Sales success by staying ahead FOR your clients! ft. Meridith Elliott Powell

0:16 Welcome to the Impact Sales Podcast. I'm your host, Joe Beck, and we have another amazing episode in store. For you today. Today we're going to be diving in and talking about the importance of getting and staying ahead on behalf of your prospects and how important that is towards positioning you as that trusted advisor and ultimately helping you generate more sales. But before we get into that, I want to take a minute and just talk about what's going on in the market today. Right around the time that this podcast drops, it's going to be very close towards the end of the year, and people are trying their very best to finish the year strong. Now more than ever before, it's crucial that you continue to position yourself as that trusted advisor and make a significant impact on all the prospects that you speak with. Without question, if you want to finish the year strong, you want to focus on impact and the importance of doing those things on behalf.

1:12 Of your prospects. But before we get to the end of the year, we have a very special guest in the studio with us today. She is a sought after business motivational speaker and award winning author and business strategist. She's the vice chair of the National Speakers Association, and she's a host of the Sales Logic podcast. She's in our studio today, coming up right after the break, Meredith Elliott Powell. Stay tuned. Hi, this is Joe Beck with a sales Activist. Are you a coach, consultant or entrepreneur who's struggling to create consistent sales success in your business? Would you like to triple your sales results in six months or less guarantee, all.

1:54 Without spending a single. Extra dollar on advertising or marketing. Well, this sounds interesting. I'd love to talk to you. You can just text the word sales to the number four O nine five O nine seven three five five. You'll learn all about. Our ism system and exactly how it can help you triple your sales results in six months. Or less guarantee. Just text the words sales to the number four O nine five O nine seven three five five. This is Joe Beck with the Sales Activist. You don't have to settle for average sales results. I'll talk to you so. And welcome back to the Impact Sales Podcast. I'm your host, Joe Beck with me in the studio. She's a sought after business motivational speaker, an award winning author, and business strategist.

2:45 She's the vice chair of the National Speakers Association, and she's a host of the Sales Logic podcast. Please Welcome to the Impact Sales Podcast. Meredith Elliott Powell. Hi Meredith, how are you? I am good, Joe excited to be here. Sorry about the background I'm in the Delta Lounge. I understand and completely appreciate. Thank you so much for taking some time to talk to us today. So I like to start off these podcasts Meredith with a simple question of the people I bring in, how did you personally get started in sales? That is such a good question because I'll tell you nobody was more afraid of sales and more scared of sales than I was.

3:29 It was not something I ever thought that I would end up. Doing, but I found myself in a situation where my first husband was quite sick. He ultimately ended up passing away, and the only way to keep our the only way to keep our life afloat, was I needed to get a job where I could make a lot of money with a very flexible, very flexible schedule, and you know, Joe, I am old enough that this was long before we had flexible hours and things at work, and sales was really my only option out there. So I sort of fucked it up and did what I needed to do. And I'm so grateful I found sales. I had no idea what I was afraid of.

4:13 That's that's great. I mean, a horrible circumstance to have to go through, but at the same time, you took the path that you felt was going to give you what those things were that you really needed, which, you know, that's a great story, you know, people, and my story was similar. I accidentally kind of fell into sales. It wasn't something I ever planned. In fact, my father told me you could do anything you want in life, just don't be a salesperson. It was the feedback I got, so I can kind of understand that completely. Now. I've long since been a fan of your podcast, Love what you guys talk about. You're so on point with what you cover in sales. And there's so much going on in the market today with information, and in fact, it's like information overload, right, so much in information out there.

5:00 People are more educated than ever before. One of the things that we talk a lot about is this concept of value versus impact, And I'd love to get your take on how you describe value and impact and what that really means to you. Yeah, I would say that, you know, value to me is an important term, but it's a bit of a dated term. I mean I think of it myself. When I went through a lot of value based selling, it was about being there for your clients, making sure that you are resource, that you have information for them, all good and important things. I think where we've graduated to now is that for me, impact is I have to get a result. I have to remove an obstacle, I have to help them overcome a challenge. More often than not, for me, making an impact means I'm one, two, three steps ahead of my clients. I'm going to them with my ideas on how to take their business to to another level.

