --> 00:14:16.559 it from a revenue, cost and risk perspective. Remember in a lot of 187 00:14:16.600 --> 00:14:20.360 episodes, Rachel, we talk about economic buyers making sure you know they have 188 00:14:20.480 --> 00:14:24.960 really three things in mind. How much, how soon and how sure? 189 00:14:24.320 --> 00:14:28.080 How much is this going to cost us? How soon are we going to 190 00:14:28.080 --> 00:14:31.000 get a return? And how sure are we that we can get that return 191 00:14:31.080 --> 00:14:35.519 with our people? And why can't we do this internally? Like, you 192 00:14:35.679 --> 00:14:39.759 have to have answers for these things when you talk to financial people because that's 193 00:14:39.799 --> 00:14:46.440 their language. So making sure do you quantify the benefits? You're speaking to 194 00:14:46.559 --> 00:14:52.039 risk mitigation, You're focusing on ROI and long term value. You're sharing case 195 00:14:52.080 --> 00:14:58.519 studies and references which highlight the business value of your solution, not features and 196 00:14:58.600 --> 00:15:03.519 benefit. That's powerful, but that's not how you want to talk to a 197 00:15:03.559 --> 00:15:07.519 financial person. You want to talk to them about those features and benefits turned 198 00:15:07.559 --> 00:15:13.679 into great financial impact on revenue, cost and risk, and then just being 199 00:15:13.720 --> 00:15:18.799 prepared to adjust your financial models to make them aligned to how your customer wants 200 00:15:18.840 --> 00:15:22.759 to buy, like our customers are changing man last year in our podcast, 201 00:15:22.799 --> 00:15:26.559 we talked to so many companies that so many companies are moving to a consumption 202 00:15:26.720 --> 00:15:31.879 model versus a subscription you know, or perpetual license. Why why are they 203 00:15:31.879 --> 00:15:37.399 doing that? Because that's where their customer is. Because a customer only wants 204 00:15:37.480 --> 00:15:39.240 to pay for when they turn the light on and when they turn the light 205 00:15:39.279 --> 00:15:43.360 off. Well, you've got to be aware of that and you have to 206 00:15:43.360 --> 00:15:48.519 be able to adjust your financial go to market models, adjust your financial models 207 00:15:48.559 --> 00:15:52.519 for your products and services which align to how your customer wants to buy. 208 00:15:52.600 --> 00:15:54.279 In the end, you got to meet your customer wherever they are. So 209 00:15:54.320 --> 00:15:58.399 those are some critical things, Rachel, I think we need to consider when 210 00:15:58.759 --> 00:16:03.000 you know, having a financial focus, that we have to make sure that 211 00:16:03.080 --> 00:16:06.519 we deliver for I think in twenty twenty four you're going to have a lot 212 00:16:06.559 --> 00:16:10.240 more conversations. Well, I hope you have a lot more conversations with financial 213 00:16:10.279 --> 00:16:14.559 people. If you're not having more conversations with financial people, you might be 214 00:16:14.559 --> 00:16:18.639 in trouble. One last thing, Aunt Rachel I like to encourage people go 215 00:16:18.720 --> 00:16:22.399 early to finance, not late. Go early to finance and get advice. 216 00:16:22.840 --> 00:16:26.879 Everybody loves to give advice for Rachel. So you go early to finance and 217 00:16:26.879 --> 00:16:29.559 you get in it, you get advice. Your champion can get you there, 218 00:16:29.759 --> 00:16:32.519 if they're truly a champion, they can get you there. If you 219 00:16:32.600 --> 00:16:34.559 go late, most times you're not going to be able to talk to the 220 00:16:34.600 --> 00:16:37.159 financial people. And the only thing they're going to do is they're going to 221 00:16:37.200 --> 00:16:41.559 critique your proposal. Why because that's what they do for a living. When 222 00:16:41.600 --> 00:16:45.159 I talk to financial people, that's what they hate about the job. People 223 00:16:45.200 --> 00:16:49.679 throw stuff on their desk with no qualification, no quantification, no understanding of 224 00:16:49.720 --> 00:16:52.879 the business impact, no understanding of where the budget money is going to come 225 00:16:52.879 --> 00:16:56.320 from. They're just, you know, they're putting the burden on the financial 226 00:16:56.360 --> 00:16:59.639 people to go find the money. That's not how it works in the real 227 00:16:59.679 --> 00:17:04.160 world. In the real world, you put together a financial justification, and 228 00:17:04.240 --> 00:17:07.920 you put together that financial justification, and you talk about how to structure that 229 00:17:07.920 --> 00:17:15.160 financial justification early with your financial influences, and then you will get advice. 230 00:17:15.759 --> 00:17:18.279 If not. You're going to get critique, and there's a whole heck of 231 00:17:18.279 --> 00:17:22.039 a lot more critique coming in twenty twenty four. Yes, that's for sure 232 00:17:22.599 --> 00:17:26.000 to some of the points that you made. What you're really trying to do 233 00:17:26.119 --> 00:17:32.799 here is build certainty in the purchase for the financial office, right. You 234 00:17:32.839 --> 00:17:38.200 want to position it so they have certainty that they're going to increase revenue, 235 00:17:38.240 --> 00:17:42.599 decrease costs, or mitigate their risk quick couple plugs. We have done some 236 00:17:42.799 --> 00:17:48.359 great events talking about selling to the CFO, so I will link them in 237 00:17:48.400 --> 00:17:52.119 the show notes. We have a great Revenue Builders episode with Murray Demo, 238 00:17:52.240 --> 00:17:56.559 who has been a CFO multiple times. We shared some great perspective in that 239 00:17:56.599 --> 00:18:02.440 conversation. And then on a center we did a live event with Jim Kellerer. 