Steve Jobs famously said, "The doers are the major thinkers. The people that really create the things that change this industry are both the thinker and doer in one person." On this episode of Open Source Selling, I bridge the gap between thinking and doing and discuss as Jobs points out, that to be a successful account executivea, to become a top performer, you must be "both the thinker and doer in one person."

Thomas Edison once said, "Five percent of the people think; ten percent of the people think they think; and the other eighty-five percent would rather die than think." Is learning how to think really that rare and valuable? Cal Newport seems to agree as he hypothesized in his book, Deep Work, "The ability to perform deep work is becoming increasingly rare at exactly the same time it is becoming increasingly valuable in our economy. As a consequence, the few who cultivate this skill, and then make it the core of their working life, will thrive."  I believe our ability as account executives, and other sales professionals, to carve out time to think and do what Cal Newport calls Deep Work, will increasingly be at the center of differentiating ourselves and becoming top performers in the field of B2B Sales!

On today's episode of Open Source Selling, I discuss the importance of carving time out in your day to think. This sounds simple, but in today's ever connected, "too much to do and never enough time" world, thinking seems to be a dying art even though the importance of it has never been more important. Tom Watson, founder of IBM, said ,"All the problems of the world could be settled easily, if people were only willing to think." As you reflect on the world's greatest innovators, problem solvers, business, education, church, and government leaders most of them were or are some of the greatest thinkers! My experience has been so are the greatest account executives!

On this week's episode of Open Source Selling, I address a few more common objections and offer insight on how to approach, understand, and handle them. I also address what is at the core of effectively overcoming objections: better understanding your customer's perspective and then merging their perspective with your product, service, or solution to radically improve their current situation. How do we do this? We ask effective questions, know why we are asking the questions we ask, where we want the conversation to go, listen attentively, clarify, and then bring into alignment the two competing perspectives.

On today's episode of Open Source Selling, I discuss another common objection: 'we have no budget' and share my experience in how I have approached handling it. We often receive this objection when we are on a prospecting call or in the early stages of discovery. However, it is common to get it later on in the sales cycle too. Regardless of when we get this, or any objection, we should be grateful for the engagement and use the objection as a springboard to seek clarity by asking additional questions. If done sincerely and effectively, we will build additional trust, improve relationships, and develop our skillset in overcoming objections as account executives, customer success reps, and sales development reps.

On today's episode of Open Source Selling, I start this first in a series about effectively handling common objections. I start by sharing some general thoughts on handling objections--what we should know, how we can try and handle them before they come, how we should be thinking and approaching them, and how to try and best prepare for them. I also share an analogy to provide some perspective on how to think about more challenging objections, because let's face it some are a lot more challenging than others. Of course, I enjoy sharing my experiences so I have a few stories as well. I then dive deep into the first of eight common objections we all receive and how to overcome it.

On today's episode of Open Source Selling, I discuss 3 universal selling principles that have helped me more effectively partner with customers, drive more productivity, advance deals more quickly, and close more business.

On this week's episode of Open Source Selling, I discuss the five types of sales reps as outlined in the book, The Challenger Sale. To help explain the importance of why you should know which type of rep you are and the value you can bring an organization, I draw from the wisdom of John Bunn, legendary Stanford basketball coach who said, "A great coach doesn't try and change a great player. Instead, [he] discovers what is unique, what is great, about people and honors it, is happy for it, uses it." This is true in business and sales as well. The best managers recognize what is great and unique about each rep on their team, the different selling styles, and looks for ways to help magnify their respective strengths and mitigate against their weaknesses. This helps accelerate the reps potential and performance. But in order to do this most effectively, reps must understand and embrace their own style of selling, understand their strengths and weaknesses, and be able to be coached accordingly!

This episode of Open Source Selling is my entire conversation with Jason from start to finish without interruption and little commentary. The bulk of our discussion centers on how to work with and sell to the CIO, although, we discuss other topics like goal setting, being consistent, how to maximize your performance, and what it takes to become a top performing rep. One thing is clear, for almost 30 years Jason's success as a top performer has come because he develops strong lasting relationships with his clients.

On today’s episode of Open Source Selling, Jason and I wrap up our conversation talking about the art and science of selling, what it takes to become a top performer, goals and being consistent in your activity toward achieving them and some of the best advice he has received and lives by! Join me as we ask, listen, and learn together!

