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Here we go!
I’m getting everything ready for the launch of the new JB Sales Membership on the 15th (next newsletter).
With the new membership and approach I’ll be running a new series called Free Training Fridays where I’ll be providing super tactical and immediately applicable training at least once a month.
It’s going to be streamed live so anyone can join but only Members will get access to the recording and resources, so if you’re not a member and don’t show up to the live event, you’ll miss it.
To start things off, I’m coming out strong with one of my absolute favorite parts of my training - Objective Negotiations.
This is what got me hooked on this training when I took it over 15 years ago and I still use it to this day.
I’ll be delivering the exact negotiation training I do for my corporate clients and showing you how to create your own personalized JB Scorecard that you can use to measure the health of any opportunity in your pipeline.
After that I’ll be walking through a “close/lost” deal review of a $400k deal that I lost to show you how the JB Scorecard works and all the learning lessons along the way, including how I knew I was going to lose the deal way before I would have without using the JB Scorecard.
I’m also going to be announcing a lot of new resources and events that I’ll be doing moving forward so I promise you're not going to want to miss this one.
SIGN UP TODAYNow, let’s get tactical!
TACTICAL TIPS: Linkedin scrubbing
SALES RESOURCES: Cold Call Objections Handling
SALES FROM THE STREETS: The Hook
TACTICAL TIPS:
Linkedin Scrubbing
Ok, I admit it, I got pretty pissed this week and might have over reacted a bit.
Last week I had a few people forward me an email they got from someone who had sent them a prospecting email using my name. Even though the person didn’t technically say they knew me in the email each person assumed I did which is why they asked.
The person had obviously used an AI tool to scrape my Linkedin posts and then sent emails to anyone who commented on them using my name.
It started with “I noticed you recently engaged with John Barrows’ post and I wanted to introduce myself to you.”
In general, I’m not a huge fan of people using other people’s names and reputation (especially mine) without asking first.
However, if they put in some effort to personalize the approach and make it relevant to the person they’re reaching out to then I don’t mind as much. Game respects game so I get it.
BUT, if they use my name with a lazy ass generic approach I get pissed, especially after I get 5 emails from 5 different people asking me if I knew this person.
I reached out to him directly 3x asking him how he knew me and if he would please stop spamming my audience. All I wanted was a response from him and it would have been over with.
But, as I’ve written about before, I have a “3 strikes and you're out” rule so after he didn’t respond to the third message and after the 5th email I got from other people he was spamming I had to take things to the next level.
In my 20+ years on the platform I’ve NEVER called anyone out personally but this time I did.
While I probably shouldn't have called him out by name I still tried to use this as a learning experience since I see more and more reps and “lead gen” companies trying this approach and even worse, automating it with AI bots.
Just like any technique or approach, there’s a right way and a wrong way to use it.
What he did is, in my opinion, the absolute wrong way to use this approach and it’s what’s killing outbound even more than before and is now killing LinkedIn.
So, in the interest of learning and some tactical tips, let me share with you how I believe you can use this approach the right way.
- Identify 10 executives who hit your ICP and you want to get a meeting with
- Follow each of them on Linkedin by clicking the “bell” in the upper right side of their profile so you priorities their posts and comments in your feed
- When they (or anyone else who fits your ICP) comments on a post that is somewhat relevant to what you do:
- Make some type of meaningful comment on their comment or ask a clarifying question
- Connect with them on Linkedin without putting a messaging into the connection request
- Go look at their linkedin profile and their company’s website to see if you can find a “trigger event” to reference
- Send an email that sounds something like this:
"Hi Sarah,
I saw your comment on John Barrows’ recent Linkedin post about teaching curiosity and wanted to reach out.
Even though John said he doesn’t think curiosity can be taught I agree with you that it can be fostered in the right environment.
I saw that CompanyX is hiring a lot of SDRs right now and was wondering how you’re fostering the right type of environment for them to be curious.
I work with other growth companies to help them create these types of environments for their teams so they can differentiate themselves over all the other SDRs who just go through the motions and read through scripts.
Let me know if you’d be open to a brief call to talk this though."
If the guy in the post had taken this type of approach, I wouldn't have had an issue with it, even though he’s a “competitor.” Like I said, game respects game.
But to use someone’s name to try and gain credibility without putting any type of effort in is a bridge too far for me.
