This week's show - Laser-focused on success from “Hello” to “Value Realization”
Tune in to "The Making SEAMless Sales Show" featuring Art Fromm, founder and owner of Team Sales Development (TSD) to learn about sales, persuasion, and influence, increasing revenues, margins, win-rate, and client-success.
✅ Updates and Insights from Art - 10 minutes.
✅ Guest speaker - 30 Minutes
✅ “Dear Arty” - 10 Minutes. Just like the "Dear Abby" column where viewers submitted life challenge questions, we’re looking for your sales challenges or questions which Art will answer live on the show.
Please submit your questions, challenges, or show ideas here: www.teamsalesdevelopment.com/contact-tsd/
Our special guest this week is Candi Gray - a corporate technology sales and account management for nearly 20 years specializing in electronic security system installations. Candi is engaged with clients from "hello" to "Value Realization" and expansion.
We'll discuss the many roles Candi handles during an engagement, the pros and cons of having this responsibility, and the lessons learned, whether you're in presales or sales.
Candi was also an early reviewer and implementer of the concepts in Art's "Making SEAMless Sales" book including the complimentary worksheet that readers can utilize to implement the methods for their live opportunities.
For more information visit www.teamsalesdevelopment.com/12-week-podcast-series-on-talkradio-nyc/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/candigray/
#presales #sales #SalesManagement #SalesEnablement #SEAMlessSales
Tune in for this informative conversation at TalkRadio.nyc
In this episode, Art Fromm emphasizes that successful B2B and complex sales require reducing friction for buyers by ensuring smooth communication and handoffs across the many roles in the sales process. He highlights that when sales engineers and account managers work together seamlessly, win rates can increase by up to 37%, but too often disjointed communication leads to frustration for both clients and internal teams. The key takeaway for individuals and companies in sales is to properly document and share client information—ideally through a CRM system—so buyers experience a consistent, value-driven journey rather than a fragmented one.
In this segment, Art Fromm introduces his guest, Candy Gray, a National Account Manager who manages every stage of the sales cycle—from prospecting and discovery through implementation and long-term service. Candy explains how being the single point of contact for clients increases efficiency, reduces confusion, and builds trust, leading to shorter sales cycles and multi-year partnerships with national organizations. She emphasizes that continuity, asking the right questions, and clear communication not only strengthen customer relationships but also ensure that expectations are exceeded and future opportunities naturally grow.
In this segment, Art Fromm and Candy Gray highlight how maintaining continuity throughout the entire client lifecycle shortens sales cycles, builds trust, and drives repeat business. Candy shared that after reading Making Seamless Sales, she doubled down on positioning herself as a constant presence in every meeting and touchpoint, which gave her a competitive advantage over rivals who left clients feeling confused and disconnected. The key lesson for sales professionals and companies is that seamless teamwork—whether through one dedicated account manager or a well-aligned group—ensures clear communication, stronger relationships, and long-term client success.
In the final segment, Art Fromm tackled a listener’s “Dear Artie” question about dealing with nepotism and favoritism in organizations, offering strategies like influencing key inner-circle members, identifying relevant executives with the most to gain or lose, and framing ideas around their motivations and risks. He emphasized the importance of persistence, reframing proposals to show broader business impact, and leveraging informal influencers rather than going around decision makers. Art closed by thanking Candy Gray for her insights, previewing next week’s guest on sales and pre-sales collaboration, and encouraging listeners to access resources on TeamSalesDevelopment.com to strengthen their sales effectiveness.
00:00:37.650 --> 00:00:50.330 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: Hello, everybody, and welcome back. Welcome to show… episode 3 of the Making Seamless Sales show. I'm Art Fromm, coming to you live from Mars, Pennsylvania, which is just north of Pittsburgh.
00:00:50.390 --> 00:00:58.230 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: In case anybody knows about that, or you may have come through here, we actually do have a flying saucer in our little town.
00:00:58.230 --> 00:01:10.820 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: It's quite a tourist attraction, in our one-street little town, but yeah, we're right by Pittsburgh. Anyway, really good that everybody's able to join last week and watch some of the recordings.
00:01:10.820 --> 00:01:29.310 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: If you're watching this recording, thank you very much. We've got plenty of show notes and things, as you've probably noticed in the recording link. And for those of you that are live, feel free to drop a note in the chat, wherever you're at, and Jesse will graciously let me know who you're, you know, where you're calling in from, and
00:01:29.330 --> 00:01:44.460 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: your job title if you're in business. Last week, had a great show with longtime colleague of 20 years, Steve Bistritz. He's the inventor of the sales opportunity snapshot methodology, which is
00:01:44.460 --> 00:01:56.590 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: part of my portfolio, as well as the Selling to the C-Suite book and the Selling to Executives workshop. What I didn't mention last week was the fact that
00:01:56.640 --> 00:02:01.940 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: In my book, which is the namesake for this show, Making Seamless Sales.
00:02:02.170 --> 00:02:18.969 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: He, along with a couple of other partners of mine, gave me permission to use some of his diagrams and concepts, because my portfolio consists of things from Steve, things from John Kerr, which is Mastering Technical Sales, things from
00:02:19.020 --> 00:02:33.170 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: Peter Cohan, which is great demo, and then other things that I've done and developed over the years. And what I did was I took a little bit from each of them, because I have the unique perspective on all those different methodologies.
00:02:33.170 --> 00:02:39.520 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: And I picked out key things from each one, and asked each one of those three for permission
00:02:39.520 --> 00:02:58.210 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: to use that for some of the concepts in my book, because any given one of them only sees part of it. So Steve let me use a lot of it in the book, and by the way, this is also, you know, the app that I have on Salesforce and Dynamics, but the other main thing that I wanted to mention is not only did Steve let me use some of his
00:02:58.210 --> 00:03:00.040 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: stuff in the book that I…
00:03:00.040 --> 00:03:13.770 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: teach all the time, but also he wrote a forward for the book. So that's really special, and so did John, and so did… so did Peter. So I just wanted to mention that and kind of wrap up and remind everybody, go back and check out Episode 2. It was really insightful.
00:03:13.770 --> 00:03:23.099 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: About key decision makers, and especially something we call the relevant executive, which is the person that has the most to gain or to lose.
00:03:23.110 --> 00:03:23.880 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: Now.
00:03:24.370 --> 00:03:40.740 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: for today, I'm gonna just talk a little bit about some concepts that we'll work into with our very special guest, Candy Gray, in the middle part of the show. And then at the end of the show, I do have… I told everybody that I was gonna do this thing sort of like…
00:03:40.940 --> 00:03:49.199 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: Similar to Dear Abby, and, you know, for those of you in the United States, you might be familiar with that, a columnist who took
00:03:49.510 --> 00:04:07.649 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: viewers, sort of, life challenges and answered them, and then I'm doing a little bit of a play on words there, Dear Artie, which is, you know, ask me about your sales challenges, and I have one that I want to go over today, which I think we can all relate to, so somebody wrote in, and we'll talk about that.