6:02 So impact to me means results. In whatever terminology however my client describes success. I still add value, but I've had to layer this piece on top of it, which I find so much more rewarding. Yeah. Yeah, and that's and that's a great way of looking at it. You're absolutely right, our our prospects and our clients now more than ever before, rely on us to bring relevant information to stay ahead as much as we can. And you know, back when we got started and I don't want to I don't never want to date. Anybody, but you know, prior to information being as readily available as it was today, the salesperson in many cases was the sole source of education for their prospect And now are our prospects come into interactions much more educated.

6:54 And you you, you hit the nail on the head sometimes were we have to get ahead of where they already are to really give them that maximum impact, to do something for them that's special and unique. One of the things that comes up many times in these conversations, and it's amazing to me with all the different thought leaders that I talked to, how. Consistent this is. Is this concept of positioning yourself as a trusted advisor, separating yourself from other people, from the rest of the pack. How would you describe that in your own words or how would you do that for yourself. I'd love to get your input on that, because that's a big one for people nowadays.

7:36 Yeah, you know, you know, Joe, it's really interesting. I mean, I almost think of myself bordering on the edge of a futurist. I'm looking when I think about trusted advisor, my clients are turning to me for information they don't know and they can't readily get. I mean, I love the fact that you're bringing this up because I think that Gallups research says that a person is sixty seven percent of the way through the buying cycle before they ever interact with a salesforce. That means they're over halfway there. So by the time, you know, by the time my clients get to me, I'm hoping that I'm the one who has educated them through that sixty seven percent of the way through the buying cycle. So I'm trying to put information out there all over the place on the things that I think they need to know, the things that would be of value to them, and the things that would make an impact when they're looking for answers to their biggest obstacles or the biggest challenges.

8:37 The last thing I'm going to say is, more often than not, I think being a trusted advisor in today's marketplace is identifying the problem before they. Know they have a problem. For example, I speak and write. A lot about uncertainty, how to navigate an uncertain marketplace and be successful. Well, the way I came up with that is that I was listening to people, and everybody was talking in twenty eighteen, in twenty nineteen about how. Great business was, but they were worried about uncertainty. Now, they hadn't defined that as a problem yet, but I picked up the fact that it was on my client's minds and if I could solve. That problem, that would be a value to them, and.

9:18 They would turn to me to feel like they're staying ahead of the curve in the head of what's what's happening to them? Well, that is that is such a great insight. And obviously, considering having that conversation twenty eighteen, twenty nineteen heading into twenty twenty, the year of the pandemic, I'm sure many of your clients were very appreciative of having that insight and advanced notice for how they were looking at things. I know in the work that I had done, certainly during that time period, a lot of it was reactive. It was now we're facing all of this, what's next? And I love what you're describing about being ahead of and being the futurist because it's proactive, it's taking control, getting prepared, being ahead of those things. And you're keen on something which I think is really important for anybody, no matter what they're selling. Do you you make a really conscious effort to stay in front of people? Now, could you just go a little further and describing all the different things that you do? And I want people to pay very close attention to this. I have a sense I know what I'm going to hear, but this is really really important. Could you describe that a little bit more.

10:30 Yeah, you know, when I a lot of times when I speak to from the stage to salespeople, I talk about making noise in the marketplace. And so anywhere my client goes for information, whether that be an industry magazine, whether that be social media, whether that be industry conferences, whether that be at a networking event where people are talking about who they use and things like that, I am finding my way to create information and resources to go into their line of sight or into the conversation so that when my prospects are looking for who to work with, my name keeps coming up in all these different places. And so gosh, I do I do two videos a week. I write four blogs a week. I write for six different magazines. I do podcasts like crazy.