On today's episode of Open Source Selling, Jason and I continue our conversation and discuss 'how to effectively work with and sell to the CIO'. Jason shares what he does to prepare to make initial contact and how he secures a first meeting. This includes his research on the CIO's initiative's, connecting with the CIO's extended team to gather specific information, build relationships and support, as well as over-coming objectives from the 'blockers' in an account who don't initially support you. He also discusses what generally has to happen during a first meeting to secure a follow up because too often an account executive only gets one opportunity to meet with and make an impression on the CIO. Join me as we ask, listen, and learn together!

On this week’s episode of Open Source Selling, I sit down with Jason Wagner. Jason helped me get into the business 25 years ago and has himself been in B2B Sales for close to 30 years. He has worked for both large and small companies including Microsoft and Oracle. Our conversation this week revolves around how to work with and sell to the CIO, the importance of building strong relationships with your customers throughout the sales process, and rebounding from a layoff. Join me as we ask, listen, and learn together!

Mike Harding is diligent, thoughtful, and has earned the status of trusted advisor in the eyes of his clients. He has learned from some of the best in the business. Join me in this complete conversation as we discuss lessons he learned from his mentors, what it means to be a trusted advisor and how to lead your team to similar status, identifying the signal and the noise in account management, asking tough questions, and how all of this has helped him go from a good rep to becoming a top performer! Join me as we ask, listen, and learn together!

On this final segment of my conversation with Mike, we discuss the signal and the noise of account management, fear and the importance of asking tough questions, what he thinks about the art and science of selling, and what his experience has taught him about what it takes to become a top performer.   Join me as we ask, listen, and learn together!

On today’s episode of Open Source Selling, Mike and I discuss the value of elevating your team to the status of trusted advisor, because in enterprise selling, real success depends on the sum total of your team. There are too many moving parts for any one person. In enterprise sales, what may start with early alignment to an individual quickly moves through a department and then across an entire organization. As Mike puts it, “it’s not about selling the software, its about selling implementation, adoption, and return on investment!” So, how do you successfully align a team? Is it vision? YES! Goals? Of course! But also clarity in roles and responsibilities, accountability, and a leaders philosophy. Join me as we ask, listen, and learn together!

This week, on Open Source Selling, I sit down with Mike Harding, Enterprise Account Executive at Google Cloud. Our conversation is centered around account management, customer retention and growth. Mike shares the early influence of mentors in shaping his thinking and lessons learned from many of them. He discusses what it means to become a trusted advisor for his clients and elevating his team to equal status. We also touch on his personal sales philosophy, the central role of successful implementations for customer growth, asking tough questions, and what else has guided him in becoming a top performer. Join me as we ask, listen, and learn together! 

This episode of Open Source Selling is my conversation with Kathleen Hartmann is its entirety, with minimal commentary and without interruption. Kathleen is a true sales professional and when it comes to business development she is in a league of her own. What makes her so good? She is genuine, sincere, and authentic. She is disciplined, persistent, and patient! She prepares so she is confident. In our conversation she shares how each of these attributes has contributed to her success over 30 years and made her a consistent top performer. But it hasn’t come easy! She provides real life examples from her career that demonstrate the art of selling in action: how she deals with rejection and failure; disciplining herself to prospect each day and what that looks like for her; consistently filling up her calendar each week; honoring the clients time by making sure she is prepared; how she approaches preparation; and making sure her outreach is relevant and timely! Kathleen will be the first to tell you that none of this has come easy. All of it has required sacrifice, discipline, and consistency (with a little laughter on the side!). She will also be the first to tell you when you approach your work with authenticity it makes everything more enjoyable and will make you much more successful! Join me as we ask, listen, and learn together!

On this final segment of my conversation with Kathleen, we answer some of my favorite questions like, is selling more of an art or science and what it takes to become a top performer today! Join me as we ask, listen, and learn together!

On today's episode of Open Source Selling, Kathleen shares more prospecting tips including how to prepare, getting in the right mindset, and being confident with who you are and what you offer as an Account Executive! Join me as we ask, listen, and learn together!

Today, Kathleen and I continue our conversation and discuss both practical principles and real life examples of prospecting by talking about discipline, consistency, and dealing with rejection. Kathleen also emphasizes the importance of relevant and timely outreach to drive more meetings with prospects and shares personal examples of both what and how she approaches prospecting.Join me as we ask, listen, and learn together!