00:04:07.650 --> 00:04:24.539 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: But, for today, what we're really going to focus on is the idea of what's involved during a sales process. And yes, again, this is about B2B sales and complex sales, but I know there's a lot of you watching that aren't in that particular role in your walk of life.
00:04:24.540 --> 00:04:34.740 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: So, we'll boil this down into some things even when it comes to how we communicate and making whatever we're trying to do easier for the other person that we're trying to communicate with.
00:04:34.790 --> 00:04:43.479 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: But one of the key things, and we'll start with the hard stuff and work into some of the things that might be more parallels for you, is that in a complex sale.
00:04:43.570 --> 00:04:57.880 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: There are many, many different roles in the sales process, and many, many different client touchpoints. Now, the same thing is true for the buying organization. Whoever the seller is trying to sell to.
00:04:58.270 --> 00:05:16.729 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: there's many, many different touchpoints there as well. We're going to cover that aspect of it at a different time. It's really the thing we need to focus on the most, is about the buyer and what they're doing, but in order to help the buyer, let's look today a little bit at what we are doing to make that process as easy as possible.
00:05:16.760 --> 00:05:33.759 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: So, this… the fact that in a complex sale, and even, you know, even if you think about you go and buy a car, you're often talking to a salesperson, and then they try and go get their manager, and maybe they introduce you to the sales manager, or the service manager, or other things like that.
00:05:33.820 --> 00:05:49.549 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: it can be a little bit daunting, because you're introduced to so many different people. Now, they have good intentions, perhaps, and in many sales processes, there are a bunch of different people, because they need to be there. In really large companies, in really complex sales.
00:05:49.550 --> 00:05:58.830 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: You'll have all kinds of roles. A sales development representative, or a business development representative, an account executive.
00:05:58.830 --> 00:06:15.230 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: You may have an account manager, you may have a sales engineer or a solution consultant. You can have subject matter experts. Executives could come into it. Product specialists. I mean, the list goes on and on, all the way through support and implementation.
00:06:15.230 --> 00:06:23.150 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: Now, can you imagine if you were the customer and all those different people were trying to talk with you? That can become very daunting and overwhelming.
00:06:23.250 --> 00:06:41.430 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: And what happens is, in a sales process, if the sales team's doing the right job, they should be asking questions. Because, as I've covered before, briefly, on my first episode, the way that we create value is to understand the client's needs, and only when we know their needs.
00:06:41.550 --> 00:06:54.900 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: Can we overlap our solution? And where the two of these things overlap, that's where value is. So if the sales team's doing their job right, if the salesperson trying to sell you a car is doing their job right, they should be asking questions.
00:06:54.900 --> 00:07:04.530 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: Where it starts to get annoying is when every single one of those people starts asking questions without seemingly having talked to the other person. …
00:07:04.890 --> 00:07:10.069 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: I'm… I remember back to… When, we were having our first child.
00:07:10.100 --> 00:07:29.780 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: And we were in the hospital, and we arrived after, you know, my wife's water broke at 3 in the morning, or whatever it was. And when we arrived, you know, the very first person asked a bunch of questions. And then we went to the next person, and they asked a bunch of the same questions. And then when we got into the room, the nurse came and asked the same, you know, bunch of questions, and it's like.
00:07:29.780 --> 00:07:44.339 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: I get it, they want to make sure that they get it right, but it's like, isn't there a such thing as a patient chart? Like, didn't they go to the chart and find out some of these things? And so, even in examples like that, sometimes we can be a little annoyed as the client.
00:07:44.860 --> 00:08:00.739 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: Also, not only is the client sometimes annoyed, but there's friction. This causes friction internally. If you can imagine all the different handoffs and all the different information that's gathered at each stage, if that information is not passed along.
00:08:01.180 --> 00:08:15.710 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: That's not only annoying to the client because of all the questions being asked, but also, internally it's annoying because there may be some information somebody has, and they either don't think to share it, they don't have a way to share it, or they just don't share it.
00:08:15.710 --> 00:08:30.840 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: So, that can lead to other quests or other issues internally in terms of some of the friction. And that's why one of my big themes, and again, for those of you that might not know, the reason it's called seamless sales with the SE and the AM being
00:08:31.170 --> 00:08:34.369 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: You know, in capitals, capital letters is.
00:08:34.450 --> 00:08:45.630 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: The sales engineer and the account manager are two of the really, really key parts of any high-tech sale. And it's very important for them to work together.
00:08:45.690 --> 00:09:04.339 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: But studies show that they are not working together. And this has been a historical problem, and why I'm looking to solve that, because I've been both roles. I enable both roles. For 25 years, I've been working with companies, helping both roles, and whenever they're together, it's wonderful, because that's a head start.
00:09:04.340 --> 00:09:12.450 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: Studies show that companies that work together with their pre-sales person, the sales engineer, and their salesperson.
00:09:12.570 --> 00:09:24.160 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: which are in the middle of this whole process, and really core to the selling piece of it. When they work together better, the win rate can go up by 37%. So, you know, the sales can increase dramatically.
00:09:24.450 --> 00:09:40.109 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: So, next year, next year, next show, next week, just to give you a preview, we're gonna have Michelle Afshar on here. She's the head of global sales enablement for a cybersecurity company, and she's kind of cracked the… the…
00:09:40.110 --> 00:09:45.470 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: secret to that. She's gonna talk about some of that, how to work together better as a team.
00:09:45.800 --> 00:10:03.200 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: So one of the key concepts to the whole idea of seamless sales is the idea of transferring the information across. And for any of you who are in those positions, and even if you're working with a team in a car dealership, or selling health services, or whatever you're doing.
00:10:03.200 --> 00:10:12.999 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: One of the keys and a big takeaway for today is just to communicate. Communicate together and document and share the documentation. Inside of a big company.
00:10:13.380 --> 00:10:21.999 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: business-to-business selling company, there's usually something called a CRM system, Customer Relationship Management System.
00:10:22.100 --> 00:10:26.290 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: This is the system where all the documentation should be made
00:10:26.420 --> 00:10:31.270 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: From the very beginning, which, oh, by the way, to add more complexity.
00:10:31.370 --> 00:10:48.580 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: now there's automated systems doing a lot of that with AI and stuff, and starting to feed the sale process, but documenting it in the CRM system, only thing is, a lot of salespeople hate the CRM system because all it winds up being is a bunch of information that they enter.
00:10:48.700 --> 00:10:59.079 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: And it doesn't get shared. So, one of the things that I provide, and again, we'll talk about this on a future show, is the way for that CRM system to be used properly.
00:10:59.250 --> 00:11:15.139 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: And where the sales opportunity snapshot I talked about that Steve Bistreitz invented, my longtime partner, the way that that works into it so that sales loves being in the CRM system, and therefore that sharing can happen much more naturally.
00:11:15.140 --> 00:11:20.879 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: So now, if the salesperson's in there, and they're using something that helps them sell.