11:26 I speak at conferences all over the place, and then I feed information to my own client base, so they're just aware of what I'm doing. So when they see you at a cocktail party, they're like, they're like, oh my gosh, did you just see Meredith books one another award? You know, so that if people talk about me, there's something to say about me. So I am feeding information into into the line of side of my prospects. I love hearing that that is not only is that so important for people to understan And you know, years ago that process looked a lot different, right it was remaining top of mind was the occasional check in call, maybe you would have a regularly scheduled meeting. It wasn't quite what it is now. But now we have this whole concept of omnipresence, right, everybody wants to aspire for omnipresence, which is everywhere that they turn in certain circles, they keep seeing your name, your face, your messaging. And that's a really good description of it because if you're paying attention to what Meretith said, there it's not one option, it's not one angle or one medium. It's multiple and there's a significant presence in each you know, I'm sure the volume is there behind each one, which which really really is powerful. One of the things Meredith and I so appreciate your time with this when you're talking of this concept of omnipresence. I know a lot of the

12:58 people that I work with in Hear from struggle with wondering do they have enough to offer when they're trying to be in front of people, Like people are always afraid, like I don't know if I have enough to say. I don't know if I have enough to explain, describe. And I know, and it maybe have been a little bit of a while, but everybody goes through that have Can you describe that a little bit as you look at it, because I know it's a challenge for a lot of people. Yeah, you know, I think the I think the worst thing you can do is to look inward to try to think of things to talk about. I look externally. So this little book right here that travels with me is a little book every time.

13:41 Somebody asks me a question. You've asked me three questions on here that are going to go in this book that will be a part of a video I shoot next week, or an article I shoot next week. I just listened to what people are asking me about. I was on the I was doing an interview the other day for with A. I was interviewing him and he said to me, he said, you know, I want my team to get better at listening because emotion gets in the way of listening. And I thought, wow, that is powerful. I need to shoot a video about that. So the fear went out of me when I stopped. When I figured out I'm not supposed to think of what to write and what I mean. Who cares what I'm concerned about. If I am writing about what my clients and prospects are talking about, then that's what's going to get people's attention. So this fear that you don't have enough to offer, You've got plenty to offer.

14:38 Joe. If you asked me a question that I can't answer, Gus, what I'm going to google, I'm going to research and all of a sudden, I'm going to have an article about it. So that's where I come up with my content. I just listen and my content gets read, not because I had a good idea. But because whatever Joe is concerned about, a thousand other people are concerned about. That's great, and that's it certainly aligned with how I look at things. And one of the things that I think is really important. It completely aligns with the realities of the marketplace because one of the things we try to teach people and explain to people like not that people aren't looking for your product or your solution or your offering, but that's not really what they want. What they really want is what you're offering does for them, and that's a very personal thing. So and please correct me if I'm wrong, but what I'm hearing you say is don't look into yourself for those answers. Search whatever people are looking for and are asking and are talking about, and you'll be much closer to that solution because you're going to be giving them what they're already asking for.

15:44 Yeah, you know, we're recording this at a time when we're probably going to go into a challenging marketplace, and it is a myth that people will not spend money in a challenge hook community. In fact, I think as sales professionals, we need to realize our prospects and clients meet us now more than ever, however, they will only spend money with a person who is solving the right problem. And that's really what we're talking about. So it isn't you know you and I may decide that the biggest issue facing salespeople today is they don't prospect well. But if they all think their problem is follow up or asking the right questions, they're not reading our stuff on prospecting. They're reading the stuff they can find on how to ask the right questions.

16:27 So start with the problem your customers are stating. Just listen to them. They will tell you. That's what I love about sales. It's really easy. If you listen to people, they will tell you what they want, how they want it, and you package that up. They trust you and then you can sell them everything else. And that is so true. And I've had multiple guests on our show talk about the realities of the marketplace right now, which is for the average sales professional, they struggle to be memorable. Like there are studies that have proven that the average salesperson is not memorable in the eyes of their prospect and client.