And for those who said “I’m confused John, nowhere in his email did he say he actually knew you” - stop it. It’s inferred and you know it. If it wasn’t inferred then why did 5 people forward me his email asking if I knew him?
Admittedly, the approach I outlined above isn’t something that can be automated (yet) and sent out to 1000 people but if you’re still playing that game as a sales rep you’re already irrelevant.
In a world where AI can automate pseudo personalization, the give-a-shit factor matters more than ever.
SALES RESOURCES:
Cold Call Objection Handling
On the positive side of Linkedin, I came across this post recently by Haris Halkic, another “competitor” who shared some really good objection handling techniques for cold calling.
Since my previous story in the tactical tips section was a bit long I’ll spare you from reading any more on this one since the tips speak for themselves. I will include the image below though.
I highly recommend trying some of these out:
SPOTLIGHT: FORECASTABLE
Generating pipeline through partners feels like a mystical unicorn to most. We all know it's possible, we all know it's important, but most don't know how to drive deal flow in target accounts, consistently and predictably through partners. The low-hanging fruit here is insane to think about.
This is why I've partnered with Forecastable and will share our partner-led sales motion secrets at our upcoming webinar. There are 2 ways to get access to the goods.
- Download the App - you'll get access to the webinar + some free tech/resources to unlock your partner sales potential.
- Sign up here - but you'll be missing some key things from the app that you will need to get the mot out of the webinar.
I'm going to be working with Forecastable to drive pipeline for my own business and will continue to share all of our learnings/wins together. If you haven't looked into Partner-led sales you are missing out. Huge shout out to Alex Buckles for coming to me with this. Stay tuned for our new podcast episode that will drop soon on this very topic!
SALES FROM THE STREETS:
The Hook
This week I was reminded of the importance of the “hook.”
You hear a lot about this on social and how important the “hook” is, or the first 5 seconds of your post, in order to grab someone’s attention.
This is absolutely true on all the social platforms, including Linkedin. The first three lines on a Linkedin post are the most critical to get people to open and engage with the post.
This is also true for outbound emails and calls.
I used the AIDA framework for calls and emails (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action).
In an email, the subject line gets my ATTENTION and the first 10 words of the email need to get me INTERESTED enough to even open the email and read the rest.
On a cold call, the way you introduce yourself in the first 5 seconds of the call typically dictates how the rest of the conversation goes.
I’ve known the importance of the hook for a while now and implement it into my training but this week I was reminded how important the “hook,” or the first few seconds, is when presenting.
I’ve presented hundreds of times in front of thousands of people. I know my content cold and have zero problem once I get into the presentation.
But, it’s that first few seconds coming on stage that I always stress over.
No matter how many presentations I give I still get nervous every time and it’s mainly because of the intro.
That’s why I spend the vast majority of my prep time for any presentation trying to figure out the best way to introduce myself to the audience.
We’ve all been to those presentations before when the presenter comes out on stage and does the typical “How’s everyone doing today? Come on, I can't hear you! I said, HOW’S EVERYONE DOOING TODAY??” in an attempt to force some energy into the room while everyone rolls their eyes and begrudgingly claps their hands and lets out a yell.
We’ve also all been to presentations where the presenter’s introduction is even more awkward by starting with a bad joke or an irrelevant story. Trust me, it’s happened to me more than a few times.
When that happens it’s REALLY hard to get the crowd back and usually the presenter struggles to keep people engaged.
But, if you come out with a strong intro that makes a genuine connection to the audience, the rest of the presentation tends to flow really well.
That’s why I think it is important to obsess over the “hook” or the intro in almost all aspects of what we do in Sales.
In this world of diminishing attention spans, we need to perfect the art of the hook without turning to clickbait.
If you ever get a chance to see me present and you see me walking around talking to myself behind or beside the stage before going on, you’ll know what I’m doing.
See you out there!
ADDITIONAL WAYS YOU CAN LEVEL UP YOUR SALES GAME
- The JB Sales Membership is where you’ll get access to my live training, workshops, AMAs and OnDemand catalog so you can level up your sales skills every day! 3000+ Sales pros have already joined. Are you next?
- The industry-leading Make it Happen Monday Podcast where you’ll get insights and inspiration from some of the most interesting and influential people in the world of Sales and business. (this is where you’ll hear the Guy Kawasaki episode on May XYZ)
- The JB Sales YouTube channel with practical tips that you can apply immediately to drive results along with interviews and content that is guaranteed to get you to think differently.