00:11:20.990 --> 00:11:32.279 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: Now that's all documented, it's live, it's real, it's accurate, and it can be used throughout the whole process, just like that patient chart in a hospital, so that the same question doesn't have to be asked a million times.
00:11:33.130 --> 00:11:40.189 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: So, sometimes in these sales roles, just to get us ready for candy after the commercial in a few minutes.
00:11:40.490 --> 00:11:44.970 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: Sometimes in these sales roles in big companies, they are fulfilled by different people.
00:11:45.190 --> 00:12:03.769 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: So the things that I mentioned are functions, and there's a different role or a different purpose for each of those functions. In some companies, many companies, they're big, and there's different people, and that's why it's so important to communicate. In other companies, based on the type of sale, there might be
00:12:03.940 --> 00:12:10.159 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: one person that's fulfilling a couple different roles. In fact, in a really, really small company, if you think about it.
00:12:10.310 --> 00:12:16.410 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: Probably there's one person fulfilling almost all the roles, including implementation and customer support.
00:12:16.890 --> 00:12:20.450 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: What we're gonna explore a little bit is what…
00:12:20.640 --> 00:12:34.890 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: the benefits are of having a unified team, and whether that's you as a manager, or you as an individual contributor, sharing with however many people are involved, or, as we're gonna see in Candy's case.
00:12:35.410 --> 00:12:48.779 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: where she has the benefit of performing a lot of those roles, being that role and that continuity. I hadn't experienced this, with this for a while when I was at a division of Lockheed called Form Tech.
00:12:48.980 --> 00:13:04.599 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: And we were selling very, very large information management systems. A lot of it was to defense contractors and others that Lockheed Martin was working with throughout the world. And what was interesting about that was that I was in a role of what we called
00:13:04.600 --> 00:13:10.620 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: Technical Program Coordinator, TPC. I was involved pretty much from the beginning.
00:13:10.620 --> 00:13:15.370 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: all the way through the end. And I know one of the things about that was.
00:13:15.370 --> 00:13:26.800 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: for my customers is that when they had me in that role, they were very thrilled, because they actually had, this is so funny, they actually had up on their wall a plaque
00:13:26.800 --> 00:13:37.840 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: that showed all the salespeople that they had been through. So, all the actual salespeople. Now, I wasn't doing the sales role, but I was doing all the contact and all the technical stuff from
00:13:37.930 --> 00:13:56.649 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: you know, what they wanted all the way through implementation. And they had a plaque, the customers… I know one customer in particular, I'll never forget it, they had this plaque up on the wall, and they had these little nameplates of all the salespeople that they had been through, because often salespeople kind of churn through. And I think there was, on that one, maybe about 16…
00:13:56.650 --> 00:14:00.519 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: Salespeople's names on there, and it was just incredible.
00:14:00.560 --> 00:14:15.659 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: So, in terms of that, we're gonna come back after the break, and we're gonna be able to see how Candy has the benefit of fulfilling a lot of those roles, including part of the sales role. So, let's go ahead and go to the break, and when we come back.
00:14:15.780 --> 00:14:23.379 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: We'll meet up with Candy and see what she has to say about this communication and working together as a team of one in her case.
00:16:21.570 --> 00:16:24.150 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: Alright, welcome back, everybody.
00:16:24.850 --> 00:16:32.240 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: And… As we hear the bumper music here, I just want to start to introduce my guest.
00:16:37.370 --> 00:16:41.280 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: fellow Martian, because we both live in Mars, Pennsylvania.
00:16:41.390 --> 00:16:47.029 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: So a little bit about Candy real quick. Candy is a National Account Manager.
00:16:47.130 --> 00:17:06.429 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: who fulfills almost all the roles that I just talked about, and it's not because her company's small, it's because her role is designed that way on purpose, and she's gonna talk about that. So she identifies and partners with national organizations, big national organizations, like chains, to design, propose.
00:17:06.660 --> 00:17:17.270 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: and provide their electronic security system installations and services. So she ensures that… and I love this when, Candy, when you gave me this description.
00:17:17.270 --> 00:17:22.760 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: We deliver solutions that increase operational efficiencies, business continuity, and ROI,
00:17:22.760 --> 00:17:40.899 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: And that's so important because the stuff doesn't matter, it's what the stuff does. So the other thing about Candy that's unique is, when she found out that I was writing this book, she was one of the early adopters and early, reviewers of it, and we'll talk a little bit about that as well. So everybody, please welcome
00:17:41.090 --> 00:17:44.429 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: Candy Gray! Hi, Candy, so good that you're here.
00:17:45.040 --> 00:17:47.890 grayc3: Hey, Art, thanks for the invitation, happy to be here.
00:17:48.060 --> 00:18:05.500 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: Absolutely. So, you've been in the trenches, doing this for 20 years. You've been a sales exec, a BDM, client relation manager, and other roles that were a little bit more distinct, but now you've got this role that spans quite a bit of responsibility.
00:18:05.500 --> 00:18:16.060 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: and can help solve some of the things we were talking about. So, tell us a little bit more about what's included in your role, and maybe what isn't, if there's anything that isn't included.
00:18:16.380 --> 00:18:17.290 grayc3: Sure.
00:18:17.290 --> 00:18:36.429 grayc3: So I'm a national account manager, and I work for a global electronic security provider. However, in my role as a national account manager, you know, I start the opportunity. So I'm prospecting, I find the opportunity, I sect the meeting, I'm having the initial discussions with the customer.
00:18:36.510 --> 00:18:52.369 grayc3: Which naturally is the discovery period. You know, like, we always need to know, why are they meeting with us, right? Why did you agree to meet with me? What are the pain points? How can I help you? And many times, you know, that spans over multiple meetings, as you can imagine.
00:18:52.370 --> 00:19:11.290 grayc3: But what I'm doing is I'm collecting information just to see how we can add value to that particular customer. Typically, we can, whether that's through system installations, or maybe it's through, you know, services. But I… I never walk away from my customer, meaning I never walk away from the process.
00:19:11.290 --> 00:19:13.540 grayc3: So, from the very first meeting.
00:19:13.790 --> 00:19:31.549 grayc3: I'm there. I'm there throughout the entire sales process, closing the process, and then I move over to the implementation process. Now, I have an army behind me, believe me. I have an army of project managers, program managers, engineers, service managers.
00:19:31.750 --> 00:19:41.890 grayc3: and thousands of technicians. But I'm always the primary point of contact for my customers, and that creates an enormous amount of efficiency for them.
00:19:41.890 --> 00:19:56.559 grayc3: It eliminates confusion, you know, throughout the buying process, as well as the system implementation process, and then you move over to the service process. So, I'm always the primary point of contact throughout the entire professional relationship.
00:19:57.740 --> 00:20:03.369 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: Yeah, so key point there is that it does… your involvement doesn't end with the sale. In fact.
00:20:03.370 --> 00:20:03.739 grayc3: That's not.
00:20:03.740 --> 00:20:17.529 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: Is it fair to say that a lot, you know, there's a lot of challenge even after that, because what you've now found out that they want, what you've designed, what you've delivered, now you're making sure that they're, as you said, realizing the benefits of it.