17:09 And I think it's because they come at that with the perception of I have the answer instead of I'm going to find out what the question is first before I provide the answer. And what you're describing it, it's reverse engineering success. And unfortunately there is still you know, and I shudder to think about it, but there's still a lot of content out there which is this direct in your phase pitching mentality which doesn't give people what they need and especially doesn't give them what they need or want in a challenging economic situation like they are looking for those problems. I kind of describe it many times, as you know, if somebody knows what their biggest issue is, start there and even if you can can't completely address it, maybe you can partially address their biggest issue and makes you a trusted advisor to them. And then gradually, as you said, you earn more of their trust, you get more opportunities to do that. On the subject of differentiation, you know, and I know you've you've you've spoken to a lot of groups and made a lot of presentations, and I know one of the things that people in that audience are always wondering, how do you stand out?

18:28 Like really, I mean, you've already touched on some of it. But what are the other tips to standing out? Because I know for a lot of people, the fear is one of a crowd. How do I make a difference? And I know that's something salespvital struggle struggle with. Yeah, I mean you are one of a crowd, right, Throw a rock hit a salesperson. I'm a speaker. Throw a rock hit a speaker. There's thousands of us. And I think there's a couple of ways that you stand out. And one is that we just talked about, is solve the right problem. You know, I worked for a a mentor back when I was a banker that we worked for a very servative financial institution. A lot of times we would talk to prospects and we wouldn't be able to help them because they actually needed help and if you didn't have money, we weren't going.

19:09 To loan you money. And he used to always say he used to always connect them with another bank and another banker to help them get the loan that they need. At first I thought he was nuts, and he explained it like this, He said, Meredith, people don't remember who filled the product. They remember who helped them get the product filled. And so what he wanted was a couple of years later, when those businesses were solvent, they would come back to us because they thought about him. So solve the right problem. To your point, I may be trying to sell a widget, but if I walk into your office and you're concerned that you don't have enough business coming through the door, I have to focus there and find a way to help you with that. First, which leads to the second piece.

19:54 The way to stand out is to be is to listen. I mean salespeople don't listen. How often have you stood in front of a salesperson answered questions and they just talk over you to the next problem. I call it solving urgent need. Like if you listen to somebody validate what they say, they trust you. You signal that the relationship will always be more about you, always be more about them than it'll be about you, and. That feels different. The last piece I think to be memorable is to follow up. Is once I've closed that sale, that Joe your mind for life, I'm going to continue to follow up with you. I'm going to stay in touch with you because now you trust me, and I'm going to continue to reach out. It's nothing sexy or dynamic or I mean, you know those types of things, but but really be somebody who truly cares about somebody and and and and and focus on what is important to them.

20:56 You do that, you're gonna it's gonna feel like a very different sales experience. Oh there's no doubt about that. And I think you hit the nail on the head, and not just in the follow up piece. You know, one of the things that I know that I talk a lot about, and I'm sure you do in your interactions with your prospects and your clients, you go farther than what the average person probably does. By way of how you interact and communicate with your prospects and your clients. You probably ask deeper questions, more impactful questions, trying to elicit more of a deeper response, almost an emotional response. I call that like an impact line. I think there's a lot of average performers who they tick the box on asking the needs based questions, but then they don't want to get closer, they don't want to dig a little deeper. They don't want to further develop that bond between them and the prospect. And I just heard you say the power of that even in the follow up, immediately separates you from other people.

21:56 They really absolutely you know. Far too often the cross sale ratio of most prospects is somewhere around two to three products they have once they've become a customer, they've got a couple of products with you. And the truth is they usually have need of anywhere from seven to eight. And if you listen, I mean, if you're genuinely interested, you will hear need all over the place. You will hear it all over the place. And there's a million different ways that you can solve and you can help. And I can't emphasize enough that one that once people buy a product from you, they trust you, which means I now have more ability to be aggressive with my question. You know you've bought something for me. Now I can go all in. I can say, Okay, Joe, we've handled that problem. Let's really dive in. Tell me where you're going, tell me what the obstacles are, tell me you know where you see the company in a couple of years. Why haven't you made those moves right now? And you're fine with me interrogating you because I took care of the problem that was most important to you, and you trust me at this point, so you're like, merit is my partner. Here we go and I come back and I'm like, oh my gosh, there's so much more we can do to help you. But you know, Joe, in essence we're talking about is you have to genuinely be interested. I mean, one thing I love about what we do for a living is people's lives and businesses are interesting as heck.