240 00:18:03.720 --> 00:18:06.839 Yeah, he was the CFO of DRE. That was our largest attended 241 00:18:07.160 --> 00:18:10.559 online event, wasn't it. Yes it was, And it's such a good 242 00:18:10.599 --> 00:18:15.640 conversation and he has a lot of gems there for you all as salespeople. 243 00:18:15.680 --> 00:18:18.200 So check out those two links in the show notes. And you know, 244 00:18:18.240 --> 00:18:22.839 John, we started this conversation talking about the importance of having business conversations versus 245 00:18:23.000 --> 00:18:29.880 sales conversations and if you do that right, all these other nuances that are 246 00:18:29.880 --> 00:18:33.960 going to show up in your deal making, the case to finance, selling 247 00:18:33.000 --> 00:18:37.319 to multiple decision makers, building the collective. Yes, all of that is 248 00:18:37.319 --> 00:18:41.680 going to become much easier if you have that business conversation rather than the sales 249 00:18:41.720 --> 00:18:45.400 conversation. So as we leave, leave us with the bottom line. Yeah, 250 00:18:45.440 --> 00:18:47.880 so you did awesome on that right. So that was a really really 251 00:18:47.920 --> 00:18:49.519 good recap. So at the end of the day, I think we just 252 00:18:49.920 --> 00:18:55.200 would be we're ready, and we prepare ourselves and we know we're responsible for 253 00:18:55.240 --> 00:18:56.799 a couple of things when we wake up in the morning. I have to 254 00:18:56.839 --> 00:19:00.200 wake up this morning and know that I have I have to attach myself to 255 00:19:00.240 --> 00:19:03.759 the biggest business issue facing a customer. I don't have to be the sole 256 00:19:03.839 --> 00:19:08.680 solution for that business issue. I have to be attached to it in some 257 00:19:08.880 --> 00:19:12.440 way. I have to use language that attaches me to it. I've got 258 00:19:12.440 --> 00:19:17.559 to get people emotionally connected to that attachment. This is what e lead sellers 259 00:19:17.559 --> 00:19:21.599 are doing right now. And the other thing that I have to do is 260 00:19:21.640 --> 00:19:25.559 I have to ask great discovery questions, which helps me set the stage for 261 00:19:25.640 --> 00:19:30.559 positioning my differentiation, and my job is to get that differentiation influenced into the 262 00:19:30.599 --> 00:19:34.759 decision criteria. I can't tell a customer this is what your decision criteria can 263 00:19:34.839 --> 00:19:38.960 be, but they can tell themselves that's what it can be. And by 264 00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:45.880 the way, nobody argues with their own conclusion, So when you ask questions 265 00:19:45.880 --> 00:19:48.039 that get people to their own conclusion, it's going to be their idea, 266 00:19:48.160 --> 00:19:52.160 not yours. That's what e lead sellers do. So the power of discovery. 267 00:19:52.279 --> 00:19:56.359 And then when you're ready to speak about what you do for a living, 268 00:19:56.000 --> 00:20:00.839 make sure that you talk about the problems that you solve. Make sure 269 00:20:00.880 --> 00:20:03.759 you talk about how specifically you solve those problems with your goods and services. 270 00:20:04.400 --> 00:20:07.640 Make sure you understand how you solve it differently or better than the rest of 271 00:20:07.680 --> 00:20:12.000 the world and the competition out there. And then be prepared to talk about 272 00:20:12.039 --> 00:20:17.839 where you've done it before, with great proof points, with great testimonials which 273 00:20:17.839 --> 00:20:22.359 speak to the business impact of your goods and services. And I think if 274 00:20:22.359 --> 00:20:26.400 you do that, you're going to have just an outstanding not only year, 275 00:20:26.519 --> 00:20:30.119 you're going to have an outstanding career. That's awesome. Let's go, thank 276 00:20:30.119 --> 00:20:33.759 you, John, Let's go all right, Thank you to all of you 277 00:20:33.839 --> 00:20:37.039 for listening to the Audible Ready Sales podcast. Check out the show notes. 278 00:20:37.400 --> 00:20:42.799 At Force Management, we're focused on transforming sales organizations into elite teams. Our 279 00:20:42.880 --> 00:20:49.440 proven methodologies deliver programs that build company alignment and fuel repeatable revenue growth. Give 280 00:20:49.480 --> 00:20:53.319 your teams the ability to execute the growth strategy at the point of sale. 281 00:20:53.799 --> 00:20:59.480 Our strength is our experience. The proof is in our results. Let's get 282 00:20:59.519 --> 00:21:03.559 started. Visit us at forestmanagement dot com. You've been listening to the Audible 283 00:21:03.599 --> 00:21:07.480 Ready podcast. To not miss an episode, subscribe to the show in your 284 00:21:07.519 --> 00:21:10.720 favorite podcast player. Until next time.