00:20:17.980 --> 00:20:32.509 grayc3: Oh, absolutely, yeah. I mean, we need to not only meet their expectation, but as a company, our goal is to exceed the customer's expectation. And exceeding it, that's where we come in on the service side, right? So any issues…
00:20:32.540 --> 00:20:48.610 grayc3: the customer may be facing, you know, maybe something's broken, or maybe they want to add additional features that, you know, weren't added during the initial implementation. Then I'm the person they come to, and it's very seamless, very quick, you know, very efficient for the customer.
00:20:48.610 --> 00:21:05.160 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: And then one more thing about that is that they oftentimes will, at a later point in time, either expand, because these are often big chains and other stuff like that, right? So they'll expand, or even come back to you again. So that's where you get involved once again for that continuity, is that right?
00:21:05.470 --> 00:21:25.310 grayc3: Oh, absolutely. Yeah, these are, … so I work with multi-year contracts, you know, and the multi-year contracts, that's also on the installation side. And again, because I work with national organizations, my territory is the United States. There's always new buildings, you know, new locations being built, or locations
00:21:25.400 --> 00:21:35.030 grayc3: closing, but then they're relocating, you know, to maybe a better market for them. You know, so there's just constant new implementations as well as service.
00:21:35.640 --> 00:21:48.530 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: Alright, so in that role, and you heard the whole setup that, you know, when there's a lot of different people involved, that can cause some challenges. So what would you say are… let's start with just some of the pros. What are the advantages for
00:21:48.530 --> 00:21:57.989 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: you and your company having somebody like what you're doing in your role, and then what are some of the advantages for the customer? What do you see that they get out of it?
00:21:58.570 --> 00:22:00.400 grayc3: Sure. …
00:22:00.750 --> 00:22:12.419 grayc3: It's… it definitely shortens the sales cycle, for us, because what… what happens is the customer will bring me in as an extension of their own team.
00:22:12.420 --> 00:22:22.020 grayc3: So I'm… they're sharing information, they're bringing any problems and issues to me immediately before it becomes a deal-breaker problem.
00:22:22.020 --> 00:22:34.170 grayc3: But, you know, I meet with them on a regular basis, and typically it feels like I'm one of their employees, just because I'm that close with their team. So we're able to talk about new features, new services.
00:22:34.170 --> 00:22:39.939 grayc3: new efficiencies that our company can bring to them. You know, we can plan out years ahead.
00:22:40.700 --> 00:22:42.250 grayc3: Definitely a benefit.
00:22:44.140 --> 00:22:57.949 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: Yeah, and… and that's when you know that you're in, too. So many… so many salespeople would love to be in that position, and sort of by design, you're already there, because they've known you, and they trust you throughout the whole process.
00:22:57.950 --> 00:22:59.310 grayc3: That's huge. Yes.
00:22:59.420 --> 00:23:05.719 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: what would you say are some of the challenges? The, you know, maybe some lessons learned, or some things that…
00:23:05.850 --> 00:23:12.700 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: For those that don't have that, that you can offer as some of the things that you've worked through and solved.
00:23:14.230 --> 00:23:26.389 grayc3: Well, I would say over the years, you know, just definitely asking the right questions. You know, if you have multiple people involved in your sales process, you need to get them involved early. Just…
00:23:27.350 --> 00:23:40.989 grayc3: share the right information, make sure that you're giving demos, right, that the customer needs, and not just generic information. And again, I'm in a completely different role, so that's a little foreign to me. But, …
00:23:41.360 --> 00:23:46.440 grayc3: over the years, I've had customers make comment… I mean, over the years, not recently.
00:23:46.440 --> 00:24:05.340 grayc3: About my competitors, and they were very confused, meaning, at that time, the prospect, you know, which eventually led to be a customer. They didn't know who to go to, and they felt that they were being, given information that didn't necessarily pertain to their needs.
00:24:05.340 --> 00:24:07.419 grayc3: Or to their wants.
00:24:07.510 --> 00:24:11.820 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: And, you know, obviously I'm not in the room, but if you read between the lines.
00:24:11.830 --> 00:24:12.630 grayc3: you know.
00:24:12.910 --> 00:24:30.000 grayc3: I have to believe that just the right questions were not asked, or if the right questions were asked and the prospect answered, I don't think that information was communicated to maybe their counterpart, who may have been coming in behind them, right, during the sales process.
00:24:30.240 --> 00:24:43.440 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: Yeah, so you have that continuity across the whole thing in terms of understanding them being able to shift as you go through and all that type of thing. It sounds like a lot of work, though. How do you… how do you manage all those moving parts?
00:24:43.910 --> 00:24:51.280 grayc3: It is a lot of work. Fortunately, my company gives me the proper tools, so I'm set up pretty well.
00:24:51.420 --> 00:24:58.290 grayc3: we're very efficient over here, and, you know, I've been doing this for nearly 20 years, so…
00:24:58.350 --> 00:25:16.339 grayc3: Most of my customers, though, because they are national, they have a similar project layout, right? So it's not rinse and repeat, but it's definitely the same manufacturer, same systems, for the most part. You know, when there's different issues that arise from a service standpoint.
00:25:16.340 --> 00:25:18.979 grayc3: But it's really not that time consuming.
00:25:19.070 --> 00:25:26.340 grayc3: You know, once you begin working with the customer and realize all of the, you know, similarities from location to location.
00:25:26.890 --> 00:25:43.330 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: And you mentioned that these are often very large deals, they're multi-year deals and things like that, so when it comes to quota or fulfilling whatever goals you have, I imagine that it would be hard to walk away from
00:25:43.670 --> 00:25:53.539 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: a situation where you're like, oh, I just want to hang on and try and make this work a little bit more. What… what happens in those… in a situation like that, in terms of what you…
00:25:53.730 --> 00:26:03.620 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: you can decide on, or how you need to, you know, decide how to walk away from it, because that's got to be hard, since it's a big part of your, you know, every one of those, I'm sure, a very big deal.
00:26:04.510 --> 00:26:08.939 grayc3: They are, yeah. I don't plan on walking away, Art, so….
00:26:10.600 --> 00:26:16.030 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: So, how… what does that look like? How do you… how do you not walk away? What do you… what do you wind up doing?
00:26:16.840 --> 00:26:17.790 grayc3: …
00:26:19.520 --> 00:26:30.460 grayc3: I… you just don't walk away. I don't… I mean, you know, I can't think of one situation where I've had to say, okay, I need to walk away from this opportunity.
00:26:30.570 --> 00:26:34.470 grayc3: Right? I mean, you just… the customer would need to tell me.
00:26:35.270 --> 00:26:36.080 grayc3: You know.
00:26:36.650 --> 00:26:39.839 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: Yeah, so doing everything possible to make it work for them.
00:26:40.380 --> 00:26:48.680 grayc3: Oh, everything possible, yeah, because, I mean, if… if we're not the right partner, if we're not the right fit, you know, the prospect will let us know.