23:19 How they got where they got to, what they're dealing with, how they navigated. It's fascinating, and you really have a chance to help them achieve their dreams if you let go of closing the sale and just genuinely try to help people. Yeah, that's such a great point. And I've used that analogy and it kind of like in the novel of people's lives or their business I just I just give me a couple of paragraphs. I don't need a chapter, give me a couple of paragraphs where I know I've impacted your life and your story. And you're right. It's one of the things that I love personally about professional selling in any environment. It's the stories, understanding where people are coming from, what it means to them, and it's some of the most rewarding work that you can do when you see somebody fulfill that dream or vision for their business and you know you played a small role in that. I know it's one of the things that gets me going when I start working with a client. Now, one of the questions I love to ask our guests because some people and many people come into selling from a whole different levels of experience, and I like to ask people, especially that have really good experience, if they had to start all over, if you had to start all over knowing what you now know, what would be the two things that you would focus on, like number one and number two?

24:39 What would they be to be able to ensure your success. Yeah, that's really easy for me. I'm a big believer. Build your network. It will change your life. But as I said, say, I. Came into sales really kind of afraid, afraid of the idea of selling. And I met a lot of people, but I didn't and I didn't leverage those relationships. I would meet people, I would connect people, but then I wouldn't necessarily follow up. I wouldn't necessarily. Stay in touch, and I wouldn't then once I had helped those people accomplish what they need to accomplish. Gone back and really kind of walk to my network to create the opportunity, and I think I could have gotten I could have made things happen for myself a lot faster.

25:27 I'm fascinated by the fact that any moment in time, were only one connection away from somebody who can help us achieve any goal, and all we have to do is connect and leverage that network. I was always a great networker, but I was not. I didn't leverage my network, and if I had to do it all over again, I would never make a cold call again, and I would leverage my network. That's a great one, I no doubt about it. I think I think that's a big one for people to underline and circle as it relates to what they're doing and how they're building their business. Now, how can people follow connect with you? Meredith. I'd love to know how people can catch up with you, whether it's in the Delta Lounge or anywhere else. But how can people follow you?

26:08 Well? First of all, please realize if you reach out to me, I'm a big believer, build your network, change your life. I will connect to you. Number two, if I can ever do anything to answer a question. You're actually helping me because you're telling me what I need to write about and what I need to shoot videos about. So you can find me social media. I live on LinkedIn more than anywhere else you mentioned sales logic podcasts. Join us here every Saturday morning at nine am Eastern and you can see me on my website at value speaker dot com. Just the words value speaker dot com. So again, I'd love to have you reach out and connect. Oh that's great. And everybody who's listening to this, make sure you pay attention, ask her good questions. You want to make sure that you get yourself in her black notebook and she can get to write some content and some stuff out there about you. So this, Meredith, this has been great. I appreciated so much. Our special guest today has been Meredith Elliott Powell. Meredith, we like to wrap up every episode of the Impact Sales Podcast by saying a simple phrase, and it's this, sell better and impact the world. Thank you so much for joining us today. Hi, this is Joe Beck with this sales activist.

27:13 Are you a. Coach, consultant, or entrepreneur who's struggling to create sales success some momentum in your business. When you look at your appointment calendar, does it look like a parent wasteland with little to no opportunity and even less actually making it into your sales pipeline. Well, if this is happening to you, I'd like to help. For well over thirty years and after tens of thousands of live interactions, I've created a proprietary sales process, the ISM system, to help you create dynamic and consistent sales success. You can learn more and get help with all of. What's going on with sales in your business by texting the word sales to the number four oh nine five oh nine seven three five five. That's texting the word sales to nine five oh nine.

28:01 Seven three five five. This is Joe Beck with the Sales Activist. You don't have to settle for average sales results. We'll talk to you s