00:26:48.860 --> 00:27:05.249 grayc3: You know, they'll bring that information to us, and they'll share, you know, this is why, or at least, you know, we're going to have a conversation about that. And if there's anything we can do, you know, to correct that or, you know, make it fall more in line with what they need, then of course we do that. You know, and sometimes.
00:27:05.250 --> 00:27:09.710 grayc3: There's a few times we cannot, but then the prospect makes that decision.
00:27:10.980 --> 00:27:26.739 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: Yes, and again, because you have more autonomy in terms of what you're learning and what they're trying to do, and you know what the end goals are, and you've been through this with other clients before, so you have the ability to really work with them to figure out a way that it's going to be mutually beneficial.
00:27:27.190 --> 00:27:28.020 grayc3: Of course.
00:27:29.500 --> 00:27:43.929 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: Good, awesome. So, when we come back from the break, what we're gonna talk a little bit about is the, some ideas that maybe you were able to apply from the book, and, some of the ways that
00:27:44.300 --> 00:27:52.670 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: you learned, and one of the things that I'm going to offer up to everybody in this, episode is a worksheet that goes along with the book.
00:27:52.670 --> 00:28:09.259 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: So, if anybody wants to look now, or you can, you know, look later, it's on Teamsalesdevelopment.com. Go to the little book icon, and then right in that page, there's a handout that's a fill-in-the-blank that you can use for your opportunities.
00:28:09.260 --> 00:28:19.939 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: as you go through the book, and work on your opportunities to apply the concepts. But we'll talk a little bit about what you're able to apply, and we'll talk about a couple concepts from the book.
00:28:19.940 --> 00:28:31.609 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: that helped you with what you've been doing. And really, because you've been doing this so long, I think also it just reinforced for you that you're doing the right thing, and you were giving me good feedback on the book, like, yeah, this is spot on.
00:28:31.610 --> 00:28:40.549 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: These are the things that are really making a difference in the field. So, when we get back from the break, we'll dig into that a little bit deeper with Candy Gray. Stay tuned.
00:30:47.230 --> 00:30:57.369 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: Alright, welcome back. We're here with Candy Gray, and she's describing her unique role, having engagement throughout pretty much the whole
00:30:57.490 --> 00:30:59.870 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: Client… life cycle.
00:31:00.050 --> 00:31:13.320 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: from hello, through implementation, and then beyond in terms of renewal and continued relationship throughout. So, while not everybody has that opportunity or that… that option.
00:31:13.790 --> 00:31:15.840 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: The key point was that
00:31:15.960 --> 00:31:32.540 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: The ability to know all of that is very helpful with shorter sales cycles, happier clients, more repeat business, and so the goal for everybody, no matter if you're one person or if each role is fulfilled by different people.
00:31:32.650 --> 00:31:50.570 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: the ways that you can work together as a seamless team, so that for the client, it feels like you're working with just somebody like Candy, even though it's multiple people. And, that is… that is difficult. That is difficult, and Candy has the advantage of being able to do that in her situation.
00:31:50.780 --> 00:31:59.319 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: So, Candy, when it comes to some of the concepts that perhaps you did from the book, or that
00:31:59.440 --> 00:32:01.529 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: You were reinforcing, you know.
00:32:01.660 --> 00:32:06.160 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: that, yeah, these are the things that actually work. And maybe, you know, some of the…
00:32:06.330 --> 00:32:19.419 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: cycling in and out some of the resources, or wherever you want to go with that. What did you find that worked, or what did you do differently, and what were some of the results of that as you were looking through it?
00:32:19.960 --> 00:32:25.829 grayc3: Yeah, sure. I can tell you that My takeaway from your book.
00:32:25.840 --> 00:32:44.040 grayc3: was unexpected. Completely unexpected. You know, so just reading through it, reading, how you wrote the process, you know, with starting with an account manager, moving over to a sales engineer, and all the different roles in between.
00:32:44.090 --> 00:33:01.629 grayc3: And then, you know, I started thinking about, just over the years, different conversations with different customers and prospects. And again, I keep going back to so many times they were confused. You know, who was their person? Who would they go to?
00:33:01.710 --> 00:33:09.569 grayc3: if they had an issue, if they did execute a contract, you know, or would it be a different person for, you know.
00:33:09.660 --> 00:33:15.210 grayc3: An installation versus service versus some sort of managed service.
00:33:15.580 --> 00:33:18.199 grayc3: So what I did differently, Art.
00:33:18.500 --> 00:33:25.599 grayc3: immediately after I read your book, was I really started driving home with my prospects and my opportunities.
00:33:25.620 --> 00:33:33.029 grayc3: That I'm never going away, right? I'll be in every meeting, you know, starting with the first meeting,
00:33:33.030 --> 00:33:50.520 grayc3: every call. I'm involved in every single call. You know, and there are times when, you know, depending on the nature of the opportunity, I may need to bring in some of my expert team members. And I'm involved in that as well. But I really started driving that home, and I feel like I've been able to strengthen my relationships.
00:33:50.520 --> 00:34:04.850 grayc3: Significantly at a very quick pace. Yeah, much more than expected. But believe me, I did not expect to get that out of your book. That… that is not why I read your book. But, definitely, but definitely a benefit for me.
00:34:05.610 --> 00:34:17.769 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: Yeah, I think one of the unexpected comments that you gave, and it's actually quoted in… on the book cover and things like that, is what you mentioned about what it helped you learn about your competitors.
00:34:17.770 --> 00:34:18.210 grayc3: Yes.
00:34:18.219 --> 00:34:19.399 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: Want to comment on that?
00:34:20.219 --> 00:34:32.419 grayc3: Well, pretty much that exactly, but it gave me insight into those comments that, you know, the prospects and customers have been, you know, vaguely mentioning over the years.
00:34:32.589 --> 00:34:43.709 grayc3: And I'd ask questions, and they wouldn't share a lot, because it didn't have anything to do with me. But after reading your book, you know, and it gives so many examples of,
00:34:44.309 --> 00:34:48.469 grayc3: The disconnects, the lack of communication, you know, sending in
00:34:48.629 --> 00:35:00.959 grayc3: another role after two others. And if they didn't articulate exactly, you know, the conversations and the wants, and the needs, and the expectations, and the buy-in process and the stakeholders.
00:35:00.959 --> 00:35:07.119 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: You know, when you send another person in, you're missing the mark, so I'm trying to take advantage of.
00:35:07.269 --> 00:35:11.279 grayc3: Any of my competitors out there who may be following that type of process.
00:35:11.670 --> 00:35:18.969 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: Right, yeah, I think it was something to the effect of, I want to utilize this before my competitors read the book.
00:35:18.970 --> 00:35:26.310 grayc3: Absolutely, yes. Yes, before they get their hands on this book and, straighten out their sales process. Yeah.
00:35:26.700 --> 00:35:35.710 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: So, when you do bring somebody in, then, on the theme of making it seamless, what does that look like as far as how much do they know when
00:35:35.830 --> 00:35:41.230 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: They're now going to be coming in, and now your client's seeing somebody besides you.
00:35:41.800 --> 00:35:54.329 grayc3: Yeah, oh, they know everything. I mean, they… every detail, I mean, from… even from the buying process, the stakeholders, the pain points, you know, the wants of the solution, the needs.
00:35:54.500 --> 00:36:13.209 grayc3: And then, you know, we have internal conversations about, you know, additional value-added services. You know, even though the customer prospect did not ask for it, you know, we still need to let them know what we're capable of. And that would be a time whenever I would bring in, you know, maybe one of my engineers.
00:36:13.210 --> 00:36:14.420 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: The….
00:36:14.540 --> 00:36:31.340 grayc3: depending from which department, you know, to discuss that. But I always tee it up with the customer. They know exactly what to expect, you know, they receive an agenda from me. I make sure they know who's joining, who's going to be present, and they know that I'm going to be there as well.
00:36:32.690 --> 00:36:47.879 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: Yeah, and I mean, even though it's you who mainly knows this information, I know how process-oriented you are and detail-oriented, and by the way, everybody, Candy has all kinds of talents in terms of remodeling and all that. I mean, the work that you do is incredible.
00:36:48.040 --> 00:37:01.319 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: When it comes to documentation, how important is that? Because I know a lot of people think they're documenting things, and even… this is where that worksheet that I provide that you can use along with the book that…
00:37:01.340 --> 00:37:16.349 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: you can use it to test and apply all the concepts to a real opportunity, and I feel like just that mere fact of writing things down, talk about the way that you utilize that, and once again, when you're bringing anybody else in, too.
00:37:17.010 --> 00:37:18.510 grayc3: Oh, no, definitely.
00:37:18.510 --> 00:37:43.430 grayc3: So yeah, I mean, it's critical to document, you know, the information, not during the meeting, but immediately after, you know, I'm always documenting everything we discussed, solutions that I may have suggested, and, you know, maybe they didn't have a need for it now, but, you know, perhaps they will in a year from now, or 3 years from now, you know, even while they are our customer. Because, you know, remember, the customers, they're also evolving as well.
00:37:43.430 --> 00:37:48.770 grayc3: They're growing, they're evolving, just like we are within our own organizations.
00:37:48.950 --> 00:37:55.590 grayc3: All of that information is very well documented within my organization. It's a requirement.
00:37:55.590 --> 00:38:10.649 grayc3: And then it's passed along to my team. And again, I'm having internal conversations, you know, even pre-sales. I'm having internal conversations with my team because, you know, even though I'm the face of the company, you know, with the customer.
00:38:10.650 --> 00:38:21.359 grayc3: you know, there's still so much more value and capability that we know we can offer, and then we start brainstorming, and then ultimately the customer makes that decision. But…
00:38:21.470 --> 00:38:32.340 grayc3: You know, so whomever I bring into a meeting, you know, they are well-informed, definitely well-informed. You know, and we're also the type of organization, we're not going to sit in a meeting with a customer and
00:38:32.340 --> 00:38:46.600 grayc3: pretend that maybe we know something, right? So if somebody… if I bring them in, and if they don't know something about that opportunity or the customer, you know, we're encouraged just… just to ask. That's it, you know, and maybe it was covered, but also, you know.
00:38:46.820 --> 00:38:55.289 grayc3: I let my prospect and customers know that, you know, we're very transparent like that. You know, we're there to make the most of their time, the most of our time.
00:38:56.310 --> 00:39:11.740 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: Yeah, well, I mean, you can't… some businesses, and I talked about this on my first show, is that even back in the day, a lot of stuff, even software solutions, you could deliver it, and then the salesperson would go on to do the next thing, and….
00:39:11.740 --> 00:39:15.399 grayc3: Whether the customer used it or not was kind of up to them, but….
00:39:15.400 --> 00:39:31.580 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: you don't… you don't have that luxury. You're… you… the… in order for you to be successful, your clients have to be utilizing this, and then you're supporting them through the rest of that process. So it doesn't stop at… you don't really have closing of the deal, it's that you're…
00:39:31.680 --> 00:39:43.169 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: committing together that you're going to work through this and implement something that's successful for them, so that it goes long beyond the actual signing of a contract, right? How far does it go?
00:39:43.650 --> 00:39:58.730 grayc3: Oh, absolutely. I mean, I've developed relationships over the years that are still… I mean, they last decades. You know, they just don't stop. You know, and then they would follow me from company to company. It's…
00:39:58.730 --> 00:40:06.699 grayc3: the relationship, you know, once it started, the professional-business relationship, you know, in my mind, it never ends. It just…
00:40:07.360 --> 00:40:09.550 grayc3: It just does not end.
00:40:09.970 --> 00:40:12.580 grayc3: Which is a wonderful thing in my industry, by the way.
00:40:12.830 --> 00:40:29.519 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: Yeah, for sure. Well, I mean, you've got… you've got clients that, you know, the existing clients that come back to you later and want it, so it's not even that they went somewhere else or anything, it's… these are your existing clients that come back. When… when something does go sideways, let's say,
00:40:29.690 --> 00:40:38.760 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: you know, there's a… even an implementation, because I know that there's a lot of people that tune in that are also on the implementation of the success side, and that's what the big…
00:40:38.760 --> 00:40:51.660 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: other theme of the book is it's not about trying to sell, it's about enabling the buyer, enabling the client, it's about client success. So, what… how does that work in terms of your involvement, or who you get involved?
00:40:51.850 --> 00:40:56.760 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: When maybe there is a disconnect of something that wasn't expected,
00:40:57.870 --> 00:41:00.280 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: What do you do about that? What does that look like?
00:41:00.680 --> 00:41:07.049 grayc3: So during an installation of a project, and again, that's… that's one of the benefits of having
00:41:07.240 --> 00:41:20.160 grayc3: of me being involved, you know, so close with the customer, and being an extension of their team, is that if there's something wrong, something goes south, you know, for whatever reason. Maybe, …
00:41:20.790 --> 00:41:38.549 grayc3: we didn't install two pieces of equipment, or maybe there wasn't a service added, or maybe we're delayed, you know, two days. You know, it could be many things, it's… it's reality, it happens. If it's not brought to my attention, and typically it is, you know, by one of my project managers.
00:41:38.880 --> 00:41:39.900 grayc3: …
00:41:40.130 --> 00:41:56.450 grayc3: the customer brings it to my attention immediately. And… and we love that. And the reason we love that is because, you know, you can imagine if you're working on, say, a 500-site implementation, or a 1500-site implementation, right, and you have, you know, maybe 9 months to have that completed.
00:41:56.750 --> 00:42:09.820 grayc3: if something's wrong early, and you catch it, right? So, customer brings it to our attention, we can fix it so quickly. I mean, so quickly, and then it doesn't progress, you know, through the rest of the project rollout.
00:42:10.700 --> 00:42:11.080 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: No.
00:42:11.260 --> 00:42:13.210 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: Yeah, we just jump in and fix it.
00:42:13.690 --> 00:42:19.260 grayc3: The sooner we know, the better, and it stops it in its tracks, you know? And, I mean, understand, we're not…
00:42:19.610 --> 00:42:22.519 grayc3: installing at one site, right?
00:42:24.280 --> 00:42:27.759 grayc3: That could probably be a big problem, because you get one shot.
00:42:28.120 --> 00:42:37.179 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: Awesome. So I think one of the takeaways, again, for everybody and some encouragement out of this is notice that because of the in… the natural
00:42:37.600 --> 00:42:47.590 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: you know, inborn communication with Candy and herself throughout this whole thing, and I imagine you have different discussions with yourself all the time, right?
00:42:47.590 --> 00:42:47.960 grayc3: Yes.
00:42:47.960 --> 00:42:59.909 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: When it comes to the, you know, thinking things through, finding things out early, doing proper discovery at the beginning, but that continuity of the message all the way through from hello, and whatever you gather from the very beginning.
00:42:59.930 --> 00:43:11.039 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: That's… that is gold in terms of success for the client. So I would encourage, whether you're a one, you know, you have the full spectrum, or whether you're one of many, many different roles.
00:43:11.040 --> 00:43:20.940 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: Try to work together better as a team, and just ask the person upstream of you what they know, and then think about, for the downstream person, what is it that they need to know?
00:43:20.940 --> 00:43:40.059 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: I learned that a long time ago. It's like, what are you going to do with what I give you? So, if somebody gives me something, I want to know what the purpose of that was. What are we really trying to accomplish? So, move left in the buying process, and then think all the way through to client success. And even if you're not as lucky as Candid to be able to do all that.
00:43:40.080 --> 00:43:52.179 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: with all of its challenges and rewards, then at least try to act as a seamless team in the best way possible. And if you're on the buying side of it, make sure that you are getting the continuity that you want.
00:43:52.220 --> 00:44:03.200 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: That should be, you know, a seamless experience for you as a buyer. Shouldn't look like 5 or 6 different people. So, any quick final remark? Then we're gonna go to the commercial.
00:44:05.110 --> 00:44:06.820 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: Any… anything final?
00:44:08.370 --> 00:44:12.310 grayc3: No, thanks, Art. Appreciate you inviting me. Excellent book, by the way.
00:44:12.310 --> 00:44:12.890 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: Oh, well.
00:44:12.890 --> 00:44:16.609 grayc3: Everybody should be… everybody should be utilizing your book, I'm telling you.
00:44:16.980 --> 00:44:25.750 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: Well, thank you for that, and thanks so much for being here and sharing your unique experiences, and everybody, again, if you go to Teamsalesdevelopment.com.
00:44:25.750 --> 00:44:41.439 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: look for the little book icon, and then you can get access to the worksheet. It's totally complimentary, and it'll allow you to apply all these concepts immediately to help your sales go better. So thanks again, Candy, really appreciate it, and we'll be…
00:44:41.600 --> 00:44:50.990 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: watching the replay, I'm sure, several times over to get all the nuggets out of there. Alright, let's go ahead and go to the last commercial then, and we'll be back in about 2 minutes.
00:46:36.990 --> 00:46:53.769 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: All right, everybody, so thanks again so much to Candy for that. That was, great insight and inspiration for all of us in terms of the ideal scenario of seeming like you're just one entity and make it real easy for the buyer and seamless for them.
00:46:54.090 --> 00:47:11.439 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: So, and by the way, that last commercial with Serving Up Success with a Splash, that's a really fun show. It's right before my show. It's from 6 until 7pm on Thursdays, and what they do, you might have caught it in the commercial, is they always have a recipe for a drink.
00:47:11.470 --> 00:47:22.859 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: that they have you prepare the ingredients in advance, and then you can make the drink either right before or during the show, and then typically the drink has a theme to it. I think last week.
00:47:22.860 --> 00:47:36.810 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: the theme was… or two weeks ago, the theme was clarity, so they had some kind of drink that, you know, was just a nice, clear, crisp drink. So, they're a fun bunch, and I really appreciate them. I know that they often give me a shout-out, and I wanna…
00:47:36.970 --> 00:47:47.589 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: return the favor to them, since they're right before me. And maybe some of you came from their show, and you're already, you know, have consumed 2 or 3 of their drinks that they recommended, but in any event, thanks for being here again.
00:47:47.730 --> 00:47:52.059 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: So, this last segment that I want to cover is, …
00:47:52.490 --> 00:48:10.230 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: again, on the theme of, like, the Dear Abby, the calling in, or writing in a problem that you might have, and then see if… see if we could get some life advice, and in this case, it's sales advice. And remember, everybody, at its core, sales is really persuasion. Sales is really about influence.
00:48:10.230 --> 00:48:22.209 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: And so, we don't always have to be selling a product or selling a thing when we are trying to sell somebody on an idea, perhaps, or trying to sell somebody to agree with us, or…
00:48:22.210 --> 00:48:35.479 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: help them to see things a different way. This came in from somebody who had a situation. I'll just read the situation, and then what I want to do is give a bunch of different suggestions for it. Unfortunately, I don't.
00:48:35.480 --> 00:48:56.209 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: have the opportunity to follow up, you know, and dig deeper, which is what I normally would do here, but I had some suggestions and some ideas that might help everybody out. And perhaps you've been in a situation like this, maybe you're going through this right now. I know, personally, I have been in this situation before, so I think you'll all relate to this, and … you can hear what some of the advice is.
00:48:56.210 --> 00:48:59.210 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: … Alright, dear Artie.
00:48:59.680 --> 00:49:06.900 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: How do you recommend handling a situation where there's a lot of nepotism or favoritism within an organization?
00:49:06.940 --> 00:49:08.530 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: Where a formal.
00:49:08.530 --> 00:49:28.390 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: executive decision maker only takes suggestions from their immediate influencers, which in this person's case, apparently, was mostly family. It doesn't always have to be family, but the idea of some kind of tight circle where this higher-level decision maker only really talks with them, and this is about you working inside that company.
00:49:28.390 --> 00:49:32.180 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: So, frustratingly, common sense business strategies
00:49:32.180 --> 00:49:38.320 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: are played down when offered by those outside of the circle. So this is kind of like selling internally.
00:49:38.600 --> 00:49:42.670 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: We've tried many ways to present ideas through the influencers.
00:49:42.830 --> 00:50:00.680 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: or directly, but the suggestions are always ignored, so basically we've given up, which is a shame. I mean, it's really sad when it boils down to this, so I've got some suggestions to try to help. I know I was in one situation a long time ago where something similar to this was happening, and I did not say anything either.
00:50:00.680 --> 00:50:14.389 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: I wound up leaving that company, and believe it or not, 4 months later, they folded. And I'm not saying that they folded because I left, I think that they folded because there was a lot of problems, and they weren't listening to their own people.
00:50:14.490 --> 00:50:33.519 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: And then the owner of the company called me and said, Hey, Art, I noticed you left, like, 4 months before we folded. Can you tell me about your experience? And I told him that I was trying to get some messages through, but the inner circle wasn't letting it happen. And he said, I wish you would have told me. I wish you would have told me. And those words.
00:50:33.520 --> 00:50:40.720 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: have echoed in my mind ever since is, like, try to figure out a way. So here's some ideas for this particular person's situation.
00:50:41.220 --> 00:50:59.909 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: One of the things, and this goes back to what we talked about last week with Steve Bistreitz, about the relevant executive. So, relevant executive was defined as the person that has the most to gain or the most to lose. And the idea with that is, if they have the most to gain or the most to lose, based on the outcome of a situation.
00:50:59.910 --> 00:51:06.749 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: They have skin in the game, and if they have skin in the game, they should be wanting to figure out how to be successful.
00:51:06.750 --> 00:51:16.939 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: They should want the best for not only themselves, but for the others in the organization. So that's part of what we're going to talk about here. So, one suggestion is.
00:51:17.650 --> 00:51:27.909 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: influencing the influencers. Now, in this person's case, they said they tried that, but the influencers aren't letting it happen, and I think what we want to try to do here is
00:51:27.910 --> 00:51:39.850 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: Find out what is the win in it for the influencers. Even if they are actually family members, or whether or not they are just some kind of inner circle, they must have something that
00:51:39.850 --> 00:51:55.950 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: is gonna be a win for them, and if we can position that we are helping them to have a win, now when that gets proposed upward, that can be a win for everybody. So that's one thing. So, see… secondly, see if you can be… if you could determine
00:51:56.050 --> 00:52:09.190 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: who is impacted by the lack of response? So if there's a really good business idea here that's not being followed through, there must be some implications to that, otherwise you wouldn't be bringing it up. So does it mean
00:52:09.190 --> 00:52:30.339 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: Issues with client satisfaction? Is it gonna cause, you know, morale issues within the company? Would it cause them to lose money, profit, whatever the case is? Try to find out what those other implications are, and when you bring it up, then it can, again, be for the good of everybody. So, it's not just your idea.
00:52:30.340 --> 00:52:37.040 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: There's a reason behind that idea. And related to that is, Who is it that's impacted?
00:52:37.100 --> 00:52:49.229 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: So, if you find out who's impacted, that person might be motivated to try to influence this higher level person. And I think there could be two, kind of, two scenarios there. One is.
00:52:49.270 --> 00:52:58.409 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: That decision maker themselves may be impacted because of their reputation, or what they would get out of it, or
00:52:58.580 --> 00:53:09.449 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: something that would, you know, people would stop following them. People would not want to work for that person. So, we could perhaps appeal to that, what I would call their motivation.
00:53:09.450 --> 00:53:13.829 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: As far as what they're trying to do. And if that executive decision maker
00:53:13.830 --> 00:53:32.639 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: is reporting, for example, to a board or somebody like that, that board is probably the relevant executive. That board is the one that may be the one that has the most to gain or to lose. So, it's all about trying to understand what the motive is, and then who are the… how are these decision makers connected?
00:53:34.550 --> 00:53:53.350 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: So, if it is the… if it is the executive, try to appeal to their main motivations. And so, whether it's money, ego, it might be fear of looking weak. Maybe they just don't want to admit that there's a problem. That happens a lot, and I talk about that when it comes to the way people
00:53:53.460 --> 00:54:09.309 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: make a decision. There might be a lot of value, so if it's like a scale, there might be a lot of value to it, but on the other side of the scale is the risk of moving forward. And one of those big risks is that they could look bad. We call it
00:54:09.310 --> 00:54:27.780 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: In the United States, at least, we call it selling Thanksgiving to the turkey. So it's like, the turkey's not interested in Thanksgiving, because they get consumed at Thanksgiving. So what can we do to help them overcome any fear about the impact that would be on them, or help them overcome that so that they would be successful?
00:54:27.860 --> 00:54:41.939 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: I think also, you know, we don't… if there's another group that's the one that we can influence to this major decision maker, the challenge is we don't want to go around that decision maker, or try to make them look bad in any way.
00:54:41.940 --> 00:54:59.329 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: So, one of the things we talk about in the book, and what a big thing we talked about last week as well, is the informal influence. Not just the direct role of being the executive, but what informal influence is there? Maybe there's a third party that could influence that person that you could work through.
00:54:59.480 --> 00:55:10.940 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: And then see if the group themselves have some insights. So ask questions of the group. It's like discovery when you're trying to solve a problem. What is that group trying to do in terms of what they would like to see as an outcome?
00:55:11.130 --> 00:55:15.959 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: And see if they are willing, then, to influence that decision maker directly.
00:55:16.130 --> 00:55:22.290 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: So, if the results of the lack of following your recommendation result in…
00:55:22.330 --> 00:55:44.079 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: you know, challenges for you, I would bring that up and say, look, these are the decisions that have been made, I'm trying to do this, I could either do this, or I could do this, and which one do you want me to do? So, sort of putting it back on your manager, on others, to help them understand that there are implications to those decisions. Again, that's a half a dozen different ideas.
00:55:44.080 --> 00:55:53.599 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: Which one in particular, in this case, you can decide, and perhaps if you run into this, this advice could help you with just sorting through it a little bit, and looking at ways that…
00:55:53.600 --> 00:55:55.819 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: You could have some seamless
00:55:55.840 --> 00:56:12.530 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: you know, influence some persuasion around that, whether it's a B2B deal, or it's your boss, or even, you know, somebody within your circle of friends or family. So, once again today, I want to thank Candy for being on and sharing her experiences.
00:56:12.530 --> 00:56:18.049 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: Again, next week, we're gonna have Michelle on, who's gonna talk about the way that
00:56:18.050 --> 00:56:25.190 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: Specifically, sales and pre-sales can work together, and what her experience with that is, and the way that she's done that.
00:56:25.220 --> 00:56:38.750 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: Please, if you're watching the recording, go to the website, teamsalesdevelopment.com. If you take a look, there is a events page there, and right on that page, you'll see the logo for the show.
00:56:38.860 --> 00:56:51.730 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: when you look at that, it has all the previous shows, it has who the people are, and the upcoming shows. So I've got shows lined up, not only Michelle next week, but the following two shows after that. Really, really good partners of mine.
00:56:51.730 --> 00:57:03.430 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: and great insight that you're gonna get from them as well. So thanks, everybody. As always, Jesse, thanks so much for your help. Please reach out to me if you want help with your sales teams, a kickoff, a keynote.
00:57:03.430 --> 00:57:12.110 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: other types of, engagements where I can help share this knowledge, and we can get a win-win out of it for you, I'd be glad to do that. Thanks, everybody!
00:57:12.110 --> 00:57:18.230 Art Fromm - Team Sales Development: Have a great evening, or wherever you're watching. Have a great rest of your day. Thanks, everybody. Take care.
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